Nintendo Switch News and Discussion Thread

[Monja Elisa]

Yes Please, Ill take my nintendo switch with a triforce lable on the remote part and the console itself sheikah slate styled! <3
anyone with me? <3

 

[Lanky Kong]

If there's no mario maker 2 on switch, I'm going to be so mad. Mario maker would be SO fun on long road trips. There's something so relaxing about games with a level editor, I've borrowed my brother's ipod touch so many times just to make geometry dash levels on it lmao

 

[Lozjam]

So, GameXplain did an interview, actually with one of the major actors of the Nintendo Switch reveal.

This is overall filled with very interesting stuff, such as NDA's and how he got a job. This guy is also a huge Nintendo fan as well, and he is one of the first people to actually hold the Nintendo Switch.

However, a couple major things from this interview was:

He held the Switch Pro controller, and says "it is the most comfortable controller I have ever held". His first comfortable controller being that of the XB One as well. @Deus, I feel that the Pro Controller will definitely appeal to you then, it will be interesting to know what you think of the of the Pro Controller.

The Switch itself, with the Joy Cons attached, are also pretty comfortable for him as well. I can assume it's more comfortable than the Wii U Gamepad.

The final thing, is that there is still more that we do not know about the Switch itself. Nintendo obviously debriefed him with an NDA, so they showed him nearly all of the console. Apparently, there are still a few surprises for us about the Switch itself for the future. That's pretty exciting as well.

Overall, it was a fun and interesting interview.

 

[Din.Farore.Nayru]

I don't even like Skyrim and I agree...and with that said, I would think Nintendo would make damn sure they get it, and yet...I can't help question why it wouldn't be confirmed at this point. Why isn't Nintendo on top of this? Are they just trying to give off the illusion of having more 3rd party support than they really have? There's no business sense in delaying and confirming the release if they plan to do it at all.

It's definitely going to happen. I'm sure that they want to keep the hype building. By just dropping hints in the video everyone has been talking about Skyrim on Switch. It was crazy that it was in there. They obviously had to get Bethesda's permission to use it before hand - why would Bethesda approve the request if they weren't working on the game? That would be ridiculous on both companies part. It's coming to Switch and Nintendo and Bethesda are saving the official announcement. I think Nintendo is on top of their marketing plan and are going to keep the hype alive until March and this is part of that strategy.

NONE of the games included in the video (except BOTW) are confirmed. But we're going to get all of them and more. Nintendo will continue to drip information between now and launch, including confirmation of Skyrim and all the other games featured in the video.

The launch video was trending on YouTube all weekend, was #1 on Thursday and Friday, and has over 17 million views as of this morning. They're doing an amazing job.

I think this console is genius, and if Nintendo plays their cards right they'll be back in the game.

 

[DarkestLink]

The difference is Nintendo doesn't need anyone's permission to make a Mario title. =P

 

[Nicolai]

Skyrim got them a lot of additional attention. So I can imagine that Nintendo would find it tempting to get permission for Skyrim footage, and therefore it isn't really a question of why. It's more about the amount of negativity that would come when it turns out its false. Big companies know this, and most of them therefore don't operate in this way. Most of them.

 

[the8thark]

What? I would think it's obvious that they're showing off its portable capability. It's a home console with the ability to be portable. We don't need to see what a home console can do because it's obvious, you play it on the TV. There isn't much else to it than that. What they needed to focus on was the Switch's unique characteristics. Why would they not focus on that in a trailer designed to show off what it can do?

The focus should be on - "The Switch is the new portable console". Games like BotW is what you should expect on the run. I don't see the Switch as a home console. I see it more as a portable console that can play major new 3D games. The Switch is bluring the home console/portable console line in the sand into irrelevancy. If there is no dedicated 3DS followup (we don't know for certain yet) then the definitions home and portable (from a Nintendo perspective) will simply not exost anymore. As every game will be able to be played anywhere.

Dual screen gaming didn't really work, especially with home consoles.

Like Star Fox Zero? Yeah, no that didn't work. But really, don't you find it odd that the few games that did very well on the system, used the Gamepad in such a limited fashion. This often relegated the Gamepad to a map screen really.

Even titles such as Mario Maker.... The dual screen didn't make it important at all. It was the touch screen, of which the Nintendo Switch does have, that made them important.

I mean, looking at the most popular and fondly praised Wii U games right now:
Xenoblade Chronicles X: The game pad was relegated to the map. They can easily have a map button, and clean up the UI to work everything better.
Smash 4: Didn't really use a dual screen mechanic at all
Splatoon: This was a map.
Super Mario 3D World: Didn't use the Gamepad except for a few gimmick levels.
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze: Didn't use absolutely anything.
Pokken Tournament: Didn't do anything
Bayonetta 2: completely optional touch screen controls.
Hyrule Warriors: Used a map
The list goes on an on.

Dual screens on the Wii U console didn't work. The few games that used this mechanic didn't work. Touch screens made the Wii U somewhat interesting. But the Nintendo Switch has a lot of what does actually work.

DS virtual console will still be possible as well. As it can create the 2 screens within the portable portion of the NS.

Dual screen gaming worked very well actually. The catch is most of what the DS/3DS and WiiU did does not need a 2nd screen. You can just do the same with a larger single split screen. Then you have the option to have split screen at times and single screen at other times. You mentioned this so we're on the same page here. The iPad does split screen very well for so many things.

On the WiiU, the few games like Art Academy Atlier really need dual screen to work. But I believe Nintendo is ok with that as collateral damage in the move back to single screen gaming. This is assuming the Switch is touch screen.

The WiiU games that used dual screens well:

• Art Academy Atlier
• Captain Toad
• Affordable Space Adventures (Critically acclaimed game as well)
• Splatoon
• Star Fox Zero (the dual screen controls was a stroke of brilliance. Just a shame the attached game was not so good)
• Tokyo Mirage Sessions
• The list goes on.

A few used the dual screen mechanic of the WiiU brilliantly. The counter arguement is the one you made, that rework the UI of the games and you no longer need dual screens. For most games that's about right. The few that can't be re-worked are just collateral damage. Fans of those games have their WiiU anyway.

I will totally agree that a touch screen is way more important than dual screens. Having a touch screen is so important. But there is the obvious issue with it. Nintendo wants their games playable on the big screen at home as well as out with the portable screen. If you make a touch based Switch game, then you can't play it on the TV at all. It becomes small screen only. For something like Super Mario Maker, making your games on the small screen then getting up of the couch every few minutes to hot insert the switch to test out the level on the big screen will feel like a pain in the ass in a relatively short span of time. Unless the touch based games are small screen only. I can see this being a thing. Either full touch screen or virtual split screen touch (as in 3DS like).

Also has Nintendo officially confirmed that the Switch screen is touch? I have not read that anywhere. Can you please let us know where you found this information please. I would assume this is the case but it's not confirmed in my books at all till it's officially said. I'm sure you'll share where you found this information so we all know.

The difference is Nintendo doesn't need anyone's permission to make a Mario title. =P

They probably would still need to ask Miyamoto.

Skyrim got them a lot of additional attention. So I can imagine that Nintendo would find it tempting to get permission for Skyrim footage, and therefore it isn't really a question of why. It's more about the amount of negativity that would come when it turns out its false. Big companies know this, and most of them therefore don't operate in this way. Most of them.

I believe the Skyrim footage was not there to show off Skyrim solely. It was also there to say that the Switch is not only going to have cutsey Nintendo IP games on it. Gritty, more realistic action and other games will also feature on the Switch. Nintendo showed both ends fo the spectrum, Mario, Splatoon on one end and Skyrim on the other.

 

[Nicolai]

I believe the Skyrim footage was not there to show off Skyrim solely. It was also there to say that the Switch is not only going to have cutsey Nintendo IP games on it. Gritty, more realistic action and other games will also feature on the Switch. Nintendo showed both ends fo the spectrum, Mario, Splatoon on one end and Skyrim on the other.

That's certainly possible, but it doesn't change the way this information is spreading to people. Loads of people are getting excited about Skyrim on the Switch now (at least, based on conversations I've had), and it will hurt Nintendo if it isn't a reality.

 

[the8thark]

Sorry for the long post. I can't add new information to a new post if no one else's posts so I have to edit this post to add the new info in piece by piece.

That's certainly possible, but it doesn't change the way this information is spreading to people. Loads of people are getting excited about Skyrim on the Switch now (at least, based on conversations I've had), and it will hurt Nintendo if it isn't a reality.

The funny thing is people will hate Nintendo for it but, still praise Bethesda when in reality it's Bethesda's fault if Skyrim is not on the Switch.

https://mynintendonews.com/2016/10/...-and-could-sell-10-6-million-units-in-a-year/

$250 makes me ask what compromises are Nintendo making to hit that price point. I would love to see what the gross margins for the Switch are mid to end of 2017. I think the Switch will be sold at near cost with a very low gross profit margin. This is good as it's better than taking a hit on each one like was the case for the WiiU.
This also doesn't mention any other versions of the Switch that might be sold too. Like more SSD space or other addons in the box too.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtrader...eries-sees-370m-per-year-in-nintendos-switch/

320m revenue. How much profit does that translate into though?

It appears that the Switch will be powered by an NVDA Tegra processor. NVDA created new gaming APIs to take full advantage of the custom software on the device. NVDA stated that gameplay is further enhanced by hardware-accelerated video playback and custom software for audio effects and rendering

This is the importantant info. Total optimisation to bring out great games. Don't let the raw numbers fool you into thinking the Switch games will look poor.

*********************

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/10/what-we-now-know-about-the-nintendo-switch/
Quite a good article explaining the new info about the Switch we know.

*********************

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/10/how-big-is-the-nintendo-switch-an-ars-visual-analysis/

A good article of the physical size of the switch

*********************

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/10/report-no-nintendo-switch-handheld-only-package-at-launch/

I think we can all assume that this will come soome time after launch.

 

[Lozjam]

So the financial meeting happened today.

Not really much was said, but there some nice and one concering tidbit.

First off, is that Kimishima is waiting to see what price is acceptable to consumers for the Nintendo Switch, but they also won't sell it at a loss.

Second, is that Nintendo is only going to ship 2 million Nintendo Switches at its launch......
Man. Is that stupid. That is a lot less consoles than what the Wii U's launched at......
Holy ****. That is so stupid. Especially considering that the trailer for the Nintendo Switch has 18,000,000 views.... In North America alone(that isn't even counting reposts of the trailer from places like IGN and GameXplain). The demand of this thing is so high.

It's suffice to say, if Nintendo doesn't change their mind on this. Then if you want the Switch at launch, then you have better pre order this thing the minute it's available.

 

[Nicolai]

So the financial meeting happened today.

Not really much was said, but there some nice and one concering tidbit.

First off, is that Kimishima is waiting to see what price is acceptable to consumers for the Nintendo Switch, but they also won't sell it at a loss.

Second, is that Nintendo is only going to ship 2 million Nintendo Switches at its launch......
Man. Is that stupid. That is a lot less consoles than what the Wii U's launched at......
Holy ****. That is so stupid. Especially considering that the trailer for the Nintendo Switch has 18,000,000 views.... In North America alone(that isn't even counting reposts of the trailer from places like IGN and GameXplain). The demand of this thing is so high.

It's suffice to say, if Nintendo doesn't change their mind on this. Then if you want the Switch at launch, then you have better pre order this thing the minute it's available.

That might be a fair amount of Switches to start off with, but yeah, it'll probably sell out. I dunno about you, but I've watched the Switch trailer about 10 times, lol. Plus, not everyone viewing the trailer is going to buy it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Youtube tabulates all of the embed views too. // I'd be really interested to find out what a loss would be, i.e. how much a Switch costs. We probably won't know for a while, though. Surely not until long after we get the price.

 

[Lozjam]

That might be a fair amount of Switches to start off with, but yeah, it'll probably sell out. I dunno about you, but I've watched the Switch trailer about 10 times, lol. Plus, not everyone viewing the trailer is going to buy it. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Youtube tabulates all of the embed views too. // I'd be really interested to find out what a loss would be, i.e. how much a Switch costs. We probably won't know for a while, though. Surely not until long after we get the price.

Here's the problem.

Wii U launched with 3 million consoles, and yes. It did sell all of them.

But now we are taking a console, with greater demand, and having less of them available at launch.

YouTube views never equate equally to that of consoles sold. However, the pure fact that the Nintendo Switch videos triples the views of the Wii U trailer in a lifetime, in a mere 5 days, says just how much more demand for the Switch there is for the Wii U. Yet they are going to be launching with less units than what they had with the swim U?

 

[Nicolai]

Wii U launched with 3 million consoles, and yes. It did sell all of them...

...Yet they are going to be launching with less units than what they had with the swim U?

Did it really sell 3 million at launch? I had no idea. That changes things. Yeah, the Switch could certainly sell more.

Also, lols at swim U.

 

[selicyc]

Every region's launch day was different, but if you combine them together, the Wii U actually sold a little over million units on launch (400k in North America, 40k in the UK and 600k in Japan -- I don't have official numbers for the rest of the PAL region).

Compare this to the PS4, which sold over 1 million units on launch alone in North America, ran out of its initial stock and had to use the second shipment to continue filling pre-orders.

I think 2 million units is a respectable number for Nintendo; they have their work cut out for them right now.

 

[Nicolai]

GameXplain in this video makes a fair point that because the system is launching in March, its reasonable to expect less day-one purchases, and many more during the holiday season.