Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Yeah lol, the PS3 had a rough first few years.

@rallydefault The final game to be published for PS2 also came out right when the PS4 was being released. That console had serious longevity

I think Switch is gonna do it.

They're at 90 million at 4.5 yrs on the market. Ok. Follow me here.

They did 28 million last FY. They won't hit that this year but judging by their latest quarter, they should hit their projection of 25 mil this FY. That takes them to 110 million at the full 5 yr mark. 45 million to go.

All they'd have to do is manage 45 mil the final 3 years. That's 15 mil per year on average. And their momentum will likely mean 20 mil is sold for FY6. Requiring just 15M in FY7 and 10M in FY8 to cap it off.

But let's say projections fall a bit short and they only do 22M this FY. Meaning they have a few mil to make up. Even then it's within grasp. Simply averaging 16M instead of 15M per year would make up for it, or by or going for a 9 year generation, that would make up for it.

And if they go 9 years (which I think is a distinct possibility) they'll comfortably smash it. If they don't break the record, however, it's going to be by a hair's margin. They're gonna come dangerously close at the very least.

Picross S Genesis is a wonderful game. One of the things I loved about 3DS was the Zelda and Pokémon Picross games. They felt right, and weren't games I'd play on the TV but on handheld were tons of fun.

Up until now I've avoided the Picross games but this release feels more special, like the ones on 3DS. Themed with gaming, and I love that. It's got normal Picross, Mega Picross, Color Picross and Clip Picross. The controls are excellent and work very well with analog. They have count functions and optional hints, even a hint roulette... this game and Switch Lite are a perfect match.

I don’t think PS3 was a bad console at all. It had some problems for sure. But overall I don’t think PS has ever made an outright “bad” console. They’ve been pretty run of the mill but fairly consistent as a result. Nothing which ever radically deviates that’ll surprise and delight like some Nintendo consoles, but also nothing that’ll gravely disappoint like some Nintendo consoles either.

I’m all for digital only consoles now, tbh. Faster load times when games are ran from SSD, while cartridges are stuck at HDD speeds. Granted, that’s also the case for micro SD, but hopefully next gen Switch 2 will go with SD Express to increase read speeds from around 100 mbps to 1,000 mbps. As for the carts, they’ll have to either install to internal storage or SD like other systems do, or use more expensive high speed carts. Which will only serve to push developers away from physical and go all digital anyways, or mandate significant downloads. Idk. I’d rather not have games hamstrung by physical media. I like physical, I am an avid collector, but above all else I am a gamer, and when the two are diametrically opposed, I choose the games rather than than the shelf.

Then again, it’s not that big a difference between load times when games are programmed well. Tests for Steam Deck running games on micro SD vs NVMe only showed 10-15 seconds difference in most AAA games. So it’s not the end of the world if they stick with running games from cart. But I do think they should increase the speed to match SD express. That would at least be 1.5X the speed of traditional SATA SSDs which were mainstream before NVMe blew up.

I did choose the disc version PS5 because I like the option, even though I’m digital only on that system. But I’m perfectly OK with systems being digital only such as Steam Deck. If the switch was able to release a digital only Lite that was a bit slimmer I’d be interested, though I’m not sure how much smaller it would be given the size of the cartridge slot wouldn’t be much space saved.

@JaxonH The PS3 holds a special place in my heart since it's the first PlayStation I ever owned. It had a really infamously rough start but around 2008 or 2009 it started getting really good, which was also coincidentally around the time Microsoft was seemingly trying to get some of that Wii money by targeting 360 towards more casual folk with the introduction of Kinect and whatnot. Everything after Metal Gear Solid 4 dropped imo was when Sony really turned that console around, and bookending it with Last of Us was an incredible send off for that console

I'd say it's the PlayStation that's been rapidly getting more appreciation as time has gone on and has kind of endured the best for how much flack it initially received. It's also the one that made me a bonafide PS fan which led me to getting all of their consoles and handhelds from then on

IDK. The PS3 isn't far off feeling like the Wii U in terms of redundancy. So many games in my PS3 collection have been re-released on later platforms, or were PS2 games in the first place. And the consensus I keep seeing is that multi-plats from that gen generally run better on the 360. There's not much I'd miss from my PS3 collection if it disappeared.

PS3 was roundly inferior to the Xbox 360 in most regards. 360 had:

• better exclusives (obviously subjective, but I've never been too impressed by ND's output)
• better performing multiplats
• a lower price tag (early on, at least)
• superior indie game support

To the PS3's credit, its lineup of PS1/PS2 Classics was incredible, and obviously Sony chose wisely in the format wars that gen by backing bluray.

It's easily the most disposable of the Playstation consoles, though.

Whines in Ratchet and Clank

No but really, this line is just wrong:

It's easily the most disposable of the Playstation consoles, though.

Even though it has PS1 backwards compatibility, some models have PS2 BC as well, most PS2 games you'd want would be on the PS3, it has some really good games stuck on the platform (most notably the majority of the R&C PS3 games, the R&C collection, Puppeteer, Metal Gear Solid 4), and it didn't have Kinect.

I think there are 2 essential Playstation consoles at this point, PS3 and PS4/PS5 (pick 1 out of PS4/PS5, not both). The 60GB PS3 allows you to play PS1, PS2 and PS3 games meanwhile PS4/PS5 has the situation where there's not much reason to own a PS5 if you already own a PS4 but if you don't then it doesn't matter which you pick given Sony's releasing almost all their PS5 games on PS4 anyway.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah, if you own an og PS3, you're getting the whole PlayStation library from the original to the PS3 and PS2, and even the Slim and Ultra Slim have plenty of PS2 classics available on the PS Store and collections, *and if you own a PS5 as well, you get nearly all of the PS4 games and the new upcoming PS5 games.

So really now you only need two PlayStation consoles to experience the whole PlayStation library (or at least the vast majority).

The 60gb PS3 is good in theory, but I've avoided buying one because they have a reputation for poor long-term durability. PS2 is b/c with PS1 so I'd really not be missing much.

PS3 is pretty much just a Ratchet and Clank machine for me at this point (how did neither the trilogy or the PS3 titles make it to PS4?). Other than that, and the odd PS1/PS2 title (Persona 3 FES), I very rarely go back.

That said, I rarely go back to the Wii and Xbox 360 either. It's difficult for me to get past the motion controls on the former, and the latter doesn't really have too many exclusives that appeal to me these days. Multiplats from that gen are mostly either on PC, BC with Xbox Series, or have been rereleased on more modern consoles.

Level-5 is dead as far as I'm concerned.

They have decided to stay JP-only, in the territory that's not buying their games, and forego localizing in the west, the territory that's buying up games like crazy.

@JaxonH

Agreed, Level-5 makes me sad.

What I wouldn't give for a Switch port of Fantasy Life though.

The best MMO-lite not enough people played.

Professor Layton is up there with Ace Attorney for me as one of my favorite video game series. They've released a number of other really high-quality games over the years as well.

I have no idea what happened at Level-5, but to regress to the point where you're not even trying to release console games outside of Japan...

Oh well. Layton's done, they don't want to release a proper sequel to Fantasy Life, Snack World kinda sucked, the Yokai Watch bubble finally burst, etc. I guess it's not like they had much to offer at this point anyway.

@Ralizah Honestly I'd have to disagree on the exclusives part

Xbox 360 had bangers like Halo 3 and Gears of War but ironically it was for me when the PS3 was getting better exclusives that the 360's kind of dropped off in quality. Halo 3 ODST and Reach were great but I didn't love Halo 4, Mass Effect was initially exclusive but came to PS3, the Kinect stuff was pretty disposable, Halo Wars kind of just came and went for me and Too Human was such a misfire

I feel it was by the end of the generation that people started labelling Xbox as the "Halo, Gears and Forza console" since that was pretty much most of their notable output by the end of 360 going into Xbox One. It isn't bad, but PS3 by this point had curated much more diversity in its exclusives imo

@Ralizah

I agree about the X360 having better first party games over the PS3. But from a perspective of hardware, the build quality for the X360 was trash. The chipset always ran too hot which resulted in the board flexing and causing the RRoD. I won't say it was guaranteed but I believe the failure rate for the platform was 55% (if not worse). Personally, I replaced my X360 four times over the seven years I enjoyed the platform.

Meanwhile, I only ever bought one PS3, having never experienced the white light of death once.

I’ve always said that I don’t think catching the DS and PS2 would be realistic…

…but I think when it comes to lifetime sales and seeing where Switch is now at, knowing that there’s still at least 18 months of “current support” from Nintendo and knowing that they’ve still got plenty of room for movement into budget territory I’ve changed my mind.

Like @JaxonH I now think Nintendo will come close and could definitely do it if they really want to. It’s down to how long they want to sell the Switch for, how much they’re willing to reduce prices (including software) and how much of a continuation the successor is.

I wouldn’t be surprised if future “mini” consoles from Nintendo (like a GameCube mini or a Wii Mini) are actually just Switches in different boxes with a skinned UI (even if they don’t come until many years down the line).

I think Switch will reach the Wii and PS1 around March 2022 from a Pokemon boost (both upcoming games releasing before then), PS4 and GB/GBC around March 2023 if BotW 2 launches in 2022.

At least 3rd seems like a guarantee.