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Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

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Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#91

I'm one of those that bought Zelda without owning a Switch (yet) since Amazon sold it %20 off those who preordered it. The console itself has been frustratingly difficult to find since I missed the preorders. I'm hoping Nintendo can pull it together before all my friends finish BoTW.

I got mine from walmart.com fairly easily - just entered my email in the 'alert me when back in stock', got an email a few days later, ordered, and got the switch delivered 5 days later.

The only hitch was I had to order a bundle (switch + zelda). And zelda, strangely, came a few days after the switch.

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#92

I'm going to get one because ever since my kids have discovered the old Super Mario Brothers Super Show on Netflix they've been completely hooked on all things Mario. Super Mario 3D World for the Wii U was such a great family game that we've been playing it for close to 3 years now. It had such a good cooperative experience that we could even play with my 4 year old pretty quickly. We even had a big night out for din…

I'm 26 now but I can say that some of my greatest memories as a kid are the times I spent gaming with my brother and dad. I simply cannot think of SNES without thinking about the three of us working our way through all of the old Donkey Kong games. I'm sure your kids will be the same :)

I fondly remember being unable to beat Vargas in FF6 (FF3 in the States I think?) with the Left-Right-Left Sabin command, and my dad trying to do it for me (and failing as well). :)

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are not interested in Zelda though, there is almost zero reason to spend the money on a Switch right now.

That's my concern for the Christmas period. A lot of Nintendo fans are early adopters, that's why they're buying a console with one significant game in March. For the general public they need to have more on offer than that. Here are new AAA games which we are assured will be out by Christmas: Zelda Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Skylanders, NBA 2K18, Arms, Splatoon 2. There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shov…

> There's tons of indie names (e.g. Shovel Knight) or older games (e.g. Skyrim) but those aren't "system movers" as they're already out on every other major platform.

You know, I'm not sure. Those games are out for other home consoles, sure—but the Switch is not, precisely, a home console. Its form-factor makes it not just a substitute good for an XBO or PS4, but also a substitute good for a 3DS or an iPad. You know, a thing you buy for your kid to play with on car-trips.

And that means that those older and Indie titles—which wouldn't see very high attach-rates when ported onto current-gen home consoles—might fare a bit better, because they're reaching a market which didn't have access to them before. You can't play Skyrim on an iPad or a 3DS.

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#94

As the article alludes to this is in large part due to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Which has a higher than 100% attach rate on the Switch, which is simply amazing.

If you are not interested in Zelda though, there is almost zero reason to spend the money on a Switch right now.

Even if you are interested in Zelda, consider getting the Wii U version and playing it on your PC using Cemu. That's what I'll be doing.

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Zelda DLC"? Really? Even Zelda now? Ugh.

I understand it's bad when people charge full game prices for something that's actually the first chapter in a series of paid DLC... But why is DLC fundamentally bad? To me it seems to match the tick-tock-tock nature of engine development: build a game, spend years on an engine and content, price it at full price, then release a series of cheaper content-only products that use the same engine. Use that income to pay…

But why is DLC fundamentally bad?

The same reason preorders are bad: it creates perverse incentives for developers and publishers.

The problem people have with DLC isn't that developers are being demanded to release feature-length content, it's that developers are incentivized to lock stuff that's already developed and in the game behind a paywall. Essentially selling you content that you already purchased.

I'm not too worried about Nintendo succumbing to this problem, but there are some other devs out there with no such scruples. EA and Activision come to mind..

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#96

It seems like a combo: Zelda BotW is part of it, but the hardware is also fun. The build quality and kit is fantastic, it reminds me of an iPad designed by a gamer for gaming. In my case it's also nostalgia. I've been working on my own apps and games, not to mention a day job, so this is the first console I have owned since the N64. Never got into console titles that seemed to be just as good on the PC. That's 3 reas…

You're ignoring the difference between playing in the living room (using a RetroPi) vs PC. Two very different experiences.

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#97
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo [3]DS continues to be the #1 "game console" when you disregard form-factor, and has had nonstop YOY growth since its introduction. The Wii U was essentially a failure because Nintendo thought there was still a market for a chained-to-a-TV console—and there is, but only in the "hardcore gamer" segment that don't care for Nintendo's games lineup. The segment who are interested in Nintendo games,…

I think a part of it has also been Nintendo's terrible naming scheme the past few years. I don't follow gaming news closely, so when I heard of the Wii U I thought it was a hardware revision not unlike the Xbox One S to the Xbox One. It took me over a year after launch to learn that the Wii U is an entirely new console. The same thing happened with the 3DS. When I finally looked into getting one this past holiday sea…

> I was confused by the 3DS vs 3DS XL vs New 3DS vs New 3DS XL.

You know, people level the same complaint at the iPhone, but it doesn't seem to have caused Apple any difficulty selling them. Maybe it's just that Best Buy/Toys-R-Us/EB Games employees aren't as good at helping people find the right model as Apple Store employees are?

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But unlike the original Wii, there's no Wii Sports to get people who would normally not even buy a console to buy in.

The Wii and Wii sports was a freakshow level of success. It tapped into a lot of things Nintendo simply is not going to be able to reproduce: aging gamers with few casual gaming outlets, the novelty of motion controls, half the cost of a xbox/ps, etc. It really had no competitors. PS Move, while a nice technical effort, came too late and didn't have the developer support needed. The Kinect failed also for the same re…

The wii is still really fun and quite different as gaming experience from regular consoles. I booted it up today just for fun and ended up playing mario galaxy for hours with my 5yo cheering me on. Playing my ps4 is also fun, but not as relaxing and definitely not as approachable.

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#99
post #42
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While playing the wii-u titles I don't recall ever saying 'this game would be more fun if only the graphics were better'. The hit Nintendo took by selling an underpowered console was loosing 3rd party support, as it was reportedly too much effort for folks like EA to support a platform that was so far behind their other supported consoles. I wonder if history will repeat with the next generation of xbox/ps around the…

The Wii U was reportedly also somewhat difficult to develop for (especially compared to the reboxed PCs that are the PS4 and XBox One), and the second screen also didn't help matters in that regard. The Switch will benefit from a fairly standard set of inputs and outputs: the buttons on the Joycons map pretty easily to the XBone and PS4 controllers, and it's just a single display (though the difference in power level…

The 2nd screen makes a lot of games better, BotW would be much better with the 2nd screen showing inventory, maps etc.. Presumably that was how it was originally designed (Sheikha Slate) and they crippled it to favour the Switch?

Re: Switch Is Nintendo's 'Fastest Selling' System in History

#100
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, the Nintendo [3]DS continues to be the #1 "game console" when you disregard form-factor, and has had nonstop YOY growth since its introduction. The Wii U was essentially a failure because Nintendo thought there was still a market for a chained-to-a-TV console—and there is, but only in the "hardcore gamer" segment that don't care for Nintendo's games lineup. The segment who are interested in Nintendo games,…

Alternative perspective: The Wii U was a failure because of an utter and complete failure at marketing, of the same kind that doomed the Dreamcast back in the day. * The name is awful, and led to frequent confusion about it being an addon to the Wii. * It got almost no advertising, especially when compared to the Wii, and especially the Switch (which got a freakin' super bowl ad!) And then the more technical concerns…

Yep, they made a lot of mistakes with the Wii U :). I think yours is really just a more complete rundown than mine (as opposed to an alternative.)

They lost against the PSX as well though (iirc, 3x more PS1's sold an far more games.) They struck gold with the Wii initially, but at the same time, moved further away from the mainstream gaming crowd. Many games were little more than poorly implemented gimicks.

I'm hoping they hit a home run with the switch, but it's too early to tell. I have one and, while BotW is great, I have nothing else to play.

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