@Ralek85 The stochastic computing which is the core of the AI buzz won't be going anyway, now that we've discovered that by using massive parallelisation of computations using hundreds or thousands of smaller CPUs with large amounts of RAM, we can process data in innovative ways that explore possibilities instead of computing mere absolutes.
It may indeed end up being like the Dot Com bubble, where it bursts and all of the meaningless ventures crumble away, leaving just the stuff with real merit.
The technology itself hasn't progressed past massively ingesting data to regurgitate probabilities, and no matter how many components and APIs you slot together to produce a fascimile of critical thought, it isn't really that and will continue to not be that so long as these AI tools serve the real goal of allowing big companies to ingest as much data as it can get ahold of.
This is entirely why AI chat bots are sycophants, they are only concerned with you returning for business by providing pleasing answers at any cost, even if it profilerates false information. The other side you mentioned about rapid prototyping, is sadly why there's a massive influx of slop permeating search results and people's feeds. AI is being used to game the algorithms so people can cash out, and although the cost of the end user is small, it's actually quite large to the companies hosting the services and performing the continuous training.
This was a pretty good video I recently watched about the progress of AI, and how current momentum is more geared towards services that profit big companies, rather than actually advancing towards true AGI. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOAssGkF6I
The position of many a company is to avoid being left behind, many feeling that they need to embrace AI in order to survive. For all its buzzwords, "AI" is mostly just technology tools powered by machine learning, and there are tools both good and bad, ethical and inethical. Data science is a real thing and amazing findings can be gleaned through entirely in-house machine learning, but this sounds like EA is just diving into generative AI slop to expedite the production process, rather than evolve it by empowering pre-production and exploration of ideas.
That spinning stone skull from the inverted castle in Symphony of the Night is a hilarious choice.
Particularly because it's completely indestructable and invincible, so I have to wonder what they'll do with that.
A strange choice, it's not something that you'd just casually listen to as the majority of the tracks are ambient and surreal. It's a very immersive soundtrack that conveys the isolation and dangers of the mission well.
I just coincidentally did a playthrough of Metroid II a couple days ago, and it still holds up decently well.
@Pillowpants It feels like a completely unnecessary degree of FOMO for what should be a straight-forward single player experience with a start and finish. Like, a simple stunt to remind you that the game exists and that you should return to it and get the DLC.
Sort of like how for Tears of the Kingdom, there were those silly News updates that let you claim small item and weapon freebies by launching the game via that News article on the home menu.
Putting major content like this that would be needed for 100% Pokédex completion behind competitive play and subscription online services, does not sit right with me at all.
@StewdaMegaManNerd The leakers made a conscious decision to withhold the majority of the details about yet unreleased games, up until recently now since people are getting their hands on the finished game. It's a few days short of the official release, but they could've leaked all of this last year.
Some details did still leak regardless, there was a full list of planned mega evolutions and descriptions of them, but no visuals. Those leaks have been spot-on.
That seems to be the problem that Playtonic had with Yooka Re-Playlee, they wanted that game to have a simultaneous launch, but the Switch 2 hardware is too new and the dev kits too inaccessible to give it the time it needed to cook.
Both that and Crossworlds I'm waiting for the Switch 2 releases to actually be ready in that regard.
There's a physical double-pack of Final Fantasy X and X-II, but it's one of the rare 32GB releases that was only fully on-cart in certain Asian markets. Since 32GB releases are the most expensive carts available, I wonder if Square Enix would go for it.
Also, it's pretty cool that Final Fantasy I through X can all be played on Switch, and all have physical versions available.
Everything does point to it being something Pikmin related. There's a moment in the short where it looks like there's two different things pulling on the opposite ends of the pacifier, like they're fighting over it.
@ThatOneLevel
In Pokémon Go, back in April 2024 they updated the character model so there's only one single body with sliders for weight, size, chest, etc.
It was to unify the costume and outfit choices, but the end result was pretty sloppy and makes for some pretty weird looking anatomy. The selection of character faces was the worst part of the update, with lots of player scrambling to get mask accessories that hide them.
This news update made me appreciate that I don't actually particularly like the default player outfit for Legends Z-A, although the Z-A stylised characters wear it a lot better and I look forward to checking out the fashion options the game has.
@carlos82 The most important thing about potential NSO Wii Remotes (and Nunchuk accessory) would be the inclusion of an IR pointer and sensor bar set-up. The Wii Remotes actually do more than just pointing and motion though, like the built-in speaker for additional sound output separate to the TV, and small internal storage for Mii data, etc.
Joy-Con controllers do most of what's really need of a Wii Remote though, and I can see Nintendo preferring to port Wii (and some Wii U) software, rather than put them behind NSO.
I never did get around to playing the 3D All-Stars version of Galaxy, Sunshine was arguably the main attraction of that release since it had the widescreen update and other enhancements, and actual GameCube controller support.
Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to jumping back into Galaxy 1 and 2 this week, particularly the second game but I'll work my way up to it. I do think it could've been a little cheaper, but I also don't think it's an unfair asking price with the current state of the economy and the games industry, and factors beyond just the software directly such as the Nintendo staff that make things happen.
I think the comparatively lower Switch sales of Sonic Crossworlds Racing, is just the audience waiting for the proper Switch 2 release.
I certainly aim, SEGA has a long-term strategy for the game anyway with gradual roll-out of content, so I'd expect a spike in sales on the game's Switch 2 launch week. It's doing very well cross-platform right now anyway, and that's its big advantage over the Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World.
What's superior about the South East Asia version specifically? Does it bundle the extra content on the cartridge itself instead of making it a download code? I'm still disappointed in SEGA for making Amy and Knuckles in Sonic CD a download code in the Sonic Origins Plus physical release.
@The_Nintendo_Pedant It's a bit of a marketing fopar, but the core of Replaylee is that they continued developing the game much, much farther than what their original Kickstarter budget allowed, and learned from their time on that.
Truth be told, Replaylee will probably end up hitting huge discounts like the original and Impossible Lair have. Impossible Lair often goes for 90% off, whilst the original goes for 66% off.
@Sonicka Yeah, this is something that their marketing hasn't succeeded in getting across. Whilst it is a content refresh, it's a huge one that vastly increases the amount of available things to do, and alters the progression so you don't have to double-dip into worlds behind an arbitrary "expansion" or come back when you've unlocked new moves, since you start with your full set. The "Rextro Bytes Back!" content is practically its own subgame, apparently.
@Zeebor15 SEGA's handling for physicals has been pretty bad. No physical release at all in Europe (only a code-in-box release), so my choice was to get the LRG physical release, which was basically a 1.0 launch version without any updates. Pre-order bonus codes were for US Nintendo accounts, so I can't claim it at all, which adds frustration with all the pre-order and multiple edition shenanigans that SEGA keeps doing. Oh and stuff like needing a SEGA account to get a download code for a blue outfit that's locked to a single platform.
Post-launch updates to hit ideal performance or resolution targets for the Switch 2 has been a worrying problem, we're seeing that for too many games, even if they're Switch 1 software.
Even so, I'm looking forward to this one and with the 30% same-ecosystem discount they've announced for the Kickstarter backers who got the digital version way back, I'll be grabbing that to show my support for Playtonic despite having the physical on pre-order. The digital release timing is pretty awkward though, October 9th? I was planning to play Galaxy 1+2, and then Pokémon Legends Z-A soon after. Games are coming out faster than I've got time to beat what I'm playing!
@ozwally The curious thing is, it's technically already possible. Nintendo Switch features a "share update with local users" feature, and this feature is capable of sharing update data that exists on either the system's storage, or the physical game card itself.
There's some fringe cases with physical releases where they store an update that is newer than is available digitally, and therefore playing the physical version can prevent you from launching the digital version because you can't download the update. The local sharing of updates however, lets you digitally install that missing update and make the digital version bootable again. I've had to do this for games like Snake Pass, Fox N Forests, and Hypnospace Outlaw.
@roboshort Yeah, the key distinction from game key cards, is that the physical media still has all of the necessary data to play the game without an online connection. Not much different from the physical media that is already in-use.
If only Nintendo allowed you to install necessary game data from the game card, to the Switch 2 system, like other systems do. That would've resolved the whole loading speed issue, and is even something they offered somewhat for Xenoblade X on the Wii U with its dedicated data pack download.
This will be the first time that Star Force 3 will be available in Europe. I played Black Ace via import back at launch, and had an absolutely fantastic time with what's one of my top NDS games. If you've never played it, the whole "noise" system is a ton of fun with lots of surprising rewards and mechanics.
@Misima Their Kickstarter campaign just launched, and they claim it can dock the Switch 2.
Covert Dock 3 is more versatile than ever providing more power, incredible visual fidelity, and most importantly it can dock the latest devices such as the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X and Nintendo Switch 2™ in their full glory.
Something important to remember about the official Switch 2 Dock however, is that it has active cooling. Their Covert Dock 3 by its very design can't actively cool the Switch 2 system.
The Covert Dock 2 and Shadowcast 2 were great, very satisfied with them. I even used the Shadowcast 2 recently to do a video recording of a gameplay session of Tears of the Kingdom 2's Switch 2 edition. Switch 2 video output through the Shadowcast 2 into my PC over USB-C 3.2 into OBS, and I couldn't notice any latency whilst trying to pull off a no-damage run of the Lynel Collosseum in the depths.
I'm curious what improvements the Shadowcast 3 could even offer over the already impressive Shadowcast 2.
Tempted to pick up the Mega Man Battle Network legacy collections. I've got my physical copy, but for convenience, those digital versions would usually go on sale for 50%, but that's a 67% sale. FYI the bundle version is the same price as the individual volumes.
The Zenithian trilogy are maybe the games the least in need of a remake, the DS versions hold up very well, and those were ported to Android to take advantage of the vertical display format. Those versions could be the basis of straight-forward console budget ports, that keeps the beautiful spritework crisp and clean, whilst rendering the 3D environments at higher resolution. Knowing Square Enix's mobile history though, there's a risk they'd just slap a nasty smoothing filter over the spritework and pick a font that doesn't suit the original look well.
@KoopaTheGamer In this case, it doesn't appear to be an upgrade pack or Switch 2 edition style release. Much in the way that there's Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions of Deltarune. It's at the publisher's discretion if they offer a discount or free download of the Switch 2 version based on you owning the Switch 1 version, which is what Toby Fox opted to do in that instance.
I'd love to get some insight into why sometimes a Switch 2 release is either an Upgrade Pack to Switch 2 Edition, or a Switch 2 exclusive build. SEGA and Square Enix have been opting for the latter.
I wonder if that discount applies for owners of the physical from Super Rare Games? I've heard great things about it, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
@Member_the_game Super Mario Land, the first one is a remarkably short game. You can finish it under an hour in a single sitting, as it only has 12 levels across 4 worlds.
@Duncanballs Sadly, I think it's important. News articles about upcoming game releases are basically promotions as part of marketing campaigns. If a company is going to make an effort telling us about a game they're going to sell, the consumers should make an equal effort that they won't buy the game they're otherwise interested in because of a very real problem.
@ShieldHero Fangamer are handling a Switch physical release with a November 7th release date. Since that's fairly close, due to manufacturing and production pipelines it's not likely that this update will be on the game card.
I saw a rumour about this, and very, very pleasantly surprised that it was true. I never finished the 3DS version, I remember getting stuck at some sort of flower themed town and not knowing how to progress after trying to pick it back up. The game is a huge commitment too, a 100+ hour game from what I've heard.
So here's a little bit of Virtual Boy trivia. The system runs at 50hz, so as a result the Switch 2 version of the NSO app will have an advantage over the Switch 1 version, since it has the variable refresh rate display it can use.
This is something that the 3DS Virtual Boy emulator "Red Viper" accounts for too! It turns out the 3DS display supports 50 hz modes.
For anyone paying attention, this isn't the first time Square Enix have worked with Limited Run in some capacity, it may actually be at least the fifth? Previous Square Enix physical releases through Limited Run include Grandia HD Remaster, Front Mission 2 Remake, GEX Trilogy, and Fear Effect.
Whilst these aren't necessarily games that come to mind when you think about Square Enix, you gotta remember they're a publishing company, too.
Whilst it looks like Nintendo's sites are working, which might work for purchasing the software, it looks like https://ec.nintendo.com/ is down due to heavy demand, which is what powers their eShop services like redeeming codes and accessing your wishlist, wow!
Glover would be an odd inclusion, because you can buy the re-release on the eShop.
@KoopaTheGamer If it's just a development screenshot, it's understandable if they had multiple games under the same app before they moved it to the dedicated Mature app. The two apps are basically identical in terms of code, it's just the bundled titles that differ. Datamining NERD's previous projects like the SNES Classic Edition (SNES Mini) indicates they worked on getting multiple games working, but not every game made it to the final product, these things happen to do publishing rights, business decisions etc.
In terms of expenses, storage media for not only the source code, but the asset production files (for graphics and audio, and also planning materials) was expensive and not as reliable. Squaresoft is known to have lost the means to re-render the backgrounds for Final Fantasy VII, because they had to wipe their storage media to make room for new projects.
Whilst reverse engineering and decompilation projects are fantastic for getting a workable source-code copy of a compiled game program, it does nothing for the rendered assets. There's been some remarkable efforts to identify the sources of textures and sound effects used in various games from commercial libraries, but this does nothing to recover flat rendered images or FMVs.
Thankfully, company practices of maintaining and preserving production resources so that they may be used for future commercial releases is now more commonplace, as well as things like code licenses that help to protect how code written for a given company is used. Clean room reverse engineered source code luckily does not run afoul of that. Such efforts are time consuming and higher maintenance than big companies are willing to do for small returns, so I'm grateful that fans are picking up this work to make games accessible for future platforms and devices with shiftable source code.
@abbyhitter The animation puts emphasis on it being able to tank an attack it previously was not able to, and its overall form is a lot bulkier. It's probably going to get a big physical defense boost.
@Hapless The Pokémon Company has been notorious for doing reveals of new content leading up to the game's release, it's an effective marketing campaign. They have however dialled back the extent of the reveals compared to the 3DS days, and they do actually leave a number of surprises for the game itself.
I'm curious if the Sonic Prime guest characters will be voiced at all, it's a unique case where that show and its cast were all Canadian produced and performed.
Meaning if say, Tails and Nine were to interact, it would be two separate performances.
Comments 7,734
Re: Mario Is Getting His Own Balloon At The 99th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Huge missed opportunity to give him a cape or a raccoon tail.
Re: EA Is Diving Headfirst Into Generative AI With New Partnership
@Ralek85
The stochastic computing which is the core of the AI buzz won't be going anyway, now that we've discovered that by using massive parallelisation of computations using hundreds or thousands of smaller CPUs with large amounts of RAM, we can process data in innovative ways that explore possibilities instead of computing mere absolutes.
It may indeed end up being like the Dot Com bubble, where it bursts and all of the meaningless ventures crumble away, leaving just the stuff with real merit.
The technology itself hasn't progressed past massively ingesting data to regurgitate probabilities, and no matter how many components and APIs you slot together to produce a fascimile of critical thought, it isn't really that and will continue to not be that so long as these AI tools serve the real goal of allowing big companies to ingest as much data as it can get ahold of.
This is entirely why AI chat bots are sycophants, they are only concerned with you returning for business by providing pleasing answers at any cost, even if it profilerates false information.
The other side you mentioned about rapid prototyping, is sadly why there's a massive influx of slop permeating search results and people's feeds. AI is being used to game the algorithms so people can cash out, and although the cost of the end user is small, it's actually quite large to the companies hosting the services and performing the continuous training.
This was a pretty good video I recently watched about the progress of AI, and how current momentum is more geared towards services that profit big companies, rather than actually advancing towards true AGI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COOAssGkF6I
Re: EA Is Diving Headfirst Into Generative AI With New Partnership
The position of many a company is to avoid being left behind, many feeling that they need to embrace AI in order to survive.
For all its buzzwords, "AI" is mostly just technology tools powered by machine learning, and there are tools both good and bad, ethical and inethical. Data science is a real thing and amazing findings can be gleaned through entirely in-house machine learning, but this sounds like EA is just diving into generative AI slop to expedite the production process, rather than evolve it by empowering pre-production and exploration of ideas.
Re: Vampire Survivors Goes Full "Everyone Is Here" In New 'Ode To Castlevania' Update
That spinning stone skull from the inverted castle in Symphony of the Night is a hilarious choice.
Particularly because it's completely indestructable and invincible, so I have to wonder what they'll do with that.
Re: My Nintendo Store Adds A New Metroid Reward For Switch Online Members (US)
I keep an eye on the UK My Nintendo Store for whatever platinum point rewards they occasionally have, and hope we get this one too.
Re: Samus' Game Boy Outing Metroid II Returns In Latest Nintendo Music Update
A strange choice, it's not something that you'd just casually listen to as the majority of the tracks are ambient and surreal.
It's a very immersive soundtrack that conveys the isolation and dangers of the mission well.
I just coincidentally did a playthrough of Metroid II a couple days ago, and it still holds up decently well.
Re: Donkey Kong Bananza's First DLC In-Game Event Kicks Off Next Week
@Pillowpants
It feels like a completely unnecessary degree of FOMO for what should be a straight-forward single player experience with a start and finish.
Like, a simple stunt to remind you that the game exists and that you should return to it and get the DLC.
Sort of like how for Tears of the Kingdom, there were those silly News updates that let you claim small item and weapon freebies by launching the game via that News article on the home menu.
Re: Pokémon Legends: Z‑A Ranked Battles Season 1 Now Live, Reach 'Rank K' For A Special Reward
@Arawn93
Sadly this isn't the first time this has happened.
A large number of mega evolutions for Sun and Moon were exclusive to distributions.
https://www.serebii.net/sunmoon/megaevolutions.shtml
Putting major content like this that would be needed for 100% Pokédex completion behind competitive play and subscription online services, does not sit right with me at all.
Re: Pokémon Z-A's Source Code And Beta Builds Have Now Supposedly Leaked
@StewdaMegaManNerd
The leakers made a conscious decision to withhold the majority of the details about yet unreleased games, up until recently now since people are getting their hands on the finished game.
It's a few days short of the official release, but they could've leaked all of this last year.
Some details did still leak regardless, there was a full list of planned mega evolutions and descriptions of them, but no visuals. Those leaks have been spot-on.
Re: Takashi Iizuka Explains Why Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds Was Delayed On Switch 2
That seems to be the problem that Playtonic had with Yooka Re-Playlee, they wanted that game to have a simultaneous launch, but the Switch 2 hardware is too new and the dev kits too inaccessible to give it the time it needed to cook.
Both that and Crossworlds I'm waiting for the Switch 2 releases to actually be ready in that regard.
Re: Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered Twin Pack And IX Switch Physical Releases Confirmed For North America
@tonyp1987
I wasn't even aware FF12 was on Switch to begin with.
Re: Final Fantasy VII / VIII Remastered And IX Physical Releases Confirmed For North America
There's a physical double-pack of Final Fantasy X and X-II, but it's one of the rare 32GB releases that was only fully on-cart in certain Asian markets.
Since 32GB releases are the most expensive carts available, I wonder if Square Enix would go for it.
Also, it's pretty cool that Final Fantasy I through X can all be played on Switch, and all have physical versions available.
Re: R-Type Delta: HD Boosted Is Getting A Sweet Physical Edition For Switch
Since this is a Clear River Games release, that likely means European customers can pick up a PEGI release from Amazon.
Re: Mario's Super Picross Has Got Some Rather Lovely NSO Icons
That one icon of Mario looking at the simplest 5x5 nonogram puzzle and getting stuck. 💀
Re: Nintendo Goes Full Pixar In Strange New Animated Short Film, 'Close To You'
Everything does point to it being something Pikmin related.
There's a moment in the short where it looks like there's two different things pulling on the opposite ends of the pacifier, like they're fighting over it.
Re: Pokémon GO Celebrates Pokémon Legends: Z-A Release In Next Event
@ThatOneLevel
In Pokémon Go, back in April 2024 they updated the character model so there's only one single body with sliders for weight, size, chest, etc.
It was to unify the costume and outfit choices, but the end result was pretty sloppy and makes for some pretty weird looking anatomy. The selection of character faces was the worst part of the update, with lots of player scrambling to get mask accessories that hide them.
This news update made me appreciate that I don't actually particularly like the default player outfit for Legends Z-A, although the Z-A stylised characters wear it a lot better and I look forward to checking out the fashion options the game has.
Re: Review: Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch) - Still Out Of This World
@carlos82
The most important thing about potential NSO Wii Remotes (and Nunchuk accessory) would be the inclusion of an IR pointer and sensor bar set-up.
The Wii Remotes actually do more than just pointing and motion though, like the built-in speaker for additional sound output separate to the TV, and small internal storage for Mii data, etc.
Joy-Con controllers do most of what's really need of a Wii Remote though, and I can see Nintendo preferring to port Wii (and some Wii U) software, rather than put them behind NSO.
Re: Review: Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Switch) - Still Out Of This World
I never did get around to playing the 3D All-Stars version of Galaxy, Sunshine was arguably the main attraction of that release since it had the widescreen update and other enhancements, and actual GameCube controller support.
Anyway, I'm actually looking forward to jumping back into Galaxy 1 and 2 this week, particularly the second game but I'll work my way up to it.
I do think it could've been a little cheaper, but I also don't think it's an unfair asking price with the current state of the economy and the games industry, and factors beyond just the software directly such as the Nintendo staff that make things happen.
Re: UK Charts: FC 26 Scores An Early Winner And Keeps Sonic Racing From The Podium
I think the comparatively lower Switch sales of Sonic Crossworlds Racing, is just the audience waiting for the proper Switch 2 release.
I certainly aim, SEGA has a long-term strategy for the game anyway with gradual roll-out of content, so I'd expect a spike in sales on the game's Switch 2 launch week. It's doing very well cross-platform right now anyway, and that's its big advantage over the Switch 2 exclusive Mario Kart World.
Re: Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance Switch Resolution Update Now Available
@Zeebor15
I don't know, as I never explored that.
However, I do know of an import reseller called Bazaar-Bazaar, and it looks like their UK and EU storefronts are selling the JPN CERO B physical.
https://www.bazaar-bazaar.com/products/shinobi-art-of-vengeance-switch
https://bazaar-bazaar.eu/products/shinobi-art-of-vengeance-switch
What's superior about the South East Asia version specifically? Does it bundle the extra content on the cartridge itself instead of making it a download code?
I'm still disappointed in SEGA for making Amy and Knuckles in Sonic CD a download code in the Sonic Origins Plus physical release.
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Runs At 30fps On Switch 2, Team Investigating Performance Mode
@The_Nintendo_Pedant
It's a bit of a marketing fopar, but the core of Replaylee is that they continued developing the game much, much farther than what their original Kickstarter budget allowed, and learned from their time on that.
Truth be told, Replaylee will probably end up hitting huge discounts like the original and Impossible Lair have. Impossible Lair often goes for 90% off, whilst the original goes for 66% off.
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Runs At 30fps On Switch 2, Team Investigating Performance Mode
@Sonicka
Yeah, this is something that their marketing hasn't succeeded in getting across.
Whilst it is a content refresh, it's a huge one that vastly increases the amount of available things to do, and alters the progression so you don't have to double-dip into worlds behind an arbitrary "expansion" or come back when you've unlocked new moves, since you start with your full set.
The "Rextro Bytes Back!" content is practically its own subgame, apparently.
Re: Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance Switch Resolution Update Now Available
@Zeebor15
SEGA's handling for physicals has been pretty bad.
No physical release at all in Europe (only a code-in-box release), so my choice was to get the LRG physical release, which was basically a 1.0 launch version without any updates.
Pre-order bonus codes were for US Nintendo accounts, so I can't claim it at all, which adds frustration with all the pre-order and multiple edition shenanigans that SEGA keeps doing. Oh and stuff like needing a SEGA account to get a download code for a blue outfit that's locked to a single platform.
Re: Yooka-Replaylee Runs At 30fps On Switch 2, Team Investigating Performance Mode
Post-launch updates to hit ideal performance or resolution targets for the Switch 2 has been a worrying problem, we're seeing that for too many games, even if they're Switch 1 software.
Even so, I'm looking forward to this one and with the 30% same-ecosystem discount they've announced for the Kickstarter backers who got the digital version way back, I'll be grabbing that to show my support for Playtonic despite having the physical on pre-order.
The digital release timing is pretty awkward though, October 9th? I was planning to play Galaxy 1+2, and then Pokémon Legends Z-A soon after. Games are coming out faster than I've got time to beat what I'm playing!
Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Director Highlights The Speed Problem With Switch 2 Game Cards
@ozwally
The curious thing is, it's technically already possible.
Nintendo Switch features a "share update with local users" feature, and this feature is capable of sharing update data that exists on either the system's storage, or the physical game card itself.
There's some fringe cases with physical releases where they store an update that is newer than is available digitally, and therefore playing the physical version can prevent you from launching the digital version because you can't download the update.
The local sharing of updates however, lets you digitally install that missing update and make the digital version bootable again. I've had to do this for games like Snake Pass, Fox N Forests, and Hypnospace Outlaw.
Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Director Highlights The Speed Problem With Switch 2 Game Cards
@roboshort
Yeah, the key distinction from game key cards, is that the physical media still has all of the necessary data to play the game without an online connection.
Not much different from the physical media that is already in-use.
Re: Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade Director Highlights The Speed Problem With Switch 2 Game Cards
If only Nintendo allowed you to install necessary game data from the game card, to the Switch 2 system, like other systems do.
That would've resolved the whole loading speed issue, and is even something they offered somewhat for Xenoblade X on the Wii U with its dedicated data pack download.
Re: Mega Man Star Force: Legacy Collection Details Additional Features In New Trailer
This will be the first time that Star Force 3 will be available in Europe. I played Black Ace via import back at launch, and had an absolutely fantastic time with what's one of my top NDS games.
If you've never played it, the whole "noise" system is a ton of fun with lots of surprising rewards and mechanics.
Re: Genki Teases The 'ShadowCast 3' And 'Covert Dock 3', Likely Switch 2 Compatible
@Misima
I doubt they'd make the claim if they didn't have a solution.
I mean, Gulikit figured out how to make their 3rd party controllers wake up the Switch 2 system.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2025/07/gulikits-elves-2-is-the-first-third-party-pad-with-switch-2-wake-up-support
Re: Genki Teases The 'ShadowCast 3' And 'Covert Dock 3', Likely Switch 2 Compatible
@Misima
Their Kickstarter campaign just launched, and they claim it can dock the Switch 2.
Something important to remember about the official Switch 2 Dock however, is that it has active cooling. Their Covert Dock 3 by its very design can't actively cool the Switch 2 system.
Re: Genki Teases The 'ShadowCast 3' And 'Covert Dock 3', Likely Switch 2 Compatible
The Covert Dock 2 and Shadowcast 2 were great, very satisfied with them. I even used the Shadowcast 2 recently to do a video recording of a gameplay session of Tears of the Kingdom 2's Switch 2 edition. Switch 2 video output through the Shadowcast 2 into my PC over USB-C 3.2 into OBS, and I couldn't notice any latency whilst trying to pull off a no-damage run of the Lynel Collosseum in the depths.
I'm curious what improvements the Shadowcast 3 could even offer over the already impressive Shadowcast 2.
Re: Capcom Switch 2 Launch Title Gets Its First Big eShop Discount (US)
Tempted to pick up the Mega Man Battle Network legacy collections.
I've got my physical copy, but for convenience, those digital versions would usually go on sale for 50%, but that's a 67% sale.
FYI the bundle version is the same price as the individual volumes.
Re: Why Remake 'Dragon Quest VII' Before The Zenithian Trilogy? Yuji Horii Comments
The Zenithian trilogy are maybe the games the least in need of a remake, the DS versions hold up very well, and those were ported to Android to take advantage of the vertical display format.
Those versions could be the basis of straight-forward console budget ports, that keeps the beautiful spritework crisp and clean, whilst rendering the 3D environments at higher resolution.
Knowing Square Enix's mobile history though, there's a risk they'd just slap a nasty smoothing filter over the spritework and pick a font that doesn't suit the original look well.
Re: The Touryst: Deluxe Hits Switch 2 Next Week At 4K / 60fps
@KoopaTheGamer
In this case, it doesn't appear to be an upgrade pack or Switch 2 edition style release.
Much in the way that there's Switch 1 and Switch 2 versions of Deltarune. It's at the publisher's discretion if they offer a discount or free download of the Switch 2 version based on you owning the Switch 1 version, which is what Toby Fox opted to do in that instance.
I'd love to get some insight into why sometimes a Switch 2 release is either an Upgrade Pack to Switch 2 Edition, or a Switch 2 exclusive build. SEGA and Square Enix have been opting for the latter.
Re: The Touryst: Deluxe Hits Switch 2 Next Week At 4K / 60fps
I wonder if that discount applies for owners of the physical from Super Rare Games? I've heard great things about it, but haven't gotten around to playing it yet.
Re: Nintendo Highlights Super Mario's Game History In 40th Anniversary Timeline
@Member_the_game
Super Mario Land, the first one is a remarkably short game. You can finish it under an hour in a single sitting, as it only has 12 levels across 4 worlds.
Re: Newcomers Can Break Final Fantasy VII Remake With New Difficulty Settings
@Duncanballs
Sadly, I think it's important.
News articles about upcoming game releases are basically promotions as part of marketing campaigns.
If a company is going to make an effort telling us about a game they're going to sell, the consumers should make an equal effort that they won't buy the game they're otherwise interested in because of a very real problem.
Re: Antonblast Appears To Be Jumping On The Virtual Boy Bandwagon
@ShieldHero
Fangamer are handling a Switch physical release with a November 7th release date.
Since that's fairly close, due to manufacturing and production pipelines it's not likely that this update will be on the game card.
Re: Dragon Quest VII Gets Reimagined For Switch And Switch 2 In Early 2026
Of course it's Key Card... To be expected from Square Enix, at this point.
Also, the unnerving trend of Nintendo omitting both prices and physical release details from the Direct itself.
Re: Dragon Quest VII Gets Reimagined For Switch And Switch 2 In Early 2026
I saw a rumour about this, and very, very pleasantly surprised that it was true.
I never finished the 3DS version, I remember getting stuck at some sort of flower themed town and not knowing how to progress after trying to pick it back up. The game is a huge commitment too, a 100+ hour game from what I've heard.
Re: Virtual Boy Is Being Added To Nintendo Switch Online
So here's a little bit of Virtual Boy trivia.
The system runs at 50hz, so as a result the Switch 2 version of the NSO app will have an advantage over the Switch 1 version, since it has the variable refresh rate display it can use.
This is something that the 3DS Virtual Boy emulator "Red Viper" accounts for too! It turns out the 3DS display supports 50 hz modes.
Re: "I Have No Words" - Silksong Fans Are Losing Their Minds Over One Bench
Honestly, just the presence of the article without even opening it to read it, is a big enough spoiler and it's annoying that this had to exist.
Re: Star Ocean: First Departure R Limited Run Physical Switch Release Announced
For anyone paying attention, this isn't the first time Square Enix have worked with Limited Run in some capacity, it may actually be at least the fifth?
Previous Square Enix physical releases through Limited Run include Grandia HD Remaster, Front Mission 2 Remake, GEX Trilogy, and Fear Effect.
Whilst these aren't necessarily games that come to mind when you think about Square Enix, you gotta remember they're a publishing company, too.
Re: The Switch eShop Is Buckling Under The Weight Of Silksong
Whilst it looks like Nintendo's sites are working, which might work for purchasing the software, it looks like https://ec.nintendo.com/ is down due to heavy demand, which is what powers their eShop services like redeeming codes and accessing your wishlist, wow!
Re: Latest Switch Online Release Potentially Confirms Leaked Upcoming N64 Classics
Glover would be an odd inclusion, because you can buy the re-release on the eShop.
@KoopaTheGamer
If it's just a development screenshot, it's understandable if they had multiple games under the same app before they moved it to the dedicated Mature app.
The two apps are basically identical in terms of code, it's just the bundled titles that differ.
Datamining NERD's previous projects like the SNES Classic Edition (SNES Mini) indicates they worked on getting multiple games working, but not every game made it to the final product, these things happen to do publishing rights, business decisions etc.
Re: Final Fantasy Tactics' Devs Had To Lean On Fans To Recover Original Source Code
@bransby
Publishers and big companies look at things with a lense of liabilities and expenses.
In terms of liabilities, Interplay wanted the source code for Fallout 1 and 2 destroyed, likely so that programmers that may've left the company wouldn't re-use it if they went to another company.
In terms of expenses, storage media for not only the source code, but the asset production files (for graphics and audio, and also planning materials) was expensive and not as reliable. Squaresoft is known to have lost the means to re-render the backgrounds for Final Fantasy VII, because they had to wipe their storage media to make room for new projects.
Whilst reverse engineering and decompilation projects are fantastic for getting a workable source-code copy of a compiled game program, it does nothing for the rendered assets.
There's been some remarkable efforts to identify the sources of textures and sound effects used in various games from commercial libraries, but this does nothing to recover flat rendered images or FMVs.
Thankfully, company practices of maintaining and preserving production resources so that they may be used for future commercial releases is now more commonplace, as well as things like code licenses that help to protect how code written for a given company is used. Clean room reverse engineered source code luckily does not run afoul of that.
Such efforts are time consuming and higher maintenance than big companies are willing to do for small returns, so I'm grateful that fans are picking up this work to make games accessible for future platforms and devices with shiftable source code.
Re: Pokémon Legends Z-A's Latest Mega Evolution Looks Particularly Snazzy
@abbyhitter
The animation puts emphasis on it being able to tank an attack it previously was not able to, and its overall form is a lot bulkier.
It's probably going to get a big physical defense boost.
Re: Pokémon Legends Z-A's Latest Mega Evolution Looks Particularly Snazzy
@Hapless
The Pokémon Company has been notorious for doing reveals of new content leading up to the game's release, it's an effective marketing campaign.
They have however dialled back the extent of the reveals compared to the 3DS days, and they do actually leave a number of surprises for the game itself.
Re: Pokémon Legends Z-A's Latest Mega Evolution Looks Particularly Snazzy
Easily the best mega evolution reveal so far, that Mega Hawlucha design does not disappoint.
Re: Takashi Iizuka Explains Why Sonic Racing: CrossWorld's Guest Racers Stay Silent In-Game
I'm curious if the Sonic Prime guest characters will be voiced at all, it's a unique case where that show and its cast were all Canadian produced and performed.
Meaning if say, Tails and Nine were to interact, it would be two separate performances.