Comments 136

Re: Nintendo Of America Job Listing Offers Hope That Nintendo Directs Aren't Dead After All

Nehalem

I’m worried less about the directs not happening and more about what it means that they aren’t happening. Meaning that if Nintendo had a lot to show they would have a direct so I guess they just don’t have a lot to show?

I was hoping we would be seeing more releases from Nintendo since they are focused on just the one system but I’m not sure if that’s the case. Maybe they are holding done releases back for when they finish going through the Wii U catalog but I doubt it. I didn’t have a Wii U so maybe I can’t appreciate the frequency of first party titles in comparison (excluding Wii U titles of course). It just seems like they are in a bit if a slump right now.

Re: Hyper Light Drifter Dev Abylight Slams Twitter's 'Dangerous And Careless Attitude' After Surprise Ban

Nehalem

I really dislike these platforms. They have all kinds of arbitrary rules that no one can make sense of that essentially comes down to the biases of their "safety" team (as if that isn't Orwellian).

This idea that you can be an open platform but then have some unclear speech codes will always result in the banning of a lot of people and groups that don't deserve it. It's such a hot mess.

Re: Nintendo Switch Achieves Its Best October Sales To Date In The US

Nehalem

@Razer while I do hope they come out with a pro to keep the switch fresh, I don’t see the switch competing with sony and ms like you do. I think just as the ds and 3ds can exist and succeed among the more powerful home consoles so can the switch. With Nintendo getting to the end of their Wii U ports I do hope they have some big plans for the next couple of years (outside of the few games we know of).

Nintendo needs more development capability. They certainly have the funds to make this happen.

Re: Frame Rate And Resolution For Pikmin 3 Deluxe Demo Seemingly Revealed

Nehalem

@graysoncharles it does look good but it could have been better. Are you saying the new co-op doesn’t add more cpu load on it? It must. They optimized it to most demanding scenario which is co-op. The original engine probably doesn’t support dynamic scaling which is needed to properly optimize the game graphically.

Re: Hands On: Pikmin 3 Deluxe - This Wii U Classic Is Shaping Up Well On Switch

Nehalem

Wasn’t there a demo that Nintendo released that had lower resolution than the final product? I’m not holding my breath here but I guess it’s an outside possibility. I have heard some speculate it’s kept lower because of co-op but that is a really sad excuse, especially if that is why handheld is less than 720p.

Do better Nintendo, and give us some more powerful options (make the switch a platform rather than starting over).

Re: Random: Switch Owners Are Discovering Just How Frustrating Super Mario Sunshine Can Be

Nehalem

I played sunshine for the first time last night. I had a gamecube but never played it. The controls felt very frustrating right off the bat, worse than 64 in my opinion (I think those levels are just simpler so the dated controls don't feel as bad).

So far my goal was to play them in order but I couldn't do it. Galaxy is just such a better game. It really stinks they couldn't figure out how to get sunshine and 64 at 60 FPS as that would have really helped, but regardless galaxy feels like it hasn't aged a day, and the other two feel like they are from a different time and place.

Re: Early Tech Analysis Of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition Reveals Frame Rate And Resolution

Nehalem

I played xb2. It was a pretty fun game but wasn’t impressed with the visuals. I couldn’t believe this came from a team that assisted botw (an open world game that ran at a higher res and looked 10x better). Their tech just isn’t very good. Dq11 brick walls clearly had geometry to them, not just textures on flat walls. Xb2 was all flat walls and this from a custom engine (vs unreal, which generally struggles to match custom engines). It’s just disappointing as it seems like another team could get these kinds of visuals to at least 900p and probably more features as well.

Re: Feature: Best Nintendo Switch Graphics - The Most Beautiful Switch Games

Nehalem

I'm playing BOTW again, the first time since I originally played it, and the style/graphics are pretty great. Yes some textures are muddied and there is some blurriness but the amount of stuff they pack in an image, like being able to see the red laser from the four beasts anywhere on the map, etc, is pretty amazing. The grass and trees, etc, give this game life that is really something to behold.

Still, I'm certainly one of those people that would love to see Nintendo up the ante with a pro model for those of us who would be willing to fork over the money (and perhaps use Nvidia's learning algorithm to improve existing games with little effort from the developer like DF is suggesting could happen).

Re: Fans And Analysts Ponder The Eternal Question: Can Nintendo Survive Without Shigeru Miyamoto?

Nehalem

It's not just his unique talent but his unique position. Even if someone had his talent they would not be in his unique position because his position is derived from him being there from the start of Nintendo's efforts in interactive entertainment and his legendary contributions. This gives his position gravity and respect that is impossible to replace (all similar to Steve Jobs). No doubt the company will continue forward well without him but it will have lost a key rudder that will, like all companies with such key figures, have long term implications.

Re: Random: Brie Larson Says She's More Than Happy To Be In An Animal Crossing Movie

Nehalem

@NihilistNirvana I don’t really like super hero movies but didn’t she say that men should not critically review her movie, only women? Anyway, I really don’t care about her but she seems like a bit of an Hollywood activist and i feel like that will always open you up to some criticism. It’s always a little hard taking actors too seriously given that they live on a completely different planet than the rest of us.

Re: Random: Brie Larson Seems As Excited For Animal Crossing: New Horizons As We Are

Nehalem

@Crockin "middle ground would imply you do not have many strong opinions on either side".

Ugh, I'll bite because I think this is a very poor definition of middle ground. In my experience, middle ground means you have a nuanced set of beliefs that is not beholden to any orthodoxy. This means you might agree on the left on one issue, but with the right on another. It means you don't just accept a belief because it's coming from your side, or worse because it runs counter to the other side.

How sad that you have such a low opinion of people that are attempting to not just fall in line.

Re: Random: Brie Larson Seems As Excited For Animal Crossing: New Horizons As We Are

Nehalem

Sadly this thread has gone where you thought it might go. It is a shame that we live in a timeline that an endorsement from an actress goes political, but then how else would it go with the things she has said (she went political first I suppose).

I sometimes think it is ill-advised that so many celebrities chime in on politics as I'm not convinced it helps their cause (there is always something incredibly tone-deaf about lecturing people that are struggling much more than you, who happened to win the symmetrical features lottery, about how they should vote).

Re: Plague Inc Banned In China As Coronavirus Outbreak Spreads, Switch Version Unaffected

Nehalem

@willi3su Agreed, I never think banning is a good idea. I think we never give people enough credit in difficult situations like this. Do we think people can't separate a game from real life?

This appears to be part of a much bigger conversation of what should be allowed in polite society that might cause emotional stress on some part of the population but I don't want to go there right now so hopefully, we can just agree that banning from a big centralized government is not a great thing.

Re: Video: Digital Foundry Explores The Potential Of AI Upscaling Tech For A Theoretical Switch 'Pro'

Nehalem

I find it so strange how people are so against a midlife upgrade. If you have an existing switch it will not affect you unless Nintendo thinks they can get some ports that they otherwise could not (and you would never get anyway).

What this video highlighted was something especially interesting. Essentially, a very fancy filter that would allow an upgraded switch to make all existing games run better without any development involvement. Existing switch owners don't worry about being left behind and this newer switch would provide something aking to an upgraded game for "nothing". It could be an even better strategy than Sony and MS have pursued.

My only reason that I would want more is that I would like to see 60FPS options for games that want to support this newer HW too (vs only 30FPS).

Re: Switch Production Has Been Impacted By The Coronavirus Outbreak, Admits Nintendo

Nehalem

Can we really claim to know the mortality rate? The Chinese government will always save face first rather than admit to numbers that might make them look bad. This is not to suggest that the real numbers are worse, but at this point, I strongly doubt there is any way to know.

What is becoming clear is that this is likely worse than SARS which claimed near a thousand lives (but was way overhyped by the media at the time).

Re: 37% Of Developers "Interested" In Making Games For Switch, According To Annual GDC Industry Survey

Nehalem

It would be nice to have these numbers broken down by AAA, AA, and indy developers. I'm guessing the switch numbers represent a lot of indy developers / AA developers and underperform amongst the AAA developers. Not a dig, just the reality of the market.

The reality is a switch pro could probably convince some AAA developers to port some of their existing PS4 stuff, but won't help when they target the PS5, primarily. That is if Nintendo even allowed Switch pro only games, and they might not (assuming it's real). Regardless, I would still want one for the 60fps on more games personally.

Re: Switch Pro Rumours Resurface As New Report Claims Mid-2020 Release For New System

Nehalem

So strange how people are so against this. No it won’t split the base and no it won’t be way more work for devs unless they want it to be.

Expect existing games to run in higher res and a faster frame rate. This is not that hard. Maybe some companies will decide to add more to the pro version and some won’t at all.

We have honestly seen this work for the PS4 etc so why do you think it will be such a problem here?

Re: Hey Nintendo, God Of War Director Cory Barlog Would Like A New Golden Sun, Please

Nehalem

I didn’t know the artist of these died. Shining force games, which I watched my brother play when I was very young, has to Be one of my favorite series. I absolutely love the art being a nice blend of fantasy and Classic Disney.

I enjoyed one of the golden suns. Cannot remember which one.

Sadly they appear out of the rpg / tbs games. I don’t fully understand their relationship with Nintendo but it seems like both parties are satisfied churning out mario sport titles as I’m sure it’s a nice predictable income for all parties.

Even if they Went with old school sprite based design it would still be such a nice thing to see them develop.

Re: Analysts Agree That Switch Will Be King In 2020, Less Sure About The Switch Pro

Nehalem

I think people are crazy to think the switch could not use a pro version. Even if companies just tweaked their games to get 60 FPS when they run at 30 FPS it would be a big win. As others have noted it would be amazing to also get wireless headphone support.

Companies that do want to fully support the additional performance modes (contexts) could hit 1080p more often etc. If it’s a big enough hit then we might even get some ports that simply would not come to the switch otherwise that are exclusive to the pro (but Nintendo may not allow this).

Further, if they could allow voice stuff on the switch itself that would be another non breaking upgrade that many would appreciate. The app was never a great idea.

@jokerwolf you keep mentioning the newer chipsets. It was my impression that after the X2 nvidia went another direction with this line of chips with a higher focus on auto and ai applications that made the Xavier, etc, less appropriate for mobile gaming. Given this I figured the switch 2 would need something custom, that they might share with their own console, at that time.

I’m pretty sure this comes in part from a DF article where they discuss the possibility of an X2 upgrade for a pro version.

Re: Someone Has Already Offered $1.2 Million For The SNES PlayStation Prototype

Nehalem

@StevenG imagine if Elon musk was taxed in the way you describe. None of his contribution would exist. Hell much of the innovation that allows us to feed so many of the people in the world today would likely not exist (and the stats are quite good in this area, all thanks to the business driven green revolution). While I fell almost no connection to some rich fella that wants to buy some exotic old hardware I find statements like these troubling in how naive they are.

Re: Video: Digital Foundry Looks At Dragon Quest XI S, A "Remarkably Impressive" Switch Conversion

Nehalem

@iakona23 AMD makes anything arm based (I know an x86 based chip would never be suitable)?

I’m also very curious if there really is a PS4 level option. Remember that the switch, as it stands today, is deeply dependent on nvidias incredible tools for getting the most of the x1, which in turn are built specifically to get the most from nvidia based cores. In other words they really need nvidia to make this upgrade available and this will likely require a new custom chipset because the X1 line has largely moved towards automotive use cases.

Finally. I’m guessing the next update to the switch will be better for getting more current gen games (like a proper FIFA). If the rumors hold true the next gen machines will have cpu capability that will far outstrip portable technology (current gen cpu power is pretty weak as they really focused on the graphics). However, they will still need to support current gen hardware for a while since there is just so much of it out there so that could only be good for a switch pro.

Re: Video: Digital Foundry Looks At Dragon Quest XI S, A "Remarkably Impressive" Switch Conversion

Nehalem

In terms of performance, I'm just amazed by how much better this game looks than XC2. Strange seeing a game that is made by Nintendo, and only on the switch, standing up so poorly to a game that was originally made for more powerful systems and using UE4 as the engine (I've generally come to expect games built on this engine to have a "tax" when ported to the switch).

I know XC2 is an open-world game and therefore there are some streaming ramifications, etc, but I'm not talking about that. I'm just talking about how much better the art is and how much more geometry it at least appears to be rendering than XC2. Perhaps it just comes down to XC2 rendering things in the far distance, but I'm not convinced.

The same could also be said of Fire Emblem. Walk around the Monastery in that game where all the walls are largely flat with cobbled textures and then look at this game where the cobbled walls actually have bricks sticking out in varying ways in a lot of places. Meanwhile, this game nails 30 fps while FE struggled to maintain it. I guess it likely just shows what a bigger game budget can accomplish.

Re: Random: God Of War Director Praises Witcher 3 On Switch, Says It's "Some Kind Of Dark Sorcery"

Nehalem

@Ventilator what does size have to do with cpu. Cpu is absolutely the bottleneck here. GTA 5 is tracking all kinds of stuff when objects are off the screen (it sounds like you are making an argument about graphics and confusing the two, along with storage size). Even low level PCs will have a relatively fast cpu compared to a switch.

I would suggest watching or reading digital foundry’s look at LA Noire for more context on my point but it still stands.