@Therad on the issue of younger kids having been won around to cheap Android tablets... I don't think it's as hopeless a cause as you do.
Yes - price is an issue but kids (even very young kids) are able to nag for surprisingly expensive things if they think it's good enough. Switch being positioned at the premium end makes it appealing to the kids themselves.
The bigger issue is winning around the parents who choose cheap tablets for their kids because they're 'good enough and have loads of good enough games that won't cost me anything and they've got Netflix & YouTube too'.
That's not a fruitless battle either though. Switch as a closed system is a 'safer space' and comes with no risk of running up a mega bill in micro transactions. Both are very appealing to parents.
It needs a dedicated strategy though; a cheaper cost of entry, a more durable form factor, a range of appropriate budget releases (like the Nintendo Selects range). All of those things can (and will) be done - just not in year one or year two and if done well Nintendo has the potential to win a lot of business back from Android tablets.
@Therad on the issue of younger kids having been won around to cheap Android tablets... I don't think it's as hopeless a cause as you do.
Yes - price is an issue but kids (even very young kids) are able to nag for surprisingly expensive things if they think it's good enough. Switch being positioned at the premium end makes it appealing to the kids themselves.
The bigger issue is winning around the parents who choose cheap tablets for their kids because they're 'good enough and have loads of good enough games that won't cost me anything and they've got Netflix & YouTube too'.
That's not a fruitless battle either though. Switch as a closed system is a 'safer space' and comes with no risk of running up a mega bill in micro transactions. Both are very appealing to parents.
It needs a dedicated strategy though; a cheaper cost of entry, a more durable form factor, a range of appropriate budget releases (like the Nintendo Selects range). All of those things can (and will) be done - just not in year one or year two and if done well Nintendo has the potential to win a lot of business back from Android tablets.
Anecdote time! I have tried introducing 2ds to my two kids. It collects dust, while their phones are used daily. There is simply not enough interesting things to do on it. And then there is peer-pressure, when they are older it will be important to be on the right social networks. Should nintendo support them all?
To be able to do this, they would need to make their platform android compatible at the very least. And most probably would need to allow google play. Nintendo is a small company compared to most multinational companies.
I think it is better if they continue their current strategy, branch out into other media, while at the same time strengthening their core business.
If there was to be a Hyrule Warriors port to Switch, I'd expect some of the Fire Emblem Warriors improvements. Namely:
Choice between Quality and Performance modes in docked mode (this should really be standard for all games that can't reach 1080p/60fps)
Characters are more useful when you're not controlling them directly (characters actually do what you ask them to do well in FE Warriors)
KOs obtained by characters when you're not controlling them directly still count towards the total KO count (2000 KO requirement for S rank is reasonable because of this)
@Therad I think there are plenty of anecdotes the other way too. Clearly Nintendo has failed to get it right over the past decade though and I'm not saying it's necessarily easy but it's not a hopeless task for them either.
My kids are much too young for playing video games yet but I can guarantee they'll be trusted with a Nintendo console years before they're trusted with a mobile phone or tablet for the precise reason that they don't have social media apps on them and because the games are 'complete' with no micro transactions.
Those things matter but they have to be marketed properly - which means getting the hardware right, supplying the right type of software, hitting the right price points on both and explaining the advantages to parents. Do that and they can potentially retake the more profitable 20% of kids (the remainder probably never spend a penny on games anyway).
@gcunit yeah but by the time you load up the browser and log in the memes are too old to understand anymore and the conversations have all passed you by.
The thing about Bandai Namco is that I have absolutely no idea what they're working on. Their portfolio ranges from licensed shovelware to high quality games.
It's out this week on the eShop and will cost $5. I never bought this for Wii U, just not really interested in it and I think it's been on sale a few times.
@Octane They did say they had a Tales of game coming for Switch, and on the site of that article, in the comments, I see people mention something called "Robot Wars". Other than that, anyone's guess. Maybe Dark Souls?
An enhanced Smash 4 port could be a safe guess, maybe Nintendo will use it as the big E3 2018 reveal. Also that way, ARMS support will be over before the announcement so Smash wouldn't have killed ARMS (I think ARMS support is only a year?).
@skywake As I've said, if it's a combined architecture that can run the games, no matter what form the hardware takes, then I do not see the problem on that front.
I'm sure if you go back to the first pages I've already said quite a lot on this. The problem is that in order to make a piece of hardware that can be portable you limit how much higher you can scale up. To put it simply, a home console SKU of the Switch that wasn't limited by battery/power but still used the same architecture? It wouldn't be able to beat the XBOne X. Not in 2017 anyways.
So then you're basically back at square one anyways. And in terms of selling as many units as quickly as possible? It's better for Nintendo as a business to keep things as simple as possible. Which means selling us a portable console that's pretty powerful. A home console gimped by the fact that they have to accommodate for portable gaming is less appealing, especially if the hardware itself isn't even portable.
Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
"Don't stir the pot" is a nice way of saying "they're too dumb to reason with"
@JaxonH@DiscoGentleman OK, good to hear the game runs well in handheld mode. When I get it, I'll probably stick to 30fps in both modes so that it feels the same when I play.
@Therad I think there are plenty of anecdotes the other way too. Clearly Nintendo has failed to get it right over the past decade though and I'm not saying it's necessarily easy but it's not a hopeless task for them either.
My kids are much too young for playing video games yet but I can guarantee they'll be trusted with a Nintendo console years before they're trusted with a mobile phone or tablet for the precise reason that they don't have social media apps on them and because the games are 'complete' with no micro transactions.
Those things matter but they have to be marketed properly - which means getting the hardware right, supplying the right type of software, hitting the right price points on both and explaining the advantages to parents. Do that and they can potentially retake the more profitable 20% of kids (the remainder probably never spend a penny on games anyway).
Yeah, but we also have stats for it, not just anecdotes.
Fyi, my kids do actually play on the switch and Wii U. One daughter likes splatoon (she is the one owning the first, and will get the second at her eight birthday) and the little one likes mario+rabbids, arms and Kart. Zelda was a bit hard for them, but they managed to get off the plateau at least.
They are gamers by heart, but even then the 2ds is far to limited. They have all sorts of games, everything from coloring to puzzle games to doll house games to Nintendo games. The little one is managing FE with no problem.
But gaming is such a small part of the smartphone experience. They are not only using the phones for gaming, they are also using such things as the camera and video functionality. The older has started using the calendar and alarm function, and they can skype their grandparents. And if we look at gaming basically every interest they have, they can find an app that suits them.
In contrast to you I see an open system as something good, they can discover things by themselves and learn. Sometimes they will find worthless thrash and sometimes they will find gems. But restricting them down isn't really an option anymore. And Nintendo will never be able catch up unless they become android compatible. They are a very small company despite being an international company.
@skywake Doesn't need to beat the Xbox One X. It needs parity, so as to take the hardware excuse the thirds face away. Developers optimize and develop for the most used PS4/Xbox models, and those are not the Pro/Xbox One, so there's that.
"A home console gimped by the fact that they have to accommodate for portable gaming is less appealing, especially if the hardware itself isn't even portable." That's what the Switch is now, can only go up from there I'd reckon. Plus, there's other means of achieving that parity I'm talking about, like with that supplemental computing device, for example.
So, I'm wondering something. The Switch is slated to receive 2 MMO's in Japan, that being Dragon Quest X and Phantasy Star Online 2, yet I've seen developers wonder how to put their always-online game on a console that can become portable, and thus not necessarily connected to the internet at any one time.
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