shazbot

@sixrings Fair enough. I can understand that you prioritize different things than me.

For me, I haven't played Pikmin (or any of the Wii U stuff) and I can understand why Wii U owners are pissed at Nintendo.

I don't think we need to rehash why people are displeased at EA, but my understanding is that Pikmin 3 has several new added modes (including co-op for the main campaign). From a gaming perspective I personally would prefer new features / gameplay over graphical upgrades, but given the Switch's mild power improvement over Wii U, I can understand how rendering the same scene twice would prevent it from getting bumped to 1080/60.

But, to each their own. Thanks for explaining your position better.

@sixrings thanks for the reply.

Clarification, you think that Nintendo's behavior is worse than EA's because the resolution and framerates are lower? Would you be okay with reduced complexity to boost them?

My understanding is switch is slightly more powerful than WiiU, so I'm personally ok with ports that run the same as the Wii U; it's a port, not a remaster.

And to your second point, thar same argument can be made re: Nintendo. You're getting the game on the box? They're not hiding the ball, why are you not okay with that?

It seems strange, you seem upset about Nintendo not releasing dramatically new games years later on another platform, but nonchalant about EA releasing the exact same reskinned game repeatedly on the same platform. I just don't understand how Nintendo's behavior is worse in your estimation, let alone comparable.

Unless your only metric is fps / res, which to each their own but I'll state remains strange to me.

@KryptoniteKrunch Not on switch, we don't buy Madden 😥 mutant league football, anyone?

@sixrings But do you agree that these are at least different tiers of seriousness?

One is a rerelease of code first written for the platform for the 2018 edition, and already published twice in 19 and 20 with new kit.

The other, even if not upgraded, is at least new code running on a new platform, even if you (and many others) feel they're lazy ports, at least they're ports not rereleases.

It's a false equivalence. Or do you disagree?

@damo Time to stop feeding the trolls.

@sixrings There's definitely outrage in the comments section. And it's not unmentioned, it's just not as egregious as doing it 3 times on the same system in consecutive years. I would say the first warrants disappointment, the latter warrants this review.

This kind of garbage is what happens when companies buy exclusive rights to sports leagues.

There's no competition with the FIFA license, so no incentive to do more than iterate (or in this case, rerelease).

I remember when 2K sports and EA were head to head every year across a range of sports, and -surprise surprise! - we got significant, competing innovations every year (though not all were successful).

Sad to see a wasted license, and sad to know that even if madden came out on switch it would be some nerfed garbage.

@johnvboy Thank you. That's exactly the point I've been trying to make. Their statements mean jack.

@Deltath I'm sorry, but I disagree.

"they have not thought about new models"

"Nintendo currently has no plans to make new Switch console models, company president Shuntaro Furukawa says."

Unless you do not consider the switch lite a new model, or believe the plans/thoughts came after these are at best misrepresentations and at worst lies.

Again, the point I'm making is not whether or not Nintendo 'legally' didn't lie.

The point is if Nintendo says no, having implies no, or if Nintendo says "Shuntaro Furukawa: we have no plan to launch new Switch models or lower the console price" and doesn't disambiguate their statement, it could still mean new hardware in 6 months.

I'm not saying a pro does exist, I'm just saying we can't trust vaguely, or carefully, or clearly worded statements.

@Ryu_Niiyama Again, I'm not a Nintendo apologist, nor a hater, but I distinctly recall denials. From the articles I linked, do you think R&D for lite was less than 6 months?

Smaller node for tegra, attached Joycons, new molding, new surface, smaller battery size, smaller screen and they had "no plans" in January? Pull the other one.

The point I'm making is when Nintendo says "no/no plans" you could still have fresh hardware in your hands 6 months later.

That said, happy with my switch.

@Ryu_Niiyama No. It wasn't.

It's buried under the announcements now, but they were flat denials, like this and this.

They did the same thing with the New 3DS and New 2DS.

I'm not mad at them, but they were not non-committal at first. They said no, then they said not at E3. Then they announced Switch Lite.

@Ryu_Niiyama You're not wrong...BUT Nintendo also swore on a stack of Bibles no hardware revisions were coming last year and then Switch Lite and Gen 2.

@Pandaman Thanks for replying, and for the interesting read.

I think in principle, changes in graphical fidelity and streaming are infrastructure dependent. Hardware changes such as 5G, or server blade upgrading can (in theory) translate into improvements in user experience graphically or in terms of latency.

But the most celebrated innovations in history are conceptual - BoTW isn't celebrated just for it's portability. It's fun, and says yes to the things you want to do, and happens to be portable. I think Odyssey (realistically) could be ported to Stadia, Luna, xCloud without serious compromises. The only concern (today) would be latency.

There definitely are hardware innovations, some successful and some not. I think now, in light of history, it's clear gyroscopic motion control was a bigger and longer lasting (i.e. true) innovation over the Wii's sensor bar. At the same time, there is gimmicky (though fun) innovation like Samba de Amigo, or the Donkey Kongas.

Regardless, I agree that in general hardware innovation can open interesting avenues of creativity, but there's nothing stopping web-enabled Rock Band accessories that can hook into any (or none) of the streaming services on offer.

Overall I enjoyed reading this piece, but am I the only one who thinks Alan is conflating input innovation for innovation in general?

I think the core thesis needs amending as there are lots of examples of gameplay innovation that occurred without hardware (and specifically controller) changes. Conceptual innovation is the foundation of the industry, as he acknowledges when speaking about jumpman and momentum.

And, with exclusive studios and releases, controller-specific titles that take advantage of unique features can occur that become 'ecosystem sellers'. Just as there are consoles exclusives now.

I just think we confuse overall game output increase with a reduction in innovation, when in fact there are more indies and companies like Nintendo doing crazy stuff with what we have now than ever before.

Could be the opposite, where Zelda mechanics were added, and stripped back once the backlash occurred. Seems that way with the fire / glide mechanic at least?

What's more interesting to me is whether or not it's fun? Can it tide us over till breath of evil?

@PBandSmelly If there's anybody I'd bet on being able to transition into this space, it's Amazon.

They were a book seller originally.

Now they likely have the best, or at least one of the best, cloud-server infrastructures in the world, the best online marketplace for physical goods, one of the best supply chain and logistics networks of anyone in the US, and some of the best AI and predictive analytics in the world.

If latency and network stability really is the biggest issue with getting streaming working, I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon was one of the first to figure it out.

@RupeeClock Agreed.

@damo I think the headline is misleading, they've clearly precluded announcing it at TGS, but they haven't denied acquisition rumors, they have denied acquisition announcement rumors.

@Lindhardt Unfortunately, Nintendo (so far) never discounts its published title below 33%. At least according to Deku Deals.

'Stunning AAA-quality' game with stunning AAA quality price?

It's not purportedly up, it's still there.

https://play.nintendo.com/parents/game-finder/

Just select nintendo Switch from the drop down.

EDIT: Since remove sometime in the last 6 hours.

Is anyone else noticing that this game just sips battery?

Played a lot last night and this morning (3-4 hours) in handheld for 64 and sunshine, and I'm at 50% on a gen 1.

Also, what do we think the chances are that this and jumprope challenge end up gated behind the MyNintendo Rewards, like with the picross stuff?

@alexybubble @Purplemage yeah, similar problem. Between my brother and I we're passing 600+ and I've got them installed on 4 different microsds.

Would be nice to folder by card, but instead I just made a spreadsheet. Would much rather Nintendo spend time on games than ui that would eat memory.

It's very strange. I recall how upset people were with all the speculation, utterly convinced the collection wasn't coming, or if it was they would be individual titles. Then it was announced and people were upset about the limited release, the lack of galaxy 2, no widescreen for 64 and no 60 fps for all 3. Now it's out and the complaints are about emulation, despair that those systems won't come to NSO and no new games.

I wonder what games these people do play? I mean you're welcome to complain, but there's a ton of new and great games that have come out recently that might keep you and your ilk busy, even if you're mad about all stars 3d.

Really enjoying this. Sufficiently impressed with supergiant's previous catalogue I pre-ordered. Very glad I did.

Digital here, and have been playing it all night.

@BulbasaurusRex Sure, but I've moved continents at least 4 times since 2009 (as mentioned here), and currently don't even have a TV, hence the Switch being my console of choice.

I'm not going to rearrange my life, order a game off eBay, find my old Wii somewhere in a box on another continent and buy a TV with AV cables to play one game.

I would much rather just pickup a Switch port.

That said, I also haven't thrown any of my consoles away, they're just gathering dust somewhere.

@msvt My brother is on another continent, so if we game together / co-op NSO is required.

Plus, we're under a family sub so it's even less per head.

TBH, got more than my money's worth just playing through Joe & Mac 2 with NSO. Thought I would love additional consoles (GB/A, DS [in TATE?], N64, etc), the only thing I desperately wish they would improve for NSO is the voice chat. It's an insane setup.Everything else is gravy.

@Pariz Yeah, I left the US during the Wii lifespan and because it was region-locked no chance to pick it up. Here's hoping for DLC or a different standalone release. I don't plan on pirating it ever.

Clearly you guys didn't beat all 3 games for this review, or you would have told us it unlocks Galaxy 2, right?

Right?

I'm just sad because Galaxy 2 is the only mainline Mario I never played. Still pumped to replay these. Maybe it can finally get me away from Hollow Knight.

@rjejr I was joking - every time this year with a partner mini / indie showcase those 3 games come up. I don't think Bayo3 would qualify because it's Nintendo published.

X in roman numerals is 10, so 20XX is 2020.

Switch pro Holiday 2020 confirmed.

Gosh, that guy playing Ring Fit is having WAY too much fun.

@bigboss313 joke

Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, BotW 2 then?

I'm confused. In the image, which one is the game?

@MrBlacky I don't understand why you're taking this so contentiously. It was initially a riff about how similar their business models and fanboys are. No need to get your blood pressure up. I'm neither snippy nor argumentative.

@MrBlacky Did you memory hole yourself? Post #5? 🙄

"Since Apple is making the best ARM-based chips, it would be very cool if Nintendo and Apple could join forces for the Switch successor. Very unlikely but very cool."

And since apparently I was too subtle, I was drawing a connection between how Nintendo operates and how Apple operates, except for their hardware pricing strategy.

Here, let me show you:
"The apple switch will cost $2000," - difference in pricing strategy
"any alterations will cause warranty to void" - if you open your switch, you void your warranty
"replacement parts and fixes will be crazy expensive" - joycon replacement is USD90, or requires no joycons until they return them
"they'll deny hardware or design flaws" - joycons were not admitted as FUBAR until recently
"and you'll only be able to get games from a closed ecosystem of approved games that they get a royalty from" - Nintendo eShop
"and the fanboys will deny any of the issues and call you a shill for not drinking their kool aid..." - the shut up and deal with [insert Switch issue here]

But now that it's explained, it's ruined. Thanks. Foolish me for thinking subtlety could exist on the Internet.

Not a superhero, but has a 6x his own height vertical jump? Pull the other one, Nintendo.

How great would it be if the key feature of Switch Pro was themes and folders? No hardware changes.

@MrBlacky you don't want that. The apple switch will cost $2000, any alterations will cause warranty to void, replacement parts and fixes will be crazy expensive, they'll deny hardware or design flaws and you'll only be able to get games from a closed ecosystem of approved games that they get a royalty from, and the fanboys will deny any of the issues and call you a shill for not drinking their kool aid...

Well... At least it'll be more expensive.

@nessisonett I don't doubt the truth of what you're saying about nvidia's 'shady business practices' (likely in the past) but can I see sources? Most recent evidence suggests that they're willing to undercut themselves on price even when competitors are not producing good products while improving performance for the consumer (3070 v 2080ti debacle)

All I know is my preorder downloaded the other day and I'm super pumped!

@EarthboundBenjy I second this. Cursed kingdom was great in all its hotswap, platforming metroidvania-ness.

I bet you guys didn't even beat the game before giving it a score...

@Realness it supports vertical, so hopefully in TATE the HUD takes less space.

Also, this looks legit. Just the right amount of arcade cheez in the voiceovers.

Locking down that pre-order now! Bet this is the big Christmas title...

Is it just me, or do the characters' look like the aspect ratio is off?

I get that they're chibi-style, but looks like they're slightly stretched horizontally.

@echoplex Now this is a legit idea. Can you imagine even customized weapons based on which character you're using?

Samus, instead of a green shell, shoots a single plasma blast. Link fires his bow, etc. That would be awesome.

Translation: We don't think it will sell.

"What kind of Sonic video game are you hoping to see in 2021?"

...A good one?

@Kirby_Girl @GilbertXI Thanks for the info. I wasn't expecting to like Blasphemous as much as I did. I buy a lot of games, but I tend to wait for them to be on sale and Hollow Knight has been on my wishlist for a while, but doesn't go on sale very often. Might have to pull the trigger though, considering how much I enjoyed Blasphemous.

@Kirby_Girl how does it compare to blasphemous? Just beat that and really enjoyed it

@Kalmaro @auck If you're considering for platforming, pull the trigger. It's pretty great. I was on the fence and scooped it on sale a while back, worth it. It's clever, handles beautifully and is super cute.

And, if you're a completionist, there's some end game content for you. It's not particularly difficult, but still a good time. (Though if you're looking for difficult 2D platfomers and haven't yet, Country Freeze is even better)