Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@skywake the graph shows Switch had releases last year which I am pretty sure that didn't happen. It also doesn't show the increase of software on the 3DS from last year when they weren't supporting the Wii U, which I believe you brought up.

I have said this many times, there isn't as much software as I expected. That doesn't mean there is no software. Also Nintendo is back loading the year, minimum software releases throughout the year, then a dump in the holiday (if all the announced games make it in this year, how many times was Xenoblade Chronicles X delayed?) So it will be difficult for them to announce something and release it without stepping on the toes of all the games they are releasing in the second half of the year. So I doubt we will see new game announcements for 2017 releases, most likely push them to next year.

@DefHalan Pretty sure the graph showed 0 Switch games for 2016. A bar diagram would've been better though.

Here's a crazy concept.

Bear with me here guys. This will blow your mind.

Want to know what PSVR and Switch are?

Get this right. All this talk of whether its this or that or if it counts.

The truth is: They play games. They are devices designed to play games

Mind blowing I know. Such a difficult concept.

@Octane "So, either those ''cancelled'' Wii U games were never in development and they just had serious issues with their software output, or they're still waiting, stored away in a locker, waiting for their announcement."

I think it's a bit of both. It's no secret they had serious issues with software output for the WiiU. They did not understand HD development at all, and walked in assuming they could go with their usual 18 month turnarounds, and discovered they needed to build all new tools from scratch and development times were doubled, or more, with a need to double, or more the staff to pull it off. As such they had studios doubling up helping other teams, halving the number of potential content. They had next to nothing while launching WiiU, and most of the WiiU games announced after a year weren't released until the past 2 years to round out the END of the console. Most of what was in development for WiiU (at the start) we got for the WiiU (at the end.) The delayed/cancelled games were never named. One was Zelda. I DO suspect there are others, and I Do suspect one of them is Metroid/Retro (or Metroid replacement from Retro.) Pikmin 4 all but confirmed as one of the missing and that was done years ago. These are in the vault and/or being tweaked added to.

But a lot was just a realization they were in over their head, WiiU was tanking, and pulling resources for developing for "unknown platform" that was to be Switch. They likely used WiiU as a prototype working on those games, to get through design, level design etc. Then moved it to porting to Switch, like Zelda, but with newer tools and less overhead, in the past year. I do think it's true they moved most production to Switch a while back, and held what they had indefinitely for Switch, and have much more they CAN launch within the 1-2 year whenever needed. But I also think that the timeline for transitioning didn't mean that most of that was going to be ready for Holiday 2017 even at the most optimistic. Moving for Switch didn't mean "for Switch launch timing", it meant "to have a real Switch schedule instead of WiiU's 2 games every 8 months and a turnaround time of the entire console lifespan." Lingering support for 3DS also took some of their resources for the past year but is likely now winding down. The fact that Monolith turned around an entire Xenoblade epic in year 1 tells us they've been working on that for years. Maybe that was meant for WiiU too. Remember, 3 years ago we weren't supposed to be looking at new hardware at all right now, we should have been in the golden years of the WiiU for another year or three.

@skywake stellar breakdown, great work!

@DefHalan Arms' online content will be there at launch. What won't be is voice chat & the features of the subscription service. Arms launches after Kart. The online infrastructure is certainly ready. We're doing Splatoon's test fire TODAY after all.

" I was expecting Nintendo to come out swinging, and all I see is Nintendo doing Nintendo and banking on Zelda hype."

From a business perspective that's not entirely a bad plan though. When you have a GotY candidate for your console launch, and you have a limited number of consoles in the wild, it's not a bad plan to milk that game for as long as possible to both promote the system as a requirement for the super popular game, but also to spare your other games for after that first game builds out the user base a bit. Also, Nintendo is backed up as it is trying to supply launch hardware and software to meet demand...it might not be a great time for them to diverting resources for properly promoting another game. As it is they're kind of quietly dumping 3DS stuff with little fanfare. It might not currently have the trove of games you'd like to play on it, but they're generally trying to pepper it with "something for everyone" for now, to build up all audiences. Even if they had 20 games ready to go, they wouldn't dump them all on the market at the same time so they could watch their quarterly earnings spike for 8 months, then plummet for a year and a half when they have a drought. They'd want to work ahead so they have premade products in the vault ready to release when needed from a marketing/financial perspective, not release everything as it becomes available.

@BLP_Software WHAT? Playtime is serious business! People starve over playtime and wars are sparked over playtime... oh wait they aren't? Sorry, been on the internet too long among people that seem to believe that.

I really really wish I could play that Star Trek VR game though. Ah well perhaps there will be a holodeck before I die.

@Ryu_Niiyama My issue with that Star Trek game is cost of entry.

Thats a lot of VR Units for 1 title

@Ryu_Niiyama actually people do starve or gain massive money over people's playtime. That is the entertainment business. If people stopped playing games, I would be out of a job and starve until I find another.

@Octane Switch started on the graph in 2016 way above the bottom line. Switch didn't have releases in 2016, or the graph is unclear on what it means.

@NEStalgia Why do so many people think I am asking for a software dump at launch? I mever said that is what I wanted. I only expected more than 9 titles in the first year. Especially when I expect a few of those games to get delayed to 2018, because that stuff happens. I hope for more announcements, but either way, I will probably buy the first good bundle I see (Splatoon 2 or Mario Odyssey bundle this holiday please)

@DefHalan I think the problem folk have is your asking for more games to be announced, while disregarding E3 around the corner.

Thats just my take on it

As @Octane said it's an area chart, you're reading it wrong. It probably would have been easier to read as a bar chart though to be fair... time is continuous and in my head it didn't make sense to use a discrete graph to chart it. But in any case, both of the things you're talking about can be seen in the chart if you read it correctly.

The second half of the year is always packed. Actually, just for the hell of it lets crunch some numbers again. If you exclude the Wii U's launch year and this year? The most releases the Wii U got were in the last three months on the year. Or to put it another way, the median over those four years...

Q1: ~0.4 games/mo
Q2: ~0.6 games/mo
Q3: ~0.1 games/mo
Q4: ~1.6 games/mo

As it stands this is how Nintendo published games are looking like for the Switch thus far:
Q1: ~1.0 game/mo
Q2: ~0.6 game/mo
Q3: ~0.6 games/mo
Q4: ~0.6 games/mo

Far from packed. There's plenty of room for another two or three games in that last quarter before they're even matching what the Wii U got. And dare I suggest that the Wii U is not a high bar to reach.

edit: another point to make...

The numbers for each system are stacked ontop of each other. If they were not stacked you wouldn't be able to see anything much at all. It's done that way so that you can easily see:
1. The trends for each individual system
2. The totals for different categories (i.e. did home consoles get more games?)
3. The overall trends for total published releases

It's not that hard to read.

@BLP_Software Very true and I do agree. I can't physically use VR so I'm a little bit jealous of this game. I think it would be cool if the VR games had a non VR component. Sort of like some kinetic games that still allow for controller input. VR feels like it could get away with that more than motion since, to me, feels like an enhanced first person viewpoint which could be viewed normally. Although even if I had two eyes the price for admission doesn't seem to have a good ROI right now.

@DefHalan Thank you for taking this to an unnecessary extreme (the gratitude is sarcastic in nature). I was speaking to general gamer culture, that makes everything about them and life and death over a hobby. Also I was playing off a comment that BLP made that I found both truthful and funny. I realize tone doesn't always translate in text but I'm fairly certain my words could only be construed as me being sarcastic. Also, are you only capable of developing games? Programing languages do translate to numerous other endeavors, so I am fairly certain that if you are good at what you do that even if the industry tanked overnight you would find a way to pay your bills. Same with art and narrative direction (I don't know what it is that you do). You might not like it of course (no one likes not utilizing their talents to the fullest or doing what they want/dreamed of) but honestly many, many people get through life doing jobs they weren't trained/educated for because they have to survive. shrugs

Sounds like Minecraft Story Mode will cost 10 dollars more on the Switch than it does on other consoles. http://www.polygon.com/2017/3/24/15048890/nintendo-switch-gam...

There was a post here, it's gone now. I deleted it. Not worth the effort!

@skywake So we are comparing Switch and Wii U to be about even during the holidays, which wasn't good for the Wii U but ot is good for Switch?

@BLP_Software I fully expect 2018 titles to be announced at E3 and delays to be announced at E3. New 2017 titles might be a bit for a stretch but I am totally open to Nintendo surprising me.

@Ryu_Niiyama I am a Level Designer. Which can go into other industries but people are far less likely to hire a Game Designer in other industries. I don't know enough programming or art to make it with those talents. Sorry for taking it to an extreme, just wanted to point out that even if "it is just a game" to some people, doesn't make it not important to others.

@KirbyTheVampire Welp, I won't be buying this then. See that is my issue about people clamoring for ports. On one hand it is old content so the consumer feels that the pricing should depreciate along with the current market value of the other versions. Yet I do understand from a dev perspective that time and payroll hours were put into porting this game. So then the toss up for me is do I think that time spent is worth paying more for a (technically) old product. Unfortunately for me for this game the answer is no. Capcom is going to get a day one purchase from me for USFIIHD though.

@skywake Hmm I didn't realize the wii had such a steady decline and the wiiu situation doesn't seem as desolate with that perspective. Granted I'm still working on Color Splash so it was sort of a moot point for me anyway.

@DefHalan I understand what you were trying to do but I think you chose a poor post to make that distinction. Granted my language was intentionally sarcastic, however not equating something to life and death doesn't mean that it isn't important AT ALL merely that it isn't the end of the world for anyone. Perspective is key here. I try to use words with correct intent when speaking. If I say life for death I mean there are people that honestly act as if they will die if gaming doesn't go a certain way... they won't. I was using sarcasm but speaking using literal language, not hyperbolic language. Sarcasm doesn't equate to hyperbolic language and the two are often conflated. Since you brought your livelihood into this, even you losing a job from an OBJECTIVE (I am emphasizing this so you understand I'm not wishing this upon you nor would I feel nothing if this happened to you) perspective isn't the end of the world as people get fired or change jobs daily. However humans are very resilient and they pick themselves up and keep going. You've acknowledged that your skillset could transfer. You may want to improve upon it but you could go on. So you piggybacking my comment doesn't seem to convey your original intent. Granted most from the hip comments rarely do. It seems like you saw my comment, took my sarcasm to an extreme that was neither stated nor implied, but rather assumed by you and offered a rebuttal. My point aside from joking with BLP was that perspective is often lost. Not that games are meaningless (why would I play them otherwise), just not the meaning that many people attempt to ascribe to it. Ah well another day on the internet right?

So are you indie or with a major dev? Just asking you don't have to say which one of course. Just wondering if I've played a game you've had a hand in.

Also is anyone else still on the fence about MK8Deluxe? I have the wiiu version and all the dlc and I ADORE the switch but I don't know if that is reason enough to buy the game again.

@Ryu_Niiyama I was just pointing it out. I knew you were being sarcastic but with this being an internet forum, I felt like pointing it out. Lol

I was QA until November last year at a small indie company, but I did get to test a few Nindie treasures. Now I am a Level Designer at an even smaller indie company, I have only worked on mobile titles and the only thing of my creation in the wideworld is late games levels in an update of a single mobile game. I do have another app that I did a lot more design work coming out soon, but I doubt most people here would be interested in it.

I know when I do get the Switch, I probably won't get Mario Kart 8, I have played it a lot on the Wii U and have zero interest in Battle Mode.

^ Cool! I have zero interest in creating games personally (I can't deal with gamer culture on a professional level and I've heard a number of horror stories that have put me off) but I respect the work it takes to make a game. I always love to read the credits in games to see how many people gave a bit of themselves to give me some form of entertainment. I have a little bit of a programing background (went to school for astrophysics and you have to wear a lot of hats) that I've had to build on that in my current job (not in astrophysics much to my dismay). I wish you the best in your work!

Yeah I feel the same about MK8Deluxe. I think I'm trying to justify a needless purchase. I have too many games as is...My switch already has a backlog for crying out loud.

...sorry, as you can see if you offer a rebuttal to me directly, that I don't agree with or I feel requires a response from me I will offer a return argument. All positive ki and straightforwardness behind it though! I just (as my walls of text show) like to converse (intelligently if not with a bit of sarcasm) with others. Likely in part because I'm practically a mute at work.

So I've turned my switch on to find that the screen is flickering lightly all down the left edge, bottom and top corners of the screen. I've turned it on and off but nothing....I'm so gutted. No idea what to do!

@DefHalan I think looking for more than 9 games in a 10 month window from a single publisher is pretty extreme, both from a development perspective and a business perspective. Especially considering prime buying time all lands in the last quarter, that strands a lot of product with dead shelf time. From a dev perspective 9 games for release in that window is pretty big. From a business perspective, it's pretty packed. For a launch console that's great considering of those 9 games, only ONE of them is a port from a prior system (MK8 Deluxe) the rest are original content or full sequels. It also doesn't include 3rd party exclusives like SMTV, DQXI, DQH, and I don't remember if you included FE Warriors in your list or not as 1st party published or if you consider that 3P.

It's a little presumptuous to guess that games will be delayed for 2017. Not unreasonable, but to be basing the debate on what you assume rather than what we know is a little bit of cart before the horse syndrome. We really don't know if those dates are for Japan or the West yet, it's possible. But we're also talking about the known list pre-E3. Even if Nintendo doesn't announce anything new (but they will, they'll go into at minimum first half of 2018, which right now we know nothing and Jan-Feb is still launch year), but even if they don't we don't know what third party announcements there will be.

It's a little early to talk about a lack of games 3 weeks after launch when supplies are still impossible to find, out of console gaming season, during the wind-down of the old console, and before E3 when every company actually announces games. We have Ubisoft actively querying customers about their interest levels in Switch ports. We don't know all of what goes on in the background.

@ProjectX1991 Flickering as in backlight, or flickering as in actual rendered output is showing random pixels?

Did you try rebooting? Not just sleep which suspends the memory state but actual rebooting where you press and hold the power button until the power options menu comes up. From there you can either shut down (power off) or reboot (or restart, however they word it) instead of sleep? If that fixes it it was a software glitch. If that does't fix it...then it might be hardware