Comments 136

Re: Guide: The Best Nintendo Switch Micro SD Cards

Snader

@rjejr "It is when the external get fulls and you are sitting there having to move stuff onto your empty internal by hand, which is slower than it should be."

I understand your frustration, but seems to me more of an annoyance than a real hurdle; it's not like you have to figure out a way to make it work as if Nintendo blocked the ability to do it entirely.

@JaxonH "The only device on the market that offers something close to what you describe is Xbox One, and even it will not let you choose where to install on the spot."

I believe Xbox360 always asks with every action which storage you want to use.

Re: Guide: The Best Nintendo Switch Micro SD Cards

Snader

@rjejr How does it turn off your Wii U's internal storage? Downloads will automatically save to the USB-storage when it's plugged in, but you're able to move the gamedata freely afterwards between internal storage and USB-storage on Wii U. That's why I place savegames and gamedata of more social games on the internal storage, so I don't have to bring the USB-storage if I take the Wii U with me to a friends house.

Re: Editorial: Pricing Blunders Have Distorted The Narrative Around Nintendo Switch

Snader

@tanasten "OK, the system is a portable and has Wii-like controllers, but many gamers may have not care about these features, because we are in an era that friends meet on the PlayStation to play games instead of meeting into the park."

Than maybe Nintendo is not the company and the Switch not the system for you or them. For each their own.

"Switch is noticeably less powerful, has a ridiculous internal 32GB memory, people doubts it will get the big IPs and if they get any, will look far worse, and with that panorama, it's far expensive!"

I haven't seen yet that Switch is noticeably less powerful. It runs Zelda Breath of the Wild on 900p on 30fps, like many games on Xbox One, so I find that comparable. Also Mario Kart on 1080p on 60fps. And these are just the first games for it.
Because Switch uses SD-card like Game Cards for their games with high read/write-speeds games don't need to be partially installed on the system itself to runs smoothly, like when playing from optimal media, so you don't need a 500GB or 1TB harddrive.
Unfortunately I can't ease peoples doubt if 3rd party support will or won't come to Switch. I think it all depends on how big the install base will be. If it sells like hotcakes, big IP's will come to Switch, because the market would be to big to ignore. But if they come, they won't look "far worse". We have to wait for real benchmark results, but Switch is more powerful than Wii U by quite a degree and the Wii U was more powerful than PS3 and Xbox360, but was too different from those systems to easily ports games from them. My guess is the Switch is not much weaker than Xbox One. Besides many titles on PS4 en Xbox One already ran on PS3 and Xbox360, only had a graphical overhaul on current gen, so I don't expect Switch having much trouble, considering mayor engines, like Unreal 4 and Unity, are already on board.

Re: Editorial: Pricing Blunders Have Distorted The Narrative Around Nintendo Switch

Snader

I think the pricing of the Switch package itself is entirely justified. It's a new piece of technology, so when it launches it will have a premium price at first. PS4 was $400 at launch and Xbox One was $500, both didn't have a pack-in game, so there is already a considerable price difference there. And consumers had to put down extra money to play anything on those systems at launch.

The fact Nintendo fans expect a pack-in game with the purchase of a new generation console is due to Nintendo's own practises with their last two consoles, because Sony and Microsoft haven't done this, as far as I know.

People can argue the Xbox One S and Playstation 4 Slim are now cheaper than Switch, but those are revised versions, which always come down the line of a console lifespan when the production costs come down through mass production and more efficiency by optimalization of the production proces. Regarding that Nintendo finds itself in a weird position by launching new hardware halfway the other company's console generation. Doesn't mean Switch isn't worth the money.

I agree the price of additional accessories seems steep, but none are needed to play Switch out of the box. The Pro Controller has the same functionality as when you put the Joy-Cons in the Grip, the Charging Grip is convenient, but the Joy-Cons can be charged when placed on Switch (and since the batteries of the Joy-Cons last about 20 hours, that would give you enough playtime before having to charge). An extra dock removes the hassle of taking the dock from for example the living room to the bedroom if you want to play there, but you can still do that if 90 bucks grinds your gears. Or you can play in portable mode.
Extra controllers have always been a pricey business, but considering you get 2 controllers with the system, there is no immediate need to buy more to enjoy multiplayer. Paying $80 for extra controllers with the same functionality as full fledged Wii Remotes and then some, I think it's worth it. Particularly for party games you would want 2 extra controllers. 3 extra controllers on other systems would amount to somewhere between €150 and €165 here in the Netherlands and that's when checking on budget gamesites. Maybe people don't regard them as full fledges controllers, because they are so small, but that is a bad argument.

I think it is all a matter of perspective.

Edit: And it is really too bad for Brits their currency is taking a hit, so products will be more expensive than they're used to...

Re: Talking Point: Considering the Paid Online Service for the Nintendo Switch

Snader

@Yorumi For me the whole discussion of Steam vs consoles is mute, since Steam doesn't offer the Nintendo games I want to play. I've been seduces to buy dozens of games on Steam that I've never played, because I always wind up playing on one of my consoles.

Futhermore I rarely play online, so I don't see myself jumping on the Nintendo paid online service. I'll just wait and see what it will cost and what it will offer.

Re: Talking Point: Considering the Paid Online Service for the Nintendo Switch

Snader

@Yorumi I shouldn't feed this discussion, because it's becoming a yuh uh nuh uh discussion, but I assume the servers of your little MMO are of very little interest to hackers, whereas Microsofts $500 million costing Azure server infrastructure, on which Xbox Live is currently running, would be. So they need to make it as secure as possible, which will require constant upkeeping through regular maintenance. That costs money.

And as I said before, as far as I can't find Microsoft won't let developers use their own servers if developers want to be available on Xbox Live, so Microsoft is providing the servers.

About your repeated argument that almost all multiplayer games are P2P: someone needs to be the host of the game. If it's 1v1, I'm sure one can be the host and provide the game for the other, but when it's a game of Mario Kart with 8 online players, I don't think one of their Wii U's or Switches will play as host, because you can't be sure their upload speed will be enough to make the game runs smooth for everyone. So I pretty sure it is hosted on a server.

Re: Talking Point: Considering the Paid Online Service for the Nintendo Switch

Snader

Nintendo has now two new partners who could be very important to their online experience: DeNA and Nvidia. DeNA has experience in mobile games with social elements which require netcode that supports vast amount of users playing at the same time without interruption and Nvidia is supplying existing serverparks with their latest GeForce technology for their service GeForce Now. The same technology can be used in Nintendo's servers or maybe Nintendo will be using Nvidia's servers.

Re: Talking Point: Considering the Paid Online Service for the Nintendo Switch

Snader

@Yorumi "Long-time gaming industry leader Electronic Arts (EA) originally wouldn't produce Live Enabled games for Xbox because Microsoft wouldn't allow them to use their own servers. In 2004, Microsoft struck a deal with EA, and now EA produces Live Enabled games for the Xbox [source: Electronic Arts]"

And from John Bruno Lead Program Manager Xbox Live in 2013:
"Our intent was to enable developers to take advantage of server resources in their games without having to deal with the challenges that come with building, managing and running servers at scale. So, we chose to provide cloud features that allow the game creators to push the limits of their gameplay experiences and apply the bulk of their investments to game creation, rather than server and operational resources. In fact, we even give them the cloud computing power for FREE so they can more easily transition to building games on Xbox One for the cloud."

So to me, according to several information sources that I can find, it seems that Microsoft is footing the bill for servers that multiplayer games are running on, not the developers of the games.

I would very much like to see the sources you get your information from.

Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Will Require a 3GB Install on Wii U

Snader

@Marshi Aonuma has stated that the gameplay on both systems will give the same experience, but there will be higher resolution and faster loading times. I imagine Mario Kart 8 and eventually Smash Bros. 4 port won't differ much visually from their Wii U counterpart.

That is not to say those games could be made to look better on Switch if they take the time to implement more advanced shader/lighting and whatnot. But why would they? All these games have a particular artstyle, which is more proof to aging than the "hyperrealism" of other games. So to cut down on development costs and free the developers up for other games, I don't expect them to make the effort.

For that reason, I won't buy Mario Kart and the eventual Smash Bros. and I really doubt I will buy Splatoon 2. I haven't put in enough time in the first game to justify purchasing a second game in the franchise.

Re: Nintendo Switch Memory Can Be Expanded Up To 2TB

Snader

@Alucard83 Both PS4's and Xbox Ones HDD's are 5400rpm, which are relatively cheap and SLOW, although still faster than reading from optical disc. That's why most games need to be installed to the HDD to avoid even longer loading times. So a large HDD is essential in those systems.
Because the Switch uses game cards, which are in essence small SDD's, the load times will be much faster and it won't be necessary to install the game on the internal 32 GB memory first before playing the game. So the internal memory is only used for patches and digital purchases. There could even be the possibility patches get stored on the game cards themselves, so it doesn't even claim your intern storage.
If you go all digital you'll need to buy a MicroSD for that sole purpose. But plenty of people, probably the majority won't, so it would be unfair for those consumers to have to pay for something they probably wont use.
And you wouldn't be happy if Nintendo put in a 256 GB SSD; it would make the Switch even more expensive, which would shrink the install base.

Re: ​Pachter Says Switch is the Easiest of the Big Three to Develop For

Snader

@readyletsgo I don't think it's that obvious that it won't be as strong as the competition, because of the differences between the ARM and x86 architecture. Apparently NVidia is capable to get more performance out of the same amount of teraflops as AMD. It probably won't be as strong, but don't count it out just yet.

Until now Nintendo used PowerPC architecture, which was basically already outdated more than 10 years ago. Look how the huge Power G5 Mac running on PowerPC architecture (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Mac_G5) got outperformed a year later bij the tiny Mac Mini (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Mini) running on x86 architecture, while the form factor is many times smaller.

Probably Nintendo kept using PowerPC, because they know this architecture inside out, but eventually they had to abandon it. I get the feeling by adopting ARM full on (which they of course already used in their 3DS) they skip an architecture iteration in their home consoles and are looking directly to the future. The close co-operation with NVidia is proof of that.

Re: Video: Watch Jimmy Fallon Play Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch

Snader

"Watch Jimmy Fallon Play Breath of the Wild on the Nintendo Switch"

He walked up a hill and pressed Y 3 times... Chilling gameplaysegment!

Too bad Nintendo uses his show to promote their products, because he's just an unfunny spaz, but on the other hand he's probably the only talkshowhost that has any affinity with Nintendo...

Re: Soapbox: In The Wii U's Final Days, Let's Be Thankful For Lego Dimensions

Snader

I play all Lego games in co-op with a friend and that's why I buy all those games for Wii U, because using the separate screen of the GamePad for player 1 and the tv for player 2 is ideal!
We're gotten used to Lego games crashing once in a while: game freezes and there is a loud EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! We always laugh it away, as well as the other bugs (cracking sounds, players getting stuck). We largely manage to work around them.

So far Lego Dimensions hasn't crashed on us yet, but we only played it for two evenings now. And now when your figure gets stuck, you just physically scoop it up from the portal and place it again. Real handy

Re: A New Update is Rolling Out for Pokémon GO

Snader

@Crimzonlogic I successfully tracked down a Pikachu yesterday, which I didn't have yet, just by changing directions and see how the nearby Pokémon indicator changed. So in a way it works, but I guess you want it to be easier. So you're more a collector than a hunter

Re: Nintendo Switch Will Be a Single-Screen Experience

Snader

This is gonna be offtopic, but I was thinking. Aonuma said regarding Breath of the Wild: “I’m not going to create something where the users are going to have a different experience [on Wii U and Switch]”
So I'm searching for footage of or since E3 of people using motion controls of the GamePad to aim their arrows, which we've seen Aonuma and Miyamoto use in the first few sneak peak gameplay footage. This would confirm motion controls for Switch for me, but I can't find it! Anybody?

Re: Nintendo of America Issues Takedown Request on AM2R, Ending the Project

Snader

@Bolt_Strike "Imagine if a kid brings their ball to play with their friends to play. Then suddenly, one day the kid decided he doesn't want to play anymore and he decides to just sit on it and watch the other kids. Would you let your kid do that? Do you think that's really fair to let him act like that and deprive the rest of the kids of the fun? Of course not, you'd probably take the ball away and give the ball to the kids."

The way I read this, is YOU are the owner of the ball and NOT YOUR KID. So in that case you have the right to take the ball away from your kid and give it to the other kids to have fun, because it's YOUR ball, YOUR decision.

Now image YOUR kid doesn't want to let the other kids play with his ball and A COMPLETE STRANGER comes and takes the ball away from your kid and gives it WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION to the other kids to play with. What would you as a parent do? I'll bet you'll take it back.

Re: Nintendo of America Issues Takedown Request on AM2R, Ending the Project

Snader

@Loui What's so special about a 30 year anniversary, that it needs to be celebrated with a special game release? Do you expect them to celebrate an anniversary every 5 years? Considering it takes them 5 years to make their Zelda games, it could work, but with expectations of an anniversary celebration you're setting a deadline to the release dates of their games, regardless if they are ready for release, like too many companies nowadays do.

Someone remembers Assassin's Creed Unity or de PC version of Arkham Knight at release? The patch for ACU was 6.3GB, AK's was 2.4GB, as far as I can find. Considering Wii U only comes with 32GB, that's a huge chunk of the available storage for something that should've worked right in the first place.

Nintendo doesn't work that way. They want to test and fix their games as good as possible before releasing. So pushing game releases just to meet an (anniversary celebration) deadline is not smart thinking.

Re: Weirdness: It's Crazy To Think That Pokémon GO Wouldn't Exist Without Google's April Fool's Prank

Snader

@PlywoodStick I don't see how this is any different than any other app that asks your permission to access your location data, like Google Maps, Ingress, Facebook, Untappd, Twitter, Foursquare, Uber, and so on and so forth. Those companies all gather this data for meta use. And people are ok with granting those apps the access, so why would it suddenly be an issue now it concerns Pokémon?

Re: Ubisoft Hails Nintendo As "One Of The Best Partners In The World"

Snader

@Snow-Dust Ubisoft shouldn't be blamed for making Rayman Legends multiplatform (the more players can enjoy is, the better), but for postponing the version for Wii U to launch the game simultaneously on all platforms. Wii U owners had to wait 7 months on a game that was ready to ship. This courtesy is never extended to Wii U, when it's the other way around (i.e. Watch Dogs).