Jeronan

@JohnnyMind This has nothing to do with Dev Kits.

Game Studios that receive Dev Kits have to sign strict NDA´s and revealing a new console early would mean instant death for the studio. It would be corporate suicide.

Genki isn't an officially licensed partner of Nintendo. They somehow managed to get an early production unit or official schematics/marketing material via illegal means (which is nothing new and happens all the time). From that, they made dead accurate mockups of the Switch 2 console in all its glory and then put them up on display for everyone to see on CES 2025. Almost 4 months ahead of Nintendo´s own initial planned reveal and showcase!

@Hapless No idea what their line of thinking was, nor how they thought to get away with it.

Maybe they honestly thought (stupidly) that Nintendo themselves would announce the Switch 2 at CES 2025.... or that their little stand simply wouldn't get hat much coverage. Again stupid, as they should have known better that the press would jump on their stand when you have actual mockups of a new "highly anticipated" Nintendo console that hasn´t been officially revealed yet.

Genki literally ruined Nintendo´s Switch 2 launch.

That whole initial reveal direct felt rushed and panicked from Nintendo, being forced their hand when Genki basically revealed the new console early.

I am 100% certain, that Nintendo only planned for that big Switch 2 direct in early April that would both reveal and showcase the new console.

Instead, they had to rush a reveal Direct earlier than planned, which put a serious damper on the April Direct, where the press just focussed on all the negative parts/reveals by Nintendo.... since the Switch 2 had already been revealed and dissected piece for piece for over 2 months by then.

The big April direct was just a disappointment for many, since there were no surprises left anymore at that point and we all focussed on the negative stuff, like the High console price, the hefty increase in price for 1st party games, the new Pro 2 controller at almost double the price, the game key card and that Switch 2 internal deep dive game we had to pay for. Etc, etc...

@westman98 It’s a Nintendo greed thing.

Both PS4 and PS5 I bought as bundle and they came with full physical copy of the game.

Same with my XB360 back in the day.

So no, this typical Nintendo greed. The Switch 2 packaging was big enough to include a normal physical copy of Mario Kart World. Especially since I paid 110 Euro extra for the bundle. So the same price if I had bought Mario Kart World separately!

@JayJ
Nintendo are also cheaping out themselves by selling games as Game key cards to maximize their own profits.

So again, why should Nintendo get a pass? Like I said earlier.... the Switch 2 Mario Kart World bundle is the worst cop-out by Nintendo, as we didn´t even get a Game key cart, but just a piece of paper with a code on it. No cartridge, no sleeve! Just a piece of paper!

And then we are in here blasting Third parties for releasing game key carts. While Nintendo´s own behavior is even worse!

@Lord The SD Express card has read speeds up to 800-900MB/s on the Switch 2.

The Switch 2 game cartridge is a different medium and lot slower and is limited to up to 400MB/s.

@kmtrain83 I have been buying digital for a good long while now, but thanks to Sony´s utter greed, I can often buy new game releases for up to 20-30 EURO cheaper physical in the store than on the digital PS Store.
And now it will be the same with Switch 2 releases that are now 100-110 Euro, I can save 10-11 Euro buying a physical/game key card in the store, due to fixed 10% member discount on new game releases.
As before, on Switch1, digital versions were often 10 euro cheaper, but now on Switch 2 store, the prices are the same.

@electrolite77 Almost. SSD has been around for a long while now.
The PS4 and XBOX One had SSD drives. While XBOX Series X and PS5 have m.2 NVMe drives.

So its actually SSD vs m.2 NVMe storage. Where consumer grade SSD found in XBOX One/PS4 was limited to up to 500MB/s, while the modern NVMe storage found in XBOX Series X and PS5 has up to 5500MB/s read/write speeds.

@StewdaMegaManNerd That doesn´t matter.

A game publisher looks at their bottom line and the profit they can make.
On the one hand they have a bluray disc for 2 bucks and in other hand they have a 20+ dollar Switch cartridge.

Are you prepared to take that extra cost and pay 20 USD/Euro more for physical Switch game compared to the PS5/XBOX version?
I can already tell you right now, that most people won´t and why publishers don´t take that risk and rather release it either Digital only or as Game key card for the Switch/Switch 2 to keep price parity across all platforms.

@Mortenb Because the large storage Switch cartridges are 10x more expensive than a Bluray disc. For one.

Then, second, Nintendo doesn't allow us to install a game from Cartridge to internal storage. Which would offer significantly better I/O performance.

@Mortenb Yeah but that is no issue, as no game can run from Bluray on PS4/PS5 and XBOX One/Series X.
They get installed to local storage first and then you run the game from local console storage, which is significantly faster.
The Bluray disc is then only needed for authentication that (still) you own the game.

@SirLink I already posted the official specs up in the comments earlier.

Switch 2 cart can reach Read speeds of up to 400MB/s (still slower than classic SSD drives).
SD Express can reach Read speeds of up to 900MB/s.
Switch 2 internal UFS 3.1 NVMe Storage can reach Read speeds of up to 2100MB/s.

By comparison. My PS5 internal and additional m.2 NVMe storage drive has a read speed of up to 5500MB/s.
Same for my XBOX Series X.

@Exerion76 Exactly! And it will be even worse for existing and upcoming games build on UE5.

@vitaminj Digital versions used to be about 10 USD/Euro cheaper, since it doesn´t have the cost of physical media and distribution.

This was also a way for both MS and Sony to sell their digital only consoles!

But now, Sony has jacked up prices on their Playstation Store and often are more expensive than physical copies in stores!
So Sony is now actually in hot water and being sued for overcharging people with PS5 digital consoles, that can only buy digital and now have to often pay more for new games, than people with normal PS5 consoles.

@DiamondJim In the same sentence I can also say CDPR did so, while Nintendo themselves didn't with Mario Kart World, where I got a game code on a piece of paper. So I didn't even get a real cartridge and sleeve!

So why should Nintendo get a pass for even worse practices, cheaping out with their console bundles and not even offering a real Game Key card, but just giving you cheap piece of paper with a code on it?

I would have maybe even be somewhat okay with it, if the Bundle was actually offered at a discount, but no! The Switch 2 bundle was 110 euro more expensive than the base bundle. So I paid full retail price for Mario Kart World and didn't even get it on a cartridge!

@Zuljaras Game key carts are topping the charts, because in many countries, there are stores that have membership programs, like here in Norway for example where I get 10% discount at Elkjop on new physical game releases.
So often (but not always) I can get a physical copy (or with Switch 2 game key card) for a better price than buying digital.
Especially PS5 games I get at a way better price than in Sony´s own digital Playstation Store.

Nintendo themselves are also not being a great example, as their own Console bundles, like the latest Mario Kart World Switch 2 bundle. It just came with a game key code on a piece of paper. So we didn´t even get a cartridge with game key card and still had to pay a whopping 110 euro more for this bundle!

And this is Nintendo themselves FFS! And then we attack third party publishers, while Nintendo themselves get a pass?

@Oldstalk This has been confirmed and one just need to look at the known specs. Its no secret whatsoever.

Switch 2 cartridge has read speeds of up to 400MB/s.
SD Express cards have read speeds of up to 900MB/s.
Switch 2 internal UFS 3.1 nMVE has read speeds of up to 2100MB/s.

You don´t need to be a math genius to see how slow the Switch 2 cartridges really are compared to the SD Express cards and especially Switch 2´s own internal storage.

@Mortenb really? So the NVMe storage in my PC, PS5 and XBOX Series X is way slower than a Switch 2 cartridge?

Last I checked my math skills, 1500-5000MB/s read speeds is quite a bit faster than the 400MB/s read speed of a Switch 2 cartridge.
But maybe I need to start smoking what you are smoking to see it differently?

@Sebos Again, read my 2nd last reply. Nintendo is solely responsible for creating this problem.
They haven´t learned a single thing from the Switch 1, where large capacity cartridges costed upwards of over 16 USD per cart !
Compare that to 2 USD for a Bluray..... can you blame game publishers for releasing digital only on the Switch?

And now with the Switch 2, Nintendo themselves have increased their game prices with over 10-20 USD/EURO.
Here in Scandinavia I had to pay 110 EURO for Mario Kart World and I deeply regret wasting that much money on a mediocre game.
That is a very hefty increase compared to Switch 1 first party Nintendo titles I paid average 65-70 EURO for before.

@SBandy1 We also don´t know what kind of deal there was between CDPR and Nintendo, since CP2077 was clearly a Third Party showcase title for the Switch 2 launch.
So Nintendo might have given CDPR a very good deal on Switch 2 carts to make it a physical release to boost Switch 2 console launch sales.

@Zuljaras The reason is simple and the fault lies with Nintendo!

XBOX and Playstation use the Bluray standard and an empty Bluray costs less than 2 USD.

Its Nintendo´s fault to keep coming out with proprietary cartridges that are notoriously expensive. Especially at larger storage sizes most modern games need to fit on it.

Nintendo could easily fix this, by offering large capacity slow and cheap cartridges with the option to install to internal storage on the console.

Both Microsoft and Sony had already figured this out since the PS4 and XBox One 15 years ago, by going the Bluray standard route (so people could use the consoles to also play movie Blurays and DVDs).
Even the XBOX360 offered an option to install to HDD from DVD back in the day already. I had an external SSD for my XBOX360 back then.

@dew12333 Nintendo could easily solve this, by allowing us to install games to internal storage from Cartridge.

@Beetoe Scandinavia. Its because it needs to be "grey" imported. As its still only available in very select countries in Europe.

@Sebos The Switch 2 has 256GB internal storage. Most of the Switch 2 titles so far seem to be around 12-25GB in size average.

So you can easily install 10+ titles on internal storage alone.

In comparison with PS5/XBOX Series X, both came with 1TB of storage.
There the average game is over 100GB in size, some even closing in at 200GB.
So I was forced to go out and buy "verified" NVMe storage for my PS5 and paid 200 euro for a 1TB NVMe card at the time.
So even with a total of 2 TB storage in my PS5, I can still install more games on my Switch 2 internal storage today, than I can on my PS5.

The 256GB MicroSD Express card I picked up for 60 euro.

@DarkTron Are you serious?

Steam Deck has builtin NVMe storage! Steam deck verified doesn´t mean its verified to run from a standard microSD lol.

Do you actually have a Steam deck and have you tried to install and run this game ( or any other major modern game ) from a micro SD card? Have you any idea how incredibly slow a micro SD card is?
So I call total bull on this! As I can´t even run most of the new games I play from my older standard SSD ( 500 MB/s ) on my PC these days and need to install and run it from my NVMe disks.

And lets not pretent that all new big titles run peachy on Steam Deck. They don´t!
People have been crying to Valve for the past 2 years or so to release a more powerful Steam Deck 2!
It´s why I didn´t buy a Steam deck OLED last year, when Steam deck was finally available for purchase here in Europe at a whopping 1000 euro lol. Horribly overpriced for outdated hardware.

@OneArmedGiant Star Wars Outlaws might had some bugs and issues at launch, like pretty much every major game that released recently.... but nowhere near the problems that CP2077 had back in 2020.
I bought Star Wars Outlaws on my PS5 at launch and had no issues whatsoever.

CP2077 was literally unplayable on PS4 and XBOX One.
I had the newer XBOX One X Scorpio Edition at that time and there CP2077 ran somewhat decent and was actually playable.

There was a reason why people were offered refunds for CP2077. It was THAT bad. So yeah, a lot of people have very short memories.

@OneArmedGiant I guess we have forgotten that CP 2077 released 5 years ago on both current and previous gen and we all know how well it ran on previous gen. lol.

People seem to have very short memories. As those on PS4 and XBOX One got refunds for their CP2077 purchase.
Then CDPR spend the last 5 years fixing and improving the game on current gen only.

It´s an incredible game right now, don´t get me wrong. It´s one of my most favorite games right now. But lets not just conveniently forget all the problems this game had back at launch, just so we can all bash Ubisoft right now.

@Friendly Its why I bought CP2077 digital on my Switch 2, so I could install it and run it from the Switch 2´s internal m.2 NVMe storage.

I also have the 256 GB SD express in my Switch 2, but I try to only keep my older digital Switch 1 titles there.

It makes sense as its a current get title only and both PS5 and XBOX Series X have m.2 NVMe storage that is way faster than what even the Switch 2 cartridge and the new SD Express cards can offer.

This is also nothing new. I still have both classic SSD ( up to roughly 500 MB/s ) and superfast m.2 NVMe storage in my gaming PC.
While some older games run fine from my classic SSD, most modern games I really need to install and run from my NVMe storage or the performance just sucks.

The new Expedition has now started on all platforms, but not on the Switch version, because we still haven´t gotten the update.

@LikelySatan The game runs fine on PS5. I had never any performance issues on my PS5 with this game.

@johnedwin Well, since its a current gen game only, concessions need to be made to make it run on the Switch 2.
So anyone who thought this game was going to run 4k/60fps on the Switch2 lost any sense of reality.

@Solid_Python Yeah but dramatic headlines draw people and generate clicks.

@The-Chosen-one New Switch system update today, but still no 6.0 update for No Man´s Sky and the new Expedition starting tomorrow.

Nintendo really needs to get their act together.

@The-Chosen-one Its stupid Nintendo as usual being extremely slow with their approval process.

Still waiting for Persona 5 Royal and Persona 4 Golden to be updated.

Come on Atlus!

@The-Chosen-one Yeah late as usual. It’s already available on every other platform right now. Except the Switch 2 of course.

EDIT: Doesn’t look like it’s coming to the Switch yet? It has been available on all other platforms for a day already.

Would be nice if these articles actually mention the release date of these updates.

@Metazoxan the shipbuilding in this NMS update will never be as comprehensive as Starfield. Especially after they opened up for Mods.

I play both NMS and Starfield and they are such different games. You just can´t compare the two.

@ronnande If there were true, the eShop wouldn´t be drowning in shovelware.

@shgamer Yeah if that were true. The whole Switch 2 eShop in July / August was filled with shovelware. My whole new releases page was filled with those stupid softporn puzzle games.
So it ain´t working.

As long as it doesn´t run Unreal Engine 5 and the developers have some form of skill in optimization and the willingness to do so, 3rd party games will run fine on Switch 2.

That Elden Ring both looks and runs poorly on the Switch 2, is because this developer has a known history of poor optimization of their games and unwillingness to spend much time on it.

@Aeralto Like all the other Chinese devices that offer emulation and ship their products via drop shipping?

@RiasGremory Good luck. Its a Chinese company and China doesn´t care about Copyright and patents.

I don´t understand why this site keeps on promoting these shady Chinese companies. You just giving them free publicity.
It´s exactly what they want and why they use these provoking images of Copyrighted games like Super Mario. They know it provokes reaction by media. Media like this site publishes an article about it and hence it generates free publicity and sales for them. And then there is a good chance its just a scam and people will never receive any device.

@SirLink Then don´t get overhyped!

Media earns its money these days by clicks. So they more hype they generate, the more clicks they get and the more money in their pockets.
It´s not a sole Bethesda problem. All do it. Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Sony.... all major publishers do it.

Anyone that "really" knows Bethesda and played all their games. They know their notorious buggy releases with each and every game they release! And as such keep their expectations low.

I did exactly that. Kept my expectations low and ignored all the media hype. Result was that I greatly enjoyed the game and for a Bethesda game it exceeded my expectations. I have sunk over 300 hours in the game and still play it on and off time to time.

@Spider-Kev Yeah it was so boring, I put in over 300 hours in the game.
Yes it had some bugs at the start (some game breaking ones at that), but most got fixed.
While the main story arc wasn´t the best and solely written for the endless New game+ cycle.
The Major side Story Arcs and tons of other side story arcs were simply amazing and great fun.

Ship building can be frustrating at times (let me place doors where I want tjeez), but when things click into place, its great fun and I have built some amazing ships.
And just look at the community with all the crazy ship designs they have come up with.

When it comes to the Shattered Space DLC..... yeah... that was a royal Eff Up! I gues they couldn´t afford to pay Andrea´s Voice actor to record some new lines for this DLC. /facepalm

@Joekun Not at all, as there are many people (including me) that were terribly disappointed with Mario Kart World.
I have never been bored so quickly with a Mario Kart game as that one. While I played Mario Kart 8 for years.

So many great things from Mario Kart 8 got stripped away, for the sake of stupid streamlining and so they could add in that disappointing and boring Open World gimmick.

It was so nice to see that Direct yesterday, where they took this Kirby Race game in totally opposite direction and allow us to tune and customize to our hearts content.

Kirby Air Riders just showed us what can be done and what a farce and terrible game Mario Kart World really is and how we got duped in paying a hefty increased premium price for it to boot.

This literally seems like an XBOX controller reflashed with Switch firmware lol. Just a half assed effort, just for a quick Switch 2 launch phase cash grab. I mean, it has the other dedicated Switch style buttons, but they can´t be assed to correctly assemble the ABXY buttons.

@GrailUK Initial console sales are always high. Its a new shiny on the block and will always cause a rush.

But if 3rd party studios don´t get any dev kits, the Switch 2 will run dry of game releases, as Nintendo is notoriously slow and sparse with their own 1st party releases.

@GrailUK They are on their backfoot. Ever since that leak.

The whoie official reveal and release felt rushed and weird. Full of controversy and negativity.

There are some really good 3rd party games releasing this year. Games that could easily also release on Switch 2, but aren´t. All due to a lack of dev kits.
As its a bit hard to release a game on the Switch 2, when you have no dev kit.

Had hoped for some resolution / FPS improvements for both PS4 Golden and PS5 Royal for the Switch 2.