Nintendo Switch

[Blix]

Pretty neat stuff there, if you ask me. If they have good third party support and keep it I'll make it my main console. Hopefully they don't have the dryspell of games the Wii U had in the beginning because that was critical. So what do you think?

[Vampyr]

I have no idea how successful it's going to be. I think it will sell better than the Wii U, because if nothing else their first video was super clear as to what the device was, and I think at this point the failure of the Wii U may actually work in the Switch's favor. Everyone, even the general public, knows what the Wii U is now and why it failed to begin with, so I think people are paying more attention this time around, just to see what Nintendo does.

I'll definitely be getting one, if for no other reason than to play the best version of Breath of Wild available.

I'm mainly interested to see how games that were previously mobile only transition to the Switch. I think there's going to be some pressure on games like Pokemon to be bigger and better now that they have to be on a console platform, and the idea of playing a real Pokemon game on my TV is extremely exciting.

I am sad to see that the DS era is apparently coming to an end. The clam shell design has been a standard thing with Nintendo handhelds since the SP, and I've become so accustomed to having two screens that going back to one feels like a step back.

I'm also assuming that the Switch won't have 3D like the 3DS does. With the New 3DS I actually started using that feature pretty frequently and it worked really well. Kind of sad to see that go, too.

[Jason1]

I'll definitely be getting one, if for no other reason than to play the best version of Breath of Wild available.

.

I wouldnt just assume that the Switch Version of Breath of Wild will be better than the Wii U version. It was designed to be a Wii U game after all, and didnt Nintendo say there would not be ANY graphical upgrades on Switch? We still dont know if the screen on Switch will be touch, either ( I assume it will be, but we dont know for sure). Whatever functionality Nintendo had in mind with the Wii U touchpad may not work the same on the Switch.

On a related now, when you take the Switch out of its docking cradle thing, does it ALWAYS turn immediately into a handheld? Or can you taken it out and play it using the Switch screen and your TV screen at the same time, similar to how Wii U works? Another question to ponder....

I think the success at least when it comes to 3rd party support may depend on how powerful it is, as much as I hate to say that. It sounds like its using this Nvidia Tegra Chip, but nobody knows if its the Tegra X1 or the Tegra X2 which is not really released yet and suppoused quite powerful, while the X1 is apparently not very powerful, not even up to snuff with Xbox one / PS4...If companies cant port games over to Switch without major graphical downgrades, I doubt they will even bother, and we will have a similar problem that the WiiU had.

[Angrist]

I wouldnt just assume that the Switch Version of Breath of Wild will be better than the Wii U version. It was designed to be a Wii U game after all, and didnt Nintendo say there would not be ANY graphical upgrades on Switch? I remember them saying something like "both versions will play pretty much the same." Which could mean anything.
The Wii U seems to be struggling to run the game at times; it's only logical for the Switch version to run better.
I'm thinking of something like 1080p60 on Switch vs 720p30 on Wii U.

Nintendo has stated very clearly that the console can only stream to the TV when in the dock. No wireless transmissions like the Wii U had (I'm guessing that technology was way too expensive).
The screen is rumored to be a capacative multi-touch screen. The Joy-Cons are rumored to have motion sensing in them. And an IR-sensor like the Wiimotes had, which could let you play touch games on the TV, using IR-pointing.

Did you notice that both Joy-Cons each have their own set of shoulder buttons? They're inaccessible when clicked into the Switch, but they'll be very useful for multiplayer.

There's no way that this machine will be on par with PS4/XB1. Not with that size and not for a reasonable price.
All ports to the systems will have to be downgraded. But it won't be very drastic, not like with the Wii U.

As for first party titles, I'm sure Nintendo will do a much better job than with the Wii U. They acknowledged that they had too few games coming out for that and they promised to do better with Switch (NX). And unless they come out with a separate portable (which would be a blunder), all the 3DS developers will make games for Switch.
AAA third party support will still be tricky, but I'm sure we'll get more than on Wii U.

[Jason1]

The Wii U seems to be struggling to run the game at times; it's only logical for the Switch version to run better.
I'm thinking of something like 1080p60 on Switch vs 720p30 on Wii U.




Where did you see that the game is struggling to run on the WiiU? I havent heard that. Not saying your wrong, I would just like to see a source. When has a 1st party Nintendo title ever not run well on a Nintendo system? I just find that a little hard to believe.

[Angrist]

Where did you see that the game is struggling to run on the WiiU? I havent heard that. Not saying your wrong, I would just like to see a source. When has a 1st party Nintendo title ever not run well on a Nintendo system? I just find that a little hard to believe.Hm, when I mean struggling, I mean it's most likely running at 720p30 with framerate drops. I saw it in E3 gameplay footage. Nothing dramatic, but to me it shows that Nintendo is ready to move to stronger hardware.

If the Switch is 2 or 3x stronger than Wii U, I'm expecting 1080p60 graphics.

[BlueFire]

I'm definitely getting one. And it's a gamble, but I think it's the smartest thing Nintendo can do. They can't compete with Sony and Microsoft in regular home console sales.

[Shadow Fox]

Getting one. Possibly two.

Yes, I still lurk. Deal with it.

[BlueFire]

Getting one. Possibly two.

Yes, I still lurk. Deal with it.

whoa

[Seth]

Wait so everyone's probably seen this,

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7TJ7IUNWGl4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[BlueFire]

god, i hate jimmy fallon.

[Angrist]

At least he seemed genuinely surprised and excited by the Switch. Unlike his Super Mario Run farce.

But in general, that was pretty good marketing from Nintendo.

I found the exact same explosion running on Wii U hardware, which makes for a perfect framerate comparison. It shows that at its worst, the Wii U has 1/2 the framerate of that on Switch. Let's hope the Switch is a good deal stronger than the U.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn9JL8mKdVw

[BlueFire]

Tomorrow night is the night!

[Jason1]

20 mins...im so excited!

[BlueFire]

I had mixed feelings about the actual presentation. My first thought was "gosh, the joy-con looks really small." I'm not really sold on 1,2 Switch. It's the new normie game -- the Wii Sports for the Switch. It could be fun, though.

I wish they spent more time showcasing a variety of 3rd party games. Instead, we just got short trailers that didn't really show gameplay. I know the titles they showed are big in Japan (Shin Megami Tensei and other JRPGs). I just hope the 3rd party support is strong for this system.

With that being said, holy shit @ Mario and Zelda. Splatoon 2 looks great. But I was really wowed by the Mario trailer. It looks so fun.

And the Zelda trailer was sooooo good. I think I've watched it like 3-4 times, lol. What did you guys think?

[Vampyr]

I'm pretty pumped. I think Mario and Zelda will be spectacular. I love the multiverse idea behind Mario Odyssey.

I'm also pretty excited for ARMS. I think if the motion stuff works well in the controllers it will be a very fun game.

I'll probably end up getting 1, 2 Switch just to have something to play when we have people over.

I'm also really interested to see what the HD rumble feels like. I assume it's some kind of haptic feedback technology, but I'm curious how that will actually feel and how games will use it.

I think they didn't show many other games last night because Nintendo will do the thing where it has a few directs over the next couple of months to drip feed the info out and to try and keep hype high.

We pre-ordered one this morning from Target, hopefully our order doesn't get cancelled or anything.

[BlueFire]

I preordered on Amazon while they still had the preorders available. More preorders will probably be available soon.

[Vampyr]

I never even saw them become available on Amazon, heh.

[Ginkasa]

I was a little disappointed in the presentation. There wasn't really anything there that, to me, indicated things would be any different with the Switch than they were with the Wii U. I'm okay with the Wii U, personally, but obviously it wasn't the greatest of successes.

I am a little annoyed at the current pre-order situation. I was able to get my Zelda special edition pre-order in, but the Switch was all sold out by the time I was able to try. I'm doing Best Buy so I can pick it up without waiting on a delivery. Hopefully they'll have more availability before release.

[Vampyr]

I think the biggest difference is that people know the Nintendo Switch exists and they did not know the Wii U existed, or at least did not realize what it was.

That was really the root of every problem with the Wii U - poor marketing led to a tiny user base so no third party support because it just wasn't worth it.

The biggest thing that the Switch has going for it, in my mind, is that they are essentially merging the 3DS userbase into the console user base. The Switch may not sell incredibly well off the bat, but I'm curious to see what happens when that first Pokemon game comes out for it.

If the system gets a user base, it will get third party games.

[BreakABone]

Hmm will probably write something up (or more than likely just post podcast episode), but I did go hands on with the device yesterday in NYC.

I got to use the controller in all of its various configurations. The best was the Joycon with Grip. Controller is super light and comfy in my hands. The biggest thing though is it added a bit of bulk to he Joycons which I feel on their own may just be a bit too tiny for my hands. We'll see.

My favorite game was Arms (dumb name), but I also didn't try Zelda and Mario wasn't playable. It takes maybe a round or two to get use to, but when you do its so fun to play. It's also not a waggle fest, well it can be if two players don't know what they are doing, but I likening it to boxing, it's about knowing when to throw a punch, fake out an opponent and foot movement. Also really catchy music.

Well it was my favorite new game. Splatoon 2 is more of Splatoon, which big fan of. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is well Mario KArt 8 with new characters, better battle mode and a few new courses.

Snippercuts is a cute eShop title and would really recommend checking out more of that. Didn't get to play 1-2-Switch because oddly... a long wait for the demo.

*Shrugs*

If you got any questions

[BlueFire]

The biggest thing that the Switch has going for it, in my mind, is that they are essentially merging the 3DS userbase into the console user base.

Agreed. It's the only thing Nintendo could really do, tbh. There's no point in competing with Sony by releasing a regular home console. Nintendo pretty much owns the dwindling handheld market, so I feel like the Switch the best thing they could do (aside from giving up on consoles entirely).

[DarkMaster]

The Zelda I played at E3 was on the Wii U, and although it was tons of fun and looked great, it ran terribly. The framerate was extremely inconsistent. I have faith they have optimized it since, but if it really is dramatically better on Switch, I might have no choice but to buy the console. As much as I wish I could just play it on my Wii U and wait until later this fall to buy a Switch, this game could honestly be one of the best ever and I don't want my first experience playing through it to be the "crappier version". We'll see.

Otherwise the new Mario and Xenoblade 2 look incredibly good, so I'll be buying the Switch eventually without a doubt. Square Enix's 2D-looking 3D old-school-ish RPG with no real name yet looks really cool too. I am interested in the new Shin Megami but I think I'll see it on PS4 and or PC as well, but that one is something to keep an eye on for sure.

The biggest downer though is the price in Canada. I just moved back here after living in Los Angeles for a while, and I am slowly realizing again how terrible our dollar is. With tax this console will be $450, that is really high! I might import one from Japan instead where the price conversion would come out to around $350 CAD, depending on shipping prices.

[BreakABone]

Here are my impressions after my 3-hours hands on

http://nerdsontherocks.com/talk-of-the-town-hands-on-with-the-nintendo-switch/

[BlueFire]

The Zelda I played at E3 was on the Wii U, and although it was tons of fun and looked great, it ran terribly. The framerate was extremely inconsistent. I have faith they have optimized it since, but if it really is dramatically better on Switch, I might have no choice but to buy the console. As much as I wish I could just play it on my Wii U and wait until later this fall to buy a Switch, this game could honestly be one of the best ever and I don't want my first experience playing through it to be the "crappier version". We'll see.

Otherwise the new Mario and Xenoblade 2 look incredibly good, so I'll be buying the Switch eventually without a doubt. Square Enix's 2D-looking 3D old-school-ish RPG with no real name yet looks really cool too. I am interested in the new Shin Megami but I think I'll see it on PS4 and or PC as well, but that one is something to keep an eye on for sure.

The biggest downer though is the price in Canada. I just moved back here after living in Los Angeles for a while, and I am slowly realizing again how terrible our dollar is. With tax this console will be $450, that is really high! I might import one from Japan instead where the price conversion would come out to around $350 CAD, depending on shipping prices.

Dang, I didn't even consider the price difference in Canada :|

[Jason1]

Did anyone else get flashbacks to Sonic Adventure while waching that new Mario Trailer? As in the city hub world shown in the first 10 seconds of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsFLMu05vM0 .

Zelda trailer was amazing. Im going to buy it for Wii U. I have watched some of the comparison videos and sure its a little crisper on Switch, but I really dont think its anything that will have any real negative impact on the enjoyment of the game. I gotta say they showed some cool stuff at the presentation, but it was by no means an amazing presentation. for a system that will release in less than 2 months, I didn't really think they showed enough at all...

[Seth]

I was stoking my ninny fire for this 'console' but now I'm fairly certain I won't be rushing to buy one. My friend has it pre-ordered so I'm gonna demo down.

Is that right, $450 cdn?

I think I'm going to buy a new Radeon Vega gpu once they release Q1.

[Ginkasa]

Did anyone else get flashbacks to Sonic Adventure while waching that new Mario Trailer? As in the city hub world shown in the first 10 seconds of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsFLMu05vM0 .



That was all I could think of.

[BlueFire]

Yeah, I thought the same thing and I got worried, lol

[Vampyr]

I have a lot more faith in Nintendo than Sega, though.

[Angrist]

I was expecting a LOT more from the presentation, but I'm still getting the Switch. I always end up buying every Nintendo console/handheld, and I want to play the best version of Breath of the Wild.

SO hyped about that game.
Zelda trailer was amazing. Im going to buy it for Wii U. I have watched some of the comparison videos
Did you stumble upon mine? I was the first one to make a comparison and I still think it's one of the best. NintendoEverything.com and some other sites actually started posting it yesterday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8WjK7iA5IA

[Jason1]

I just watched your vid Angrist. Gotta say it does look a good tick better for Switch. More so than I originally thought anyways. However, I still stand by my previous comment: I dont see anything that will really negatively affect game play or real enjoyment of the game. I'll be getting it for Wii U . I just dont think its enough to rush out and buy a Switch on day one.

P.S.: Good music in the video.

[BreakABone]

It's kind of interesting the marketing for this, both in terms of the marketing and the fact that we're just 30 days out from the console

I can live with a super abbreviated hype cycle for consoles

Anyhow, new trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r369yv2Uk

[Vampyr]

This is the ad that's going to air during the Super Bowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWd8fUC71g&feature=youtu.be

[BreakABone]

This is the ad that's going to air during the Super Bowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdWd8fUC71g&feature=youtu.be

Yeah

Fun ad

It's so insane that this is out in 30 days

[Vampyr]

I'm actually going on a vacation trip to Boston a few days after it comes out, so I'll get to test out the travel worthiness of it on a plane and everything. :)

The more I see of ARMS the more pumped I am about it.

[BlueFire]

I'm only getting Zelda for right now, but I'm looking at Bomberman because I love that game, lol.

[Jason1]

It's kind of interesting the marketing for this, both in terms of the marketing and the fact that we're just 30 days out from the console

I can live with a super abbreviated hype cycle for consoles

Anyhow, new trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1r369yv2Uk

OMG there is actually a Jacking off mini game! Starts at about the 3:47 mark. Hilarious!!!!!!

[BlueFire]

I'm so going to the best at that game

[Angrist]

This morning I woke up with ‘Believer’ by Imagine Dragons.
I recognized it, but not from what. I thought "WOW, great song." Then I realized it's from the new Switch ad. :D :D

That's a great catch by Nintendo. Although I do know that they have a history with Imagine Dragons.

[BreakABone]

OMG there is actually a Jacking off mini game! Starts at about the 3:47 mark. Hilarious!!!!!!

It's a soda bottle game... everyone knows that!

[BlueFire]

We're almost there :o

[BreakABone]

Zelda and Switch previews are dropping

https://j.gifs.com/vgk7Bn.gif

[BlueFire]

Hype!!

[Ginkasa]

I haven't been this excited for a Zelda game since.... Well, if I'm being honest since Skyward Sword because that's how I do, but this one really seems like its going to be special and not just "OoT, but with this gimmick instead" like pretty much all of the Zeldas have been since OoT.

[Vampyr]

Previews indicate that this game is The One.

[Shadow Fox]

Yep. Ready to make the Switch to 9th generation.

This will be the first time in a long time that I forgo buying all consoles (Scorpio and PS4 Pro)- simply because I can still play the same games on my XBONE and/or PS4.

[Vampyr]

I'd be more interested in a PS4 pro if I had more control over the "improved" performance of each game.

If I could choose between an increase resolution or an increased frame rate, that would be nice. As it is you're at the whim of the game developer. Some give you a choice, some don't.

[BreakABone]

Really robust and solid selection of indie games for the year

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5xLOx9UoAEhwzv.jpg:large

[Vampyr]

Well, got my Switch and Breath of the Wild yesterday. So far, an amazing game.

The Switch itself though...the left joycon sync issue is real and it's extremely annoying. I'm starting to think Nintendo may eventually have to replace them.

Aside from that, there are a few other quality issues that concern me. The process of sliding the switch into the dock is not as smooth or seamless as it should be. It kind of wobbles in there. There are some pictures out there of screens that have been scuffed by the dock itself. It's not a part of the screen that shows an image, but still annoying. It probably wouldn't be an issue if the screen were glass, but it's plastic. Makes it less durable and less responsive than what people are used to on high end smart phones.

Other minor complaints are that the kickstand feels kind of flimsy, clicking it all the way out feels like you're going to break it. The little flap that covers where you insert a game doesn't click into place.

If I had to make a recommendation, I would say that the current switch is like the original GBA or DS. Unless you are a big Nintendo fan like me who wants to play their games ASAP, I'd wait for the GBA SP/DS Lite equivalent.

And whatever you do don't buy a second pair of joycons, they're kinda garbage.

[Ginkasa]

Yeah, I noticed the issue with the left Joycon as well in my half hour trying the grip. I found it was my left index finger on the trigger blocking the signal. That Joycon was completely unresponsive when I held my finger a certain way. I had to kind of hold my finger away in a ready position if I felt like I needed to hit the trigger soon. I wasn't able to replicate it with the right side.

I've mainly been using the Pro Controller, though, so it hasn't affect me much. Definitely disappointing, though.

[BreakABone]

I've had left joycon issues as well... seems to be interference on my end depending on the angle.

I don't mind the Joycons... mostly fine for Zelda in the dock and sometimes free flowing, but may get a Pro Controller as well.

I like the system overall, but I feel like the OS is super basic. Like it seems to lack that Nintendo charm they had with previous systems.

[Vampyr]

I've had left joycon issues as well... seems to be interference on my end depending on the angle.

I don't mind the Joycons... mostly fine for Zelda in the dock and sometimes free flowing, but may get a Pro Controller as well.

I like the system overall, but I feel like the OS is super basic. Like it seems to lack that Nintendo charm they had with previous systems.

The joy cons just make me second guess buying ARMS. I'm going to need another set of joy cons to be able to play multiplayer with it, and I'm super hesitant to buy something where half the package is defective.

Also, and this is a pretty big one, I was pretty pumped to play indie games on the go with the switch, but the lack of a d-pad on the left one really hinders your ability to play 2D games. The Pro controller has a d-pad, but I won't be carrying it around with me.

As for the OS, I think we're going to see that change rapidly. It's pretty obvious, I think, that the Switch was rushed out super fast to get into this financial year for Nintendo. It explains why so many features are missing at launch.

[Angrist]

Yeah I'm missing the fun little apps that the U and 3DS had at launch. Now it's just BotW and... the options menu. :p

But Botw is amazing, so it's all good. <3