I'm very interested in the NX, I wouldn't buy into rumours just yet though. There's A LOT floating around. Nintendo will likely be announcing details soon - probably at least some core details when they present their mobile platform, which could be ANY day now.
I have heard there studios that want to show stuff off, but are on an embargo until a certain date.
Nintendo has already halted production on some Wii U peripherals and plans to stop production on Wii U later this year. This announcement comes only a week after the successful Japanese soft-launch of Miitomo which has been topping install charts for the last week.
I am actually a little curious that they haven't announced any press conferences yet. I would have figured that end of March would be the latest point of unveiling.
Not until Wii U and 3DS, and there's little debate that those were very unsuccessful. No one there really cared about gaming philosophy or hardware discussion, they're only interested in software. Nintendo has since distanced themselves from E3 and other similar press conferences.
The Wii unveil was the most successful they ever did, they unveiled it in April explaining the concept, philosophy, allowed people to digest it before showing it off in action at E3 the following month. They should try to replicate that, it would be a weird business decision if they decided to go the failed route of 3DS and Wii U unveils for a third time.
No d-pad, no buttons, capacitive touch screen, camera on the top. Seems weird for a home console controller, but interesting for a handheld. The issue with Wii U's touch screen is you have to take your eyes off the action to use it, Nintendo is aware of this issue and designed games around it; that's why this seems weird to me.
Other note, the Swedish MacBook Pro caught my eye. That indicates to me that this pic was taken on a boardroom table in a studio that develops mobile games. MacBook pros are common among corporate level mobile devs. I am not sure who would have a Nintendo controller, there's an EA mobile dev in Helsinki Finland, and they use Swedish MacBook keyboards, maybe there?
While I know it's semantics, cartridges is probably not the best word to describe what Nintendo would use; mostly because of the size and shape of the medium. They would be using the next generation of Nintendo game cards, which is the media utilized by the Nintendo DS and 3DS. This makes sense these days
From a player standpoint: It means that they could vastly reduce loading times from optical discs.
From a business standpoint: It means Nintendo could share media between home console and handheld devices, which seems consistent with their speculated move toward a multi-form factor platform (a tiered platform that is on both handheld and home console hardware).
Thirdly - With the N64, the biggest issue was the cost of storage space. The largest cartridges were 64MB, and cost a great deal of money, and this resulted in N64 games costing the equivalent of around $150 taking inflation into account. Currently, the largest 8GB sized 3DS cards cost $1 to manufacture back in 2011. It isn't wild speculation that in 2017 Nintendo could be manufacturing 64 and 128 GB NX game cards for around the same price. They would be a superior medium for gaming consoles. Plus whether or not a gaming console can play blu Rays or DVDs is no longer a significant advantage.
So whether this is speculation or an actual rumour, I think it's a very good idea that makes a lot of sense.
Speaking of the N64, looking back on it, it probably would have fallen flatter than GameCube and Wii U did if it weren't for its killer applications. The killer apps: GE007, Ocarina of Time, and Mario 64 is the only reason the N64 managed to sell as well as it did. On the other hand, Game Cube and Wii U lacked any killer app. If Nintendo NX is to be successful, it really needs at least one killer app leading the way, or if they want something like the Wii, three killer apps in the first year: Super Mario Galaxy 3, Legend of Zelda NX, and something fresh that's Super Mario Bros or Wii Sports caliber.
As far as discs go, I know when I play Xenoblade Chronicles X the Wii U just goes nuts. It sounds like the disc is going to come shooting out of the system for how much work it's doing. Also, load times, while not horrible, are pretty slow.
There's definitely a performance improvement to be had with cards/cartridges/whatever-you-want-to-call them.
I do use the BlueRay/DVD player on my PS3 from time to time. Also, it's the only thing I have left that plays CDs. It's not as important like you say, the things are dirt cheap now compared to what they were years ago. but still.
I mean, eventually we'll just download everything so it won't be an issue... but for now we still will play a mix of physical media and downloaded games.
I believe that this is just speculation based on financial reports from the company that makes chips for Nintendo and made their cartridges in the past.
kali o. wrote:Ah, good ol Patcher, the only "analyst" with a less accurate prediction rate than pure chance.
Didn't he predict Wii U would sell 30-50 million units too?
No, back in 2013 he expected at least 20 million Wii U's by 2016, needless to say the Wii U is awful and didn't come anywhere close to even that modest prediction.
I'm wondering how Zelda being on the Wii U will effect NX sales. The E3 version was the Wii U version after all. I know I preferred Twilight Princess Gamecube to Wii Twilight Princess with the tacked on motion controls. Granted, NX Zelda should hopefully just be a prettier version with no gimmicks, but we still don't know what the NX is. -_-
Speaking of killer apps, still waiting on my killer VR app Kali, and no porn doesn't count!
I agree, with Manaman, it will probably be under 750K units. Nintendo fans will see this as ample reason to invest in the NX. I also think the appeal of Zelda: Breath of the Wild transcends any hype the Wii U ever really had - it's going to encourage others to invest in a console with the game, but they're going to go to the console with the future - and that's the NX.
To respond to Eric - I was the opposite, I liked the Wii controller and wasn't a fan of the Gamecube's for most games; including the Zelda games. I specifically recall hating the controls of the Ocarina of Time port... despite playing it twice. They felt wrong, too imprecise, and the Gamecube controller lagged a little - it was annoying on games like Metroid Prime - which was WAY better with Wii IR controls.
Looking back to Twilight Princess as a parallel. Even if you do like the Gamecube controls better: at the time, nearly everyone wanted the Wii version; the majority of people who bought the Gamecube version were those who couldn't get it on the Wii (either because the Wii was sold out, or because the Wii version of Zelda was sold out and they had a Gamecube). It was a major factor in the early success of the Wii, as most people who wanted Zelda, got the Wii to play it.
That said, I have no doubt the Wii U will eventually have its own hipster following, just like the Cubesters. The sort of retro-style fan who selectively forgets just how underwhelming and negative the console's run was. Like the Gamecube, they will most certainly ignore the fact that Wii U didn't have any killer app.
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Nintendo's upcoming NX will be a portable, handheld console with detachable controllers, a number of sources have confirmed to Eurogamer.
On the move, NX will function as a high-powered handheld console with its own display. So far so normal - but here's the twist: we've heard the screen is bookended by two controller sections on either side, which can be attached or detached as required.
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By Tom Phillips Published 26/07/2016
Nintendo's upcoming NX will be a portable, handheld console with detachable controllers, a number of sources have confirmed to Eurogamer.
On the move, NX will function as a high-powered handheld console with its own display. So far so normal - but here's the twist: we've heard the screen is bookended by two controller sections on either side, which can be attached or detached as required.
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Then, when you get home, the system can connect to your TV for gaming on the big screen.
A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX - within the controller - to display on your TV.
For more on the console's power, Digital Foundry has a deep-dive look at the chip Nintendo has chosen as the centrepiece of NX, according to numerous well-placed sources: Nvidia's powerful Tegra mobile processor.
NX will use game cartridges as its choice of physical media, multiple sources have also told us.
Considering NX's basis as a handheld first and foremost, the choice may not come as too much of a surprise - although we have heard the suggestion Nintendo recommends a 32GB cartridge, which is small when considering the size of many modern games.
Naturally, we expect digital game downloads will also be available. We were told Nintendo considered but then decided against making a system which supported digital downloads only.
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It's not the first time cartridge-based media has been mooted for NX. Back in May, eagle-eyed fans spotted The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's trademark included cartridge-based games. This was a change from Nintendo's usual wording for home console trademarks, which only refer to digital downloads and discs.
Due to the radical change in hardware design and internal technology, we've been told by one source that there are no plans for backwards compatibility.
Another source said the system would run on a new operating system from Nintendo. It won't, contrary to some earlier rumours, simply run on Android.
Inside the NX, as stated above, the system will harness Nvidia's powerful mobile processor Tegra. Graphical comparisons with current consoles are difficult due to the vastly different nature of the device - but once again we've heard Nintendo is not chasing graphical parity. Quite the opposite, it is sacrificing power to ensure it can squeeze all of this technology into a handheld, something which also tallies with earlier reports.
Finally, we've heard from one source that NX planning has recently moved up a gear within Nintendo ahead of the console's unveiling, which is currently slated for September.
After the confused PR fiasco of the Wii U launch, the company is already settling on a simple marketing message for NX - of being able to take your games with you on the go.
Nintendo always designs its hardware to show off specific game concepts - and it remains to be seen how the system will showcase the next Mario, or even how the NX version of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - the only first-party game confirmed so-far - may differ when played on the device.
Previously, however, we've heard reports of various Wii U games reappearing as updated NX ports - Splatoon and Smash Bros. have both been mooted. And then there's Pikmin 4, which Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed to Eurogamer just over a year ago.
Otherwise, several third parties have announced their plans for the system, which you can read about - as well as proposed release plans - in our piece that rounds up everything we know about the NX so far.
"Nintendo has not made any new official announcements regarding NX which is due to launch in March 2017," a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer when contacted about this story. "As such [we're] unable to comment on the various rumours and speculations circulating."
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This is all fairly in line with many of my earlier thoughts of what I wanted out of the Wii U, and later the NX. So I'm happy!
The only thing missing is the rumoured terminal component or "supplemental computing device" which the handhelds can hook into for extra processing power.
February 2014, commenting on what Nintendo should do with their next generation, and what they should have done with Wii U:
Julius Seeker wrote:A. Allow the next handheld to act as a controller for Wii U or the next home console.
B. Allow us to put Sim cards in, and add phone capabilities. Texting, etc...
C. Stop with the resisitive touch screens and get up to date with a capacitive touch screen.
Julius Seeker wrote:I think Nintendo might have been better off having a tablet without the buttons and analog sticks. Box is with separate classic controls.
So it sounds about like what everyone expected. Interesting concept though having a separate device for handheld gaming seems superfluous these days with everyone having smart phones & tablets. I'm fine with the cartridges as long as they're primarily a backup for people without access to download games.
It definitely sounds like you called it design-wise.
The video notes that the chip could be a placeholder, and I think the chance for this is probably very high. Consoles and handhelds always use semi-custom designed chip-sets, and nVidia hasn't announced anything of the sort. However, there are still unknown AMD wins besides PS4 New and Xbox Scorpio. Nintendo did use a tegra chip as a placeholder in the 3DS demo kits, but used a custom made Japanese designed chip in the final 3DS model.
As I mentioned above, I think the January 2014 rumour of a terminal unit which other units can sync up with was a great idea. I don't know if it is true, but I would love to see something like that.
Nintendo did merge their handheld and home console hardware divisions a few years back. I want to see how they hook in PC and mobile.
Don't be shocked if the "controller" that becomes a portable somehow gets cell capabilities.
My buds and I have been talking for a year about how this is basically gonna be like a super VMU idea with mobile-like games on the go that connect to the full version. I was shocked to hear they wanted to make it the complete experience on the go, I thought the abject failure of the Vita proved no one wanted that. Let's hope that gets clarified.
But having the mobile games (including Pokemon Go and the Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing ones) not just connect and interact with the home console but be an extension of them is a natural fit once Nintendo announced last year they were making mobile games.
I just hope the rumours about the old-gen chip are wrong and it's the new-gen one. This thing can't come out 3 years after the PS4 and be less powerful
Well, the console is supposedly going to be announced today @ 7AM Pacific.
Prediction: it will be a realization of what they were hinting at with the Wii U: A single portable system that can be either a handheld when away from a TV or a console when at a TV. It will use slightly older technology than cutting edge, basically whatever Sony & MS used 3-4 years ago. It will be primarily downloadable games but will offer games on cartridges as well.
I really like the look of the thing, it has that sort of sleek cutting edge look that the core Wii and DS Lite had when they first launched.
I also really like how they presented it with being a very social gaming console that is able to fit into all sorts of different settings. It combines two of the things Nintendo does best, portable gaming, and local multiplayer. I get the feeling this is going to be a nice office gaming console.
What I wonder is if there's going to be a lot of tablet gaming support? I have probably been playing those more than anything lately, and not freemium games either, there's a lot of cheap 2-3 dollar apps that are surprisingly good.
All in all, the Switch has a very modern look to it, and it seems to bring console gaming up to date with the markets that have been eating into it lately.
Not to mention, Nintendo seems to have attracted more third party devs to the Switch than any console they have ever released before. They're even getting PC devs onboard like Bethesda, who you'd never think would ever touch a Nintendo console. Starting with some up scaled enhanced port of Skyrim.
I really like how it takes a very traditional console experience, and widens the range of how you can play it. It's like it took the sort of direction the NVidia Shield was heading, and went where that thing probably wanted to go, and with the full arsenal of Nintendo supporting it, both handheld and home console divisions, and then all of their third party partners, and a lot of new friends.
Looks like they have their marketing MUCH improved from the Wii U days as well, this is back to the very excellent Wii style marketing they did 10 years ago.
Also, 5 million views and 270,000 likes in a few hours, that unveil video is crazy big!
Probably because the NS is different in its approach and wider appealing. The Shield is a platform across multiple devices which are sold serparately:
Handheld: $199
Tablet: $299
Console: $199
The NS combines all of these into one singular device. It's also far more sleek and up to date than all of the Shield hardwares. Plus it has the full backing of Nintendo home console and handheld divisions, its second parties, and perhaps the greatest array of third parties that Nintendo's ever had onboard before.
Unlike the Shield platform, which was single player focused in all form factors, the NS has very strong support for multiplayer capabilities.
It's a much more appealing looking handheld - the Shield handheld to the NS is like comparing a Gamegear to a DS Lite.
Overall, while the aim of the platform is the same as the shield, the NS does it in a way that actually works, and people are finding it very appealing.
I am pretty doubtful of that explanation. And here is why:
Shield (K1 specifically) and other gaming tablets (Edge Pro, Suface Pro, etc) are not new. Wireless controllers are not new. Docking stations are not new. Here is what is new with the NS: Nintendo label and controllers that attach to the sides of the tablet (but it may not even be a touchscreen and the attachment isn't technically new)...
Now Nintendo exclusives weren't enough to make the Wii U a success and the hardware has been done before (and failed). Further, while I don't think we know the specs besides a custom Tegra, we know the general specs for Tablets at various price points. So unless Nintendo plans to screw themselves, expect the specs of a $300 Tablet tops -- and that's not even going to approach the power of the PS4/One in any respect. If that's the case, well, expect 3rd party support to be nonexistent again this gen (ports and console at least). Now, maybe Nintendo will see a lot of support in the form of mobile devs -- and maybe it's more fair to think of NS as a replacement of the 3ds...? if that's the case, fine...but Nintendo won't be competitive in the console space with this thing.
PS4 and Xbone will be old enough that the power of this thing won't be too far off the original hardware for both (not the S or Pro).
Seems like the developers are genuinely interested in something new. It'll be interesting to see what the launch lineup will be. The fact Skyrim was in the actual reveal video shows it's already garnered far more industry curiosity than the Wii U did. We'll see, they need to prove others are on board.
So Nintendo held their introductory presentation yesterday, and I must say I was very unimpressed. I really like the hardware, but the software was really lacking, they didn't show the console OS, and they didn't really detail much more than what we already knew.
The Japanese portion of the event was really long, and it felt very half assed all the way through. Maybe it was just how Japanese communicate with each other, but everything felt very vague, abstract, and not on the nose; or maybe the interpreters were just terrible, it was pointed out that the English translation of the Suda51 speech was completely invented by the interpreter.. There was a lot of talking, and not a lot of showing, only very unsatisfying and brief video clips of things spread all over. It wasn't very well organized. The lack of Iwata was felt. An example of the half-assery would be how they announced region free, but didn't elaborate as to the benefit of it. Another example, they announced a multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, but showed absolutely zero application of it.
After the New York event, there was really only one game that stood out to me, and that was "Arms" - a motion based fighting game that seems to really show hat the joycon are all about and how they can be used very well. It looks like it's by far the deepest motion game ever released. The Joycons have much more advanced gyroscopic tech, but also increase the number of buttons the user has available, and add HD force feedback (you can feel very localized force feedback in other words), the joycon also look really comfortable to hold, and won't slip out of your hand like a Wiimote would. Anyway, between the left and right joycon, you have dual-analog, directional pad, 4 face buttons, and 4 triggers - a HUGE step up compared to the Wiimote & nunchuck. I look forward to having these. I really dig the direction of merging motion + traditional controls that Nintendo started doing with Splatoon, and continued on with this game.
Arms is along the lines of what I wanted Punchout on Wii to be, except better.
Zelda was incredibly impressive, but I was not surprised because I expected it to impress me.
Super Mario Odyssey was announced, and a trailer was shown. This game comes off as being about as exciting as Super Mario Sunshine, it completely lacked that magical feeling that Super Mario Galaxy had. At least in that trailer. On the other hand, this one looks like it has a lot of potential. I expect this (and Xenoblade) to impress me more later, because Arms looked like crap at the Tokyo presentation, but very interesting in the New York one.
Xenoblade 2, we got a glimpse. Unlike Xenoblade Chronicles X, there was nothing in it to get really excited about, like the Skells/Gears. The game also looked very flat and empty compared to the XCX introductions. I would have been MUCH more excited if the title "Skies of Arcadia 2" came up, because then my imagination would be working. After seeing that trailer, Xenoblade 2 is not what I want to see. Anyway, I strongly suspect this was just a bad trailer of what will otherwise be a great game.
Shin Megami Tensei, was there, but it was a very vague trailer that gave no info except some of the characters.
If I were to redo the Japanese presentation:
1. Make it much more focused, and establish clear goals as to the purpose of the presentation.
2. Instead of vague/abstract descriptions to show the tech, use the game's which actually DO use the tech. They had Arms, it was a disservice to the game and the tech not to show it off better in the Japanese presentation.
3. Rather than a half-ass introduction to 12-16 games, take the 2-3 of them and use them to show what the Switch is all about: Arms, Zelda, and Mario.
4. Have better presentations for all the other games, and announce a bunch of upcoming events to show them off.
5. Actually get into the OS and core features of the Switch home software. They talked about a virtual console, the share button and all of that, they should have SHOWN it.
6. Give a montage with a games list. They said they had 80 games, but I would have brought up what they all were with 1-2 bombs held back for E3.
To sum up my issue with the presentation and event so far. I was already sold on the hardware, it was good to see some reinforcement, but it was unnecessary. The software was one little surprise, but otherwise very lacking and almost depressingly disappointing, since I was already expecting Zelda and wasn't feeling Xenoblade or Mario in the way I have in the past. There was nothing big to look forward to in the future, just glimpses of stuff I might eventually look forward to around E3 time: Mario and Xenoblade are nothing coming this year, but they haven't shown anything cool about them yet, and the New York presentation didn't cover those two games as it was focused on launch titles. Games I 100% wanted and expected to see, but got nothing about: Animal Crossing, Monster Hunter, Fire Emblem, virtual console, and while I am not a Pokemon fan, it is incredibly confusing that they showed nothing about this on the heels of a very successful brand revitalization in 2016 with mobile and 3DS. Also, they showed Arms, why not 4-6 more games like that? Why no adventure based game using advanced motion tech now that the much more in depth interface is there?
The most exciting part of the event was the Zelda trailer, didn't need an event to show it, but it was really good. Zelda has grown up.
Though if you own a Wii U there is 0 reason to buy a Switch unless you want the resolution jump from 720p to 900p since Zelda's dropping on the Wii U the same day.
Eric wrote:Though if you own a Wii U there is 0 reason to buy a Switch unless you want the resolution jump from 720p to 900p since Zelda's dropping on the Wii U the same day.
The big issue is the lack of a killer app, which is not something you hold off as a surprise for later. It's something you establish by launch time. Nintendo should know this, it was their philosophy on NES, SNES, N64, and most importantly, the Wii.
Had Zelda been an exclusive title to Switch, then Zelda would be a killer app, but putting it on Wii U too was stupid. Sure it would anger some gamers temporarily who don't like seeing games canceled, but they would get over it, cancelations happen.
On Wii, Nintendo did a great job with motion controls demonstrated via Wii Sports across talk shows and other media formats. That effort created one of the biggest killer applications in video gaming history. Motion games continued to sell very well on the Wii until after the release of the Wii U.
The original Switch preview featured local multiplayer at home and on the go. I am a little surprised that at the Japanese introduction presentation they didn't feature that element. They could have dropped all the silly talking bits, and instead used a game like Arms or Mario Kart 8 Deluxe to demonstrate different situations where players can play big 8 player local multiplayer sessions; like on a work or school lunch hour, at a party, or traveling on a bus. They could have then demonstrated co-operative local multiplayer with online opponents on Splatoon 2. It's like the Nintendo marketing team is out of touch with the dev teams and the fans who love local multiplayer. Theoretically, the Switch can do multiplayer better than any other Nintendo platform. They could develop these stronger applications as a major selling point.
Speaking of local multiplayer and killer applications. Nintendo has this little franchise called Pokemon, whose popularity is through the roof. It is incredibly disappointing that instead of focusing a large portion of the presentation around this, they neglected to mention anything at all. A Pokémon MMO with local multiplayer features hooked in would be a surefire killer app.
Also, the price is not competitive enough. It's not going to impact me, $300 US is next to nothing. but for people buying multiple Switch units for their family members without incomes (children), this is past the appealing price point.
I see some forum posters saying Nintendo should have announced a Metroid game. But realistically, Metroid is an oddball franchise for Nintendo. It's nice to have, but it's not going to sell any consoles. Zelda and Mario sell consoles because people who want to play a game like that will have strong follow up options aside from the Zelda game they REALLY want, or that Mario game they really want. With Metroid, for the "first person adventure" fan, they aren't going to find anything else satisfying, and that's why Metroid doesn't sell hardware to these sorts of fans. On SNES, GB, GameCube, and Wii, Metroid barely made a mark; it was more or less just a cool game to pick up if you already had the console. SNES and GameCube had the best execution, a good fan pleaser that came out later. Metroid Other M would have been much better received critically and by fans without Metroid Prime 3.
Last edited by Julius Seeker on Tue Jan 17, 2017 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Given how long Atlas took with Persona 5 (and how the trailer could not have been more of a concept/tease trailer) we'll probably be into the next decade for the Shin Megami Tensei game.. at least for the English release.
The smart phone app that we’re creating, that will be part of our online service, we believe is going to be a very compelling part of the overall proposition because that’s how you’ll voice chat, that’s how you’ll do your matchmaking, and create your lobby. We also think it’s a very elegant solution because if you’ve taken your switch on the go, you’ve put yourself in a hotspot, you’re looking at get a quick match of Mario Kart in, to whip out some sort of bulky, gamer headset is a bit of a challenge.
So we think we’ve got an elegant solution. That’s a very specific answer to your question.
This shit reads like an Onion article that would be poking fun at Nintendo's online plans after they announced they were gonna dip into mobile....except in this case it's real. How do you fuck up basic online bullshit that Sony & Microsoft have been doing since 2005 and tie it to a Smartphone app. Why is the smartphone the middle man between me, my system and online gameplay lol.
I've been hearing a lot of people hoping Nintendo would create a Netflix-like subscription service for the Virtual Console on the Switch. I think that is an inevitability, but it won't be any time soon.
Why it will work better on Switch than on their previous hardware:
Currently, if you're going to invest in a single platform for the Virtual console, the Wii offers by far the greatest library, with offering like Chrono Trigger, the Final Fantasy games, and plenty of others, it has mostly all the games anyone wanted from Nintendo and Sega's first three generations. The 3DS and Wii U have small libraries comparatively (granted, you can go into Wii mode, and play all the Wii VC games; but it is a pain that you can't use the Gamepad to play those. The Wii U VC had only two games in demand that weren't on the Wii VC (Earthbound and Earthbound 0).
The Switch is built for iterative hardware upgrades, the next handheld will be able to play Switch games, and any other form factors they decide to go with. This removes the porting step with software, once they're on there, they'll be on future Nintendo hardware. That means the service will only build as time goes forward. It makes it far more suitable for a service.
Why it won't be out for some time:
Even if Nintendo already had this platform complete, they would require a large back catalogue and some key applications to draw users in and keep them subscribed. I don't see them having this for at least a year, and probably 2+ years. They'll need at least 100 NES games, 75 SNES games, and 50 N64 games on the service before it's very appealing, and probably at least a few from other platforms like Gamecube, GBA, Genesis, and Neo Geo. They will require some premium attractions from the pile of high demand/premium VC titles: Animal Crossing, Smash Brothers, Earthbound 2, Sin and Punishment, Goldeneye, Terranigma, Tales of Phantasia, Duck Tales, and Turtles in Time.
They're not going to want to launch a service like this unless they can charge ~10 per month on it, 8 on the low side, and 12/13 on the high side. Launching an early netflix-like service with few titles, for a low price, and then bumping the price up later when they get better support, seems like bad business IMO.
My guess is this comes out around the time of the second release of Switch hardware, which I think will be a more compact handheld. My guess is this will be ~Nov 2019 to March 2020. I think Nintendo will establish a cadence for hardware releases, it had originally been 5 years, but in this day and age a higher cadence is more beneficial. Apple and Samsung have it at about once per year, and they are dominating with that model.
My favourite control method is the Wiimote/nunchuck style, so far. It's comfortable and relaxing, and is a nice improvement over the Wii, particularly with the dual analog. This feels much more a proper Wii successor than the Wii U did - the Wii U was more of an anti-Wii than anything.
I picked up Zelda, I am Setsuna, and Shovel Knight 2. I'll post more tomorrow.
Finally Nintendo gets some goddamn stock of their shit (at the expense of the NES Classic I may add). Solid launch....just not in terms of game selection
It seems the Switch is doing very well according to the analytics. Nintendo has managed to get more of there than any of their past home console launches, and they have drastically increased the production forecast to 16 million for the fiscal year.
This means Switch shipments will potentially pass the Wii U in within a year of its launch.
Personally speaking, the console is sleek, the controllers feel updated, and the push for RPG and adventure games is very strong while having some compelling motion control games (Arms, particularly) makes the console seem much more like a proper Wii successor than Wii U ever was. I love how smoothly the console fits into the pockets of a laptop bag as well. I think the most encouraging feature for me is the modularity of it; it means that components can be swapped out or updated - the hardware was developed for scalability, and I imagine Nintendo will announce the first major upgrade for 2019 or 2020 and maintain either a 2 or 3 year cadence of release with hardware obsoleteness kicking in around the 6 year mark - which is roughly half the frequency of the smart market, but the jumps will likely be larger.
