Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@skywake I'm just hoping that it is coming soon and that it isn't a disorganized mess. Nintendo aren't the best when it comes to their online store. I'm hoping that for previous owners of virtual console software, that they're able to get the same games without paying full price again.

I'll admit - I never read the Terms & Conditions for purchasing Virtual Console titles on older Nintendo systems...so it's difficult to say what I think I'm 'entitled' to! ..but, what I can say is that, when I purchased a game from VC, it was always with the intent of playing the title on the console I was downloading it to - I never assumed that VC was anything like iTunes & so I never assumed that I'd be able to bring my entire 'VC Library' forward on to the Switch.

Don't get me wrong, if Nintendo are making changes to VC to make it more like iTunes - you won't hear me complaining! - I think that'd be pretty awesome! ..but, personally, I'd consider it to be Nintendo going above and beyond my expectations - an evolution of the service to make it even better for customers than it already is

Reggie has certainly hinted that, because purchases can be linked to Nintendo Accounts, they can do something like this going forward - and that's really exciting - anything that makes the service better for me going forward will be most welcome

@NaviAndMii Yeah it's true that you buy the software for that specific platform and you're not meant to expect for other platforms. But I just feel bad for people whom have to keep buying the same game over and over again. It especially sucks if it your favourite game that just want to play latest console. Fingers Crossed that Nintendo listens!

Or offer a subscription service like most companies these days.

I've never gotten rid of a console - I still have the N64 and GameBoy I had as a kid! ..I kept them in case I wanted to play the likes of Ocarina of Time or Pokémon Blue again - like keeping an old vinyl record collection! ..my Dad still has his old vinyl records - but he re-purchased most of them again on iTunes because he could see the advantages to also having a digital collection. ..I'd have the same attitude to VC if they changed it - I'd still keep my N64, but I'd love to have a permanent digital collection of those games too ..if, as Reggie has hinted, VC is going evolve in to something like iTunes - that'd be so great going forward!

@NaviAndMii
I mentioned this earlier but the early versions of iTunes didn't give you that sort of flexibility. They had fairly restrictive DRM that locked you into using Apple devices to play music brought from iTunes. If you had looked at the terms of service and whatnot back then I bet those restrictions would have been in the licence agreement. But when others started to dip their toes into that market they quickly changed their tune and they stripped the DRM.

That's what I was saying before the thread was derailed into a talk about SNES emulation. I'm sure that in accordance with the licence we're not entitled to these games on the Switch. Nintendo, I would assume, is well within their legal rights to charge us full price for those games again. Just as they probably were in the transition from Wii to Wii U. But just because we're not legally entitled to it doesn't mean it's smart business for Nintendo not to offer it.

The way I see it the costs associated with offering up these games for "free" to people who already purchased them? It's not that big. It's less than the cost of those games because some people wouldn't have brought them again. But in return? They're reducing the loss of content from buying into a new platform and they're making higher end consumers more likely to buy content. It's also damn good PR.

@Whitewatermoose Good question. On the tech and contract side it's entirely possible and makes sense fine enough. OTOH Nintendo's selling a "platform" and selling the experience in general....a LOT of their customer base would not have the bandwidth to do that. Heck, a lot of PS4's customer base doesn't have the bandwidth for PSNow/gaikai and it's kind of a disaster (beloved by those with great internet, ignored or hated by everyone else). So it's kind of limited niche. And a bigger point is that would be effectively useless in portable mode, neutering the entire hybrid selling point for it.

It can't be ruled out but it would be of value to less people than it wouldn't be of value to, and especially for the whole handheld hook, Nintendo's time and money would be better spent courting devs to provide games locally than pouring money into a service that turns the hybrid into a wire-tethered device primarily.

That would be awesome and a good way to get around the eventual dev whining.

Edit: Didn't realize you were talking about VC. Nevermind. No need for that because the NS is powerful enough to emulate most of the the previous systems (GCN and the triggers may still be an issue though). I'll give anything for 3DS VC (non 3d obviously).

I was at Walmart today and went to check out the games section (mostly because nowinstock said they had some NES Classics for about 5 minutes early this morning so I thought I would see if they had any in store). No Classics, but they did have two Switches just sitting there on the shelf. There was also a lady from Nintendo taking inventory that I talked to for a minute (I saw her badge and everything). She said the plan is that they are obviously focusing on the Switch for now, but this summer when they expect them to be less scarce they will up the production of the Classics. Whether she is enough in the know to actually know that or not, it sounds good. But this was the first time I had actually seen a Switch in a store.

@Whitewatermoose
Those sort of streaming services only make sense when the platform you're streaming to can't run the content. Like having the Wii U stream to the GamePad or your PC stream to a Steam Link. You have something that's way underpowered on one end and push some high end visuals from a server of some kind.

What you wouldn't do is take a portable device that can run modern AAA games and stream Super Mario World to it over the internet. It'd be cheaper to just run it on the device and it'd give the end user a better overall experience. It doesn't make much sense. And that's before I point out the fact that these game streaming services rarely exist outside of the US.

@Whitewatermoose
For the Switch? I'm not quite sure where that line will be where emulation is too hard. If I was to guess I'd say that it should be able to emulate every Nintendo platform except the Wii U. But wherever that line is drawn I'm not sure it would make much sense to stream the games it can't run.

Is streaming a game better for the consumer than not being able to run the game at all? Yes, obviously. I'm just not sure that there'd be enough content the Switch can't run for the service to be worth it. Especially when there are games that it can run which will perform better.

@skywake And are less than useless in more than half the US! They work beautifully in LA and San Fran, and Valley and Seattle. They work ok in NY. They may as well not exist almost anywhere else I'm sure it's great in Japan though!

@Whitewatermoose skywake has it right. I don't think emulation difficulty is going to be an issue on Switch for anything older than a Gamecube. GCN/Wii/WiiU could be problematic (but then they could remaster ports of those games easily enough for Swtich native play.) But if they were streaming for any reason it wouldn't be for VC, it would be for running something like GTA6 with PC level graphics rather than a native port. There would be a (small) market interested in that, but it still wouldn't be useful in handheld mode so it's probably the worst platform example for it until we have universal wifi everywhere with broadband speeds. Wonder if that will ever happen in our lifetime?

But no, VC emulation (maybe excluding GCN/Wii/WiiU) won't be a problem on Switch. It's just a cost for them to develop the emulator for it that they'll have to charge for in the game sales. But it'll run anything like that just fine locally. Heck, 3DS did it!

Sorry - I moved and had trouble with getting my internet back!

@NEStalgia It was so weird, it was just flickering and it was definitely the backlight. I restarted, rebooted (not just power down) and nothing shifted it but after half an hour of play it slowly stopped. I hadn't played on it for two days prior? It was so strange.

Due to the lack of internet I didn't do testfire...was it good?

@ProjectX1991 i'm sorry to say it was awesome. Can't wait for the game itself!

@FGPackers Damn! Will have to buy Splatoon 2 at launch then won't I?

@ProjectX1991 yeah, we have to splat a lot of people!

The test fire was a lot of fun. I wasn't sure if I would like it cause I'd never played Splatoon, but it's on my must-buy list now. @ProjectX1991

I wouldn't be surprised if there's another testfire closer to launch

I was thinking the same thing. Probably sometime in June or July to keep the excitement going.

Apparently PETA isn't too fond of the cow milking game in 1-2 Switch.

http://www.polygon.com/2017/3/31/15141004/nintendo-switch-1-2...