Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@Euler The factory workers hearing the news:

Like, I personally would enjoy a more powerful console, but at the same time I'm just hoping that it won't come soon, given how the industry is at the moment.

XBOX 360 Kinect games was the Best attempt from Microsoft to please casual gamers.

Yeah, the Switch exists in a really weird space. It is cheaper than it's competition, but not really by much (especially with things like the Series S) but the hardware is lagging almost absurdly far behind at this point. The games are also often more expensive on the Switch too, at least when it comes to your first party offerings, which almost never go into a meaningful sale (at least not if bought directly). This is less true on consoles (although Xbox has gamepass) but almost every PC game goes into a deep discount fairly quickly, which we can argue about the more abstract merits of until we are blue in the face, but if you say only have fifty quid to buy games with, that will probably go way further on PC, or through something like Gamepass. Although we can argue the value proposition forever about a quality first party Nintendo title versus your triple AAA offerings elsewhere.

But while all of this is true, it doesn't matter, either. Nintendo defies narratives. While I am sure the chip shortage plays a role in it, the Switch often outsells it's competition and significantly, too. And whereas games on other platforms may be rightly scrutinised, even when that say scrutiny is applied to a Nintendo title, it doesn't stop it selling absolute gangbusters anyway.

So while I would love a Switch model that runs on hardware from at least this decade, you have to wonder why Nintendo would see any point in doing that at all. All of the upfront cost for Nintendo, to what gain on the other side? You have to assume that eventually the Switch will slow down, but it doesn't look like it's coming any time soon. I have to figure Nintendo have some sort of plans ready to pull the trigger on in the background, but they plan to ride their existing train until they can actually see the track running out.

Do I think future titles will suffer because of this and fail to meet their full potential? I mean 100 percent, I think we are already seeing that with existing releases on the Switch. But again, why should Nintendo care? All of the technical performance breakdowns showing something is objectively ***** from a technical standpoint in the world, doesn't stop titles selling millions upon millions of units anyway.

I think we're with the Switch, perhaps with mild tweaks or refreshes here and there, for a good number of years yet.

A more powerful Nintendo console would be amazing! But do I need one? No, no I don’t.

If Nintendo's next console was just 'the Switch, but more powerful' I'd find it very hard to get excited about it. Inevitably I'd begrudgingly buy one for the exclusive Marios and Zeldas but I'm not sure many casual gamers would care enough to upgrade. It would definitely make sense to stick with the hybrid format and not reinvent the wheel, but I'd want it to have some clever new hardware feature that's unintrusive but adds new possibilities for games.

As others have said though, there's plenty of life in the Switch yet and I wouldn't expect a successor for a couple of years at the very least.

@Dogorilla I doubt they'll just make another console exactly like the switch, given they tried that with the Wii U, and you saw how that turned out.

I'm not being completely serious when I say this, but part of me does look at modern gaming and think Nintendo can just never upgrade at this point tbh. If you really pay attention to most AAA gaming companies, their output is laughable compared to 10-15 years ago. Putting out as few games as possible seems to be the priority at this point. I don't care how pretty 4K BOTW3 would be, I'm not waiting 6 years after 2022 for another 3D Zelda. Even the switch (ha) to one singular HD system has had its downsides for quantity (not quality and I'll die on that hill), I don't want it to get worse.

If Nintendo had gone to (and succeeded) at a more advanced, traditional console instead, would we have even gotten half the cool games from last year? Would Suda feel another No More Heroes would have the chance to make its money back? Would SE feel obligated to make non-AAA games like Neo:TWEWY or most of the HD-2D games? Would we get a remake of Famicom Detective Club? Would we have gotten a new Warioware? Would the updates for Animal Crossing have taken only the same amount of time? If the answer any of these would've been "no" it invalidates any good from trying to make a "more modern" system, just so Nintendo could largely just get a handful of mediocre open world action adventure, live service, hero shooter...moba battle royales or whatever the **** the current trend is now (and that's if Nintendo's lucky).

also new consoles cost money so I'd rather not lol

@kkslider5552000
The problem with the "lets not release new hardware" mentality is that tech the spec always improves along an exponential curve. And not everyone brought the console at the exact time you did. Or took care of it as well/have the same tolerance for wear/had the same batch luck as you did. With the console model of hardware where you sell the same spec throughout the life of the console the gap between the spec of what you're selling and the spec of what you could sell grows over time. By a lot.

There are over 100mill Switch consoles out there and probably not many people who have more than one Switch. That's a huge number for sure. However some proportion of those people are going to start looking elsewhere eventually. Whether that's Steam Deck, PS5 or some other as of yet unknown product. Hell some people will just move on from gaming entirely and will be replaced by new gamers who will look at the market with fresh eyes. And the longer Nintendo doesn't release new hardware the less attractive the Switch starts to look compared to the competition

Hell, I've been one hell of a Nintendo fan over the years. Pretty much always going to be buying their new hardware whatever it is. But for me, between what's happening in the portable PC space and Nintendo's recent moves in relation to 3DS and Wii U eShops? .... if there's no Switch revision in the next couple of years I'll probably just buy into Steam Deck. And I've already decided that I'm not going to buy multi-platform games on Switch anymore

Also, probably unpopular opinion, the announcement that they're shutting down Wii U and 3DS eShops? As bad a move as it is I feel like it makes NSO a much, much easier sell. The argument from the NSO naysayers has always been that they'd rather buy it outright. Well you didn't own it either, you were just paying a rental fee for as long as they want to keep the servers on. They can pull the plug on either model, one's just more honest about it

I mean, yeah its very obvious that not actually releasing new hardware would be suicide from a business perspective. Gotta keep interest up, gotta at least have at least a foot in modern technology at some point. I just hate the sacrifices that have come from that with every fiber of my being.

I do have to wonder what happens to the traditional console release model in the future. The last major advancement in this space will probably be the move to SSDs, but even that... it improves the play experience, but there's nothing really wowing about it. Which is about how I feel about the new consoles in general.

New consoles have always primarily sold themselves on the potential for enabling new gameplay experiences, but I just don't see how that's going to be possible going forward. 4K looks nice, but the upgrade isn't nearly as massive as the move from SD to HD was. And there's no point in dumping even more resources into putting even more pixels on screens when AI can upscale an image for you with a fraction of the processing power and almost no visible loss to image fidelity.

I alluded to this before, but I'm excited to see the move sideways to new technologies as the hardware advancement arms race loses steam.

There'll always be advancements. It's just that no one will usually know what form they'll take until they happen. People always say how they can't imagine things getting better each generation, but then the next gen comes up and things change massively. I also don't think console gens are dead, at least unlike other people on these forums who very much think they are.

@Ralizah TBH, I think its just one of those things that we have to wait and see.

I don't no were they will take it ether, but thats evolution I guess.

Xenoblade X has a fantastic soundtrack.

It's probably unpopular from the perspective of IGN, they called the game's soundtrack "noise". But having said that I hate NLA's day theme too, it's pretty deplorable.

@TheJGG This probably follows in line with popular opinions sooo,

IGN is crap.

I didn't like Hades at all. Good thing I got it on GP, because I would've regretted the purchase on Switch.

@TheJGG I like some of X's music, but some of it just isn't to my taste.

I'd have said the NLA day theme is better than the night one, although they're both kinda ruined by those grunty vocals.

The battle and exploration music is much better though and going into overdrive is an absolute banger.

I think I have to go back to before the Gamecube/GBA era to find a Nintendo era that the Switch era matches up well with. Quality is there at the expense of less games. Since owning both a Nintendo console and handheld for their specific era, I've never felt they were compromising quantity to maintain quality. It's crazy to think that in the time it's taking to even see a trailer for Metroid Prime 4, Retro Studios back then was able to assist development with Metroid Prime Hunters as well as develop/release Metroid Prime 3 in 2.5 years. Advancing technology feels like it's hindering development.

While that is true, it is also true that generational leaps are getting smaller each time with more incremental upgrades, rather than bold steps. What this does mean, however, is if the Switch successor jumps right to this current generation, the leap is going to feel like one of the most astronomical in gaming history. You imagine if all you know is 720p rough 30 fps and then suddenly you have like 1440p 60 or something. It'll blow your socks off.

Also, it is worth mentioning the leaps also feel smaller, because it feels like consoles are finally starting to catch up. I feel like this new generation of consoles have shown the viability for the console for really the first time, in a long time. For pretty much every generation before this one, there was really no comparison between the experience of playing a title on PC versus a console.

But if you can now spend 500 quid and play games in 4k 60 fps without all the faff that comes with PC gaming at times, I'd have to assume for a lot of consumers that'd be a lot more tempting than trying to find a likeminded PC, which is likely to probably be more expensive (unless you're savvy with your parts finding and can build itself) for minimal comparable gains.