TIME Names Nintendo Switch as One of the Best Inventions of 2017

I agree

I would consider this a prestigious honor, if it hadn’t also been awarded to the fidget spinner...

It could be better if they would add a web browser, Netflix and the virtual console. And please do something with that pathetic online Nintendo phone app!

Fidget spinner, the summer fad of 2017. No idea what 2018 will have.

Also the best unintended fad.

Theres a few things on there Id actually want. But I already have the main event

Nintendo Switch or as its known in my household: the New Nintendo Entertainment System, now you're playing with power, super portable omega power!
I have a feeling the Switch will be the longest lived of the pop-culture inventions on Time's list.

@Alikan Especially considering that an iPhone X2 is probably coming in 6 months.

Plus wasn't the iPhone invented like 10 years ago to begin with? XD

The Ultimate Invention: A Nintendo Switch with built in self heating coffee mugs and it's shaped like a fidget spinner for maximum motion control.

Pretty damn proud of my Nintendo fan status right now. Will gladly pick one up for Christmas if I get the chance.
While I kind of regretted getting the 3DS during the initial drought of 2011, now I'm regretting having skipped the launch. It seems like I just can't make a good choice when choosing whether to get a console or not.

They really need to add fidget-spinner functionality to the joy-cons. Missed a trick there.

People forget what/whom the fidget spinner was designed for when judging it...

The Switch truly is a magnificent achievement in concept and execution. In one of my college classes I was teaching Metaphor in advertising and I discussed the Switch's take on both a tablet (easy to understand) a portable (like the Gameboy and 3DS) and the dock and controllers as console. Then I pulled my Switch out of the bag and the oohs and aaahs erupted. The students knew what it was and the ways to use it because it evokes gaming concepts so well. The Switch's ability to inspire imagination is truly commendable.

"In one form, it’s a handheld tablet,"

Well that's going to make a lot of people on here cranky who I've been arguing with over the past year.

Coolest thing on the list has to be the Geordi LaForge vision for the blind device. That's some serious next gen tech right there.

Saving cold babies with the wristwatch thermometer was nice but I fear it getting babies hooked on iWatches. Too. Much. Tech.

@SomeWriter13 I imagine that it all happened as in that scene from 2001... all the students surrounded that remarkable artifact as they literally went ape...

@GC-161 haha classic movie. XD They all wanted to play BotW.

That self heating coffee mug is very tempting. It's a bad habit of mine letting my coffee go cold.

Great that the switch is, it certainly ain't a new invention. Innovation lmao, other companies released their hardware hybrid devices long before Ninty with the switch, if anything Ninty were slower to bring it to market. A good example would be the Morpheos X300, first revealed in 2013 with a working device before going to kick-start, it failed but they still released it anyway, it's a hybrid that also has detachable controllers plus on the go or TV plus table top if that's your thing. This was just 1 example there are others. The switch is fantastic with a few great games but i am more than aware of other devices doing the same thing as switch, only before switch was even a thing. TIMES don't have a clue or knowledge of what's going on in the gaming world

...an $80 self-heating coffee mug?

Why a fidget spinner...

@MsgBoardGamer I must be right, and you must be 1 of the cranky people.

I have no problem saying the Switch is a home console in tablet form. It's basically a "New Wii U" in everything but name. (If a tablet shaped 2DS can be a new form of the clamshell design 3DS, and a clamshell form New 2DS XL can be a new design of the tablet 2DS, then a Switch can be a form of New Wii U.) But a lot of people have a problem dealing with the "tablet" part. Trust me, I've had discussions where people lose their minds when you call the Switch a "tablet", even though that's what it is.

@BensonUii
Much obliged, I have a new account because the old one... well, let's just say Twitter is not kind to unused accounts, and I've returned to the scene after a 2-year hiatus.
https://twitter.com/Le_Cimici
It's me, but I'm sharing this account with my girlfriend as we're both working on my lame-@55 webcomic. Me and you are both Italian though, so if there's a few people I can send my Twitter account, one of them oughta be you.

Saw this yesterday and was glad to see the Switch make it! Well done Nintendo, you have made me a fanboy again!

@rjejr It's whatever one wants it to be at the given time. Many seem to miss that extremely easy to grasp concept. And as technology advances, that line will continue to blur.
Regardless, it's brilliant. Nintendo at their best.

@rjejr You want them to lose their minds for real?

Call the Switch a HANDHELD.

Time hasn't been relevant or influential for years. However, the Switch is an innovative console.

@GC-161 @MsgBoardGamer @EVIL-C

I don't think the problem is people calling it different things, it's people getting fixated on 1 definition and having to fight anyone who calls it something else. Nintendo is partly responsible for this as they've referred to it as a "home console" with a lot of their early marketing materials in the West. In Japan it seemed like they focused their marketing on Switch being a multi-function tribrid. But the problem is really people fixating on 1 definition and arguing that point to death. It's a home console! It's a portable! People get way too hung up on labels.

@rjejr "Well that's going to make a lot of people on here cranky who I've been arguing with over the past year. "

You forgot to tag me again

@GC-161 Nah, Switch IS a handheld. And it is a console. What it really isn't is a tablet

@NEStalgia I figure we got telepathy going by now, no need for tags.

@rjejr Yeah, Nintendo if America was adamant that the Switch is NOT a handheld and that it should be seen as a HOME console. But they're doing that because in America, home consoles are king. While handhelds are seen as archaic relics that are no longer relevant thanks to mobile phones.

In Japan, almost the opposite happens. It's mostly a handheld there.

@NEStalgia About wherever the Switch is a tablet or not...

The Switch is a PERSONAL CONSOLE that switches for your lifestyle. How 'bout dem apples?

@rjejr Which of course they had to partially market it as a home console, as it was the Wii U's successor. Thus, it's a console, plus a portable, rolled into one. Play how you need to use it. But of course some people become fanatical nazis about labels and say it's one or the other. (typically more often the handheld label)

I stop reading at the iPhone X... lol!. The glasses for the blind are cool. To bad Nvidia not getting much solo credit for the Switch

@MsgBoardGamer
Yep, mixed them up, still there were hybrids out before switch was patent, like S5100b. Can't see how they were knock off a switch patent, when it didn't even exist on paper. That's the thing, switch was on paper in 2015 and morpheos 300 was a physical thing in 2015, like i said they were late to market. Not all these devices are Chinese, Archos is French, don't matter if it's Chinese or alien, a direct knock off or not, simple fact is there were hybrids doing the rounds well before switch. Also where do you think the switch is made, yep China. I like Ninty and the switch but I couldn't care less if it was a success or fail, it's just about games really, that's why i own many device's. No way could i be stuck in one companies gaming bubble, especially a Nintendo one. Anyhow thx for pointing out my mix up, sh#t happens

Of my top 25 best consoles of all time chart as of 2017, the Switch is now in my top 5 best consoles of all time right behind the Super NES and PlayStation 2.

1. Super NES
2. PlayStation 2
3. Nintendo Switch
4. Sega Genesis
5. Sega Dreamcast
6. NES
7. Nintendo 64
8. PlayStation
9. GameCube
10. Wii
11. PlayStation 4
12. Xbox 360
13. PlayStation 3
14. Sega Saturn
15. Wii U
16. Sega Master System
17. Xbox
18. Xbox One
19. Turbo Grafx-16
20. Ouya
21. Alienware Alpha
22. Zotac Steam Machine
23. 3DO
24. NeoGeo AES
25. Atari Jaguar

@Alikan don't you mean new super Nintendo entertainment system

@onex Why are you not NoA's director of marketing, again? I can't remember....

Reggie can come up with the Personal Pan Pizza, but not the Personal Console......for shame.

@Agramonte nVidia's massive enough without needing "credit" for it.... whatever makes it sell better benefits their bottom line better. Heck Intel and AMD are running so scared of nVidia's massive growth in mobile they're actually working on products TOGETHER now.
https://gadgets.ndtv.com/laptops/news/intel-amd-jointly-developing-mobile-8th-gen-core-cpu-integrated-radeon-graphics-nvidia-1771928

The glasses for the legally blind are rad as heck. Amazing times we live in.

@rjejr
Why would that make anyone cranky? It is a tablet in one form... in one form

Nothing wrong with that statement. The problem is when people try to say that's all it is. And that's probably why people argue with you. For trying to say it's only this and it's nothing else.

Personally I would say it's home console + handheld (these two are without dispute) + portable console in tablet form. Because it has a kickstand and removable controllers which is new. And when you're using it in tabletop mode with detached controllers it really feels like you're playing a console on the go (hence portable console term)

of course fidget spinners were NOT invented this year...they were actually invented by American Catherine Hettinger, who filed a patent on the design in 1993, but then couldn't afford to renew it, so gets nothing from the recent proliferation of them.

To be honest, I feel like the mass produced, highly corporatized products are out of place on a list of notable inventions. Headgear to assist the blind? Definitely important. Mars probe to help humanity learn about one of our planetary neighbors? Necessary for advancement. An alternative to the common petroleum based tires on automobiles? Good for sustainability. But Switch and iPhone X? Somehow, these sorts of devices do not spark the imagination and give the impression that humanity is making progress.

I think the last time gaming consoles or devices were notable as truly new inventions was back in the days of Willy Higginbotham modding a navy ship radar to simulate the first ever version of Pong, followed by SpaceWars! for arcades, Magnavox Oddysey for home, and maybe Game and Watch for portable. Honorable mention goes to the Dreamcast for being the first console to feature fully fledged internet connection support and arcade-like capabilities, punching way above it's weight class by 1999 standards.

@Bengals76 it’s a gaming company . You get all that stuff elsewhere .

@WhistleFish

yeah. there was a jeopardy question about the iphone and time did that 10 years ago as one of the best inventions even though touchscreen phones were a thing (albeit clunkier).

i think they just roll with what's popular.

@JaxonH

it's a home console, tablet, and portable in 1 package.

thimbleweed can be played completely touch based (good on them for doing that). so that's a tablet.

maybe the argument is does a tablet and a portable constitute 2 different things? i mean, technically an ipad/android tab is a tablet AND a portable gaming device; albeit clunky for a vast swath of gaming genres but they are portable gaming devices/tablets.

i guess when N releases a browser, netflix (hulu is there now) and whatever 'other' type app then the switch could be considered more of a tablet than just a pure portable gaming device but i'm not sure why even categorize them like that unless it's just one of those 'ipad/phones will kill portable gaming machines' and N is 'just a portable gaming machine' arguments.

@rjejr Ha! Well played...

On the other hand: Reggie is of course just a marketing stooge, well-versed in what language to use to address the less initiated masses, so calling it a tablet makes it easier for those masses to relate.

If he's talking to a game site or game reporter, he's calling it a home console that you can take with you, or a handheld that you can also play on the big screen. He just chooses what to call it, depending on the audience he's addressing.

And tablets are easier to relate to for the general audience anyways, but also for the current younger generation of gamers, who's faces are already stuck to smart phones or tablets for 89% of the day...

EDIT:
Seeing as I'm in a slightly better mood today, I'll partially agree on it being a tablet, kind of. But not a full-blown one, mind you, but I would dare to go as far as to say that it has tablet-like qualities. A full-on tablet? That would mean that you should be able to control all the games with the touch screen alone, and that's obviously not possible, so there goes that theory.

Yeah, I'm quite happy with this update of my definition of the Switch. Guess I finally nailed it...

Paid by Nintendo

Don't want to put a damper on things, but Time magazine is well known for selling spots on lists. So chances are Nintendo coughed up loads of cash.

@JaxonH "And that's probably why people argue with you. For trying to say it's only this and it's nothing else."

I've never said that's all it is, I pretty much only refer to it as a tribrid, b/c I think it's more than a hybrid, but some people hear the word "tablet" and lose it. Like some people hear the word "free-to-play" and lose it. Tablet is a trigger for some gamers, it just is, b/c it has such a negative connotation for them. No gamer wants to be seen gaming on a tablet, it ruins their rep.

@ThanosReXXX "Ha! Well played..."

The only way it would have been well played was if I had played chess instead of posting on this thread.

@rjejr True.
Meanwhile, I've been thinking about the whole hybrid/trybrid thing, and both still seem somewhat lacking to me. And then I remembered my time working for HP, where they sold all kinds of hardware, and also printers, that doubled as a scanner and fax as well.

Those were called AiO's, aka All in One's. I think that's a good label for the Switch: an AiO console.

P.S.

There's another couple of my comments waiting for you in the other thread we were in...

@rjejr
True. I supposed credit where it's due, you did coin the term tribrid. Which I've actually since adopted

I absolutely adore the Switch, but when I think "invention" I think of something that is actually new. The Switch is just existing technology put together in a mostly new way.

If the Switch is anything like the Wii and Wii U, it will be a fad just like the Fidget spinner. Just like the GCN, Wii, and Wii U, I see 3rd party supporting dropping quickly due to the fact no developer ever wishes to develop for outdated hardware.

@JaxonH You can have credit for tribrid, I want credit for Switchworld. (Though since it's your world I suppose you deserve the credit)

@ThanosReXXX "There's another couple of my comments waiting for you in the other thread we were in..."

Know how I normally wake up to 30 emails, today was more like 50 as stores I've barley heard of sent me Black Friday emails. I think Amazon sent me 5 alone, like every category of product needed it's own email. I'll get to yours though. I usually delete all the spam first then reply to people I know, then think about the people who I just assume are calling me an idiot. And I just spent 20 minutes typing up that post about my sister, which I need to go delete now.

@rjejr
Unfortunately we lost one of our own. Xavier was let go 2 weeks ago.

Ah well, such is life. One goes down, 3 more will pop up in his place.

@JaxonH Sorry about Xavier. On the bright side, 3 more people you can talk into buying Switch(s).

What were you doing on PS4 last night, don't you have about 3 dozen Switch games you should be playing instead?

@electrolite77 Wii U

Not my fault
Zelda
MK8D
Spaltoon 2

If they would have called 1 2 Switch Nintendo Land 2 instead it would have been a clean sweep.

They could have called it Wii 3 and emphasized the 3 modes, TV, handheld and table top. Wii 3 Kings of Gaming land are...

@rjejr

Skyrim VR. My brother came over to check out DOOM and Skyrim and LA Noire on Switch, Xbox One X, and Skyrim VR.

He's a VR nut now. Got an HTC Vive for his PC, but is thinking about grabbing a PSVR for $199 at BestBuy on Black Friday now that he tried Skyrim. He says his Vive blows PSVR out the water graphics wise, but somehow PSVR has less screen door effect, guess from using an extra sub pixel for every pixel.

Skyrim VR is pretty cool though. When my head was on the block, and the Dragon came swooping in and thundered his roar, I jumped hard. Controls are not ideal thanks to the Move not having analogs, and crap buttons the size of a BB, but it works. You hold the center move button to run, and aim left want to point direction to run in. I had to disable teleportation cause it just ruins good VR games. Unfortunately DOOM VFR will only be teleporting. Ugh. Devs and their stupid motion sickness paranoia. It's why the original DOOM isn't in VR. They're afraid of the fast movement.

Anyways, Skyrim on Switch is incredible. Looks strikingly similar to the PS4 remastered version on the TV, but with wicked motion controls. Love aiming the bow like Zelda, and the lockpicking? Oh my goodness. Hold ZL and twist left Joycon to rotate lockpick, hold ZR and twist right joycon to rotate lock, the whole time HD Rumble is letting you feel every little tick and ball movement in the lock... It's insanely awesome.

And on the Switch screen, it's incredible. Just as impressive as Zelda was. It's Skyrim Remastered... in the palm of your hand. What a time to be alive.

@JaxonH Forgot about Skyrim VR, makes sense you'd be on that w/ your brother over. My kid actually wants to hold out for one of the better VR experiences as he says PSVR is too limited. He tried out the one in the MS store w/ the cameras everywhere and crazy controllers, he said it was a much better experience. May have been Vive but I'm not sure.

But dont' talk to me about lockpicking. I'm 60 ours into "Kingdoms of Amalur: I Reckon My Inventory is Full" now, and I hate picking those chests. Not as bad as dispelling though, that's downright broken. Can't wait to finish so I can start something else. Probably 30 more hours to go.

Yes but they also named the "sports hijab" as one of the best. So just thinner material on a previous invented, and culturally regressive concept. Genius.

At least they know quality tech when they see it!

@WhistleFish Nintendo was prototyping the Switch in 2008 ish. Heck the initial idea of the Wii U was for the tablet to be standalone. Another Wii U prototype had two Wii Remotes attached to LCD display.

@MsgBoardGamer
Don't get me wrong, i think the switch is great, i finally bought one with Doom. But i am also happy to own one of these jxd machines for all my retro gaming, wouldn't have bothered me if they were a knock off hybrid or not. Tbh it gives me something my switch can't on a massive level, and that's gaming history. The switch and JXD i have complement each other, one for modern the other retro gaming, makes me a happy gamer

@Malakai
Ahmen to that, yep switch is pretty much a wii u 2, only this time it will get games. Tbh it's just better adapted to modern gaming needs

The best invention of 2017??

More like the best invention of all TIME