Sakura

It's what I expected, really. More details without providing enough detail.

I get that cloud saves only are partly an attempt to counter piracy/hacking by Nintendo. It is better than the encrypted method that exists now because saves at least can be transferred to a new/formatted console. I hope we can archive our saves at the end of the service's life, though. I would like the unsupported software to be detailed. That's a concern.

Online play and retro games don't interest me. Also, thinking that MyNintendo will be related to those special offers. To be fair, the discounts aren't bad; it's just that I have all the Wii U and 3DS games I want already. How it relates to Switch remains to be seen.

TLDR I'll pay for the saves, but I'm aware I won't get much value out of it in any other way, at least as it stands now.

@Pod That does make sense, thanks. And it is an improvement over the old system where the saves are encrypted on SD card/drive and useless in the case of a format.

I'll subscribe anyway, but lack of details always feels like fudging.

Cloud saving for "most" Switch games (from the press release) sounds a little worrying. Which ones are not supported and why?

Also, these "special offers", they aren't like the MyNintendo offers are they? Some of the discounts applied to Switch games would be good, I concede, but where are the details?

I want to be pleased and £18 doesn't break the bank, but this hasn't elucidated much.

I'll be trying to finish Mario and Rabbids. Having said that, the sun is out and as it's been an absent friend for the majority of the year so far, we'll be off to the park to enjoy it while we can. It's been a grey, wet and miserable winter and spring!

I have some gold coins expiring at the end of the month so I might get Yoku's Island. DKC:TF, but physical.

@JDORS Labo still outsold God of War on launch in Japan. Does that make God of War worse or less mainstream because fewer people bought it? Of course not. It's just a different product for a different market.

Nintendo's overall success attests to there being room for more than one take on an entertainment experience.

The Switch is a product of Nintendo doing things differently. It's been very successful so far. Different isn't always worse, it's just different.

Labo software isn't bad, it's just subservient to the programming and creativity found in the toy-con garage. The provided games are there to encourage creativity, to give clues as to what is possible, almost a demo mode, not to provide a fully-fledged game experience in themselves. A different focus. It's the consumer who dictates how much fun they have and the cardboard is used to make the whole thing viable - plastic would be too expensive and also contradict the engineering/programming element.

You CAN bash Nintendo for not doing the same as everyone else - there are definitely areas where Nintendo remains frustratingly behind -, but for many, the fact that they are different in what they provide is what is appealing. That's almost the whole point.

Smash and Splatoon don't do it for me, but Nintendo always has a few good surprises.

(Well, apart from that one year with amiibo Festival and Star Fox, But we won't mention that.)

Not at all surprised.

Well, actually a bit surprised that Labo placed as high as that. I think it's fantastic, but just not the kind of thing that most UK gamers would find attractive as a concept: made by Nintendo, made of cardboard, has an educational element.

Not cool enough or not cool in the "right" way, I suspect, for most. No. 3 is good.

I'll wait and see what Nintendo offers...

My Nintendo incentivizes digital purchasing, but it's still cheaper to buy physical, even considering gold points. As a consumer, I don't like to feel swayed into practices that are actually detrimental cost-wise over the long-term.

If we ever do get cloud saves, I expect them to be tied to paid online. If it's the only way, then I'll pay, but I'll be aware that it's an extra payment I have to make and not exactly welcome it.

They might still surprise me...

That's an expensive season pass from Koei Tecmo!

Might pick up Goetia.

I'm not keen on online multiplayer titles. It spoils the experience for me - cheating, server issues, time-delimited, not being able to keep up...

Also not delighted by the idea of games as a service. Pocket camp has become a tedious grind that keeps being updated with more tedious tasks to keep the player spending money. Once the servers are gone, the game will be gone too.

I realise that mobile and consoles are different, but the two seem to be converging somewhat - online requirements, loot boxes...

Not really fussed by Pokemon anyway, but I hope Nintendo/Game Freak makes good decisions about the way they change things up.

I'm really enjoying Detective Pikachu, even though it isn't exactly challenging, and still managing to also play Rabbids on the Switch.

I have a backlog of great 3DS games; not ready to put it down quite yet.

Well, this is nice! Picked up Wonderboy and looking at Fe.

Thanks for the head's up.

I like that DLC is included, but I'm still going for physical where I can because I can still save more than I would benefit from going digital. Then there's resell value and I'd still have the game when eShop servers shutdown and it can't be downloaded anymore (at least most of it, though patches would still be a problem if they hadn't already been applied).

It's better than it was, but still won't make me go digital.

Broken Sword and the Spyro games for me.

Hmm... I suppose that given the ridiculous prices charged by scalpers, getting something Nintendo at RRP might seem like a deal. It's a bit of a stretch though... I hope there is enough stock to avoid the scalper situation.

I love the potential. The first thing I thought was that there could be some engineering lessons in there for me. Well, maybe the second, the first was more like a shrug of perplexity.

I don't know that I'll go for it in the end because of cost, time and other priorities, but at least it's interesting and innovative. I didn't feel that way at that E3 where we had amiibo Festival, Ultra Smash and Star Fox Zero. This is way better than that.

For not much more I could get another Switch. When the prices are more reasonable, I might look into it. For the moment, I'd rather have multiple 128 or even 64GB cards. I've got those knocking around already.

Wonder if we'll see the templates as MyNintendo rewards. It's not like they're doing much else with it. A couple of exclusive patterns?

@Anti-Matter Thanks anyway. Gives me something to research.

@Anti-Matter Oh, I meant in Japanese. How concepts are rendered in language can help to understand the culture. Just wondering, not important, I just like to collect words.

@Anti-Matter Just out of interest, is there a word for the blending of the traditional and the modern in Japan? Wondering what they call it.

I had one of those Crossover gizmos! Wonder where it is now?

Destroyed by cats and dogs everywhere... Mine would.

Still, inventive and fun, and very Nintendo. I'd have loved it as a kid. Wouldn't have been allowed it, but would have loved it.

@Fazermint That sends a little shiver down my spine. Not particularly against amiibo, but they seem to have run their course as far as gameplay is concerned. Hoping for something a bit more.. useful. We'll see, I guess.

I really liked this game once I got used to the controls (takes a bit of effort). Will welcome any update.

@Kaizen I hope that awareness within the field is now widespread enough to start a real debate. I very much dislike the idea of an economic stake in classifying disease and I've dealt with enough reps to know that business comes before welfare of patients for drug companies. The prescription of major psychotropic drugs to minors is my personal bugbear.

That's not to say that I think people showing symptoms should be dismissed, just that symptom clusters may fit under an umbrella term, rather than be classified as separate disorders. An addiction to video games might fit under the socially-avoidant umbrella for some, for example.

Things do change over time. We are beginning to see cancer diagnosed by type rather than body part affected, leading to more targetted and more successful treatments (type "X" cancer in the breast rather than breast cancer, for example). We also have brain scanning available to prove that the somewhat controversial diagnoses like DID do in fact register as particular changes in the brain. These are innovations moving understanding forward. But, we must be aware of hidden agendas. Drugs should be developed in order to fight disease, not disease created in order to sell drugs.

I cannot install updates on my Windows PC and haven't been able to do so for ages. "Fails on the second boot" every time no matter what fixes are applied. Have even installed a brand new clean copy of Windows 10 to clear any problems with the free update from previous operating system, same issue of being stuck on an earlier build.

I wouldn't mind so much if I could update. I don't want to be forced into buying a new system and I won't unless absolutely necessary. Too much software to lose.

I hate these types of issue.

This can only inflame the debate over addictive v. addicting.

Addictive is the most traditionally "correct" term, but addicting is being used more and more to apply to "nonaddictive things that engender repeated indulgence". Addictive can also apply to to those nonaddictive things. Use whichever term you want.

Anyway, an addictive personality can be addicted to anything. There is a tendency to medicalise all behaviours that lie outside the cultural norms of a particular society. It's society's way of coping. In the past, drapetomania was a disorder applied to runaway slaves. Today, we would completely understand the escape of a slave as a normal reaction to slavery and certainly not a mental disorder. Homosexuality was a personality disorder until the 70s. These disorders are partly a product of the time. Humans have a need to analyse patterns, to bring order.

However, that doesn't mean that all such disorders should be dismissed as rubbish. If there are symptoms to treat, then no matter what the label, there is a duty/need to treat.

We also should not forget the influence of drugs companies. It is, after all, their business to get us all buying their wares. Dementia drugs are, on the whole, useless at either slowing or halting the disease. Yet, they are still prescribed as a matter of course. Medicalising us all is big business.

Must get back to this. Life got busy, but with a few days off, no more waiting. Great strategy game.

Wishing you all the best, Tom.

@kenzo Thanks for that. I'd heard about the Huntington's progress, but not that it had been linked to dementia as well. Could be a very promising lead in any case and added to the work on the glymphatic system, maybe we're finally getting somewhere.

I'd love this to be true, but the truth at the moment is that no-one has any idea of the exact pathology of Alzheimer's. The medications target amyloid plaques, but those amyloid plaques are found in the brains of healthy individuals aswell. Something else is going on and research is at a basic level still. Finding a cure or way to protect the brain from atrophy is therefore not possible at present. 33 volunteers is not a representative sample. We're way too far off. Keeping brain and body active is about the best we can do as a stab at a way to prevent this disease.

I'd love this to be true, but I fear that it just isn't.

Saving this as my festive wind-down treat.

I wonder if part of the reason Switch didn't get apps in the beginning was to make sure people would take to it as a gaming console. With all the apps, it might be considered just another tablet by some. Redefinition was essential following the Wii U.

There may also have been some worry that apps would hog resources and there was worry about processing power in the beginning too. People had to be convinced that games run well (or well enough).

Though not exactly positives, I can kind of see the logic behind such reasoning.

Also, wonder how on board streaming services were in the beginning. It's different now that Switch is established more.

I'm not sure I see the problem with the review score. It reads to me like the game is great because it's very realistic, but that the steep learning curve will be too much for many.

There are ways that could be improved, no? more basic tutorials? It's not that it's niche as such, it's that the way the game is presented (in at the deep end) make it less appealing generally. It's really good at what it does only if you can access it through that learning curve. That's what I got.

Anyway, just my opinion. I think I might quite like it, but at the moment there are just too many games.

As I've already played 1+2, I'll likely skip them at this price and just get 3, even though it reviews less well. Maybe down the road, if I can get it cheap...

Still playing Rabbids! Then Odyssey and a few 3DS games. Will get Rime, Lego, Skyrim and LA Noire, but am overloaded with games for now. Will have to investigate Pocket Camp too.

On the fence about Syberia. Love it, but already played 1 and 2 and 3 reviewed poorly and will be expensive on Switch.

No intel on amiibo compatibility? That surprises me considering how many cards there are. I suppose Apple's stance on NFC messes with that idea.

Anyway, seems like a decent effort on Nintendo's part. Already about 1000 times the draw that amiibo Festival had.

@NinjaSyao I'm with you! It was excruciatingly hard to adapt to the controls, but extremely satisfying once I had.

Will likely only appeal to those expressly looking for a different kind of challenge, but brilliant if that's your thing.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE I agree. Stick It To The Man is great.

I'm tempted by Syberia, but not at that price. The new entry has reviewed quite poorly, so I hope to pick that up cheap in a little while. The older 2 entries I already have on PC and it will require a huge discount to get me to rebuy on Switch.

Will probably pick up the season pass for Rabbids when I eventually start it.

@RyanSilberman May I offer some tips? Interact with all characters and take note of what they say. Click on anything that can be clicked on. Try every object on every interactive item, even if they seem unrelated. That usually does it in the end.

Just started the video and the game plopped through the letter box. Nice! Hope it cheers me up.

There's been just about enough for me at the moment and I picked up 5 eshop exclusives, but awaiting announced games to be released. Not much interested in the majority of what's available (which is probably true for most people), but apart from the AAA multiplats (that really don't look as if they're coming imo), there seems to be a fair enough spread for the first few months.

Also, always try to get physical if possible because of resale value and lower initial price.

The other thing is that the 3DS still has me buying games for that and PS4 too, so never stuck for something to play.

Still getting over the excitement of my piece of meat and two apples in Zelda s

Might give 3souls a go at £1.60. Was always interested in how the emotion mechanic played out.

And 30 coins expiring at the end of month, so the theme probably too.

Great! Loving the point-and-click revival.

@DanteSolablood Put that way, I can see the merit of it and the description in this article makes it sound like a lot of thought has gone into it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/8741218/Cup-Noodle-museum-opens-in-Japan.html

It's all in the presentation, I guess.

There's a Cup Noodle Museum? Sounds on a par with the Lawnmower Museum.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE Feeling the same way. Picking this up now.