Switch Reveal Opinion Extravaganza

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It’s Dae here! I promised to write up a bit on my opinion on the Switch reveal, but it turned out to be longer than I expected. Therefore I’ll take this opportunity to publish my first article in a couple of years. Enjoy!

Let’s get the conference out of the way first; it was a poor showing. Live shows are usually a hit or a miss and this one was definitely a miss. Awkward, stiff translations as well as weird presentation of games and holding out on information that would entice customers are among my major gripes. The nice thing is that the Zelda trailer was absolutely amazing and Mario and Xenoblade 2 had a good showings too. But Zelda shouldn’t have been the final ‘one more thing’ surprise, everybody expected it to be a launch title already. Rather, I’d have liked a Metroid tease or something along those lines as a finisher for the show.

The lack of distinct games was also apparent. I guess they didn’t want to show games that weren’t prepared for release, but it didn’t show any confidence that they could produce a steady lineup of games for the Switch. People fear a repeat of the Wii U now, and that could really damage the sales of the console. I also wonder what makes the games so sparse at launch. Nintendo hasn’t released a lot of games in the past two years so I would have assumed they were working on new ones. If that isn’t the case, what were they doing all the time? I guess we’ll have to take a wait and see approach here and time will tell if they announce more games.

The games that have been announced do look pretty good though. Zelda is, of course, breathtaking and had one of the best trailers for a game I’ve ever seen. It really hit all the marks on a checklist of ‘how to make the perfect trailer’. Odyssey looks refreshing and can set itself apart from Galaxy so it won’t have the trouble of being compared to its shadow. The real life city may feel a bit uncanny valley, but I actually like the effect it brings out and luckily there’s a whole slew of different environments. Really looking forward to a more sandbox-style Mario again after the more linear games we’ve had in the past ten years. Splatoon 2 looks fresh, although it looks more like an upgraded port instead of a actual sequel, but then again what is a shooter sequel actually? You can’t innovate a lot except for new weapons, new maps, new strategies and a better online infrastructure. I don’t know if it was confirmed or denied, but I hope for online co-op possibility. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is also more of a luxury port, but the base game was great and this one will still be lots of fun for parties. I liked the new style of Xenoblade 2 too; it’s a bit different from the previous two but that’s OK in my opinion. Looking forward to hear about those games. 1 2 Switch looks like a fun mini-game collection, but I understand people saying they wanted this to be a pack in title. I don’t expect many people to cough up $50 for it, and I do believe they should have made it a $30 game, but I wouldn’t count on Nintendo rethinking it as a pack-in. I feel like they want to give the impression of it being a top-quality title.

The Switch will launch with only a couple of games, the sparsest it’s ever been for a launch of a console. I think there are a couple of reasons for this. First, you have Nintendo releasing Zelda: BotW. Most who picks up a Switch will pick up Zelda too. That makes for a tough competition from the get-go and games like Skyrim really could suffer from it. That’s why I think some high profile games got delayed last minute when they heard Zelda was making launch. And on the third party side, there a few ports of older games. But then I think, who buys all those ports anyway? Yes, they can make the ports and show ‘confidence’ in the Switch, but neither customers want old ports of uninteresting games they already bought and the publisher won’t make their money back too. It’s sadly a bit of self fulfilling prophecy, as few ports don’t entice customers to buy the console which leads to even fewer ports. But the Switch will all-in-all be a Nintendo and Japanese gaming system, and we just have to have faith in the usual companies to bring over their franchises. In this way I see Switch more as 3DS, with it getting the 3DS like library. With this I mean stuff like Phoenix Wright, Zero Escape… To be successful I think Nintendo just have to push through with being an alternative system, there’s no point to go compete with PS4 and XB1 without bringing some new stuff on the table.

And that brings me to the hardware. I haven’t used the actual hardware itself, but I read many positive impressions. The build quality is great and the looks are top notch. I even find it to have a bit of ‘sex-appeal’. If you search for direct comparison shots between the Switch and Wii U Gamepad, you’ll realize how bad the Gamepad looked and feel like it was made by Fisher-Price. But they did a great job with the Switch. The concept is appealing, and can be demonstrated easily to someone unfamiliar with the console. As a power engineer with some electronics background, I can also tell from all the technical stuff I read that this is the best console they could have built. The processor and graphics card is the most modern one that can power the console for continuous use. Processors in a iPhone 7 or upcoming Galaxy S8 may be faster, but they clock down due to power and heat concerns. The battery is also rather large and takes up a lot of space already, so saying they skimped out on battery is untrue. The battery life might not be a lot, but it’s actually comparable to phones running at 100% load. They also use a lot of modern application like USB C fast charging, Wifi AC, multitouch… Maybe you don’t believe it, but it’s really an impressive piece of tech that is competitive with stuff released today.

We can’t forget about the best parts of the console too: the Joy-Cons. I feel like they are the heart of the console, they are so well designed that the concept of the Switch really shines. Some vendors do have some detachable controllers for a generic tablet, but the from factor, build quality and ease of use are so far ahead that you can really see the ‘Nintendo magic’. Switching (haha, get it?) between docked, portable and table mode is so easy that it gets this wow factor when showing it off to friends. Being able to share a Joy-Con for two players is also nice, even though it doesn’t seem to be the most comfortable thing. But I can assure you, I can pop out my Switch and have some great fun with friends playing Mario Kart 8. The HD Rumble works well too apparently, and I think Nintendo can find some good applications for its use in games. Having some motions controls built in while functioning as traditional controllers is what makes this console combine the best of both worlds. A 20 hour battery life isn’t too shabby either, and you can easily recharge the battery when you dock the console.

This all reflects on the price too, which is indeed a bit expensive. $80 for a pair of Joy-Cons is steep, and far above a regular PS4 or Xbox One controller. Yes, you technically get two, but you’ll be buying them in pairs, because who wants a single lonely Joy-Con? I suspect many games to require a pair of Joy-Cons too, even though I don’t know if it’s possible to connect four pairs of Joy-Con if some game featured four player local multiplayer (Smash Bros?). They feature lots of tech and game companies always want to make money on accesories, but I think it would have been better if they priced it $10 to $15 lowers to reduce the sticker shock effect. The other accessories are expensive too, the Pro Controller is the definitive controller for couch gaming, but it comes with a definitive price as well. Buying extra Joy-Cons don’t even give the same colour straps, which can be bought for $8 seperately. And if you want an extra grip and be able to charge your controllers, which you can’t do with the included grip, it’ll cost you an extra $30. Granted, including it in the box would have upped the box price with another $15. If you want a ‘starters pack’ for new Switch users, you can feel nickel-and-dimed due to the high accessory costs. I wish Nintendo can first address those prices if it seems that it is a barrier to entry.

As for the box itself, I feel the $299 is still a fair price. Based on what I read, I already expected that $249 would be a tough target to reach. $299 is actually reasonable if you know what’s inside and how much things cost in manufacturing, R&D costs, distribution, retail and not to mention bad exchange rate and taxes in Europe. I believe that Nintendo still makes less profit in Europe per console sold, since people always forget that doing business in general is more expensive here due to wages, business taxes and buildings. The real question is actually value sided. It’s not: ‘Is this a fair price to charge’, but: ‘Do I feel like this is a fair price to me’. Nintendo will have to do a good job in selling value to the consumer and needs a clear messaging what it’s actually selling. In that I feel that a comparison with PS4 and generic tablets is not the way to go. Yes, the PS4 is comparable in price and more powerful, but as long as the Switch offers distinctly different features, people may still get enticed to buy. We’ll see if this works out, but I’m not the one who is calling this out as a flop already.

As for myself, I still believe in the Switch and even did save up enough the past two years to go on a crazy shopping splurge. I pre-ordered the Grey console, got the Pro Controllers, the Red/Blue Joy-Cons, the Charging Grip and an extra case. I really felt like that at some point in the future, I would have bought it anyway to play my favorite Nintendo games and therefore it doesn’t matter to me if I buy it sooner. I also want the definitive edition of Zelda, and being able to transport it between my dorm and home is a really big plus to me. I really look forward to most of the first party games that are announced, even though not many details have come out already. The conference damped my enthusiasm a bit, but I think it will be on full fire again closer to March 3rd. I’ll do a technical review of the Switch in six weeks when I get my hands on one, so look forward to reading it here!

This thing has gotten really long now, and I didn’t even touch on all the aspects of the Switch, but I need to wrap up here. If you’d like to have my opinion on an untouched subject, just ask in the comments. I’ll still check them regularly, even though I may not be an active writer anymore 🙂 I’d love to hear your opinion on the Switch too. Are you buying at launch? Holding out a bit? Or have even become uninterested? What do you think of the price? What games can entice you to buy? Tell me in the comments!

Enjoy and you’ll hear back from me when I get my Switch!

~Daedardus~

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3,671 thoughts on “Switch Reveal Opinion Extravaganza”

  3. Since I’m bored at work I want to revisit this idea of mine of that Fighting Type snake inspired by the false Alolan Ekans which was claimed to be a Fighting type

    Comboa
    Fighting
    The Striking Pkm
    Skill Link/Shed Skin HA: Guts
    A red maroon long bodied serpentine Pokemon with an extremely swift and flexible body, they have semi large heads with a headband like crest on their neck, on the very end of their tail is a series of rattle like bands of skin that when it curls its tail it resembles a fist
    “Lacking venom of any kind, This Pokemon strikes and pummels its prey with lightning fast tail strikes and lunges, by curling the end of its tail it can punch through solid glass more than 6 inches thick”

    It gains a new Fighting Attack
    Combo Striker
    Fighting
    Physical
    25 Damage
    “The user unleashes a flurry of blows onto the target hitting 2-5 times, raises attack if a critical hit is dealt”

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  5. So apparently developement for SM Oddysey is almost finished, so hopefully that means we don’t see any delays for it!

    Speaking of “almost finished”, WHERE THE HECK IS PIKMIN 4?!?!

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    • OOOOOOOOOHHOOOOOO Earthen fan game time
      Pikmin 4 takes place 3 months after the events of Pikmin 3, after finally returning home from his adventures with the aid of the Koppaitans, Olimar has finally accumulated enough treasure to finally take that long awaited vacation with his family, he and his wife and two children embark to a planet far away to get some peace, but often with his luck a stray machine whizzes by and strikes their ship and it separates its escape pods and crashes on yet another bizarre planet
      He is once reunited with a stray tribe of Pikmin and sets out to not only find his family but find the ship parts to get home
      During this time Olimar’s family discover new Pikmin evolved specimens of Pikmin (red have thorny bodies, yellow have gliding ears and blue have tails) they also soon discover a bunch of pods (resembling the one that hit them) are snatching up every plant and animal they can find so they must figure out this new menace and return the creatures to their home)

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      • And spoiler
        This new menace is actually a band of techno space pirates who are abducting dangerous and valuable creatures just so they can conquer planets
        So you must band together and sneak onto their ship, free captive creatures and stop them once and for all

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    • Odyssey was finished for a long time, and they wanted to put it out at launch to compensate for a possible Zelda delay. But Zelda made it and they spread out the release schedule a bit.

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        • Laura Kate Dale said it.
          They value frequent releases more than many games at launch. They don’t want to get months where they don’t release anything. So now they can improve the holiday lineup and maybe move something else ahead.

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          • That makes sense. TBH, LKD doesn’t have the greatest credibility right now, but she did get a bunch of stuff right so who knows.

          • Credibility is fine. Just remember that even leakers with inside sources can get things wrong. Things change internally and some thing are misheard, I don’t see it as people making stuff up out of their asses.

          • Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that she had lucky guesses, but like you said, things change and things are misheard, so even having a few things correct doesn’t make it so she should be blindly believed.

  6. @daedardus:disqus I didn’t see your comment about my research until just now. I’m not 100% sure what field you’d categorize it as, but it’s something like biochemistry or bio-inorganic chemistry. We’re looking at the mechanism of Oxalate Decarboxylase on oxlate via a disproportionation reaction and the formation of superoxide free radicals.

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      • You’ll get there. Most of the specific terminology I know because of the research project I’m in. The other stuff is all AP Chem equivalent.

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    • So you’re trying to improve the efficiency of the production of superoxide radicals or just trying to determine the mechanism by which it happens? I dont fully understand what a disproportionate reaction is so forgive me if I misunderstood.
      Also what’s the application of this research?

      Sorry if I’m being nosy.

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      • No no no superoxide radicals are very bad. I’ll start with the application first, because that’ll make more sense:
        Oxalate can be found in the body as calcium oxalate, more commonly known as kidney stones. The goal is to be able to administer OxDc (oxalate decarboxylase) to patients with kidney stones in order to break it down. OxDc normally takes oxalate and turns it into formate by the end. The enzyme has a manganese (II) ion as a cofactor, which is used to bind to oxalate. The disproportionation reaction part comes from the fact that the Mn (II) gets oxidized to Mn (III) and then further reuced back to Mn (II). I’m sure you know that formate is used in the citric acid cycle, so turning something harmful into essentially usable energy by the body would be pretty good.
        Here’s the problem: Superoxide radicals can form. There’s an alternate pathway where hydrogen peroxide can form, and from this the radicals can form. These damage the body, and we can’t administer an enzyme to someone without knowing how to prevent the formation of such radicals.

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        • Ah, that sound interesting.

          The only thing about superoxide that clicks with me personally is knowing it’s use by the immune system to destroy invading microorganisms. I also recall a little about it in regards to antioxidants (SOD for example) but my knowledge is very limited (or just no longer retained in my memory). But sounds cool none the less.

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  7. When you miss the drama and you’re kinda sad about it. But will live.
    Also I didn’t get salmonella poisoning incase anyone was wondering.
    And I got three 6IV pokemon in wonder trade today.

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  12. Excuse me while I rant:

    The world is so unfair! Why is it always the evil, vicious, gruesome, air-stealing villains winning? Why are people illegally, unfairly and unjust fully attacking Angela Merkel? Why is the U.S not using popular vote instead of electoral college? Why is anti-EUphobia rising? Why are liberals being harassed and attacked when they’re usually more nicer and tolerant? WHY ARE MOST GOOD GUYS FINISHING LAST?!

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    • The world is unfair, and I, too, feel let down by things happening in the world. But then I realise I’ll just fight my own battles and try to take care for the people around me, because that’s the least what I can do.

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    • The simple answer: People have opinions, and also tend to be very stupid.

      The problem is that people are stubborn and want to believe that they are always right. They believe that their opinions are fact. There are people out there who believe that racism, sexism, etc. should exist. Because that’s their opinion. And that conflicts with mine, and yours too, I’m sure. The people you see as villains don’t see themselves as that, but they see us as villains. The pain that you feel by the actions they’re taking is the same pain they feel by the actions we take against them. We’re trying to change the world, but that conflicts with their old-world views. And then you still encounter problems on how to change our world. What measures do we take? What do we tackle first? And so on and so forth. There are divisions within the so called “good” and “bad”. It’s not that easy. It never will be that easy. Nobody is exactly you, so nobody can share your exact set of opinions. You’re bound to find a disagreement in ideals with anyone you encounter.

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    • The world can be a very corrupt place, I get that, but try not to overlook what good is happening in the world. A few years ago I decided to stop caring about these issues and look on the bright side, and as stupid as it may sound, I’ve been much happier since.

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      • it is true there is a lot of positive things happening in the world that are never focused on and if we were in a better state right now I would say so too, but lately things are looking a little too bleak to not focus on what is happening just in case things take a dark turn. We should still seek out the positive things though too.

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        • I get what your saying, but I still choose to be blissfully ignorant of it all. If things like that happen, I can deal with them then I guess.

          I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense but from my personal experience all of this just leads me into constant stress and anxiety, so from a personal standpoint, this is my choice.

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          • And of course thats entirely valid, like I said in one of my other posts, you’re allowed to shut it all out, some people have too, and I will admit that seeing it all stresses me the hell out to, but like I said, its fine for some people to do that as long as we don’t all do that, even if one person stands up it starts a domino effect, like MLK, Susan B. Anthony, and Harvey Milk and countless others that helped with the equal rights issues of their times.

          • Yeah… I’m not one of those people, I guess. Being a hero is great and all, but I’d rather be happy than be a hero.

    • Be the change you want to see in the world, most of us settle for our mundane existences and turn a blind eye saying its not my business, or its not my problem, and thats fine for them but not all of us can do that. We must have people who are willing to stand up and fight in the name of love, tolerance and equality. Sure other people have different views, but if your views directly affect another persons human rights or cause suffering in an entire community they must be stopped. If you want to see a change, be the change, every voice matters.

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    • Here is the thing, there is no good guy or bad guy. Morals are subjective. One person thinks one way and the other thinks another way and a war will break out because of it.

      One person thinks the south should’ve won, that women should be kept cooking in kitchens and that any religion other than Christianity is evil. That is that person’s opinion. That person’s terrible opinion. Because people should all be treated equally. But that includes the racists, the sexists and the homophobes. You have to remember that they are humans. Even though I constantly see people trying to take away my right to marry who I love because we are the same gender or my right to fucking pee in the correct bathroom, I still have to remember that they are humans.

      People are stubborn. They can’t have their minds change over night. Hell I was actually pretty transphobic before I came out to myself. But that was because I was scared of that challenging the ideas I had of the world before I realized that I fell into that group of humans. Then I reconsidered and realized who I really was and that led me to be more accepting of others. It all comes down to having a view of the world and being petrified to look somewhere new. Liberals and Conservatives are both guilty. People want to ignore statistics, they want to attack others who think differently. All of this instead of looking at the facts, listening, really listening to that other side and both sides coming to a new understanding

      I never know if I’m making any sense when I write stuff like this .~.

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      • The difference is, you understand your flaws and the issues you may harbour, others who have far more scary ideals may do not or may never see a flaw in themselves, like your current president elect, who has no heros but himself, and thinks he has no flaws. Even the most corrupt people deserve compassion when they understand they have made mistakes and have flaws, because they can be reasoned with.

        Otherwise perfectly worded

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    • Because people have different opinions for what they feel is good and bad. They think you’re the bad guy, and that they’re the good guy, and vice versa

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    • “Why are liberals being harassed and attacked when they’re usually more nicer and tolerant?”
      I’ve never understood this line of thinking.
      You can be nice and tolerant while being a liberal but you’re not inherently nicer or more tolerant just because you’re a liberal.

      In fact, I’ve known some very intolerant liberals.

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      • Well liberals are more about diversity and being ‘liberal’ about immigration, conservatives want to conserve the identity and sustain the economy.

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  15. I feel the exact same way. I’m not sure if one Zelda game can make it all the better. It just seems like WiiU all over again. Which is highly disappointing

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    • The difference is is that the Wii U didn’t only have a bad launch, the months after were barren too. I feel like Switch will suck at launch but recover much quicker than wii u tbh, because there’s so much third party devs interested and a variety of games lined up

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      • I really don’t think so. It might be because the lack of revealed titles and my lack of interest in other games, but the other titles don’t even look that pleasing

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    • The Wii U was a fairly good console, what are you talking about? Have you forgotten about:

      – Mario Kart 8

      – Super Mario 3D World

      – Super Smash Bros U

      – Splatoon

      – Super Mario Maker

      – New Super Mario Bros U

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  16. Does anyone know: If I breed 100 eggs, soft reset without saving, then breed 100 eggs again, would the contents remain eggsactly the same?

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  17. One of the best things about SM64 (DS version and yes i ACTUALLY like it), was the fact you can cheat to get all 120 stars easily.

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  19. Off topic, but my friend just pointed something out and I wanted to see people’s opinions on it

    Like, do I seem Scottish to you people

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  21. Off topic 2,but one day, I want to teach you all Scottish/British slang just to see how you’d all react XD

    Reply

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