RupeeClock

Please don't go the Ubisoft Account route, SEGA.
We don't need new launchers, new accounts, etc.

Huh, you mean this game isn't actually out yet?
I have the physical copy from Limited Run Games in my hands already, and the v1.0.0 update on the cart has a few bugs:
1. The animated video intro (after the Carbon Engine splash screen) will fail to play in Docked mode, it does however play in Handheld mode.
2. In the museum, the box art and game manual sections fail to display any images; they'll also display corrupted versions of the last image you viewed from the other sections

Otherwise it runs and plays the GBA game just fine, and you get your option of "Ninja Five-O" or "Ninja Cop", the latter being the European release. Hopefully the bugs I encountered will be fixed in a launch update.

Keep an eye on sites like Videogamesplus or Bazaar-Bazaar if you want a physical copy anyway, they stock LRG physicals when they're printed and distributed.

@Otoemetry
ARG is short for Alternate Reality Games, which is a type of game in which an author might secretly set up a game by leaving clues for people to investigate.
They might do things like put cryptic esoteric information in overlooked or unexpected spots, or places that might need extra digging (like inside of the software files), and the community collaboratively or competitively tried to figure things out to lead to the next step in a puzzle that goes beyond your original video game. Aspects of Undertale fall into ARG territory because the author expects you to nose around and tinker, and dig around on official Undertale websites too.

The trouble with this though is that many ARGs don't advertise themselves as ARGs and leave it to the community to pick up on the hint.
As a result, you sometimes get circumstances where the community reads into something that was never there and goes on a fruitless endeavour to dig something up that wasn't ever buried, and this can extend to following individual developers and staff on social media channels hoping they give them something to chew on.

They thought a whole Silksong ARG was going on?
Shows what radio silence on a hotly anticipated project will do to an audience, you know, like with the Switch 2.

I'm honestly surprised to hear that SRAM / battery saves for console games hadn't been implemented as a basic feature, that you had to rely on a save state implementation to do that?

I'm guessing they also don't have any kind of auto resume function when you suspend a game? Even Nintendo figured that out with Virtual Console games on 3DS and Wii U; it just uses an auto-save state on exit, auto-load on launch. Retroarch even supports that.

The leaks were getting too prolific to be sure, but what really hurt this was that Nintendo dragged their heels for far, far too long.
They wanted their carefully planned schedule and agenda to go exactly as they wanted, but they tried to squeeze too much out of the Switch 1 and get just one more holiday out of it.

Note the specific phrasing of their statement.

"Anyone involved in making or contributing to a game's creation".
Nintendo's position here is likely that "Donkey Kong Country Returns HD" is NOT "Donkey Kong Country Returns", and it was therefore not necessary to explicitly credit the original staff from Retro Studios, given that they apparently had no involvement in this specific game's development.

I still think that's scummy, especially considering Ocarina of Time 3D had the full original credits of the N64 version, followed by a new credits sequence (with the classic Zelda theme, previously absent from Ocarina of Time) for the new staff from Grezzo.

When you register and want to add guests, they need to part of your Nintendo account's Family Group.
If you've formed a group with random people online to share the cost of a Nintendo Switch Online family plan, you'll have to leave that group (I did as our plan had long since expired).

Once you've set up a Family Group with all the people you want to attend the Switch 2 experience with, any member of that group can perform the registration.
All invited members then need to check the event page and view the terms and accept the invite / consent to it.

It's a bit of a hassle, but this helps to make the registration more secure I guess; everyone must have Nintendo accounts and this prevents two or more people making multiple entries for the same group of people.

@ROBLOGNICK
Likewise, I think the page is supposed to detect if you're logged in (similar to the purchase options on product pages), but is failing to do that?
Or they've just not updated it in time.

The vast spaciousness of the race track and the 24 racers certainly gave me the impression that this might be something rather different.
It could be a shift in focus from a conventional short race track with 3 or so laps, and feature very long circuits? Something more like a Grand Prix.

On the subject of "games that use the IR sensor", the official website shows WarioWare Move It in the background of supported Switch 1 titles.
https://www.nintendo.com/successor/en-gb/index.html

It has a few mini-games that make use of the IR sensor, like to count the number of fingers you're holding up as an answer to a question. It also has mini-games that require you to drop the Joy-Con whilst it's strapped to your wrist.

More info is needed, but the best aspect of this reveal is that it will finally calm things down.
Rumour mills will ease up, publishers will start listing that their upcoming software is actually coming to the Switch 2, leak season is basically over.
We know when real news is coming, and I'm just happy to see it from Nintendo themselves at long last after nearly 8 years.

@reporterdavid
I saw the JP trailer version, Japanese dates are YYYY/MM/DD.
So 2025/04/02 means April 2nd.

Nintendo Switch 2 Direct coming 2025/04/02 (April 2nd)

All the leaks seem to be extremely accurate, can't wait.

@tkdboy1889
Regrettably yeah, emulators help facilitate piracy, but the fact that people misuse the software shouldn't be reason enough to condemn it.

@Xeacons
Unfortunately whether or a not a copyrighted work is available for sale or not, has no bearing on the ability to enforce copyright.

Copyright can extend to all kinds of non-commercial works after all, like an artist's digital gallery.

So the key points they're making are that the emulator "bypasses prevention methods such as encryption", and "was copying specific programs".

I'm pretty sure Ryujinx never violated either of those.
In order to emulate Switch games, two things are needed: the software to be played, and the system firmware with associated decryption keys.

Ryujinx never bundles any such things, nor does it provide any resources to illegally download them. At most, they provided instructions on how to source them yourself using your own legally purchased hardware. There could be an argument about the instructions themselves as the tools themselves are used to circumvent protections in the actual hardware, and Nintendo has DMCA'd such tools on GitHub repositories in the past.

Ryujinx as a software application itself does not and cannot bypass the encryption that exists on Switch software titles. Instead, it asks you to provide decryption keys that will be used to read the encrypted software. This can actually be interpreted as the emulator respecting the specific security measures.
I believe it may also be able to launch software that has been decrypted, but I'm not sure on that point.

So, I would say Ryujinx as the distributed software package by itself isn't in violation of those two claims, the fault lies elsewhere.
The fact that people misuse the software for piracy by itself does not make that software illegal, after all it's been possible to pirate Switch software with the hardware alone for years.

Piracy aside, one of the big reasons people even emulated Switch games was that they improved them. There are many users who would dump their legally purchased games for that specific reason; to play them on more powerful hardware that offers resolution upgrades and performance improvements and fixes.
The hope is that the Switch 2 will be able to do just that, and therefore eliminate the need for emulators to let Switch software shine.

Emulators are also popular for playing modded versions of games, but I would never expect that on any unmodified Nintendo console (outside of publisher implemented and vetted workshops like Bethesda has provided for some of their games).

@sixrings
That's a false equivalance.
FIFA legacy releases were identical to prior releases from years past on the same platform.
This is the first time Donkey Kong Country Returns has been playable on any HD home console.

For what the package offers though, the asking price is definitely too high when you consider the price point of Metroid Prime Remastered, which had substantially more polish and even had a shadow drop.

@Gamergirl94
And then they continued to dunk on Balan Wonderworld with their glowing review of Toree 3D, the $1 platformer that's "better than Balan Wonderworld" (true!).

Letting the next Paramount Sonic film take place in the original settings from the source material would do it so much good.
We had little bits of it in the first two films, but the third film was entirely contained on Earth.

Narratively it's also where the story should progress. Sonic and his friends have found home and family on Earth, but he needs the opportunity to reconnect to wherever he came from and meet more of his kind.
The Sonic 2 prequel comics make clear that there's a lot more going on in the wider universe, and that inter-planetary activity isn't unusual. Tails basically invited himself in after monitoring Sonic independently for a while and wanting to actually meet him.

The indentations is probably referring to the two small bumps to the side of the USB-C connector. These help to guide the Switch system when you're slotting it into the dock.
Logically, they only need to change the spacing of those bumps on the Switch 2 system or dock to make the Switch 2 not compatible with a Switch 1 dock and vice versa.

I can see why they'd do this based on the claim that the Switch 2 dock requires a beefier 60W AC power adapter.
Logically this also means all the 3rd party Switch docks won't work with the Switch 2, Genki's own Covert Dock 2 only outputs up to 45W of power.
There could be other unexpected incompatibilities, did you know that some cheaper 3rd party docks can only output 480p when connecting a Switch OLED?

@RetroGames
It's "Catch them while you can", referring to limited time availability.

@KayFiOS
It's because of a pledge to reduce plastic going to landfill.
Most of those happy meal toys don't get kept and just end up in the trash, so now they make them out of disposable materials like paper or cardboard, or less harmful fabrics.

I've liked the look of this one, will definitely grab the eventual Super Rare Games physical.

Pretty much only for the stuff that requires motion controls in some form, which has been a pretty small selection of games like ARMS, Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker, Skyward Sword HD, and WarioWare: Move It.

Like, you actually cannot play WarioWare: Move It without the straps because there are mini games that require you to drop the controllers and have them dangle from your wrists.

Small children would lose or break those modular parts really quickly.

Now that you think about it, it does remind of Ulster County's "I Voted" sticker.

@koekiemonster
Since the standard physicals are expected to ship February 2025, I fear you may be right that they won't be fully patched considering how long it takes to manufacture them.

@sketchturner
Well, no. Pizza Tower and Antonblast are very specifically modelled after Wario Land 4, even taking cues from sound design.

@Serpenterror
Is that so? I guess they just stopped selling the exclusive cover sheets through LRG's site.

@Serpenterror
LRG stopped their Best Buy releases quite a long time ago, so don't count on it.

But yeah, you can usually pick up LRG releases later on, Videogamesplus is a good place to do that. Bazaar Bazaar is another for UK residents.

Tetris DX finally getting some love again after all these years.
I love this version, it was when they were starting to figure out that Tetris should be less about physically exhausting controls, and more an exercise in your mind keeping up with the game.

What if it's a coded message?
BEE HGU...
What if it's... hug bees?
Huggbees?
Huggbees!

I'm a bit wary of this one, it looks nice but the Kickstarter had a lofty goal of $250k and only raised $43k.
The seems like way too much, but they clearly had support before the launched the campaign if they're still launching somehow.

@larryisaman
Yeah, they did famously reveal Joker for Smash Ultimate during the Game Awards, one of the best executed reveals because it opens with Persona 5 then hit everyone with the envelope twist.

Otherwise, Nintendo at most have done "Nintendo Switch has games" ad breaks and don't splurge much, since I think they're likely aware that TGA doesn't draw the Nintendo fanbase very much.

@Zeebor15
Seeing as CRG do a bunch of distribution releases via LRG in the US, but also do general retail releases in Europe like on Amazon UK, I think this'll get a release.
I know I'd pick it up.

Nintendo exists in its own Idaho where it doesn't really pay much attention to the (lack of) awards it picks up at the Game Awards, and therefore doesn't splurge much advertising budget there any more.

I'm expecting Hideo Kojima to get special attention like he usually does though.

This was something that I'd been wondering myself.
Switch 1 game loading speeds can be dictated by the storage medium; physical game card, internal storage, microSD card.

Switch 2 could have a lot of discrepancies between loading speeds say if you insert an older microSD card for game storage.
Switch 1 physical game cards could keep existing load times whilst digital versions load faster if installed to internal storage or a faster microSD card.

What a coincidence, December 13th is when I break off work for the year! It's also the night of the Game Awards (in the UK at early hours).

@Magician
This also reminds me that there are four different ways to play Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on Nintendo Switch.
There's the SEGA Mega Drive Classics release, there's the SEGA AGES release, there's the SEGA Genesis app on Nintendo Switch Online, and there's the Sonic Origins version (which is the only release that doesn't use emulation).

@EVIL-C
They mean the physical version will continue to be available, even if the digital version goes away.
It's not a particularly hard physical to find in used game shops.

@nhSnork
There was a Nintendo Life article about the delisting of those games under their previous publisher.
However, they since had had a new publisher Clear River Games and they have retail European physicals you can pick up on places like Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Clear+River+Games
Curiously, there's a lot of overlap here with LRG's "distribution" releases. I wonder if there's a connection.

@Solomon_Rambling
How strange, it does seem to be unavailable right now, I wonder why?
You can still grab physical copies from Super Rare Games, though, they have at least 600 left.
https://superraregames.com/products/srg-80-will-you-snail-switch

@theberrage
That would mean working with Disney, unfortunately.
Licensing would probably be insane.

There's no mistaking that the monster designs on the cards are just AI generated results from Microsoft Bing's Image Creator service powered by DALL-E 3. The outputs are exactly pretty much what you expect to see from it.
There's no cohesian as a result of bad prompting, everything else looks like asset flips.

The alarming part is that Nintendo isn't filtering this crap from their digital storefront. There are small companies like Aldora Games that shamelessly pump out AI storybook slop that's mockbusting popular contemporary franchises.
https://www.nintendo.com/us/search/#p=2&cat=gme&sort=df&f=softwarePublisher&softwarePublisher=Aldora+Games

@Shrek_Realista
Vampire Survivors came out last year, and it got Game of the Year at the BAFTAs.

Although if DLCs count as games for The Game Awards, then Ode to Castlevania would qualify.

@KidSparta
Of course they do, they retweeted Pocketpair's announcement themselves.
Terraria's had a number of crossovers too, such as Don't Starve, and Dungeon Defenders 2 being the most prominent.

@nhSnork
You should see the Kirby x Craft Boss Coffee promotion from a couple years back.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2022/04/random-kirby-coffee-is-now-a-thing-in-japan-with-amazing-commercials
The original videos were delisted/made private, but you can still find mirrors of them and the music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uboQO-Ivpm8

@JohnnyMind
It reminds me of Deejay from Street Fighter.
His pants read "MAXIMUM" vertically, which was also chosen because the text reads the same when you mirror the sprite!

Here I was hoping to see a bottle of Heinz Maxim Tomato Ketchup, but it looks like Kirby is only holding up the smaller tomatoes of lesser healing.