WhiteUmbrella

I can't help remembering all the heat I took here, before Switch 2 released, when I wrote that while Switch 2 would win out a docked comparison, it would be outperformed by Steam Deck as a handheld. I don't expect anyone to retract the heat they sent my way, that's just not the way it goes. Maybe just take your L's privately, or at least remember them next time you decide to go off at me. You know who you are.

Soon enough, anyone that wishes to boycott any project that involves the use of A.I will just have to give up modern gaming entirely. That's just how it it's going to be.

@progx I think that the number of PC's sold for productivity vs gaming wouldn't be a very useful insight, unless it only includes PC's sold to private individuals for home use, since just about every business would require at least one computer, and an awful lot of business have a lot of them. Regarding native Linux, yes I agree that is odd expectation now, but if Microsoft aren't careful, Steam OS could push them out of gaming as the de facto operating system for gaming on PC. Windows is bloated.

@progx Mac may have 20% of the pc hardware market, but only around 1-2.5% of the pc gaming market. That is likely what the person you are quoting was referring to, so perhaps it's not as funny as you thought.

I don't own a Switch 2, but if I did, I wouldn't use a third-party dock that didn't have a fan or fans that at least match the specification of the fan in the official dock. That seems like a bad idea.

Nintendo absolutely are bricking the consoles. Retracting access to online services means that backwards compatibility won't function, game keys also can't be used, as well as any Switch 2 carts that require an update. No registering new users, access to the store or online play. It can be turned on, but the console is so gimped functionality-wise, it's practically e-waste at that point.
Nintendo aren't just doing this in response to insertion of a MIG cartridge (a legal device in many jurisdictions), but also in response to user names it considers undesirable. Apparently someone was banned for using a key purchased from a third-party seller.
Sony was challenged in respect to banning PS5 consoles, by the same Brazilian consumer protection body. They lost, and were forced to reverse the bans. This is just the first consumer protection body to challenge Nintendo over this, it's just the tip of a very bad PR iceberg.
What about right to repair legislation vs modification? I see trouble ahead for NIntendo.

@MegaChem Most people posting comments on this story will be doing so from the perspective of a consumer, not a corporation or an investor. Why should I care about Nintendo's or third-parties' margins? Nintendo is one of the richest companies in Japan.
If you need to exclude physical games to argue an advantage for game keys over digital, you just don't have a valid argument? Who is it beneficial to, then? All the Nintendo gamers who switched to digital, but now would switch back to game keys so they could trade their games in? This is a phantom group that doesn't exist.

@MegaChem The "bonus" of being able to share game keys, is something you could do with a physical game just as easily. Why not just have an actual physical cart?

@Rayquaza2510 PS5 games come on 4K blu-ray discs, not standard blu-rays. The read speed varies between 72/144MB per second, depending on the disc, and the discs are either 50/75/100gb. I'm guessing you don't buy 4K movies on disc, since 35MB per second wouldn't be enough for just the video, let alone the sound.

@Killercrab PS5 and Xbox series X have BDXL drives, which can support discs up to 128gb capacity. Some games come on two discs. Around 75%-80% of PS5 games can be played with no update. Some discs are short of some data, but the concept that PS5/PS4 discs are all keys is flat out wrong.

When asked, the top reason for those who buy a digital library is "convenience". There are no end of commenters stating that they "don't see the issue". If you have a digital library, for convenience, why would you want a fake physical format, that makes you install your games, but need to swap carts, like a physical game? Those who buy physical titles now have to download and buy extra storage, and lose the plug and play aspect of physical games. These game key cards benefit neither end-user, at all.
If physical game buyers are such a minority, as some claim, then why would there be a need for physical titles at all? Either their sales do matter, or they don't. If key-cards exist to retain a retail presence, that is not a valid reason. Nintendo and their partners need to pick a lane. If they want to abandon genuine physical games, just do it then. If we, those who insist on having our games on the cart, are such a minority, they won't lose sleep over the lost sales. If we do matter, however, then they should row back this nonsense put out games on a proper cartridge and/or digital. Not this fake garbage that serves no-one except their profit margins.

@BBBBBBBBBBB Maybe you should have done a better search, yourself. Switch 2 game cards aren't micro sd express cards, so the sizes they are available in is irrelevant.

I'll consider Sega to have been revived when the company finally launches new hardware.

@thedicemaster Ok, it seems you're a committed Defendo. You'll be in good company here. I'm obviously not going to convince you of anything that even approaches reality. Bye now.

@thedicemaster Nintendo filed numerous patents after Palworld released, and then used them to sue Pocketpair, instead of responding to the success of Palworld by improving Pokemon, to compete. Nintendo also go after fan projects, youtube channels.
They didn't create ray tracing. All this will do, if these patents have any future value, is to stifle development by competitors. Anyone who thinks that Switch 2 has sufficient power overhead for any meaningful ray tracing, well I have a bridge to sell you.

Nintendo need to be stopped, in their obvious bid to become the world's largest patent troll organisation.

@sethfranum We've never had a conversation before, but I have read plenty of your posts. I don't mean to be rude, but firstly, your posts are commonly just one step away from word salad. It's difficult to understand what you are trying to say, exactly.
Secondly, you're clearly not in a position to lecture me on understanding copyright or any other law, for that matter.
EULA and TOS are not legally binding, where they contravene the law in any given jurisdiction. Nintendo cannot just write things into law, and the law will have the final say on any issue.
Copyright law is completely irrelevant to this conversation.
The only thing a MIG cartridge does, is enable backing up of files, in this case game files, which is a completely legal action within the U.S. The company that sells the device does not distribute ROMs, nor do they use any Nintendo software. The fact that anyone who uses a MIG cartridge can then use it to play their back-ups on the Switch directly from a sd card inserted into the MIG cartridge is incidental. No circumvention of any security measures happens in this instance. The Switch console plays the files from the MIG cartridge, just as if it were a game cartridge produced by Nintendo. If Nintendo wanted to prevent this, the onus is on them to install security measures that prevent it. No-one is going to be prosecuted for circumventing a security feature that doesn't exist.

This has less legs than Arms lol. It's not going to sell. I can applaud the representation, but do even wheelchair bound people want to be in a wheelchair in the games they play? I'm guessing the majority don't.
Also, Nintendo should have named this Dragon Drive. That might have helped.

@thedicemaster It's a moot point. The devices only need one legitimate use case to be legal. Creating back-ups is legal in the U.S. and is illegal in Europe or Japan. This is why Nintendo brought and won cases in other territories, and yet didn't even bother to try within the U.S. , because they knew they would lose in their biggest market. It's debatable what Nintendo even gained by suing over R4, because clone devices are still freely available everywhere, to this very day.

How many commenters here bought the original Switch, then bought the oled model, and denigrated the original screen, saying they couldn't go back now ... and yet are now defending the Switch 2 screen, only to repeat the same pattern, when Switch 2 oled inevitably releases? I don't need to point any fingers, you know who you are.

The example videos are slowed down in order to demonstrate why the Switch 2 screen can look blurry in motion, by demonstrating the screen's frame persistence, the root of the problem. In still or slowed down shots, it's easily apparent that objects within the frame are displaying in both their original position and their new position simultaneously. It's not going to be possible to demonstrate the appearance of the Switch screen to the naked eye, because that would require synchronising the refresh rates of both the screen being filmed and the camera filming the shot, plus a control over the refresh rate of the screen the viewer is using. The video being slowed down isn't the 'gotcha' some commenters seem to think it is.
Personally, I always deactivate motion blur in every game I play, no matter what format I play it on, because it gives me a headache. The idea of playing with compulsory motion blur is therefore, to me at least, entirely unappealing.

@thedicemaster Those were individual lawsuits, in numerous European countries, UK and Japan. There is no legal precedent in the United States, the largest market Nintendo has, by far. The right to back-ups there means Nintendo would lose. Your claim about R4 being more legitimate than MIG seems spurious, since Nintendo's claims usually revolve around bypassing their protections. MIG doesn't facilitate installation of custom firmware, for example. R4 does.

@slytherin_real I don't actually use A.I at all, at least when I can avoid it. I am curious what would lead you to draw that conclusion, though. What are you doing, Dave?

@PJOReilly In response, and as someone who has frequently criticised Nintendo lately, I went back to your article and read it carefully. I wouldn't level a boot-loving accusation at you, and in my opinion your article was balanced and fairly neutral, but I do notice that you refer to the MIG cartridge as a device that enables piracy, effectively leaving out the idea that it has a legitimate use. If the MIG cartridge was only an avenue to illegal activity, Nintendo would likely already have successfully sued for a legal injunction. In light of this, Nintendo's actions in response to a customers legitimate use of a legally owned device amount to overreach. Personally, I truly appreciate that you are bringing attention to the issue, but if you are seen to take one side, the other will always be against you.

@sanderev That is interesting, but can we be absolutely sure that this is still possible on a Switch 2 that has an online ban?

@StewdaMegaManNerd It's effectively a legal problem. If someone purchases a Switch 2 and it stops functioning within the warranty or cooling-off period, the purchaser has a right to return that item, potentially for a refund or replacement. They haven't done anything to damage or disable the console, Nintendo has, and the buyer also won't have broken any applicable laws. A violation of an EULA isn't relevant to the refund policy of any retailer, and it's not on any given retailer to enforce the EULA of NIntendo or any other manufacturer of goods they sell.

@LexKitteh Once a Switch 2 console online access is revoked, it is no longer possible to add another user (which requires online access) or remove any user (which also requires online access). At that point, the only way to remove any, and effectively all users, is to hard reset the console, at which point there will be no users, and no way to register another. Unless it is possible to play as a guest in this circumstance, without registering a user, the console is effectively bricked.

Using a MIG cartridge is not piracy. An act of piracy would require the distribution of the game rom itself. Even someone using a rom acquired by such means is not actually guilty of piracy. A MIG cartridge can be used to back-up and play from that back-up, legitimately purchased Switch cartridges, an act which is in and of itself perfectly legal in numerous countries where the Switch and Switch 2 itself are sold. The fact that a MIG cartridge could be used with pirated software is, in such an instance, completely irrelevant. To wit, the Switch 2 console itself is perfectly legal to own, but taking that console outside and throwing it through someone's car window is not. There are already laws to govern actions outside of the law. If the MIG device is itself illegal, Nintendo already have recourse to take action against it, indeed given the company in question and their notoriously litigious nature, we may assume that were such legal action viable, Nintendo would have already taken it.
Furthermore, an EULA is not legally binding to the extent where it would contravene any existing laws applicable in the jurisdiction in which the pertinent device is being sold. To wit, Nintendo effectively disabling the purchased devices of customers, in response to their objection to the use of a perfectly legal device, having been used in such a manner that does not contravene applicable laws, on the part of the customer/user of said device, is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Mark my words.
On the plus side, I see that Nintendo corporate boots are cleaner than ever, today.

@Sambuc Whataboutisms don't make for a very convincing argument. Do you seriously think that people complaining about game key cards are in favour of empty discs and Switch 1 carts that require an update to even run? Those things already attract plenty of criticism from those that care about them, and the existence of other compromised forms of media don't validate Nintendo following suit with game key cards.

@AussieMcBucket This is a strange use of the word "appropriate" ... like in the HR sense? Or perhaps you mean they're not comparable, in the same way that I scoff when people talk about Switch sales beating PS2, which is ridiculous in the context of the market Switch selling into being three times the size of the market PS2 was competing in. I don't think PS2 had a very strong software attachment rate, anyway. PS2 will never be beaten, because that would require a time machine.
All that said, Wii U was indeed Nintendo's fastest ever selling console at launch. Their best launch ever ... it just didn't last.

@AussieMcBucket
In Japan, Wii U sold 308,570 units in the first 48 hours, but took 33 weeks to reach the million mark.

In The United States, Wii U sold 400,000 units in the first week, and reached 890,000 units after 48 days had passed.

@NinChocolate "Switch 2’s game cards are also more expensive being limited to 64GB and using “express” data transfer speeds."

This is a direct quote from your own post. If you go back and edit it, everyone will know. You literally claim express data transfer speeds, and then deny doing so. Are you trolling?

@NinChocolate Switch 2 game cards don't use sd express data transfer speeds. Loading via game card is faster on Switch 2 than on Switch 1, but this may be down to available bandwidth rather than improvement in storage speed. Switch 2 carts are slower than sd express, which itself is slower than Switch 2 internal storage. Don't spread misinformation.

@Truegamer79 " Look what happened with Doom the dark ages. It's a download in a box but people still bought it."

Did they, though? Doom Eternal sold 3 million copies in its first month. Current data available suggests Doom: The Dark Ages has yet to crack one million sales. That's a big sales drop off.
I didn't buy it, or Forza Horizon 5, or Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, solely because they don't exist as true physical copies, if at all. I might pick them up on sale via Steam, at some point, but I'm never going to pay full price day one for a download on a console. It's just not going to happen, and I'm not alone in discriminating against games they don't have proper physical releases. I even import games to get around it.

The idea that my collections of physical media, both movies and games, are just "clutter" is just a bad faith argument. We aren't talking about bundles of old newspapers or empty bottles, here.
My collection is already worth significantly more than I paid for it, a value that, logically, is only going to increase if physical copies become harder to come by.

@Suketoudara Regarding buying third party titles digitally on PC rather than on Switch not making sense, actually it makes perfect sense. The handheld PC will likely be stronger hardware, with more versatility in what it can do. Storage will be cheaper, online won't be paywalled, chat won't be paywalled. Using any controller you want to. The opportunity to use even stronger hardware in future, upgrading those games without having to pay another fee for the increase in fidelity, also not having to buy the very same games again just to play them on new hardware. Better and more frequent sales. The opportunity to actually buy some games as downloads DRM free (GOG) actually purchasing the games, not just a licence. Those games, all you need do is buy a disc drive, and you can write them to a disc yourself.There are plenty of reasons I'm sure someone else could chime in with the ones I missed.

Edit: I thought I'd add this one too, since I missed it, and it's pretty fundamental. If you buy a game on Steam and you decide you don't like it, as long as your play time is less than two hours, there is a no quibble full refund policy. You just ask for a refund and you will get it.

I love Wind Waker. If I want to play it, I can just use my Wii U, which is still hooked up and ready to go. My physical copy is still sealed, which I bought after playing the download version, which I got from Nintendo for free, as a reward for buying Mario Kart 8 physically. Those were the days.

"The low internal resolutions that typify a lot of early Switch 2 software."

Ouch. Faint praise indeed.

I just checked PlayAsia ... the listing doesn't seem to be live.

I can't believe how many people are complaining that Nintendo hasn't done anything to mitigate Joy-con drift, when they clearly have. Nintendo changed the EULA so they can't be sued over the drifting, which is the thing that finally forced Nintendo to offer repairs last time, so don't worry about NIntendo, guys. They'll be just fine this time around.

Invoking Iwata's name, as if Switch 2 would have even happened under his leadership, is ridiculous. Any and all the writers at Nintendolife should surely know this. All you need to do, to realise that Iwata would not have been in favour of Switch 2, is to watch and listen to him unveiling DS at E3. The Nintendo of today is absolutely not the same company as it was, back then.

£75/$100 for a standard release of any game, on any format, is just too high, and I will never pay it. At least on PlayStation, Xbox and PC, it's possible to be patient and wait for the price to come down. Nintendo rarely ever discount their games, and if they do, the discount is tiny. This is not going to work out well for them.

The information about Xbox working on their own handheld was confirmed by Phil Spencer long before anything was heard of their partnership with ROG. The rumours that have been bouncing around, for a long time, is that Xbox are considering Steam integration, in whatever their next hardware is, effectively making a console/pc hybrid device. Hybrid ... a popular word around here.
If true, this could be quite destabilising. Suddenly, any PlayStation Studios games that come to pc, would be playable on Xbox hardware. Would this make PlayStation pull back from the pc market? If they have any plans to increase day and date (which is already in place for live service titles) this could actually prevent or discourage Sony from doing that. I don't own a Series console, and have no interest in subscription models or empty discs, but anyone suggesting that Xbox intend to bow out of hardware is just spouting fanboy nonsense. They have no intention of doing that.

@Willo567 My PC, which cost around £3000 to build, has 64gb dual channel RAM@6400mhz. Switch 2 doesn't have 256gb RAM. It has 256gb of internal storage. Memory and storage shouldn't be confused. I can hardly believe that you received two likes, and nobody else challenged this, but here we are.

As everyone already knows by now, Arms doesn't have legs.

A viable alternative to having analogue triggers, is to use the right stick for acceleration and braking, with shifting mapped to L1/R1. This configuration was possible in the first Gran Turismo. Analogue braking and acceleration is just fundamental to driving simulation.

I think it might be better to try to tell a story within the world of Elden Ring, rather than try to encompass the entire game in one film. The budget to recreate the entire game world as a movie would be untenable. I second rjejr's recommendation of Guillermo del Toro. I'm also a fan of Alex Garland, but he seems a strange choice for this.

Personally, I have no interest in a discussion on absolutely anything, where negativity isn't allowed. I would prefer discourse which genuinely reflects the barometer of opinion, otherwise it's just fake.

This seems like something that, when they detect you're using it, Nintendo might decide to brick your console.