Topic: Does anyone else feel like this is more "Switch U" than Switch 2?

@OmnitronVariant
Yes there's is a difference between the period between the DS to Wii U and now. When it became clear that the blue ocean had dried up they pivoted away from the more accessible titles. They started pushing more RPGs, they started to court third parties, they purchased the rights to Bayonetta

Then in 2015 they consolidated their portable and home console division. Under Iwata's direction they went after a one platform strategy so they were more efficient making games. So instead of making a 3D Mario for portable and then one for home console they could instead make one 3D Mario and then do something else

Both of these changed the way Nintendo now is vs what they were in that era. But I would argue for the better. Especially for our end of the equation as enthusiasts. But, frankly, these changes did nothing in relation to your complaints

Your complaint is that they make soulless, corporate, commerical releases. That their output is of a lower quality now and that they're profit driven in a way they weren't 10-20+ years ago.

All I'm saying is that their games are still good. Bananza is a 9/10, TotK was only a couple of years ago and was a masterpiece. Prime 4 looks solid, even the upcoming Mario Tennis seems to potentially be a return to what made it good back in the day by adding a full RPG to it. So on that front you're just wrong. And then on the corporate/profit side of the argument all I'm saying is that yes they are. But that they've always been that

If you think a product is bad or bad value don't buy it. And if you think their output is bad, despite the critical reception suggesting otherwise, I'm not sure why you're this invested. If you think they're a company looking for profits then cool, thanks captain obvious, we know

@OmnitronVariant I mean...you talk about people being unable to "give an inch" and say you're "capable of observing reality" (implying those in disagreement are not), yet over the past few weeks you've posted nothing but negativity about Nintendo, the Switch 2, and its games...

Checked in again and read a few comments in this thread. As before, the comparison is still baseless and the discussion pointless …

@OmnitronVariant Fair, this feels like a lot more of a balanced take than what I had picked up from your previous posts. Maybe some of that is just the miscommunication that comes from talking to strangers online.

As for whether Nintendo's changed in terms of business practices? Eh, I mean obviously there's been some change as inevitably happens with time, esp. as the company's switched hands and the context/market has changed. I think others in this thread have given reasons why it might not be so clearcut / how the past may have been romanticised and a lot of the issues of the present aren't necessarily new. Personally I would say I don't have much of a horse in this race - sure I'd like my games to be cheaper and for Nintendo to be more consumer-friendly, but at the end of the day they're making the games that I want and I'm willing to pay for them... I can understand some of the frustration though.

In terms of development and their philosophy around that? IDK I don't really understand this. Sure, again there's naturally gonna be some change (the industry is far different now than say the SNES era). But their games are as good as ever, and they're pushing boundaries as much as ever. And this is reflected in the acclaim they're receiving by both critics and fans. And I don't really think they're siloing their content down one route or anything - their library is as vast as ever and it feels like there's something out there for anyone. This isn't the Wii U days where it felt like every other game is a 2D platformer.

@OmnitronVariant i said “suddenly” and “evil” hyperbolically, and not really in reference to describing a bunch of of posts in this forum. godforbid someone jokes around 😿
and yes, most companies now like money more than anything. and thats just our modern day world. however, with inflation (and tariffs 💔😭) of course, some of these prices have been needed to be changed for a long while. nintendo undoubtedly still loves and takes in consideration of their fanbase though. if their main goal was just money, i dont think the thousand year door would be remade, i dont think they would put hundreds of classic games for a reasonable price on NSO, and those big totes on myNintendo would not cost platinum points. yes, they love their profit, but in small ways they still care. theyre not just a money-hungry company, theyre a company evolving and changing in this hard world. so why are we attacking nintendo specifically? and also user interfaces, since its stark and minimalist now, i dont necessarily think that has anything to do with Nintendo’s changes. but hey, we can agree to disagree 😝
@ShieldHero you know at least you would get a free sheep out of it (or a sweater)

@skywake "The "it'll become e-waste" that you're now spinning. Is that not also true of the Wii Balance Board? Or the DK Bongos? Or the Zapper? The Super Scope? ROB? Or the Ring Fit Ring? Explain how this is new."

It's new because none of those pieces of hardware you're mentioning rely on a subscription to an online service, or an internet connection, and still work with the hardware they were designed for. If the Wii balance board relied on the Wii online, it would be useless by now. The difference is clear.

What's up with the MS Paperclips? A new trend?

@jfp
They’re evolving to simulate trolling strategies on places like X.

Just ignore them.

@jfp
There's a Tech YouTuber who I would describe as ancho-libertarian adjacent who's been on a bit of an anti-corporate right to repair bit for a while. Personally, a corner of politics I like in theory but.... lets just say a lot of people in that circle fly a bit too close to the conspiratorial sun....

The clippy is a protest he started as a protest against anti-consumer practices in the tech industry. Data collection, advertising, surveillance, bricking devices, making repairs difficult etc. The idea is that you change your profile picture to clippy because clippy was always there to help. Just the latest in the long line of performative slacktivism we've been seeing for years on the interwebs

@skywake Oh man...I do enjoy the occasional Rossmann video but I agree he really blows things out of proportion. Honestly hadn't seen any of this Clippy stuff, and certainly didn't know it was associated with him.

@WhiteUmbrella
subscription to an online service, or an internet connection

The thing is people can simply choose not to buy if they have such concerns. That's what gets me- this is hobbyist entertainment, and nobody has a gun to anyone's head. If you like something you buy it. And if you have concerns about internet connection (which... its 2025, when are we going to stop acting like the internet is going to cease to exist at any moment), and yes it requires a subscription, so that's something to take into account when evaluating whether you want to make the purchase.

Since I split a family plan with 7 others on this site I pay $10/year for NSO+ Expansion Pack. I'm going to have that subscription for the rest of my natural life. So that's not an issue for me. Maybe others aren't sure they're going to stay subscribed. Perhaps those people should not make a purchase then. Or they could make the purchase knowing that anytime they want to use it. They can spend a measly $5-10 for a month of service to use. But the point is, it's a choice, and people will make that choice according to what best suits them and their circumstances.

@rallydefault @skywake Thanks for the explanation! I avoid most of YT and all of X, so this flew past my radar. I was just wondering because it‘s already the third one I spotted here and they all write basically the same stuff. My first thought was one user, multiple accounts for trolling. But performative armchair activism or slacktivism makes sense. Outgrowth from toxic nerddom I figure. As an aside, I hate MS and all their products like the plague, Clippy included. I never could stand that little f***er just popping up and giving useless advice. And now it pops again …

You know, I might elaborate on what I specifically meant above with that comment given this comment. Especially given this week my internets got upgraded to 500Mbps DL. Time for another old bugger story time

Basically, when I was in my late teens and early-to-mid 20s I always voted for the hard left political parties. One I was particularly fond of was all about digital rights, copywrite reform, freedom of speech, all that jazz. Also socially progressive so at the time that was same sex marriage and legalisation. A political space I still exist in

However at the time the biggest political issue in my mind was one of infrastructure. The moderate-left government of the time was pushing for a large scale internet infrastructure project that would roll out full fibre to the majority Australians. I finally got it mid this year, now I'm on 500Mbps DL with the option of a 2Gbps plan. At the time I was pretty vocally in support of it and at one point found myself conversing with the leader of that far left minor political party I had been voting for

He wasn't supportive of it. He was arguing that the infrastructure was just a path to more surveillance, Chinese cyber attacks, a trojan horse for censorship. And I just thought..... these people don't really believe anything. They aren't really after outcomes or anything. They just like to look for the bad angle. I still believe there's a space for that, there has to be, but that's just not the lens I want to look at the world through. And it's not the angle I want my representative to look at the world through. It's performative BS

I've voted for the moderate-left pro-worker party ever since

@skywake Same trajectory here. Maybe that‘s just part of growing up. The fringe is almost always only good at pointing fingers, left or right. They can‘t offer real solutions/change because they are unable to compromise and find common ground. They only divide. And online this is just turbo charged, driven by actors creating outrage to farm engagement (revenue), riling people up while having no actual skin in the game. While I agree with core positions in regard to a right to repair, consumer rights, breaking up monopolies etc., I do think they are barking up the wrong tree and I can‘t see any of it is in good faith.

@OmnitronVariant A silent protest is just being beat.

Off topic but...I'm still confused by the clippy thing. Clippy was a famously obnoxious semi-troll during an era Microsoft was undergoing antitrust suits for monopoly and anti-consumer practices.

Is using it now an example of how things used to be even worse or nostalgia for the bad ol days which we pretend were the good ol days? Or just an icon representing how bad tech can get? Or is it just meant as a symbol of rage since Clippy definitely induces rage.

This is the company which gave us $99 Alarmo when everyone was expecting the Switch 2 announcement 😆 You can always bet on Nintendo doing somewhat creative but bizarre things.

@OmnitronVariant Everything is turning I to *****. I am waiting for people to wake up and throw out the entire material ways and build an alternative. Can we have have people making free software on cheap machines with no additions and just make everything straight forward again.

I swore I wouldn't be an old person complaining about the old ways, but holy ***** are things worse than they were.

My parents still use appliances they got when they were married 50 years ago. We get something that's designed to break in 2 years, spies on us, lies to us, and destroys the environment.

Life sucks and it's all the material stuff. Buddha had it right.

If you want cheap hardware that you can play free games on, there's always the Raspberry Pi.

Whenever I suggest this, people usually manage to come up with reasons why they might want to spend a bit more on both, though.

Maybe buy more normal appliances? I got a decent vacuum cleaner for $60 recently. It has a 10 year warranty. Maybe it won't last 50 years but it is much much cheaper (taking inflation into account) than 1970s eras vacuums, quieter, and easier to use. The technology has simply gotten better. And it is fairly energy efficient and does not in fact connect to the Internet or 'spy' on you, nor does my dishwasher, fridge, etc.

You are very free to choose to live a less connected life if you don't like current technology trends but perhaps 'life sucks and all modern technology is bad' is a little off topic even for this thread.