Mips

I pity the hardcore collectors, going to be a busy and expensive time. Although they’ll be stinking rich some day.

@Mips No worries, I can see what you’re saying actually. There’s definitely room for both on the market & Valve have even said as such. Well I guess that means we simply have more options for great games & that benefits everyone. No hard feelings!

@Mips OK I see what you mean - sorry to get so het up. I guess there’s room for both to coexist. They’re for different demographics - the Steam deck is more powerful and will have a different software lineup. Also it’ll run multi platform games better with more display options. But Nintendo’s main strength is in its IP and they’ll always have that. That’s what draws their fans in and that’ll never change.

@Mips Typical short sighted gamer - this machine hasn’t even come out yet - how can you come out with these obtuse conclusions when we haven’t even seen how it performs? Basically you need to get out of your tiny fanboy world and realise that the switch isn’t some holy machine that can’t be equalled. There are other options out there and they’re equally valid.

@Mips Why so rude? Get out of bed the wrong side this morning? Can you imaging the battery life on this thing playing AAA PC games? This is basically an indie game & emulation machine and nothing else - I pity the poor fools who buy this.

@Mips Have you even considered that this might be for a different demographic. This looks to be a great machine. So fed up with short sighted people who can’t see this. Basically idiot fanboys terrified of any threat to their precious switch.

@datamonkey Such a beautiful machine with that amazing Sony design flare. I wouldn’t necessarily say RIP though - I have my OLED model in great condition with a stack of physical games. So many more games out there to pick up second hand as well.

It looks like a nice piece of kit - the reason I like the PC for gaming and one huge advantage over consoles is for first person shooters. Keyboard & mouse is just so much more natural than a controller for that genre. Another advantage is high frame rates for AAA games. The valve deck doesn’t have those advantages so not for me. Also remember that this is essentially a $500 unit. 64gb is much too small for PC gaming so you’d definitely want to go for the next size up at least or buy extra storage straight away. Great for certain demographics - emulation, etc - but I’ll stick with my switch. Valve has been up front in saying that they’re going after a different audience - Nintendo’s strength has always been their IP and that’s the main aspect that draws in their huge fan base.

@Agriculture The vita has proper analogue sticks no?

@BloodNinja Good to know she’s better. But yes, a 2 year wait would definitely be a very unusual circumstance here.

@BloodNinja I think some you may have some crossed wires there. In the UK it won’t take two years to see a doctor for anything. In fact you can see a doctor the same day - just call at 8.30am and you could be seeing someone within a couple of hours. The maximum wait for this surgery here is 18 weeks, but that’s on the extreme end - I think there were other factors involved that affected your grandmother. Not that it makes it any easier for her, hope she’s feeling better now.

Nintendo fanboys - an experiment in how self entitled it's possible for human beings to be.

@BloodNinja Sorry that was out of order I take it back. All the best to you.

Jesus, Nintendo fans are the biggest bunch of whingers.

@BloodNinja definitely, there needs to be a balance - Domo

@JSDude1 Wow. Not many people seem to realise this these days

SONIC 3D BLAST! (genesis)

@Wavey84 I won’t use BFI on my LG - too dark. Interesting re the Sony though.

The prize would be a new or low use ZT65, the best plasma ever made according to most reviewers. There’s a used one on UK eBay for a grand. A new one went for 3 grand a while back. That would be my dream TV - and no brightness loss from years of use.

@Wavey84 Good one - I keep my G60 Panasonic plasma for those reasons and more. Plus a load of CRTs but that’s another story.

@DropDash Nothing will ever match a Waterfield though, love mine.

@HeadPirate Gosh you really do get your knickers in a twist about gaming don't you? Do try and remember that all this is just about games - there are much more important things in life.

@GrailUK Love it! Although everything’s so much more more complicated tech wise these days. Back in the day you’d just buy a good TV (preferably a Sony trinitron), plug it in, adjust brightness & contrast & you’re good to go.

Now it’s a minefield - the TV buying process is a bloody research marathon.

@xxx128 Not sure why some people have this impression - it may be because they’ve seen OLED panels in shops where they’re typically overdriven. OLEDs can look very natural and are much less susceptible to burn in these days.

There’s no indication that OLEDs will have less input lag. Some LCDs are sub 1ms - lag is much more dependent on how the panel
Is driven.

@AndrewR Not necessarily superior for everyone. As I mentioned in an earlier comment, using OLED results in a slightly more jarring frame transition which impacts lower fps games (30fps for example).

Colours aren’t inherently more saturated on OLED, only if a specific manufacturer opts to drive their panels that way. In fact OLEDs can look very natural.

@Slowdive Yes, the Vitas screen was very early in the evolution of OLED screens so the Switch’s screen should be better.

Love my OLED Vita.

There’s something here that no one’s talking about: OLED has nearly instant pixel response time. Sounds good doesn’t it? Actually not necessarily, particularly with low FPS (30fps) gaming.

LCD’s slower pixel response subtly ‘blends’ consecutive frames together (in comparison to OLED) to form a slightly smoother frame transition. OLED’s transition is a touch more jarring. I’m not talking about the sample-and-hold nature of modern displays here, which are common to both display types but raw pixel response times.

This is noticeable, albeit subtle depending on how sensitive you are to it - 30fps games definitely look a touch more slideshow-esque.

Couple this with the inevitable lower pixel density of the larger OLED screen (potentially significant due to the comparatively low resolution), and some people might prefer to hold on to their original switches.

The Nintendo life staff don’t have a very deep level of technical knowledge of these things (most notably with retro gaming tech), so will tell you that OLED is automatically better. It is in many respects, but not all.

There’s something here that no one’s talking about. OLED has nearly instant pixel response time. Sounds good doesn’t it? Actually not necessarily. With low FPS (30fps) gaming LCD’s slower pixel response ‘blends’ consecutive frames together to form a slightly smoother transition. I’m not talking about the sample-and-hold nature of modern displays here, which are common to both display types but raw pixel response times.

This is clearly noticeable going from a plasma to an OLED TV - without extra laggy (unwanted) processing, 30fps games definitely look more slideshow-esque. I’ve experienced this directly going from a plasma to an OLED. For me, 30fps games like Last of us 2 are almost unplayable

Couple this with the inevitable lower pixel density of the larger OLED screen (potentially significant due to the comparatively low resolution), and some people might prefer to hold on to their original switches.

@YoungLink64 My comment was written with that understanding

To people with drift - try Nintendrew’s solution

@YoungLink64 I reckon the general feel of the units is very solid & high quality.

@LXP8 Your thoughts exactly mirror mine. In fact I hadn’t thought of your insight that if they hadn’t flubbed skyward sword we’d still be on the old path, which I wish we were. The formula was great, just needed new innovations, twists etc.

I’m hoping they step away from open world after botw2. But I haven’t much faith as the open world style’s so popular and sells so well as you say. I just prefer the linear story driven games.

Good to see TP near the top of your list, just finished it last night (GameCube on CRT) and it was fabulous. I think some people look down on it for some reason but I think the upcoming Switch remaster will remind everyone how great the game is.

@LXP8 Interesting - can I ask why you rank it so low? I’m just interested as I’m on your side on this.

The metacritic score comparison with BOTW isn’t really meaningful in any way. Just means it’s a great visual novel. It looks intriguing but I just haven’t got the time for that genre.

@NEStalgia Interesting, but a touch of avoidance going on there

Come on, spit it out - I’ll help - I’m 50 this year. First gaming experience was playing space invaders in a chip shop in the late 70s. Then Atari 2600 then Spectrum.

@NEStalgia How old are you?

@GrailUK Good for you, you flimming well told him. And I agree, much prefer this to the Unreal stuff.

I don't hack my consoles but I love seeing this setting in the more traditional Zelda format. I enjoyed BOTW but I felt the absence of the magic of traditional dungeons. The camera work, the discoveries all felt special. Of course BOTW is a different game and is excellent in it's own right, but I hope Nintendo can redress the balance a little in future games. Top of the list is extensive puzzle based dungeons.

And for everyone worrying about this getting taken down - it'll never be taken down. All this kind of stuff lives forever in torrent form, I don't know why everyone always freaks about it.

@lighteningbolt79 I understand what you mean. I think the disappointment is really based on a deep love of the franchise. This sounds like a fun game, but I think people were hoping for something really special at the level of their past glories. So an averagely fun game will feel like a bit of a letdown.

Looks like Toadstool tour on GC still holds the crown then. That and Mario tennis 64 & GC was really when Camelot were at their finest.

What really put me off though is that the story mode makes you play a load of speed golf, which doesn’t gel to me.

@KoenM84 I absolutely agree, for me that was a time of the most potent Nintendo magic. My favourite console of all time.

@Drake I hate to say it but I’m with you on that one. I prefer the usual style for Zelda - the younger developers wanted to take it in that direction with open world tropes like towers (yuck). I hope they don’t go open world every time from now on. After BOTW2, hopefully they’ll put all that effort into a stunning classic Zelda

Does anyone really think it’s better than BOTW? Just curious..

I'm just hoping that the single player hasn't been neglected to make way for the multiplayer elements.

Quite a rare one this and not often seen - Stunt racer by Boss game studios. Not the best game, but the owner would have been kicking himself by now - just the loose cart is worth around 200 pounds.

@Jamie_R Love it, those games are very special to me too. The weird thing is that I only ever played the racing mode and never the trick mode. Really I have a whole portion of that game still to play for the first time. Were you into the trick mode mostly?

@Jamie_R I love that it’s you’re favourite of all time, makes me want to play it again - did you play it back in the day or are you younger?