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Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#151

Post by boondaburrah »

skdotdan wrote: post #118

I reckon it will be a big success. But, honestly, I believe video-game only hardware should no longer be a thing in 2017. Almost all features of the Nintendo Switch could have been built on the top of iOS or Android. Nintendo should pivot to a software only company.

Except that iOS and Android are terrible platforms for games. They're all built around the idea of varying resources, having to kill apps when ram is scarce, a call can interrupt any time, and no guaranteed input other than a touchscreen.

For a number of games that simply won't do. Sure you can write games to be underpowered graphically and still be fun, but there's no guarantee someone isn't trying to run your game on a $50 smartphone so you really have to shoot low to get that to work. Also you're competing against a lot of 99¢ or free games in the appstore/market. Sure they're really bad games, but side by side (in the store) the consumer isn't going to know the difference and will choose on price.

I don't want to live in a world with only free-to-play match-three "action-puzzle" games.

Also touchscreen as controls is terrible for any real-time game that doesn't have a one-to-one mapping from what you touch to what happens. (aka, most of them, besides turn-based) I have to be conscious of not only what I want to do, but where the controls are to do it, since I can't feel them.

Nintendo can't build an iOS device for obvious reasons. By the time they strip down android and customise it enough for it to be suitable for gaming it would be easier to make NintendoOS anyway.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#152

Post by _ph_ »

slim wrote: post #141

It seems that you can't use touchscreen while docked. So it will stay unused because games won't rely on it. Apart from games that have different gamplays for indoor/outdoor (pokemon switch?)

It looks to me that the dock is partially designed to especially block the access to the touch screen :). This makes sense, as Nintendo, at least for the launch, wants all games to work identically docked and undocked. I could imagine though, that later on, there will be touch based games, once the system has been established enough.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#153

Post by Jweb_Guru »

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, N64, and the GameCube were not really behind technologically (they were different from their competitors, but not behind). The Wii was the first Nintendo console that was clearly just flat out technically inferior to all of its competitors.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#154

Post by CamelCaseName »

rodionos wrote: post #79

Speaking purely as a consumer. Have 3 Wii consoles across the extended family. It was good as a gift, but ended up sitting idle given the demographics in our households. Hence - skipping Switch, time better spent outdoors, at the gym.

>outdoors, at the gym

Gyms are usually indoor facilities.

Also, you could take your Switch to the gym. Use it between sets or watch something while on the treadmill.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#155

Post by _ph_ »

PopsiclePete wrote: post #147

I'd totally buy a Switch....if it was actually humanly possible. I also wanted to by a NES Classic, which also proved impossible. Solved that problem with a Raspberry PI. I loathe Nintendo's idiotic business practices of artificially limiting supply when there's huge demand. They have something like 2 million Switches for the launch window. 2. Million.

By all indications, you should be able to pick some up from walking into stores. While there is probably not a huge supply, there seem to be a lot of units available for walk-in customers. YMMV though.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#156

Post by PopsiclePete »

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…

Nintendo can't really afford to sell hardware at a loss, for years, just to build-up market share, like Sony/MS can. Sony/MS can just do some Excel accounting magic to hide those losses under the giant umbrella of all their other businesses, but Nintendo - they have to make a profit, period.

Also, yes, gameplay is what matters. I have a PS4 Pro/VR combo and I can't say the games are that much more exciting than what I played on the PS3. Is Open World Game XYZ so much more incredible than what Rockstar pulled off with GTAV on the PS3? Eh....

We're plateauing quickly in terms of graphical fidelity. The PS3 was an easy sell, a huge upgrade over the PS2, but the PS4 - not so much. "It's kinda like the PS3, but crisper!" is how I'd describe it to a non-hard-core gamer.

Give me 60 fps and 1080p and I could give a rat's ass about how complicated the shader that renders photo-realistic ear wax in my RPG protagonist's ears is - that's not going to make me shell out another $400.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#157

Post by slantyyz »

jdcarter wrote: post #117
pryelluw wrote: post #97

I see the Switch as a replacement for the DS, which Nintendo was successful with. The fact that it works connected to a TV is a benefit but not a main feature. Nintendo is competing against the iPad and Android tablets that kids get for Christmas and their birthday. Not against the ps4 or Xbox. This is where I see Nintendo having a chance. Parents can buy their kids a tablet that is also a game console. Which is bril…

That's precisely why I'll be buying one: my daughter wants a 3DS, but I said let's wait for the Switch instead. Then we'll get to use it on our main TV (replacing our Wii U, which we rarely use) and have games that work in both settings. Win-win.

If your daughter wants a 3DS to play portable games (with nothing specific in mind) then waiting for a Switch instead of getting a 3DS is probably worthwhile.

If, however, your daughter wants a 3DS for specific titles, you're still better off getting her the 3DS. For example, if all of her friends are currently playing and trading on Pokemon Sun/Moon, getting a Switch will basically have her feeling left out.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#158

Post by _ph_ »

ptrptr wrote: post #3

So is Switch next-gen handheld or home console? Will 3DS series be discontinue?

I think it is the next-gen high-end handheld. You couldn't improve the 3DS much without ending out at something close to the switch. But it is larger and significantly higher priced. Especially when you compare it to the 2DS which is less than $100. So for quite a while the 2/3DS are going to occupy the lower price point and ultraportable sector. Only as the Switch prices get lower and possibly a "Switch Mini" gets released, the 2/3DS would be phased out completely.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#159

Post by Spivak »

SimeVidas wrote: post #74
treehau5 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if you weren't sold on waiting for the next release, you should be now. I was super excited about getting one of these, but now I will probably hold out for the Switch "S". At the very minimum, wait to see if the buggy left joy cons are being shipped with this initial batch.

Not all of us can delay playing Zelda in 900p@30fps for that long. I mean, if I don’t get it on Friday, I will be pissed. Also, note that there’s the Pro controller, which is better for playing on the TV anyway, so at least in that case, this is a non-issue.

Honest question, why not buy it on the Wii U then?

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#160

Post by cwyers »

iamatworknow wrote: post #130
cwyers wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For something portable like this, it would be appealing to have Netflix on the go on it. It could be the best screen you have with you, and multifunction means that you can potentially leave some other device at home.

Fair point. But is that necessary at launch, or can it be a few weeks or months down the road? I'm guessing it will be.

I think the larger point is, anyone else would have had it at launch, because it would have been both a no-brainer and no big deal. Netflix is generally pretty good about supporting ports of their client to anything that can run it. There's also no Virtual Console, the eShop isn't available for review yet... and Nintendo has a terrible track record on online services. The Wii U was even further behind on such matters than it was on graphics, compared to the Xbox One and PS4. You can argue that Nintendo shouldn't compete on graphics. But simple stuff like "downloadable games I buy should be linked to my account, not my console" are things they should be doing and have a really bad track record with. So I think Nintendo doesn't deserve a lot of the benefit of the doubt that they will get things like Netflix up-and-running on the Switch.
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