Old-Red

This is great news all round if true. I would love to see the sales figures for game key cards. Hopefully, they've sold badly enough to make them rethink their approach to physical media.

Played this for the first time on Dreamcast last year. A very pleasant game.

A question to ask here is are you not buying the Switch 2 for yourself or your son? Maybe think about buying the console for him this Christmas and actually making it his console, instead of wondering whether it's right for you or not. It could be one of the best childhood memories of his life.

Looks like this might be a sound off, skip the the cutscenes kind of game. Whoever suggested this direction in development clearly doesn't understand the series history or appeal. What a shame.

All this unnecessary nonsense probably added years to the development of the game too. What a waste of time and resources. The stereotypes these characters convey are also kind of offensive, on an intellectual level at least. I just don't understand how anyone thought this was a good idea.

I just hope they're not there all the time. This definitely looks like a situation where Nintendo's stubbornness has led them down the wrong path with a game.

Because there's nothing I want to see more than some screaming scroat gain access to an anticipated game earlier than me and ruin it after waiting a decade.

Got my copy today, my second purchase for Switch 2. It's actually made me go back to the first game, as I only finished that once and still have a load of stuff to unlock.

I'm glad someone still knows what's right, and has avoided the game key card nonsense. At least it looks like there'll be some games to collect this gen.

The game prices on Switch 2 have completely killed my spending. I've only bought 1 game in six months for a new console. That's bonkers really.

Shame, as I would have taken a punt on this for £40. I wonder if it has been worth it for them.

@Jack_Goetz those who understand.

I hope this gives them time to change their minds on putting the game on a game key card. I'd love to have a proper working physical copy of the game on a Nintendo console.

Personally, I think there should either be a boss retry option or a mobile bench that allows you to quick save once between major benches, so you don't have keep going back over certain sections of the map repeatedly if you're stuck on a boss.

At times it just becomes a sanity test, as you have to keep repeating 10-40 second tedious trudges back to a boss, sometimes 20+ plus times. It's a shame as it nearly ruins what is a superb game for me otherwise. I don't mind a game being difficult, but I don't think Silksong is actually that difficult. It just has some design choices that seem to revel in wasting the players time.

There's also some top tier save point sh@thousery going on with a few benches that doesn't belong in a game of this calibre.

They're literally going to lose thousands from me this generation due to game key cards. I hope it was worth it.

I'm kind of relieved to be honest, it makes it very easy for me to draw a line between what I'll buy and what I won't. The sad part is that a lot of the 3rd party stuff that has been fully on cart has been pretty meh, so I've only picked up 2 games since the Switch 2 launched.

I would love to see them forced to make a U-turn on game key cards, but it'll never happen. It feels like an important moment where they have finally decided to leave customers like me behind. It had to happen eventually.

I just wish someone would come out with a modern console that only has physical games that are competly patched. I think there would be market for it, especially if someone like Sega did it. Playing games on the Sega Saturn today feels more complete, innovative and exciting than anything else on offer.

£9.99 dlc extra phrases coming next month!

Depressing, that's all there is to say. So many cheap monetisation tactics going on. Held back content, dlc before a games even out, re-releases and remakes. When you throw in the game key cards Nintendo is pretty much done for me now. I'll pick up a few games this gen, but I'm sticking with my collection of games from here on.

Only now are we seeing Furukawa's true vision for Nintendo and it's gross.

It's not necessarily the difficulty that's the issue, it's the tedium of being forced to trek back through sections of the map over and over to reach a boss you're dying on multiple times. Even a 10-15 second trek back can become infuriating after a while.

Just put a save point before the bosses, problem solved. Or at least have a quick retry on bosses.

Should read simply "not eligible".

This Zion guy in the video gets it. I go back to my old games and consoles regularly too play something retro. I always have one new game and an old one on the go at the same time. The Switch 2 looks like it will only have 1st party games to collect, with a smattering of 3rd party releases like Cyberpunk.

I simply don't have time to play all these games, but I often buy everything I'm interested in if it's complete on cartridge to support the developer and play further down the line. Now I won't be buying any of these games and probably never will because I've got so many games to play, so I have no incentive to buy anything digital. Ironically, in the short term it's actually good for me, as I will save a lot of money this generation, but the Switch 2 will be a sad console to collect for after the console's successor has been released.

I don't understand why they can't just make a Switch 1 cart that works on both, with a patch for the S2 version.

It's such a shame, and completely ruining the Switch 2 release for me. I should be excited about having a new console, instead I just feel meh about the whole thing.

More Switch 2 game-key cards to ignore, sigh. At least it looks like they're not selling very well, with shops heavily discounting them already.

Are we all really such a small demographic? 70-30 split for physical suggests that there's still a demand for it. Sometimes it really feels like we're being gaslighted/gaslit(?) with the whole "physical is dying, noone buys it anymore, it's just a hardcore section of the audience on this site" etc.

@dartmonkey fair enough

@dartmonkey @Ogbert oddly aggressive replies. I actually own the game physically, but I haven't played it yet. I'm willing to bet that most of the licence issues could be fixed in the title screen, text and credits, as it's a top down strategy game.

Some forward planning can go a long way, especially if your making a game that has a timed license. Nintendo did it pretty easily with Punch Out and Mike Tyson.

Anyway, happy to admit I'm wrong if the game is soaked in John Wick stuff.

A smart developer would have a patch ready to put in place, that takes out all the licensed imagery and replaces it with their own new assets.

None of it will mean anything to me if they're on game key cards or digital only.

I really hope they're noticing a drop in sales. I'm not buying anything that isn't fully on the cart, and see it as if they are just saving me a lot of money on Switch 2. There's no point in buying a game to play down the line of it's essentially all just digital downloads.

I guess they've also shown me how silly it is to buy games that I'm not ready and able to play when I buy them too. Might have shot themselves in the foot a bit with this one. Being forced to buy digital games simply turns me to my backlog, which isn't great for publisher's trying to sell me new games. Also, sorry, but if I'm being forced into a digital market, I'm moving over to Steam and piracy.

@DreadfulDragon sorry but you sound like a shill or someone that has something to gain from this going under the radar.

One of the nicest controllers I've ever used, and I'm glad it doesn't have analogue triggers. After having them on the PS5, I'm genuinely happy the Switch 2 won't have them this whole generation.

Since getting the pro controller for the PS5 I realised that I just ended up switching the analogue triggers off 90% of the time. It's only really useful for racing games, and if you're that into those you should really get a wheel with pedals.

@DreadfulDragon I don't really understand why people get so upset by others airing their opinions in comments sections. Isn't that the whole point in us coming here?

I don't agree with game key cards, why shouldn't I mention it when it basically means I won't be buying copies of these games on the switch 2 because of this?

Maybe you'd prefer it if everyone just came here and blindly agreed and accepted everything regardless.

I'm under no illusion that physical media isn't on the way out, but at least if people realise these keys are a con and stop buying them, we'll get more games complete on cartridge in what is most likely the last physical console generation.

@Olliemar28 fair enough, but a cons a con in my opinion. Not suggesting it should affect the score or anything, but the physical key card copies are a con whichever way you look at it, and we should discourage this practice as a collective if we want to keep any kind sway as consumers.

It should be all on the cart physical or digital only for a number of reasons, including environmental responsibility. The number of downloads for each key card alone will have a much larger carbon footprint than either digital or physical releases. Not to mention the pointless plastic manufacturing and transport.

Doesn't include game on the cartridge should be added to the cons for every game key card.

Booooooooo! Booooooooooooooooo!

The switch with Zelda BotW came to me on launch day at a time when I really needed it. In a new city, whilst quite lonely after a long-term relationship break up. I haven't played it much the last couple of years, but it served me well whilst I was unsettled and moving about a lot.

Probably my second favourite console after SNES, mostly due to childhood nostalgia.

So long Switch, and thanks for all the memories.

As people who like to buy games and keep them to play again years down the road, they're going to lose a lot of money from customers similar to me. I think they're prepared for this transition though, as we get older and move out of the gaming space.

I will always see digital purchases as throwaway experiences that I'm renting and won't pay more than £20-30 for them.

Keys cards are of no use to me whatsoever, so that should save me quite a lot of money this generation, so there's that silver lining. I will also spend more time playing the games in my collection.

If I'm honest, in a way I'm pleased with this approach as it kind of curates my collection for the switch 2 for me. So thanks Nintendo, for saving me a lot of time and money I suppose.

As I've got older I really don't want to talk at all while I'm playing games. It seems a little sad that they've made such a big deal about something so few people will actually use.

Also, discord says hi 👋

Hmmmm, this is all feeling a little half-way house from Switch 1 to 2. Switch 1 games are emulated and Switch 2 physical releases restricted to 64gb carts. It's a shame they couldn't just make the Switch 2 run Switch 1 games natively and just carry on allowing publishers to use the smaller Switch 1 carts for smaller indies releases.

In some kind of twisted turn of events I could actually see Switch 1 games being released physically beyond Switch 2 physical games.

Oh dear, so the game has gone from being a £70 game I won't buy to an £80 game I won't buy, followed buy a £40 discounted game I won't buy, then finally a free ps+ game I won't play.

Such a shame it's not a complete on cartridge version. I'd love to have a full, complete, patched copy on ER and the dlc in a Nintendo console to play in the future.

Is it really that expensive or difficult for them to do? Seems like a massive missed opportunity to me.

Nope, any game that requires a download to play or is digital only I'll just wait and get it on PC when I eventually move over.

Buying and owing a game on a cartridge or disc that I can play at any time or store and return to in the future is a major draw for Nintendo consoles, if not the main one. If I'm being forced into digital purchases it will be on PC where online is still free, games are much cheaper and emulation and piracy helps keep prices in check.

If I can't buy and own my games on a console, what are they offering that I can't get cheaper on PC and running better to boot? I'm genuinely confused why people who buy digital games haven't moved over to PC already.

Steam is a far more reliable and consumer friendly platform than all the console offerings in every way.

@clicky there's a list here started on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch2/comments/1jvt0rn/comment/mmenjw3/?context=3

It'll be updated regularly.

I am very interested to see how this pans out. Is this really the last breath of physical media and owning our games? I wonder how long places like CEX will last and how they will manage game key carts.

There's going to be millions of useless switch carts and boxes one day, a strange thought. It's probably why they shouldn't be able to do this, it's the worst of both worlds environmentally. Not only do they have to make the carts and plastic boxes before shopping them globally. Each cart will be responsible for multiple downloads, increasing their carbon footprint over their lifetime until they eventually become plastic waste. It's crazy how irresponsible this practice is and I expected more from Nintendo to be honest.

I'll just buy fewer games, that's all. Far fewer games by the look of it too.

They did the same with the SNES and that's one of my favourite consoles ever, so I'm hoping it'll follow the NES>SNES path instead of the Wii>WiiU one.

I think there's an 'if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it' element to the current state of things. The industry is at a point where it just needs good games, not super powerful, expensive or innovative hardware. I just hope the game prices don't stick and retailers can bring them back to around £50-55 through competition.

I don't really understand why eBay and other similar sites are allowed to let people put pre-order items up for auction for more than the R.R.P. Surely they could and should be forced to stop sellers putting items up for more than they cost for a year after release or something like that.

I'm sure there's some kind of law or loop hole that allows it, but I'm surprised Nintendo Ninjas aren't knocking on eBay's doors threatening legal action.

@vanYth that doesn't mean that everyone should suffer just so you can play a few racing games. It's a bit like turning up to a normal gathering in fancy dress just in case it happened to be a fancy dress party.

Get a wheel if you want to play racing games properly, instead of expecting everyone else to have to use triggers that feel bad in most games and cause finger strain.

As someone with a Dualsense edge who now 99% of the time keeps the triggers locked on the lowest pressure setting, I can attest that analogue triggers are not really worth it. If you really need them that much for a racing game you're better off getting a specific controller or wheel. Forcing it for every other game for one specific genre makes no sense at all.

Additionally, they tend to break and get loose much quicker too.

Yeah, it's not the price of the console that's the problem, it's the price of the games. It's seems like we're jumping from £40-55 to £65-75. It's a massive jump and I honestly can't see it paying off for them. I don't understand how they think parents are going to be able to afford these prices for games for their kids. If anything it's only going to push the younger generation towards free-to-play mobile games even more. Nintendo needs to keep the next generation in the loop or their future prospects will suffer.

Quality over quantity, so the SNES wins it for me. All I'm looking for is three or four great new games with a new console and the SNES is the only one to manage that really.

Of the Switch 2 console release line up, how many of those games are actually full physical releases, without the shady bait and switch game key card or switch 1 carts with upgrade code nonsense?

It would be extremely helpful if sites like this one managed to clearly highlight which physical releases are possible to play without downloading stuff.

If these two ex-employees aren't careful ninjas will be deployed.

A jab in the eye instead of a poker up the bum.

They are probably charging all these switch 2s with the spinning body of Iwata-san. He would have never let something like this happen. Nintendo was all about making their games accessible for everyone while he was in charge.

Bowser really has lived up to his name too. A sad state of affairs.

Urgh, pretty gross, and you'd think for £75 they'd at least include a manual.