Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@FragRed I hear ya Fraggle. If Nintendo can have a system with a Zelda game, Metroid game, 3D Mario game, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Splatoon basically they can churn out their IP in a more meaningful way than 'OMG The Wii U is dead, lets make a tennis game' and we actually get a stream of classics we know they are capable of (Zelda already looks like a win!) then I am not sure I am that bothered about third party titles. There is only so many hours in the day. Sure there are a couple I will be envious of. Basically, if Nintendo can create a solid library of games like they did on the Snes, then third party will be a bonus for me, not a system seller. Once you stop hankering after third party games (and lets face it, that was because Nintendo didn't want to go all in!) you don't need an uber PC

@GrailUK I have a PS4 and Xbox One and soon, partly for self employment reasons, a gaming PC so third party games on a Nintendo console is not a deal breaker as much as other people, but if it were possible to play some on the move then yeah I can see that being a selling point as long as they sell that message better than how Sony did with the Vita. But Nintendo's first party games is what I am most excited for, but concerned about.

That first year of the NX is going to be vital. They need a big launch lineup to entice people and the games all need to be of quality if first party. But then they need essentially at least 1 game per month thereafter otherwise a single month without anything will be viewed upon as a drought simply because of the lack of potential big third party games. And Nintendo cannot afford to have that as a message.

Also they need to spend BIG on marketing. None of the "let's spend almost nothing on TV and YouTube adverts etc" that they did with the Wii U and 3DS era, because that won't sell consoles.

@GrailUK I won't be personally bothered about the lack of 3rd party games because I already own an XB1 but I will be annoyed if the lack of 3rd party games makes the NX fail as we seem to be in an era where 3rd party games are more important than 1st party games.

@BiasedSonyFan Because they're the ''evil'' corporations? lol.

Microsoft (and everyone else for that matter) saw what happened when you force mandatory stuff in people's faces. Kinect, no used games etc., and look where they are now. They lost a huge chunk of the userbase they build last generation. We're at a point in gaming when everything that is possible on the PS4 NEO, for example, is also possible on the vanilla PS4 on a lower resolution, I don't see the difference. We already know that developers are required to include vanilla PS4 modes with their games, Sony is pretty strict about this. Sure, we'll get to a point when we have a game that runs like absolute garbage on the vanilla PS4 (who's going to be the first; EA? Ubisoft?); but I can guarantee that the PS4 NEO will get no exclusive games for the coming three years. Why would you even want to ignore that by then 50 million (and growing) userbase?

@BiasedSonyFan The Kinect was a $100 piece of junk if you didn't play Kinect Sports. There was no reason to make it mandatory and bump the price up to $499, $100 more than the PS4. Anyone with a sane mind would protest against that, this has nothing to do with ''core'' gamers.

If COD is NEO/Scorpio exclusive, then I think a lot of people will move over to PC

@Grumblevolcano Ye, the tail is wagging the dog I think. What I don't get is the term third party support is vague. I for one would be over the moon if the NX got a version of Super Monkey Ball, Katamari Damacy and some Cave shmups. I still think the GTA, Call of Duty and Fifa mobs would still think third party support was rubbish and vice versa if we got GTA and I don't get Ghosts n Goblins. Soooo...ye...third party stuff is (and arguably should be) a bonus and up to those folks to make compelling software, as opposed to throwing any old mulch on to a well selling system. Unless by third party, fans are basically saying ALL games need to be on the NX in which case, they are either campaigning to end exclusives or telling everyone to quit moaning and by the goddam console!

@GrailUK Well, third party is definitely more than just Call of Duty, FIFA and GTA, but those games are arguably one of the most important games. They often sell millions of units and having those games on your system is always a good thing, even on a Nintendo console. A friend of mine wanted to play FIFA for example and he got an Xbox One, because he didn't care about the exclusives of Xbox and PS and the XOne was cheaper. However, if Nintendo had a console that could play both FIFA and Mario Kart for example, I'm sure he would gotten that system instead just to play those two games.

When I talk about third party games, I also mean games like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy for example. Two franchises that started out on a Nintendo system, but due to unfortunate circumstances moved over to the competition. The new Resident Evil for example won't come to a Nintendo system either and Street Fighter is basically a PlayStation exclusive franchise at this point. There's more than just the shooty-shooters and sports games, and I haven't even started about the indie games. The Wii U gets its share of indie games, but a lot of good ones are simply just skipping the system. That's a shame really.

@Octane I'm not sure what Nintendo can do to get those indie games that skip their systems to look into porting games over. The games like Rocket League won't ever head over simply due to the Nintendo consoles not being powerful enough as well as having an inferior online network. Whereas others games are often funded in part or whole by Sony and Microsoft making them exclusive.

As for triple A third party support, that's not happening. Ubisoft certainly isn't doing anything this time round outside Just Dance and outside a potential Dragon Quest and Sonic game, we are probably looking at scaled down Lego games.

Nintendo will need a damn good constant stream of quality first party and second party line up from launch onwards without a single drought if it has any chance in selling the NX.

Well, Nintendo doesn't control their online network as much as Sony or Microsoft. Developers/Publishers are able to use their own servers on Nintendo a lot easier than on Sony or Microsoft. This could actual be more beneficial to devs. Also, the Wii U is not just underpowered. There are a lot of reasons why games skipped the Wii U that Nintendo can fix while still not having a system as powerful as PS4 or XB1. This could attract more indies, like Rocket League, (I really want Rocket League on my Nintendo systems) to release on Nintendo. We really don't know what is going to happen until Nintendo officially announces what the NX system is and what it can do.

@FragRed Also if you ignore all Wii U ports and older system remasters that the good constant stream should still exist. I mean you could easily do something like:
March - BotW, Smash 4 port, New Retro IP, New Animal Crossing
April - SMM port
May - Splatoon port
June - MK8 port
July - Pikmin 4
August - DKC Tropical Freeze port
September - Hyrule Warriors Legends HD
October - Bayonetta Trilogy with Bayonetta 3 being both available in the trilogy bundle and separate
November - New 3D Mario, New Pokemon spinoff, Skyward Sword HD, Metroid Prime Trilogy HD
December - Captain Toad sequel

That would be a constant stream of quality games however it's very barebones if you take away the remasters and ports.

No no no

Hyrule Warriors Super Legends with exclusive DLC content!

I don't think they'll roll out Wii U ports quite that quickly. They probably don't want the NX to look like a port machine, they want its new games to shine. I would guess the launch lineup has SMM and Smash and maybe Splatoon, and that would be fine for the first year. They would look good next to BotW, 3D Mario, Retro's game, Mario Kart 9, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest, Sonic 2017, and Sonic Mania (plus some other third party stuff), but more than that and I think ports start to dominate a little too much.

It makes perfect sense if you think about the position Tegra is in. The current Tegra product (X1) basically has NO customers. Nada. None. Nobody wants it. You can only find the X1 in niche, proof of concept devices: their own SHIELD and Google's Pixel C tablet. Graphics performance don't seem to be a priority for most tablets these days, and X1 is too power hungry for phones. So nobody wants Tegra.

By March 2017, the X1 would have been on the market for 2 years without a single real customer. The reality in the business world is that you can't spend 2 years without buyers: heads will roll. It doesn't matter how healthy the rest of NVidia is. The NX was probably Tegra's last, best hope. I don't deny that the X1/X2 is probably a good match for an also-desperate Nintendo's NX portable, but for the Tegra folks, the desperation level was probably pretty high. They might be willing to take a short term loss for long term gains, since there is the rest of the NX product family on the way. But if the NX bombs, both parties lose.

To be fair the entire industry has been moving towards mobile devices. Nvidia aren't the only ones pushing this, Intel has been doing the same. Because that's where all the money is. Also it's not like the Tegra was a dead product before this. They have a pretty solid deal putting Tegra in cars. Potentially as big a deal as the NX.

Basically what I'm saying is that Tegra was going to pay off eventually. They didn't "need" the NX. But it's by no means not a big deal. So you're all right

I don't know, I don't have a Playstation and I'm not in Europe. I'm trusting me googling skills here. All I know is that none of these services are available where I am. And the ones that have existed were all in the US with some expanding to the UK and Europe.

@cwong15 If the higher ups want results (your premise), they want more money not more losses. According to you they would sell them at a loss which would have made the division lose money. Console gamers overall seem to think Amd is top dog when it comes to graphics this is wrong, Nvidia are. Nvidia is a much more profitable company, they can take a hit to profit. This might mean they give Nintendo a good deal, because of PR reasons. But that is a position of strength, not one of desperation.

Personally I hope they have made a deal to have game streaming from a Nvidia PC and Geforce Now. Game streaming and one of the form factors is like the Android TV and I would be very very interested. This would also be a giant leap for Nintendo in terms of online.

Wii U (and appearantly NX) has more than enough juice to run Rocket League and since they are on PC and have cross-play, we can assume they use their own servers. So online isn't an issue either. The only legit reason they are not heading to Wii U is low install base. And that is the same reason many of the other publishers have. It is just easier to say "hard to port" than "we don't think we earn any many from you".

@FragRed Well, the obvious problem with the Wii U is a low install base and different architecture; thus high porting costs and low sales. Nintendo could aid in porting some of the bigger indie games over. After all, they have an entire studio (NST) doing basically nothing at the moment other than releasing the billionth installment in the Mario vs DK series. As you said yourself too, Sony and Microsoft seem to have much better relationships with indie devs, even funding games in some instances. I think that's definitely an area where Nintendo can improve.

It's unfortunate to see that we can already expect a low third party output on this system. Unless it sells Wii-numbers, but even then I think that we won't get the newest AC or whatever game.

@Grumblevolcano I'd like to think they'd have more to offer than ports and remasters at this point! If they're unifying handheld and home console development and after skipping an entire year of Wii U games, then the least you should expect is actually some original and hopefully good content.

@Therad It's a combination of those two things really. It's definitely easier to port to PS4 and XOne than to Wii U.

@Octane NVidia have X2, X3 and X4 lined up in a dev cycle. Nintendo consolidating their fans and enticing people with a new gaming model (play anywhere on one device) will sell big numbers and be a business model that would lend really well to iterative consoles (as opposed to Microsoft and Sony's version of reselling a home console every 2 years!). I think third party support will come (although third party support really means a couple of key games. All the licenced tie in shovel bumpf they can keep!) I am very positive about this rumour (apart from the pads. As a gaming enthusiast...SHOW ME THE GAMES AND THE PADS NINTENDO!)