Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@KirbyTheVampire Do you need to pre-order? It will be available at any store you go to tomorrow. I doubt it will sell out everywhere. I usually just walk into Best Buy the day off and they have dozens of copies.

@Spoony_Tech I'm not sure it will be. My Wal-Mart is pretty small, and they didn't have MK8D when it first came out. Maybe that was just a one time thing, though, or maybe it sold out before I got there.

You can preorder a day in advance, @KirbyTheVampire. At least, I think so...

Worth an shot!

@KirbyTheVampire Is it a 24 hour Wal-Mart? Most around here are and probably went on sale at midnight. I walked into Best Buy the day of and they had still well over 50 copies of Deluxe but then again I live in a heavily populated area.

@Spoony_Tech No, it's not. I also live in a small town, so there doesn't tend to be a huge number of any game there.

I'm almost leaning towards it being a case of MK8D just not being there on time rather than it selling out, because I had no problems walking in on the Switch launch day and buying a Switch, Zelda, a Pro controller, and a carrying case, even though I showed up late in the afternoon.

@KirbyTheVampire Doesn't hurt to call and see. You should be able to pre-order then ship to the store of which they would save a copy.

@KirbyTheVampire Are your pre-orders the kind where you have to pay to pre-order a game? Otherwise there's no harm in pre-ordering, right?

On Splatoon 2 Launch Day, Japan Lines Up For The Switch

http://kotaku.com/on-splatoon-2-launch-day-japan-lines-up-for...

I don't think either of those points mattered quite as much as a third and significantly more important point. The jump in resolution really mattered. And not just on the display but the bitrate of the disks and the move from analogue video cables like composite and S-Vid to HDMI. And again, neither of those things are as true with 4K as they were with the move from SD to HD.

At the end of the day even if you buy a 4K set if you're streaming video the quality will be limited by your internet connection. The only way to actually see proper 4K today is to either buy a UHD BluRay or render a game at native 4K. Neither of which most people are really doing.

Will 4K sets become common-place? Definitely, it's already a thing. But unless people actually care about 4K content we'll be continuing to be doing the 2017 equivalent of playing Wii Sports on a 50" Plasma. In other words "4K streaming" in <15Mbps and "4K ready" consoles that render at <1440p.

@skywake 15Mbps isn't that much though. I'm currently getting a little over 80Mbps over WiFi at home, and I don't even have an expensive subscription. I know it's different if you live in the US or Australia, but for most people I think that 4K streaming is definitely possible.

@Octane
Whether or not you personally have that sort of connection is beside the point. The question is whether or not Netflix/Youtube will actually serve the bitrates required. For example Netflix at 4K is built to run at ~18Mbps if you have the bandwidth. It varies a bit depending on the content etc, etc but in general they ask for only 25Mbps to support optimal 4K streaming on Netflix for a reason. BluRay is ~35Mbps for 1080p

So as I said, resolution isn't the only factor here. As cool as being able to stream videos "at 4K" is it doesn't really mean much if you're bandwidth isn't higher. When push comes to shove 4K Netflix should technically look about as good as 1080p BluRay does. If it looks better then that's either HDR (which does matter), the placebo effect or you're watching a fairly static piece of content

I just read the Famitsu numbers on MCVUK and they differ quite a bit in some instances with the Media Create sales from Wednesday. I know a lot of people trust Media Create more.

New 2DS XL tops Japan's hardware charts after 30% fall in Switch sales

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/new-2ds-xl-tops-japan-s-hardwa...

http://www.4gamer.net/games/117/G011794/20170719080/

@skywake
Yea, I mean: my internet goes WAY over 25Mbps, and I don't even have the top-tier plan from my provider (next to top, though lol). Doing the 4k stuff on Netflix is pretty darn cool. Even with fast internet and no buffering, I understand that I'm still not getting the absolute optimal 4k resolution that can only come from reading native data on the machine/TV, but dang: it looks NICE.

I also have an UHD BluRay player that I use - it's awesome. Do you own a 4k? I mean, personally, when I'm viewing stuff in 4k, it's AMAZING. The "bump" in resolution is real. I think it's typical internet pessimism and people with sub-optimal internet speeds that are poo-pooing how different the image looks. Even the slight upscaling on cable channels is nice; nothing major by any means, but it does look nice.

And if you're a fan of some of the more realistic games on the other platforms: Holy cow. When the One X and especially future iterations hit the market that can truly, truly do 4k natively. Watch out. Games are going to look INSANE. And coupled with good gameplay and storytelling, immersion can have a new Golden Age coming up.

Personally I value the improved resolution but I know a lot of people who don't see the point in switching to the HD version of a channel when it's available because "it doesn't make any difference". I even know (multiple) people who subscribe to Sky's HD service but who watch on the regular channels. They don't realise it's not the HD feed and won't go to the trouble of changing their behaviour to watch the HD feed even when it's pointed out to them. They would never ever buy a film on BluRay over DVD unless the BluRay were cheaper.

These people make up, by far, the bulk of consumers and they bought their TVs based on screen size, price, availability and whether or not it'll fit in their room.

I think if we look at the switch from CRT to HD flatscreens as similar to the move from VHS to DVD then I don't think it's unfair to see the switch from HD flatscreens to 4K flatscreens as analogous to the move from DVD to BluRay. There's a tech/home theatre enthusiast market there and, eventually, you can leverage the regular consumers over but it's a much, much longer road.

The question as to supplying content is one about the business case. It assumes that delivering 4K content will be far more expensive but that the early adopters in enthusiast market will pay much more for it. They are more valuable consumers because they spend much more but do they spend enough?

Chasing them also seems to be part of Microsoft's business model with the One X. If they sell 5 million XBox One X's those 5 million owners might spend more on games than 20 million XBox One S's.

Yup, that's the only reason it might become standard eventually...I still maintain that it won't though - ever - but without a crystal ball, it's impossible to say definitively.

TV's are a staple of any household but, unless a new product solves the problems of the current standard, the average person isn't going to jump on board any quicker than they are doing - it's held back by the fact that it's perceived as being 'slightly better HD', rather than being a 'must have' game changer - because, frankly, it isn't...

You're absolutely right about the Xbox One X representing a solid strategy for Microsoft though...they have, by some distance, the most powerful home console on the market (catering for that crowd and providing a hell of a brand message) - but they also have the One S as an entry level console to sell to the masses that plays all the same games but on the average TV...and Sony are yet to really respond - they seem like they're just happy to cruise along with what they have at the moment - if there's any fresh momentum, it's with Microsoft at the moment, for sure!

(The Switch would have more momentum...if you didn't have to be a lucky raffle winner just to get your hands on one! )

I noticed that Ultra Street fighter 2 downloaded an update, I tried the game briefly and didn't notice any change, somebody knows what this update do?

@StuTwo
I think there is also a different issue at play with the "bulk on consumers" that you speak of. Yes, I agree - most people don't really give a dang when it comes to this upgrading tech stuff.

But I don't think it's just that.

I think it's also an element of not even being aware of the alternative. Take that "bulk of consumers" we're speaking about, and yea, they're content with their HD displays (or even like my parents - SD displays lol). But the majority of that "bulk" probably haven't even seen a 4k TV in action displaying native 4k content. And when they would, perhaps side-by-side with their HD displays, I guarantee you: they would see and prefer the higher resolution, of course (money matters being ignored for the time being). Not ALL, of course. You can provide anecdotes to the contrary until the cows come home. But MOST, for sure.

My parents were exactly this way. Up until a few months ago, my parents still had an standard tube television from the 90s. The thing was cutting off images at the sides, the colors were muted; it was crazy lol But they SAID they loved it and didn't want anything else. Well, my mom/brother/me got together for my dad's birthday and bought him an HD TV. He grumbled a bit as we were taking it out of the box and setting it up, but as soon as we pulled up some HD channels and Netflix, his tone changed COMPLETELY lol It was kind of funny to see. Now he loves it.

So I do think there's an element of that in play for large swaths of consumers: they just don't know.

I actually suspect, cynic that I am, that Sony will announce a "PS4 ProPlus" later this year for release late 2018 with the timing chosen purely to spike the XBox One X. As Microsoft announced the One X at the time they did purely to spike the PS4 Pro...

@rallydefault You don't need to convince me. I've always been one for going into shops and staring at the beautiful screens in demo mode - 4K screens look gorgeous. Anyone who sees them in action should want one.

But I'm not sure I could sell one to, say, my mother. No matter how good it looks her existing 40 inch 720p set (which I think looks awful) is good enough for her.

Unless the 4K set is basically free or her existing set breaks and the 4K is price competitive with 1080p sets I don't think she could be convinced to go for a 4K set. Partly that's because the content she's being supplied isn't generally even HD to begin with.

I didn't have that issue with the move to a 720p flatscreen because "it's a flatscreen and it's really thin and it's bigger than your existing set" sold her.

@StuTwo The next PlayStation will be the PS5. I think they've said it more than enough times by now. Maybe we'll get another slim or something like that down the line, but I don't expect them to release an even more powerful PS4. There's no reason to.

the switch eshop might have crashed? is that true?