Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Octane But then why are we paying Home-console prices for games, accessories and the machine itself? Also why is Nintendo getting away with what is then basically false marketing.....

@Octane Anything is portable is you try. Im sure if I carry a portable generator and strap my 12kg PC to my back with a screen in front of me I can play PC games anywhere.

Same with my PS4. It technically is a home console you can take with you.

The difference is while you can, doing so is incredibly impractical @UmniKnight so a concession had to be made to acheive that vision. And you wont fit a PS4 level device in something Switch sized yet.

Give it a few years though.

@BLP_Software But, again, as I've said above, it compares unfavourably with the other consoles that do have the home-console tag, and it has home-console prices. I daresay people that now buy a Switch with all the whistles and bells are being conned out of their money! Personally, I use my Switch as it was advertised, and am getting an inferior experience to handheld, with FPS drops and the likes. So people who say "hybrid" are probably smoking something not quite legal.

As for concession, more like sacrifices when looking from home-console perspective (weak specs, limited space due cartridges) and it being fantastic from a handheld perspective. I was led to believe I bought the Wii-U's successor, not the distant true form of the 3DS.

@UmniKnight I'm sure there are no such things as ''home console prices for accessories'' Yeah, the dock is a tad (read: a ton) expensive, but that isn't because you can play the Switch on your TV.

And it's a pretty powerful handheld, relatively speaking the most powerful Nintendo handheld. So that comes with a price. As someone who isn't interested in the portability factor of the Switch, it's a steep price, but it is what it is.

The games though? Not every game is €60, and the games that are full price, are on the same scale of what you would expect from a regular home console game. I don't see how that is an issue. Yeah, the system got some overpriced games like 1-2-Switch, Street Fighter and Bomberman, but those were launch titles and they're always using those to cash in on the day-one buyers.

@BLP_Software It's pretty clear that a PC or a PS4/Xbox One aren't designed for taking it on the go. Sure, it's possible in theory, but we all know what we mean when we're talking about ''portable''.

@Octane It doesn't stack up to the PS4/Xbox One, and it is labelled as home-console, hence it is not wrong of me to expect it to.

As for the prices, the 3DS has 45 euros on most of the big releases, yet here I'm paying 59,99 for games like XV2, when, in accordance to 3DS being handheld, and Switch being handheld as well, I should be paying 45.

It's the idea that Nintendo falsely labelled it home-console to get away with higher prices for everything. Again, it doesn't meet up to my expectations of a home-console.

@UmniKnight Or maybe it's all a marketing trick and the idea of advertising it as a home console you can take on the go is the whole selling point. And that's what it's doing, selling a system that if just a handheld wouldn't attract the same kind of attention it does as a hybrid.

I love the argument that it's not a home console. I believe the perception of it being underpowered has lead a lot of people to say it's not a home console and yet look at the games themselves. Zelda BotW was always home console bound from the beginning, Mario kart 8 was home console, and Spaltoon as well. Splatoon 2 looks and plays better on the Switch and yet most will say well that's a handheld.

My opinion is home console first and when ever possible and handheld whenever necessary which in my home is often.

If the PS4 had it's own power source and screen it would still be called a home console.

I bought it because it was the next home console.
I was fine with the Wii U, and I would be fine if Nintendo continued the Wii U for much longer.
But here we are and everything homeconsoley is coming to the Switch and not the Wii U anymore.

@Spoony_Tech It runs better in handheld then in home-console. You can remove the dock, kick it around like a football, burn it in a bonfire, and the Switch itself still runs and does whatever advertised. If the dock can't even help it run better on a TV, then what else but "Look, it's on your TV!, you know, that thing that even tablets can do as well?" is that overpriced piece of plastic and small amounts of metal for?

The public perception is that it's a handheld, and I wouldn't be surprised if Game Freak set the precedence, and made Pokemon for Switch handheld only, because they've already given such a vibe by looking at which mode is most popular: http://nintendoeverything.com/game-freak-excited-to-see-the-m...

I wanted the Wii-U's successor, but here I end up with the 3DS' future: Aka not what was advertised to me.

@UmniKnight The public perception is that it's both.

@Spoony_Tech I think a system is either portable or it is not portable (= home console). The Switch is clearly portable, you can easily take it with you wherever you go.

A 3DS wouldn't suddenly be a home console (not portable) if Nintende released a 3DS-to-TV adapter.

Anyway, I don't see a problem with calling it a handheld system. It doesn't make it any less valuable, or the games any less good. If it gets the games you'd normally expect on a regular home console, then I have no problem paying €60 for them.

@IceClimbers Yet if the numbers come out, I'm sure we'll see 90% of people use it as handheld, if not handheld exclusively, and we'll probably see favouritism come out at that point. The sad thing is, I know for sure Nintendo will never make another real home-console for as long as the Switch lives.

@UmniKnight What's killing your argument is that I see more people using it TV only than Handheld only, very few handheld only, with handheld as a supplement to the home console experience.

@BLP_Software But then why do I see nearly everyone on every site I ever visit (that being, I've done my fair share of reading) that they all use it handheld. Arguments like "Haven't even unpacked my dock" come to mind.

@UmniKnight I'm sure people do use it more in handheld just looking at the difference in install base between the Wii U and 3DS.

Switch is a point of no return I think. Now that they've gone the hybrid route they'd get major backlash and disappointment from fans if they went back on it

@DarthNocturnal And you are aware that things like cartridges and the Switch's weaker specs are all to accommodate the fact that it's a handheld?

So am I, but I've red that argument only few times, and the entirety of Japan is 100% certain to be handheld, and there's a 1 million Switches sold there so far.

In fact, I'm certain the only reason it sells there, is because it's handheld capable.

@IceClimbers I'd say it's a true hybrid, if the dock does more than just be a overpriced plastic connectivity hub. If it added actual power, so that frame-drops and the likes would be a thing of the past on Switch, yes, I would agree it's a hybrid. But it doesn't.

Switch is neither a console nor a handheld: it's a hybrid. The fact that the GPU runs faster while docked pretty much confirms this. Doesn't change that fact if you decide not to make use of its full functionality and just treat it like a pure home console or handheld.

@UmniKnight Let's hope Nintendo never makes another pure home console again. This level of hardware versatility is too good to give up.

Anyway, they're charging console prices for the games because they're HD, console-quality games, as opposed to games designed for a system with a piddly 240p display that wasn't even cutting edge in 2011. Your argument is that they should charge less for games because the Switch is fully portable, even though the games it's running are more advanced than what was possible on the Wii U. I'm sorry, but that makes no sense whatsoever.

Also, polls I've seen asking people about how much they use the machine in handheld/docked form reveal an almost 50/50 split.

@UmniKnight If you feel you've bought something you weren't expecting, then that's on you.

How can you expect something that equals a PS4 in performance but is also a hybrid, and less than £300? Your fixation on the word 'home console' is your problem. Nobody's tricked you into anything.

I don't care what it's called, but there are no two games I'd rather own than BotW and MK8D.