Nintendo Switch Presentation to be 'Live From Tokyo', in Japanese with English Voiceover

I think I am as excited about January 12th as I was for December 25th.

I volunteer to do the voiceover!

I wonder why they've chosen to do this instead of the way they usually do Directs? I was looking forward to some Reggie memes.

Not looking forward to waking up for work the next morning. Starting at 10 Thursday night is going to kill me. 😴😴😴

I wonder what this means about the announcement of third party games.... It'll actually be a bit surprising if Nintendo somehow tied a lot of third party information into this presentation.
Either way, HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPE!

Most of Europe can't read English though, I hope the other translations are ready in time!

@Octane Well, they'd better brush up on their Japanese, then...

I see... so is this going to be more of a live demo (similar to the regional ones) rather than an info dump/Nintendo Direct?

I was hoping for a Nintendo Direct type thing with sizzle reels and huge reveals. Well, time will tell. crosses fingers

@Octane Well, no worries then- as long as they can understand when they hear the English voiceover, they'll be just fine.

@Octane Well, with the exception of Dutch, at least translating from English to other European languages will be easier than Japanese to a European language other than English.

This can only go well.

Awesome, I can't wait! I'm not sure what I'm looking forward to more.. finally having some confirmed information about the Switch or LKD getting linched/celebrated.

@Octane English is a pretty common second language in most of the big European countries. Maybe it's time they get paid back for making our localisations take so long?

Nintendo, for better and/or for worse, that Switch has gotten the attention of millions. Probably the biggest attention Nintendo I've seen yet. How this event will do up until launch will change the way Nintendo will be seen forever...or the exact opposite.

Only.

One.

Week.

LEFT!!!

I'm so hyped . I have $200 GameStop credit I'm going to use for the Switch 😊

Circa July/August 1996, Nintendo was revealing tons of tech specs on the N64 to industry insiders, who shared it publicly through pamphlets and magazines like Next Generation. (Lots of people know what anti-aliasing is today, but how many people know what Z-buffering and trilinear mip-map interpolation are? Hint: they're very important for 3D games) It doesn't look like we're going to see that done with the Sandwitch. Oh well, I'll wait to see what modders and nuts and bolts tech sites have to say when they tear this thing wide open.

@oatmealwarrior92 The question is will that credit buy a whole Switch or half of one? Maybe we'll find out next week!

That sucks. I was hoping for a full Direct style video with Reggie and Bill Trinen explaining things with trailers in-between.

Definitely no third party announcements then. Anything announced would be Japan centric. Japanese gamers don't really care about western games.

Probably there will be another direct that shows games for the western market sometime after the event.

On-topic: Oh boy! I've never been this excited before. Can't next week come any sooner?

I'm glad it's a proper live event. I hope it goes smoothly and there are a few announcements that sends the crowd into raptures as it will just add to the fun!

@LeRaposa Yup, because there are no Japanese third party developers. Capcom, Konami, FromSoftware, Bandai Namco, Koei Tecmo etc. are some of my favourite US developers.

Sounds a bit cheap and amateurish.

I'm getting Spaceworld vives here! If the presos conference is like one of the good E3 live conferences or the GC reveal, then Nintendo has this cat in the bag!

@Equinox The USA in general has historically been squeamish when it comes to censorship. NoA just continues to make dumb localization decisions, although I'm not sure how much SJW influence has to do with it... At least a couple of the Treehouse people are, but Reggie isn't. He's just a troll. He doesn't want us to have Mother 3.

@LeRaposa

Like what DanteSolablood3 already said.

I expect to see plenty of stuff form Japanese third party developers. They have been supporting the 3DS, and will definitely support Switch from the start. They will be hoping that Switch will be as popular in Japan as the 3DS has been.

I think we should not expect to much from western third party developers to begin with. Many of them will wait and see how Switch is received and the launch sales are. It's understandable, when you consider how awful the Wii U has sold.

Nintendo has a lot to prove, and must work hard to gain the trust from western third party developers again. But even if Switch will never have the western support we all are hoping for, I think the Switch will be ok if the Japanese third party developer keep supporting it like with the 3DS.

Also, Nintendo will have more resources for developing games, because they will only have one single platform to support in the near future.

The above reasons will at least prevent the Switch to become a total disaster like the Wii U

@LeRaposa I'm guessing you haven't looked at Japanese sales charts recently?

Why not a Nintendo Direct?

@Vee_Flames I think they just give the third parties that have games coming up (if there are such) permission to start hyping themselves after the presentation.

That's my guess, that they have had agreements on not going public with their games at this point too much.

Of course there is always the possibility that third parties don't actually make any games for it...

@DanteSolablood Yeah, not to mention Square-Enix, Atlus, Sega, Silicon Studio and many more.

That's a pretty good list of developers!

So ready for this

@Equinox I don't know about that... Recent faux liberalism (or neoliberalism, as you have correctly identified it) aside, you're more likely to be on the classic liberal side in the USA if you're working for a Japanese company. It was only 30 years ago that when NoA employees told others they were working for Nintendo, it wasn't totally uncommon to hear, "You're working for those dirty Japs? I hope you fall flat on your face." Even now, more conservative types are fairly xenophobic when it comes to working for any foreign company, and especially an Asian company. (Though they might pretend to be okay with it in public, to make themselves appear kinder on the global stage.) So the people at NoA today are naturally more likely to be on the more classic liberal side. (Although that's not an absolute truth, there's plenty of people who can set their differences aside.)

Not like any of that makes a huge difference in the quality (or sometimes lack thereof) of games made on Nintendo's systems. Most are still made in Japan, including those that get censored... Can't cover up disparities in design from the core, though. No design is infallible. That said, they're going to dominate Japan with the Sandwitch. No JP will resist it's sweet flavor... Or something.

Cool! Hopefully the Switch can be preordered on the 13th. I already took a vacation day for it to pay in full that day. Needless to say I'm ready..

Its funny that the wii u and 3ds have japanese and indie support no western support. I don't care anyone said I already have Japanese and indies over dog doo doo AAA games like Homefront, Call of Duty, Madden, NBA 2k and etc.

The best thing they can do is announce that while the presentation is being watched that viewers can rush to their local store and pick up a system today. It worked really well for the Sega Saturn. Wink 😉 Wink

This tells me there will be no big Mother 3 reveal in the presentation, as that game was already release on the Japanese Wii U eShop.

Either way, can't remember the last time I was this hyped. 😃

@JohnBlackstar Lol, "How to Send a Beloved Company Into the Murky Depths of the Abyss 101: Follow Bernie Stolar's Example."

@therealgamer
Well, the Wii U didn't have much support from Japanese third party developers either. The Wii U sold badly anywhere .

Only Nintendo and Indie developers where regularly supporting it with games.

The 3DS on the other hand, has been a huge success in Japan, and have been outselling all other consoles. There have been a lot of Japanese third party support for it, and luckily we have also seen much of this content in the west.

The Switch will be a replacement for both the Wii U and the 3DS, and of course when the most popular console in the country is being replaced by a newer one, the expectations and excitement will be great in Japan.

I think people are mistaking the presentation being in Japan, with the presentation being "exclusively for Japan". When Apple does their global presentations from the US. do people think Apple is only going to sell their sh... -cough- product in the States? No.

It's quite possible that Nintendo will have games from Western developers & it's possibly Reggie could fly out for a cameo. We don't know. Until we watch the presentation, however it's a little early to say Nintendo is abandoning the West or concentrating soley on Japan.

-Waits for Apple to abandon Europe & Asian markets-

@dres "I think we should not expect to much form western third party developers to begin with. Many of them will wait and see how Switch is received and the launch sales. It's understandable, when you consider how awful the Wii U has sold."

To be fair, their lack of attention is what sunk the Wiiu, at least in the West and Europe. They can't keep making excuses for not providing Nintendo's audience with healthy amounts of AAA software; It doesn't do their company any good and it doesn't do Nintendo any good. They need to focus on building relationships with Nintendo's audience. In order to do that, they have to properly introduce themselves on a (viable) Nintendo platform. They didn't do that on the Wiiu and got what they earned. Basically, if Western thirds want to make a profit on the Switch, or any Nintendo platform going forward, they've got to bring their AAA game. Nothing less will get the job done.

Here's to hoping that Western developers have learned their lesson as well as Nintendo. Backing down isn't the answer like a lot of people are saying; backing down was the original problem. Going all in and taking a real shot would be the proper solution to their struggles with Nintendo. Let's hope they'll have the guts this time around.

Gonna be kinda sad to not have new Switch rumors anymore, or at least not nearly as many. On the other hand, it's gonna be nice to have some concrete facts about this thing, as well as some of the games we're getting in the first year.

@KirbyTheVampire Oh, there will be rumors. There must always be... A Rumor Mill... 👹

@CircuitWrangler3
I think you got it all wrong. Western third party developers do not need Nintendo at all. They are doing quite well on Playstation and Xbox, and fewer platforms they need to support, is very good for them.

For generations, western third party games haven't really sold very well on Nintendo consoles, for many reasons. They don't owe Nintendo or Nintendo fans anything. They just want a great platform, where they can sell their games.

It is Nintendo that need western third party developers more. And it is Nintendo's job to provide a great competitive platform, where third party games can prosper. Like a great online infrastructure / service, and modern competitive hardware.

Then the AAA titles from third party developers will come back over time, if there is also the right kind of audience for them.

@dres Good points, although that won't stop the salt from flying due to Wii U cancelations.

Guys, I think Mr. Tatsumi Kimishima can speak English fluently, compared by Mr. Satoru Shibata or Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto are still "Engrish".

I love getting new consoles, it's a great feeling.

I hope the launch date is in the 1st half of March and not the 2nd half of March.

This happens the same day as my band launches our EP, so I'm silly excited!

Shameless plug for anyone interested : abacaxuva.bandcamp.com

@dres
Hello, I know your concern about Nintendo. Indeed, Nintendo needs more 3rd party supports but for me as Indonesian gamer that was born in Japanese games influence, I think I don't really need so many Western 3rd party games because honestly I almost never like any of them (My impression with those Western games are below than 1%), except The Sims series, the only Western game that caught my interest A Lot. So, I hope Nintendo can persuade more Japanese 3rd parties to create even better games if Western support kinda hard on Nintendo. To be honest, my Nintendo games mostly 99% created by Japanese 1st & 3rd party, with very few Western games (Just Only The Sims series, MySims, Kao Kangaroo Round 2, Animal Boxing NDS).

Speculative melodrama about whether Nintendo is 'abandoning the West' aside, I think I prefer the company to have a more unified 'face' for its public presentations.

I certainly preferred the Directs which were largely Iwata addressing the world (albeit in different languages) compared to its current 'devolved' state with three separate presenters.

And (though completely unrelated) region-free would be nice too. There's a novelty to owning three preowned 3DSs, but really I'd rather just have one.

@Anti-Matter I can't stand to listen to Mr. Shibata's Ingrish. It's so grating.

@therealgamer
Wii U and 3DS still got some Western supports, but a few. Like The Sims 3 Pets 3DS, Olaf 3DS, Lego City Undercover Wii U + 3DS, some LEGO games on both 3DS + Wii U, etc. Now, Wii U has no Western support and 3DS rarely too. To be honest, Japanese games looks better than Western games in my opinion. Japanese games has some charms and uniqueness.

This kind of explains why the press release wasn't localized for each timezone/region.

I'm disappointed but optimistic. At this point, all I want are the details. Specs. Tech features. Price. Launch games. That's all I need. In fact, they don't even need to nail down an exact date, I'm fine with March 2017.

not a big fan of Bill Trinen, or Reggie for the matter. Nintendo should be wanting all gamers to play their consoles and should focus on getting back everyone not just parents of kids or youth,what made the older generation consoles was that there were games for every type of gamer not just simple ones.

I hope to see Nintendo come back to what made them great in the first place.You don't see PS or Xbone with their clowns in suits representing why does Nintendo insist on letting those NOA clowns talk for them..

Oh well..I've been a fan of Nintendo since way back when. Good luck for Year of the Switch. Get back to the core of gaming..

@Maxz
Yes.
I want Free Region for Switch.
Last time we got last Free Region back to NDS era.

@Maxz Modding fulfills having just one system with region changing on call...

But yeah, a built-in region free switch () would be a lot easier to use.

Just because the presentation is in Japan doesn't mean the presentation will be targeted toward Japanese gamers only, nor does it mean that only Japanese developed games will be shown.

That is basically the equivalent of saying that all the E3 presentations are targeted toward American gamers only, and that only American developed games will be shown.
In reality, plenty of Japanese games are shown at E3, so expect plenty of western games to be shown at the Switch presentation.

As expected, Japanese with English voiceover. Just hope that it's not the person who did the voiceover for Sony's TGS conference. that was hilariously bad.

I just hope there is a solid launch lineup...for once I'll say the more the merrier on remasters. Wii U had a lot of great games that deserve another chance.

@TruenoGT

Nintendo really needs to keep their games region free.
Hopefully this global approach is related to providing region free gaming.

Ooooooh okay, so it was actually friday morning for me. Here I thought it was actually at 4am on 12th. Which is thursday. Thanks for clearing up the confusion!

@PlywoodStick Yeah, but modding is for clever people, Paul Weller and other 1970's style icons.

It seems like a pretty murky, hazy world for those unaccustomed to it, with potentially big risks in terms of messing things up.

For goody-two-shoes simpletons who are afraid of getting their fingers dirty (and probably use Apple products ), a region free console is a much more attractive solution.

Sent from my iPhone.

(Yes I fall well into that group)

I think this is a promising sign. I'd like to see announcements apply to everyone instead of different regions getting different things.

Hmph!!! Excite building!

@Anti-Matter

I am all with you. I also like Nintendo and Japanese games the most. But some Western games I do enjoy.

But if the Switch is going to become a huge success in the West, it also needs a lot of western third party support.

I could probably live without it, but the Switch would not sell much more than the 3DS in the West, with only support from Nintendo and Japanese developer's. That could be enough for Nintendo, but they probably hope for even better sales.

Now that's the kind of rapid localization work I can get behind!

@Equinox I will never cease to be amazed at people's abilities to see SJW bogeymen everywhere they look.

"on Friday January 13th, at 4 a.m." 4 AM! Yay?

Only joking, but that is going to be tough.

Still, I hope the single presentation means region-free. It would be even tougher to find that most of the games shown won't be coming or will be coming way later to the EU. Looking at you BotW.

Last time I waited up till 4am was for the US elections and look how that turned out! I'm going to go to bed in the UK and hopefully wake up to a brand new world of Nintendo!

1 week to go. This presentation can help a lot of people decide which path they take games wise for the next few years. I'm intrigued.

@Samwise7
Wow...
Looks similar with one of Shattered Dreams lyrics by Johhny Hates Jazz.
"Woke up to reality
And found the future not so bright
I dreamt the impossible
That maybe things could work out right
I thought it was you
Who would do me no wrong".

@PanurgeJr Are you implying that Nintendo Treehouse isn't a secret political organisation set up to brainwash us into believing the doctrine of the Mighty Space Potato?

You're not one of those naive souls who thinks it's just a straightforward, in-house way of showcasing the games by people who know the ropes, are you? Y'know, so that they are given better coverage than from some knackered, sleep-deprived journalist yelling over a crowded exhibition hall.

Because that's what the Space Potato wants you to think. That what it wants us all the think.

That's why we must stand up and fight! Because the Space Potato can take our video game presentation methods, but it cannot take our freedom!

-faints-

I'm expecting this to be meaty info/content wise, but the actual presentation of it to be rather dry and mundane. I wouldn't expect it to be entertaining unless the English voiceover is entertainingly bad like Sony's TGS conference.

@ThomasBw84 Have they given any indication in regards to how long the presentation will be?

@Maxz There's a very good one that includes step by step tutorials for each possible scenario/pathway. (I will say it has "guide" in the URL...) It can take a while, but as long as the instructions are carefully followed, there are safeguards set up to protect against any catastrophic failures. (Although it can be perilous along the way- closing a New 3DS and putting it into sleep mode at a certain part in the process will brick it... So you're not far off with your assessment of the risks involved.)

@PlywoodStick I'll keep that in mind if I ever get the urge to tinker. Given that I DO have three 3DSs, I'm not super motivated to get started, although I guess that gives me some spares to play around with if everyone goes wrong. I only really need two anyway, I accidentally got two Japanese ones by being crap at Ebay, and the charging port is dodgy on the pastel pink one. It might be a good candidate for Frankenstein style experiments (although working through the process in Japanese would probably make things a little harder).

Anyway, yeah. I doubt I'll be able to to afford two (let alone three) Switches, so either Nintendo goes region free or I become a modder. Or more likely, I just won't play Japanese games on it.

So who will be hosting the presentation I wonder? Our new Nintendo boss in his Direct debut, whoever does the Japanese Directs, Miyamoto San?

And I wonder how the regional details will be announced like that all important price point?

I just hope it's region free, as I've recently left the UK and don't plan to return soon.

@Maxz Mmmm...potato...

Now I want some fries. Or chips, if you prefer.

Great, now I want some fish too...

It might be big news coming because Nintendo wants you to know their exact words directly from Japan. To me at least, it seems like a way to build up hype and show how serious they are about their new product

Okay, nice! Maybe doing a voice-over isn't the most ideal way to go about this, but at least there's the Treehouse live and regional social media outlets. Plus a ton of helpful youtuber's and gaming mags!

@PanurgeJr Mm.. now I want some chips. Or crisps, if you prefer.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Also grating is the subtle racism of the term "Ingrish". And I dare you to report me this time.

@PanurgeJr Racism? Would you ever go and do one, you sad little man.

Ugh. Get ready for another cheesy American VO, just like in the Animal Crossing Welcome amiibo Direct. I prefer it when they do subtitles.

They have quite a long direct, which I assume is to so us the White glove unboxing, then about an hour on how the motion controls will change gaming forever, and finally a voice chat app which allows you to call a friend to tell him to come over because you can't play online with him.

My body is ready. My wallet? Not so much.

Good old tax return, I hope you are enough to get me the console and some games.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Current status: getting right on that.

@PanurgeJr How can a word I made up be subtly racist? It's a combination of English and Irish. I just mean he's hard to understand. Nothing at all wrong in saying that. I'm not alone in that thinking. Sorry you feel like that. Nobody else has a problem with what I said.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Watching you protest too much is hysterical. It has put me in a good mood for tonight's gaming.

@PanurgeJr You've just confirmed how much of a lowlife you are.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE You believe I'm a lowlife because I'm going to play some games tonight? That explains why you make such negative comments on so many articles here.