Nintendo Switch (Nintendo's next console)

M!Ck^ wrote: »

Gearbox & Respawn have also come out and said they probably won't develop for the Switch
You could see this coming a mile away

M!Ck^ wrote: »

It's not so much who it's the amount of publishers / devs who are starting to come out saying they wont develop for it.
I would have loved an RE game on the switch.

The Nintendo Switch Might Have A Problem With Casual Gamers

The Switch is coming, and the Switch is coming soon. As with any new console, there's a lot of discussion about just who might buy this thing, how many of them there are, and why they'll be buying it. With Nintendo, however, there's a different calculus going on that feels wholly separate from the relatively straightforward progression we've seen with Xbox One and PS4. The company has made its platform pretty clear in recent years, even if it's had a hard time executing it: it wants to satisfy longtime fans and core gamers with titles like Breath of the Wild, while still appealing to the broader audience that made the Wii such a runaway success in its early years. I'm worried that this won't work. The Switch is an odd proposition with a high price tag and some real benefits, but that sort of thing doesn't really appeal to casuals. In its early days, I think that the Switch is going to be largely the territory of core gamers and few else.

The Switch has that casual/core dichotomy baked into it from the start. The motion controlled 1, 2 Switch is meant to be the Wii Sports of the Nintendo Switch, with it's straightforward minigames anyone can play. The problem is that it can't really fill that role without being a pack-in, and even after that perhaps insurmountable stumbling block, the title has problems. Wii Sports was easily communicable and had obvious broad appeal: like to bowl? It asked. Here's some bowling! 1,2 Switch, however, has games that ask you to catch a samurai sword being swung at your head or quickdraw against your opponents: these are videogame-style fantasies without the broad appeal that Wii Sports had. Others, like milking cows, are sort of fun but also pretty weird. The coolest game I saw asked you to identify how many steel balls were "inside" the joycon based on the rumble feature, but that's a gimmick at best. I tend to think that any attempt to retrieve a casual audience lost to iPads is tricky business, but even if it weren't, this wouldn't be the platform to get them back with.

After that, the main appeal to casual gamers is the promise of local multiplayer, which I've argued is the best selling point the Switch has going for it. That one's real, but then we run into a price problem. Getting any kind of four player action going will cost you $440, which isn't exactly chump change. It means that core gamers will still likely show up for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe when it releases in April, but getting larger crowds behind that admittedly cool selling point is going to be a struggle. I think that both the Xbox One and the PS4 have lost a lot of business by essentially pretending that local multiplayer doesn't exist, but it's hard to imagine the Switch filling that void, especially with the standard launch lineup blues. We need a Smash Bros. port stat.

So we think about another of Nintendo's essential claims here: the ability to play "console quality" games on the go. Heard that one before, maybe? Yep, that would be the rallying cry of the Playstation Vita, a handheld designed specifically to appeal to the core gaming crowd. Not only is there no clear appeal to casual gamers there, core gamers have proved pretty indifferent to such claims in the past. Don't get me wrong: it's a cool idea. But the ready availability of high-quality games on mobile coupled with the price tag means that I just don't see these claims appealing to the casual crowd at all.

I think we're in the awkward position where Nintendo — cartoony, approachable Nintendo beloved by adults, kids and families worldwide — has increasingly morphed into a core gaming brand somewhat by accident. That's where the loyalty lies, that's where people with disposable income are willing to take a risk on Zelda. These are also the people who might be continually checking for new stock long after a broader audience has shrugged and moved on. The good news is that this goodwill means a readymade audience that's already contributed to preorder sellouts. The bad news is that it leaves a big question mark moving into the holidays.

sligeach wrote: »

The Nintendo Switch worries me for these 7 reasons

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/01/19/the-nintendo-switch-worries-me-for-these-7-reasons/

RobertFoster wrote: »

For some reason I have an aversion to opening articles with numbers in their titles, even if I've heard of the website.

sligeach wrote: »

amiibo contribute nothing to gaming. It's Nintendo's variation on the attempt to bleed more money from gamers by locking content behind paywalls. And it drives the cost of the controllers further up by putting this scourge in. Yet they couldn't put a power input in the Joy-con grip supplied with the Switch. Something that actually matters and would have barely cost them anything. But now will cost us €35.

Corholio wrote: »

Didn't you buy some?

People like to collect them and/or use them. Does it really need constant reminding that you think they are 'evil'? They are a pretty harmless product and won't affect anyone who don't buy them, or at least shouldn't.

Corholio wrote: »

People spend a lot more on things they just put on a shelf anyway.

sligeach wrote: »

amiibo contribute nothing to gaming. It's Nintendo's variation on the attempt to bleed more money from gamers by locking content behind paywalls. And it drives the cost of the controllers further up by putting this scourge in. Yet they couldn't put a power input in the Joy-con grip supplied with the Switch. Something that actually matters and would have barely cost them anything. But now will cost us €35.