Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Eagly It was likely announced way too early to coincide with the hype surrounding the Detective Pikachu movie.

@Eagly @Grumblevolcano The first game had a lot of facial animation mocap stuff. I assume the sequel also has this, and that stuff is pretty much impossible to do in a work from home environment. In other words, Covid likely hit this games development like a truck.

@JaxonH It certainly is a notable gap, as things stand, and in the context of the Mario movie in April, no new Mario game since Feb. 2021, and Tears of The Kingdom having taken so long, my 'new hardware in Spring 2023' fire is burning that little bit hotter.

Nothing surprising about the gap in the first party release schedule. The frequency of first party releases slow down as a platform gets on in age. I'm just curious to discover if MP4 will be a swan song for the current Switch or a launch title for the Switch successor.

This is kind of the issue though. Switch took off because handheld players had been stuck at 240p on the 3DS or with an abandoned Vita, and Wii U was near-enough abandoned in 2015. Millions of people probably hasn't engaged with Nintendo products since the Wii/DS days.

The market as a whole was hungry for a well-supported HD hybrid when the Switch launched in 2017.

But now, the market as a whole is not hungry for something like the Switch, because the market has whole-heartedly bought into Switch and the games that go with it. The new blue ocean of hybrid gaming has been tapped.

So when Switch 2 launches, millions of customers are going to be in that position of still being content with their Switch and buying Switch games.

This could impair Switch 2's chances of replicating Switch 1's early success. And if Switch 2 doesn't take off, it wouldn't surprise me at all to see the age-old third party support issue become 'a thing' again.

Now I'm not talking a Wii U situation, but I'm more envisaging a 3DS situation - a bit slow to follow-through on the Day 1 success and ultimately only get to 60-75 million units.

Now obviously, a significantly beefed up Switch should see a lot more ports from the PS4/PS5 generation, but those kind of games e.g. the likes of Witcher 3 and Nier Automata that we get now, are not the games that are going to get the millions of families with 1-3 Switch units in their household to upgrade.

The DS and Wii were notable innovations that got everyone's attention. The Switch is a notable innovation that got everyone's attention. I just feel it's too soon to expect Nintendo to innovate sufficiently to get the same level of attention.

That being said, I am still faintly holding on to the idea that Switch 2 will offer 1080p handheld resolution to make VR that bit more attractive, and Nintendo will commit to it with proper VR experiences for Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, Kirby, Xenoblade etc. Offering that kind of family friendly VR option baked-in to a Switch 2, against PlayStation's $1,000+ VR option, would help Switch 2 catch attention.

@gcunit I agree with everything you just said. Bravo!

With every day that passes, I think it's increasingly likely it will be both.

@JaxonH yeah this gap between Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is a bit suspecious, and with the news Creatures is doing H e R on a next generation hardware, Switch sucessor is 2/3 years closer to release

@Magician given how long the game is taking to develop, is likely Metroid Prime 4 could be Switch swan song game and Switch sucessor launch game.

The coolest thing about VR are dinosaurs and don't forget a T-Rex.

@Kermit1

@gcunit I don't think it's helpful to compare this to the Wii / Wii U situation. A lot of the issues there were Nintendo's own doing.

A better comparison IMO would be some of Sony's most successful consoles.

PS5 is pretty much more of the PS4 and is doing well enough so far, despite basically everything on the PS5 being available on the PS4.

Going much further back, PS1 was a runaway success, opening up new avenues in gaming and capturing a new, more mature audience. PS2 mostly just did more of the same (plus DVD player) and was even more of a success.

Conversely, PS3 didn't quite recapture the PS2 audience, but this was largely due to Sony's own failings and strong competition from the Xbox 360.

@Buizel Not saying you don't have a point, but I'm not sure the PlayStation market is directly comparable with the Nintendo market.

@gcunit
I think enough enthusiasts will buy in those first few years to keep it going until the ppl satisfied with Switch decide to upgrade. Basically like what we see with PS.

@gcunit The page has been trucking since this morning so in the interest of not derailing I will say I expected a lot of things to be different. Technical proficiency of dev teams , universal system buy in of publishers, more sophisticated game mechanics to be universal/more widely adopted (goes back to the first), more genre entries instead of a few top contenders, better load times in games, more female characters as leads without the use of a character creator or male option, more fantastical worlds (overall), inspiration from more cultures and peoples, better written stories for games that rely on that. I'd also hoped that "gamers" in my age group would mature, but that doesn't seem to be the case (I don't blame gaming for that however). When I was younger, gaming had the same possibilities of books...that has faded for the realistic limitations of gaming and the acceptance that while I enjoy the hobby I'm not its intended demographic and I need to look elsewhere for satisfaction (hence I'm reading way more now). If I had the time I'd start making games myself (and it is something to think about later on) but for now I'm just going draw down my focus. I'm not saying gaming is bad...otherwise I would not have sunk so much time and money into it but I'm finding that games where I really feel connected, love this hobby are wider and wider apart. Gaming reminds me of why I stopped reading comic books for a long time.

On Topic: Marketing is going to be key for Nintendo with the successor. People get mad at sony (moral standpoint) for their marketing strategy of wanting to make people think they "need" their next console, but it works. Rule of cool rather than practicality sells PS5s right now (that will change as exclusives come but for the most part you can play most of the big games on a PS4 or PC), I for instance only bought mine because I could get it at normal price, and Nintendo needs to push for that type of perception.

games are indeed expensive, here in Brazil i have to pay R$350($67.89) up to R$ 500($96.97) in games here in Brazil, specially physical media for Switch games, R$300($58.18) if you buy digital games in the brazilian eShop.

@Ryu_Niiyama Thanks for answering my question, I appreciate it, and certainly get where you're coming from in at least some of those respects, particularly the female characters thing, the relative lack of sophistication in mechanics, and general diversity (not that there isn't some decent diversity out there, but gaming seems to follow movies too much in the way the bigger industry players tend to homogenise).

One of my favourite things about the internet is that it's enabled me to broaden my horizons and take inspiration from people different to me that I would otherwise be unlikely to get to know. You're one of those people, and while I suspect the feeling isn't entirely mutual, I value your input and ideas, so I'm interested to find out what kind of books have been floating your boat in the space not filled by games.

@gcunit I think you may be right about the appeal of Switch 2. The idea of Nintendo releasing a new console that's just the Switch again, but more powerful, does nothing for me. I'd inevitably end up getting one for the exclusive Marios and Zeldas but I wouldn't be in any hurry to upgrade, and if I feel that way despite being a big Nintendo fan I imagine millions of casual players would probably be perfectly happy to stick with the Switch they already have.

But hopefully Nintendo has some kind of new innovation up their sleeves that will make the console more interesting. I've thought the same about VR; the Switch's form factor would be perfect for affordable VR if it just had a better resolution. I can't really imagine Nintendo going all-in on that idea and making it the main selling point though, but we'll see.

@Rambler interesting analogy. Music’s big changes weren’t just due to creative direction changing but due to greater label control over the “product” (not as efficient as the idol industry in Japan… I say this with a straight face as a Perfume fan, granted they fought for and gained a lot of control over their sound) and chasing trends. I personally feel that mirrors a lot of gaming’s growth except it happened in stops and spurts. Rather than a smoother pivot. But yeah gaming seemed to be (to me) like it would have been more, in so many ways it’s the same mainstream string pulling. Some of that I get from a business perspective and honestly the money I don’t spend on games I spend on stock for game companies so that I get a benefit (sadly I didn’t buy during the wiiu years or I’d be retiring by now lol). But I can’t tell yet if I expected too much or if gaming has the same strangulation of ideas that most mediums have.

@gcunit hmm I am not sure how to respond to the last part of your comment as I can’t tell if I have done something that makes you think I have an issue with you or not. So I will give my basic response. In general I enjoy discussion, but not emotionally charged exchanges (I find them illogical with the potential to cause great harm…if it helps to illuminate, I am an INTJ female) , I respect everyone’s right to their opinion but I don’t feel obligated to ingest it or debate it (different from discussion) as I am here because I love games and NL just isn’t a good format for nuance. Plus some people have crap opinions (I am certain someone feels the same about me) and I do feel you should be mindful of what you ingest and that includes the thoughts of others. I’m also super busy so I tend to miss responses. And I try not to text wall because I can get into the weeds of a discussion if I enjoy it. I’m easy to gauge; if I haven’t blocked or ignored you then I don’t mind discussions or your general comments/personality (except those upchuck gifs you posted earlier. My stomach did not approve. I can’t even go back to that article now). But I don’t entertain people that I find harmful, condescending, exceedingly juvenile or extremists (including unhinged folks) as my first goal is protecting my peace, not being everyone’s friend (and doxxing/crazy people happen). One does not have to take abuse to be tolerant. And since this is a gaming site first and foremost I don’t feel I have to. TLDR: I don’t have an issue with you.

Book wise a lot of philosophy and American civil rights accounts right now, tech and science books (always) and a few lesbian fantasy and romance books. Also rereading Moby Dick as it is one of my favorites.

I'm gonna stop posting in this thread for now, I'm not getting any new games for Switch anytime soon and I just don't feel motivated to talk about new games or hardware.