Nintendo Switch hype thread

[Zachrulez]

NBA 2k17 and Skyrim are not actually confirmed yet. Just thought that was worth noting. Cautiously optimistic about this.

Also it sounds like they are going to move to a cartridge system for the games. I dunno what the implications for that will be for backwards compatibility or if there will be an optical drive for that purpose/multimedia capability.

[Zachrulez]

No backwards compatibility with physical media for Wii U or 3DS.

That's a bit disappointing.

[Zachrulez]

- Paid online service will get you one free NES/SNES a month...that then expires at the end of that month

There's no way they're going to hold to that with what the playstation and xbox are offering in competition to that.

But yeah, this is really not looking that exciting, though I don't think I would ever bother with online gaming on a console like this anyway.

32gb of storage is pathetic too. I'm expecting this to get a price cut within the first year. Maybe I will THINK about it then.

[Zachrulez]

Nintendo's always been trying to extract extra money on accessories so there's nothing new there, but reading about the whole system in detail it's like they're living on another planet. I'm reading that it's going to launch at $299. You can get PS4s and Xbox Ones for that price. There's just no way this launch is not going to be a disaster.

[Zachrulez]

Well Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is going to be exclusive to it so it's going to be hard not to buy one eventually.

[Zachrulez]

not only is voice chat done thru a smartphone app, MATCHMAKING will be done via that app as well

this keeps getting worse

Yeah that basically means I can't play online on this thing at all. I don't have a smartphone.

Edit: I'm sure it's going to be fun for people to figure this out after they pay for online service. It'll be fine for people who have a smartphone, just download the app, but if you don't have a smartphone... well I doubt they're going to bend over backward to give you a refund...

[Zachrulez]

Third party support for consoles is really useful when you're, say, taking care of a 10 month old baby.

Sorry if it seemed like I was challenging your ability to dislike the system. You can dislike it for whatever reasons you want. Mine situation isn't your situation.

Pretty much. The thing about a lot of the Switch issues is that they are rather situational - this isn't to discredit the views of those affected by the issues (they're still issues), but it doesn't affect me so I'm still going to buy one - for example, the online thing is something I couldn't care less about because I don't think I've ever (besides Kid Icarus Uprising) played a Nintendo game's online multiplayer.

Well I mean beyond the online issues there's the issue of it only have 32gb storage (I still don't understand that decision.) and costing $299 without a game.

If it gets a decent xenoblade bundle, that's probably how I'm going to end up getting it.

[Zachrulez]

We also bought the Wii U a few years back expecting them to actually support it for a reasonable amount of time, and it definitely gives me pause how quickly they've cut support to the Wii U. (4 years in?!) What if the switch bombs? How long will that investment be good for?

[Zachrulez]

Third party support for consoles is really useful when you're, say, taking care of a 10 month old baby.

Sorry if it seemed like I was challenging your ability to dislike the system. You can dislike it for whatever reasons you want. Mine situation isn't your situation.

Pretty much. The thing about a lot of the Switch issues is that they are rather situational - this isn't to discredit the views of those affected by the issues (they're still issues), but it doesn't affect me so I'm still going to buy one - for example, the online thing is something I couldn't care less about because I don't think I've ever (besides Kid Icarus Uprising) played a Nintendo game's online multiplayer.

Well I mean beyond the online issues there's the issue of it only have 32gb storage (I still don't understand that decision.) and costing $299 without a game.

If it gets a decent xenoblade bundle, that's probably how I'm going to end up getting it.

Storage space - I buy all my games as physical copies so that doesn't affect me. It's the same storage as the Wii U and that was never a problem (also with Nintendo consoles you can always just use an SD card to add extra space and you can get them fairly cheap so it's not a huge issue either way). Again, I'm not saying it isn't a legitimate issue, but it will not affect me, so I'm still getting the console for sure.

As for the price, isn't $299 actually very cheap for a brand new console with controller? It's $100 cheaper than the PS4 and controller at launch, and $200 cheaper than the Xbox One, controller and Kinect at launch. The console price is actually really good (the game and extra controller prices however are less so).

Comparing the launch price to the PS4 and Xbox One's launch price is completely irrelevant because it's not entering the marketplace in 2013 alongside the PS4 and Xbox One, it's entering it in 2017. At launch in 2017 it will be more expensive than a base PS4 and Xbox One and won't match it in power.

[Zachrulez]

It's possible if this fails it's Nintendo's last console too. I'm not sure how much money they still have, but they can't take red ink forever.

[Zachrulez]

Just went through Best Buy today. The Wii U version of Zelda was pretty bare while the Switch version had abundant copies. That doesn't say very flattering things about the Switch. These are actually the first two Wii U copies of the game I've even found at a retailer while the Switch versions are pretty easy to find.

[Zachrulez]

I don't have a lot of confidence that it's sales aren't going to struggle after they get through their initial surge of demand.

[Zachrulez]

Yeah they unloaded about a quarter of the Wii Us they ever sold in that first holiday season. Things slowed down quickly from there.

[Zachrulez]

We aren't at the holiday season yet though. And the switch still sold well. They also actually advertised the switch well and didn't completely bungle the marketing of the switch by making it look like a wii accessory. I don't know if the switch is going to be a huge success, but I'd be pretty surprised if it doesn't do double the number of units that the wii u did.

Well the Wii U happened to launch during the holiday season, that's the only reason I mentioned it. Whether or not it's the holiday season isn't really relevant to a console launch as the demand is always going to be higher than supply at least at the beginning.

[Zachrulez]

I think 20-25 million within 4-5 years if the price cutting is similar to what they did with the Wii U.

If they do multiple cuts to 250 and 200, it might have a chance to sell a lot more. (Like having a fighting chance at 50 mil in the same time frame.)

Nintendo lives in it's own world though so who knows if they'll be reactive with pricing.

[Zachrulez]

I'd say production being around 8-10 million is probably about right. They shouldn't be making production decisions based on how it's selling now, but I suppose they could just change production again 2-3 months from now based on how sales are at that point.

[Zachrulez]

So this is a bit unrelated but Nintendo announced that it plans to discontinue the NES classic. It was apparently never a long term plan of theirs to sell the system.

I have no idea why they seem to hate money... or how clueless they apparently are at how much power nostalgia can hold. I am just scratching my head.

[Zachrulez]

They'll probably realize that they should have priced the NES classic way higher and the SNES classic will be like 200 dollars.

[Zachrulez]

I got Link on WiiU and it is great.

This is me. (Well I don't have the Zelda game yet, but when I do it will probably be on the Wii U.) I don't see a reason to get a switch until at least Xenoblade Chronicles 2 comes out.

[Zachrulez]

I have BOTW for the Wii U now.

Who knows when I'll actually get around to playing it.

[Zachrulez]

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is the only reason I even have to particularly want a switch and I'm not sure it's enough by itself to get me to get one.

[Zachrulez]

I don't think you can patent something that broad.

I've never really cared much for portable gaming so portability features don't really resonate with me.

[Zachrulez]

That's why I brought up the idea though. Once the technology is there to put all that power in a portable form, it won't be very easy for Microsoft, Sony, and other companies to do it if Nintendo has the docking system and the controller style on lock.

But that's just Nintendo's thing, I guess -- finding ways to improve that aren't just better graphics and more computational power.

You can patent the technology that makes your system portable, but I don't think you can patent portability full stop. If you create portability in a system and do it different enough from the way Nintendo went about it, it's fine.

[Zachrulez]

You could probably build something that looks pretty similar but gets there with completely different technology.

[Zachrulez]

I'd like to but also have Xenoblade Chronicles X and have barely started it in like a year (maybe two?) of having it so I think I should probably make sure I enjoy that sort of game by playing X before going ahead and buying it

Unpopular opinion: Xenoblade Chronicles X > Xenoblade Chronicles

Both games are incredible tho

Xenoblade Chronicles is a much better game in terms of the story it tells. Xenoblade Chronicles X is a much better game in terms of the actual gameplay.

Also someone feel free to grab my attention when they have a good switch bundle out that has much more storage space than 32gb. The SD storage requirement is my biggest barrier to buying the system. Why the thing doesn't allow an external hard drive or even a USB flash drive is beyond me.

[Zachrulez]

sd cards are super cheap

also i got xenoblade 2 today, not super loving it so far? not that far tho

Individually? Sure. But to get enough for practical storage it would be like having many memory cards and I thought we left that horror behind in the 90s.

[Zachrulez]

I bought a 256gb one for like 40$

I'm not seeing those prices on a quick look through newegg but even if I grant that it's still a terrible price per gb in comparison to hard drives.

There was no reason to not allow other storage mediums to be used. The system has USB ports. It's just inexcusable.

Edit: Let's really put this into perspective. The Switch has the same amount of internal storage as the Wii U.

The same amount.

(Does that emphasize it enough?) The Wii U allows SD cards, flash drives, and hard drives to be used as external storage. How is the older system the more versatile one when it comes to storage?

[Zachrulez]

uhhhh

finally going to beat breath of the wild tomorrow

beat all shrines, side quests, and upgraded wild armor to level three (screw getting that last fairy fountain)

then i will move onto supmaroddy

Breath of the wild for me is without a doubt the best Zelda game I've ever played. I plan to play through the game again at some point after I finally beat it, and I don't think I've replayed any Zelda game ever save the NES ones.

[Zachrulez]

Seems like a technical nightmare waiting to happen with the fragility of cardboard.