DragonEleven

Has anyone else noticed that they refer to the Master Sword statue that comes in the master edition bundle as the "Master Sword of Resurrection"?
I've been thinking for a while that Link may not have actually been resurrected in the Shrine of Resurrection... he might be the "Hero of Resurrection".

Amazon doesn't get anything... except a £10 lower price.
I am tempted to accept the higher price for the shirt from the Nintendo UK online store, but other shirts I've got from them have shrunk really quickly... I might just put the money I save towards a better quality shirt with a similar design.

@impurekind I think Nintendo can still take legal action as long as they can prove that they have attempted to copy the game (and that the similarity wasn't just a coincidence)... copyrighted material is the easiest way of doing so, but not the only way.
In this case it would be the name that gives them that opening... it's far too similar to have been a coincidence.

Handheld games are typically designed to be easy to pick up and play for just a few minutes at a time over a long period... often making use of a sleep function in order to do so... but the Switch's limited battery makes it unsuitable for this.
The Switch is designed for games that you would typically spend longer periods of time playing without interruption, which are typically exclusive to home consoles.
At best you could call the Switch a portable home console, but you can't really call it a handheld console... so don't expect to see many handheld exclusives released on the system.

Speed class 10 is basically the standard nowadays anyway, with probably around half of all microSD cards on sale going into the UHS classes... you could probably pick one at random and have a pretty good chance of getting one as good as this or better.

@JohnG Both sides failed to properly communicate the positives and negatives that would inevitably come from either decision, and far too many people didn't fully understand what they were voting for as a result.
The weakening of the pound and resulting rise in prices is just one example of this... it was an inevitability of leaving the EU, yet so many people are now being surprised by it.

@ottospooky Parliament CAN block it though... the supreme court decided that they do have that power last week, and the government can't go ahead with triggering article 50 until parliament give their permission, which has essentially put Brexit on hold until parliament come to a decision about it.
Parliament could easily decide that the implications of Brexit were not made clear enough at the time of previous vote, and could force another vote now that more of the facts have come to light.

It's probably worth pointing out that it's possible that Brexit may not even go ahead now... the high court has given parliament the final decision on the matter, so they could overturn it... or at least force another vote now that people are more aware of the implications.

Apple are just getting greedy... trying to take advantage of the weaker pound... it could still recover once this Brexit mess has passed, but Apple probably won't change their prices back when it does.

Need another option for the MicroSD question... none.
Seeing as it's been confirmed that it's only used as overflow storage, there's no real need for one unless you plan to download a lot of games.
If I do use one at launch, it'll probably just be an old one I have spare.

@Andrzej777 Can't remember where I got my replacement battery from off the top of my head (it was a couple of years ago now)... I think I'd just done a search on ebay and picked one which looked reliable.
Can't say about the compatibility... if I had to guess, I'd say they probably use different batteries, but they'd probably say which models a battery is compatible with in it's listing if you're unsure.

I know it's different elsewhere, but here in the UK Nintendo are basically doing the same thing with the 3DS already.
They don't offer replacement batteries for purchase separately, and as you to send your console to them if you do want the battery to be replaced (I ended up importing a replacement battery and doing it myself as it worked out much cheaper).

Chances are it will technically be possible to replace the battery yourself, just difficult... getting hold of a replacement would be tricky to begin with, and replacing it would likely require the entire console to be disassembled... do-able, but probably better to get them to do it for you either way.

@DanteSolablood There isn't much to the PGO+... any bugs would be in the app itself... but in that comment I was referring specifically to the bugs in the app that relate to the PGO+ (difficulty connecting, not responding to Pokémon/PokéStops that are in range, randomly disconnecting for no apparent reason, etc.).
That's not to say there aren't bugs in the rest of the app... there are, but I don't think they're particularly relevant to this article.

Gotta love Amazon's pre-order price guarantee.

The only way they could make something safer than the PGO+ would be to make it voice activated... but they'd need to actually get Niantic to properly support it for that to be a viable option... their support for the PGO+ is terrible at the moment... so full of bugs and extremely limited options, which I'm sure could easily be solved if Niantic could be bothered to do anything about it.

I've done this several times with my Wii U... but the console itself does need to be in the room next to the toilet, and it does depend on the wall construction... brick starts to cause problems at around 5m, but timber can go further.

With the external batteries... I'm curious about how well these will work... they typically have a lower output than a mains power supply, so may not recharge the Switch as quickly.

I think the potential to use the IR camera to create a Wiimote-like pointer functionality deserves to be on this list as well.

There's nothing to say that it couldn't be done, and the frequent placement of the docked Switch directly below a TV screen does hint at it possibly having sensor bar-like IR LEDs in it's top edge.

@PlywoodStick We already know that the right JoyCon has tech that the left one doesn't because it has the IR camera... that's a confirmed fact. It's possible that the left JoyCon has something else that the right doesn't, but nothing has been mentioned, so it does look unfair at the moment.
The IR camera is all that would be needed in the JoyCon to create the pointer functionality, as that is what Wiimotes use... the only other thing that would be needed would be the IR LEDs, which could easily be hidden in the top edge of the screen.

@impurekind You haven't given any detail whatsoever to support your argument... you'd need to do that before you can detail it further.

@BionicDodo I doubt the vast majority of people will find themselves in such an atypical situation as you are in... you can't blame Nintendo for your own interior design choices.
If Nintendo were to include a separate sensor bar with the Switch, then that would raise the price for everyone, which wouldn't be fair for all of the people who wouldn't need it.

@BionicDodo Have you considered installing a shelf?

@BionicDodo I don't think it's as big as you seem to think.
Estimates bring it to only around 12cm high even when docked... most TV screens are designed to sit around this high off a surface in order to allow space for things like sound bars, so unless you have your TV screen essentially resting on a surface without a stand, then there shouldn't be any problem.

But regardless, they don't seem to be using this feature in any of the current games shown, so it's unlikely that it will be needed straight away, and they may release a separate sensor bar if it is needed... and you can already get wireless or USB sensor bars for the Wii/Wii U that will likely work as well.

Should really have come with Pokemon Yellow pre-installed.

Never been a big fan of the Mario Sports games, but I'm glad to see them expanding upon the amiibo card idea, but I would have hoped for them to do Pokemon first after they done the Shadow Mewtwo amiibo card.

Definitely going to have to look into this game more now.

@impurekind What makes you think there's no chance?
The Wiimote's pointer used an IR camera in the Wiimote itself to track to two IR LEDs in the sensor bar.
There's no reason why the Joy-Con's IR camera could be used in the same way.
And we keep seeing the docked Switch console sat directly under the centre of a TV screen... just like the sensor bar, and with the top edge of the Switch protruding from the dock they could easily have included a couple of IR LEDs in the top of the screen.

They probably didn't mention the touchscreen because of its limited functionality... you can only use it while undocked.
It's possible that the IR camera in the right Joy-Con could double as a pointer, especially if there are IR LEDs in the top edge of the Switch's screen (essentially making it function like a sensor bar) as some of us suspect... but I expect they are trying to avoid making it seem too similar to the Wii/Wii U.

I think there is a bit of potential in this game, but the developers just don't seem professional enough to pull it off... it sounds like they're just a couple of friends who decided to have a go at making a game in their spare time, and the kickstarter was probably an attempt for them to take it full time.

I think someone's forgetting that there's a Smash Bros. game on 3DS that can also use Amiibo.

Ha... I'd guessed that it might be something to do with using one of the Festival Plaza features a while back.

They're clearly doing these to encourage players to familiarise themselves with the different features of the game... the big rewards for success are just to entice people to do so... they don't expect us to actually achieve them.

It's a console either way... the question should be whether it's a home console or a handheld console.

Just call it what it is... a hybrid console... it's neither one nor the other, it's a bit of both.

The term had been circulating a lot a few months ago, but for some reason everyone suddenly started identifying it as one or the other again... I don't understand why that happened though.

Is there any need for the sarcastic remarks about this to keep going?
The Switch is less than a month and a half away... of course the eshop will be slowing down until then.

I'm waiting to see how much this is actually needed for the time being... I prefer physical copies over digital ones anyway, and don't buy that many eshop games, so the on-board memory should last a while, and I've got a handful of smaller microSD cards I could use if I do end up needing the extra space at short notice.

This actually shows more common sense from Capcom than the other third parties are showing... even though Resident Evil is one of their biggest selling series, chances are it won't sell as well on the Switch at launch as some of their other franchises due to differences in the preferences of users.
They need to start off with games that will sell well with the early adopters... strengthen the initial user base first, before expanding upon it with games like Resident Evil.

I'm surprised other regions hadn't started official Nintendo online stores already... it's already available here in the UK... has had a few teething problems, but generally works great now.
The only issue is that the prices are the full RRP, with rather limited offers, so it's typically cheaper to go elsewhere... although you can sometimes find items that are sold out elsewhere.

Someone estimates the price to be £200 with no hard evidence to back it up, yet everyone believes it and get their hopes up anyway... then when the price turns out to be £280 they get angry at Nintendo, even though a couple of months earlier they would have been happy with anything under £300.

Seems like another case of people stupidly getting carried away with rumours to me.

Considering how far away from release it is, it's hardly surprising.
If it was due for release either before or around the time of the Switch's release and they'd left it this late to announce they were abandoning the Wii U version, then that would be a far bigger issue.

Having them mandatory in so many games was a nice quirk at first, but it wasn't long before people lost interest in creating Miis for themselves to use, and would just use one created by someone else, so in those games it would have worked just as well to stick to using pre-made Nintendo characters instead.
They still work great for representing yourself on Miiverse, etc. and can work quite well in certain games if you would be interested in creating them, but I think it is reasonable for them to reduce the importance that had been placed upon them.

My reading of this is that they do have the potential for video capture already, but are still working out how it will be implemented... most likely to do with the sharing of captured footage, which they are probably in talks with potential partners about... using their own system would have a rather limited audience, so they really need to work with something like YouTube to expand upon the sort of upload functionality that MK8 has.

As for the external hard drives... if they do add them, then I would expect it to only provide a system backup function, which will likely only be available while docked... it would just be too impractical for constant use due to the need to change connections when switching between docked and undocked, as well as the need to keep it connected as long as the data on it is in use.

While I don't disagree with this article, I also think that third-parties shouldn't blame the lack of success many of their games have on the console on Nintendo either.
Choosing which games to release on a Nintendo console based on their success on other systems is an unwise move to take early on in a console's life span... it may not be to blame for a console's lack of success, but it certainly wouldn't help the situation.
They need to release games that would specifically appeal to early adopters in order to see more reasonable success at launch, and only release other titles when/if the console becomes better established in the wider market.

While I personally think that BotW is already within a new timeline branch, this could either be seen as confirming that they're open to additional timeline splits, or could just be irrelevant.
The former would make a lot of sense... Ganon/Ganondorf has been killed in each established timeline now, and there's only so many times they can resurrect him without getting repetitive... but by adding new timelines where he hasn't been killed they make it far easier for him to return in future games.
The latter I'm thinking would be if the 'alternate ending' is just more of an extended ending... not changing the overall outcome (and therefore not splitting the timeline), but acting as a reward for those who fulfilled the required criteria.

Not sure if it can be considered completely accurate... but it certainly gets us closer.
These listings are just a summary, so might not list everything, and what they do list may not be word-for-word accurate.
But regardless, it's certainly looking good.

@impurekind It's been built from the original Metroid game itself... there's no way you can argue that it's only been inspired by the IP.
I'm not saying what they've done isn't art... it is... but what they've done by itself isn't a game, it's a mod for a game that is owned by Nintendo, which is where the legal issue comes from.

@impurekind You said way too much for the weak arguments you made there.
Releasing something for free when others charge for something similar damages that industry by devaluing those items... if people have the option to get something for free, then they are less likely to pay for a similar item, meaning less money is going into the industry as a whole.
And art is only good as long as it is original and creative... using other sources for inspiration is fine, but lifting elements directly from elsewhere only demonstrates a lack of creativity, which is not good... and this game used the original Metroid game itself.

I think it's a shame that games like this are treated the way they are by both sides... developers shouldn't do this sort of thing without Nintendo's permission, but Nintendo should be open to fan-made games using their IPs... both sides would benefit if they just cooperated with one another.

As long as they keep the price down I'm fine with this... I'll probably still pay even though I don't really play online that much (I prefer local multiplayer) as the other stuff sounds good.
I wouldn't be surprised if the voice chat was still more limited than on other consoles in order to ensure that it remains family-friendly, but linking it to smart phones sounds like a really handy idea.
The monthly game seems reasonable as well... you can typically complete most games within a month anyhow, and the limited time helps to avoid building up too much of a backlog of free games.

EA just don't learn... the popularity of a franchise in general should not be taken as an indication of it's popularity on a specific console.
They done the exact same thing on the Wii U... created ports of their more popular franchises (including FIFA), assuming them to be popular on the Wii U as well, but they weren't, and stopped supporting the console as a result, even though it was their own mis-judgement that was to blame.

Probably just a placeholder... I imagine they would have given us the date last week if it had been set already.

Well, I've seen stories of worse stuff being auctioned off online... this is actually not too bad in comparison.

@DanteSolablood Data connections are very rarely completely stable... it's just that most services that use them are designed to compensate for it without you noticing... they just don't seem to have gotten this right in Pokemon GO, particularly with gyms.

PokeStops can actually cause a similar error... causing a successful spin to appear as if it failed when it didn't... you still get items, but it doesn't tell you, and the PokeStop remains blue until you restart the app or wait 5mins for the PokeStop to reset and spin it again.