Morph

@Munchlax you have to compare like for like though, and looking at current gen vs next gen, the next gen xbox consoles have sole around 25% compared to their 'current gen' counterparts. Its not unreasonable to think the next gen Microsoft systems have sold as high as they are going to already and now they will drop down to their usual 'current gen' numbers.

Japan for me although I think it would have been better without the floating heads. The EU/NA one is fairly 'meh' the Japanese one has some character about it.

I think it will beat the Wii in terms of numbers but the software attach rate for the wii is phenomenal I'm not sure Switch will beat that.

Handheld are a different matter though, perhaps if we see switch pro revision we might get a bit more mileage out of it than other consoles.

I love how all the internet game development studio experts come out along with an announcement like this. Realistically no one has a clue where the development is at. Just because certain hires haven't been made yet it doesn't mean development hasn't started yet. You don't need every employee/contractor right from the start of development, business doesn't work that way.

We also don't know if all of these hires are actually for Metroid, they could have another project in the pipeline too. Lets just see what happens eh?

This would be nice, I don't think a pro version of the Switch needs to to do a huge amount differently.

MiniLED seems a good compromise for the screen, potential for 1080p in handheld, better battery life and the 4k upscaling which has been rumoured would all be welcome additions.

I think its important to make sure that even if they release a pro all future games will still be compatible with all switch models and all of those features would be fairly easy to implement and maintain this.

I think we can be certain the continue with the 'hybrid' idea as they won't want to split the development resources again for a home console and a handheld. However what we might see is a platform with two distinct form factors capable of playing the same games rather than the full on hybrid platform we have at the moment.

Japan for me, both covers are a bit 'busy' but the NA/EU one has too much going on imo.

2 games in 1 and I'd be interested, individual releases though, not a chance.

Bulletstorm should be on this list, its about £4.5o at the moment.

Seems entirely logical to me, build something that will last. If they've got GC and Wii emulation sorted then it could open the floodgates for plenty more games to arrive now.

@Richnj like I said you either don't want it or you have other priorities I though that bit was fairly clear. One game between now and the end of March would be doable in most cases but if a person absolutely can't afford it then unfortunately they will miss out but maybe they can pick up at a later date or perhaps Nintendo will do a re-release, who knows?

The video game world is, has been and always will be full of limited editions, limited time releases, special offers, limited time add on content etc.

Why all of a sudden its a big deal with this release is beyond me. The current situation doesn't appear to have affected the likes of Animal Crossing or Ring Fit too badly.

Japan hands down, I know its a matter of opinions but really this week should be a landslide.

@nessisonett I'd put my money on a Skyward Sword remaster

Still don't see the issue, buy the game if you want it, if you don't then don't. If you haven't bought it by the time its pulled, you either didn't want it that badly or you had other priorities. Realistically, if you have spare cash to buy games you could put £2 or $2 away per week and have enough to purchase it before it is pulled.

Too much Orange and Yellow on the European one, I prefer the NA version.

I don't see the issue, I also don't see how it is sneaky. Disney used to do it with limited releases of their classics. It keeps the franchises fresh and also keeps the value of the games high. Perhaps less so so with Mario 64, but certainly with Sunshine and Galaxy.

If you want the game you buy the game, if you don't you don't. If it encourages sales of the console in the meantime then great.

Of what's left I think Xenoblade X will definitely make it to Switch. I think there's every chance the two Zelda Re-releases will make it along with Skyward Sword. After that I'd personally like to see Project Zero and I think I'm done with the Wii U. I'm not sure if they could do anything with Starfox but I think I'd rather just have a new game altogether built for Switch.

I'm not sure I get the complaints about Mario 64 being 900p. Its a 4:3 game so it can't be 1920x1080 full hd anyway.

The better question would be why haven't they adjusted the aspect ratio to 16:9. I feel like that wouldn't have been a difficult adjustment to make. It's a fully 3d gameworld so allowing the player to see more of the game environment shouldn't have caused any major issues unless the rendering would have 'popped up' in a way which would have made the user experience worse. That becomes a bigger issue when this is really just a re-release and not a remaster which I'm guessing will happen a later date, possibly in the next gen?

I hope Nintendo are actually future proofing with this service and that it will be something that will carry on with future consoles and not just be a this generation deal like the virtual console with wii.

I think its amazing how well Nintendo is doing in the UK these days especially considering how historically it has not always been a strong area for them. Great to see.

@Lord there's no way we are close to the end of this console. It's selling at a ridiculous rate and you could probably expect that to continue for at least another 18 month to 2 years. Then we'll see the gradual slowdown for the following 12 months after that. At most we are probably just about halfway through this lifecycle with another 3 years left. When you consider the output in the previous three years, I would think its perfectly reasonable to expect at least another 10-15 first party games.

@TheFullAndy I've often thought there's really no reason to by a Microsoft console, and I think that's certainly becoming more true as the prices of new consoles start getting higher and gaming PCs become more affordable. The majority of their first party games hit PC anyway so why by an Xbox?

The day Nintendo is no longer producing consoles (which hopefully is a long way off) the gaming industry will be a worse place for it.

@SwitchForce its been released before and sold out then, it'll sell out again and it'll still be worth more than was paid for it originally.

Really happy to see Xenoblade do that sort of a number already, especially when you consider its a re-release of a nearly 10 year old game.

So looking at it:
Xenoblade DE - 1.32m
Xenoblade 2 - 1.73m (as of last reported number)

X is the odd one out when you consider the low sales from being on the WiiU and possibly just not as appealing a title. I think is nailed on for a Switch Re-release at some point in the future.

I do wonder if we'll see more of a side story next rather than a mainline Xenoblade 3 as we tend to only get one new entry per console generation.

@hadrian I wouldn't say gaming is more mainstream now, however what Nintendo has managed to do in the period since the PS2 era though is pull in the more casual gamer which no other company has effectively been able to do.

I fail to see how anyone can complain about this.

If it was built up for weeks people would complain that it was below expectations to release a port of a Wii U game. So it was a surprise announcement instead and people still complain that it wasn't the announcement they wanted, when they didn't even know about it.

For what it is it looks like a good port with all of the additional content and a bit more, I don't see the problem. If you don't want it, don't buy it and move on.

It might be a bit of a tricky one to port but not impossible. However the the resources it would no doubt require would probably be against it. I think the next Starfox has to do well otherwise I'm not sure we'll see the series again. Kind of like how Fire Emblem was after Radiant Dawn.

I could be wrong here because the line drawing got quite confusing, but when talking about the Switch releases from 2017 onwards, we surely have to include the wii u and 3ds releases from the same period up until now which would bump the first party number up by 22 for that period.

If you look at how long a typical nintendo console is out before its successor is released, they typically never have more than a 6 year primary lifespan. Some consoles continued to be sold while the successor was released but (with the exception of the WiiU which was a bit of a disaster) we are looking at least at a 5 year cycle with the more successful consoles having 6 years. I think at least Switch is going to match that 6 years and it really wouldn't surprise me if it went to 7. It'll be 3 and a half at the end of August, giving it at least another 2 and a half years. Thats probably enough time to see BOTW2, Metroid and another 3D Mario come out which I think will wrap up this generation.

NES - 6 years(ish)
SNES - 5-6 years (depending on where you lived)
N64 - 5 years
GC - 5 years
Wii - 6 years
WiiU - 4 years
Switch - (Not quite) 3 and half years

There are a select few iconic box arts and imo that European Tetris box art is one of them. European/NA all the way.

In the last set of financial results digital sales on average accounted for 34% of a first party games total sales. So using that metric as a base Origami King could well have done sales of about 165,000 already and realistically probably has. For a game that had little fanfare and was released i the middle of a pandemic, those numbers would seem quite decent and above any of the other games in the series.

But of a ridiculous question without also listing the releases. There were a few dry years in the gamecube era but I really don't recall. Also going back it could well be different in different regions depending on when and which games were released.

Looks nice but no rumble is a deal breaker.

Not sure how anyone could pick the EU one, far too busy and a wall of text on a cover is never a good look.

Japan all the way for me.

Wish they would have fixed the quest in Frontier Village where you get the option to collect 4 (walnuts?) Or 2 Bitter Kiwis and if you already have the walnuts it automatically forces you down that path. I've left that quest incomplete in the hope they would fix it.

You would think its likely going to be a 2d sidescroller/metroidvania. Interesting to see what it is, would Yacht Club let Wayforward get a hold of Shovel Knight?

I think the bigger issue here is why this game even exists

I so hope this makes it to the west

I'm in, take my money

One of the few weeks I could have used a 'none of the above' option.

Don't see why they couldn't have put all of the games from both the arcade and console packs on one cart. I feel like I'd be more interested in the arcade pack of the two but to be honest splitting them up just smacks of a cash grab to me.

Kickstarter isn't 'a scam' and neither are Platinum who wouldn't be aware of the various customs charges. What is a scam however are the customs charges that you can end up paying on imports.

The purpose of the charge is because the product hasn't incurred the VAT you would normally pay on a product (speaking for the UK at least), so the VAT on W101 would probably be in the region of around £6 which i think is fair enough. The bigger issue is that they (Royal Mail) then stick a 'handling fee' of around £10-12 on top of that for the privilege of putting a sticker on it and telling you that you need to pay up.

I've paid somewhere in the region of £15 in charges on a US$20 game before now. It's a joke really.

@spideyroxas I've just been watching a video on YouTube and it does seem to make a pretty convincing case to start at the Trails in the Sky arc, which I could do on PC (although I much prefer to game on console). Then it's the Crossbell Arc which is trickier as there's only fan translations and then finally I'll get to the Cold Steel Arc. Seems like it's going to be quite the undertaking but it does look an interesting series.

To those who are familiar with the series, what would be a good entry point? As I understand it there's the first game in this Arc, or should I go back further? I don't mind having to pick up games on another format. Playing through Xenoblade has got me in the JRPG mood again.

I'll be keeping an eye on this, haven't pulled the trigger yet was kind of on the fence after the reviews so was waiting for a price drop. Will see how the improvements go and then look at it again.

@Damo Hang on lets not confuse things here. Waterworld wasn't a box office bomb, it debuted at Number 1 in the USA and the UK, finished in the top 10 US films of 1995, 7th for the year in the UK (ahead of the likes of Apollo13!) and was 9th in the worldwide top 10 film releases of 1995.There were some very big films in that 10 and it held its own.

The fact that it went massively, massively over budget is a completely separate issue and is more of a case study in poor project and budget management rather than it being poorly received.

I don't buy that that it would be cheaper to go digital only. How much does sticking a cartridge slot in actually cost?

You also really need to increase the flash memory on the console if you are expecting people to go digital only so any remote saving would be negated by that.

I'm sure it will appeal to some people and that's great, but I don't really care. I'm physical wherever possible.

@KingBowser86 there are plenty of retailers selling it at higher prices, there are some who have it marked at £279 but don't have stock.

If anyone was looking to buy one, I was able to find one place with them at rrp Very.co.uk but who knows how long that will be available for?

@KingBowser86 That's not actually true, it might be costing Game more to get hold of Switches from distributors at this time given the issues going on in the world at the moment there could be increased transport costs etc.

I'm not defending Game here but there could be a legitimate reason.

Switch RRP is £279, Smash RRP is £59.99, Luigi's Mansion 3 RRP is £49.99 - So the console at £20 over RRP seems about right looking at other retailers currently.

The bigger issue which I do diasgree with is bundling games in a package and charging a higher price for the games than they would normally be on their own website. That absolutely shouldn't be allowed.