Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#111

Post by Macha » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:11 PM UTC

loudmax wrote: post #97

How do Switch users feel about the joycons? I'm not a gamer, but the original Switch joycons always struck me as overly complicated and expensive. It should be cheaper to manufacture and sell Switches with the controllers attached. Indeed, this is what they did with the Switch Lite. For games that take advantage of joycon functionality, Nintendo could have sold something like an updated Switch version of the Wiimote…

They have quality issues with stick drift, and the "single joycon as controller" setup is clearly designed for child-sized hands, but it's definitely an advantage to be able to play the system handheld but also have minimal extra to pack (just the rails widget) if I want to put it on a train table on the kickstand and the use the controllers more ergonomically.

And I mean, if you have kids, being able to double your controllers when they have friends around is also helpful to avoid arguments.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#112

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

darkwizard42 wrote: post #65

jjice wrote: post #27

I’m glad to see Nintendo found a form factor that’s kind of gimmicky that actually worked. The Wii and Wii U were too gimmicky, but portability was a great choice. I’m also glad to see backwards compatibility. I’m excited to see what kind of hardware improvements have been made. The switch came out in March 2017, just about 8 years ago. Just due to the way Nintendo games have their animated charm, they’re able to mak…

The Wii was on the of the best selling consoles of all time? I believe only surpassed by the PS2. Is the gimmicky a personal opinion or something you believe didn’t resonate with customers?

[deleted]

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#113

Post by ziml77 » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

werdnapk wrote: post #17

Wasn't expecting it to actually be called "Switch 2", but I'm glad they stuck to a name that makes sense.

I'm glad they finally learned to use sensible names. I guess it took the failure of the Wii U for them to realize they should just keep it simple if they want to be sure it's easy for consumers to understand what the product is.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#114

Post by donatj » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

loudmax wrote: post #97

How do Switch users feel about the joycons? I'm not a gamer, but the original Switch joycons always struck me as overly complicated and expensive. It should be cheaper to manufacture and sell Switches with the controllers attached. Indeed, this is what they did with the Switch Lite. For games that take advantage of joycon functionality, Nintendo could have sold something like an updated Switch version of the Wiimote…

They're nicer for a quick game of Mario Party or other casual game because you can just tear them off the system and have two players, but I wouldn't want to play anything serious with them.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#115

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

Terretta wrote: post #99

jjice wrote: post #27

I’m glad to see Nintendo found a form factor that’s kind of gimmicky that actually worked. The Wii and Wii U were too gimmicky, but portability was a great choice. I’m also glad to see backwards compatibility. I’m excited to see what kind of hardware improvements have been made. The switch came out in March 2017, just about 8 years ago. Just due to the way Nintendo games have their animated charm, they’re able to mak…

> I’m glad to see Nintendo found a form factor that’s kind of gimmicky that actually worked. I don't quite understand this comment. Parents will be unable to tell the difference (like parents buying their kids Xbox One S when Xbox Series S came out, really bad naming increment with form factor so similar), and other comments here note this Switch 2 is a regression to less quirk. What's the gimmicky part of this that…

[deleted]

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#116

Post by VyseofArcadia » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

talles wrote: post #100

VyseofArcadia wrote: post #58

I don't like the aesthetic as much as the Switch 1. Looks a little too sleek, too monochrome, not Nintendo-y enough. Other than the splash of color around the thumbsticks it looks like any number of those handheld Steam Deck-alikes that have been coming out. That said I always wait for the special Zelda editions of Nintendo's consoles, so I don't know that I have standing to complain.

Nintendo is not Nintendo-y enough for a while now. The switch system UI is bland and on launch the gray switch was the one being presented.

Yeah, I am not a big fan of the Switch UI. They really took out the "surprise and delight" compared to the Wii U and 3DS. Very bland and straightforward, and yet somehow awfully slow and laggy.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#117

Post by nzach » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

ginko wrote: post #43

werdnapk wrote: post #17

Wasn't expecting it to actually be called "Switch 2", but I'm glad they stuck to a name that makes sense.

They could have at least gone with "Super Switch" or something like that.

They tried something similar with the New Nintendo 3DS but a lot of people got confused.

Sure, "new" is probably one the worst words you could use. But I don't think "super" would be better. And even if they did use "super" how do you name the next console ?

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#118

Post by wat10000 » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:12 PM UTC

It seems like the days of revolutionary consumer electronics are over.

This looks nice, for sure. But it’s really more of the same. Not surprising. It does surprise me that there’s such emphasis on it, though. There’s the name, of course, and then the entire video is based around “it’s the same thing but a little better.”

Game console updates used to be big deals. The SNES was a revolution. PS2 was huge. Now… PS5? What’s different from PS4, again? Is there a 6? What’s different about that?

I don’t blame Nintendo or the others. I have no idea what they could do here they would be revolutionary. I think the design space has just been thoroughly explored by now and that’s where we are.

This pattern repeats all over the place. TVs are maxed out, with better visual quality than people care about, and size limited by wall space. Computers get a little faster every year. This year’s phones are last year’s phones with a minor performance bump and slightly better cameras. And again, I don’t see what they can do better, and that’s probably how it has to be at this point.

But it’s still a little shocking to see a company lean so far into the theme of “we made incremental improvements to this thing we released 8 years ago.”

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#119

Post by karel-3d » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:14 PM UTC

loudmax wrote: post #97

How do Switch users feel about the joycons? I'm not a gamer, but the original Switch joycons always struck me as overly complicated and expensive. It should be cheaper to manufacture and sell Switches with the controllers attached. Indeed, this is what they did with the Switch Lite. For games that take advantage of joycon functionality, Nintendo could have sold something like an updated Switch version of the Wiimote…

They are fine but they break very easily; after a while they start to "drift" and the games become unplayable.

I needed to repair one pair last year because the drift was unbearable; the repair costs almost as much as a new one. (And one started drifting again.)

I am not a heavy player at all and I got the drift.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#120

Post by nerdjon » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:14 PM UTC

loudmax wrote: post #97

How do Switch users feel about the joycons? I'm not a gamer, but the original Switch joycons always struck me as overly complicated and expensive. It should be cheaper to manufacture and sell Switches with the controllers attached. Indeed, this is what they did with the Switch Lite. For games that take advantage of joycon functionality, Nintendo could have sold something like an updated Switch version of the Wiimote…

The joy cons are fine, but I think them always being attached also removes the key benefit of the Switch. That was something that a lot of people talked about when the Switch Lite came out.

They could be better and given the limitations, I think they do the job. If you don't like them they offer the pro controller. But there have been times (especially when flying) that I have used them detached when not docked.

I honestly don't think the Switch would have succeeded the way it did if the controllers were always attached, forcing you to buy another controller for when you wanted to dock.