Nintendo NX / Switch Discussion

[Robert Maxwell]

1 2 Switch is listed online for $50. It's outrageous that joke of a 'game' isn't bundled with the system, Nintendo thinks they can charge that much for it?

I found a worse one: Amazon is listing Minecraft at $60.

Granted, some of these prices are probably just guesses, but come on. You can get Minecraft for basically any platform for $25 or less right now.

I think what's rubbing me the wrong way about all this is that Nintendo is showing a lot of contempt for their customers. The controller prices--OK, I don't think those are super terrible, because Wiimotes are about $40 apiece, too, and the Joy-Cons are basically miniaturized versions of them.

Let's flash back to 2006, when the Wii was launching.

• Wii launch price: $250, with a pack-in game
• PS3 price at that time: $500 or $600, with no game
• Xbox 360 price at that time: $300 or $400, with no game

See a difference here?

The PS3 was hampered at launch by a high price and a complex architecture that developers found hard to work with, which limited its library expansion in the first couple years. Sony learned a lot of lessons in coming up to the PS4.

Microsoft, by contrast, had a solid market in the 360 but totally flubbed the PR for the Xbone, and launched with a highly-touted feature nobody wanted (namely, built-in Kinect). They have paid the price for that.

What's Nintendo doing here? Well, they seem to have learned a couple things from the Wii U debacle. The gamepad was always an unwieldy, fragile-feeling stepchild of a peripheral. A good idea, executed badly. They seem to have figured out how to execute that idea much better. From a technical standpoint, the Switch seems pretty cool--a very slick piece of hardware. Not cutting edge capabilities by any stretch, but that's the tradeoff for something portable.

And then it seems the business people got their hands on it and decided to forget everything about the Wii's success, charge more than any other console, release with a thin library, and gouge people on games without even the courtesy of a pack-in.

Nintendo will be very, very lucky if they pull this off. I suspect it might be the 3DS all over again: weak sales will force a large price cut by Christmas, maybe down to the $220-250 area. If sales are weak and they refuse to do this, well, I guess they will have brought it on themselves.

 

[Logopolis]

Third party support (or lack thereof) will be what makes or breaks this console. There are a lot of Zelda, Mario, Dragon Quest and Animal Crossing fans in the world, but is that really sufficient to sustain the 5 year lifespan of a console? Doubtful.

 

[Rincewiend]

Console lifespan is 7 or 8 years now, atleast when it comes to Sony or Microsoft...
The Wii U lifespan feels shorter than 5 though...

 

[Logopolis]

It will be 5 years in November but haven't Nintendo stopped producing the WiiU? I suppose it's Switch or nothing come this Christmas as i'd say there wouldn't be too many WiiU units remaining at retail.

 

[Timby]

It will be 5 years in November but haven't Nintendo stopped producing the WiiU? I suppose it's Switch or nothing come this Christmas as i'd say there wouldn't be too many WiiU units remaining at retail.

Yes, Nintendo ended production last year and retailers stopped receiving new inventory in November.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Console lifespan is 7 or 8 years now, atleast when it comes to Sony or Microsoft...
The Wii U lifespan feels shorter than 5 though...

Well, it logically follows that a failed console would have a shorter lifespan, don't you think?

The PS2 was on shelves for fucking ever because that thing just would not stop selling.

 

[Logopolis]

Not to mention the diversity and size of the PS2 library.

 

[bigdaddy]

Third party support (or lack thereof) will be what makes or breaks this console. There are a lot of Zelda, Mario, Dragon Quest and Animal Crossing fans in the world, but is that really sufficient to sustain the 5 year lifespan of a console? Doubtful.

More so when it seems to take Nintendo 3-4 years to make a game. Are they planning on releasing only a few games a year even with both portal and console being one?

People loved the idea of it being an all in one console, which is funny because now that it looks like Nintendo is dropping the ball again it's called a 'gimmick'. It's called smart if Nintendo can actually make several games a year. That doesn't seem likely, and I question if Mario will be even out by Christmas.

 

[Logopolis]

....in a funny sort of way, maybe releasing Mario in 2018 is a good thing given Nintendo's development cycle.

That way you have:

2017 - Zelda & Mario Kart

2018 - Mario

Instead, all three are crammed into the launch year which makes year 2 + 3 especially dependent on third party support.

 

[Logopolis]

I just punished myself and watched the actual presentation. Seriously, did Nintendo spend 40 years planning their belated reply to the Star Wars Holiday Special? They sure achieved it!

 

[Aldo]

I'm curious what you didn't like about it? I admit it started off shakey, but once they got into the games it was enjoyable. Two memorable moments for me:

-Mario Odyssey being revealed. When that prview started never in a million years would I have guessed that was a Mario game.

-The release date reveal for Zelda. All the rumors going back and forth on if it's a launch title or not, this was a huge deal for me. Also that trailer blew me away.

 

[Logopolis]

....the whole thing was just cringe. Ok, they got the game trailers right. I'll give them that much. They were the Bobba Fett segments.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

I realy am curious what the actual frame rates on this are like, sure the trailer looks impressive but is that the actual screen we see or projected effects?

 

[Logopolis]

Selected segments of the trailers looked a little pre-rendered.

Like this one frame:

I think it's safe to say that ALL of the game footage was from dock play rather than mobile. Notice how they avoided a side by side comparison of the two modes?

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Selected segments of the trailers looked a little pre-rendered.

Like this one frame:

I think it's safe to say that ALL of the game footage was from dock play rather than mobile. Notice how they avoided a side by side comparison of the two modes?

Haha yes.. I was thinking of games like Bioshock Infinite. With the unit docked that would play fine but I can't imagine the frame rates being anywhere the same in portable mode. Yes they avoid side by side comparisons in all the trailers I have seen for this device.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yes, I can't fathom why they would avoid showing it performs worse in handheld mode... what could they be thinking?!

 

[bigdaddy]

what could they be thinking?!

That they should spend more time talking about ice cubes?

 

[Aldo]

That they should spend more time talking about ice cubes?

As much as I do go to bat for Nintendo, I completely tuned the "ice cube" portion of the presentation out. Mostly because I had another tab open and was doing other things while the presentation was going.

 

[BeatleJWOL]

I think it's safe to say that ALL of the game footage was from dock play rather than mobile. Notice how they avoided a side by side comparison of the two modes?

At least one report so far indicates the Dock doesn't seem to give anything extra to the system:

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[bigdaddy]

At least one report so far indicates the Dock doesn't seem to give anything extra to the system:

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Of course not, if the dock did anything it would cost $200.