Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I do hope Switch users won't have to wait for Cuphead's DLC, because I want that as well.

While I've never seen the series, and I don't have Netflix, the Stranger Things 3 idea seems pretty cool, and the game looked decent.

@gcunit Mix Twilight Zone, Twin Peaks, and ET = Stranger Things
Too bad the first two aren't coming.

I like how Microsoft is handling the releases of previously Xbox exclusive games on other platforms. It goes to other systems but without screwing over the Xbox players.

Halo MCC on PC where the first game added on PC is Reach which is being added to XB1 rather than say having Reach last and XB1 players having to wait much longer.

Now we've got Cuphead coming to Switch with content not in the XB1/PC version but those versions are getting an update in April with that content.

@Therad To be fair to communication companies, if you've seen how our government does anything, you'd be glad the communications companies are in charge. We'd just be getting ADSL if the government were running it. Plus the terrain really isn't conducive to wiring everything. Even with government funding and mandates, it took about 70 years to get telephone service everywhere.....the last one went online in the late 90's. If I were declared king of the internet tomorrow and tasked with getting internet at the proper speeds to every corner of the US without losing money and letting people use it as heavily as they want, I'd quit. It's ugly with the population distribution and geography. The vision of the internet the tech companies have is just different than the reality of geography and cost concerns really permit. Wireless was supposed to bridge it, but if they're stuck on UHF with the range of a walkie-talkie for it, it's pointless.

I smell a glorious future with Nintendo and Microsoft side by side, where their consoles go hand in hand.

This just makes me lean further toward Xbox as my preferred power console of choice.

Heads up. Apparently there will be a physical release of Cuphead on Switch/Xbox in the future once the patches and DLC are all out.

Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/cuphead-coming-to-nintendo-s...

Considering I already own Cuphead on PC, I'll probably wait for this physical version of the game.

@JaxonH Really? Makes me even more inclined to ignore Microsoft's hardware, to be honest. I have a PC for power, after all, and hundreds of games in my Steam library. I only buy consoles for exclusives (and portability, in the case of something like the Switch), and the Xbox brand will clearly have nothing to offer in that regard in the future.

Agreed. MS has made great strides with gamers ever since the debacle that was E3 2013. Kinect 2.0 required for the Xbox One to function, physical games tied to the system they were launched with, additional fees to have the license of that game transferred to a different player (MS gets money when you sell your physical copy of a game), and a daily internet check in just to play your games.

MS has been singing a different tune since they've been in third place the past couple years, eventually walking back all those poor decisions that buried the Xbox One. Seeing MS and Nintendo go buddy-buddy against Sony is endlessly entertaining. The next round of PS5 vs. Xbox Scarlett + Switch Pro should be electric. Que the Super Saiyan Cena gif please.

Why aren't Blaster Master Zero and Crypt of the Necrodancer on sale after the Direct? Seems like a missed opportunity.

@Magician Pretty much the best thing that can happen to any console manufacturer drunk on their own success is to take a vicious beating that just stops short of killing them. Happened to both Xbox after their success with the 360 and Nintendo after their success with the Wii, and they're ultimately better for it.

@Ralizah good point. A sale Would get me into crypt for sure.

@Ralizah " Makes me even more inclined to ignore Microsoft's hardware, to be honest. I have a PC for power, after all, and hundreds of games in my Steam library."

...there's always one.....
The Microsoft platform is one and the same. XBox hardware or Windows, doesn't matter, you're still playing on the Microsoft gaming ecosystem.

@NEStalgia I disagree. The PC platform, Windows OS or otherwise, plays host to a variety of storefronts, and is very much its own ecosystem. That it acts as a sort of "neutral zone" between the big console manufacturers is likely why it's now getting access to both Xbox and Playstation exclusives.

Granted, the Xbox brand's integration with Windows 10 blurs that line a lot, but I'm still on 8.1 and intend to stay on that until I literally have no other choice but to upgrade. Even then, however, it's not like you don't have access to hundreds of other storefronts that Microsoft is unconnected to.

@Ralizah The XBox was literally designed to be a Windows box in the living room to save the developer lock to Windows via DirectX from Sony's Playstation incursion into it and it's reliance on OpenGL. XBox's whole purpose is WINDOWS gaming to compete against PS, in a PS-like form-factor. Picking nits about the Windows Store versus access to other stores isn't really significant.

Windows 8/8.1 is the only thing worse than 10. 7 or go home.

But don't worry, you'll be playing all your games with a subscription in Chrome, soon, and I do know how you love your Chrome

@NEStalgia The only real problem with 8 are the strange changes made to the UI, and that's easily fixable by applying Classic Shell. I haven't seen the Metro screen in years.

@Ralizah
I buy consoles for additional games I couldn’t previously play, be they exclusive or otherwise. And one needs SOME kind of platform to play multiplats on, because as much as I like Switch there’s a lot of games it doesn’t get.

So, as it pertains to power consoles, yes, this really makes me lean towards Microsoft even more. Of course I already leaned towards them due to the power of X1X running games better than any other console, and the convenience of plug and play console versus PC, which I’m really not a fan of an only turn on when I absolutely have to. All my consuls and PC are connected to the same TV, but if I have a choice I’d much rather a game be on Xbox One X than PC. If I pulled out a stopwatch and counted the time it takes to get up out of my chair and turn my PC on it and boot into Windows, navigate the OS with a controller, boot into Steam, start the game, etc etc, and compare that to simply turning on the Xbox and firing up the game, there’s going to be a pretty big difference. That and not dealing with the crap you deal with on PC that I brought up many times before and really don’t want to get into now. There’s also games that do come to Switch but that I still want a 4K version of (like DOOM and Wolf)

But ya. Exclusives matter after you have already established a platform to play all the multiplats on. But you still have to have a platform to do that. And I’m definitely leaning towards Xbox as being that platform. They could have no exclusives and I would be leaning towards them. Because it’s not really about the exclusives here. The one big advantage PC has is games always being available in the future, but I think Xbox is going to change that with their new pro-consumer backward and forward compatibility stance.

I wonder if there's a physical release of Chocobo's Dungeon on the way? I say this because the eShop page has a notice that says 'Bonus for purchasing on Nintendo eShop: Buddy Chocobo Alpha', but currently the eShop is the only place to buy the game on Switch, so that notice is pretty much redundant unless there's also going to be a physical version.

@JaxonH As someone who owns almost every modern gaming platform, the Xbox One/One X exists in a space where it's irrelevant to me. It doesn't have the versatility, customizability, or openness of a PC (which, in addition to having access to an unfathomably large number of games going back decades, can also be used to emulate almost all other systems; the sheer amount of stuff you can do gaming-wise on PC is crazy). It doesn't have the Japanese third party support of the PS4. It doesn't have the portability or neat modular controllers or Nintendo games that make the Switch such a joy to own. Obviously it's missing out on the portability and unique software that made the 3DS and Vita worth owning. It's... OK if you don't care about Japanese games, or exclusives, or... anything else that makes the other consoles uniquely stand out, I guess.

I mean, if you like the Xbox brand, more power to you, but I really don't see how it's anything other than a third wheel in the industry right now.

I play Nintendo consoles almost exclusively, but if I were to get another modern system I'd be more inclined towards the Xbox One in principle, because Microsoft seems to treat their fans with more respect than Sony does, what with the whole cross-play thing etc. Realistically though, the PS4 has far more interesting exclusives in my opinion, mostly because of its superior support from Japanese developers, so I think I'd have to choose the PS4 over the Xbox One.

@subpopz
I don’t know, but quicker than PC. And please don’t take this personally but there’s always someone who says “ I can start my PC and get in a game in 3 1/2 seconds” but that’s just not the case for me. I have to get out of my seat to turn it on which I don’t have to do for my Xbox. I have to change an extra input on my TV which I don’t have to do for Xbox. I have to hope the little app that lets my controller control the mouse boots up right away which I don’t have to do on Xbox. I have to hope steam doesn’t have another update to install when I try to launch it (which has happened every single time I’ve turn my PC on for the last 2 1/2 years, and while Xbox does have system updates from time to time it’s not even remotely close, and it’s done automatically most the times anyways). I have to wait for steam to boot up in big picture mode half the time, inexplicably, something I don’t have to deal with on Xbox, and then when I get to the game I have to hope it doesn’t need an update as well. Because I can’t keep my PC on with Internet running because it will interfere with my switch Wi-Fi, yet again, something I don’t have to deal with on Xbox. All of that on top of the fact it just takes longer to boot up and start steam and start the game in the first place then it does to just grab a controller, hit the Xbox button and select the game to play.

I’m not trying to disparage PC to the guys who love PC who will list off 100 reasons why it’s better and tell me I’m just wrong, but PC is a inconvenience in comparison to consoles, especially when it’s hooked up like a console to a television where you don’t have a mouse and keyboard. I could write a book about all the reasons for that, but at the end of the day it just comes down to the fact it’s not as convenient, and it’s more of a hassle. I don’t have a secret bias against PC. If it was as convenient I would use it- it’s that simple really. And I don’t think it’s any secret that consoles have the advantage of more convenience and less hassle. That’s like the number one reason people by dedicated consoles. They’re convenient.

I feel like every time I say PC is less convenient than a console to me I have to defend my position. Anyone who likes PC please continue enjoying it. But for me it is not nearly as convenient it’s way more of a hassle and I would much rather use an Xbox one X.

@Ralizah
Because none of those reasons are why I like the Xbox. The reason I like it is for the big multiplats.

All the versatility and customizability an openness is is neat, if that’s what you’re looking for, but to me it’s like comparing it to a phone. A phone can do all kinds of things a console can’t do, heck you can even make phone calls and text message, but that’s not what I am buying a console for so it makes little difference. All the things PC can do are really nice and neat if that’s what you’re actually looking for but if that’s not what you care about that it doesn’t really make much of a difference at all. I just want a platform where I can play the big games on, and do it as conveniently as possible with games that look and run as good as possible. And Xbox One X is a dream when it comes to that. Absolutely superb.

I could exclusively game on Switch and be perfectly content. But having access to all the big multiplats is nice also, and I’d much rather play them on Xbox than PlayStation because they run better and I trust Microsoft more than Sony to actually make their games forward compatible. Sure, I like Japanese games, but I don’t like them enough to play them if they’re not on Switch, so it’s kind of a moot point. In fact there aren’t many games out there at all that I like enough to play if they’re not on Switch. But there are some- most of which are the bigger multiplat games (MH World, Trials Fusion, DMC5, etc). I like emulation too, but yet again I don’t play emulated games that much, and I’d rather have the convenience of an Xbox One X than deal with inconvenience on a regular basis just to have access to emulated games that I’m only going to play once a year anyways, not to mention the fact there’s a number of big console games that are getting no release on PC nowadays, or buggy release or late release. If I want to deal with that I’ll wait for the Switch version 😉

Truth is I don’t really like the Xbox brand. The brand is pretty bland to me and soulless. In fact Xbox has consistently been my least favorite platform since they entered the market. But my opinion has changed since owning an Xbox One X. And it didn’t change at first, because when I first got it the UI was so atrociously bad, with delay loading the icons for your games and delay moving around the menu, delay for everything, ads everywhere and a horrendous layout, that I actually wrote them off at one point and said I was done with Xbox and was selling my system. But then they updated it and it’s been amazing ever since.

So it has nothing to do with liking the brand, it has everything to do with it being a heck of an awesome console for playing all the biggest games. People talk about exclusives and emulated games and Japanese games and all these different types of games as being important, but fail to mention the importance of major multiplats, which account for 95% of the games released today. So if there’s a console that can play that 95% and do it better than any other console, and do it more conveniently with less hassle than a PC, why would it seem strange someone prefers that? Do you give up a few things and/or groups of games you could have gotten on another platform? Sure. But what you get in return for the 95% of games that do come is worth the tradeoff, just like it is on Switch. Because Switch also misses a lot of games (much more than Xbox) yet the advantages you gain for the games that do come make it worthwhile. The portability and motion make it worthwhile. For X1X, the superior performance and controller makes it worthwhile over PS, while the convenience and ease of use make it preferable to PC.