No, you're not suffering from déjà vu; this article originally appeared on the site in July this year, and we're republishing it as part of our 'Best of 2018' series which celebrates what we feel were our finest features of the past twelve months. Enjoy!
There’s a good chance that many of you hadn’t heard of Austin-based studio Panic Button before the Switch came out, but don’t feel downhearted; the company had flown under the radar prior to the release of Nintendo’s latest console, creating a handful of Wii and Xbox 360 exclusives before finding its niche as an in-demand porting powerhouse. But there’s a lot more to Panic Button than simply being an outfit which is repeatedly entrusted with major conversion duties; this is a company which has deep technical roots and has mastered the complexities of the Switch in a way few others have managed, outside of Nintendo itself.
"Panic Button was founded eleven years ago, at the end of 2007," says Adam Creighton, Panic Button’s Studio General Manager and Director of Development. "Two of those founders, Craig Galley and D. Michael Traub, are still with the company, and are active, hands-on Technical Directors and Developers. They were doing tools development at the time with their other company, [and] they wanted to get back into working with games, so they founded Panic Button." At the time of the company’s birth, the Wii was dominating the world of home console gaming, and Panic Button - like so many other companies - identified Nintendo’s platform as the one which offered the biggest chance of commercial success.
"It was a very different focus for developers who were coming from working on the other consoles or on the PC, where you had basically the same interaction capabilities," explains Panic Button’s Technical Director, Andy Boggs. However, the experience ultimately stood the company in good stead, and arguably laid down the foundations for its future success on Switch. "It was an arms race for power and graphical fidelity," continues Boggs. "On the Wii, you had to go into it targeting a different look and performance profile, but you also had this huge unique challenge in the motion controls. We spent a lot of time tuning input – you might write some input code that felt great to you, and then hand it to another person and it would fall apart. Interpreting user intent through motion controls, in a way that works for every person, was – and still is – very challenging."
2009’s Go Play Lumberjacks was followed by We Wish You A Merry Christmas in the same year and then Attack Of The Movies 3D in 2010; the latter title also came out on Xbox 360. Swords was the company’s final contribution to the Wii library before it moved onto another challenge – but one that was at least thematically connected to the motion-based gameplay seen on Wii. "After we had spent a lot of time working with the Wii's motion controls, the Kinect looked like a natural step," says Boggs. "It was just another novel way of interpreting user intent. Looking back, I think everyone who developed for Kinect wasn't prepared for just how difficult it was to do that. Looking at a rough outline of someone's 'skeleton' and trying to develop real-time gameplay with that data was just massively complex and difficult."
In 2012, Panic Button embarked on the path which has given it the most success, although Creighton suggests it was a case of heart ruling head, at least initially. "I guess we did one port in 2012 – Ms. Splosion Man – but that project was more about working with good Austin folks and a good game," he says (the original developer, Twisted Pixel Games, is based nearby). Nonetheless, this was the first step in what has proven to be a very rewarding process. Panic Button has since worked on properties such as Injustice: Gods Among Us, Disney Infinity and Octodad: Dadliest Catch, but it is the company’s efforts on Switch which have singled it out as a studio in demand.
Rocket League was the first title to make the public aware of the company’s talents; an assured conversion job which effortlessly retained the core mechanics of the original game but allowed players to take the experience on the road thanks to superb portable performance. The stunning conversion of id Software’s FPS masterpiece DOOM followed, but not before Panic Button released its own original Switch eShop game, Astro Duel Deluxe. As we all know, the company’s latest effort - Wolfenstein II - caused jaws to drop all over the world in the same way that DOOM did, and this year it will also carry over the popular online shooter Warframe to Nintendo’s console.
It’s therefore easy to see why Panic Button has gained such as solid reputation in the development industry. In Creighton’s opinion, the studio as a whole pulls together to make these projects really sing, and one solid project has a habit of leading to another. "What makes this work is amazing, amazing people. From technical chops to business savvy, and soft skills like context switching and collaboration. We’ve brought in projects that explicitly, strategically build on each other. We worked with Disney on Disney Infinity, and after doing Disney Infinity 2.0, we made a case for putting the full game on the PS Vita, which was our first, big, ‘challenging’ retargeting effort. We did the Xbox One version of Rocket League from those great, great Psyonix folks, and then we pitched and did the PS4 Pro version, and then we pitched and did the Nintendo Switch version. We did DOOM for Nintendo Switch, which is a technically and thematically challenging game, and then we did Wolfenstein II for Nintendo Switch, and that game is more technically and thematically challenging – that wasn’t ‘serendipitous’ or ‘lucky’."
Creighton adds that a key reason the company’s Switch ports have turned out so great is the way in which the company works closely with the original content makers to ensure the end product is as faithful as possible. "We like all of our stuff to be collaborative," he says. "I don’t like ‘throw-it-over-the-wall’ projects. For things like DOOM, Wolfenstein II, and Rocket League, we’re actively working with those development teams and publishers. They make that stuff, and they make it great – we make it great and special for the hardware we’re responsible for."
Panic Button has worked wonders on Nintendo hardware, but Boggs is keen to stress that it’s rarely a cakewalk when it comes to bringing AAA titles to Switch, despite the studio’s prior successes. "The bar has been set so high for what's possible for the Switch, and so optimizing games for performance and making sure things still look great in handheld mode is always pretty hard." Ultimately though, the effort is worth it. "There's still just something magical about having this gameplay experience on your TV that you can transition to a handheld and take with you. We see that during development, and it's still exciting every time." And the satisfaction level of Panic Button’s current clients? "That’s a great question for them!" laughs Creighton. "I would say they say they are happy. And we almost always do more than one project with them, so... hopefully?"
It’s tempting to suggest that the company’s work is doing more to enrich the perception of the Switch in the eyes of the gaming public than even Nintendo’s own first-party software; games like DOOM, Rocket League and Wolfenstein II have a mainstream appeal which is capable of drawing in new players, perhaps even more so than the adventures of Mario, Link and Samus, all of which arguably cater for the needs of Nintendo fans first and foremost. "The folks at Nintendo are great platform partners," replies Creighton diplomatically. "My hope is Panic Button is a part of broadening the appeal of their great platform, and bringing franchises like DOOM and Wolfenstein to Nintendo gamers – for some people, maybe for the first time."
However, while Panic Button has scored commercial and critical successes with its initial salvo of Switch ports, all of these titles have appeared first on rival console hardware which is now coming towards the end of its lifespan. Given that Switch is still a relatively young system, is there a shrinking window of opportunity for these cross-platform ports? What happens when Sony and Microsoft release their next-gen hardware, and the bar gets raised dramatically once again? Can Switch – and Panic Button – possibly keep up? "I think there is a lot of room for good games on good platforms," comments Creighton. "Personally, I’m not going to talk or guess about future hardware. I do think there will continue to be opportunities for passionate, talented developers like the folks at Panic Button who can and want to do amazing things on all sorts of hardware, for games they are passionate about."
Warframe is up next, and Creighton reveals that more information on the port will be forthcoming this year. "Digital Extremes have been great about letting people know publicly they’re exploring all options for people to play on and with the Nintendo Switch," he says. "Personally, I dig the game and the hardware, and I am happy with what’s being developed for new and existing Tennos." But does Panic Button have any other ports in the works right now? "Maybe, yes," replies Creighton. It’s fair to assume that the company – which has limited resource, lest we forget – gets inundated with requests for ports these days, so how does it go about deciding what to take on? "[We’re] always, always selective," replies Creighton. "Personally, wherever I am, I want to make good games with good people. Just speaking for me, I work hard to take projects that we are passionate about, that make strategic sense, are challenging, and are surprising and exciting – without me having to tell people, 'Hey, these are surprising and exciting!'"
Panic Button has found its niche after a decade of experimenting with motion-based gaming. However, the aforementioned Astro Duel Deluxe proves that the desire is still there to create original content. "I’m a portfolio guy, so wherever I am, I want to make sure the company I am with is doing interesting and exciting things, is growing, and is taking care of everyone that is part of making that happen," explains Creighton. "I think most developers want to make their own original game, and I would say we are no different. Where we are maybe different is we won’t ‘bet the farm’ on a new game, and if it doesn’t succeed, have the company go away. So, original IP is an explicit part of our portfolio strategy, we’re creative about how we do that, and we won’t risk the company on it."
In the past decade, Panic Button has grown from a relatively obscure indie to a technical powerhouse which commands the respect of major publishers and is constantly in demand thanks to its talent for porting big-name titles to challenging hardware. But where will the studio be in another five years, when the console battlelines have shifted and Switch may have been supplanted by other groundbreaking platforms? "Hopefully, we'll have more great people and continue to work on challenging and interesting games. Maybe even our own?" replies Boggs. Creighton’s response is very similar. "If it’s the same people we’re working with right now? I can only see us doing 'more' and 'bigger' and growing and taking care of and being successful with this wonderful, passionate fan base that has decided they like what we’re doing – honestly, that is what makes any game successful."
Here’s to another decade of Panic Button – we can’t wait to see what the company achieves on Switch, and beyond.
Comments 101
Good piece, thanks. Looking forward to playing Wolfenstein soon!
Thank you for the great support PB.
Great article, Damien!
Nintendo should buy Panic Button, invest in it to ramp up the staffing and get good ports down stream faster.
some people wants this company to be bought by Nintendo. i don't think it really necessarily for them to be bought by Nintendo. though, i do like that they are helping third parties bring their games to switch.
Great read
The astonishing work of PB guys is quintessential.
To think Wolf 2 can be played on a device that’s not much bigger than my smartphone is complete nonsense, yet here we are.
Besides Smash, Warframe on Switch is my most anticipated game for the rest of this year! I really hope it gets some more news soon!
@Optiumus I think Resident evil 2 revisisted would be an interesting port for them to put on switch too if its possible, and other than that while the switch not being able to handle ps5 and xbone 2 ports is a valid concern, I simply don't expect them to try putting next gen releases on the switch when the time comes.
I think at least for some reasonably chosen next gen sony and xbox games who knows it may be possible, but personally I feel old gems that never made it to an nintendo console could always also be an option.
With WarFrame on the way, I’d love to see them port Dark Sector over to Switch as well. I loved that game.
I thought inti creates was.Nintendo really should buy them then we can have a 2d retro power house to make game
@PlusUltra There's a reply button underneath a user's comment, you know...
Saves you from manually mistyping their username and them never being aware that you actually reacted/replied to them, because they won't get notified...
@damo You're really knocking it out of the park these days! It's good to see NL back on track after such a deep slump!
@Damo great article, and an interesting read. Good distraction on an otherwise highly boring and way too warm Monday afternoon...
Those first few games they made were... how can I say this nicely... not really something to be overly proud of, though...
EDIT:
But good to see what they ultimately turned into, and their current reputation is VERY well-deserved...
@ThanosReXXX Thanks for the tip. I intentionally miss typed their username since I didn't think it would make that big of difference since I thought it wasn't likely another user with optimus in their username would post or read my message, but as you said without them being properly notified by me replying to them correctly they may never notice my comment at all so again you have my thanks.
I love those guys at Panic Button but, please, release those games entirely in a cartridge, I HATE to have to download the game partially.
@PlusUltra You're welcome. Glad the message came across as intended: a friendly tip.
Panic Button seems a lot like Feral Interactive for Linux. It's great to see them bring a lot of games to my favorite platform, but it concerns me that we're apparently so dependent on a single studio to bring us third-party games instead of seeing third-party developers support the platform directly.
@Drommajin That won't be Panic Button's call to make. The publisher will decide what capacity game card a game ships on, and as we've reported in the past, plenty of publishers are taking the cheaper option and only shipping part of the game, forcing users to download the rest. That's because it costs a lot more to produce high-capacity game cards.
@Damo I see... I bought L.A. Noire like this but I'm not willing to bow to those terms anymore... too bad Wolfenstein got this treatment.
Great feature. Panic button is doing some difficult, impressive work. I never even heard of that Hulk Hogan game. Maybe they can partner up with Bret Hart and make a real wrestling game?
But back to the feature. This team puts in alot of time and effort, and I feel full priced purchases are warranted, even if you're downloading half the game for a physical cartridge. I'm still not sure what type of magic they pulled to put Doom and Wolfenstein on Switch. Those two games, and 2K somehow making NBA 2k18 playable and fun shocked me this first year and a half with the Switch.
Great article, it’s nice to read about these folks. I absolutely love what they did with Doom. I absolutely want to see Doom Eternal on the Switch as well. The original runs flawlessly handheld and still looks great on a big TV, and despite owning an Xbone & PS4, I prefer it on switch for portability purposes.
I look forward to more ports and yes, the occasional original IP as well.
Interesting, looking forward to whatever they had coming for Switch.
Hmm... bit overly gushing with the praise here, let's be realistic:
Their Rocket League port wasn't great, especially in handheld mode, something that was well documented across the internet. Psyonix had to do their own patch to increase performance, only then did it become a good port.
Doom and Wolfenstein 2 are two of the blurriest games on the Switch, to the point where the low resolution affects gameplay. I really hope with Warframe that they keep the detail settings low and the resolution high, or at least give us sufficient graphics options. Hopefully Digital Extremes and Panic Button will listen to the community on this.
Lastly, 'mastering the complexities of the Switch'? It's a modern console, apart from less power it's more or less the same architecture as the PS4 and Xbox, as many developers have said. It's not like the PS2 or Saturn with their complex custom chipsets, so there's no real wizardry going on with these ports.
@Equinox Fallout on the switch would be amazing
DOOM was the first game I downloaded when I bought my Switch, don't know why buy I just had to experience it. It's incredible I love it. Wolf2 next when I'm ready for a new game.
Great company, I bought both Doom and Wolf 2 for the Switch and it was money well spent.
I loved Doom on the Switch but I think Wolfenstein is just too low a resolution for me to enjoy
Panic Button needs to Port WARFACE next !
@bombjack
Doom’s resolution affects gameplay? Get some contacts or some better gaming skills, that’s an absurd comment. I play games in 4K, on a beautiful 55 inch screen and I’ve had no issues switching from my Xbox S to the switch. And Doom looks superb and so good, my wife won’t watch it as it gives her nightmares. But it affects your gameplay??? Oh BS!!
Would love to see the Fallout titles and Dishonored and Dishonored 2 from you, Panic Button!
I'd sleep a little more soundly at night if Nintendo made Panic Button a second-party development company with continued autonomy over their own projects and no change in management, as was the case with Rare Ltd. prior to their eventual Dementor's Kiss courtesy of Microsoft. I can see Panic Button having a division for original IPs and a division for ports, with the right funding. Would love to see them lovingly port classic Nintendo 64/GameCube/Wii titles to Switch as games offered in the Nintendo Switch Online service!
@Agent721 Of course the low resolution affects gameplay, don't be so ridiculous to say otherwise. Blurry graphics = harder to see enemies and items, practically every review has picked up on that, particularly for Wolfenstein.
Great article! I'm surprised I haven't seen more articles like this from other outlets about Panic Button, it's certainly warranted.
@bombjack And yet despite boasting comparatively low resolutions to today's age of 4k Ultra HD multi-million dollar game productions, classic games from just about every legacy video game console unaccountably exist. It's about the games, something Panic Button does very well in the experiences they bring to Nintendo consoles, and that will never change in the video game industry no matter how many graphical leaps forward are made.
I'd love the previous Wolfenstein to get a port too!
@Mach_Rider Me too!
Fromsoft needs to just hand DS off to PB. Should be their panick button at this point.
@Majora101 That's a lazy blanket comment that's missing the point. Classic games on legacy consoles ran at resolutions which suited the displays they ran on, typically CRTs which handled those lower resolutions better.
LCD screens on the other hand handle non-native resolutions poorly, Panic Button's ports all output way below native resolution and look very blurry as a result, which makes them more difficult to play than native resolution games. Nintendo understand this, that's why all of their first party games run at or very close to native resolution, because they play better that way. Nintendo understands that gameplay comes before graphics. I hope that Panic Button change their priorities for Warframe and future ports, or at least give us a choice between performance/quality modes.
@EightBitMan Well said, I get the feeling Panic Button are getting this praise because they're the only developer porting games regularly, and there's not much to compare to, even though their ports are mediocre at best due to not being tailored to the system. The mindset seems to be that any port is better than no port. I wonder how a team such as Bluepoint Games would have done with the same projects, I reckon they'd have taken a different approach. Of course it's possible that Bethesda requested this approach, but given how sharp Skyrim looked on Switch while clearly having quite low detail settings, I'm not so sure.
I appreciate their effort but they need to chill with the dynamic resolution. 360p is not acceptable. Since when is a native 720p 30fps a luxury? 720p has been the bare minimum since 2007. Even the WII U ran it's games at resolutions at or above 720p and that was with 2GB of ram and a second screen sucking bandwidth.
I wouldn't worry about next gen consoles being too much for the Switch to handle in terms of ports. Next gen consoles will focus on 4k with minimal effects improvements. "True 4k" is all the rage with the "serious" consoles. Top end PC hardware can't even max out games in 4k, and next gen consoles typically use mid-tier PC hardware at the time of the announcement. That means next gen for Sony and Microsoft will have a cut-down 1060-1070 with 6-8gb of RAM with any luck. The same process used today for the Switch will still work for next gen.
@Damo and speaking of cart prices, I’ve always thought that would make an interesting article “what do publishers have to pay per size and unit for a cartridge?” (I’m also curious about Nintendo’s royalty rates). Is this stuff openly discussed among publishers?
@RobotReptile We did this piece a while back:
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/09/feature_exploring_the_switch_tax_and_why_nintendo_was_right_to_use_game_cards
@Damo Ooh! That one slipped by me. Giving it a peep now. Thank you!
@ConanLives Damn, I came down here to post that. I think it is absolutely the next logical step.
@Krazzar well because Wii U was not a tablet... The Wii pad was not the console itself. In handheld the GPU is clocked so it won't heat too much and drain the battery in seconds. People need to start understanding the minimums of hardware engineering
@Balta666 But the Wii U was weaker than the Xbox 360, which released in 2005. You'd hope a console released 12 years later would be able to match that spec, even in portable mode, as shown in ports such as Skyrim and LA Noire.
I think the original point is that games should be designed for the spec of their system, so as most Wii U games ran at 720p, so should most Switch games be designed to run at 720p in portable mode. Sadly that's rarely the case.
@bombjack We can drill the discussion down to minute technical terms on the issue of what resolutions better suit one display versus another or at what point one might consider a game "too blurry", but the point you are dismissing as a lazy blanket comment because you disagree with it is that some of the most beloved games of the past are up to neither the graphical standards of their time nor today's and feature many of the exact same issues you are criticizing Panic Button-ported games for. The reason why your opinion of Panic Button ports is of the minority is simply that a game does not have to be graphically nor performatively perfect (or even close!) for most players to look past them and enjoy the game experience.
@bombjack I will have to repeat myself but switch in handheld is not a console and therefore will need downgrades that in general are graphics.
It makes no sense at all to compare ports of Skyrim and LA noire with doom or wolf as old games have lesser assets and it is very easy to say that it is lazyness but do you even have an idea the time would take to recreate the assets?!?!?
If you don't like to play the ports on switch don't buy them but don't complain and ask for utopia
@bombjack
The vast majority of gamers are highly satisfied with Doom on the Switch, which is why the game got such great reviews. You & 8 bit man are dead wrong in suggesting we love them because there’s nothing else. I own everything short of the Xbone X and I happen to love Doom on the Switch as it’s a FLAWLESS GAMING EXPERIENCE. I could play it on any system, but I’m highly sastisfied with the Switch version as it offers something the others lack. A superb portable gaming experience that also looks wonderful on the big screen. But what do I know, 42 & gaming since my first console being an Atari 2600, I’m sure my opinion is nonsense and apparently my better than 20/20 vision is making up for it??!
These ridiculous comments, that 1) Doom is subpar and 2) the switch has awful ports are truly asine and fly in the face of reality. As someone who can game wherever I want and how, I find your commentary totally out of the norm with the reality of the gaming I experience with my own two eyes.
Get a grip!
@Balta666 Of course Switch in handheld is still a console, as I said before its architecture is very similar to the PS4 / Xbox One, less powerful but still a console, and on par with the 360/PS3 - so were they not consoles either???
@bombjack A console by most definitions require the device to be hooked up to a TV, so no it would not be a console when it’s in handheld mode.
Reminds me I still have to get Go Play Lumberjacks for my Mii Collection.
@Majora101 No, I'm not criticising old games for the same reasons at all. Those low resolution games looked fine because CRTs handled low resolution better and also because 2d graphics age much better than 3d. LCDs on the other hand are really bad at upscaling non-native resolutions, so you get very blurry results, particularly with 3d graphics. There's a very distinct difference.
And yes, I agree that a lot of people don't particularly care about getting the best quality possible and will accept mediocre ports, particularly if they can't understand the technical processes involved, and that's why companies such as Bethesda are rubbing their hands with glee, knowing people will buy these kind of ports, even at full price.
Great read.. we need more like this on NL.
Panic Button are doing great job porting games to Switch. It’s nice to know you can succeed if you work hard and passionate! I wish them all the best with future projects!
@Mrtoad Always found that an odd one, seeing as a handheld is already connected to a display, so it's also a console. But anyway...
@Agent721 Calm down yourself and stop desperately trying to force your own opinions over others. This has nothing to do with age (I'm the same age, grew up with the 2600 too) and certainly nothing to do with eyesight (Doom looks wonderful on a big screen, really? Most reviews disagreed).
It's great that you enjoy Doom, but I'm disappointed in the port for various technical reasons that you probably aren't interested in. You ranting won't change my opinion.
There are plenty of games to port to the Switch that haven't been ported already. When next gen hardware from Sony and Xbox are released, it wont matter too much initially. If people are right in expecting that hardware to drop around holiday 2020, that's still a decent ways away.
Not sure where the Switch would be at the moment with Panic Button. Those guys are nothing short of amazing.
Here's an idea, Nintendo says they want the 3DS to continue as a "training wheels" system to the Switch, but by 2020, that probably won't still be able to continue. For the first year or two of the next gen consoles, most games will probably be dual releases between current and next gen consoles, so the Switch will probably still be able to run at least a handful of them like it does now. Then, in 2021 or 2022, Nintendo can release a Switch successor early, when that is no longer the case. Nintendo would then continue to support the original Switch as the new "training wheels" device at a lower price.
@EightBitMan Well, "heavily downgraded ports" are still a big step up from the Wii U which had almost zero third party support, and from the Wii which had lots of third party support, but 90% of it was fitness games and minigame collections.
cant wait for warframe and doom eternal.
@Luke937 Games that need more memory or bandwidth as a result of textures, GPU effects will have an impact compared to the Wii U, which mostly received last gen games designed to run on consoles with low memory bandwidth and 512mb RAM. Even then, the Wii U barely had a stable framerate in third party games, with Black Ops 2, Ghosts and Mass Effect 3 to name a few all underperforming or running at lower than 720p. The Wii U's issue there, was its CPU.
Likewise, the Switch is trying to run games that are designed to run on the lowest denominator at the time - the base Xbox One. That means a 8 core Jaguar CPU (terrible by modern standards, a G4350 beats it), 8GB DDR3 RAM shared. The Switch on the other hand even in docked mode, is inferior in spec but devs also have to go a step further and tailor the games for handheld mode and scale up to docked.
Whilst the Wii U was superior to the 360/PS3 in some areas, its CPU let it down and most PS3/360 games were CPU intensive to compensate. The Switch doesn't have that benefit and as such, some games will need sacrifices to run, even if it means going below 720p.
I do have to admit, whilst Wolfenstein 2 is playable and impressive that it's running on the Switch, the low blurry resolution and somewhat input lag puts me off finishing it. I'll have to get round to it at some point.
@bombjack no it is not the same thing because they did not run on a battery... Would you be ok to have a battery life of minutes instead of hours?
@Majora101 The difference with old games and games for example the Nintendo 3DS is that they were made from the ground up with these low resolution limitations in mind!
Games like Doom and Wolfenstein II, were made for the PS4/Xbox One with high resolution capability and a lot more power compared to the Switch.
The Wolfenstein II port had to be downgraded so much, that indeed, like he said, in some instances it will be incredibly hard to see item pickups due to loss of detail.
This has been mentioned plenty of times now, so to ignore this very fact is just silly and immature.
Panic Button is doing an impressive job making these high profile games run on the Switch, but it definitely comes at a steep cost.
That Skyrim runs so well on the Switch in pretty much native mode, is only because it's an old game that was made for the XB360 and PS3 which are comparable in power to the Switch.
The Switch is a fantastic console, but people also need to accept that it's very underpowered to the PS4 and XBOne.
I own both a PS4 (since launch) and now also an Xbox One X (for our 4K TV), so I rather see games being ported to the Switch that can actually run really well on it, without too much sacrifice.
I personally think games like Fallout 4 and Borderlands:Handsome collection will be much better candidates to be ported to the Switch. Especially Borderlands with it's stylized graphics that is much easier to scale.
Enjoyed every bit of Doom and Wolf 2. Only blur that annoyed me a little with the latter were the face textures. Apart from that, one hell of a ride!
I played through both Outlast games as well and let me tell you, while the whole setting in my opinion was better in part 1 (with good graphics), part 2 is jaw dropping when it comes to graphic fidelity. And always sticking to high-res! Red Barrels should definitely develop more for Switch with those skills!
In the meantime I would like to ask Panic Button to port GTA V. Use xbox360/ps3 base and give it a little boost! I wouldn't even care if it means a dedicated micro SD!
Loved DOOM, and planning on getting Wolfenstein 2 tomorrow. Been waiting for a little price drop on it from GAME (maybe down to £40?) because I still have £160 of store credit, but thinking I might as well finally just cave and get it for £50 whilst it's still in stock
No doubting the talents of this amazing team.
But can Switch run Crysis?
@Jeronan I agree with your comment the switch is a fantastic console but people need to accept that high profile games may sometimes come at a price.
I think that popuIar high profile releases play an important part in keeping the nintendo base included with a couple of trending games periodically and I think Panic Button will and should continue to do them.
However I also think that last console generation games are also really good canidates for ports. The switch could run fallout 4 with compromises or it could run fallout 3 and new vegas with less compromises or with none at all as well as other classics like borderlands, left 4 dead, witcher 1 & 2, Dragon's Dogma, and bioshock.
Astro Duels Deluxe is not an original game by Panic Button. It is a port of the free mobile game Astro Party by Noodlecake Studios.
Love the work the team has put into Switch. I may not get the Warframe game because its not my cup of tea. I would like to see what else they are planning or something that they want to try. I'm not talking about a port but really a new game or something like that.
@Jeronan Agreed on both Fallout and Borderlands! Been wishing for these games to come to Switch since its launch.
My argument to Bombjack is made not so much with relatively recent 3DS titles in mind, but noteworthy examples of games which feature some blurriness or any other artifacts that have a noticeable impact on visibility, such as Ocarina Of Time for the Nintendo 64. The fog is certainly a feature in that game!
You may disagree, but to the eyes of the vast majority of players viewing a game for the whole rather than the sum of its parts, the exact technical reason behind an issue like inhibited visibility is not as much of a problem as it may be to you or Bombjack, be it due to a non-ideal resolution at certain points in the game (Wolfenstein II for Switch uses dynamic resolution scaling to maximize framerate) or the abundant use of fog in Ocarina Of Time to conceal imperfections inherent to the limited capabilities of the hardware of the time (sounds familiar, doesn't it!). This may be a regrettable thing for those in the know who choose not to look past small issues to enjoy the experience, but to the overwhelming majority of players who allow themselves to have fun with a great title like Wolfenstein II on a great console like the Nintendo Switch from a great developer like Panic Button, it's hardly noticed (and frankly not cared about!). Try to have some fun, it's just a game! 😂
@TheMadPolarBear
I agree that compromises had to be made but I don't think they were made in the right places. They shouldn't have used the original assets and textures.
They should have used lower Polygon models and flatter textures but kept the resolution locked to 720p in hanheld mode. There is no point in using those assets if the resolution is to low to see the extra detail they provide.
Highly potential these guys are!
@Balta666 That doesn't change the optimization process. You should probably get better acquainted with how it works. A game running is not dependent on the hardware, as this article is all about. Look at the work done by Low Spec Gamer. It might not look identical to other versions, but the core of the experience is still there, which is the crux of this article.
Nintendo + Panic Button = Successlife
@bombjack to be fair to @Agent721your statement of being 42 and gaming since the atari era is to be frank and as you said nonsense and meaningless considering its anecdotal.
Well, better call them, Nintendo’s most important porting studio.
How bout some recognition to Iron Galaxy for Skyrim and Diablo 3
I'll just leave it here.
Your move, Panic Button!
these guys deserve all of our respects and hope they continue to bring great games to the switch cant wait for doom eternal.
I cannot wait to see what they got next in the pipelines for the Switch.
@Aozz101x Those people are silly. What are they gonna do for Nintendo? Port?
@AlexSora89 can't wait to see SPYRO in 240P on Switch.
@christ15 Nintendo + panic button = 240p
Nothing against PM's good work, but it's telling when the Switch's "most important third party developer" is only known for ports.
Because that's still the biggest issue the Switch has. A lack of originality (outside of some Nintendo titles).
I certainly don’t buy Nintendo hardware for AAA releases (that’s what PS and XBox are for); I buy Nintendo for Nintendo games. Panic Button ports are merely a bonus, and a damn fine bonus at that!
Please announce Panic Button is working on porting Red Dead Redemption 2, or at least say there are rumors of it.
@MrJuancho lol, good luck with that.
@JaxonH iron Galaxy did a better job.
I don't know how a few blurry ports makes these guys good.
The first port of call - geometry should've been reduced drastically in Doom and Wolfenstein - there's so much that would go unnoticed, plus the benefits would be...clarity.
Wolf 2, Doom on Switch = great games despite compromises!
Wolf 2, Doom on other consoles without any compromises = Meh
Hoping we get the first Wolfenstein for Switch as well; I like to have everything on a single console if possible. Would also love to see a port of Quake I and II for Switch as well.
@liveswired
There are no 240p games from Panic Button.
Some of ya'll need to stop getting your information from the comments section of the Digital Foundry videos.
Excellent developers. I’ve got XB1X and PS4 Pro and yet Doom, Wolfenstein 2 and 60 FPS Rocket League running on a handheld are the most impressive technical achievements I’ve seen this gen.
@westman98
You’re replying to somebody who thinks Wii U is more powerful than Switch, and that Switch would melt if it ran YouTube. Good luck.
@shani
That’s the same for all modern systems. Since the move to HD game development costs have got so high that exclusives aren’t really viable any more. It’s very rare now to see any exclusives that aren’t first party or funded by first party (e.g. Bayonetta 2, Street Fighter V, Castlevania SOTN on PS4, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3). It isn’t 1998 anymore.
Love their work! Normally I prefer to play shooters on PC, therefore Wolfenstein and Doom are PC bound for me. But I really like Warframe. It's nice that they got a nice performance out of it! I really enjoy it either on the couch or in laying in Bed
And for all the haters here: it's not sad, that Nintendo's moat important third party Dev is only porting. It's that that big Development Studios and publishers are not able to do this in-house by themselves. So it's a win-win-win-win situation (Win for Nintendo, win for big studios, win for panic button and most importantly win for the customer)
@mazzel
(Rapturous Applause)
@electrolite77
May as well claim that the Switch is weaker than the NES and that the Switch would melt if it ran the Nintendo Switch Online's NES games while he/she's at it...
@ConanLives Nice idea, I always thought Nintendo should have a division for ports or a subsidiary that creates ports and helps with third party relations.
@electrolite77 @westman98 It would but...there are secret videos released by whistle blowers in Nintendo's lab showing the Switch melting trying to open Netflix 😂😂😂
(just so you know guys it's all banter - I have a Switch!)
@liveswired
Say what you will, Nintendo alone kept platformers afloat while everyone in the industry thought that guns were all that mattered in the medium.
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