As a late Wii U owner, I'm willing to wait until the Switch proves to be a success. The horror stories of the Wii U's launch, combined with lackluster support and signs that Nintendo didn't know how to adapt to the Internet age haven't exactly been mitigated by what we know of the Switch so far: no web browser, no Virtual Console nor movie services like Netflix at launch. Everything smells rushed...in the meantime, I got a PS4 to try the VR and have been more than entertained by the system's regular selection. It's surprising to me that Nintendo couldn't score Overwatch or a Rocket League, two of the best multi platform games currently out, which would go a long way in showing the purported value of console-power in handheld.
Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
It'll probably be a WebKit vulnerability like most initial console exploits these days.
I'm also intrigued to see what mitigations will be involved. Perhaps the browser will run inside a VM?
IIRC the Switch doesn't ship with a web browser at all. This could change down the line, of course.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#103I 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 h…
I'm more interested in how low "low brightness" is.
I will never forget my Blackberry Bold 9600. Full brightness was quite bright. No brightness was also quite bright. Not great for checking your phone in the middle of the night without sunglasses.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#104It seems a bit silly that they made the cheapest component replaceable. You could, without much extra cost, have all the benefits by just duplicating the controls.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#105Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm also intrigued to see what mitigations will be involved. Perhaps the browser will run inside a VM?
IIRC the Switch doesn't ship with a web browser at all. This could change down the line, of course.
Apparently the day-1 update will include a browser applet for connecting to captive portal wifi networks.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#106Off topic: How much time people spend in public laundry? In post Soviet countries and Russia almost all families, even poorest have washing machines, while public laundry used only for complex cleaning.
A functional, used washer can be had for $100 in most places, which shouldn't be a huge barrier to most people (especially people who can afford a videogame console). Small apartments don't have washers because they simply don't have the room.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#107If someone can answer that question for me: Why has Nintendo shifted towards producing underpowered consoles? I used to play the Super Nes when I was a kid, and it was the most powerful console of its generation. The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. I hear people say "But the gameplay is what matters", which I agree wit…
It is mostly credited to Gunpei Yokoi's philosophy: "Yokoi articulated his philosophy of "Lateral Thinking of Withered Technology". [...] "Withered technology" in this context refers to a mature technology which is cheap and well understood. "Lateral thinking" refers to finding radical new ways of using such technology. Yokoi held that toys and games do not necessarily require cutting edge technology; novel and fun g…
I think there's a bit of a darker side as well. The Wii was so unbelievably successful, and profitable that it seems to have created a kind of corporate-level of addiction, and subsequent profit-seeking behavior. The Wii was underpowered, quirky, but just happened to hit all of the notes that a ton of people who hadn't played games before (and would later move on to playing on phones and tablets) were looking for.
Most of all, they made a profit per unit sale of the Wii, when the standard at the time was (is?) to sell consoles at a loss and make it up on fees and sales of games. They made profit on the base Wii, then they profited from all of the other shit they made up to sell for it. When the time came to move on from that gold mine to something new, they predictably tried to strike gold a second time.
They didn't.
Now they're trying a third time, and I suspect it will end badly for them. They've increasingly lost sight of what made them great, blinded by the allure of unbelievably quick and vast quantities of hard cash.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#108As a late Wii U owner, I'm willing to wait until the Switch proves to be a success. The horror stories of the Wii U's launch, combined with lackluster support and signs that Nintendo didn't know how to adapt to the Internet age haven't exactly been mitigated by what we know of the Switch so far: no web browser, no Virtual Console nor movie services like Netflix at launch. Everything smells rushed...in the meantime, I…
Lack of a virtual console I can understand, but are you really being dissuaded from purchasing a Switch based on its lack of web browser and Netflix -- two things that run on half a dozen or more devices that the typical HN reader probably already owns?
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#109As a late Wii U owner, I'm willing to wait until the Switch proves to be a success. The horror stories of the Wii U's launch, combined with lackluster support and signs that Nintendo didn't know how to adapt to the Internet age haven't exactly been mitigated by what we know of the Switch so far: no web browser, no Virtual Console nor movie services like Netflix at launch. Everything smells rushed...in the meantime, I…
The problem is that it appears to be handheld-power in console, not the other way around. That being the case, the trend seen with third-party titles and the WiiU is going to be more pronounced right out of the gate with the Switch.
Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential
#110Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Alternate input methods for games have failed Is that really so? Motion controls work very well for certain niches. Some types of games are better without them, but so long as developers allow the choice of conventional inputs in cases where they don't work well, it shouldn't be a problem.
Joy stick for fighters. Mouse and keyboard for FPS and similar games. Traditional controller for platformers/side scrollers Touch for a few types of games on mobile, not many though. Almost never do I want to use motion.
Motion controls actually worked really well for the Madden series on Wii. Only, EA put some bargain-basement coders on the Wii versions, and that, coupled with the below-average graphics, are what made it not as successful a game series.