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Nintendo Switch

nintendo.co.jp

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Re: Nintendo Switch

#131

Post by ianai »

JimmyAustin wrote: post #114
thinkloop wrote: post #102

How come Nintendo keeps having to completely reinvent itself every couple of years? They go from being on the verge of bankruptcy to a hit then back again. It seems like one tiny misstep and they're done. Microsoft is still spending accrued value from the 90's after tons of mistakes, why doesn't Nintendo have an easier life?

Microsoft has Office/Windows/Windows Server as a dependable money making, which leaves billions in capital ready for spending outragous amounts of money on pushing into new markets, like Windows Phone and Xbox. The first gen never actually made a profit. Nintendo doesn't have that. They live and die by their console.

At the same time I feel like they could sell their brand more often. They could have 5 smartphone games by now at least. Heck, they could do crazy things like branding an iPhone with Apple or an android manufacturer or you name it. They could make a mario cloud where you get to play VC in a browser. I feel like they're missing out on a ton of money. Sure all of those things would take capital, but they've got the IP people want to buy.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#132

Post by jsz0 »

Even for a portable system I think Nintendo might have set the bar too low on graphics this time. Most of these games just don't look very good to the point of being visually distracting. It's almost an uncanny valley sort of thing where the graphics are just sort of good enough that the bad parts stick out like a sore thumb. It's most noticeable in the Mario game. Not sure that real world environments + weak graphics hardware was a good choice.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#133

Post by flukus »

sb057 wrote: post #129
ericzawo wrote: post #42

That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches, as well as multiple levels of play while on the go. It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) and has an incredibly diverse range of titles to be excited about this calendar year. It man…

>They also talked up Dragon Quest X, which is an MMORPG, launching on Switch Dragon Quest X launched in 2012 on the Wii, and from the way he announced it, it's not coming to the west.

On the plus side, Switch games won't be region locked.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#134

Post by chalupa-man »

kibwen wrote: post #29
dcw303 wrote: post #4

I had to laugh when during the livestream they were going through each of the innovations of their past systems, and the only thing they could mention about the Gamecube was that it had a handle :) But overall I think they continue to show real innovation in gaming. They're the only company who puts so much effort into maximizing their software with the uniqueness of their hardware.

Haven't watched the presentation yet, but I believe the GCN might have been the first console to come standard with "analog" shoulder buttons (dutifully demonstrated by its use in Mario Sunshine to control the spraying power of the backpack). EDIT: Oh also, the Wavebird controller was the first wireless first-party controller.

The PS2 beat the GCN to market by a year and had not only analogue shoulder buttons, but analogue face buttons too. Even the d-pad was analogue -- everything except Start/Select/L3/R3. It wasn't very widely used, and causes some problems in porting games that relied on analogue face buttons (like Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3).

Re: Nintendo Switch

#137

Post by fsloth »

threeseed wrote: post #110
city41 wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally am excited for the Switch and will get one at launch. And for me personally, the Wii U is the best console of this generation. But I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about the Switch in general as you are from this presentation. So far it feels like "the Wii part 3". Yes the Wii sold well, but it didn't sell very many games. Most Wii owners were perfectly content with Wii Sports. The Wii U has pretty much be…

Nintendo and arguably Microsoft simply can't compete with Sony right now. Sony is dominating the high end, exclusive game market. The Last of Us, Uncharted, Metal Gear Solid and coming up in 2017: Horizon Zero Dawn, Death Stranding etc. All of these push the console to the limits and show just how superior the PS4 hardware is over its competitors. Nintendo isn't really suited anyway. Their games are arguably better c…

As years go by the less I'm convinced that the platform with the fastest hardware is the best. With consoles, on the technical front, I want constant fluid framerates and predictability. For instance, I fail to see how PS4 Witcher 3 could be better than Witcher 3 on XBox one by any standard I care about when gaming (and I'm a professional graphics programmer).

That said, yes, it seems Sony is winning this generation in consoles. But I would claim it's due to other factors than PS4 as a piece of hardware and OS.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#138

Post by kbart »

lefstathiou wrote: post #2

In line at the NYC store. I'm #2. There are a few people hanging out looking into store which is holding an event with a bunch of kids. Fewer people overall than I expected but there are 9 hours to go.

You are waiting for >9h just to try a new console?

Re: Nintendo Switch

#139

Post by blakeyrat »

city41 wrote: post #70
ericzawo wrote: post #42

That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches, as well as multiple levels of play while on the go. It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) and has an incredibly diverse range of titles to be excited about this calendar year. It man…

I personally am excited for the Switch and will get one at launch. And for me personally, the Wii U is the best console of this generation. But I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about the Switch in general as you are from this presentation. So far it feels like "the Wii part 3". Yes the Wii sold well, but it didn't sell very many games. Most Wii owners were perfectly content with Wii Sports. The Wii U has pretty much be…

> I love Nintendo and am a huge fan. But part of me can't help but wish Nintendo would just straight up compete with Sony and Microsoft.

Well I don't love Nintendo, I think their consoles are pretty gimmicky and sales are fueled mostly by nostalgia and rehashing the same game titles over and over again (the Switch is getting a Zelda title and a Mario title? What a shocker!)

I honestly don't believe Nintendo is capable of competing with Sony or Microsoft. Maybe they could create hardware on-par with a PS4, but they can't get the publisher relations down, nor have they been able to get their online service to feature-parity with Xbox Live circa 2007 after a decade of trying. They also have this awful customer-hostile attitude that simply will not go away.

(Why should anybody have to buy a game title more than once, just because they bought a new game console? That's pure scam, Nintendo. On Xbox, you buy it once and you own it forever. On Nintendo, people re-buy Super Mario Bros 3 like clockwork every 3 years.)

Which is fine. There's already lots of competition in the "high powered console gaming" arena, and Nintendo would run the risk of becoming another SteamBox. And if their strength is nostalgia, maybe embracing that is a good business decision, even if the constant rehashing of the same titles over and over personally makes me gag.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#140

Post by pvg »

codesushi42 wrote: post #115
derefr wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The SNES lasted a while in the market, and—almost uniquely among consoles—it ramped up in power over its lifetime by putting coprocessors like the SuperFX into game carts. By the end of its lifetime, the "system" of the SNES + a cart like Starfox, was much closer to the N64 than the base SNES, making the N64 much less of a shift than it seemed. Interestingly, if you think of the PSX as descending from the SNES archit…

You're absolutely wrong. The PS1 was nothing like an SNES + SuperFX chip spec wise. PS1 has nothing in common hardware wise with the "Nintendo Playstation" add-on other than in name alone.

Yeah I'm curious to hear a defense of the 'PSX, architectural successor of the SNES' argument myself.
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