@Ogbert I'm not going to waste my time trying to look into things the internet probably didn't bother to save. I know what I'm talking about and I don't have to prove it to you because you decided to cherry pick a sentence I said about a snapshot of the late 2000s and blow it up into this whole battle you've decided to wage with me, when the point of the whole thing is here we are again well within the bounds of a similar situation, but without even a glimmer of light this time to feel like it'll lift things back out of it.
If you want someone to tell you you're right, fine, you're right. Leave it alone.
@progx I have a cousin that moved to Denver slightly after legalization from where we grew up in NY (not the city, but close enough), and there was a short time I considered moving there because of how much I dislike where I currently live. This all context to the fact I've looked into it enough at least 5ish years ago to feel put off by the price of things. But that's also sadly the norm everywhere now.
As for the movie: it's good, but a bit of a tough watch. There's things that were frustrating because it takes rules the movie establishes, then throws them out the window. Also, don't believe anything saying it's a romcom. It's a romantic drama. There's things in it that couldn't possibly be in a comedy.
@Ogbert A good most of those dev sold their companies to EA (and such), actually. That's how.
Instead of being the otherside of the fulcrum to balance the industry, they did the stereotypical silicon valley thing of selling themselves for the big nut, almost as soon as they could.
I also didn't say the indies planned to save anything. I said we put it on them. And even more literally writers like Totilo, when he was still with Kotaku. But all that extra stuff you put in about how we saw them, was exactly how they did it. They showed we didn't need the big machine to make good games... then they folded themselves right into it for a big payday. Is selling out giving up? A lot of people would likely say yes.
@Anachronism Relevant, I swear, but in the movie Materialists, about the horrific conditions of dating, there's a whole part where it's broken down that 100k is basically not even considered "6 figures" anymore. That you're basically lying about making 6 figures simply because you happen to hit 100k.
Same seems to apply for the cost of living situation, which is kinda the point of it being a factor in the movie too. Things being what they are with economics, the bar is higher and it's coming down to very specific terminology gymnastics to skirt around what's survival and what's actually impressive.
Personally, I remember when making 60k was considered "comfortable," and that seriously doesn't feel like that was all that long ago. We slid pretty far, pretty fast
However, we spent most of the later 2000s pointing fingers at EA and Activision until there was amost a bubble burst like there was in '84. Then, we attributed the saving of the industry to indie devs... who almost promptly handed the reigns right back to companies like EA and Activision so they could go back to exactly this behavior.
And we, as players/fans/consumers/customers? We let it happen with a shrug, because, well, we were getting games. So why should we care. Now look where we are again. The parallels are kinda ridiculous, you'd almost think we didn't learn a thing.
@roboshort I'm reminded of when Iwata took a 50% paycut to avoid layoffs in the company. It may be another part of the Japanese mentality of doing things, but when you do it with as much class as he seemed to, it stands out as something more than simply the culture.
@progx Denver has been one of the most expensive cities to live in for a while now. At least a decade, since legalization.
Mildly funny aside about NYC, but still relevant, there's a very out of touch part of the movie Materialists, where a character who lives in a posh brownstone appartment says she only makes 80k a year. There's no way she'd afford to live as comfortably as she does there. It felt like a big hole in the movie that gets glossed over.
@Reztobi it's about time? Now? It's been about time for that since 2002. At least. And that year is as much as an estimate as their bookkeeping numbers...
@JohnnyMind you're thinking about this in a very specific way. They get blocked and start new account, why would they repeat the thing that got them blocked? That seems incredibly less than smart... they played around and learned the boundaries. The only way to really slap these people is to cut them off completely, aka brick the system.
@BenAV I read 3 different articles elsewhere yesterday with writers who said they just buy expensive electronics and decide they really didn't want them, then sell them. Wasteful, but it seems to happen a lot. You can't really anticipate people motives for anything, just how you're going to deal with it. Best way would obviously just be to not go to the secondary market
The GameCube has a big place in my heart for getting me through an extremely tough time in my life, but I also think this is trying too hard to pull something from exactly 3 games, or overlooking that it really definitely doesn't need to be Switch 2 exclusive. I can't wait to see more, but, yeah.. there's not a ton to see right now that has me gushing for this virtual console offering yet.
I had it on GameCube but didn't get very far before I quit. It's the only Zelda I've never played to completion.
Spent a few hours with it on the Switch 2, and was pretty happy to get another shot to try it, but I quickly remembered why I didn't make it far.. while also not remembering half of what I was doing in those first hours (the fortress, mainly).
It's mostly the camera. There's also a fair amount of the way the collision detection, for lack of a better term, deals with jumping off edges or finding ladders you're trying to climb. One happens way too easy, the other doesn't. The fortress was a real pain and took way longer than necessary because I kept launching off ledges I had no intention of (and sneaking is.. ugh.. Metal Gear this isn't).
Plan on playing it more, really seeing past this, but what I do remember most from OG GameCube Wind Waker was getting hopelessly lost after getting Red Lion. And that's kinda where I'm at now, so.. we'll see what happens now.
Played with mine for about 4 or 5hrs today. It's a great pad that feels nice overall. My only issue is a deeply personal one; I'm so used to the resistance on a PlayStation controller that Nintendo's stick always feel loose and floaty to me. It doesn't stop me from giving this high praise, it's just something I need to get used to.
I will say, my go to game lately on either system has been Ninja Turtles Splintered Fate, and heck if I wasn't killing it with this pro controller better than I have been with a Dualsense.
However, I don't think we're looking at it the right way for publishers who have games that are larger than the size of these cards. Those games wouldn't be sold anywhere but on Nintendo's store anyway, and I'm not really sure how that went for games that did that last time, like many Capcom games (that also had empty cases with codes sold at retail). No one is going to want to pay the astronomical price of multiple card, nor does anyone seem to want to figure out how it'll work, system side, needing to swap cards. Someone would have done that on the OG already.
And I know people who'll call for most of the game to be put on the card: Even if they put most of the files on the card, they'd still need to be finished off with a download. Those servers go down, those games are gone anyway. It won't matter. The core of this particular leg of the overall problem of ownership and control is very much on the media Nintendo has stuck with using.
@RubyCarbuncle You've meantioned 2 that didn't have screen protectors ever, if memory serves, and were built to last. The smaller screens also factor into that longevity -smaller targets for breakage. OG Switches have proven to be a weird lot where damage, because it's practically all screen, became commonplace. Good on you for avoiding that, but the average player, who I'd assume is below a certain age also, isn't likely to even be as careful, let alone as lucky
@Andee I haven't, but I can't imagine it not being a frustratingly basic film that will catch everything while not going on exactly right. The GameStop I preordered from is even giving Pro members a screen protector if they get a protection plan that I imagine is the same thing.
I've got a skin issue that makes putting these things on a nightmare under those circumstances, unless I really cover up like I'm moving nuclear material. But I've really come to love anything that has a guided frame around it and all you have to do is hold and swipe a few times. It's made the process a lot easier. I recommend finding one of those and trying that. It has kept the debris at almost none at all for me.
Hmm.. I'm trying to think back to when I got my OLED and if I even noticed the flim at all, or peeled it off, not knowing... hindsight not mattering at all, at this point, but still.
Yeah, see, it's cool they did this, and I'm sure it'll work great because of who made it, but looking at this over the course of a few articles about it, I can't even begin to wrap my head around movement/move inputs on a flat surface. I know I'm not alone, but I feel like I'm showing my age needing a joystick.
My take on it is this game doesn't need the Switch 2 to have a second chance. It can just have it if people would buy and play the game, instead of jumping to conclusions (even if they end up being correct) about everything. Because that's effectively what this 2nd chance is: very likely someone's first time playing it at all. And that's not a 2nd chance, it's a first shot.
A lot of back and forth on the price thing, but what stuck out at me was the 2nd letter.
This is going to sound prickly, but the writer of that sounded like they personally wanted to be curator to people's experiences based in their own bias. I get that it comes from a place of caring about the base experiences of the games being skewed, but the.. I don't know.. intensity of trying to push their point across, and how long the letter was (and this is coming from a long winded writer, myself), made it feel kinda "a lot" by the end
@-wc- I'll back up your words and logic with an anecdote about the in store GameStop pre-orders.
There was about 6 of us in line when the manager of the store came around the corner to let himself in to do his preopen operations. He looked at us, stopped, and said "Where is everyone, there's supposed to be 80 of you?!" Genuine surprise behind a joke. By the time the store opened and they funneled us in, there were maybe only 30 of us. Between both the base and bundle skus they had about 70-80 units allotted to that store. And while I'm sure they probably did end up eventually going through them all at some point, there's a certain kind of logic that says that if there's a lack of enthusiasm at the ground level like that, that lets 40 to 50 units just sit there, it means Nintendo did lose at least 1 sale, if not far more.
@MamaSymphonia It's prohibitedly expensive because we aren't talking Sony or Microsoft, we're talking Nintendo. There's expectations that are being changed, and change makes people uncomfortable.
@electrolite77 while I agree, the discourse of what people are okay with has just gone all over the place, and instead of hitting the happy medium, game companies are happy to sit there and say "well, 5% of players seem pretty cool with games being $80 or more, so let everyone else just deal with it"
The thing no one even brings up either is this a suggested retail price. Walmart broke that price pretty regularly, and deeply, until a little over a year ago, when it did raise prices to either the all around standard, or $5 cheaper instead of 10. But no retailer, online or brick and mortar, has to keep Nintendos price, I think they just have to take a slight loss on the max they could get from them. And I think that's because Nintendo doesn't give them a huge margin to play with those profits.
@liquidjs definitely not discrediting the kindness, or the fact they may have overlooked more than just stick drift and a missing kickstand, but those 2 specific things are so common with Switch consoles that they don't really count it as flaws. They just chalk it up as a necessary refurb fix.
@ButterySmooth30FPS they check your ID so authorities can get you if that ends up being the case. They don't actually have to treat you any certain way.
As for the box, they just repackage them in their own dedicated pre-owned box. They can't care that deeply for something most people will toss
@spottedleaf This was my answer too. I've had far too many friends work for game retailers from EB back in the day, to GameStop now. They don't care if you have a box. They know most people toss it. You need all the appropriate cords that came with the system, or adequate replacements, 1 controller, or in this case a full set of joycons and the system. They repackage every pre-owned console into a dedicated box for those systems, including Switch Lites.
I'd even say condition isn't a huge factor unless the thing is flat out broken somehow (which, reading a lot of these comments.. oof.. is a lot of them..). But it definitely will be if your joycons aren't that great. The idea being they can get by giving you full price for the trade in, and put it back out there for a decent mark-up, as long as repairs or replacements for things aren't too high. It's their end of the risk/reward factor
Got one extremely easily from the GameStop in my local mall. They had roughly 80 allotted and even though I was 2nd in line, there probably wasn't even 30 of us in line once the doors opened. Preorded everything I could want without issues.
Been reading a lot of similar experiences happening at brick and mortar GameStops all around the country, with staff wondering where people are (the manager at ours asked us where everyone was hiding).
And to think. All people needed to do to make something go fairly smoothly seems to be putting on pants, leaving the house, and showing up.
It's funny to see all the Famitsu shoo-shooing when it used to be the gold standard for a Japanese company to achieve a high score with them. Things really have changed since I was a kid
@BIG3 Above the new, forced, industry standard of $69.99 (us) or... ?
Either way, Nintendo's pricing seems very "what we personally think is fair for the product in front of you." Which is, funny enough, a very traditionally Nintendo take on things. Lately, remakes have generally been around $49.99, Princess Peach is releasing at $59.99, Tears of the Kingdom was $69.99. This teir system is a little all over the place, and it's kind of rough, but it makes a certain amount of sense. Seems like Ubisoft is another company quietly taking this approach.
As for game prices, I've found my best bet, if Amazon hasn't done something to knock the price down, is to wait a few months and check Walmart. Up until recently Walmart was knocking the base price of Switch games down $10, but since somewhere around Christmas it changed to only $5. That's still better than you're going to get from most other places, or waiting for sales/used/Christmas (and Christmas comes with the issue of things often going out of stock).
And that's sticker price, in store. If you look at the Walmart app, a lot of games have deeper discounts. I just picked up the Switch Kirby games for $10-$20 off, each.
Problem with this is you have to buy from the app. They've changed their policy of adjusting prices on "sold and shipped by Walmart" items, in store, I think company-wide; so you can't ask the person in electronics to nab the game from the case and play with the pricing. Trust me, from 1st hand experience they're being pretty strict with the "when purchased online" marker. You also have to make sure you're buying direct from your local Walmart, and it's "sold and shipped" from the company, to expect anything like curbside pickup or same day delivery. Some of the secondary sellers on the app are pretty good, with even better prices, but if you're looking for the game you want immediately, or without a sneaky shipping charge, they're not going to be the way to go. So be mindful of who the seller is.
Either way, over the last few weeks I've picked up a pretty nice stack of 1st party Switch games that I've neglected buying sooner, and maybe saved $50 to $75, I think. And that's me hating having to praise Walmart for anything, but when it comes to Nintendo's often immovable pricing, you've got to do what you can.
Went to Walmart today for weekly stuff and did my usual rounds in electronics, ect. They already have the code cards up for Princess Peach. You probably can't redeem it, but they put it out anyway.
I think the reason for the change is few retailers are respecting street date anymore. GameStop still does, but I know for sure the Walmarts in my area don't care, cause I've picked up a physical copy of Metroid Prime a day or two early, after GameStop stopped taking preorders. Even PlayStation stuff gets put out, and sold, before it should.
Release day is arbitrary anyway. It used to be Tuesday, and the only reasons anyone at the time could come up for it changing was it was the same day as album drops, or Friday is when, or just after, people get paid in America. Between that and many other things being released on the same day, they ran the risk of people having no money for their games, instead of being able to prey on their fear of missing out. It makes the whole idea of a set release day for all things seem... Less than smart. Especially during months when lots of high profile games drop. Ubisoft and Activision fighting over Friday, when Thursday or Wednesday is just sitting there.
Comments 37
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@Ogbert I'm not going to waste my time trying to look into things the internet probably didn't bother to save. I know what I'm talking about and I don't have to prove it to you because you decided to cherry pick a sentence I said about a snapshot of the late 2000s and blow it up into this whole battle you've decided to wage with me, when the point of the whole thing is here we are again well within the bounds of a similar situation, but without even a glimmer of light this time to feel like it'll lift things back out of it.
If you want someone to tell you you're right, fine, you're right. Leave it alone.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@progx I have a cousin that moved to Denver slightly after legalization from where we grew up in NY (not the city, but close enough), and there was a short time I considered moving there because of how much I dislike where I currently live. This all context to the fact I've looked into it enough at least 5ish years ago to feel put off by the price of things. But that's also sadly the norm everywhere now.
As for the movie: it's good, but a bit of a tough watch. There's things that were frustrating because it takes rules the movie establishes, then throws them out the window. Also, don't believe anything saying it's a romcom. It's a romantic drama. There's things in it that couldn't possibly be in a comedy.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@Ogbert A good most of those dev sold their companies to EA (and such), actually. That's how.
Instead of being the otherside of the fulcrum to balance the industry, they did the stereotypical silicon valley thing of selling themselves for the big nut, almost as soon as they could.
I also didn't say the indies planned to save anything. I said we put it on them. And even more literally writers like Totilo, when he was still with Kotaku. But all that extra stuff you put in about how we saw them, was exactly how they did it. They showed we didn't need the big machine to make good games... then they folded themselves right into it for a big payday. Is selling out giving up? A lot of people would likely say yes.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@Anachronism Relevant, I swear, but in the movie Materialists, about the horrific conditions of dating, there's a whole part where it's broken down that 100k is basically not even considered "6 figures" anymore. That you're basically lying about making 6 figures simply because you happen to hit 100k.
Same seems to apply for the cost of living situation, which is kinda the point of it being a factor in the movie too. Things being what they are with economics, the bar is higher and it's coming down to very specific terminology gymnastics to skirt around what's survival and what's actually impressive.
Personally, I remember when making 60k was considered "comfortable," and that seriously doesn't feel like that was all that long ago. We slid pretty far, pretty fast
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@theberrage Agreed about Iwata.
However, we spent most of the later 2000s pointing fingers at EA and Activision until there was amost a bubble burst like there was in '84. Then, we attributed the saving of the industry to indie devs... who almost promptly handed the reigns right back to companies like EA and Activision so they could go back to exactly this behavior.
And we, as players/fans/consumers/customers? We let it happen with a shrug, because, well, we were getting games. So why should we care. Now look where we are again. The parallels are kinda ridiculous, you'd almost think we didn't learn a thing.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@roboshort I'm reminded of when Iwata took a 50% paycut to avoid layoffs in the company. It may be another part of the Japanese mentality of doing things, but when you do it with as much class as he seemed to, it stands out as something more than simply the culture.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@progx Denver has been one of the most expensive cities to live in for a while now. At least a decade, since legalization.
Mildly funny aside about NYC, but still relevant, there's a very out of touch part of the movie Materialists, where a character who lives in a posh brownstone appartment says she only makes 80k a year. There's no way she'd afford to live as comfortably as she does there. It felt like a big hole in the movie that gets glossed over.
Re: EA Worker Pay Continues To Dwindle As CEO Picks Up $5 Million Bonus, Thus Creating Amusingly Tall Financial Graph
@Reztobi it's about time? Now? It's been about time for that since 2002. At least. And that year is as much as an estimate as their bookkeeping numbers...
Re: PSA: DBrand's Switch 2 'Killswitch' Dock Adapter's 'Seamless Docking' Apparently Isn't Quite Seamless
@Xansies Exactly, which is why 3rd party repair rails were a common item in the list of replacement parts for the Switch
Re: Nintendo's Strict Policy On MiG Carts Is Creating A Problem For Secondhand Switch 2 Buyers
@JohnnyMind you're thinking about this in a very specific way. They get blocked and start new account, why would they repeat the thing that got them blocked? That seems incredibly less than smart... they played around and learned the boundaries. The only way to really slap these people is to cut them off completely, aka brick the system.
Re: Nintendo's Strict Policy On MiG Carts Is Creating A Problem For Secondhand Switch 2 Buyers
@BenAV I read 3 different articles elsewhere yesterday with writers who said they just buy expensive electronics and decide they really didn't want them, then sell them. Wasteful, but it seems to happen a lot. You can't really anticipate people motives for anything, just how you're going to deal with it. Best way would obviously just be to not go to the secondary market
Re: Poll: So, Will You Be Getting Donkey Kong Bananza For Switch 2?
I've already got it paid off
Re: Opinion: I Never Felt True Nostalgia Until I Played GameCube On Switch 2
The GameCube has a big place in my heart for getting me through an extremely tough time in my life, but I also think this is trying too hard to pull something from exactly 3 games, or overlooking that it really definitely doesn't need to be Switch 2 exclusive. I can't wait to see more, but, yeah.. there's not a ton to see right now that has me gushing for this virtual console offering yet.
Re: Review: The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GameCube) - A Timeless Treasure
I had it on GameCube but didn't get very far before I quit. It's the only Zelda I've never played to completion.
Spent a few hours with it on the Switch 2, and was pretty happy to get another shot to try it, but I quickly remembered why I didn't make it far.. while also not remembering half of what I was doing in those first hours (the fortress, mainly).
It's mostly the camera. There's also a fair amount of the way the collision detection, for lack of a better term, deals with jumping off edges or finding ladders you're trying to climb. One happens way too easy, the other doesn't. The fortress was a real pain and took way longer than necessary because I kept launching off ledges I had no intention of (and sneaking is.. ugh.. Metal Gear this isn't).
Plan on playing it more, really seeing past this, but what I do remember most from OG GameCube Wind Waker was getting hopelessly lost after getting Red Lion. And that's kinda where I'm at now, so.. we'll see what happens now.
Re: Review: Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller - A New Benchmark In Comfort And Design
Played with mine for about 4 or 5hrs today. It's a great pad that feels nice overall. My only issue is a deeply personal one; I'm so used to the resistance on a PlayStation controller that Nintendo's stick always feel loose and floaty to me. It doesn't stop me from giving this high praise, it's just something I need to get used to.
I will say, my go to game lately on either system has been Ninja Turtles Splintered Fate, and heck if I wasn't killing it with this pro controller better than I have been with a Dualsense.
Re: Publishers Are "Thanking" Nintendo For Game-Key Cards On Switch 2
Upfront, I don't like the game key situation.
However, I don't think we're looking at it the right way for publishers who have games that are larger than the size of these cards. Those games wouldn't be sold anywhere but on Nintendo's store anyway, and I'm not really sure how that went for games that did that last time, like many Capcom games (that also had empty cases with codes sold at retail). No one is going to want to pay the astronomical price of multiple card, nor does anyone seem to want to figure out how it'll work, system side, needing to swap cards. Someone would have done that on the OG already.
And I know people who'll call for most of the game to be put on the card: Even if they put most of the files on the card, they'd still need to be finished off with a download. Those servers go down, those games are gone anyway. It won't matter. The core of this particular leg of the overall problem of ownership and control is very much on the media Nintendo has stuck with using.
Re: PSA: Switch 2's Screen Comes With A Pre-Applied Film Layer, Don't Peel It Off
@RubyCarbuncle You've meantioned 2 that didn't have screen protectors ever, if memory serves, and were built to last. The smaller screens also factor into that longevity -smaller targets for breakage. OG Switches have proven to be a weird lot where damage, because it's practically all screen, became commonplace. Good on you for avoiding that, but the average player, who I'd assume is below a certain age also, isn't likely to even be as careful, let alone as lucky
Re: PSA: Switch 2's Screen Comes With A Pre-Applied Film Layer, Don't Peel It Off
@Andee I haven't, but I can't imagine it not being a frustratingly basic film that will catch everything while not going on exactly right. The GameStop I preordered from is even giving Pro members a screen protector if they get a protection plan that I imagine is the same thing.
I've got a skin issue that makes putting these things on a nightmare under those circumstances, unless I really cover up like I'm moving nuclear material. But I've really come to love anything that has a guided frame around it and all you have to do is hold and swipe a few times. It's made the process a lot easier. I recommend finding one of those and trying that. It has kept the debris at almost none at all for me.
Re: PSA: Switch 2's Screen Comes With A Pre-Applied Film Layer, Don't Peel It Off
Hmm.. I'm trying to think back to when I got my OLED and if I even noticed the flim at all, or peeled it off, not knowing... hindsight not mattering at all, at this point, but still.
Re: Nintendo Has "No Plans" To Use Game-Key Cards For First-Party-Developed Titles
I almost feel like the end of the article title should be: makes other publishers the bad guys.
Or something.
Re: Fight Fans Rejoice, 8BitDo Is Launching A New Arcade Controller For The Switch
Yeah, see, it's cool they did this, and I'm sure it'll work great because of who made it, but looking at this over the course of a few articles about it, I can't even begin to wrap my head around movement/move inputs on a flat surface. I know I'm not alone, but I feel like I'm showing my age needing a joystick.
Re: Opinion: Switch 2 Finally Gives Star Wars Outlaws A Second Chance
My take on it is this game doesn't need the Switch 2 to have a second chance. It can just have it if people would buy and play the game, instead of jumping to conclusions (even if they end up being correct) about everything. Because that's effectively what this 2nd chance is: very likely someone's first time playing it at all. And that's not a 2nd chance, it's a first shot.
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Price Drops, Remake Replacements, Pokémon Acquisitions - Nintendo Life Letters
A lot of back and forth on the price thing, but what stuck out at me was the 2nd letter.
This is going to sound prickly, but the writer of that sounded like they personally wanted to be curator to people's experiences based in their own bias. I get that it comes from a place of caring about the base experiences of the games being skewed, but the.. I don't know.. intensity of trying to push their point across, and how long the letter was (and this is coming from a long winded writer, myself), made it feel kinda "a lot" by the end
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Price Drops, Remake Replacements, Pokémon Acquisitions - Nintendo Life Letters
@-wc- I'll back up your words and logic with an anecdote about the in store GameStop pre-orders.
There was about 6 of us in line when the manager of the store came around the corner to let himself in to do his preopen operations. He looked at us, stopped, and said "Where is everyone, there's supposed to be 80 of you?!" Genuine surprise behind a joke. By the time the store opened and they funneled us in, there were maybe only 30 of us. Between both the base and bundle skus they had about 70-80 units allotted to that store. And while I'm sure they probably did end up eventually going through them all at some point, there's a certain kind of logic that says that if there's a lack of enthusiasm at the ground level like that, that lets 40 to 50 units just sit there, it means Nintendo did lose at least 1 sale, if not far more.
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Price Drops, Remake Replacements, Pokémon Acquisitions - Nintendo Life Letters
@MamaSymphonia It's prohibitedly expensive because we aren't talking Sony or Microsoft, we're talking Nintendo. There's expectations that are being changed, and change makes people uncomfortable.
Re: Mailbox: Switch 2 Price Drops, Remake Replacements, Pokémon Acquisitions - Nintendo Life Letters
@electrolite77 while I agree, the discourse of what people are okay with has just gone all over the place, and instead of hitting the happy medium, game companies are happy to sit there and say "well, 5% of players seem pretty cool with games being $80 or more, so let everyone else just deal with it"
The thing no one even brings up either is this a suggested retail price. Walmart broke that price pretty regularly, and deeply, until a little over a year ago, when it did raise prices to either the all around standard, or $5 cheaper instead of 10. But no retailer, online or brick and mortar, has to keep Nintendos price, I think they just have to take a slight loss on the max they could get from them. And I think that's because Nintendo doesn't give them a huge margin to play with those profits.
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
@liquidjs definitely not discrediting the kindness, or the fact they may have overlooked more than just stick drift and a missing kickstand, but those 2 specific things are so common with Switch consoles that they don't really count it as flaws. They just chalk it up as a necessary refurb fix.
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
@ChromaticDracula the information isn't accurate. They still don't care
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
@harrystein the fact that the information has been passed down by Gizmodo says something. They haven't been truly credible for years now.
You don't even need to try to trade in. Either just call a GameStop and ask, or go in.
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
@ButterySmooth30FPS they check your ID so authorities can get you if that ends up being the case. They don't actually have to treat you any certain way.
As for the box, they just repackage them in their own dedicated pre-owned box. They can't care that deeply for something most people will toss
Re: Poll: GameStop Offers A Tempting Switch 2 Trade-In Deal, But Is It Really Worth It?
@spottedleaf This was my answer too. I've had far too many friends work for game retailers from EB back in the day, to GameStop now. They don't care if you have a box. They know most people toss it. You need all the appropriate cords that came with the system, or adequate replacements, 1 controller, or in this case a full set of joycons and the system. They repackage every pre-owned console into a dedicated box for those systems, including Switch Lites.
I'd even say condition isn't a huge factor unless the thing is flat out broken somehow (which, reading a lot of these comments.. oof.. is a lot of them..). But it definitely will be if your joycons aren't that great. The idea being they can get by giving you full price for the trade in, and put it back out there for a decent mark-up, as long as repairs or replacements for things aren't too high. It's their end of the risk/reward factor
Re: Poll: So, Did You Manage To Get A Switch 2 Pre-Order In? (North America)
@lacaras4 ugh, I'm sorry to hear that! Curse our need for (important) human comforts!!!
Re: Poll: So, Did You Manage To Get A Switch 2 Pre-Order In? (North America)
@Antraxx777 Nope, you had me at natural sunlight. Burn the sun!!!
Oh.. wait...
Re: Poll: So, Did You Manage To Get A Switch 2 Pre-Order In? (North America)
Got one extremely easily from the GameStop in my local mall. They had roughly 80 allotted and even though I was 2nd in line, there probably wasn't even 30 of us in line once the doors opened. Preorded everything I could want without issues.
Been reading a lot of similar experiences happening at brick and mortar GameStops all around the country, with staff wondering where people are (the manager at ours asked us where everyone was hiding).
And to think. All people needed to do to make something go fairly smoothly seems to be putting on pants, leaving the house, and showing up.
Re: The First Review For Princess Peach: Showtime! Is In
It's funny to see all the Famitsu shoo-shooing when it used to be the gold standard for a Japanese company to achieve a high score with them. Things really have changed since I was a kid
Re: Random: Nintendo Has Supposedly Changed The Day Of Switch Game Releases
@BIG3 Above the new, forced, industry standard of $69.99 (us) or... ?
Either way, Nintendo's pricing seems very "what we personally think is fair for the product in front of you." Which is, funny enough, a very traditionally Nintendo take on things. Lately, remakes have generally been around $49.99, Princess Peach is releasing at $59.99, Tears of the Kingdom was $69.99. This teir system is a little all over the place, and it's kind of rough, but it makes a certain amount of sense. Seems like Ubisoft is another company quietly taking this approach.
As for game prices, I've found my best bet, if Amazon hasn't done something to knock the price down, is to wait a few months and check Walmart. Up until recently Walmart was knocking the base price of Switch games down $10, but since somewhere around Christmas it changed to only $5. That's still better than you're going to get from most other places, or waiting for sales/used/Christmas (and Christmas comes with the issue of things often going out of stock).
And that's sticker price, in store. If you look at the Walmart app, a lot of games have deeper discounts. I just picked up the Switch Kirby games for $10-$20 off, each.
Problem with this is you have to buy from the app. They've changed their policy of adjusting prices on "sold and shipped by Walmart" items, in store, I think company-wide; so you can't ask the person in electronics to nab the game from the case and play with the pricing. Trust me, from 1st hand experience they're being pretty strict with the "when purchased online" marker. You also have to make sure you're buying direct from your local Walmart, and it's "sold and shipped" from the company, to expect anything like curbside pickup or same day delivery. Some of the secondary sellers on the app are pretty good, with even better prices, but if you're looking for the game you want immediately, or without a sneaky shipping charge, they're not going to be the way to go. So be mindful of who the seller is.
Either way, over the last few weeks I've picked up a pretty nice stack of 1st party Switch games that I've neglected buying sooner, and maybe saved $50 to $75, I think. And that's me hating having to praise Walmart for anything, but when it comes to Nintendo's often immovable pricing, you've got to do what you can.
Re: Random: Nintendo Has Supposedly Changed The Day Of Switch Game Releases
Went to Walmart today for weekly stuff and did my usual rounds in electronics, ect. They already have the code cards up for Princess Peach. You probably can't redeem it, but they put it out anyway.
I think the reason for the change is few retailers are respecting street date anymore. GameStop still does, but I know for sure the Walmarts in my area don't care, cause I've picked up a physical copy of Metroid Prime a day or two early, after GameStop stopped taking preorders. Even PlayStation stuff gets put out, and sold, before it should.
Release day is arbitrary anyway. It used to be Tuesday, and the only reasons anyone at the time could come up for it changing was it was the same day as album drops, or Friday is when, or just after, people get paid in America. Between that and many other things being released on the same day, they ran the risk of people having no money for their games, instead of being able to prey on their fear of missing out. It makes the whole idea of a set release day for all things seem... Less than smart. Especially during months when lots of high profile games drop. Ubisoft and Activision fighting over Friday, when Thursday or Wednesday is just sitting there.