Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@TheFrenchiestFry For me, the exclusives that defined the 360 were stuff like Alan Wake, Mass Effect (at the time), Viva Pinata, and Lost Odyssey. PS3 had nothing that could compete. IMO, it still doesn't, even if 360 dropped off near the end.

Ironically, I've still never played a Halo or Forza game. I liked Gears of War at the time, but lost interest after the second game, which dropped the light horror feel of the original game.

@Magician lol I bought mine during the height of the RRoD crisis and never had a single issue. Didn't they resolve that issue with hardware revisions?

@Ralizah The build quality was suppose to have improved with the Elite version a couple years into the X360's lifecycle. But my Elite RRoD'd just as quickly as previous models. Perhaps the build quality improved again with the S version in 2010? But I never owned that model.

@Magician The S version is the one that's widely considered to be the best Xbox 360 model. From what I heard it apparently addressed a lot of the hardware complaints people were having with the launch and elite models and also has a way sleeker design

@Ralizah Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon and Alan Wake were some of my favorite 360 games but I also think those were coming out around the time Microsoft had the edge in terms of exclusive titles for me. After Metal Gear Solid 4 Sony imo really cleaned up their act. Some people don't like Naughty Dog's style of game and that's fine. I still think there were plenty of other noteworthy exclusives the PS3 had anyway

I honestly forgot how good Square's 360 output was considering it was their first time on Xbox to my knowledge. They came out with stuff like FFXI and Blue Dragon pretty quickly and obviously FFXIII going multiplatform was a huge deciding factor in people switching to Xbox from PS3

Blue Dragon wasn't Square Enix- I believe that was Sakaguchi's first game outside of Square Enix, actually.

Tales of Vesperia, Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon, the trifecta of 360 JRPG exclusives. Tales is now Remastered and on Switch at that, but the other two remain 360 exclusive.

Xbox One stunk when it came to exclusive output, but despite a slow start, it seems Series S/X is going to take us back to the glory days. They've got a lot of quality exclusive titles in the bullpen right now.

And I'm there for all of it. I'm very picky with my racers. Forza Horizon 5 is, alongside Cruis'n Blast on Switch, one of the few I'm excited for. Halo Infinite looks excellent. Gears Tactics was better than XCOM 2 and I can't wait for the next entry. Gears of War 5 is one of the best 3rd person shooter campaigns I've ever played (especially co-op), and no doubt the next will be just as good. Add in the next Ori, Hellblade 2, all of Obsidian's future output including The Outer Worlds 2, and all of Bethesda's output like Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield, Doom sequel and Wolfenstein sequel...

And they may actually end up with one of the finest exclusive lineups this generation. I choose to play their games on Steam where I can use Gyro, but for any non-PC gamer, I think Xbox is going to be a console to own this generation.

@JaxonH I'll be honest, the Series X library would be way better for me if most of the titles I was personally interested in weren't either "2022" or "TBA"

Really the thing that made me start following them more closely was the Bethesda acquistion because games like Starfield and potentially Elder Scrolls VI, as well as IPs like DOOM, Evil Within, Prey and Wolfenstein are massive gets if all of them are going to be console exclusives to Xbox now. I'm still wary on Halo Infinite because they've been emphasizing multiplayer a lot more in recent marketing while being dodgy around showing more than just really brief, non-gameplay snippets of single-player after last year's showcase. It's a wait and see for me, but at least it isn't the mess that was Xbox One's output

Microsoft has a lot of promises and a terrible track record for consistently turning out high quality first party content, so until some of these fabled games actually start releasing, they get no points from me. I'm sure stuff from the Zenimax deal will turn out well, but their actual first-party output is incredibly suspect.

To lure me back, they'd need some high-quality Japanese exclusives, frankly. Those are what I buy consoles for. And I just don't think they're going to make those sorts of deals going forward. Especially after their collaboration with Platinum Games imploded.

I started Skyward Sword HD today and it controls so much better than the Wii version, I'll actually be able to play further than the 2nd dungeon this time.

@JaxonH @TheFrenchiestFry Xbox is still in the realm of lots of potential but no results yet which is how its been for a fair few years now.

@TheFrenchiestFry
Ya, a lot of their output is yet to come. So it's still tentative and subject to change. But from what I can see, things are going to look a lot different by the time this generation is over. I think mid-2023 is when enough exclusives will have released that ppl will start reconsidering their need for an Xbox. Unless they completely botch the majority of their releases, but I don't think that's very likely.

@Ralizah Scalebound being cancelled is still probably the biggest blow to their reputation in the Japanese market. Couple that with the fact that Japanese content in general has traditionally always skipped Xbox during that generation and it just doesn't really compel me on that front

I do see Xbox being a super viable console for Western RPGs now that they have Bethesda, InXile and Obsidian all under their umbrella, but Sony snatching up timed deals on stuff like Final Fantasy XVI, the future parts of VII Remake and that new Luminous game is a massive dent on Xbox's viability in the Japanese market even if they have shown signs of progress thanks to the deal they have with SEGA regarding Yakuza on Game Pass and PSO2

@JaxonH See the problem I have is that in that time it takes for Xbox games to really start coming out on a consistent basis, it might be too late to really sway me over. I'm pumped as hell for Hellblade 2, Outer Worlds 2, the Fable reboot and the Perfect Dark reboot from The Initiative, as well as Starfield from Bethesda, but considering next year alone has stuff like God of War and Horizon already with confirmed windows from Sony in addition to what's already out for PS4 and PS5 right now, it's honestly kind of concerning they came into the gen seemingly this underprepared and banking everything on "at least you can play all previous gens of Xbox on one console". I don't deny that's selling point for a lot of people, I applaud them for their efforts to keep the game preservation dream alive, but there has to come a point where people have to wonder why they were so desperate for people to care about their console they prematurely announced a bunch of first party exclusives that probably aren't coming out for 2, 3 or even possibly 4 years. That's like stretching all the way into the middle of the console generation if last gen was any indication and by then we'll only just be getting games we were promised back in like 2020. I don't even know what the hell is going on with Everwild from Rare

This whole output issue they have would've honestly been mostly patched up if they had at least one genuine next-gen exclusive game ready for launch like Sony did by having both Miles Morales and Sackboy as cross-gen games, while Demon's Souls headlined the PS5-only stuff. It was supposed to be Halo and I understand that the reception towards that demo caused 343 to rethink things but still. Even a remake or something would've been at least reassuring

@TheFrenchiestFry
As far as I'm concerned, it's never too late to care about great games. If they're out at launch I play at launch. If they're out 5 years after launch then I play 5 years after launch. It's of little consequence to me when a game releases. A game tomorrow is just as good as a game today. It might delay purchasing the system if I were to not play on PC, but at the end of the day, once the games are out I'm gonna make sure I'm there to play them. Two games on another console won't monopolize my time all year and every year after.

I agree it would have been in their best interest to have a better year one, even if it was cross gen or remakes. But, they didn't. Once the games are steadily pumping out though, ppl will forget all about what happened before.

@JaxonH Oh yeah I don't deny the games should be able to speak for themselves, and I'm getting them regardless since I play on PC, but say if I wasn't a PC gamer and just strictly used or preferred consoles. I honestly wouldn't be compelled to wait half a console generation for games that were promised before the console even released while a bunch of games came out in that time that I wasn't really as interested in. Unfortunately I am not a Forza or Gears person (at least I'm not really into Gears after 3), so it just wouldn't really be a sell for me when I could buy a PS5 now and at least have some solid stuff to play before the big hitters like God of War and Horizon hit, let alone other stuff. That's really the thing holding Xbox back from my perspective. They could be way stronger when it comes to just being more regular with releases. I know in a few years it probably won't matter but first impressions are and always will be important to me when I'm in the market for something new

@TheFrenchiestFry
Ya that's probably why XS isn't doing as well games right now. So they're paying the price. But that's their problem to deal with. I just care about the games. I'm sure they'll lose quite a few sales to one console households who opt for PS instead.

But I also suspect once the machine is oiled up and running, quite a few will decide they want a second console. Especially at the $299 price point of the S. If they come hard with a spectacular lineup over next few years, that low cost entry could do wonders.

And you always benefit or suffer from your reputation the previous generation. Gen 9 will be all about repairing the damage done during gen 8. But they won't truly start seeing massive benefits until Gen 10, assuming they rebuild their reputation and show gamers they can consistently release quality titles year after year.

I wouldn't count too much on a sales boost for the Switch from the new Pokémon games. The vast majority which is into them already owns the hardware.

@JaxonH Which I guess is probably why I'm more interested in following Xbox's initiatives this gen even though I'm not really an Xbox fan or gamer. With Sony, I already kind of know where they're headed in terms of success and I'm just going to enjoy the games, but Xbox really kind of have something to prove this gen which I guess makes them more intriguing to watch develop as they begin to repair their reputation from the era of the One

@Grumblevolcano i expect the Switch is gonna outsell the Wii during the holiday season or begining of 2022.

It's never been a better time to be a gamer. This is, by far, my favorite generation to date. Hybrid gaming and Gyro aiming accessible on Switch and PC, with both Xbox and PS exclusives coming to PC, which means hybrid gaming and Gyro for Switch, Xbox and PS games. AND, with the DualSense finally perfecting Gyro with the magnometer, motion aiming has finally reached the pinnacle of its potential.

I watch Xbox games with great interest knowing I will be able to play them on my TV with a Dualsense and Gyro aiming, or on the Steamdeck in handheld mode with Gyro aiming. It was hard to get excited for their games knowing I'd never play them with an Xbox controller which doesn't offer any modern functionality, and stuck on the TV only at that. But ever since they started releasing not just on Windows, but Steam, it feels like all their games suddenly became relevant for me.

I watch PS games with less immediate interest knowing they'll come to PC, but later... not day and date. I'll get hyped when their Steam release gets announced. Which, it seems like most of their games will be coming to PC at some point judging by their statements and buying out studios specifically for PC porting. Which is a great move. They get my money, so they're happy, and I get my hybrid PS games with Gyro, so I'm happy. Everyone wins.

Truly, this is an incredible time to be into video games. Or at least, it will be when the day comes Switch OLED and Steam Deck have both released and PS5 adds NVMe support. On that day, I will confidently declare it to be peak video games. Switch OLED and PS5 NVMe support will both be out within the next 2 months. Steam Deck, on the other hand, will likely be 6-9 months for me. Oh I want it so baaaad

check out the new teaser trailer of Metroid Dread

@Giancarlothomaz
Love it.

Metroid Dread is up there with Monster Hunter Rise as one of the most hyped games of the generation. Been waiting sooo looong for this. Metroid Prime 4 will be equally hype, if we ever get an actual reveal trailer with a release date.

Wonder what those glyphs mean? Leader Chozo commands his army to destroy other chozo?