Paraka

AI plateaus in the creative space. Fundamentally, it can only replicate things that exist because that is the nature of how AI operates. It gives you a result in the most effecient manner possible, and it's never going to be as ideal because of that very attribute.

It simply does not understand creativity, cause we cannot properly explain it, yet we all understand it.

That being said, AI as a tool for creation is a lot like piracy as a tool for preservation. Yes, it can actively be used in its purest sense. GenAI can cover some of the riffraff, like rendering grass or background elements as you work on true focal points yourself. However, looking around, you can tell that is not how many WANT to use it for.

@DennyCrane - Perhaps that's the problem. Catering to many will ultimately never pan out the way people think.

Like selling spaghetti at McDonald's.

@speedyc45 - Now, I can dedinitely see what you mean by the accessability, but I do disagree on its premise.

Before I comment further; May the record show I am not against easy modes, per se, developers have that choice to do so.

I do think adding easy modes to games, especially games with threats, actually starves the player of an intended experience for the games. Now I am not against easy games, many lifestyle games exist for that very reason, some RPGs even took this lifestyle inspiration too. However, I do believe a developer's intended difficulties are usually the experience they want players to have, and making an easy mode just tells me the gameplay experience matters less than just saying you played a game.

On the alternative, I have also never seen games who are intentionally easy have added hard modes. Though, that's likely because a game like Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon would be an entirely different experience for it.

@UpsideDownRowlet - Won't bank too much on that just yet. The tech is still hard to subsidize because everything else is going for higher capacity requirements, leading it to become harder to make smaller sizes cause the market isn't there. Doubly so now that major companies are abandoning consumer electronics in leiu of chasing A.I.

Basically, we are likely to continue to eat the Switch Tax costs up front.

@the_beaver - They got one in Japan. Several local game companies even carry it.

You can always get a custom printed cover that is a pseudo-ESRB cover if it is that important.

@Andee - Not saying they were terrible, but they didn't feel like the original series. There was more player agency in contrast, and the new ones honestly just felt they were attempting to capture that same lightning Uncharted had but missed their mark.

They had their good bits, and were fun for what they were. They simply just didn't feel like TR, or an evolution of.

@Zeebor15 - You and me both, brother.

New Lara games don't feel as adventurous as the originals. Like they sacrificed it for the sake of narrative exposition to remind you that you should feel that it's adventurous.

And here I thought things couldn't get worse for one of my favorite franchises, Mortal Kombat.

I am now just more pissed a Saudi Prince didn't want WB over EA.

@jetsetradion - You can share it digitally with allowed software between Switches for small periods of time, so it's not even a win for GKC.

My biggest concern is the killswitch for the cards are in the publisher's office. Digital is tied to your account, so a majority (not all, and it will grow) can be redownloaded from that account, provided the services still accessible.

GKC has no such account ties. Meaning it can be remotely shut down the moment it requires a download from a used game state at the whim of the publisher.

Does Fortnite even know what Fortnite is anymore?

This is literally another problem with the digital age. Optimization is entirely optional, nloat the game and dump it on the consumer.

That's essentially a ~50 dollar mark-up in terms of factoring space for your SD card for the game.

@Dang_69 - Every game is compromised due to resource limits, be it time, effeciency, tech, specs, money, etc.

Usually size optimization is a "last of the road" considerment. Where everything is now built now needs to be distributable. And going full digital they can just tell you to suck it up and download .wav files for all they care. And that's another concern to have. Cause NBA 2K tried that once.

@Solid_Python - There was some part-cart re-releases of those games I talked about. The only one I can confirm from that set was Adventure Time's reprints that were partly on cart. It literally requires a download that simply is not supported.

Of all my games, 2 PC games and 1 360 game has directly effected me. Yes, they ARE licensed games so it is not a big issue, but it is evident that it CAN happen. And it is in the hands of the publisher, not the servers.

Which is the concern.

@Solid_Python - You're isolating to just Switch to win a silly internet argument.

This is as a whole. Which has happened, which it the concern. That is my point.

@Solid_Python - Just cause it didn't effect you means it will never effect anyone ever. That's the point of the concern.

You are essentially telling me the three games that have effected me are a non-issue and should just be ignored, cause you are fine.

It has happened sets precedence it will hapoen again. That's the issue.

@Dang_69 - Then that's half of your internal space for one game. Eventually, optimization will be a minor concern as every publisher pushes that responsibility onto the consumer.

Imagine having a system, only to have enough space for 2 ganes before dumping another 100 bucks for one more.

@Solid_Python - Not everything, many licensed games have had permanent removals, CN games that had part-cart reprints are now, ultimately, useless.

Sure a majority of them are negligible, but that precedent means it can happen at any time.

@electrolite77 - I saw someone point out the development costs for DOOM Dark Ages was so high, that if every DOOM fan bought it, they would have to buy three each just to break even.

They are out-pricing their own fanbases at this poont.

@WiltonRoots - Watching this play out since the "kiddie" era killed the GCN and "bump mapping" was the rage.

I predicted it ever since.

@electrolite77 - The reality of the power-whizzing contest is coming to fruition now after 3-ish generations of tech competition.

AAA development is now so high, it has out-priced their own markets.

They simply did not care for their IP like Ninte do does.

If Halo, or DOOM, or Horizon sold a fractiom of their respective consoles that Mario or Pokémon does for Nintendo, those games would remain exclusive to that console.

Exclusives sell brand. You don't go to Burger King for a Big Mac. They're just bad at making games worth it.

Hey, I remember these dudes. They made the pseudo creative exercise series with making a Snowboard Kids 3 concept.

And did the Smashified series before that, which was started from that Rayman controversey.

@Saints - You, as a person, also don't work forever either.

It's not just physical media that sees time deteriorate it, but also beliefs, societal structures and traditions are akin to wear away over time. Most of us know we cannot guarantee the games to last through generations, and even if we are lucky to do so, we cannot guarantee the same care and appreciation of them when we are gone.

Even digital upkeep would not be guaranteed, cause all it takes is one generation to "not care enough" and half of a library can go the way of the dodo.

But we can essentially do our part to retain it. I'll be damned if I didn't want it long enough to teach my kids the value of actually owning your right to access media as everything goes the way of subscriptions privvy to change on a whim, just cause.

Not to be political, but the idea of "owning nothing and be happy" always felt more of a threat to wellbeing than to idealist promise. And digital gives too many levers to that cause.

@Saints - If you care for your stuff, they don't just "deteriorate" over time.

My wife kept believing Hulu was streaming in 4K cause I had bought the physical with digital code. Thought that meant the same thing. Internet was out last year and she watched that movie natively for the first time and realized she's been manipulated about digital streaming.

@NinjaWaddleDee - Stop right there, sugar. There are a few reasons this isn't entirely Nintendo's fault.

1) Switch 1 has had many companies op for the smaller cart just to forcibly download your game. So the cost was already one they are willing to sacrifice regardless.

2) The entire tech industry is expanding and demanding more space for literally everything; Streaming, photos, video, you name it. Amd with everything demanding more, most texh companies don't even want to go as low as double digit space cause they cannot sell that tech to subsidize. Most SD cards aren't even going as low as 64gb nowadays, and definitely not Express ones. So Nintendo if footing all of that bill and being passed onto third parties opting for said carts.

@beltmenot - Can we start complaining about the necessary space required for each game being so costly on two front as a result of this, or is that another thing we just clam up about and shell another 80+ bucks to have enough space for said "physical" game?

It is a twofold investment developers are unloading onto the consumer. With the ever-looming expiration on it from the third party's whim AND Nintendo's servers.

Microsoft didn't buy these companies to make games, they bought them for legacies. Legacies they wanted to gatekeep to their Game Pass.

No one bought into it.

Hey! I remember asking them what they'd do next and if they teased me with this a year ago.

Stoked.

@Shiro28 - Well, first it needs to be properly ported. Making a collection printed onto a cart doesn't subtract from that potential work.

@Zealv2 - Nah, no RIP. There was never a promise of a complete version for us.

Plus, we -DID- technically got to play 2 pf them for years in physical form. So there is trade-off here.

Plus, double dipping now, cause this moght have the patch for 2's crashing.

@Fiergala - Neither did God of War Rognarok.

Hell, Blizzard had a CE of Diablo 4 with no game at all.

@LastFootnote - That's always a better strategy. People forget that a direct email (or snail mail) has a better chance being seen than some social media post.

I too have sent an email.

So they used a Game Key-Card to save money from upcharging us, but upcharged us anyway?

Nah, passing on physicals that have expiration dates governed by the manufacturer.

May as well just start selling merch at 100 bucks a pop without the game and call THAT collector's editions.

@UltimateOtaku91 - Not necessarily. During the PS2 era, the PS2 was king, but was the weakest of the bunch.

PC gaming never requires to hit the tech benchmarks, cause most games never attempt for the reason of keeping it widely available on weaker systems like the HD Twins of Sony and Xbox.

If Switch 2 is lucrative enough, people will make it the bar none expectation like they do now, and have done with the PS2 of old. Money yalks louder than the fans on a GPU.

I honestly expected it when Chapter 5 was closer to release and gets a tandem release on Switch 2 with both instead.

Though, I do expect a "Complete Story" release on the new system when the series completes.

OLED TVs are still a couple hundred more on most TVs. Were they WANTING the system to be more expensive?

This just sounds like complaining for the sake of it to me.

@Pillowpants - Meanwhile, I am on the completely different end of the spectrum. I will not pay physical prices for digital games. You have none of the overhead like you do physical. No shipping, no marketing material, no shelf space rental, no printing, no manufacturing, etc.

I can easily go without a game Day/Month/Year 1 if it means I will get the game at a digital game price; Under 20 bucks.

@DTfearTheBEARD - I remember having to wait about 4 months for some of my stuff on the PS5 to be playable. I also remember that Sony dropped a statement that when they were done, all of it would be playable (outside a few obvious outliers).

Not discrediting Sony, at least they set the precedent.

@roboshort @GrailUK @Yoshi3 - You all just skimmed over the word "digital" in that reaponse. DSiWare, WiiWare and other eShop stuff Nintendo did was not backwards compatible. Which many saw as a problem around the 3DS.

This is just a return to form.

EDIT; Apparently upon editing a typo, I also deleted said word. That is on me.

@GrailUK - Dude, the Switch 2 is the first Nintendo console to be backwards compatible with (most) of the previous console's digital library. Sony had to slow roll that over a year for the PS5.

So getting a Switch 2 is essentially future proofing yourself for new games all the while keeping your backlog readily accessible. That's simply incredible.

And the new eShop is league better all around.

Wait, it wasn't 15 million?!

Nintendo totes screwed the pooch here, champs!

Seriously though, that's insane (both good and bad) feat to pull off. Even if I remain steadfast to my physical collecting, Switch 2 nailed the launch momentum with relative ease.

Just wished SEGA was a bit more forgiving on those Key-Cards, would have bought Yakuza.

I can definitely wait on getting the Zelda games, they'll be around for a while so I got no sense of urgency.

@Medic_alert - May be the case, but having both versions is why I do plan on buying it.

He did play only about the first hour or so, if that helps.

@Medic_alert - Actually, my friend has it and it played off the cart immediately. That was our first experience with it since he didn't want to connect to the internet yet to test how far features go without the update for his blog thingy.

@Yosher - Although I agree with you in the premise of smaller cart sizes, there is two major hurdles that are not to blame Nintendo for.

1) lower SD cards are being quickly phased out, and becoming expensive to print for the requirements are higher than they were 8 years ago. So finding anyone to be willing to print propriatary media as lower than what SD cards just got "over" printing is going to be a challenge.

2) Everything from phones, to streaming, to audio recordings have quickly outpaced those old requirements. So printing anything less will become a warehousing nightmare when even phone photos require a gig a pic due to high fidelity demands.

Nintendo is still partially to blame for it, they did choose what they chose, but many things here are also symptoms of a bigger tech-related problem.

This was my first purchase. Had to buy that physical, cause they went out of their way to make it so.

It would be ridiculous for me not to honor that. Next is Rune Factory.

It's... Plastic. That's all your smelling.

Sort of reminded me of the old McDonald's toys from back in the day when I got a whiff of it opening the system.

Yeah, sure... Thankful.

Easy to do when you're passing the buck of not only the price, but the space to play these games. Not long now when people claim that 100gb is the norm and just buy more space for more games.

Or maybe that's an end goal. To essentially shut down your compeititon by moving the battlefield from store shelves to your hard drive.

Not happy about the idea where I am now responsible for buying 100s of dollars for storage because the publishers cannot be bothered. Eventually it may be us patching their broken games, with the devs simply not running QA.

I actually went back and hooked up my Wii for the weekend. Playing some of the one-off gems from that generation.

Mushroom Men, Opoona, Deadly Creatures.

... Who was expecting more, by this point?

Seriously, who has seen the trend from MK9 onward to this day with their DLC offerings and said, "Yeah, they'll totally do more?"

@1UP-HUSKY - It didn't stay, then. Cause literally after the N64 we had the renaissance of gaming with the N64, PS2, PS1, Dreamcast. Everything was experimental in the 3D space for 2 generations.

I would wager MS shot first with their push for statistical buzzwords, Sony followed suit. Nintendo was hamstrung for being "kiddie."

@Trauma_Team_Medic - Sadly, we cam blame the brand-based power pissing contest Sony and MS has been doing since the PS3. Every new console demands more work, more resources, more time, more money. And those budgets nearly double every generation.

We didn't need 5 studios on a single Call of Duty, but we have long accepted that. This, in its pure form, is what we get now because we were okay with it for decades now.

Many franchises have out-budgeted their market, it literally takes more sales to turn a profit than most fanbases could support. So in a way, Randy is right with his comment.

What Randy doesn't get is that, unlike earlier generations, we have indies offering alternative (and affordable) options. Which will make his comment all the more damning.