Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Magician It's blatantly made just for Mario collectors, as most people will have the upgrade or OLED by now (well except me as still rocking day one version cos waiting for the Zelda OLED) also a good way for Nintendo to get rid of the stock before proper upgrade.

@Ralizah It's very easy for us as observers to tie Tears of the Kingdom to the launch of a Switch successor as it's the only "massive" title we know about for now.

But it's very possible that Nintendo are holding onto other big launch-window titles in the mean time. We've gone a whole generation without a new main series Mario Kart, and it will have been over 6 years since the last big Mario game (I agree this is a likely candidate for a launch title). Plus there are also other series that are MIA, or Nintendo could otherwise have something else up their sleeve. There's so many possibilities here that I don't really think it's a mistake on Nintendo's part not to align TotK's launch with that of a new system.

It's also not that unusual for big titles to launch so late into a console's life cycle. Skyward Sword came relatively late in the Wii's life cycle (although I will concede that this was probably a mistake --- Nintendo's transition from Wii to Wii U was not great). Heck, some of the most notable PS4 titles didn't arrive until a good 5 years after the console launched.

And even if the Switch successor comes out next year, Nintendo still have to support the Switch for another year, and we've been waiting for TotK for 4 years at this point. Maybe TotK was always intended to launch years before any Switch revision and it's only due to unexpected delays that we're getting it at this point.

@Magician This is...underwhelming. And kinda annoying because at first glance it looks like you're getting a bundle of 3 Mario titles.

I imagine this is aimed at parents who want to get their kids a Switch "for Mario" but don't really know which game they want.

@Ralizah
Year 2024 is the 7th year of Switch lifespan so it's make a sense technology really developed vastly.
7 years is pretty fast, like waiting for 1st grade student until become 7th grade student.

@Colonel_Mustache
Yup.
I have posted my comment over there.

I am more hyped for Dredge, a fishing game, than any other fishing game I can even remember...being excited about. Although it's more of a sim-management game than a fishing game. Fishing is still the central theme. It's the eldritch horror that has my interest piqued.

Is that the encapsulation? Sim-management / horror / fishing...?

Sega Bass Fishing or Fishing Planet this is not.

Damn, it took me 6 years to realize the Switch has air vents on the back of the system. That explains the loud fan issue I've had since September (it reappeared more often over the past few days).

Got my Nyxi GameCube joycon controllers.

They register as actual joycon, and combined register as joycon paired in the grip. It’s kinda wild playing Metroid Prime Remastered with these. Like, the authentic GameCube experience but with modern controls, a full button set including all 4 shoulder buttons (and even two rear grip buttons), normal sized d-pad, two full size analogs (with round gates- it comes with octagonal gates by default but lets you swap them out for round gates, which I did), gyro aiming and digital triggers.

Wow, so all these are happening next week:

• MK8 Deluxe DLC wave 4
• Metroid Fusion on NSO Expansion Pack
• FE Engage DLC wave 3
• Mario Movie Direct

@JaxonH
Do we know what the translation on those Chinese characters is? (Google lens isn't picking it up for me)

Edit: Home now, found it: 次世代機 -> next generation machine

Also, to be fair, I don't think this really adds anything to what was originally said if accurate. I mean what, do we expect there to be a performance enhancing patch to be done for an (internally) superficial revision? If you're going to patch games for new hardware the new hardware is internally different enough to demand a patch

MEGA DRIVE CONTROLLER STOCK UP ON UK NINTENDO STORE

https://store.nintendo.co.uk/en/sega-mega-drive-control-pad-f...

SCALPERS GO! GO! GO! Ah Wait no one really cares about this controller

Hoping for N64 controller restock now

@JaxonH @skywake Seems strange to me that an external contractor (a programmer, even) would know much outside their narrow area of expertise --- especially when it comes to something like release windows for new hardware. Sure, they seemingly got this week's announcements right - but they leaked these details only a few days ahead.

Essentially, I think there's maybe some element of truth here, but I'm personally not putting too much weight on it (there may have been miscommunications/misunderstandings, plans may change, etc.)

@Buizel
I agree with the scepticism of this rumour specifically, I'm not sure I agree with how you got there. For one I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear that GameFreak is outsourcing development. Frankly, seems very likely that cost-cutting is high on their agenda given the quality of their output. And if your firm was being tasked with creating a patch to take advantage of newer hardware for Pokemon? I think you'd know full well what was going on. It all kinda makes technical, business and timing sense. So functionally, the story kinda fits

But there are a couple of things that make me doubt the validity. The first thing being, other than the specific details that lined up with the Direct? Nothing in here is that unpredictable. It's basically just parroting what I already expect to happen TBH. New hardware late this year, early next year. Games might be patched to take advantage of the hardware. Nothing too shocking there. Which could mean its right, could also mean it's just someone with no more insight than any of us. Maybe they were just involved with the Direct itself in some capacity and tacked the new hardware bit on the end. Who knows

But the main thing that makes me kinda doubt any of these kind of leaks? I mean, why would you? I don't get why anyone would leak this. Person would have signed an NDA, they're basically risking their career over this. And for what, 5mins of anonymous internet fame? I mean we know people do it, some of these sorts of leaks are most certainly legit. And I certainly get some entertainment out of it from this end of it. But...... I just don't get why anyone would do this

Show me a photo from a factory and I'll take notice. Throw out something way out there and I'll try and make sense of it. This? Might be accurate, might not be. Bit too lean to say much more than it seems about right

Nintendo could be preparing something for Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom next week or in the coming weeks

Say, where is the article about 6th Anniversary of Nintendo Switch ?

@JaxonH The official Monster Hunter Youtube channel is hosting the Capcom Spotlight event which means we're getting info about the April update on March 9th.

Hey, @Giancarlothomaz Could you translate this? I get it says DLC and Legend of Zelda but not much else. Also, are they credible?

@TeaCatherine this jornalist is saying that Nintendo is showing all the informations regarding DLC/Switch Online, before they start focusing on Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom possibly begining next week, so in short the marketing campaing for the game will be more intense now, credible yes, he is the chief editor of Universo Nintendo, one of the best website in Brazil focused in Nintendo.

@Giancarlothomaz Sounds quite believable, Mario Kart the other day, now FE, seems to check out. So, we might get its specialised Direct either this week or next week?

@skywake Tbf pretty much everything you describe could apply to the vast majority of "leaks", and I agree with you there.

To elaborate on the source of my skepticism - it's not that I doubt that GameFreak is heavily outsourcing game development (in fact, I seem to remember a Youtube video digging a bit into this, finding that most of SV's credits were to external studios). And I don't doubt that they'd have some technical knowledge of the situation, e.g. patching the game for more powerful hardware.

What I do doubt however, is any knowledge of the "top-level" decisions / features that this programmers work is in support of. I don't know about how work is contracted out in the video game industry specifically, but it would make sense to me if a contractor was kept at arms length. They might have some internal deadlines that they have to meet (e.g. deliver coding package X by time Y), but they can only infer from that what Nintendo's, or even just Game Freak's, longer-term strategy is. Maybe they've heard something with their collaborators through the grapevine, but this is prone to misinformation.

Basically, if we're going to learn anything about new hardware (other than a simple indication of "it's coming eventually"), I really doubt we're going to hear it from a contractor performing a specific outsourced task.

@Buizel
I think where we disagree is in the nature of software development and contracted work. Obviously when you outsource work you're not going to outline the entire thing. For example you might internally be deciding if you're going to change direction, that's not something you'd tell an outsourced team. So you are right in that sense, you only give outsourced developers the information they need to do the work

I think where we disagree is in terms of how much information that would be. If GameFreak has outsourced development work for the purposes of developing a patch that can leverage new hardware? That outsourced team will have a scope/requirements document for the works, they'll have the existing code and assets, they'll have a deadline for release, they'll have a development kit for the new hardware. I mean at that point what don't they know? That's quite literally the entire thing

Speaking from experience, the main thing you keep from outsourced teams is whether or not you're going to pull the plug on the contract. Corporate political stuff is what you keep away from them. You can't feasibly keep things like what your product is, when you expect to release, what the target platform is. Those things are the bits of information you go out of your way to share for them to do the work effectively. And again from experience, the inability do effectively communicate those things is where outsourced work usually falls apart