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Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#131

Post by MAGZine »

M_Grey wrote: post #107
GuiA wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Mo…

Nintendo has a history of doing quirky things, in an effort to differentiate themselves. They've always been innovative.

- Directional Pad (NES)

- Shoulder buttons on controller (SNES)

- third handle on a controller and controllers with expansion slots (N64)

- portable gaming systems (starting with gameboy, which didn't even have a backlit screen)

- subsequent iterations that included: folding designs (SP), Touch screens for interactivity (DS), game sharing (DS), 3D (3DS, designed before 3D was "a thing")

- RFID out-of-game experiences (Amiibos)

- Innovative nunchuck design where moving the controller is an axis of control (Wii)

- A second-screen experience (Wii U)

- ... and these are just the recent/well known innovations. I'm sure I'm missing many (link cable, anyone?)

So, basically, Nintendo has always tried to push the envelope with their consoles. Nintendo isn't interested in making a boring "not-a-pc-i-swear" console.

Nintendo hasn't lost sight of what made them great. In fact, I'd argue that they're still very much on that path. The day we see uninteresting hardware is the day Nintendo has strayed from what made them great.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#132

Post by ungzd »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #70

If 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's hard to make photorealistic Mario or Zelda. Their consoles are primary for their own games which have very cartoony look.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#133

Post by Retr0spectrum »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #127
Retr0spectrum wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely looks bad, but I've seen a few videos demonstrating the issue and it only really happens if you have the joycon entirely covered by your hands, or behind your back. This could be a software bug that is fixable with an update, but that seems unlikely considering it affects the left controller more than the right one, which would indicate a hardware design flaw.

I'm not following your train of logic where it isn't that bad if a joycon doesn't work if covered by your hands. For a real product it needs to work in all cases, not if you put your hands a certain way.

I don't disagree, I'm just saying it's not a complete disaster.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#134

Post by gommm »

mintplant wrote: post #113
danso wrote: post #101

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…

The lack of a web browser is I suspect a reaction to WebKit vulnerabilities having been one of the primary entry points for people hacking the (New) 3DS. Omitting this functionality reduces the OS's attack surface.

It was also the entry point for the Wii U.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#136

Post by delroth »

mintplant wrote: post #113
danso wrote: post #101

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…

The lack of a web browser is I suspect a reaction to WebKit vulnerabilities having been one of the primary entry points for people hacking the (New) 3DS. Omitting this functionality reduces the OS's attack surface.

Except they will support connecting to public Wi-Fi hotspots, which almost always require logging in or accepting terms of services on an HTML page nowadays. So they definitely didn't get rid of WebKit.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#137

Post by dawnerd »

mintplant wrote: post #113
danso wrote: post #101

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…

The lack of a web browser is I suspect a reaction to WebKit vulnerabilities having been one of the primary entry points for people hacking the (New) 3DS. Omitting this functionality reduces the OS's attack surface.

Quite a few hacks come right from exploited game saves and I have a feeling the same will happen this time around too.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#138

Post by kbenson »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #5
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…

> 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.

I would posit that some limited motion controls could benefit most, if not almost all games. The big problem is the controllers are poorly adapted for motion in most cases. The Wii is able to do more with motion because the controller setup makes that possible, with the separated joystick portion and motion portion. It causes problems in that it's not as button-rich as contemporary controllers, so cross-platform titles often require changes, but when used appropriately, the motion controls can enhance play quite nicely.

Unfortunately, there's little incentive for established third party developers to put much effort into motion controls, as they want their games on as many platforms as possible and large differences in control schemes make that hard.

That said, the PSVR stuff is really the next level of motion controls. Unfortunately, it looks like they ignored where I think Nintendo had good foresight, and didn't include a way to use analog joysticks with the controllers, so it appears you either use the VR controllers or a regular Playstation controller, and there's no hybrid solution equivalent to the Wiimote nunchuck joystick (I hope I'm wrong, or they have a way to fix this with an attachment). Motion controls are still going strong, we're just still evolving past the equivalents of the Atari joystick and original NES controllers.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#139

Post by nsxwolf »

VLM wrote: post #124
danso wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly...two things that are ubiquitous on modern devices, but aren't on the Switch because of what seems like rushed online infrastructure. Why should we have faith that Nintendo has successfully executed social matchmaking and account services, which are much more bespoke?

Something only 60s/70s kids will remember is the bubble in digital LCD clocks in the early 80s meant the average 80s kitchen had over 15 digital clocks in it, and keeping them set or covering the screen with electricians tape was an annoyance. I'm happy to be down to 4 digital clocks to maintain in my kitchen and I could achieve a mere 1 with some effort. I'm happy I don't have to install and maintain a netflix accou…

There were so many of those cheap little LCD clock modules with the two little buttons to set the time. They were crammed into absolutely everything. It was like we were thinking, we desperately want the future to be here, but we don't have the technology yet, so these will do.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#140

Post by agumonkey »

GuiA wrote: post #81
VeejayRampay wrote: post #70

If 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…

The SNES CPU was underpowered compared to the Genesis. But the overall system yielded better gaming experience.

It's similar to Apple lesser RAM numbers compared to the market, yet iPhone are still smoother globally.

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