Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@skywake Internet speeds and data caps is what is holding back a truly digital only future right now.

@FragRed
Ya, but anyone looking for an argument or excuse is gonna find one regardless.

If you look at actual open minded gamers who are interested in the system, how many will care that a few 3rd party games launch at $10 more? None of my coworkers have said anything. I think the logical reaction, if that's a problem, is wait until the price drops to what you consider reasonable.

Bomberman and Ultra Street Fighter II were both widely agreed to be overpriced by $10, but all the more casual gamers I know bought one if not both at release.

Tbh, I'm not happy about it but, I'd much rather this than not getting the games at all. And I think the tax makes bringing games more appealing to devs/publishers. Even alot of concerns about lower sales can be alleviated this way.

@JaxonH
Agreed. I'm not trying to sound uppity or anything, but 10 bucks more once or twice a year isn't going to break anybody, and if it is, gaming probably is not the hobby you should be pursuing - this can be an expensive pastime.

@JaxonH Still, the tax is a point against the Switch vs the other versions. It's ironic how Nintendo wanted to make the system affordable, only to inadvertently saddle people with the Switch tax later down the line. In their eyes, they're paying more, for the options of portability. For some, this is worth it, but for others, this is taking an extra 10 because they can. I already have this crap going on in Holland, where games cost, compared to 50 USD, 59,99 euros, when the euro is stronger and the direct translation is supposed come out cheaper for the euro, but it just costs 10 extra, because in Holland, people are allowed to set their own prices, and so we pay 10 extra, because "We can". I'm sure you can imagine I won't be paying 69,99 when it comes to that, since that goes to a little beyond ridiculous for me.

@rallydefault I'm quite sorry, but that sketches you as sitting on your high horse for me. If gaming was only for those with big, well-filled pockets, then Nintendo would've never cared to make the Switch "affordable", since it wouldn't have done them any favours.

You want an expensive hobby? Go play Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments, and try to get to the top spot. Cards going for as much as 100+ for one card, and you needing 2-3 for your deck, with making an entire deck from scratch, while not buying random packs, ending in 400-500 for one. Not to mention doing that on a regular basis.

@UmniKnight The MSRP for big games is $60 in the US and €60 in Europe. Tax is included in the European prices, so the difference isn't that big.

@Octane And here my American friends told me 50 USD, so what happened here?

@UmniKnight Ten years have passed.

@Octane Eh, they've directly copy + pasted the US price into euros I see. Still means we're paying more, but eh, take your money and choke on it, Nintendo.

And in the case of recently released 3DS games, we pay 44,99 to the 39,99 on Gamestop, so there's that.

@UmniKnight Keep in mind that US prices don't include tax, so they end up paying more than $60 per game, even if the price tag says $60. So if you take tax into account, they're about the same.

@Octane Oh, fair enough then. Our prices always include tax.

Of course, the US has BestBuy with Gamers Club Unlocked for $30/2 yrs (so it averages $15/yr) and that ensures $60 games become $47.99, while $50 games become $39.99, and $40 games become $31.99. It also works for amiibo, deluxe editions with season passes, special editions, etc. And alot of the major games get $10 back in rewards for preordering (Mario Odyssey, FIFA 18, NBA 2k18 and that's just for Switch), and an additional 4% back with double reward points and another 5% back for using their CC. Some games can end up effectively costing $33 day one, $43 at worst (once you factor in money back in reward points). I get even more back as an Elite Plus member.

I'm greatful for that.

Well that and the people who want to hold onto physical distribution for one reason or another. Either way I think that we'll eventually see optical media for games die out. If it's not because of digital distribution it'll be because cartridges become economical enough with obvious performance advantages. It might even be a combination of both. If everyone is downloading games why not make the console cheaper by having a cartridge slot rather than a comparitively expensive optical drive?

Very true. Frankly there's less of a gap between the full RRP that Nintendo charges on the eShop and the cost of physical releases in store. I think Mario & Rabbids is $89AU on the eShop but I've seen the physical release it in shops for as little as $69AU.

And to the point I was making earlier about prices and cartridges:
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/12/toys-r-us-christmas-1996-ca...

1996, American Toys R Us catalogue
GB/GG games - <$40US
Saturn/PS games - $40-50US
SNES/Genesis games - $40-70US
Super Mario 64 - $70US (an 8MB cartridge, OoT was 32MB and some games were 64MB)

Nintendo overcharging
They always do and never go on sale. Such an outta touch conpany.
I seen a new copy of New Super Mario U for $60 the other day.

@skywake Well they've been saying the same thing about physical media in other areas of entertainment mainly music and film, yet there's still demand for it. In fact demand for physical has grown with regards to music. At least here in the UK.

What Nintendo should've done is eat up the extra cost rather than force it to the consumer (i.e. Nintendo pay the extra $10 per cart) to make buying 3rd party Switch games a more attractive option rather than just assuming "I can take this anywhere" is enough.

@JaxonH Yeah, we don't have such programs here.

@Grumblevolcano I do agree with that. Only the portion who loves handheld will happily eat those extra costs. For someone who uses the Switch home-console, they're just taking your extra 10 "because"

Well I was talking more about the death of optical media for games. For music and movies the one main disadvantage of optical media, low speeds, doesn't really come into play. Well for music the fact that CDs were never really portable is a factor. But even in that case ripping the CD to my PC and copying it to the microSD card in my phone is good enough.

For games read speeds have been and will always be an issue. The faster the better. So in a few years time when Sony and whoever else sit down to think about what kind of storage their next console will have? That'll be a factor. Whether it's a home console or not. Eventually the gap will be large enough and the cost difference will be low enough that they'll drop optical media.

lol I knew you were going to react that way.

Relax, man, it's 10 bucks. Save the dramatic accusations for stuff that's actually offensive. Gaming is an expensive hobby. Period. I never said there weren't other expensive hobbies, either... so I don't know what that rant was all about.

And yes, we pay 60 bucks plus tax for big releases in the U.S. Tax varies by state, roughly 5%.