Comments 957

Re: Oblivion, Skyrim And Fallout Switch 2 Physicals Will All Be Code-In-A-Box, Bethesda Confirms

Discostew

@Kiz3000 That's only when you include the optional high-resolution texture pack, which I think clocks in at around 45GB. So that 120GB cuts down to around 75GB. Besides making other languages as optional downloads, I would imagine that the devs chose to do some smart culling of unimportant aspects like what Ubisoft did with Star Wars Outlaws to reduce the size while keeping the overall presentation good. Just enough to fit into 64GB.

I had my eye on Indiana Jones when it was first announced for Switch 2, and now, I think I'm set with the full physical version as I support those when I can.

Re: PSA: Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Is Surprisingly Cheap On The UK eShop Right Now

Discostew

@The-Chosen-one Unfortunately, that would interfere with how the Switch 1/2 work, what with portability and all.

I was thinking about that top USB-C port on the Switch 2, perhaps an SSD Nano or likewise could plug into as an extra storage option without interfering with docking procedures, but I remembered that it is likely limited to 5W like the dock ports are, so SSDs plugged into it may not even have enough power to operate. Plus those tend to operate at around half the speed of microSD, so they may not even be usable for active storage during gameplay.

Re: Dispatch Uncensored Physical Switch Release Apparently Not Possible

Discostew

The thing about this is that AdHoc is making it seem like an all or nothing deal, when it's never like that. Can it be possible that a fully uncensored version violated Nintendo's guidelines? Yes. But, can it also be possible that out of the thousands of instances that got censored, only one instance actually needed to be censored in order to pass those same guidelines? Yes.

AdHoc seems to be utilizing half-truths here, whether by choice, or through statements meant to lean on NDAs so they can keep quiet about it. They blame Nintendo for them having to censor the game, but they don't go into what actually needed it. I can tell you right now, there's no reason for them to censor flipping the bird in the west. They claim they can't do multiple SKUs, but decline to comment on it for "legal" reasons.

They are so talkative right now while also being rather silent on giving details, which still is kind of the opposite prior to the release where they practically said nothing at all when they had every opportunity to inform the public about the situation. Personally, it feels set-up. If they informed people before, this likely would not have been as impactful because there would be less people frustrated from having to cancel preorders when they'll have chosen not to preorder in the first place.

Re: Dispatch Uncensored Physical Switch Release Apparently Not Possible

Discostew

@Itsashame "If it was on Adhoc they could easily say 'Sorry we will patch it and fix it', but they can't somehow do that."

They had the entire preorder period to inform people that it was censored. They could have said at that time 'Sorry, we are currently unable to release in the west without censorship. We will be working with Nintendo to remedy as much as we can, so please be patient.' But what happened instead? Complete silence.

It took folks having to preorder it, play it, find it was censored, and making it known on social media before AdHoc would say anything, and when they did, they immediately pointed the finger at Nintendo. And they did this on the same social media they had access to since the beginning where they could have informed people long beforehand.

This is completely on AdHoc, and the more they keep talking, the more gets revealed that they are making excuses.

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

Just the mere fact that AdHoc made no mention to it being censored during preorders is pretty damning. Yet folks are trusting their word like gospel in light of their deception and willingness to let them make a purchase under false pretenses, let alone the heavy contradictions in what they said in social media.

AdHoc's statement blaming Nintendo's guidelines is incredibly broad, because it makes no mention of WHAT needed the censorship. They simple say it's because of the guidelines that they had to censor it. A game can be held back for any and all content used in a manner that violates the guidelines, but all it takes is a single instance to cause it. Can one truly say that all the content that got censored for the western release was violating the guidelines if left uncensored? If you can, then we'd love to hear the explanation for why flipping the bird falls under this category for western releases of an M-rated game. We already know what can be approved based on past M-rated games. We know that what they did was simply lock the toggle, and called it a day. They went with the easy, lazy method to blanket all possible scenarios without a care for what actually needed it, if any.

Going from not having a choice to being confident that they had one all along sounds like they rushed this, hence, locking the toggle that already exists rather than spending the time manipulating the content to conform to the guidelines.

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@NintndoNik Sorry, but you're basically taking the word of a group that let you go blindly into preordering the game without so much as a peep to its censorship until people loaded it up and saw it for themselves. And the moment it was found out, AdHoc chimed in on social media, the same one they could have warned people sooner on during preorders, that it's Nintendo's fault. Their fault for requiring censorship on content that "somehow" was allowed on other games.

No, too much of this doesn't make sense from what AdHoc claimed. This is AdHoc's mess for matching the censorship that is seen in PS5's release designated for Japan, because there is no way the majority of it needed to be censored outside of Japan on Switch systems, if not all of it. This includes the flipping of the bird. Sorry, but when they also say conflicting stuff in the same breath, going from having no choice to being confident they had one all along, that is just them making excuses for the mess they caused. We already know they are self-publishing, and it's cheaper for them to publish 2 version for the Switch systems than it is to publish 4 versions. They could have done the same thing as with PS5, publishing versions outside of Japan first, then in Japan later. But nope, they wanted it all done in one go in the cheapest manner.

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@dskatter As it is, you'd be hard-pressed to find a scenario in Dispatch that isn't done in other games that would require censorship, which is why this is all rather ridiculous.

For the sake of discussion, let's say there is "something" in Dispatch that violates the guidelines, preventing the release in an uncensored state. Even one instance perhaps among 1000 scenarios the toggle affects. Not boobs, not slongs, not sex, not even finger flipping. Something completely different that no other game does that violates the guidelines. But what do we see? The entire game censored, all because of one instance. Why? Because rather than make the necessary changes so that the other 999 scenarios can be optionally uncensored, they just took the quick route, locked the toggle, then go to blame Nintendo for the censorship.... only after folks found the game censored.

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@RiaTheWitch But if it's for new releases, then Cyberpunk would have been affected, because it released later on Switch 2 than those games would have released for Switch 1 in the west. And even RDR's Switch 2 upgrade was even later than that. The thing about all this is they simply say Nintendo guidelines. No one is mentioning what parts were affected by it, and yet, we do hear about guidelines, including what is changed, so it's not like it's hidden. And for a game like Dispatch, we can compare between the versions of that is affected and then compare that to games not censored on Nintendo platforms, including the mentioned Cyberpunk.

As for there being a "lot" of such statements, that doesn't really seem to be the case, but that there is a lot of discussion among the community for the "few" that did get affected in one way or another. But that all is speculation.

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@JohnnyMind Just the fact that they were quiet about its censorship throughout the entire preorder period, letting people make the purchase under false pretenses, is enough to suspect that what they say may not even be truthful. You're being too trusting to a developer's word who allowed this to happen.

They had so much time to inform people, and chose not to. No, there is more to this than is being said

Re: "People Have A Right To Be P****d" - Dispatch Dev Says It Intends To Address "At Least Some" Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@RiaTheWitch Switch 2 upgrades, regardless of how big or small, all require separate publishing from the base game, and we know that RDR got an upgrade for Switch 2 within the same month that Dispatch was announced for Switch 1+2. So the assumption that it's due to guideline changes from a certain point doesn't really work, when one game isn't censored, but another is.

AdHoc was very quick to respond on social media to the situation AFTER folks learned of it, but were completely silent BEFORE then, from the point of announcing the ports to basically its release. They let people preorder without letting them know it was censored. That alone draws them into untrustworthy territory, as who knows what else they could be fibbing about.

Re: Dispatch Dev AdHoc Responds To Nintendo's Statement, Says It Intends To Address Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@Itsashame @Samalik What they say is conflicting, as they begin by saying they don't have a choice, only to later say they are confident that they have a choice, as if it was there the entire time. Heck, their explanation about the disclaimer is already suspicious after mentioning other games. What it sounds like is they are making excuses. This is their first self-published title, and it was probably easier to deal with Sony located in the US than it is with dealing with Nintendo in Japan.

The company is founded by members who used to work for Telltale Games, Ubisoft, and Night School Studios. In particular, Job Staufer of Telltale Games (not part of AdHoc) had stated that there were no restrictions on what games they can bring to the Switch due to content.

At this point, folks are trying to argue that Nintendo is changing their guidelines, but only for very certain companies, ignoring the rest. This is just illogical.

Re: Dispatch Dev AdHoc Responds To Nintendo's Statement, Says It Intends To Address Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@fenlix And yet, games including what AdHoc mentioned had no problems. Nintendo doesn't work with each developer with different guidelines just for them as if it were in a vacuum. Something is left out of the equation, and it could be only 5% of all the things for all we know that got censored, with the quickest way to deal with it is to lock the toggle and make the censored version worldwide.

Re: Dispatch Dev AdHoc Responds To Nintendo's Statement, Says It Intends To Address Censored Switch Content

Discostew

@darkfenrir AdHoc is self-publishing, which means they are fronting the cost for each version, not just each platform. They started with PS5 outside of Japan, uncensored of course, then months later, a censored version for Japan. CERO of Japan doesn't generally interfere with digital-only versions on PC, so that's just one there for worldwide. With Nintendo, they planned for both Switch 1 and Switch 2 at the same time. That would be 4 versions if they made separate ones.

So, imo, money is involved, as well as time and work.

Re: Dispatch Dev AdHoc Responds To Nintendo's Statement, Says It Intends To Address Censored Switch Content

Discostew

Here's what is odd. They practically say they didn't have a choice only to follow up in the same breath with saying they are confident that they have a choice. That is quite conflicting.

They never go into what they had to censor, only that they thought they could get away with what the others were doing with "similar types of uncensored mature content". It's like they are leaving something out. They don't have to quote the guidelines (which could be under NDA, I dunno), but nothing says they can't talk about their own game.

Re: Nintendo Responds To Dispatch Switch Censorship With Official Statement

Discostew

@Dang_69 Nintendo does not operate in a vacuum with each developer, setting different guidelines. They have one set of guidelines that applies to all that work with them, whether that is CDPR, or all those devs working on hentai AI slop (which still show naughty bits outside of Japan). Them doing otherwise would be grounds for lawsuits.

Re: Nintendo Responds To Dispatch Switch Censorship With Official Statement

Discostew

AdHoc are self-publishing, so this was likely due to money as they are the ones fronting the cost per version. they made one version for PS5 (outside Japan), then months later, one specifically for Japan. With Nintendo, there's 2 platforms, and if they made 2 versions each, then that's 4 versions they'd be publishing. Doing this all in one go (along with the PS5 Japan version, making 5 total) is a LOT, but because they were already dealing with the censored version for PS5, they probably just worked off of that, applied to both Switch 1 and Switch 2, and so now they deal with 3 versions instead of 5.

As it is, they were deceptive in advertising the game, having said nothing regarding its censorship all the way up to the Switch 1/2 release. This is all on AdHoc, and from the looks of it, it probably will bite them harder in the end than if they had done something similar to what they did with PS5.

Re: PSA: Dispatch's 'Visual Censorship' Settings Can't Be Removed On Switch

Discostew

I find the words "we worked with Nintendo to adapt certain elements" to be empty, considering they are making it sounds like they had to make some big changes with Nintendo, when it seems to just be disabling a toggle. We'll find out soon enough if actual game content is changed when folks get their hands on the Switch 1 version and hack into it.

Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade On Switch 2

Discostew

I feel there is room to improve docked mode, given that it's only pulling around 14-15W of power (based on the demo) when games like Cyberpunk are pulling around 22W. But I think they were more focused on getting the game released in a good condition. But afterwards? Push to 60fps? Nah. 40fps would be more than fine, as that's exactly in between 30fps and 60fps in frame time (16.66ms < 25ms < 33.33ms).

Re: Nintendo's President Remains Coy On Potential Price Increases

Discostew

I honestly think Nintendo is in a very good financial position despite the situation with AI. Most of their profit comes from games themselves, particularly their own, so they may be willing to take a loss per system hardware unit if it meant they could increase the number of people buying it to then buy their games. With Sony and MS pushing towards their next systems that are expected to have their own problems with high costs, Switch 2 is looking to be the more affordable one out of them all.

Nintendo may just be playing the long game vs short-term profits.

Re: Switch 2 Sales Reportedly Struggled Over The Christmas Period

Discostew

@EVIL-C And that is what I was getting at. The government is the one enforcing the higher prices, whether by taxes, tariffs, etc, all because they are looking for more ways to get money. My whole point in bringing up tariffs was an example of blaming someone else other than the entity enforcing it. In this case, blaming the entity providing the product for the high cost, not the government enforcing a hefty tax on the product that leaves the hands of the provider.

Re: Final Fantasy XIV Online Director Reportedly Hints At Nintendo Release

Discostew

I'm kind of in a pickle here. A LONG time ago, I made an account with my main email to try the Free Trial of FF14 on PC, but barely played it. Now with this possibility, I'd want to try it out on Switch 2. My understanding is that I can't move or even start over on Switch 2 with my existing free trial. I'd have to make a new account for that. But, if I were ever to buy the full game and pay the subscription, I'd want to use my main email account. But my progress on Switch 2 would be on the other account, and that's what I'd want to carry over.

Does anyone know what I could do regarding this?

Re: "If Mario Starts To Show Up On PlayStation, That's The Apocalypse, Right?" - Ex-PlayStation Boss Thinks Console Exclusives Are Still Important

Discostew

Nintendo is able to survive on just their games and their platforms. Sony and Microsoft cannot. First it was mainly needing 3rd-party support, but now, 3rd-parties aren't enough, and they themselves have to branch out to PC and competing platforms to pick up some extra cash. Nintendo getting 3rd-party titles is just icing on the cake, and honestly imo, the Switch 2 is going to have a thickening of that icing because both Sony and MS are making, or have made, decisions that will benefit the Switch 2.

MS already began with the Series S, which devs must make a version for when making a Series X version. According to leaks, Sony is set to release not just the PS6, but a PS6 Portable which is expected to play PS6 games, and those same leaks suggest its specs are not all that much higher than Switch 2, in both portable and docked mode. Essentially, MS and Sony have or are making platforms that devs must take into account, allowing those same devs to go making versions for Switch 2.

Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (6th December)

Discostew

Certainly playing Metroid Prime 4, but I did start playing some NES games on my still-functional NES, because after 35 years, I finally fixed its audio. Pulse square wave channels didn't work (other audio channels still worked), and that was because the relevant pin on the CPU was broken. Not long enough to thread into the motherboard where solder can hold it in place, but was long enough to barely touch the contacts for the audio to work, so it passed whatever inspection they had at the time. A fumble and ground impact of the system in my possession caused the non-secured pin to bend outward slightly, losing that contact, and therefore, the loss of those pulse wave channels. Carefully setting it back in place fixed it for the time being. May do some soldering later, but if I want to truly fix it, I'll have to replace the entire CPU chip with one that has no broken pins.

Next weekend is going to SNES-time, hopefully, after I fix the power jack port that broke a good 30 years ago.

Re: Star Fox Programmer's Next Game May As Well Be A New Entry In Nintendo's Series

Discostew

Usually, companies try to copy popular ideas as a means to build on it to something greater, but with this, it seems like they copied, and then made it less interesting in the process.

Personally from this trailer, the "conversations" of the pilots is just abysmal. They don't really talk to each other, just making comments for the most part. It's all scripted to play based on location in the level, so there's no excuse that they couldn't have done something about it. And it doesn't help that the main character, Bowie, is practically silent during most of it when he's the one on-screen the entire time. This, to me, create a large disconnect with the pilots, giving little reason to have any sort of attachment to them, thereby, no real attachment to the game itself.

Then there's the music in this trailer. The level's music just doesn't click with me, probably because it's just kind of there. Music in games is meant to help tell a story through sound, and this really doesn't do that for me. And what's worse, there's not even a boss theme at the end. The level's music just keeps playing. This creates a lack of tension and of evoking emotion, making it feel like the fight is not all that important.

It's these sort of things that just ruin the game for me.

Re: ICYMI: Metroid Prime 4: Beyond Estimated Switch 2 And Switch File Size Revealed

Discostew

@Kiz3000 They do say estimated, but I'm under the impression that this is going to be similar to what other games dealt with. Silksong, for example, has a very small upgrade pack of 3MB, yet the difference between the Switch and Switch 2 version is a whopping 1.3GB by comparison. This is because with the upgrade pack, it doesn't contain the actual patch. It's more of validation data to download the Switch 2 version specifically.

Of course, that game isn't nearly as big as this game. Perhaps Nintendo's validation design results in larger sizes the larger the game is. Guess we'll see in a couple of weeks.