Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Agreeing with the sentiment that there's way too much hate for the launch lineup. It's not amazing, but having a big 3D Zelda game, a big 3D Mario game, and other mega sellers like Mario Kart and Splatoon in the first year is nothing to sneeze at. That alone could draw a lot of people in and get the Switch off to a good start. I don't really see it setting the world on fire with this lineup either, but it should have a solid first year.

One thing that's quite interesting,of all the negative comments and articles I'm reading,very few are actually about the systems power or lack of.It's mostly all on the price,paid online,launch line up and lack of 3rd party.

I find the price complaints unjustified,$300 for what it offers is fairly priced.They're not ripping us off,building a cheap device and pricing it at a premium.It's priced accordingly for the tech that's inside it and from what I've read,it has an impressive build quality and premium feel to it.I'm not sure what Digital Foundry's opinions on it are saying that,I've tried to avoid them.No doubt NL will report their opinions though and I'll read them.The UK and EU prices ideally could have been lower but that's down to our weak currencies more than Nintendo being greedy.It was never going to be a direct conversion to the Dollar,it's never been that way.If the pound was at it's pre Brexit rate,it still will have cost around 250.

The criticism for paid online was inevitable,it was already coming in thick and fast as soon as it was clearthat it'll no longer be free.That was before the "scandal" of the NES/SNES rental for a month thing was revealed which only made the complaining considerably worse.So even if it was a lot more generous,there still would have been many complaints as that initial reaction proved.The thing is,we don't even know the pricing yet or what kind of discounts it entitles you to.MyNintendo doesn't exactly inspire confidence that they'll be great but the Switch will have a whole new line up of games to offer discounts on.20% off a selection of brand new games on MyNintendo,combined with maybe another 10%-15% off for Online membership could turn out not bad at all.

Then there is the launch line-up,admittedly it's thin but with Zelda alone,it has arguably one of the strongest and biggest console launch titles in history.Ideally,1-2 Switch will have been a pack-in and MK8 Deluxe also there on day one.I actually think that may have been the original plan but instead MK8 has been pushed back to give them something big in April.The consequence of this is 1-2 Switch has been made a retail title instead to pad out the launch line up.Maybe Arms was originally intended to come earlier but has faced delays?Having no game at all arriving in the consoles 2nd month doesn't look good.At least now they can (hopefully aggressively) advertise Zelda during March,MK8 in April,Splatoon 2 (I'm guessing) in May and then Arms which is down for June then we arrive at E3.Those are some big titles that will,if advertised right help build momentum.If they can keep that kind of momentum up with titles of that caliber then surely the Switch will be alright.

I also have the feeling there's going to be more to VC than we think and that's why they haven't talked about it yet.That will come in a future Direct along with all the other details we're missing.The online play being added to NES/SNES hints at that.Maybe we'll see online play added to N64 and Gamecube titles too.Megadrive,Neo geo,Arcade.
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@Araquanid There is a solution actually,use the wrist straps and they'll never be more than a few inches from you haha.

Are the 2 Joy-con straps/grips included in the box by the way?

Edit: I've been here near 9 years and I think this is the longest post I've ever made.It's 9.30 am for me too.

@OorWullie I think so,

Once I lost my wii remote and ran all over the house looking for it for about ten minutes.

Guess who's arm it was strapped to.

Definitely. Scrolling through the list of multiplatform games confirmed for this year? There's not a lot in the first half. There never is. Frankly there's so few that I'll just list all of the games coming to both XBOne and PS4 in the first half of the year here:

January:

• Valkyria Revolution
• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Mega Battle

Feburary:

• De-formers
• For Honor
• Sniper Elite 4
• Lego Worlds
• Torment: Tides of Numenera
• Constructor HD

March:

• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands
• Styx: Shards of Darkness
• Mass Effect: Andromeda
• Troll and I
• Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey
• Outcast: Second Contact
• Overload
• Old Time Hockey

April:

• Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3
• Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
• Yooka-Laylee

May:

• Injustice 2
• Battalion 1944
• Rime

How many of those games are ones that people are really going to miss on the Switch? How many of them might actually end up on the Switch? We know Rime and Yooka-Laylee are on the Switch. There are a few others that will probably make the transition like Injustice. Really, there's not a lot there.

Will you use the switch in handheld mode more or home mode

@Araquanid Funny,that's just the kind of thing I'd do and do regularly with my keys.

@andrew20 most definitely handheld. My husband and I can play different games in the same room.

Probably console mode for the most part. I'd rather use the bigger screen. I'll use it in portable mode when someone else is using the TV, though.

Does anyone know if the Pro controller works when it's out of the dock? If so, I'll be using tabletop mode a whole lot.

@KirbyTheVampire I've seen a picture of the joycons in the grip being used when out the dock in table mode, so I would imagine the pro controller would too. Makes no sense not to as the device hasn't changed, just where it's located.

@KirbyTheVampire At the end of the original trailer it showed them playing Splatoon undocked with the Pro-controller.I was going to hang off getting the Pro controller but it;s D-pad is going to be needed for VC and any potential 2d games.

Something I just noticed on Nintendo's official Youtube channel. Switch videos are rapidly rising to the top of their most viewed videos of all time. Four of their top 5 videos are for games that were known to be coming to the Switch at the time the video was published. Three of them point to the Switch specifically and the fourth is the Zelda trailer from E3 2016.

So I did what I always do when I see something like this. I dropped the views from the first page of most viewed videos on the Nintendo channel into a spreadsheet. This is what it showed:

Switch Only: 34% of views
Wii U Only: 30% of views
3DS Only: 10% of views

Switch Total: 50% of views (overlap with the Wii U on Zelda)
Wii U Total: 57% of views (overlap on Zelda, Smash and NWC)
3DS Total: 22% of views (overlap with the Wii U on Smash and NWC)

I think its fair to say there's much more interest in the Switch than there has been for the Wii U and 3DS. Whether or not that translates into sales is anyone's guess. But I guess once again it's evidence that the doom train is blind to some of the hype surrounding this.

Not sure if it's already been posted but thought this was interesting.

http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/immersion-nintendo-bring-...

@skywake I could easily pick another seven games from that list that wouldn't hurt to be on the Switch.

@Octane
Well two of them (Yooka-Laylee & Rime) are on the Switch, one (Injustice 2) has been rumoured I think. There are also a few on there that I think would make a lot of sense. Maybe they'll appear. Some others like Mass Effect would be big but I couldn't care less.

I guess my point is that there's nothing in this period that's on the scale of Battlefield, Overwatch or Final Fantasy. The real test for the Switch is going to be the second half of the year. Whether the huge flood of games post-E3, announced and unannounced, appear on the Switch. How many of those big games it misses out on.

DF Videocast #7: Hands-On with Nintendo Switch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0lyvgeJJw0

I think people are too hung up on launch day, when they should really take the entire year into consideration. Nintendo has really put out their biggest guns. Zelda, Splatoon, Mario kart and a 3d Mario is really huge. Sure, mk is "only" a port, but most gamers don't own it.

My only concern and pet peeve is paid online. You are basically shifting a game from your gaming budget to a sub with manufactured benefits. I am sad to see so many people trying to justify these kinds of practices.

I will probably not buy Splatoon 2, which is a damn shame. Especially since it was a game both me and my daughters enjoyed.

@skywake RIME and Yooka-Laylee, as much as I'm looking forward to them, are in no means as big as some of the other games. RE7, For Honor would've been nice. Lego Worlds? Why isn't that a thing yet? I'm seeing potential launch titles that aren't happening. Maybe it's not surprising considering Steep or Skyrim aren't even launch games. I agree that the upcoming games are far more important, but I guess it would've been nice if we got the message that they're working closely with other devs from the get-go.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
I assume that people are going to get worked up over that video. But really, Digital Foundry were always going to be super picky about the tech. So nobody should be surprised when they say the games when docked looked like they were running on an overclocked Wii U. The fact that they said the controls were good, the screen was good and that it was impressive for a portable device? That should be the thing people take from that.

Also worth noting that they didn't really complain about how any of Nintendo's own games were running. Not a lot of AA and not fantastic textures, but they didn't complain too much. If any thing they praised Nintendo for a lot of their games. The only games they had a go at were Bomberman and Skylanders. Both were running at 30fps apparently. Which probably says more about the effort those devs have put in more than anything else.

@Octane
RE7 would have definitely been nice, I think we can agree. Both as a game and as a sign that there is interest in developing games for it. But there's really not a lot there, it's not the busiest time of the year. Even For Honor is interesting but... on the Switch?

I'm quite impressed by what's coming actually. I'm eyeing zelda and probably bomberman at launch. Mario kart only if it's not too much money. Yooka laylee is something I'll buy too. As well as splatoon.

I'm an eshop only player on wii U. I'm thinking about continuing that trend on switch, just for being able to never lose a game again.

I'm not sure being digital only is a good idea for Switch with it's small storage space, and I never understand the argument that digital means you will not lose the game since it's easier to keep of physical games.