Topic: 3rd party seems reminiscent of wii u. Hmmm?

The reason I feel it's different is because, while Wii U started out strong with multiple AAA ports, it immediately fizzled out. It got CoD and AC the next Christmas, a couple Ubisoft ports with Splinter Cell and Watch Dogs (eventually), but that's it.

Basically, heavy on the front end.

With Switch, it looks like it'll be the opposite. Light on the front end, with a gradual build up of AAA. Skyrim, FIFA and NBA2K will just be the beginning, I believe.

Seeing Bethesda and FromSoftware get on board, not to mention Capcom's recent statement about wanting to develop AAA for Switch now that they realize it's not touch only (dev kit didn't include Joycons I guess), and recent leaks of Assassins Creed and, LA Noire coming which confirms Rockstar... it's nearly impossible to see the two as being similar.

http://nintendoeverything.com/switch-dev-talk-50000-yen-for-a...

Especially given the fact Capcom stated what took 5 people 3 months on Wii U to port, and 4 people 4 months on 3DS to port, they were able to port to Switch with just 2 people in 1 month. That's 800% faster porting.

That is why I believe that while Wii U was heavy on the front end, Switch will see a gradual buildup. It's not going to have anywhere near the games the other consoles get... it just won't. But I think it'll get better third party games than Wii U did, and more even support throughout its lifespan.

At the end of the day though, you need to like Nintendo games to buy a Nintendo console. Just like you need to enjoy AAA games if you buy an Xbox One. People don't say "just buy another console for AAA" to defend not having them, they say it in response to reality as it is. The western AAA market has shifted to other consoles and whether we like it or not, that's just the way things are. If you want the best of both worlds you're going to have to buy the best of both consoles. If you're totally OK never playing Nintendo exclusives or never playing select third party games on the go, you don't need a Switch. You could buy a PS4/X1 and make due. Likewise, if you're totally ok never playing the bulk of western AAA games, you don't need a PS4/X1. You could just buy a Switch and make due.

It's all about what you want, but it's important to acknowledge that each console does have something to offer, it's just something different being offered by Switch vs PS4/X1

@JaxonH I'm finding it hard to believe that communication between Nintendo and Capcom was so poor that Capcom thought the Switch had no controllers. That whole article seems a bit ‘iffy' to me, but let's hope the main points behind it are true.

I'll give you an example of why wii u fizzled out. When the wii u first launched the PS3 and Xbox 360 were coming to the end of their cycles because the new systems came out a year later so of course wii u got those games at the end of those consoles cycle. Companies weren't making any new AAA games for those systems anymore. They moved on. Nintendo brought the wii u out too late for 3rd parties. Now we have a system like the switch that is still underpowered compared to the other systems but still capable of some great graphics. Only problem is that the switch is in a strange development spot because all of these third parties put their budgets toward big budget games that they want to release on all platforms. It's more risky to develop a game specifically for switch. The 3ds though is not as risky because the graphics are super simple. The budgets are low so games are easier to make. Now if e3 comes along and we only get announcements for last gen games that have already came out. That's going to be concerning. It will be the wii u all over again.

@twindragon You are certainly correct for the first part. The Wii U arrived with hardware extremely similar to that of the Xbox 369 and PS3 right before everyone was about to move over to the Xbox One and PS4 which on top of low sales, meant the third party developers simply moved away.

However the Switch is in exactly a similar position. It is releasing at a time when Sony and Microsoft are pushing more powerful hardware than the current systems. Yes they are revisions, but the Scorpio at least shows where things are heading. And I have no doubt we will see the current systems left behind sooner not later.

@gcunit
I may have paraphrased. Here's what was stated:

Ijuin from Capcom said that there was only a touch panel form factor and nothing like the Joy-Con. Because of that, he wasn’t sure in what way the device would be portable. Then after the Joy-Con appeared, he thought “I got it!

Either way, Capcom seems on board now and says they're looking to port the RE7 engine over (doesn't necessarily mean RE7, but future games which run on it... maybe RE7 also though, who knows).

The biggest encouragement is reading the 800% faster porting (took 2 people 1 month on Switch vs 15-16 people a month on 3DS/Wii U... if you do the math). That's going to be absolutely crucial in seeing 3rd party support. And not just AAA support, but any and all support.

@JaxonH I still think a game like re7 should be a reasonable port and the graphics shouldn't take too much of a hit. I look at low end graphics cards and how they play certain games like re7 and with a little bit of development wizardry it shouldn't be too bad. I guess I'm just waiting to see what's possible. I am fascinated with the mobile tech in the switch I want to see limits being pushed!

The only thing that can make a difference is total units sold. If the console sells like the 3DS, every software house will want to develop for it. If it sells as bad as WiiU, nobody will.
So, don't read too much into the pre-release announcements. WiiU proved that you can have agreements with everybody and their uncle but if the console underperforms, all these deals fall apart.

It's also important to see who the machine will sell to once it's out - if it gets the reputation of a family friendly system like the Wii, we're probably going to see third party games in that vein, but if caters more towards adult consumers, we're probably going to see some different content. Who knows.

There's really no way to tell which way it's going to go, although the initial perception of the machine seems to be generally positive, so at least we know it won't tank on release.

@twindragon
A lot of people don't really understand this, but it's astounding how powerful Switch is as such a small, mobile gaming device and yet has standard battery life without using some crazy high battery.

Idk if you've seen the GPD Win, but it's a clamshell gaming handheld based on Windows 10. Even has a full keyboard built in with 4 face buttons, dual analog and shoulder buttons. It can run Resident Evil 4, the original Dark Souls (though it's kinda choppy), Tales of Symphonia, etc. And that thing only gets like 2 hrs battery life, tops. And has a battery 50% larger than Switch!

I also have a medium gaming rig. Just an i3 @3.7Ghz (higher clock dual core for Dolphin is better than lower clock quad core, and Dolphin was my main interest). But it has a RX 480 graphics card and can run pretty much any modern game. Even runs a lot of games in 4K like Civilization 6 and Dragon Age trilogy.

So ya, just seeing how good Switch is relative to rival power handhelds like GPD, and seeing what even lower end PC can run nowadays... I have no worries about Switch whatsoever. I was looking at close up footage of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the textures look a lot better than they did on Wii U. Even in Arms you can see really good textures.

It's not gonna be on the same level as a PS4, or X1, but it's not gonna be that much of a difference. At least, not while docked. But like you, it's the handheld component that intrigues me. I love the concept of a power handheld. This is the first real, legitimate push into portable console gaming...

Exciting times

You guys still insist on making definite statements of the Switch's power. Please point me toward the article/video where somebody opened up a consumer production Switch and identified exactly what it's running with.

<either nobody will respond to this, pretending they never saw it, or I'll get some kind of insane "but the rumors say" garbage>

The graphics discussion is going to be the Wii U all over again. I still remember Scar arguing with me about how the Wii U was actually on par, if not stronger, than the PS4 and XB1 and the differences in graphics would be minimal.

Of course that never happened, and I'm sure a followup discussion would center around developers not taking advantage of all that powerful hardware stocked in the Wii U.

Same thing will happen here. People will say games could be easily ported to the Switch with minimal graphics changes and there's not much difference in power. Examples of such cases will never come, and then people will stick to their guns and say its because developers never took advantage of all that Switch power.

Based on my experience last cycle with Scar (and someone else with the Wii back in the day), I'll sit outside the revolving door this time around. If anyone believes Nintendo made a handheld device that can run games nearly the same as the non-portable Sony and Microsoft systems for the same price, more power to you.

@rallydefault denial isn't a river in Egypt lol. You can only do so much with the tegra. Nvidia hasnt discovered new tech that makes the tegra the most powerful gpu known to man lol. All leaks have stated 256 cuda cores at a max clock of 1ghz. The math is simple 256 x 2 x 1000mhz = the performance. The only reason the pascal chip had better performance is because they clocked the chip faster to 1.5 ghz. How are you going to do that in a portable running maxwell? Even if it were pascal, if the clock speed is 1ghz with 256 cuda cores it's still the same performance .

@twindragon
Sooooo regurgitated rumor garbage it is. Not surprised.

Let me know when we actually open up a consumer production Switch.

Thanks.

@AlexSays
I don't believe it will be able to run a ported RE7 or something at the same settings. Nobody in their right mind does. But a downgraded RE7 or similar? Yep.

They were willing to port Dead Rising to the Wii.

Now granted, this port wasn't exactly considered good, but the point is more that they decided that their less popular zombie game would still make profit for a port from the 360 to the Wii. Even with Wii's success in mind, this is far more surprising than RE7 coming to Switch. And I don't think RE7 will need to be compromised as much as Dead Rising was. (not just because RE7 already had to be at least a bit more flexible as its not an exclusive, but also because it is inherently a type of game that doesn't need as much power beyond graphics and details)

@rallydefault when the rumours have said the same thing on 4 specific occasions I kinda start believing them. All of the people hoping the switch will be more powerful hang on to the Foxconn leak but the Foxconn leak doesn't even explain much about the switch power. It just says theoretical pascal and speculated a72 and 921mhz etc 921 portable would be alright but docked you are still going to be similar to an x1

@JaxonH What if you want to play both first-party Nintendo games AND third-party AAA games? If you don't own or want to own a gaming PC, it will cost you more than $600. Most people can only afford one or the other (which is why I wanted the Switch to be cheaper or at least have a cheaper bundle).

@rallydefault Well a lot of games could run on Switch if downgraded. But when said developers outright say their games can't run on Switch therefore don't expect a port... Yeah you can see where we are going. An example of this is Bethesda with 'Prey'.

Wait! There is hope lol https://www.google.ca/amp/s/mynintendonews.com/2017/02/18/cap...

@LegendOfPokemon
Nothin wrong with wanting.

But $300 just isn't enough to buy you everything. People who can't afford two consoles have to choose. But the good news is there's no wrong choice.

(I'd wager the segment of people who can't afford two consoles is very slim though... most people who can afford $300 once every 5 years can afford another $300 console every 5 years- that's only another what, $60/yr or $5/month or $2.50 per biweekly paycheck? My car payment is like $20,000 in five years, for perspective)

For most, I don't think it's an issue of can't, it's an issue of don't want to. Which is understandable, nobody "wants" to spend more vs spending less... but with a proper understanding of where the market is and where it's not, it doesn't take long to realize that people are chasing fools gold, a pipe dream, something that no matter how bad you want it it's just not going to happen.

There's been multiple consoles since the dawn of gaming... it's just the way it is

edit
Of course, I still want as many 3rd party games on Switch as possible, even despite having 3 other platforms that offer them, because Switch offers portability. But from what I can tell Nintendo has done pretty much everything they can aside from sacrificing their own creative aspirations- courting devs, listening and responding to feedback, making sure all the popular engines have support... they've done everything in their power and I'm OK with that. Whatever third party games don't come, it's simply because the developers don't deem the market viable enough. Doesn't mean I'm not disappointed (well, disappointed is a strong word, but you get the idea) because I definitely want to see as many come as possible, but I try not to get upset about things that are out of my control, especially when Nintendo has done everything they reasonably can (aside from canning their own creativity and unique products just to clone another power console, of which we already have 2 and PC). At that point it's just a matter of accepting the market for what it is

I guess you'll just have to pick. You can't want both completely equally, after all. You must be inclined to one system more than the other. Just keep in mind that the PS4 probably won't last past 2019, whereas the Switch will probably stick around until 2023. Just a thought.

@JaxonH Of course, everything always has an opportunity cost. I just feel like Nintendo could have made it possible for us to have both consoles at a reasonable price.