Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@KryptoKrunch I'm thinking towards that being the case but only if Pokemon is 2019. If Pokemon is 2018, I see Fire Emblem being first half of 2019.

@Grumblevolcano I don't think those have any impact on each other

@IceClimbers Pokemon is the kind of franchise that destroys everything in its path outside of a few franchises, I don't think Fire Emblem has reached the point yet where it could withstand a Pokemon game releasing so close.

I had to stop and think about WHY Nintendo would do this when the Switch is already so powerful as a handheld, but size and battery life are a concern for the Switch as a true handheld. It works great in the house, away from the TV and maybe for short bursts in public with friends, but the handheld that you can take on a long car trip - not so much.

Nevertheless, GameFreak moving mainline Pokemon games to the Switch is something that makes me doubt an exclusive handheld anytime soon. GameFreak has always wanted to develop Pokemon on handhelds. Moving to the Switch is kind of a big deal, and I think if there were another handheld coming out they would be developing for that instead. My logic is not perfect, they could always develop for both, and are justifying developing for the Switch because it is a hybrid, but it certainly keeps me skeptical of a new handheld to see Pokemon coming to a console.

Tbh, a Switch Mini could be good and be that portable option people want. Non-detachable Joy-Cons (even though they're a huge part to the Switch's awesome local multiplayer options), a smaller size in general, the works. It could still connect to a dock, but one wouldn't be provided at all.

@Grumblevolcano Pokemon launching in November wouldn't cannablize Fire Emblem launching in October or December. The idea that they need to delay Fire Emblem because of Pokemon is ridiculous.

@EvilLucario
Eh...
Mini Switch will be so Painful for games like Overcooked or Portal Knights when the game is being played on Tabletop Mode.
It will be even smaller, even harder to see the small details / texts.

@IceClimbers I think it would in both cases because of the Smash/Pokemon combo (assuming a September release for Smash) whereas releasing first half of 2019 wouldn't have this problem.

With loot boxes now deemed illegal in the Netherlands and Belgium I'm really curious to see how EA and the rest get around it. The Netherlands has given them a deadline to remove or modify them ,while Belgium are warning publishers they could face up to 5 years in jail. Ultimate Team is such a huge money spinner for EA and one that seems to escape the same kind of flack games such as Battlefront 2 received.

Will EA just make UT unavailable in those 2 countries but continue to sell the game there? Will they stop selling FIFA there altogether? Will they change the whole loot box system globally to cater to the laws of 2 countries.It's very likely other European nations are going to follow suit. Will the UK though , a nation where gambling is disgustingly in your face 24/7 and one that happens to be FIFA's biggest market. Would they want to lose out on all that UK money just because some Euro nations have deemed their methods of taking it from you illegal?

This is a real tricky one for EA and whatever happens ,they're in for an enormous hit to their revenue..It's kind of ironic actually,if they hadn't taken the greedy route with Battlefront 2,the game that brought the whole loot crate fiasco into the spotlight ,then they probably could have got away with doing what they do in FIFA for years to come.Karma has finally bitten them in the ass.

@Grumblevolcano Agree to disagree then.

@OorWullie Does Ultimate Team even use loot boxes? I know it uses microtransactions, but that's not necessarily the same thing.

I would guess a new handheld would be 100% compatible with the switch. I see no reason for them to change the architecture, since it is the best for an handheld. In fact, I don't see any reason to move from arm in the foreseeable future. I think x86 is a mistake in a console.

A die shrink of the current chipset would lessen the power consumption considerably and would enable them to have a smaller unit without sacrificing processing power.

How the form factor would look like is a different story. Probably no tabletop mode. I don't think there is a good case for dual screen, except for scratch protection. And it would either divide the base or one screen would be underutilized. Besides it is cheaper to only have one screen.

@IceClimbers Yep,Ultimate Team Packs are sold like digital football sticker packs ,you've no idea what you're going to get until you open them.

I know first hand the wider problems stuff like this can cause. A few year ago my nephew was ,unknown to my sister ,racking up serious debt on her credit cards to pay for these Ultimate Team Packs. Debt that then led to other issues with him ,issues that weren't there before. Now he's in his mid 20's with a gambling problem and huge debts in his name to go with it. Obviously EA can't be blamed for his current woes but I have no doubt his teenage addiction to these UT packs was where the problems with him started. The way gambling is constantly promoted in the UK is disgraceful. How it's allowed I'll never know and seems to have got a lot worse in the years since the 2008 recession. Unsurprisingly ,while several nations round the world are coming out against loot crates,the UK gambling Association do not see them as a form of gambling. Apparently the US take the same stance.

Apologies for the rant

Do you think the Switch will get FIFA 19?

Nintendo's financial results are out.

First however, President Kimishima is stepping down. 46 year old Shuntaro Furukawa will be Nintendo's new president. That's pretty young!

Updated hardware and software sales as of March 31st:

Switch has sold 17.79 million units.

Super Mario Odyssey - 10.41 million
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 9.22 million
Zelda Breath of the Wild - 8.48 million (this is just for the Switch version!)
Splatoon 2 - 6.02 million
1-2 Switch - 2.29 million
ARMS - 1.85 million
Xenoblade 2 - 1.31 million
Kirby Star Allies - 1.26 million

EXCELLENT results!

@OorWullie The rest of the EU will mostly likely follow soon. It's ironic indeed. But it's pretty huge, because I also believe this covers skin in Overwatch and even the countless ''free-to-play'' games on mobile. I couldn't find anything about the deadline though, so I wonder how much time they have. It'll be interesting to see what happens next.

@IceClimbers So they're promoting a guy that only works a few years at Nintendo, and was the manager of their biggest marketing company, TPC... We shall see!

More info on Nintendo's new president Furukawa:
-Expert in marketing
-Close ties to Pokemon
-Spent 1/3 of career overseas (in Germany)
-Fluent English
-Played key role on Switch
-He's young (46).

Some more info on the new president it seems.

A PS4 game is far closer to a Blu-ray disk than a switch cartridge is to a microsd card. If the cost of consumer flash drives/cards lined up that closely to the cost of cartridges Nintendo would have had these problems for years. Because the price of flash today is pretty much exactly 1000x lower than it was when the DS launched. And games on the DS in the first year sat around 8-16MB... which also lines up with Switch games currently.

It's as simple as this, read only chips are cheaper

No rush whatsoever to make MK9 with those figures. MK8D could sell another 5+ million this year if they hit their 20 million Switch sales target.

I can't see Nintendo hitting 20 million Switch sales this financial year. Considering they only reached 18 million in it's first year, albeit that was due in part to the shortages in manufacturing the system, but to achieve such a massive amount this year will need to see Pokemon, Animal Crossing and Smash all before March 2019. That's just not happening. In fact, we may not even get two of those franchises.