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Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#11

Post by raphaelj »

izacus wrote: post #9

Hmm, the battery life is kinda disappointing. I'm not interested in Switch as a TV console (PS4 does that significantly better and has better games for when I have time to give them) and it seems it's going to struggle as a 3DS replacement when it can't even live through a rather average flight :/ I do still hope the best 3DS franchises will make it to the Switch and I might pick it up after price drops under the pri…

Good thing is that you can use almost any powerbank with it, thanks to it's charging through USB-C.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#12

Post by M_Grey »

izacus wrote: post #9

Hmm, the battery life is kinda disappointing. I'm not interested in Switch as a TV console (PS4 does that significantly better and has better games for when I have time to give them) and it seems it's going to struggle as a 3DS replacement when it can't even live through a rather average flight :/ I do still hope the best 3DS franchises will make it to the Switch and I might pick it up after price drops under the pri…

"Jack of all trades, master of none." It's not a console you'd want to own without another console, it's not a portable you'd be able to use like a proper portable.

So what is it, other than something for people who already knew they'd buy whatever Nintendo had to offer?

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#13

Post by CoolGuySteve »

I really wish these reviews would tell us the display's brightness.

It's weird to criticize battery life without saying how many nits the display is outputting and what the battery life would be at, say, 200 nits with a demanding game.

So far all I've been able to find is that Zelda lasts 2.5 hours with full brightness. How bright is full brightness? It's a mystery!

Edit: Digital Foundry says that max brightness is higher than the 3DS XL and visible in daylight. So 500-600 nits maybe?

They also say that it lasts "just over 3 hours" with the display at half or low brightness.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#16

Post by jclardy »

coldpie wrote: post #2

This is a good review. Nice pictures, and some real-world usage scenarios, especially concerning battery life. I really wanted to like the Switch, but the addition of and focus on motion controls during their January press conference really killed it for me. Alternate input methods for games have failed, but Nintendo keeps pursuing this. My worry about the fact that the console supports motion controls is that games…

Hmm, I have to disagree here. I'm actually really excited about the Joy-Con's and the Switch's portability. Mainly because you take the tablet with you and you have the ability to do same-screen co-op just like that.

For a game like Towerfall or Mariocart (Or a launch title, like Snipperclips) that is amazing. And the ability to play Zelda on an airplane sounds awesome.

I do think they flubbed a ton of stuff on the software side (and even hardware...digital triggers on the joy-cons...) mainly by making 1-2 switch a $50 title and not a pack-in, so I see that flopping hard. At this point the only reason to buy is Zelda, so in that regard it seems like a soft launch for the dedicated fans, then the real launch will be this holiday season.

I do agree on disliking motion controls for a console like this, but motion controls do have their place in VR, so maybe Nintendo has some future plans in that space...

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#17

Post by nilkn »

izacus wrote: post #9

Hmm, the battery life is kinda disappointing. I'm not interested in Switch as a TV console (PS4 does that significantly better and has better games for when I have time to give them) and it seems it's going to struggle as a 3DS replacement when it can't even live through a rather average flight :/ I do still hope the best 3DS franchises will make it to the Switch and I might pick it up after price drops under the pri…

Just under 3 hours of battery life for a highly demanding game like Zelda seems pretty fair to me to be honest. 6 hours for less demanding games also seems pretty fair.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#18

Post by bryanlarsen »

raphaelj wrote: post #11
izacus wrote: post #9

Hmm, the battery life is kinda disappointing. I'm not interested in Switch as a TV console (PS4 does that significantly better and has better games for when I have time to give them) and it seems it's going to struggle as a 3DS replacement when it can't even live through a rather average flight :/ I do still hope the best 3DS franchises will make it to the Switch and I might pick it up after price drops under the pri…

Good thing is that you can use almost any powerbank with it, thanks to it's charging through USB-C.

According to reviews, it depletes the battery faster than it can be charged so a powerbank won't expand life as much as it should.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#19

Post by ajeet_dhaliwal »

coldpie wrote: post #2

This is a good review. Nice pictures, and some real-world usage scenarios, especially concerning battery life. I really wanted to like the Switch, but the addition of and focus on motion controls during their January press conference really killed it for me. Alternate input methods for games have failed, but Nintendo keeps pursuing this. My worry about the fact that the console supports motion controls is that games…

Experimentation is great but yes it's been (and continues to be) overdone. The best games in my opinion still use the standard controller, I just got done with FFXV and I never longed for anything but that DualShock4.
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