Haywired

Not that I'm defending it or anything, but aren't loot boxes like blind bag toys that we used to buy (like POGs or Boglins or whatever. Showing my age...)? I'm pretty sure they still exist, so how come they aren't illegal?

I think some people have just read the misleading headline and are now like "3DS successor confirmed!" He doesn't actually say anything of the sort. Though there will almost certainly be a 3DS successor, and it will be the Switch Lite. Why would Nintendo unify their home and handheld divisions only to just disunify them? If, as @cyberlocc said, 90% of Japanese gamers (even without the inevitable smaller, more portable Switch Lite) use the Switch as a handheld, then they clearly already see it as a handheld (as if Pokémon on the Switch wasn't confirmation enough). So why would Nintendo release a second separate handheld to compete with their own product? The Switch, Switch Lite and Mobile will have pretty much everything covered.

Headline is a little misleading. He just vaguely said “considering various possibilities", which could mean anything. It could just as well mean that they're not considering a new 3DS.

Where's @NEStalgia ? I seem to remember he had some very intelligent and insightful comments as to why the idea of a new 3DS in a Switchy world would be redundant.

A smaller, cheaper, more portable Switch down the line, to sit alongside the regular version would be an absolute money-printing beast. Nintendo would have Switch, Switch Lite and Mobile. A very elegant eco-system that has pretty much everything covered and that a new 3DS just doesn't fit into. It would be redundant. Not to mention the fact that, after the 3DS, Nintendo isn't touching 3D with a barge-pole for a very long time, and you could say the same for dual screens after the Wii U. Neither feature is worth pursuing at this point.

@Crono1973
Company execs say a lot of things in public. They said the DS was the third pillar and they were still committed to the Game Boy line.

“considering various possibilities" is the most vague, deflecting, empty corporate speak ever and could just as easily suggest that their next pure handheld will be the Switch Mini, a new 3DS or nothing at all.

@Crono1973
Yeah, and I said that in the comment, but it won't matter if it's 100% portable or not. It will still be as portable as any portable. Yes the Switch Mini/Lite doesn't exist yet, but how can anyone think that it won't happen? Nintendo always makes new models of its popular hardware. Plus, Iwata basically said as much before he died; that future home consoles/handhelds would take a more unified approach, basically being the same system but in different forms, like an iPhone/iPad (though granted, he's not around anymore and things can change).

@Crono1973
Wii was a home console. Wii Mini was a home console. DS was a handheld.

Switch is a home console/handheld hybrid. Switch Mini could still be a hybrid, but in any case, will most likely be pushed almost entirely as a handheld. 3DS is a handheld. Switch Mini now makes 3DS redundant.

@Crono1973
That doesn't work, the Wii Mini wasn't a handheld.

@Crono1973
Yes, but when the Switch Lite/Mini comes out (and I can't believe there are people here who don't think that'll happen), it will be.

I think this is highly unlikely. Otherwise what's the point of doing the Switch in the first place? What was the point of streamlining/unifying everything? There's almost certainly going to be a smaller, cheaper, more portable Switch Lite at some point and between that and mobile they should have everything covered. Otherwise, talk about spreading yourself thin. What would a new 3DS offer that those things don't? A 3D effect and dual screens? Both of which were proven last generation to be abject failures.

@geordie
Yeah the convenience and space/de-cluttering aspect is definitely a plus point for digital.

@geordie
As a collector, I just think there's something special about having a real tangible object to look at and hold. I collect eShop games digitally (obviously), so it's not as if you can't do it, but it feels like there's something missing. Like I bought Azure Striker Gunvolt on the 3DS eShop and liked it so much that when it came out physically on Switch later on, I felt I had to get it, so I could "properly" have it in my collection, if that makes any sense?

It's like with books; holding and flipping through a physical book just feels so nice and seeing things printed on paper is nice. It's all so beautiful and tactile in a way that an ebook just can't recreate.

I went fully digital with my CD and DVD collections as I felt like the writing was on the wall there, but I can't deny I do miss them a bit... There was an album I came across recently with cover art that I loved so much I kind of wished I had it physically, rather than just on the screen.

I'll buy physical games for as long as I possibly can. Digital's just not the same.

I had hoped that Labo wouldn't be crowbarred into other Switch games and it seemed at first that Nintendo was quite careful to treat Labo very much as its own separate thing. But I guess it's desperate times now and if Labo is going down it's taking everything else with it... No, I guess this is just the new idea to try and make Labo a thing.

Tell us about this Ubisoft/Nintendo relationship?

"We realized that if we suck up to Miyamoto enough, they'll just let us piggyback off all their IPs."

Two wrongs don't make a right, hehe.

If they're wondering why no one bought the Robot Kit, the answer is simple; look at the state of it.

Surely it only appeals to people who liked the Wii, but felt that it didn't make them look enough of a tit.

More "refined" motion controls are still motion controls... so I think I'll pass. This brings back memories of the thousand Wii Sports clones during the Wii shovelware days.

@NEStalgia
I really don't think selling the "map on a second screen" aspect as the Wii U's killer app would have made it sell like hot cakes. The whole "map on a second screen" feature was probably the saddest aspect of the Wii U. In that such a trivial and redundant feature was being pushed as mind-blowing innovation. You pause the game to look down at a map on a second screen and then back up again, instead of just pausing the game to look at the screen you were already looking at. Unless you've got two sets of eyes, it makes no difference. The people round here who were saying that they could "never go back to playing games without a map on a second screen!" are the same people who of course now think the Switch is the "best thing ever!", so I guess it wasn't that important to them after all... Maybe you're right and RTS gamers would have liked such a feature, but that's a pretty niche audience, especially on Nintendo systems. What console has ever sold like hot cakes by solely appealing to RTS gamers?

He mentions stuff like Wii Fit and Brain Age, but they stayed in the top 10 charts for months and years on end. Labo tumbled down the charts immediately (having not even made a big splash to begin with).

"Tell me what the Wii U proposition was in 10 words or less."

A solution desperately looking for a problem.

Now you're playing with a map on a second screen.

Nintendo trying way too hard to be the kooky one.

I've got loads Reggie.

Not a fan of DLC, so good for them I say!

The problem is that stuff like Brain Age and Wii Fit stayed in the top 10 charts for months, nay years on end, whereas Labo tumbled out after a week or so. The Robot Kit in particular fell out of the entire top 40 almost as quickly as it entered.

"There are a lot of people out there, I think, that really do want to throw a Poké Ball and role-play that." Yeah, I'm sure that's what's been holding Pokémon back all these years... You're not actually throwing a Poke Ball, you're just doing a throwing mime, which achieves the same as just pressing a button, except that it's slower, clunkier, more annoying and more inconvenient (and without the satisfying tactile feedback of a button press).

It's sad that it alienates disabled gamers, but if it's any consolation to them, waggle sucks for the rest of us too, hehe.

You know, I had hoped that Breath of the Wild's superiority over Skyward Sword would have finally exposed motion controls for what they are (or aren't as the case may be), but it seems we're not quite there yet...

But I thought the throwing motion thing was optional. Otherwise how would it work in handheld mode? Why is he saying "By making that the only way to do it"?

@Yorumi
Indeed. The video games industry seems to beautify length way more than other media. Films, books, albums, etc. get criticized if they're too long, but rarely with games (I get that games are more expensive and so people expect more bang for their buck, but there is a limit, plus a game's value shouldn't just come down to its length). It's mad to me that nowadays 60-70 hours is considered normal for an RPG. Isn't Persona 5 like 95 hours for just the main campaign? Who the hell has the time for that? Even though all the RPGs from the "golden age" that people apparently yearn for so much were all like 25-30 hours. I mean, you could watch every single James Bond film ever made, or all five seasons of Breaking Bad in the same time it takes to complete Xenoblade Chronicles. Something's up with that...

Oh phew, at first I thought you meant the main game was 80-100 hours... I was all but ready to cancel my interest as that's way too long. Thankfully that was just referring to 100% completion and the main game is around 50-60 hours (though probably slightly less as they tend to exaggerate these things), which is still extremely long and still a bit of a slog, but at least not unbearably so (I mean, anyone who played Bravely Default knows how padded-out that game was). I still don't get why so many modern RPGs need to be so long when the "classic/golden age of RPGs" of the SNES era etc (which many of these modern ones seem to claim to "hark back to") were all around 25-30 hours.

Mario has unnecessarily realistic dungaree texture in Super Mario Party so you know it's innovative.

"It certainly makes catching Pokémon more enjoyable and immersive"

Waggle doesn't add more immersion. Is Breath of the Wild an unimmersive experience because it ditched the motion controls of Skyward Sword? No, it's not, because that's not how in-game immersion is created. Does doing a silly throwing mime (which, by putting the focus on your own physical actions outside the game world is, if anything, immersion-breaking) make this a more immersive game than say, Xenoblade Chronicles 2? There's more to being immersed in a game than tediously miming out the actions. Just because Nintendo uses it as a buzzword in a press release doesn't mean you actually have to believe it.

Too many characters now imo, almost to the point of fighting game parody.

Cool. I've always been interested in this game and have heard many great things.

@Richard_Atkinson
I would say that's highly unlikely. Why would anyone want to bang their Switches together to do that when we have wireless?

Still obsessed with the multiple screens thing then... Reminds me of AR or something. Interesting hardware gimmick that loses its appeal after one go. Plus I treat my Switch like a newborn baby (especially after it got scratched from the slightest knock), I'm not sliding it around a table, haha.

What about Ice Climbers?!

I'm sure it will be excellent, but I find it hard to get too excited about a new Smash Bros nowadays (and I find all the forced, over-the-top hype over it a little tiresome). I don't think I'll ever feel for Smash like I did during the halcyon days of Melee. The last one was fine, but it felt a little stale. If "the most bloated character roster ever!" (as if that's even a good thing...) is what they're going with here, then I think I was right not to get too excited.

"or opt for a more intuitive gameplay using motion controls" Urgh, people are still trying to push that angle? I stopped believing that in like 2007...

Apparently WWE2K controls are unlocked when you play as Sergio Ramos.

What's with Nintendo lending all their IP to Ubisoft all of a sudden? Is it like a "Thanks for supporting the Wii U" goodwill gesture, or is the idea that Nintendo fans are so insular and scared of leaving their comfort zone that the only way they'll buy a third-party game is if there are Nintendo characters in it? Judging from the amount of "Now I'm interested"-type comments I've seen, that's probably, sadly, true.

If nothing else, at least they've just guaranteed higher review scores from Nintendo sites...

Is Nintendo just going to lend all their IP to Ubisoft now? Maybe they think it's the only way Nintendo gamers will buy third-party games?

Oh, I thought you meant the throwing motion bs was mandatory... It seems you can still just press a button to throw the ball, but motion is for aiming. While that still seems silly to not just give the option to use the analog stick instead, and I generally don't like the whole "tilt the screen that you're looking at" thing, aiming is generally towards the less offensive end of motion controls' crimes against gaming, so this isn't the end of the world I guess.

@Markiemania95
It feels like these ones have been almost impossible to find ever since they were released. I've managed to pick up around half of them from when Nintendo UK sporadically gets restocks on their online site, but it's hard to know when/if at all they will happen. I don't want to have to pay the ridiculous eBay prices. I mean, it was pretty clear from the very start of amiibo, that Zelda ones are popular, so you'd think they'd make more of these...

Remember when Labo was going to be the biggest thing ever? People on this site who were saying such things seem to have gone awfully quiet on the subject.

I've never been able to find half of these (at normal retail price).

Not as harrowing as the Donkey Kong Country game over screen.

Non-UK readers may be interested to know that this was down to a government initiative to get everyone in the UK to stop hating Nintendo for one month.

Looking forward to playing as the Borussia Black and Yellows.

I saw the headline and thought PES was coming to Switch. I've always stayed loyal to ISS/PES over the years, though it seems like it's really falling behind. I may have to finally go over to the FIFA side if it doesn't come to Switch. Though from what I gather, FIFA is a lot better nowadays than it used to be (though giving EA money isn't something I generally like to do, but oh well).

@Muddy_4_Ever
The original SNES DKC games are among the biggest selling games of all time in Japan.