Topic: Right when you think EA wasn't a crap company..............

@UmniKnight Oh, totally! ..EA have been trying to spin the positives of this 'gimped' FIFA Switch for some time, most of us can see through the 'B.S.' - but this might have been a spin too far! ..ridiculous comment!

I'd rather them just be honest and come out and say 'The Journey takes full advantage of our new Frostbite engine, which isn't compatible with the Switch (yet?)' - but maybe EA/Nintendo aren't keen to do that because of the negative sounding implications...so they (frustratingly) just avoid the subject and spin us some B.S. instead!

EDIT: Like I say though, I'm no expert on game engines - I'd have thought that a non-Frostbite version of The Journey could've been made for the Switch version - maybe they didn't have enough time/resources? ..or maybe it just isn't possible on their old engine for some reason? I don't know!

@MegaTen Oh yeah, I just meant in recent times! The GC was totally major! ..just, like you say, not so recent

@NaviAndMii So, which of the big companies, besides Ubisoft, are making a game from the ground up for Switch? Koei Tecmo with a Warriors game, but that's arguable, since it is rather safe. Ubisoft have never made anything like Rabbids before, and EA's FIFA is as safe as it can possibly be.

@UmniKnight That's true - although, I never expect many console exclusives from larger third-parties anyway (having your game on as many platforms as possible maximises your potential customers)

I'm hoping that the perceived lack of major releases (exclusive or otherwise) was due to there not being many Switch development kits in the wild until the last year or so (?) - if a game began development 2 or 3 years ago targeting the PS4/X1 - maybe Switch optimisation, at this relatively late stage, is rather tricky? ..I'm hoping that, if the Switch continues to sell well, more and more companies will develop games targeting all consoles (Switch included) from the beginning of development - and that we'll see more and more bigger games coming over **fingers crossed!**

EDIT: I actually think that Nintendo licensing out their mascots to larger third parties, like Ubisoft, could give other larger third parties food for thought - kind of win/win if you get the right game - Nintendo get an exclusive from a big name & third-parties can maximise sales by using Nintendo IP...I doubt that Mario+Rabbids will be the last such game we see!

(I wasn't meaning that your previous comment was 'ridiculous' by the way - I meant Lazarescu's comment to Eurogamer! )

@NaviAndMii Oh no, I'm well aware, don't worry. As for the mascot licensing thing, we know they're doing it with FE: Warriors and Mario + Rabbids, what other examples do we have, or can one think of?

That's pretty ridiculous. Definitely glad I don't play Fifa, I'd be ticked. I hate games that aren't the full version, its total bull crap and for the same price? They're a joke. I will say it seems Nintendo must cause some problems for a lot of game creators because theres always some kind of issue for a nintendo release it seems. Either it doesn't happen or its not the full game or it's delayed for no reason like 2k18

This thread seems to have the narrative of Switch Fifa is rubbish. Yet, from what I have seen it looks awesome and EA need to be commended. Erm..y'all not being crazy and comparing it to a more powerful home console are ya?

@GrailUK How it looks stands kinda separate from this. We're talking about EA's own quotes. How can you say that crap about being unaccustomed to loads of content unironically? That's just plain bonkers.

And I wouldn't ever consider FIFA a must-have on par with Mario/Zelda, because Mario has a far wider reach than FIFA, but that's just me. It's a large group of people that want, FIFA, aye, but a very specific one nevertheless.

"Soccer" is huge in many parts of the world, it would surprise you.

I think growing up I was the only kid with a game system without a soccer video game.

@UmniKnight Ah roger chief, I'm with ya Game looks great, but treating us like we never played a game before and finding content overwhelming is a tad off. Maybe they are referring to the blue ocean Ninty is chasing (not us) in which case, too much can be considered daunting? Maybe? Dunno.

@Meowpheel Oh I'm well aware. But big enough to buy a whole new console for? A true system seller? Could be, but I despise them too much to even entertain that line of thinking.

@GrailUK How many people that own a Nintendo machine, don't PC-game to the side, or anything else? Hell, my PC is a gaming PC, so it's not like "loads of content" is unfamiliar to me. (I'm looking at you, multiple GB's of download Middle-Earth: Shadow of More-door)

@UmniKnight I am sure that statistic would make a good read.

@Octane
I see what you're saying. And honestly, things look pretty sweet all the way through Holiday '17 and early '18. But then I see a potential gap after the Kirby game sometime in 2018 until stuff like the announced "mainline" Pokemon and/or Prime games hit the system. Could potentially be a gap of many months or even over a year until another major, major release. Hopefully by that point and after the Holidays, the Switch userbase will be pretty large and attractive to major 3rd-parties to step in.

Or maybe we'll learn about a closer-than-you-think Smash release in early-mid 2018... hint hint. Or a port of StarFox Zero with actual controls lol (still such a shame to see that franchise end for the time being with such an underwhelming game).

@NaviAndMii The Frostbite isn't ''compatible'' with the Switch because they haven't ported it over and optimised it for the Switch. Porting and optimising an engine takes time and resources (I feel like I've said this a lot in the past few weeks). I'm not exactly certain what it runs on, but it's likely a custom version of the same engine that is used for FIFA 18 on the PS3 and X360, probably because it's easier to get an older engine running on the Switch than to downgrade and optimise the Frostbite engine. That would also explain why Journey Mode isn't on the Switch, because the PS3 and X360 versions are also missing out on it. I'm sure that with enough time and resources any company could get any game running on the Switch, it's just a matter of how much effort you want to put into it.

@rallydefault Well, I guess that's what Nintendo Directs are for! They usually have a big one in December or January I think. Kirby and Yoshi aren't doing anything for me, and I also don't believe we'll be seeing either Pokemon or Metroid Prime next year. I'm sure they're working on other stuff (Pikmin 4, Retro's game), and hopefully they get announced in the near future.

And Star Fox Zero... I rather see Nintendo never mention that game again. Just... make a new one, and not another reboot this time.

@Octane Ahhh, good info Game engines are a bit of a blind spot for me - wasn't sure whether the Switch fell below a 'minimum spec' or something like that...but, like you say, I suppose that anything is possible if you're inspired to commit enough money and resources to it!

@NaviAndMii Reading back what I said, I just want to clarify that it doesn't mean that every game (or engine) can run in its current state on the Switch. For example it could be possible that the Switch can't handle something like complex lighting systems seen in other games, or something more difficult to downgrade like enemy AI, or the amount of NPCs/enemies on screen for example. I can understand that after a certain point the downgrade doesn't resemble the original product anymore, or doesn't play like the original product and therefore developers decide not to port the game to Switch.

@rallydefault I think 2018 will be fine. We're getting Fire Emblem for a start and I would be astonished if we don't see Smash Brothers next year. There'll be plenty of currently unannounced games.

Whether they're games to sell to the crowd that bought a Switch is, of course, a different question. I expect Animal Crossing for instance which will sell millions of copies but might find a slightly different audience.

I've got my fingers crossed for ports of last gen open world games and RPGs like Fallout 4. I've also never played Mass Effect so if EA do want to try reforming I'd be interested in giving it a go on Switch. Those games would fill a lot of gaps.