Poll: A Month of Nintendo Switch - Do You Think It's Heading for Success?

Loved playing through Breath of the Wild and next up going to play some bomberman, but I was a little hopeful we'd have a nintendo direct by now with some more announcements. I really hope to hear about some more 3rd party before E3 because June is a long ways away.

Sell many switches Nintendo will...

My cousin got his yesterday he's well pleased

There's just a lot of product design issues with the system. It doesn't feel or play great in handheld mode. Compared to the N3DS it just doesn't feel as good.

The headphone jack being on the top of the system is a huge annoyance. Having the cord stick straight up out of the system and drap over the back gets in the way of your hands/playing games.

The complete lack of a headphone jack in the pro controller is a big annoyance.

Splatoon 2 also proved Nintendo still has some figuring out to do in terms of controls for future games.

Games it will all come down to the games and the rate at which they come I think the Switch itself is the best console from Nintendo this generation the Switch is sleek, sexy and loaded with promise if Nintendo continues to bring it in to its own I don't doubt that they will have another success story on their hands .

The switch itself is brilliant and I have no regrets over purchasing one

Regarding 1-2 Switch I have to be honest.... in my opinion the high sales are pretty much down to the lack of availability of anything else half decent.

It reminds me of when the Wii came out and Wii Play was topping the charts for months and months ........... what they failed to mention in the charts was the reason it sold so well was because it came bundled with a free Wii Remote

@dougphisig Absolutely. I'm hoping to hear anything about the VC before then...

I personally think it is still too early to tell if the Switch will do as well as Nintendo believes it will. It will do better than the Wii U for sure - perhaps in the Xbox One ballpark, but will see how E3 goes before making any judgements.

I love my Nintendo switch and all i got was 2 neo geo games and zelda (best game ever over 150hrs and still havent beat it just taking my time) i hope vc comes from wii games all the way back to nes games. I would love to see metroid/ kirby/ starfox/ super smash brothers/pokemon and other games on the switch plus alot of 3rd party games like dark souls, tekken7, senran kagura, digimon, borderlands, resident evil, nier automa, persona 5 and other big games.

Switch is amazing, i hope it sells loads over the next 6 months and some great games get announced

@dougphisig I wouldn't be too hopeful for anything like that before E3. Unless it ends up like 2015 where they had that Direct the week before and everyone got excited believing there was going to be loads to announce at the main E3 Direct... and then it was a disaster.

No, I don't think it will ultimately be successful.

One months too early to tell.

I love mine, Been playing every day since day 1, still not had to charge my pro controller , no screen scratching, no joy con disconnects, some great games.

Overall, a little light on games overall.
VC backwards compatibility could have buffered a little bit in that regard.

But what was there was great so far. BotW is a great title to launch with, we finally saw a new proper Bomberman, i heard great things about Blaster Master.

The system itself could use some work though.
Tacked on features aside, i think the eShop needs a major overhaul. Its beyond me why they didn't just reuse the WiiU's layout, that one was perfectly fine.

If they keep the current layout and the game releases increase, people will need outside sources to know what the store has to offer. Im pretty sure that this can even drive devs away from the platform.

Fixing the browsers security holes and releasing that would be nice as well. Especially in regards to the already integrated Social Media tools.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE What makes you think so ? The sales figures speak a different language, and the system hasn't even started to shine yet.

@tonyp1987 All of those 3rd party titles are extremely unlikely to hit the switch, as they would all require severe downgrades to run on it. Way to much work to be worth it.
Its better to hope for new IPs on the system as a whole ^^

I think the Switch is bound for greatness. I stand by my point that when the big 3DS games - Pokémon and Monster Hunter - hit the system, it will fly off the shelves in a way we won't expect. As for myself, I'll buy one as soon as I get money, selling my Wii U for it.

I remember early on in the Wii U's lifespan loving Pikmin 3, W101, Lego City, Nintendoland, Arkham City, and NSMB, I read that the Wii U didn't have a 'killer app'.

Thus annoyed me because A: they're games, not apps, and B: I was having a great time playing through these fabulous games. The Switch has Zelda and some other limited experiences, but it has so much buzz because of that one mega game. And by the looks of it the demand for that game will in all likelihood drive the industry to get on the Switch bandwagon. I'm just annoyed that after slapping Ganon away, I'm a little lost on what to do with my Switch now.

@Einherjar I've been through all the reasons before. I might come back later and explain myself again. Wii U was successful at this point too before nosediving off a cliff.

For such a lacklustre library (so far), its doing very well! I'm really excited for the Switch because just wait till we get the bigger, better games.

Heck, May is when Disgaea 5 comes out. So that'll be when I really expect Switch to get going. Even before buying it, I thought that it had an undoubtedly bright future ahead of it. And since getting my hands on it and seeing for myself how sleek and cool it is, I can safely say that my opinion has only been strengthened. A consoles lifetime isn't based on it's launch month, after all.

I am certainly interested in the Switch. It has so much potential. For me to jump in I would like to see a more premium option with more storage, a glass screen and small hardware issues fixed, obviously more games with no droughts in between and a trophy system patched into all games when online becomes fee to play. Overall, it's out and most people are happy. Great news!

I remain cautiously optimistic but can't bury the fact that some of that is my desire to see the Switch succeed, especially as a potential successor for the 3DS catalogue of JRPGs, the home console successor to the Wii U and hopefully the new home of that dwindling niche Japanese game-filled Vita slice of market.

On the other hand, I worry about the market in general and wonder if old console launches and hits/failures can really give any realistic idea of how the Switch will fare in the years to come. I am always nervous of Nintendo's occasional (and frequently stupid) mis-steps with marketing and release schedules.

Early signs are good and I hope we get to see some really positive sales figures from the US in particular, going into a decent E3.

I'm as excited as a person can be with Zelda. If not for that game I don't think the system would be worth it till Mario comes out or Splatoon 2. Zelda was an excuse to get the system now as I could've just picked up the Wii U version. The best use for me though is taking it out with me as I do get plenty of opportunities to play outside of the home. I wouldn't be nearly as far in BotW if not for the portable aspect.

Yes, it will be successful. Unlike the Wii U, most people know what the Switch is. It won't reach Wii levels but it will pass 3DS.

Bought the Switch on Day 1 an love Breath of the Wild. I've also bought and enjoyed a couple of the shop/indie games (Snipperclips, BlasterMaster).

That being said, I'm a little concerned as to whether Nintendo will be able to keep the necessary momentum required to make the console a success (something the Wii U, as much as I liked it, failed to do). The mainline games coming out in the next couple months, with the exception of Arms, are enhanced ports that many people have already enjoyed earlier versions of on the Wii U, or sequels with (at least based on what has been shown thus far) minor enhancements from their predecessors. Then of course you have the summer coming, which is slow for the gaming industry generally.

Super Mario Odyssey hopefully will make its Christmas release, but the hype and enthusiasm need to be maintained until then. I'll feel considerably better about this once some of the other games with amorphous "2017" release dates are dated, and the virtual console's successor is released.

All in all, I'm cautiously optimistic, but the release could have been much better. Doesn't help that the list of third-party supporters is a little misleading

I was able to hunt a Switch down at a Target yesterday. Before leaving my house, I called around at a few stores, but none of them had it. I was about to stop, but called one more. They actually had one! Problem is, they were about 30ish minutes away. Alright... No biggie. It's a random wednesday at 10am, I should be fine, right? Well, as it turns out, I got there, and they had sold the last Switch just five minutes before I got there... Luckily, another Target about 10 minutes away had one too, so I blitzed over and was able to snag it. The employee told me I had beat about 9 other people who called and were "five minutes away."

Anyway... It's still too early to tell if the Switch will be a great success yet. I definitely think it will do better than the Wii U. The concept is simple yet appealing and Nintendo has actually advertised it. At least, they must be, because as it turns out, a LOT of people I've talked to know about it, and many of them want one too. Even though the launch lineup is, in my opinion, pretty weak (Zelda is amazing but not even exclusive), I do think launching in March was a good choice, because it seems like we'll be getting a decent stream of quality titles over the year.

I have to say I'm loving the speed of the system. I love how I can instantly take a screenshot of my game in the blink of an eye. It's only a little better than the Wii U's method of taking screenshots eh? That said, the speed is the only good thing about it so far. It's very, very barebones. I'm sure Nintendo will improve it with time, at least, I really hope they do. Given how many people actually know about this, I feel that features like internet browsers, netflix and other apps are very important, even moreso than I did before (because in my eyes consoles shouldn't be getting less features as they go on as has been the case with Nintendo). A lot of people are quick to say that they wouldn't use things like an internet browser, or that they have other devices for it, but that's just it, if the Switch had these features, it could honestly replace it for many people. If it had most of the basic features of a standard tablet PLUS a library of NINTENDO games? I truly feel that at that point, the Switch could possibly touch Wii numbers.

@Einherjar i can agree to an degree if xbox one can get the same games as ps4 then the switch can too.

Just bought a switch but already have tons of hrs sunk into the wii u version of botw....the game is sooooo good though that im actually kinda hyped to restart the adventure on the switch. Getting world of goo and snipperclips as soon as the switch gets delivered. Thatll probably be it till mk8d arrives. I love the wii u and itll be hooked up for years to come but my boy is 4 yrs old and im hoping the switch will be his "NES". As a family gamer who is looking for more of a fun activity that I can share with my kids, im very excited for the switch and the potential it has. I just cant justify spening hrs infront of the xbox anymore, especially when the kids are home. I want games we can play together and that we can all enjoy. Im counting on Nintendo to continue to produce quality titles that can be a shared couch coop experience, but on the go. Arms, spla2oon, and even the SF2 remake make me excited for the summer.

@getyourak
Headphone jack on top is WAY better than 3ds bottom one.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
And Wii U was also a fairly unappealing console, both aesthetically and game lineup wise during it's launch. No one knew what it was.

Switch is possibly the sexiest, most sleek console ever created, which counts a LOT with consumers. It also is launching with the 4th highest rated game in history, and everyone knows what it is.

People at my job are all talking about it, even supervisors, I've got coworkers who own them, even my college professor overheard me and a student talking about it and was like "did you say Zelda? You talking about the new Zelda?"

There hasn't been awareness on that kind of level since the original Wii. Furthermore, a month after launch, Wii U was selling just 10 or so units per day on eBay, usually ranging around MSRP. I know cause that's how I bought one. With Switch, there were over one hundred units sold on eBay yesterday alone and averaged anywhere from $400-450 a pop. That's indicative of insanely high demand. As a student of economics I know how the demand curve affects price and quantity demanded at a given price. Wii U was not even close to this kind of demand a month out, even being Christmas time.

So, believe as you wish. Time will ultimately prove itself so there's no sense arguing. But keep these things I've told you in mind

@SLIGEACH_EIRE We know.

Just been in Game UK to preorder MK8D (£5 off if you prepay in full) and as I was stood there the manager brought out a single Neon Switch. The bloke behind me nearly climbed over me to get it.

At the very least it will probably hit Gamecube numbers, which means it'll at least be a modest success. I think it can easily surpass Gamecube sales, though.

There's a lot of awareness for this thing, and a lot of appealing games in the first year, not to mention how aesthetically pleasing and functional the hardware is. I think a lot is gonna depend on E3 this year, though. If it ends up sucking, the future will probably look pretty bleak for the Switch.

If it wasn't for Zelda there wouldn't be too much going on. Simple. The last 2 Thursday updates were so so. I'm hoping starting April we will start to see a nice flow of games going forward.

@premko1 In what way?

@getyourak Horrible design issues? Are we talking about the same Switch console? No, we are not (I'll give you the answer).

Iwata's words still ring true here. "All it takes is one game." Zelda, and only Zelda is the reason why people want this thing right now. Nintendo now needs to keep the pipeline flowing.

It is showing good promise, but this feedback is about as accurate as throwing darts in the dark. Still way too early to be pinpointing if this will be a success or not. It hasn't even been out a month yet.

@Cosats Cool dude...

@getyourak I definitely find the Switch more comfortable to play than any model of the 3DS, though maybe that's because I have large hands. And I can understand how the headphone jack on top might be an annoyance, but wouldn't it be worse if it were on the bottom, since you wouldn't be able to access it in tabletop mode?

I'm also very curious what your issues are with Splatoon's controls. I thought the Testfire played great, just like the original game.

@MrGawain Only 3 of those games were out this soon after the Wii U's launch. Lego City Undercover was about 3 months after launch, and Pikmin 3 and W101 didn't come out for about 9 months.

I see it doing 30-50 million lifetime. I think the cost will keep it below the 3ds market and it won't ever really get mainline 3rd party support. I'd catorgorize that as a success but others are throwing out 100+ million. I live in the US and we have just recently got an influx of units so this is the real test. I've had 4 opportunities to buy a Switch this week whereas it's been mostly dry since launch.

@tonyp1987 Uhm...no...not by a long shot.
Hardware wise, PS4/Xbone and the Switch are a full generation apart. Thats comparing Apples to Oranges.

Lets talk Numbers:

CPU:
Switch: 4x ARM Cortex A57 @ 1020MHz
Xbone: 8x AMD Jaguar @ 1,750MHz
PS4: 8x AMD Jaguar @ 1,600MHz

GPU:
Switch: 256 Nvidia CUDA @ 768MHz (Docked)/307.2MHz(Handheld)
Xbone: 768x AMD Shaders @ 853MHz
PS4: 1152 AMD shaders @ 800MHz

RAM:
Switch: 4GB
Xbone: 8GB
PS4: 8GB

Porting games aimed at PS4/Xbone to the Switch requires significant work, at times it would even require a new version from scratch. Again, its an entire generation behind in hardware.
So don't count on ports of "next gen" titles, they are very unlikely to happen.

I think there's a real buzz around the Switch. I bring mine into work each day and 3 separate people are now considering getting their own. None own a Wii U.

Time will tell, but I'm concerned that

<ul>Carts are making 3rd party games on switch more expensive than PS4/XB1.</ul>

<ul>lack of mainstream western games.</ul>
<ul>Switch peripherals are expensive compared to competitors.</ul>
<ul>Frame rate issues on flagship game.</ul>
<ul>Digital content management woeful compared to competitors.</ul>
<ul> Absence of VC.</ul>
<ul>Handheld performance at a home console price.</ul>

As much as Nintendo will say they are not competing with PS4/XB1 it is. They are aimed at 18-34's and so is the switch.

I feel that this thing is made for Japan and Nintendo fans. Which is cool but I don't see it taking any major share of either the casual market or the hardcore market. A Wii this is not.

From here on out the games (specifically the exclusives) will determine how successful it is. They seem to have fixed that stock issue as well. While a port of BOTW is a great launch game, it had practically nothing else. It is selling well and it has positive reviews, so it's off to a good start.

@ElekidDude Putting the headphone jack on the bottom would ruin tabletop mode (if you plan on using headphones while in tabletop mode). The issue for me is I'll be playing it handheld far more than I will in tabletop mode - not sure I'll ever play it in tabletop mode.

And I bought the system looking for it to primarily be a handheld system - not a console. Splatoon's motion controls (my preferred way of play) simply don't work in handheld mode. Tilting the screen towards and away from your view makes it much harder to follow the action.

I think it would be worthwhile to define "success". I doubt it will sell the 150m units that the DS shifted.

Do people consider 20m a success? 30m? 50m?

The selection is a bit bare bones, but that doesn't bother me right now simply because no matter what other games I have available to play (I've got "I am Setsuna" "Super Bomberman R" and "Blaster Master Zero"), I end up just playing more Zelda. I absolutely adore the 3DS but the Switch is my new favorite system just on the merits of its versatility. I would like to see Streetpass brought over to it along with Virtual Console and such. Yes I see room for improvement but it's already pretty great.

Where's the option on the poll for "Definitely getting one, but not necessarily in 2017" ?

It's honestly hard for me to tell [S]which way it's going to go. In my heart I want it to do extremely well, and it's off to a good start, but I see a lot of signs that Nintendo is making many of the same mistakes it did with the Wii U and that the Switch is also suffering from a lot of the same issues. It's really all in Nintendo's hands: I don't think it can do much at all about the severely lacking AAA third party support, but it can and really should address every other issue raised as well as do its best to make the Switch the best console experience it can possibly be going forward. I guess we'll all find out soonish enough if Nintendo truly knows what it's doing or not. . . .

@JamesR I think at this point, "success" means not repeating the WiiU disaster :/
Meaning: Losing money with each sale, low install base, fleeing developers, stagnating sales etc.

If it keeps on selling this this until more big hitters come in, and they achieve, say, a 70-80% attach rate per major title, id call that a success.

Having the latest and greatest (popular opinion) Zelda, at home and on the go, is the reason for a successful launch month. Hopefully they can maintain momentum.

Personally, I purchased the Switch for one reason: Mario Kart 8 Deluxe! Having my favorite kart of all time at home and on the go is bliss for Mii! See you guys on the track come 28th of April

@getyourak So... what do you think could be done to improve the controls, then? There's the option to turn off motion controls (it was even in the Testfire). Not sure what they could do beyond that to make it play better in handheld mode.

@Einherjar true but nvidia shield tablet with the same specs as switch can play ps3 games some ps4 games like witcher 3 and batman arkham knight.....plus xbone doesnt have 1080p games some games run at 900p which the switch can do....i dont think it can be a bad downgrade but i think a small downgrade to play AAA games portable is a bad thing

We need more games Nintendo!!!

I don't know what to expect from the 3rd party support this fall. I am cautiously optimistic about E3 2017.

Well, I have yet to even see a Switch out in the wild so I'm not even sure they actually exist. I assume because I can't find one to buy that it's a success so far. I do have concerns that 3rd party gaming studios not supporting eventually. I think the Switch will be a success because I think eventually the Switch will fully replace the 3DS and be looked at as a portable that can be played on a TV when at home. Games like Fire Emblem, Pokemon, and Monster Hunter will go along way. Combine these with Nintendo's top in class 1st party games and I feel that it will eventually be a success. Not as much as the Wii but not like the Wii U or Gamecube....somewhere in between. But who knows, maybe they launch the next "IT" casual game and people go crazy.

@Einherjar well I'm sure that Nintendo will make money on the Switch.

Personally, I think a question like "will the Switch outsell the Wii U?" would be easier to objectively measure.

Personally I think it will sell over 50m units and I would place this well into "success" territory. I get the impression that most consider the Xbox One a success (and it has sold around 30m units - Microsoft don't release exact figures)

@getyourak Not for me. For me the 3DS, 3DS XL and N3DS XL were all very uncomfortable to hold, in fact I had to buy one of those grip covers to not have my hands cramp up.
The Switch feels great in my hands in portable mode

I love my switch. I love Zelda. I love my pro controller. I love the joycons. Hell I even love the taste of the games.

Bravo Nintendo

@cleveland124 personally, I dont think we will see another 100m+ selling console again.

But I think some will always claim that the Switch is a failure as it will never outsell the Wii and DS combined (being a console AND a portable)

Nope, it doesn't look bright. First year lineup is awful and there are too many droughts for the fanboys.

E3 has to be a 10/10 this year for Nintendo to survive.

@MoonKnight7 I would say that the two biggest ways to sell a console is on consumer confidence (like Sony is doing), or by igniting the imagination. Microsoft lost a lot of consumer confidence with the Xbox One due to the introduction screwups, and they are paying the price. Nintendo also lost a lot of consumer confidence with the Wii U, and they are attempting to ignite the imagination with A) a concept consumers have demonstrated an interest in. B) an extremely high profile game and steady release schedule. And C) high visibility advertisements.

Again, a proper valuation of success needs to wait until month 3, as that would be the time that the Wii U's sales dropped off first. By the holidays, you'll be able to see more of what to expect.

@Yasume "Awfull" is best game of all time, new IPs, Mario Kart and a new Mario game? WTF?

I like it so far. But i have nothing to play anymore. Waiting for splatoon. Im sure the switch will do well.

@tonyp1987 Again, you are comparing apples to oranges here.
That the Swich can render in 1080p is part of the course for having games with way less graphical fidelity.
The Xbone renders in 900p because everything beyond that would affect overall performance.

And the Shield does NOT run Witcher 3 and Arkham Night.
Those are offered via GeForce Now, which is a streaming service.
The system itself doesn't run the game, it merely receives the picture and sends inputs.

The games it DOES support natively are already very watered down Android versions.

I mean, just take a look at "I am Setsuna".
The game is relatively tame graphically, but its frame rate needed to be cut in half to run on the Switch compared to other consoles.

Or Dragon Quest Heroes, which DID receive a "from scratch" version on Switch and it still runs absolutely horrible.

The Switch's Hardware is..."poor", there are no two ways about it.
It needs software especially created for it to run properly, and you will most certainly not see that from quick ports.

@ElekidDude I suppose the overall point I'm trying to make is that by design it's a much better console system than a handheld system. I found that to be a bit of a disappointment.

Huge success, definitely. Though I don't want to experience a software dr... (what's the term?) anytime. Hope every month to find something worthy buying.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE While I will concede that the Wii U had a decent start as well (during a holiday shopping season, mind you), the Switch has the advantage in that, unlike the Wii U, the mainstream knows what the Switch actually is and the general public actually seems to care this time around. Case in point, I personally know of at least eight people who bought the Switch who have not owned a Nintendo console since the N64 or GameCube (and this is all during a time of year when electronics are not usually sold in large numbers). Nintendo seems to have captured the attention of many of the gamers that it lost over the years as well as the public at large. That's huge. Again, I think it's too early to say if it will be an overwhelming success, but I don't see any reason why it can't carve out a respectable and sustainable amount of sales, even if it never approaches Wii-level numbers.

The Switch has the potential to be a fantastic console! I am a bit worried about how third parties are treating it right now and if the trend continues, the Switch may be another Nintendo-only console for me.

I don't mind having a Nintendo-only console, but I want them to succeed! So far, sales have been pretty good and the Switch has an excellent first year line up ahead of it. It's off to a great start!

Nintendo need to flesh out first party releases imo...

If I didnt import Disgaea 5, I'd have nothing to play after beating Zelda. The library is horrifically terrible - its unacceptable

I wasn't gonna get one, but my kids talked me into it. At the end it really was not that hard. Nintendo Fanyboyism is hard to overcome.

Now that I have one and been playing it, it has the possibility to become my ALL-TIME FAV Nintendo device. It just needs GAMES AND MORE GAMES and then even some more GAMES.

Really can't wait for MK8 Deluxe - I have a feeling it will be the ULTIMATE MK experience.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE

Really? I'm not among those that rip your comments, even when I feel they are contrarian just for arguments sake, because it's your right to say as you please, and the onus is on others to ignore as they will.

Just genuinely curious as to the factors that make you feel it will fail. I love the Switch, as a concept, it's what I THOUGHt the vita would evolve into , and I have some concerns myself. Just wanted to see if we had any of the same concerns.

@getyourak That's fair, especially given the games Nintendo's announced so far. Everything (from Nintendo) seems console-focused, with handheld mode there as an extra. Hopefully down the line (maybe if Switch does well enough that Nintendo decides to stop production of the 3DS), we'll see more handheld-oriented games for the system.

@JamesR Sales expectations are getting out of hand anyways.
Many devs and manufacturers are rather...out of touch when it comes to it.
From a purely consumer / observer perspective, id say:
-Company makes money
-Healthy attach rates
-Strong "Word of Mouth" PR
are good indicators of a system doing well enough.
And the WiiU failed all of that sadly.

Even if the Xbone doesn't sell like fresh cookies, as long as they aren't losing money its not a disaster at least. A success ? Well, maybe. That said, due to Microsoft not releasing numbers, we are all just guessing here.
That they are now selling copies of their games that also run on Win10 could be an indicator that the system isn't doing as hot as they hoped for, but that there is still demand for their software at least.

But yeah, overall, hard to tell what counts as a success really.

I have a Switch and I have since day one. I love the machine itself. As a device I give it a B+. Personally I would say a solid A, but I know some have issue with the headphone jack, and some feel it's not as comfortable in handheld mode.

The library is a concern. Again not for me. The Switch is a supplementary console to my PS4(though as often happens, the new baby takes all the attention from the older sibling), so having a game a month doesn't really phase me in the slightest. I'm not close to finishing Zelda( took me a week to actually stop exploring and go to hateno lol), and Mass Effect is taking some time as well. Just as far as getting the masses, there needs to be several options.

That's where my concern comes in. I hear people talking about the lack of support the Wii U got. I read all these developers. At claim to love the Switch but I see no game announcements. Logic tells me to wait until E3, and wait I shall. It does feel like the Switchs success hinges on Ninty coming out guns blazing at E3.

So yes I think it's done well, and I feel like the future is good, but so much can swing either way in June.

@KirbyTheVampire "At the very least it will probably hit Gamecube numbers, which means it'll at least be a modest success."

If you read between the lines according to Iwata Gamecube was a failure, and anything not selling "far more" than the Gamecube would be such a failure that Ntinedo should get out of the hardware business. So it's probably best not to bring up the Gamecube sales numbers.

"In a Corporate Management Briefing, when asked about how many Wii Nintendo expected to have sold in three yeras, Satoru Iwata said, "I do not intend to declare how many Wii we will be selling today, but Wii will be a failure if it cannot sell far more than GameCube did. In fact, we shouldn't continue this business if our only target is to outsell GameCube. Naturally, we are making efforts so that Wii will show a far greater result than GameCube."

i think it's still too early to tell how Switch will ultimately pan out. There are reasons to think it could fail, and there are reasons to think it will succeed. Of course it's hard to judge what to measure it by b/c it really is the first hybrid, or even tribrid, console, so there really isn't' a proper measuring stick. Whether you compare it's sales number to Wii U, Wii, Gamecube, Gameboy, DS or 3DS it's ALWAYS going to be apples to oranges, Switch is an orange like no other, nothing rhymes w/ orange.

And besides that, a lot of people still look down their noses at Wii, even though it crushed it last gen, so even if Switch sold 100 mil on the back of some weird touchscreen game like Pokemon Trozei people would say Switch was a failure. And if Switch got Destiny 2 and Red Dead Redemption 3 but only sold 25 million some people would say it was a success for getting AAA 3rd party support.

So what's the measure of success for Switch, selling 65 million consoles like 3DS, or 25 million making it a better seller than Wii U or Gamecube?

It's all up to Ntinedo. We still don't know what there "after 3DS" plans are. $199 4DS, leaving Switch the odd man out, or a $199 SwitchBoy selling millions of console to kids? I think E3 will shine some light on Switch's future, but we may have to wait until 2018 to see where Nintendo sees the Switch's future. Can't wait.

I absolutely love my Switch. Playing Zelda in portable mode on the train and just lounging in bed and on the sofa has been fantastic. I also have several Neo Geo games, Snipperclips, Fast RMX and Blaster Master. Happy with all of my purchases so far.

I'm fine with the fairly small number of games so far because I don't desperately need to build up a huge backlog straight away. My biggest disappointment so far would be the lack of game announcements since the release. Especially from (non indie) 3rd parties. Hopefully there will be lots announced at E3.

After e3 we will know everything.. system is great.. Lots of different kind if games to apeal to all kinds of gamers... Switch need metroid and batllefield.. Proper fifa game, Mk8 and FRmx will not bring racing games lowers. Every single nintendo lover will benefit from proper game release strategy

I think the Wii U was a personal huge success because from my perspective my wife and I bought and played lots of really very good games on it and was never with out a great game to play.

Overall it's been good but it's still early days to really say.

One thing is for sure, if Nintendo don't up their game on some releases and start courting at least a few 3rd party exclusives there is a serious risk of all this early success fizzling out.

Also I should have selected the 5th option rather than the 2nd option; should have read them all first. Although there have been a few gems on the download scene within the first launch month to support Zelda.

@getyourak
Its difficult to use Your phones when the jack-hole is on the bottom and jack itself is straignt and takes ab. 3 cm - You cant use it without 90 degree dingo.

I love my Switch. Looking forward to when Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms, and Splatoon 2 launch. And WarGroove....I need that Nindie!!! Also, my tempered glass screen protector from Orzly just arrived. Gonna have to install that soon. Been using a Biogenik static cling protector so far but there's a few air bubbles that have been driving me crazy in handheld mode.

@PAppleyard This is my personal opinion as well. Looking at my gaming shelf, the Wii U, has the most games on the shelf sitting at 25 games. Not counting the games sitting on the console itself. And just for reference I have my PS4, PS3, PS2, XBOX 360, WII, AND WII U games all on the same shelf.

These arguments have been going on for weeks now and it's getting tiresome. Those that own and have experienced what the Switch is either love it or are at the very least optimistic about the future. Those that don't bang on about how terrible it is. Get over yourselves and take it from someone who owns one, it's a great console with bags of potential. It needs more games Granted but still the future is bright.

And for all those people who say if it weren't for zelda there'd be nothing truly amazing to play on it, well it does have zelda so I don't get your argument. Nintendo knew zelda would be a launch title and we as consumers knew it would have zelda. The "what if..." is pointless.

@Einherjar i agree the system is not as powerful as the ps4/xbone but its close and i feel its more on the developer for the sucky ports because they are not use to the system.....we will see with the dbz game coming to switch to see that game turns out to kinda judge the system and skyrim too.

The Switch will struggle in the West and at best be close to Xbox One sales if Nintendo can't get AAA third party support. So far developers and publishers are holding off and are verbally sharing they are holding off. That is never a good sign. Silence would have painted a better picture than hearing things like "No plans to bring the game to Switch", or "this game would be a struggle to bring to Switch".

Animal Crossing for E3 and its success is confirmed

I'm in love with the hardware, personally. The controllers are comfortable, the transition from portable to docked mode is smooth, the screen is big so I can play comfortably without eyestrain in portable mode and the system delivers on the console games to go after years of near misses from Nintendo and Sony both. I feel the same way about the switch that I do for BotW..."so this is what they were aiming for but didn't have the tech to produce in the past". I look forward to the Switch line becoming the new Nintendo form factor for generations to come.

I'm not going to go into great detail on the games because I've been in a Zelda vortex mainly but I've gotten some playtime with Fast Racing Rmx, Dragon Quest Heroes, Snipperclips, Splatoon and KOF and I have loved every second of playtime with the system. Very exciting time to be a gamer right now.

I'm mot sure what to think. The 89% Attach rate for Zelda means that it's clearly a success with that one game. But the lack of interest in pretty much everything else means that for most this is pretty much a $400 Zelda machine.

I view the current state of the Switch to be in "Soft Launch". Zelda and the hardware were ready, but the ecosystem, partnerships and online are still way off. For what it is now then it's fine. But this system can't succeed based purely on hype and they need better titles than WiiU ports and classics to get the mass market.

Personally, Im getting worried because I'm not sure what I'm going to do once I finish Zelda. Mario Kart I already played on WiiU (and can't transfer saves) and Platoon was kinda worse on Switch than WiiU. So I have no idea what I have no "Next Game" for the Switch.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE
But what makes you so defending your Wii U too much ? I like my Wii U too but I Admit Wii U doesn't have so many good titles, even on playasia It still difficult for me to find more alternative titles.
Is that about portability aspect ?
Do you HATE Portability aspect because it WILL NOT make you like a Truly gamer ??
I mean, What The Heck ?!

@rjejr I also think we'll see a smaller, cheaper, more portable version of the Switch aimed at a younger market in 2018 (when Nintendo transition to the X2, allowing it to consume less power and produce a smaller device)

Although if they did do that, would it retain compatibility with the existing Joy-cons? If controls were fixed, how would 1-2-Switch work? Curious to see...

@freaksloan
So, will you get Switch soon or later ?
Your chance to prove yourself.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE It's hit 2 million worldwide... not bad when the naysayers say it only has one game...

@KittyKatta Yes, while the Switch would have flopped at launch without Zelda, so would the Wii without Wii Sports. Or maybe even the N64 without Mario 64...

The fact is it did launch with Zelda, and that's enough to convince people for now. By Xmas it will have Zelda + a compelling games library and I think will do rather well...

@Skunkfish
Smaller Switch ?
The screen will be smaller than 6.2 inch.
And Joy con size will smaller than 3.5 x 10 cm.
Will be painful to watch and uncomfort to play due to smaller Joy Con.

It may survive as long as the games just keep giving.

@tonyp1987 Nah, you can only get so much mileage out of the switches hardware. Again, no port without extra workload. And that simply isn't profitable if de facto better versions exist on systems with a much higher install base.

As for DB Xenoverse 2, i predict the usual 30 FPS downgrade as the visuals overall are already poor enough.
As for Skyrim, it already had a version for PS3/360 so its probably based on those as well.
Which is also probably why they went with the now 6 years old Skyrim rather than the newer Fallout 4, which, again, would need massive amounts of retooling to run on Switch.

And no, i posted the specs above, its not close, its not even in the same league. The raw numbers are halved across the board, the architecture is dated and these mobile chipsets have their hard limits.

The fact that the Switch only has half the RAM of the other systems is already a death sentence for many ports.
But this is not where the systems strengths lie either.

Don't count on seeing many (if any) new, AAA multi platform titles apart from some low-spec indies on Switch.
The Switch has to shine with exclusive software, which is interestingly, the biggest weakness of both, the PS4 and the Xbone.
This is where support should be. Encourage devs to try something new on the Switch rather than crying crocodile tears over games that are better on other systems anyways ^^

The Switch simply can't compete on the multi platform market.
That's not a diss, that's a simple fact. The hardware is too weak to make porting easy, cheap and sometimes even possible in the first place.

So yeah, support exclusive software and look for multiplat titles elsewhere.

It will be fine and better than WII U i believe. But time will tell if 3rd party are all in for it. Just Nintendo titles isn't enough though. I really hope it will. I self haven't bought Switch yet. I don't like the price they ask for this hardware. I'm waiting a year or 2 and then will go buy it

Once more games are out for the system and more people can see it as I great value I think that is the point that the system will truly take off. Right now it seems to be a majority of Nintendo Diehards buying it, and although things are looking up it could swing either way knowing the gaming market. I consider myself one a die-hard on Nintendo and their games but even I don't plan on getting one until later in the year, perhaps around the time Mario Odyssey is out, if I can hold out that long.

@Anti-Matter Well the original 3DS had a larger screen of 3.52 inches, but I was thinking more like 5-5.5 inches.

Nintendo will try and stretch the 2DS/3DS through 2018, but they really need a product to replace it for their younger audience. Switch isn't quite it...

@Einherjar I don't know how much of Switch's 4GB is available to devs, but I really doubt that RAM would be a major concern for ports.

From a hardware perspective, I think the Switch is very very impressive, I love the concept and I have loved the time spent on it so far. I think it has the potential to do really really well.

As for a first month though, I think the drip feed of games is not a good start. Zelda is awesome and I am sure some of the smaller titles are great, but the next major release is end of April and then no confirmed dates for anything else. It is just a shame as I would love to be playing more on the Switch...

@Skunkfish Have you heard about the Arkham Knight debacle on PC ? That one was, in retrospect, entirely caused by RAM issues.
PS4 and Xbone have 8GB of "shared RAM", meaning its both, regular RAM and VRAM.
This lead to major streaming issues on PC, which obviously has seperate RAM banks for regular and VRAM.

So in essence, several Steam users found out, that the port had issues sending data from RAM to VRAM and back, which caused the game to stall when new assets had to be loaded in on the fly.

Even several months later, this issue could not be resolved entirely. The only remedy was was having a system which exceeded these 8GB RAM in both, regular and VRAM. Those users still reported issues, but far fewer than others.

So on switch, total RAM usage would not only have to be cut in half, but also allocated differently. Again, a lot of work for an inherently inferior port.

There's definitely more awareness of Switch than Wii U. In that regard, Zelda, Mario Kart and Splatoon may well be enough until Mario Odyssey is released, as relatively few people will have experience of those as Wii U games. I'd say Mario Kart in particular will be a huge indicator of potential success.

Like many others, I'm concerned about the lack of retail games. Nintendo needs to have an exceptionally good E3, so we have reassurance more genuinely big games are on their way; plus keep the eShop stocked with new games.

For me, it's been a good. Not really a month yet and I have three retail games and four downloaded, which was more than I expected. Yes, Breath of the Wild is dominating my playtime because it's that good, but but I've got a lot of time playingFast RMX and Bomberman online. I'll be plenty busy until MK8 Deluxe rolls in. I'm enjoying the handheld mode more than I thought I would. I'm really starting to think this could be the indie games console that you can take anywhere, though I hope the 3rd parties are announcing stuff by E3. Will just have to see...

@Marios-love-child a lack of availability does not force people to buy things they wouldn't otherwise want. There are plenty of other games to play, 1-2-Switch is just an actually fun party game. Between that and Jackbox coming soon, being able to play those on our camping trips or at any friend's home is very appealing.

I only buy Nintendo consoles since my ps2 and don't play many 3rd party games. So I'm happy even if this ends up like the Wii U.

But I hope 3rd parties do get on board and it's as successful as possible. I'd like to think it will do very well.

I've put 105 hours into my Switch playing only Zelda - got both the system and game on launch day.

I had pre-ordered 1-2 Switch and was reconsidering it after the reviews, but picked it up in the end. I still haven't played it, but my 20 year old son keeps borrowing the Switch to play it with his friends. I wouldn't have believed it if you told me that would happen, and I've annoyingly lost some Zelda time because son comes before dad!

Anyway, today is the first day I saw a Switch in the wild. I was going to pick it up on behalf of a parent from my school who has been looking for one for weeks, but when I called her, she said she found one yesterday. So I picked up one to raffle off, and my students are wigging out.

The lady at Wal-Mart said her entire day, every day, is answering the phone and saying the Switch is out of stock.

I think the signs for long-term success are good, but we'll see!

I am optimistic, but it's too soon to tell. Nintendo will need to play their cards right. A good E3, with additional big software announced for the holiday season, is needed.

I think the Switch will be a massive success. This form factor is the future.

It has a lot of huge hype, for almost no good reason at this point. Zelda Breath of the Wild is amazing, but so far that's it.

I do think the system will do well though, and if Nintendo gets third party support, it could be an amazing portable with lots of great games in the future.

As of this point, I don't want a Switch, even though I love Zelda, the price tag of the system isn't worth it for one game. Wow me with other great games (E3 needs to be amazing), and I'll easily bite and get one later on.

@phirst
Nintendo doesn't really need mainstream western games, because mostly the games like that are lame, boring, too typical, lack of something interesting.

Nintendo is from Japan, better focused on Japanese aspect more. Beside, Nintendo can always create their unique games, from Nintendogs, Tomodachi Life, Miitopia, Pikmin, ARMS, etc that on mainstream western games we almost never found the uniqueness like that.

I love mine. I still haven't beat Zelda yet and I keep playing it. Those darn shrines. I want to beat this one with all the items and secrets I can find. Bomberman is just Ok. I have also purchased Shovel Knight (Really good) and Blastermaster ( totally awesome). That is it for now. There are atleast 13 games I have my eye on for future purchases and that never happened with the WiiU, Wii, or GameCube. So I knew w it will be a success. It is a portable that just happens to be a console. I love my Zelda game so much on the go and battery life has not been a issue. This is going to be a success. I expect it to do 3DS numbers. And let us not forget about the 3DS. There are atleast 6 games I want from that console before I send it off in mod land.

I think the Switch is off to a good start - heck if it can sell 2 million units with only one big name game Nintendo just needs to keep pumping out things as great as BotW. I'm still a little disappointed though, the handful of big games this year are prettt spread out, the only game with a date we have coming is a remake with a tiny bit of new content (MK8), and still no word on the VC. I've pretty much exhausted Zelda unless I want to just go collect endless korok seeds (I don't) and while there's other good games, there's nothing else amazing right now.

As I've mentioned before, I won't be picking one up until the summer. But my brother has had one since launch and he's living it. Breath of the Wild is one of his favorite games in recent times and he's picked up a few other titles on the eShop that he enjoys. Plus he said the beta for Splatoon 2 was awesome. I know the Switch is still in a sort of "beta" stage and will be for a little while longer, but I'm still very hyped to get mine eventually!

I few of my friends who bought the Switch on day one have taken it to CEX and traded it in.

@getyourak See and I find it far more comfortable to hold than my 3DS XL. Plus having 2 real analog sticks on the Switch is much nicer than one circle pad and a little nub on the 3DS XL.

I can't say how well it'll do but if I had to guess, I think optimistically it can outsell the 3DS, pessimistically I think it will still sell better than the Wii U, maybe GameCube levels.

I can't see Nintendo doing hugely well here in the UK, though. People are just too set in their ways with their PS4s, Xboxes and PCs. To succeed in the UK, I think they need a new Pokemon game and LOTS of advertising.

I want it to do well. It's an amazing machine. I've had it since launch and I'm still amazed that I can just take it to and from my place to my girlfriends (also has a Switch), and plonk it on the tele... it's the future.

It's made me stop playing my 3DS. It is a very special console to acheive this as I was obsessed with my 3DS.

While I've spent over 185 hours on Zelda. 5+ on Snipperclips and I've recently been enjoying Snake Pass too... there does seem to be a shortage of games.

We need to see Nintendo bring their A-game to E3. They've been preparing for the Switch for a long time, and we need them to demonstrate that they've got lots of great games coming. We need to see the fruits of them combining their studios. There've been very few big releases on Wii U and 3DS for like 2 years. We've all assumed it's because they've been working on Switch games. So far we've not seen it. E3 needs to be BIG.

Ah good, a chance for everyone to give their prediction for the future to come based off a few weeks of the Switch being out.

Personally, I don't think the Switch will do much to help propel Nintendo into a larger part of the industry. I think the current price point will prevent casual sales, but that can be rectified later. Nintendo is supposedly selling Switches for profit though, and that combined with game sales and paid online, I don't see how the Switch could not be successful.

So far it is the same story that we all know from the Wii U. I am on the pessimistic side on this one. Won't buy for at least a year.

@Anti-Matter
Are you serious, it certainly does need them not everyone wants to play the games you always describe as "girls games", many of us if not all of us have a far bigger gaming appetite. Variety is the spice of life. Anyways I love Japanese games and I own many but even most Japanese game are not worth buying, but once in a while a fantastic game makes it to the west. Holy poop if Ninty took the approach you just described then the Switch would be a massive fail on a wii u level, that would also mean no Indies aswell

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Time will tell. What I always ask when anyone says "success"'is what the definition of success is in a given context?

I'm sure Nintendo will have internal metrics and goals to meet with shareholders.

For me at least, it is a success and it will continuity to be so. I base this on the fact that I really look forward to playing it and I'm a grown-ass man with a ton of grown up responsibilities. For me, the desire to play and enjoy doing so is success.

One thing I will add is that in a world where a new telephone that's going to cost £680 has people getting excited, the £280 for a Switch with two JoyCons, grip, wristbands, dock and cables seems pretty reasonable!

I feel like I've been rolling out these pictures way too often lately, but they highlight the emphasis so well, so I'll use them for this point once more:

51 copies of BotW sitting unsold in the Best Buy across the street from where I work. Until they get more console restocks, those copies are just going to sit there collecting dust. There must be tons of stores with this many unsold copies or more throughout the USA... Is this going to happen again and again for the first year, with titles like MK8 Deluxe and Spla2n?

For the NS to be successful, it must first overcome this chronic console stock shortage. Us Nintendo fans can see past what's on the shelves, and understand what the NS offers. Throughout the first year, however, there's a strong possibility that all most people are going to see (at least in the USA) is stores with few or no consoles, and an ocean of unsold copies of major titles. Those who are not savvy and alert will likely have a very difficult time finding any consoles to pair with those games.

Think about it for a moment: if you weren't plugged into the pulse of a gaming community, and were not the primary interest in the purchasing decision, how would you know that the NS was not some seemingly mythical tech product, or even whether or not it bombed? Personally, I haven't seen a single NS user out in public, and I frequently take public transportation in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

Nintendo figured out how to maneuver around this problem during the Wii era with gusto. Somehow, they seem to have forgotten how to do this since around five years ago. They need to remember what made them successful ten years ago, or else they're potentially going to face a tough to remove public perception problem.

The system is selling, and the demand is high, which shows that the system will be around...but the Wii was a hot system too, which then fell short of people owning it for one game, and stores were overwhelmed later on with new Wii's, used Wii's and loads of games...which are still everywhere. Nintendo needs to get more out, that's a given, and they need to continue the advertising, but the advertising shouldn't just be their own games. They're taking their time with the E-shop of adding the virtual console library, and that depends on them...will it be more of the same, of just one game per week, or will there be more, and will it be the same games that are already out in the Wii store and Wii U store? The only other thing that is a concern to me, and it could change by E3 with plenty of announcements, is the lack of games that are actually coming to the system by the holiday...it's really not many, and if you even looked at XBONE and PS4, after they launched, it was only a few months later that the games started stocking up in the retail and download side...so, as I stated before, there could be more coming and more announcements, but how many of them will be coming for this year and not the following.

Once nintendo meets demands, and the system can stay on store shelves for more than a day, then the real outlook will happen on if it will continue to be a success, or if it will just be a short phase like Miitomo and some other mobile games and systems. Even PS4 is having trouble meeting demands with the VR, and it's making me wonder if I should even purchase that...and I'm still not convinced to purchase a Switch for just Zelda and the upcoming Mario Odyssey (seriously, I'm not even thinking the others are great at all, and I never played the original Splatoon and have no means to want to). If they have a good E3, and showcase plenty of goods that are coming to it (not just show off the E-Shop releases and Virtual Console releases)...especially if they surprise many with various titles (Metroid, animal Crossing, Pokemon), then they shouldn't have a problem with standing in good shape for another year or so...but, to ask the question on whether or not it will be a success, is too soon...technically, you can't really answer that until it's final year...even the PS4 could outsell the PS2 (Which the PS2 is the highest selling system, Wii being second), but it's still hard to tell. It is great to see nintendo back into good standings, but will the 3rd parties stick around for it???

@PlywoodStick That was the way the Wii was when it came out...it was over a year, before the system itself would sit on store shelves...which was kind of pathetic that nintendo couldn't meet the demands for it. I'm seeing the Switch being the same way, which, by my standing, doesn't make the company look good, and I wouldn't care if it was nintendo, sony or microsoft doing it, it just makes them look like they don't really care, it's just the want of the money instead.

When I head into the stores, I see accessories for the Switch and signs...the only game I see on shelves is Zelda, and there is nothing else beside it except Wii U, Wii and 3DS titles and a bunch of accessories for Wii, Wii U and 3DS...almost makes it look like the system didn't even arrive yet.

I'm afraid a lot of people will buy it for Zelda (and maybe Mario Odyssey) but will then sell the system once they get tired of the typical Nintendo trickle of first party quality titles mixed with indies. That was the story with Wii and Wii U and I'm not convinced yet that Switch will be any different.

I've been enjoying Zelda. Still haven't played Fast RMX yet. There's always more I'm eager to do in Zelda. Things are looking good for the Switch. With the upcoming games. There will probably be some nice surprises along the way. Some of those revealed at E3. I'm looking forward to Mario Odyssey, virtual console among other releases, and I hope there's a new Kid Icarus game with in the works.

@JLPick Agreed, with one caveat- were there a lot of stores with 50+ unsold copies of Twilight Princess?

Even with a chronic shortage for it's first year, Nintendo used Wii Sports and careful product availability to manage the situation as best they could. So the public perception of the Wii was effectively prevented from turning negatively. (There also wasn't as much internet communication back then compared to today.)

By contrast, there doesn't seem to be any plan to circumvent that public perception issue this time around. So we'll have to see what happens, but the results will be unpredictable, rather than nearly assured as during the Wii era.

@NintySnesMan
Some of the games that I described as "Girlie games" are actually a big seller too, like Bokujou Monogatari series, The Sims series, Style Savvy series (And the clones like Dream Girl/ Nicola Kanshuu), Cooking Mama franchises, Animal Crossing series, etc.
I remember there were some "Girlie" games on Wii or other Nintendo machines that actually have a big potential to be success but some of them ended up by a huge mess. Let's say Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, Charming Girl Club by EA, Hello Kitty games, Barbie games, Divas on Ice, Diva Ballerina Wii, etc. I don't hesitate to play Girl games like that, even I am a male gamer as long those Girl games must have well polished gameplay quality and great features as typical Male games. Gamers are not always dominated by males only, how about some proper girl games that can be enjoyed by both females and males as well with great gameplay quality and not cheesy ?

Btw, I also have some Japan only games like Kurikin NDS, Ochaken mo Heya series NDS, Minna no Suizokukan NDS, etc.

@Switch81tch "Those people hitting the lowest option on every survey..."

Fixed. And there's a reason there were 30% who chose "It really was just Breath of the Wild, wasn't it?" for the launch lineup response...

I'd rather have just Zelda than New Super Mario Bros, Zombi U and Nintendo Land. None of those were bad games, but they clearly didn't convince anyone but die-hard Nintendo fans to invest £300+ in the launch window. Better to have one cast-iron widely-recognised classic than a bunch of decent games. Saying that, the ps4 did well enough without any good games at launch, so maybe if Nintendo can build up their brand a bit better then that will give them some insurance in the future.

@Anti-Matter Wait, The Sims? You mean the The "force people to wet and crap themselves because they have no toilet, drown them, electrocute them, make them bathe nude and have sex with each other, practice incest, frame people to get them locked in prison, commit genocide on all the people you've created, or create an epidemic using sickness from never cleaning doggie doodoo if you want" Sims?

Fix the supply issues and get the Virtual Console working (with GC games I hope) and I'll be super happy.

@Anti-Matter
True, the Switch needs the games you described but also needs the GTA, ASSASSINS CREED. and other western games like that. Gta, Ghost recon, Splinter cell helped sell loads of PSP in USA and EU, especially the gta games. Games like Bayonetta and Tomb raider have female lead charachter and the latter helps sell systems, so yeah once again I say the switch does need western mainstream games and I am sure many switch owners would appreciate having the option of buying them. A good example of this is Skyrim, I am sure there are ppl that can't wait to play it on the go or at home

It's been doing well so far as it's boosted by the Zelda excitement, but I'm not sure about it's long term prospects. Splatoon and Mario Kart should do well, but I don't think any games are going to be on Breath of the Wild's level of success until we get Super Mario Odyssey.

So far, the third parties situation looks concerning. There's not a lot of new AAA third party titles being announced, and I'm worried that they'll eventually start to skip the Switch like they did with the Wii U.

This E3 will be important for gauging how well the Switch is going to do. If Nintendo has a great E3 and announces some major new games, then they'll be well on the way to success.

@PlywoodStick
Lol is the game really like that, I dunno I have never played it and never will. Sounds like your describing leisure suit Larry lol

Got the Switch on launch day and I have to say I like the concept more than I thought I would. It's unlikely to take over my PS4 as a home console but it does compliment it nicely and with my limited TV time these days portable mode gets a lot of use.

As for launch games Zelda is great if you ignore the lacklustre main quests and just enjoy its world, other than that there isn't anything special.

My only slight concern at the moment is what games am I going to be buying in the future. We know nothing of VC outside of a gamecube and the only upcoming main releases I want are Mario Kart and Mario Odyssey. Hopefully many more are announced soon as are VC plans

@NintySnesMan Yes, the Sims is pretty much a God game in disguise. What sets it apart from traditional God games like Populous and Doshin the Giant, though, is that the player can affect almost every facet of the characters' lives. You can force everyone to be public nudists and sex addicts, if you want. I mean, why not? Who's going to stop you from doing it? 😈

@PlywoodStick lol. Have never tried it. One for the wish list

@Anti-Matter Japanese games are fine but will only sell to a small proportion of the western market. If the switch is to succeed globally it needs to apeal to the western market. Its doing well so far but I fear it wont last and after 18 months it will have successfully cemented the demise of the Vita and supplanted the 3DS. In doing so becoming the biggest console in Japan but been largely irrelevant in the west bar the odd major Nintendo releases.

It has been quite good. I'm pleased and I think it can be a huge success. I have Zelda, Snake Pass, Master Blaster Zero, Snippers and Shovel Knight Complete version. I still want Voez, Metal Slug 1/3, Bomberman R and I am Setsuna.

All in all it has been a great ride!

Like the Switch, had no games initially but I eventually bought Zelda eventually due to overwhelming positive reviews.
Looking forward to Animal Crossing, Pokémon Stars and Wario Kart 9.

@PlywoodStick
Hey, when I play The Sims, I try to play nicely and peacefully. At the same time I have fun with house design, the most interesting part. Love to see my own house design even sometimes from Feng Shui aspect my house doesn't have a good fortune.
BTW, I don't like to start a mess drama during The Sims gameplay.

@NintySnesMan
Ugh... I hate those games that you mentioned about.
I'm kind of "Peaceful" gamer, don't like intense violence though I have interest with Street Fighter games, JRPG with mild / moderate violence (Teen rated), Cartoonish boxing games with mild violence. I spent my gaming time a lot with quiet and peaceful games such as Animal Crossing New Leaf, Harvest Moon series, The Sims series, Disney Magical World 2, Style Savvy, etc.

@Einherjar I don't disagree with your assessment on AAA's, I've always said the same. However the reasoning I don't believe is as hardware centric as you think, and comes down more to business reasons. The overall performance of the Switch is in a pretty good class, we've heard several reports saying it's a little below X1 which is still going to be getting all the games of Scorpio. The memory issue will be an issue in some cases, but simply using reduced texture resolution mostly solves that. The official support of UE4 and what we've seen from Snake Pass so far that, sure it runs low res on Switch, but it runs proportionally low res on PS4 as well, looks and plays well with a slight reduction in shaders, and the dev spent virtually no time on the port bodes well for any developer being able to port almost any game without too much effort. No Snake Pass isn't as resource intensive as, say, For Honor, but it's also running worse on PS4 than For Honor so it's using more resources than it should.

Overall I think any game that WANTS to come to Switch doesn't have a big technical barrier or big porting cost associated with the port. But I think most companies don't really intend to do it much anyway just because it often makes little business sense for the audience, and they'd rather not work with Nintendo's policies anyway.

Also, Skyrim, Lets remember to discuss that when we hear more. I'll put my bet in with you now: It's the remastered port. Why? The 6 year old engine is garbage, ran like trash on top of the line PCs and would choke a Switch like nothing and devour its battery. The new engine is scalable and efficient(ish.) There's almost no reason to NOT be using the new engine, it would run better, not worse, on Switch. It might use lower res textures than the PS4/X1 release, but there's no way it's using the PPC builds as a starting point. Feel free to point out I'm wrong if I am when we hear more. Game on!

@PlywoodStick You've got issues.

@getyourak Hmm, personally I'm a big fan of the N3DSXL, but I find the Switch equally or more comfortable to hold with the weight spread out better, and the wider width easier than scrunching your hands close together. The lack of pocketability I would think would be more problematic for more people than comfort in holding it.

The headphone cable kind of makes sense, though it's fair to point out the 3DS family is one of the very few devices that has the cable on the bottom. Most phones and tablets I've used and Vita all have it on the top (or side for some tablets.) And most headphones meant for portable use have a right-angle connector not a straight plug, so for the majority, it's not sticking straight up. That would be VERY annoying if it were though.

I am optimistic about it but haven't touched my switch once since I beat Zelda on Monday. The current slate of games is just not very appealing to me personally. While Zelda was a good time, I do believe it was a tad bit overrated. Some were saying best game ever, I wouldn't even call it the best Zelda ever. Once I beat Ganon I had no desire to go back to it, doubt I will any time soon.

The rest of the games out now are either overpriced for what they are, uninteresting, or can be bought elsewhere for cheaper so I litterally have nothing to play on it at the moment. Snipperclips is fun for short bursts here and there but doesn't hold our attention for more than a 20 or so minutes at a time. Just waiting for Mk8 next month.

I don't regret getting it day one but at the moment it will probably just sit and look nice on the entertainment stand until the end of April

If Nintendo plays its cards right, I think the Switch could do extremely well. Maybe not Wii numbers, but I could see it outselling most previous Nintendo consoles.

Mine has been great. Zelda is fantastic. Can't wait for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2, and Super Mario Odyssey!

@Anti-Matter said:

@Yasume
Your stupid comments is the most Awful here.
Back off, loather !

Please use the ignore feature if a poster upsets you. NL has made it clear for years that everyone who abides by the rules is welcome.

Also, why do you assume anyone who doesn't prize the portability option is afraid of not looking like a true gamer, whatever that is? Some of us work from home so don't have a commute or anyone to impress around us. Don't project your own issues into other people.

Oh cool, we got an "ignore" buttom.

Bye Bye!
@SLIGEACH_EIRE
@Yasume

@NowhereMan11

Of course it doesn't, nobody is forced to buy anything but I can guarantee if there was a bigger choice of launch games then it wouldn't have sold as well.

To put it another way I bought bomberman but I only bought it because there wasn't anything else that appealed to me at the time. It's a decent game don't get me wrong but if lego city, Mario kart or super Mario oddesy had been launch titles I wouldn't have touched it with a bargepole

In my weird opinion:

My bad launch side

1. Wii u had more and better launch games discounting Zelda)
2. stupid hardware issues
3. Incomplete software. ( Browser, Netflix)
4. Not enough launch units available.

My good launch side

1. Zelda as a launch game is critical success!
2. Mostly positive reviews and buss
3. Flying off shelves.
4. Most of the launch games are good games.
5. I even want one.

So I think it's going to go great in the long run. But it seems Nintendo really it's bad at product launching​. Lol

@Ralizah yes I agree. And Wii numbers are not going to happen again as it was a fad.

Poor Wii

@NEStalgia Thats why i pointed out several times that A) it is not impossible in all cases, but many and B) it sill causes extra work with no certain benefit.
They are still making inferior ports, which cost the same money.
The only real incentive the Switch does have is portability. And in Sonys case...well, they have the Vita for that.

Its simply not profitable enough. That a certain engine can run on a given system is no indicator that i could also handle certain games.
For instance, the 3DS could run Capcoms MT Frameworks engine, their mainstay backbone of the 7th gen.
Yet, all of their games had to be severely downgraded. Take Street Fighter 4 for instance. It needed static background to work.
RE 5 Mercs needed a workaround and limited entity FPS after a few meters.

Yes, it does work, but at a price. Its fine on a handheld, but the Switch isn't just that.

At the end of the day, again, we are talking about severely watered down ports, already available on systems with a much broader install base for the same amount of money...
That didn't happen on the WiiU and it won't happen on Switch either.

And as for Skyrim, i stand by it, it is not going to be the special edition. We can make a little betting game out of it
If it was, they would have come out of the woodwork with it already. I mean, it would have been a major selling point for both, Bethesda AND Nintendo. "It can even run that !".

The whole back and forth of "Yeah it comes out on switch...nah, it doesn't...well yeah, it does actually, but we cant say its the EE" speaks volumes...
That does not sound like confidence to me.

Overall, we just have to face facts here. The Switch dwarfs in raw computing power compared to its competitors. You can sugarcoat it as much as you want, it won't make the system any more powerful.

But again, that's not where its inherent strengths lie.
Its exclusive titles, flexibility, creativity, multiplayer like its 1996 (N64). It is not the broad range of main market titles.
Its a niche market heavy hitter like no other. It fills the gaps left by its competitors, especially the local multiplayer and handheld parts !

And this is why, in my opinion, dwelling on ports that might be poop or will never come in the first place is the completely wrong mindset here.
Get any other system if you're into these games. You'll be much happier. The Switch is THE system for peeps didn't care about this gen of systems, and trust me, there are quite a lot of them.

You need to get into it with the mindset, that this is not a "variant of the recent home console" because lets face it, with a lack of exclusive titles, PS4 / Xbone are just that, its something entirely different, for completely different experiences.

@Marios-love-child You can't guarantee that at all. Zelda was said to be massive from the get go, and with its absurd attach rate, there was no need to actually buy another game at launch. This anecdotal argument would be more valid a month after launch when players have completed Zelda, but a game that could (and is, for me) take you upwards of 100+ hours to complete is likely going to be the only game you're playing at launch. More likely, people bought 1-2-Switch because they actually wanted to, or because Nintendo's marketing push for it actually worked (crazy concept, I know), not because there was a lack of launch games. That's but a small factor. I would say that's more of a reason to buy something like I Am Setsuna, which was essentially the only other single player game, over a party game that's merely a collection of minigames.

You're acting like that was the only factor for you buying Bomberman. That was one, but I'm sure the Bomberman brand was another. This isn't like Fast RMX or Snipperclips (both incredibly worthy launch purchases), that have very little history or brand recognition (none in the case of Snipperclips). You specifically chose Bomberman probably because, even if subconsciously, you were curious about it due to it being the return of Bomberman. And an anecdotal example of just you isn't even remotely indicative of the population; I don't know why people always bring up the "well I did this" example in these arguments. You speak for yourself and only yourself.

@NowhereMan11

You seem to be assuming that every man and his dog bought Zelda but I didn't, I appreciate I'm in a small minority but I don't like Zelda games as they just don't interest me.

Ok so maybe I can't "guarantee" anything but I can assure you the ONLY reason I picked bomberman up is due to a lack of choice with other games.

Don't misunderstand me I'm not being negative or complaining, I knew what I was signing up for when I bought my switch and as I said in my original post I have no regrets but I do genuinely believe that if there were a better selection of launch games then there's a good chance less people would have bought 1-2 switch

@getyourak what!?

What is that even based on? I play it in handheld mode more than any other form and it is an amazing piece of hardware with zero failures.

You can knock the Switch on its software currently available, but the hardware? The hardware is the single greatest dedicated video game console ever made. Period.

@NEStalgia Will Wright is the one who let those things be programmed into there! Why would he do that unless people were meant to? You can do anything... ANYTHING... No inhibitions. NONE.

@DESS-M-8 "The hardware is the single greatest dedicated video game console ever made. Period."

wow..

@getyourak I'm glad the headphone jack is on top, it's really not that annoying having to fiddle around with it so it's not touching your hands.

What would have been truly annoying is if it was on the bottom so you couldn't play in table top mode with headphones.

I myself am quite pleased with the Nintendo Switch at this point! It does exactly what I want it to do and it does it smoothly and easily. The game lineup was a little disappointing to me but overall it was well worth the money spent on it. I don't think the Nintendo Switch is anywhere near as hard to sell to consumers as the Wii U was. I am pretty confident that the Switch is destined for at least moderate success.

I am definitely seeing a 3DS level of success in the Switch's future. Should sell in the 60-80 million range.

@Skunkfish "Although if they did do that, would it retain compatibility with the existing Joy-cons? If controls were fixed, how would 1-2-Switch work? Curious to see..."

A lot of different ways it could go, and they themselves might not even know yet. I don't think anybody on earth really predicted a 2DS, a console that plays 3D games in 2D. They could make a SwitchBoy that's basically just a Gameboy Advance but still has bluetooth or whatever the Joycon use so other Joycon coudl work w/ it. Or they could just abandon the Joycon like they did w/ the Wii U Gamepad screen. See how much use it gets in Zelda U? And then there's the issue of the dock. Coudl it work w/ a cable to the dock? Could it do TV out w/ a cable and not the dock, but only at 720p and fuzzy graphics?

Or they could just sell the Switch w/o the dock - $90 sold separatly - and the Grip - $15 sold separatly - in which case the Switch would nto to TV out but could sell for $199 based on those accessory prices. That's the Switch AS IS for $199, no remodel necessary.They could call it SwitchGo.

Or the Switch sells so well at $299 they just keep selling it that way until ti gets cheap enough in a couple of years ot be $249, then $199 a couple of years after that. As long as it sells well they really don't' have to do anything else.

So my thinking is they have a lot of ideas and maybe even a lot of protoypes they are working on, but which ones get released, when, and at what prices, may nto have been decided yet. They still have 3DS for another 6 months at least as Reggie already said 3DS games at E3. .

One game (as good as Zelda looks to be) isn't enough to make me shell out $350 for a console and I doubt I'm in the minority here. I have to see more, and not just ports.

Up until a few days ago all I had was Zelda but that alone was worth the money since I don't have a Wii U. I've put so many hours into it and I'm loving the switch so much.

It all depends on E3 2017, that week will make or break the Switch.

Enjoyed it so far. Only slight dud of the 7 games I've picked up so far has been Bomberman, but going to reassess that one post-patch.

To be honest, I already have a backlog - need to finish up Shovel Knight and I am Setsuna so I can get to Blaster Master Zero, and after that staring at some really intriguing eshop releases out already or soon that I want to play before Mario Kart.

So for me, there really isn't a thin library at this point. This might just reflect my tastes for old school platformers and RPGs. I also really don't need a constant stream of big retail releases to keep me happy.

It obviously be successful especially coming off the Wii U but how successful its hard to tell, Xmas and 2018 you'll be able to judge it a bit better. As for launch Zelda BOTW was the Switches selling point, it'll only get better with new software coming.

I for one am enjoying it! Hope its success continues.

@Grumblevolcano @yomanation I'm secretly hoping that they announce Switch Music at E3.

As an older gamer I find the switch to be perfect. I can play on the train. In my bed. While the wife is watching TV. I haven't played this much since the N64 days. Even so, I haven't finished any of the 5 games I have bought. How anyone could find the games library lacking already is beyond me.

@k8sMum
Eh...Did you remind me to use "Ignore" button if someone annoy me ?

@Skunkfish
Oh, Switch Music.
I hope Switch Music or whatever its name will be completely different game unlike Wii Music. Big features that allow us to create own song with desire BPM, tempo, variety of musical instrument, song length, Miis to perform, Stages, Album Art. In other words, KORG meet Wii Music.

@Anti-Matter

Well, that's what it's for. Happier outcome than anger.

@NEStalgia I'm sure it will be a port of the special edition as well. That version most likely has much better multithreading than the original and there's some videos of low-end cards like the Maxwell-based GTX 745 (which I'd say is roughly equivalent to Switch docked X1.5-2) putting in 50-60FPS at 1080p.

I'm sure the Switch could pull off 900/30 docked and somewhere heading towards 720/30 (hopefully actual 720) portable without too many difficulties.

Switch made my mom and dad happy because now they see me always available at their side, driving them places to places across the state while I have my Switch with me on the go.
Mom was saying, "oh, they have that technology now where you can play on the tv and on the go! Now I see you shove your ass off from the potato couch like you once did on the PS4...!".
Mom was happy.

@phirst
Pokemon.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Can we quote you on that?

The best thing about the Switch is tabletop mode. So dope.

@PlywoodStick Honestly, I don't remember Twilight Princess when it launched, but it was easy to pick up on Wii...and I remember that I stopped my preorder for it on Gamecube and went with Wii instead at the time (which was weird considering I couldn't find a Wii at first...ended up walking into Gamestop one day, a month after it came out, and they happened to get in 2, asked me if I wanted one, and I bought one...then waited until Wii Play came out to find an extra remote). But, with all nintendo systems, there has never really been that much at launch, and it always ended up taking a few months to get enough games out. Gamecube only had a few (main shortage was memory cards at that time), N64 only a few (main shortage was Mario 64 at that time for me), Super NES a few, 3DS and DS just a few, Wii a good amount, but not the best, Wii U a few but again...not the best as what it could have had. Switch seemed to go the same way, and I'm sure there's other plans for it...I'm just hoping that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe isn't the only Mario Kart coming to it, since they only release one Mario Kart per generation and this is still technically the last generation one with a few tweaks and items added. Anyways, thanks for the heads up on Twilight Princess!!!!

@Mortenb Because there are people that expect over a dozen games in just a few weeks. People complained about the PS4 at first (and now, it's library is overwhelming to myself). Switch will catch up, then there will be too many games for the consumers, resulting in some game companies getting overshadowed with theirs. There were plenty of Wii games that were overlooked, and turned out to be really good, but got lost in shovel ware titles.

Since I got mine, my beloved 3DS has now become my side-chick!

In all seriousness I love the Switch, I'm out at work most of the time so have only played Snipperclips demo once on the tv. If I had BOTW on Wii U, I don't think it would get played as much as I currently have. For me it's a handheld with the option of playing at home (but can't wait for a week off to explore on the big screen).

I think it's better than the Wii, if it sells half as well I'd be happy - but if the games flow steadily & more third parties get involved then I think it could be a king slayer.

We can be boring and talk sales numbers and such, but I'd rather just say I'm having fun with this one.

I was hoping to finally start playing I am Setsuna by now but BOTW keeps dragging me back.

The games selection sucks so far, and there's not even any backwards compatibility and barely any Virtual Console to help make up for it!

Even if I had the money for a Switch right now, "I Am Setsuna" and a couple of the Neo-Geo titles are the only current releases that I want. Among upcoming titles, only "Youka-Laylee" and "Sonic Mania" really seem all that promising to me. I already have "Shovel Knight" and "Mario Kart 8" on my Wii U. Call me when "Super Mario Odyssey," Xenoblade, and Fire Emblem get here, along with Pokémon if that rumor turns out to be true.

@Syrek24
I see what your saying but can't agree, 3ds was a success because of Nintendo developed games not Japanese or indie 3rd party. Yes MH and Youki Watch did good but would have still been a success without them. The switch will be a success with or without Japanese 3rd party, same goes for Western support, it's all about the games Nintendo bring to the public. The consumers like a choice, so let them have both Japanese and western, the games I mentioned for Western release was just an example, there are loads and many wouldn't sell in great numbers and others would do just fine, it's the same for Japanese games many don't sell in great numbers and some do. I myself am sitting on the fence to see what happens at E3, if I hear what I want to hear then I will buy otherwise I will wait, for me it's about western and Japanese 3rd party support, it doesn't have to be about every western game announced on PS4 coming to switch, but it needs some support like the Wii U got for me to buy. Ninty games are not enough for me, besides I don't like platformers and my wii u was full of them leaving me with only a few Ninty games worth playing on it, thankfully it had some 3rd party support to help me through the droughts, a good example of this would be, I bought Pikmin and then had to wait for mkart for my next Ninty fix, I didn't buy the 2 platformers In-between and I waited to get windwaker cheaper down the line, played it before. Thankfully I had the Batman, Mass Effect and others to see me through. OK like I said its better to have the option for Western game's than not at all, or just let them die like you said, one could say the same for Japanese games but the option should be there for both, but ultimately it's success will depend on Ninty software lol you said it's time for Japanese and indie games to thrive, sounds like you need the Vita not switch because that's exactly what's happening there, I myself have a Vita for this reason you have stated, hopefully the switch gets some western games then I will have everything I need, all but on 2 different machines, but hey am easy with that scenario. To give you a break down of developer support on handheld machines.

Top 20 best selling games by developers

3ds
Ninty 17 in top 20
Japanese 3
No western games

DS
Ninty 18
Japan 3rd party 2

Vita
Sony 8
Western 8
Japan 3rd party 4
As you can see Ninty sell their own machines, the highest entry for Japanese 3rd party was MH at #13 and most of those sales were in Japan not the west, in contrast the vita was a mixed bag but the top spot goes to a western game... Sorry for the long comment

@icerzerocool
Great story, that's the switch for ya

@Fandabidozi Yeah pokemon will come to switch once Nintendo have fazed out the 3DS. I hope it does well.

Whats your thoughts on how Nintendo make the Switch an attractive purchase for parents buying for the pre-teen/early-teen

@jman0987654321
Please don't bothering yasume.
He / she will keep saying negative comments.

@Syrek24
You make a very good point with your post.

Much like all of Nintendo's handhelds and most of their consoles, the Switch will sell off the back of Nintendo's own support, with some third party exclusives, mostly from Japanese publishers, to help. Some western 3rd party publishers will follow along, especially if there is an install base to exploit, but support from them will be limited.

One of the Wii U's big downfalls, aside from being a confusingly marketed, poorky branded, and terribly advertised mess, was it's lack of even Nintendo's own first party support. The Wii U's first party lineup in 2013 wasn't that great at all, with the one standout title being Mario 3D World, a great but extremely "safe" Mario title. Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, and Wii Party U were also notable releases that sold well.

Meanwhile, during that same year, the 3DS got a vareity of successful titles, from FE Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 2, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, DKC Returns 3D, AC New Leaf, Mario & Luigi Dream Team, Pokemon X/Y, Zelda Link Between Worlds, and Mario Party Island Tour. The evergreen success of Mario Kart 7 and NSMB2 also helped out.

I am sure I'll get one down the line. But it first needs to get cheaper (wich could take a while if it sells well enough). And the new Mario...I don't know if that's enough for me to make the jump this year. Now if there would also be a new amazing Metroid this year...

I think that even if it becomes a huge succes, it mainly stays a handheld. And with that I mean no serious third-party support (apart of all the downloads). Could become a gameboy color situation for me: There wasn't much that grabbed my intention. So years later I bought a gba and only the Zelda Oracle games and Warioland 3. Of course there will be more good first-party titles this time around, but I don't expect much of the third-party's.

@westman98
Yeah, have to agree with that, I was saying similar in a post not far above this one. Ninty games definitely sell Ninty hardware, but it's also important to have Japanese and western 3rd party support just to give consumers a option. 3ds didn't get loads of Western support, but it still had Ubisoft, WB, Activision, Disney and some games from EA, mostly sports games from them, actually the sims game they released was the 2nd highest selling western game on 3ds. Anyways the switch will need some western games, it doesn't have to have them all but some is better than nothing, I guess Skyrim, Steep, lego city and world's and Rayman Legends is a start, also with Fifa on the way. I am sure there will be more like you said, and with Indies, Japan 3Rd party support the future looks bright for switch, it will be anyhow, I haven't seen a Ninty handheld fail yet. It all looks good to me

Love my Switch. Not touched my xbox1 since launch, but we need more games. Virtual console is a must. Lego city is great but I have it on wii u. Same as mario kart 8 which I will still get as proper battle mode is the ultimate party game.

@Anti-Matter Just use the ignore function. Insults aren't helpful.

@electrolite77
Mario tennis yep, I would also add AC Amiibo Festival to that, maybe even Starfox zero , very true though it doesn't mean a decline in quality for Ninty, just goes to show all developers have a bad day. I would also put wii play on that list, ppl only bought it for the extra wiimote

@gcunit
Ah, thanks for remind me.

@Deadeyerobbie
I found someone has the ps4 version of lego city undercover on Youtube. The interface looks different and even better. Better check out from Youtube.

"No, but I'm open to persuasion in the future" - ah, this describes me well. I actually played Switch for a while, enjoyed it, but it's currently not on the list of my gaming priorities. But I will most likely pick one up in the future.

@phirst
Pokemon?

I bought mine, but the future entice me way more than the present.

@Anti-Matter
Oh sorry bout that I just noticed that he was troll account only saying mostly negative things

I'm still surprised I was able to get one at a midnight launch. I'm very glad I did, because the Switch certainly isn't easy to get right now...

My first month with the system has been pretty good! I'm still playing Breath of the Wild, and it is a highly addictive game. I was able to pull myself away from it for a bit to play through Blaster Master Zero, and that game was a lot of fun as well. And of course, the Splatoon 2 testfire was awesome.

I can't wait for more games to roll out for the console.

It's too early to tell but I don't think the signs are good for it being a success.

Sadly, polls like this are useless on NintendoLife. The majority of people here can't think objectively about it, they are wearing Nintendo colored glasses and everything is great.

Scratches head..!
Of course it's going to be a success. 😁 Why wouldn't it be? Nothing like it on the market. Nintendo games, what more do you want. Seriously powerful for a handheld. Nintendo will never go 3rd party.

Really enjoying mine! Still tossing around the idea of MK8D, but Splatoon 2 is a must buy.

Also, @Syrek24, are you who I think you are? I used to go by "Mask of Gears".

Switch is garbage. Want to play games? Get a PS4!

It's been a month...still the same four games on the shelves.

Strong start IMO, but needs a good E3 to back up the game library if it's to have a hope at 'mainstream' success. The quality of Nintendo's first party games is as high as ever and I'm especially excited that we've got a proper 3D Mario on the way. Also been impressed with the indie offerings so far - already a better start than the Wii U had, for sure.

Zelda was the savior of the console's launch, no doubt about it, it's going to be months before I come close to feeling 'finished' with it. It needed a killer title to launch with and we sure got it. If we get a good variety of quality 3rd party titles announced for 2017 or early 2018 releases then I'll be very happy with the lineup for this year.

@Shellcore There's some great stuff on the eShop already, but to the casual buyer browsing the titles in game that wouldn't be immediately obvious. They really do need to get some killer games out at retail in the coming weeks. I can't recall what else is coming soon except for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe?

Smaller Switch retaining the original Joy-con:

http://imgur.com/a/xL7Py

@Skunkfish Just been into GAME. In addition to the four (Bomberman OOS at the moment apparently), there are four pre-order boxes for ARMS, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon 2 and Lego City. Agreed that there are many games out and coming online..it's just communicating that to the general masses.

@Einherjar Late reply, sorry! I'll try to DL;DR it (if that's possible for me )

Yeah I really don't think a port is particularly difficult in most cases. Most of the PS VMEM requirement is for texture space, and at absolute worst, just downsampling the textures in batch takes care of that footprint. And the SD/Gamecard though slower than RAM can still be used for the assets. Unless a studio has VERY bad design (and plenty do) there's no real mechanical excuse on Switch. It's just down to business decisions. Maybe they can actually be honest about that for a change.

With Switch and the PC twins we're finally down to "PC comparison" for games. If the Switch has to be considered an entry level gaming laptop in the gaming world, that's a fair enough comparison to make. Not too many major games won't run at low settings on a gaming laptop, and for many that's fine, I suspect entry level gaming laptops outsell performance with high-end GeForce Mobility cards 4:1. Actually Switch seems to be better off than that, but for starters we'll settle on that.

No disagreement about most companies not doing it and it not being profitable. I just hate seeing the old Nintendo myths linger about porting difficulty when it's no longer true. WiiU was a whole different mess.

I'll stick with the betting game on Skyrim. I don't mind you rubbing my nose in it in June I still say it's the SE. Mostly because I don't see how it can NOT be the SE. The one would run ok on the architecture, the other wouldn't. The older one barely runs on SLI'd Titans

The union of Nintendo and Bethesda is kind of interesting because they're more similar than they are different. Both are kind of niche companies, both have spent some time in the dregs of the industry, both are forever stuck trying to push forward through past mistakes. I don't know if Bethesda's future allows it or not but I'd love to see them stick with Nintendo if Skyrim dos "acceptably ok for an old game." Not sure if the upcoming TES games would work with Switch or if they're going more MMO-always online which wouldn't. But both companies focus on the long-tail sales and "a good game is good forever" kind of mentality (despite one being the epitome of polish and the other the opposite ) Bethesda's stuck with Gamebryo which they chose 15-20 years ago. It sucked on PC. It sucked worse on console. It was inefficient, and it was a known bloated mess in the industry. They finally broke away from it, forked the source and started retooling it as their own (part of their interest in id was the engine work for that), so the SE is an early result of some of that effort finally paying off. The SE runs a lot better on a lot less hardware than the old version did. IMO if they didn't have the SE they'd have had no chance of targeting Switch at all with the "almost stock Gamebryo" original launch. It would melt holes through the machine, forget warping So my bet is SE, and my bet is the non-SE wouldn't even be physically possible. That doesn't mean it'll feature the same texture res as the PS4 build and I don't know what they will/won't do with mods. But the underlying engine/content pack I'm betting is SE.

As for Bethesda's secrecy, they're like that, much like Nintendo. I'm guessing it factors into E3, either Bethesda's or Nintendo's event. Like Nintendo, Bethesda isn't a fan of leaked info and they tell things when they're ready and announce useless ventures like they're a big deal. I figure 50/50 that either Bethesda highlights their venture to Nintendo during their E3, or feature in Nintendo's events. Maybe Todd walks across the street from Nokia/Microsoft Theater to Treehouse. Who knows. But E3 is a BUSINESS event as much as a consumer ad, and announcing formal details with a new partnership with the last mega platform holder they haven't dealt with, on the business end, is a big deal, investor/partner-wise. Even if it's "just 6 year old skyrim." I don't think it's a lack of confidence so much as controlling the info. They put the trailer in the Switch trailer, but refused to confirm the game's release. Then had Todd as part of the stage presentation to say "SKYRIM!" as though we didn't know it from the trailer. Then they deny all information as "we can't say yet" even if it's trivial information. It's clear January was not their announce other than to announce the partnership. So for a Fall launch, E3 is clearly the actual announce for customers, and they have a Nintendo-like silence on details everyone already knows. Much like Nintendo itself.

All the rest I agree with in general. Any game CAN come to Switch, and any big open world, RPG/etc. has a very good business reason to come to switch: The handheld factor makes big games manageable for a large audience that might not play it on a stationary machine. It's an easy entrance into the handheld market without the costs associated with Vita ports, and for more sophisticated games than Vita. For a company like Bethesda, or maybe Squeenix, that's a big opportunity to look into. Thus the Ubi Wildlands polls. Not for Wildlands maybe, but for testing the waters with audiences interested in that game for similar content. Won't be a 3rd party mainstream AAA powerhouse, but COULD be a good home for the niche stuff + the open world & RPG from the mainstream companies, following BotW's lead. Depends how well the early offerings do.

But the Skyrim part, mid-June, we'll see who wins the bet

@Skunkfish Yep, definitely. Turning around that mess that is Gamebryo into something (almost) usable deserves a medal They've got a long way to go with it, but that was a pretty significant turnaround.

Oblivion and, FO3 and Skyrim on the old base just ran so badly. People love to talk about "oh it's meant for a PC", no game with graphics that looked like that should bog down a PC like they did. I remember when Oblivion came out and I had my just built state of the art, like $2000 gaming rig. And it bogged down to 15-20fps.

@NEStalgia Just saying "well, you can downsample the textures and be done with it" is too simple.
Remember "Shadow of Mordor" ? It not having its killer feature, the beefed up AI on last gen consoles had nothing to do with texture size.

You cant solve every problem with "Well, we just compress ist".
You just make an already bad situation even worse.
Best case scenario, you'll end up with a butt ugly game. Worst case: Well, you heard all the N64 Jokes by now i guess.

But yeah, sometimes it might not just be the textures. It might be a lack of computing power. Physics engines, entity count etc.

"With Switch and the PC twins we're finally down to "PC comparison" for games."
Then please explain the plethora of porting issues we've seen this generation ? Arkham Knight, AC: Unity, No Mans Sky, and a boatload of others had massive issues getting their games to run on PC. Not to mention the countless unsung Indies.
We are still far from "consoles being just lesser PC's".

"If the Switch has to be considered an entry level gaming laptop in the gaming world, that's a fair enough comparison to make."
I'd say more like a high end Tablet computer because, well, it is exactly that. It consists entirely of tablet computer components and at one point, was even close to run on Android. There is no Laptop here.

Which brings us back to the initial point: We should not be talking about downsampled ports, we might have to talk about dedicated version made from scratch.

"I'll stick with the betting game on Skyrim. I don't mind you rubbing my nose in it in June I still say it's the SE. Mostly because I don't see how it can NOT be the SE. The one would run ok on the architecture, the other wouldn't. The older one barely runs on SLI'd Titans"

I honestly have NO idea where you are getting all of this from to be honest. I have a middle of the road rig. 8GB RAM, GTX760.
I achieve about 100-120FPS in the regular Skyrim (Max Settings, HD Textures) and about 30-40 on the SE (Max Settings).
The old engine runs on a toaster, which is why it already had console versions. So i have absolutely no clue where you are getting that this old game gets SLI Titans onto their knees, besides the fact that it might not be SLI compatible.

So yeah, we'll see mid-June

@Einherjar Individual games have some individual specific issues, but in the case of the Switch, it's not that the Switch is so powerful so much as the other two really aren't. They're all within ballpark of each other for a multi-platform engine to scale accordingly. The Tegra series was designed largely for that very purpose.

Shadow of Mordor's AI thing was actually a little odd, and I can't help but wonder if business decisions were involved. Some of the other games you mentioned, the Batman thing, that was frankly inexplicable, when you have subcontractors all around the world for these games and nobody in house really knows how it all goes together, fixing (really stupid) design implementations is sometimes not an easy task. But that one was just plain weird and awful. AC Unity. Find me a platform that actually DOES work on A fair bit of a lot of that though is those are games that were not designed around the "modern" PC consoles originally, they were being tooled around for the PPC systems (X360/WiiU) and more importantly the oddball Cell. Then ported forward. Granted BotW was a case of that, but they also had a hear of doing nothing but working on that port.

They effectively are PCs at this point, or rather, standard architecture. None of the consoles are particularly bespoke anymore, and the OS differences seem to be the primary differences at this point (X1 is of course Windows still, so there's that.)

But don't confuse the "tablet" vs "laptop" etc etc. thing based on form factor. Form factor it looks like a tablet. Tom's article called it in bold a tablet (which rjejr made no delay in rubbing my face in ), but in terms of architecture it has little in common with what we commonly call a tablet. the Tegra SoC is a special case, the purpose of which was to kind of meet half way between the power utilization of mobile hardware and the performance of desktop hardware. It may be more mobile than desktop in the end, but it's also quite different from mobile hardware as we typically know it (the fan and heatpipe is the first clue, it's more of a shrunken ultrabook, without the x86 overhead, but with more power consumption than traditional ARM, and x86 instruction set compatibility and uses a GPU core series borrowed from the GTX-M line rather than traditional mobile hardware. So it's part tablet, part gaming laptop, and lands in its own place somewhere between. WAAAY less power consumption than the laptops, waay more performant than the tablets. Android is a very ARM friendly fork of Linux so it was a logical fit for an ARM platform, but it's ALSO too bloated with too much overhead.

Back to the original theme though: You're definitely highly overestimating the difficulty in porting. Not EVERY game would have an easy time of it particularly because not EVERY game is well designed under the hood. But MOST games could be ported without being hit too hard. I don't disagree that most games WON'T be ported, I agree with you, I just wanted to flesh out the why's and that it's not a huge hardware hurdle unlike the WiiU (I just figure it's important to keep that stuff clear after the years of WiiU port nightmares and dismissive dev comments based on it )

But my main followup is really just for our Skyrim bet Your experience there sounds a little odd. Not quite sure what's going on there, but by pretty much all accounts the new engine runs MUCH better on lower end hardware. And that was the stated aim of it. Of course with all settings maxed, I believe the SE allows even more shaders and such so that could be it. But with the same level of settings the newer engine runs far better. 120fps with max settings though? That does not sound at all like Skyrim....either version....

I'm still holding my bet

@NEStalgia The SE wont run stable on anything medium and up.
Especially godrays are a system killer on my end, shaving off at least 10 FPS no matter what.
But the Golden Eye Speedrun trick works, a.e. everything runs smooth while looking straight at the ground (IF there is no foliage that is...)

The old game runs like butter, it always has. Never really encountered any performance issue besides the engines known quirks (so, mainly physics acting up, T-posing etc., nothing performance related)

@Einherjar Your PC is apparently a portal generator that opens a gateway direction to dimension X where up is down, left is right, black is white, and Skyrim runs on...well...anything...

@NEStalgia Dont give this rig too much credit, it might go to its head