Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I just saw a video of Iconoclasts yesterday and thought it looked interesting. Glad to hear it's pretty much confirmed for Switch.

@FragRed Black Ops 3's single player was weird though. I too think CoD 2018 won't come to Switch but I also think the power limitations leading to no single player on last gen versions of Black Ops 3 was because of the always online approach. If you disconnected from XBL/PSN at all while playing single player you got booted back to the main menu.

@Grumblevolcano

To be fair, there was a rumor about it coming to Switch last year too, and that never panned out.

Granted, Switch's future is no longer in question. Not only that, it's setting records and will already be at 50% of the Xbox One global install base by the end of its first year. The majority of games (officially via survey) are selling as much or more than other versions, and about 1 in 4 are outselling all other versions. Puyo Puyo is now nearing 1 million sold, RE Revelations sold more than PS4, X1 and PC combined, DB Xenoverse 2 already outsold the X1 version, basically all of Capcom's releases have smashed expectations, same for Namco, same for Sega, same for NIS, etc etc. Its a running theme for this system. In fact, Xenoblade 2 already smashed 1 mil sold, and Skyrim was consistently selling as much as Xenoblade on pretty much every top list available (Amazon, eShop, etc). There's no way Skyrim hasn't hit 1 mil sold yet. And DOOM has to be at least 500k, maybe more. Would sure love to get some official numbers on those games.

So.

With that in mind, I would be surprised if they didn't bring it to Switch this year. If they don't they're just straight up idiots, and someone else will step up to capitalize. At this point it doesn't really matter because the system is so successful and games are selling so well, that anyone who is still reluctant is just going to be left in the dust. And they'll have their investors to answer to when it comes time

Treyarch typically don't mind Nintendo consoles, so a Black Ops IV going to the Switch sounds just fine to me. And if it performs very well, then that opens the floodgates for more AAA games.

For better or worse.

Yeah back on Wii it was Treyarch who ported the Modern Warfare games and their own titles.

Plus didnt we get a Treyarch game on Wii U?

If any of the three studios was to do it, itd be them

@JaxonH I am well aware of the extremely positive position the Switch is in but I still think the power debate could be used against big 3rd party Switch ports of current gen games. After 2015's Black Ops 3, Activision dropped the idea of new CoD games on last gen completely. If last gen ports of the last 2 CoD games were so easy they would've done it (you see for example that last gen FIFA still sells very well) so the same logic could be applied to Switch.

@Grumblevolcano
Power debate could be used, but we all know where there's money to be made, they follow. They put 4 CoD games on the DS. They put multiple CoD games on the Wii. They put it on the Vita.

I don't think power is going to be an issue. And BO3 was ported after the fact, in a rushed manner, simply due to the remnant of gamers who refused to upgrade who demanded the game. That in no way is the baseline for a system of this power range. Switch is going to be around a long time, and is a very profitable current gen platform. They'll have a team scale down the assets as needed, get the game running good and looking great, and then use that as a base going forward for any future entries.

Just got a Switch today and gosh am I enjoying it. Breath of the Wild is already one of my favorite games ever even though I've played just 3 hours or something. An excellent console!
I was thinking about getting Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade 2 next! Any other ideas for games I should buy, people?

@Cia
Mario Odissey next for sure. If you like metroid, download Blaster Master Zero. Mario+Rabbids is a very good game too.

What about Sonic & Diddy Kong's All Star Racing?Both have land,sea and air racing and it's a crossover that would make sense.It kills 2 birds with one stone,makes lots of Sega and Nintendo fans happy and having Diddy in there means it will be a Nintendo exclusive. All those Rare characters can be replaced with ones from the world of Sega. Have Sumo make it again but under the watchful eye of Nintendo as Sonic Racing was still a little rough in places. Add in a Funky Kong mini game called 'Super Funky Ball' just to make it even more brilliant than it already is.

What started as a silly thought has turned into my most wanted game. Im not really being serious with my idea but I kind of am at the same time.

@FlashBoomerang Blaster master looks pretty cool! As for Mario, I think I can handle just one plumber-starred game per console, unless it's a new Paper Mario :- D

Edit: Actually, now I was not honest. I had both Galaxies for the Wii : -D
Edit 2: And Super Paper Mario... and New Super Mario Bros Wii... and Mario Kart Wii. Ehhmm... maybe I'll reconsider the Rabbids after all : -D

I just mentally pre-ordered it!

Too bad I already played Dark Souls for PS3. But for all who haven't played it, you won't be disappointed when we get the Switch version.

@skywake Thanks for the graph. It really says a lot. For this generation of consoles and previous ones too.
It does show that brute force (or relatively unlimited amount of power) easily allows the PS4 and Xbox One to achieve better looking graphics than the Switch. But it is still pretty amazing that Nintendo is able to makes games that play and look as good as they do with a fraction of the power consumption as the competition.
It just goes to show that more power seems like the easy way to generate better graphics. But taking a look a the PS3 and Xbox 360 that used nearly the same about of power as the current generation of consoles and the Switch uses significantly less and yet the Switch achieves so much more than the PS3/Xbox360 ever could.
I know technology moves on, but with what the Switch is able to do makes me wonder what could potentially happen if companies took power consumption seriously and designed as such. I am no tree hugger, but What Nintendo has achieved is pretty interesting.

@Cia Welcome to the Switch club ^^ I would grab Xenoblade2 for sure. It's lush. Some of my otherhighlights have been Wonderboy, Rive, Forma8, Thimbleweed Park and PuyopuyoTetris.

@OorWullie That always seems to happen when I start making up silly game ideas too. I'm still waiting for someone to announce that Postman Pat: Greendale Under Siege has started development. When Pencaster Revenge DLC drops, I'm quitting my job and going into game dev full time

CoD coming to Switch in 2017 was just not feasible, mostly because there was no way a third-party would be working on a game that big for a Nintendo home platform after the great disappointment that was the Wii U.

But 2018 is definitely in the realm of possibility. Third parties have had time to observe this thing and commit resources to it, and I think a CoD on-the-go could sell moderately well. And I'll go a little further to invite criticism: I wouldn't mind if it didn't have single-player. I've owned most CoD games, and the single-player is usually about 5 hours of my playtime before I spend hundreds in the multiplayer. I would wager most people are the same, even if they won't admit it. If that's what needs to happen to get the game on Switch, let it be! Especially if they'd bump the price down to 40ish bucks instead of 60, I'd definitely go for it.

If you like Zelda games, try Portal Knights.
If you like Party games, try Super Bomberman R, Overcooked Special Edition.
Also, try Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, ARMS, LEGO CITY UNDERCOVER, Pokken Tournament DX, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle.

This might seem like a strange question but how long do you think the current console generation will last? The way I see it, there's little reason for any of the big three to make a new console any time soon. The main reason that they would normally make a new one is either to make a more powerful system or because their current console is selling badly.

However, Sony is in a very good position right now, with well over 70 million PS4s sold. As for power, I think the PS4 Pro is about as powerful as you're likely to get. There is some room for improvement of course, but I think anyone who wants to play games at a significantly higher resolution than the PS4 Pro has will probably just play them on a high-end PC, so there's little point in making a more powerful iteration of the PlayStation.

I think the Xbox One is struggling slightly though. Its sales are far from disastrous but it can't keep up with the PS4 and doesn't really fill any niche that the PS4 doesn't. However, making a new console won't really help there because, as with the PS4 Pro, the Xbox One X is almost as powerful as you can get as far as I can tell, so there isn't much room for them to improve with a new console. As Microsoft have started releasing most (all?) of their first-party games on PC as well, and expressed interest in releasing games on other consoles, it seems like there's a chance they might 'do a Sega' and go third-party. Xbox One's sales are nowhere near as bad as the Dreamcast's were, but I can't see them making a follow-up to it any time soon, especially as the X only came out last year.

That just leaves Nintendo, always the most unpredictable company. Obviously it's too early to think about a replacement for the Switch; it's only been out less than a year and it's selling brilliantly. But even in five or six years' time, why would Nintendo make a new console if the Switch continues to sell well (and I see no reason why it wouldn't)? It's not as powerful as its rivals, of course, but Nintendo don't seem to care about making a hugely powerful system, and that mindset is paying off at the moment. Panic Button have shown that the Switch is powerful enough to port most games to it to a pretty good standard too.

It seems strange that we could all be playing the same consoles in ten years' time, but the current systems are about as powerful as they need to be and Sony and Nintendo are both doing well (Microsoft less so, but the Xbox One is selling well enough to keep itself afloat at least). But what does everyone else think? How long will the PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch be around for?

It really is difficult to say with that. If I was being honest, I'd say the next generation of consoles had already began when the PS4 Pro released. Yes, I'm being serious. After all, the slight improvements in graphical capability doesn't seem worth it when you can keep an install base and get those current games running as great as possible on the system. Obviously Nintendo went a different route, but that was because they had to.