Topic: Nintendo Switch 2

Donkey Kong Bananza looks awesome.

It occurs to me that Astro's Playroom would've been a $60 retail title if Nintendo had developed it.

I don't even think GTA VI was gonna be THAT much (The base version at least)... At least I don't think it would've been til this presentation has happily given them the PERFECT excuse. If MkW can be that much, GTA will sure as hell match that price

• The Bloodborne spiritual successor being Switch 2 exclusive is the funniest thing ever.

The fact that it's a multiplayer centric title on the Switch 2 makes it even funnier to me, given how awful Switch's online is supposed to be

Nintendo having a seemingly EVEN worse pack in like game then 1-2 Switch (That's seemingly just a virtual tour of your console) and want you to PAY for it is... Too blue for me to say on PushSquare 😅

Plus... The whole voice/video chat segment of the direct was just ridiculous. That it's locked behind switch online is just... Wild considering that basic functionality is free on PS and Xbox.

@HallowMoonshadow

I don't think GTA VI will be more than $69.99 at launch. They're going to be making a LOT of money through GTA Online again, probably, and it doesn't make a ton of sense to price people out from the beginning.

Part of me wonders if the Mario Kart pricing isn't a ploy to push people to upgrade sooner than they might otherwise, considering there's apparently a limited time bundle with the game that saves you $30 on the price.

I think it's mostly Nintendo's own games that have issues. I know I played a ton of MH Rise online without issue. I guess we'll see.

I wonder what's up with From Software pivoting toward the mp/live-service direction recently? It's very weird for a company that became famous from designing very particular sorts of games that bucked existing industry trends.

I need to see more before I write it off, considering these games have traditionally had prominent multiplayer components and it doesn't look as... live-servicey... as something like Nightreign, but we'll have to see.

Genuinely pretty wild asking people to pay for something that barely looks like it'd be worth bothering with if it was free!

Does it functionally make much of a difference when all the consoles require paying for online play in the first place?

But yeah, I had to crack up a bit when they acted like voice chatting was some amazing new innovation that they just came up with. Sort of reminds me of that absurd game sharing thing they shared in the last Direct.

It's funny how gratingly behind Nintendo can be on current industry trends. Something in the way they present their timer exclusives, and the confusing messaging that comes with it, feels like something Sony and Microsoft did in 2020. Same with how they've veen handling voice chat.

It's fine, though, part of Nintendo's charm stems from them not being fully up to date on what's current. I don't mind it too much.

In my opinion most of the Direct was underwhelming, but Nintendo does enough to keep me a customer. Prime looks unimaginative, but Kong is super fresh. I thought the Kirby announcement was weak, but I look forward to the game itself. So many announcements of basically PS4 games that don't instill much confidence in third party support, but then they announce GameCube games coming to Switch Online.

Bottom line is I'm confident Nintendo will put out enough interesting games on the console in the upcoming seven years. I'll ignore the rest. And therefore I put in a pre-order.

Nvidia has just confirmed ray-tracing via dedicated RT Cores, Tensor cores for both DLSS and for the camera background removal and noise cancellation, as well as G-Sync baked into the system for a variable refresh rate in handheld mode to keep gameplay as smooth as possible.

Combined with HDMI 2.1, 4K60FPS output, with options for 1440p 120fps, 1080p 120fps docked, HDR10 output both on a TV and handheld.....this thing has to be sold for a loss.

There is no way it's a cheap as it is and not sold for a loss.

I have no doubt it's not being sold at a loss.

It's really boring, but boring is what they need. They could do the usual Nintendo thing of trying to reinvent the wheel and making a point of being different, but sometimes things just work, and sensible business minds need to take over. It's not very sexy, but they already completely squandered a hit generation by Nintendoing the whole Wii success up with the Wii U.

This is a sensible, boring console. Sensible, boring name. Sensible, boring strategy. Just do what worked with the Switch, again, but prettier.

Of course, the problem with such a boring approach is that you gotta then have the games to sell it, and I don't think the reveal did that. If you've been in a coma for twenty years then seeing Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 was probably exciting, but unless you have been in a coma, or you're somehow a Nintendo only gamer, there's little excitement to be had in what will undoubtedly be the worst version of third party games that have been out for years on other platforms. More of a mission statement that third party games of consequence are coming, which is great, but not particularly exciting right out of the gate.

They needed something bigger first party wise to really land this Direct, I think. I know Mario Kart is a huge seller, but it's a multiplayer centric game and I do think you need to have something like a Mario 64 or a Breath of the Wild at launch - something to just sit and play in your pants on launch day while people are struggling to find consoles, something to play on your own, that doesn't rely on finding friends.

As a consequence this reveal felt totally underwhelming to me. I certainly won't feel pressured into trying to get one at launch, but then I'm also not much of a FOMO person or anything so I'm actually cool with that. Happy about it even. I feel no itch to buy one of these. No £500 burning a hole in my pocket. I'd rather just wait until there's the next big Mario or whatever, and then I can get one with two or three games. I'm not going to be pre-ordering one of these so I can sit playing Mario Kart on my own trying to convince myself I'm having a great time.

I do wonder how it will do. I imagine well, based on the Switch. But the pricing of some of the stuff is quite obnoxious. Will it price some people out? I don't know. People are moaning about the cost of the console itself but that seems fairly reasonable to me, honestly. I don't know what anyone was expecting. The games are a tougher sell, particularly to more casual gamers. I get why they cost what they do. But optically, to a Grandma, it might be hard to justify why a game like Mario Kart costs substantially more a shiny new Assassin's Creed or whatever.

My main excitement for the Switch 2 was seeing Gamecube games getting added to the online thing because I would very much like to play some of them. Oh, and the upgrades to Switch games. Maybe it'll convince me to finally go back to Tears of the Kingdom and give it a proper go.

@johncalmc I'm also interested in how it does. And how many people will buy it and then think "wait, why did I buy it, oh well"

A lot of Nintendo's fan base has been built upon people who play games that don't need the upgrade to start with. If people buy it just to play Elden Ring it would be mad, but I can see Elden Ring and Cyberpunk selling really well on it, just because. Even if those same people could just keep their Switch 1 and get a PS5 or Xbox to play those other games they have missed out on 🤷‍♂️

It should need a really strong line up of games only available on Switch 2. But I'm not sure it will have that for a good few years. And even then, Animal Crossing, Pikmin and the like, or plain old regular party games, do they need a 120fps upgrade? I'm not so sure.

All I will say is that some smaller animated games really do benefit from Ray Tracing. That's all I've got at the moment for it 🤷‍♂️ that and consumer habit/brand loyalty

I've seen people say the launch line-up is worse than that of the PlayStation 5. That's probably true to those people, but there's no way that's true for the bigger public.
The console launches with a sequel to Nintendo's best selling game of all time. That game is going to sell more than all of the PS5 launch games combined.

It's going to be a successful console, but it's also going to be less of a success than the OG Switch. COVID really helped that console thrive.

Not 100% sure if I'll get one or not yet, but I managed to grab myself a pre-order at GAME.

Got a pre-order via amazon, good timing with a recent tax rebate!

I have a bunch of PS5 games still to play, so lack of new Nintendo games not an issue, I'll sink hours into the new Mario kart, and upgrade and replay BOTW too, that'll be enough for me until they put out a new 3D Mario and Zelda

Nintendo’s communication with the upcoming console launch has been abysmal. They had been preparing this reveal and initial marketing stage for a very long time, there’s no reason for them to be unclear about pricing for the software that everyone’s wondering about. Regional costs should have been there minutes for the public to see after the Direct (still unclear to exact pricing for games in Canada at time of writing), I don’t know how this was misstepped so hard for a company that knows of digital media consumption so well, almost feels deliberate. It’s no wonder there’s so much misinformation online, you have to be crystal clear with consumers about your upcoming product’s value.

I’m happy for people who are still very hyped for this, but the only thing pulling me into picking one up this year is the next gen MP4. That said, a lot can happen in the coming days, and Nintendo can affirm any changes made to costs as well as decisive pricing for regions not yet clear for many. Again, kudos to you if you’re excited. Enjoy!

Lmao Switch 2 costs around the same price I paid for my PS5 here in Sweden. Yeah that's not happening.

Oof, preorders indefinitely delayed in the U.S. because of the Trump tariffs.

What's that saying? Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. People are getting what they voted for.

@Ralizah Sorry man… end of the day, you’ll be able to get your hands on one eventually. The US preorders might even be resolved before launch day, albeit with a terribly high price. Not fun.

On the plus side, you have your health, your friends, and your backlog in the meantime 😜

@Enriesto I'm not even sure when I'm getting one (won't say "if," because I'll own one the moment they start releasing Monolith Soft JRPGs or 3D Mario games), so I'm not too heartbroken.

But wow, you know Nintendo is freaking out behind the scenes about this. The U.S. is far and away their biggest market.

@Ralizah Glad to hear good perspective.

Yep, Nintendo employees working around the clock to situate themselves at least somewhat favourably with the American market. Has to be absolute chaos there, not to mention this will affect PS5 prices too in the year. The jungle just turned into a forest fire.

Which is why I agree Nintendo's messaging about this has not been abysmal. They're very clearly trying to be clear, but these are not simple times thanks to fascists.

It's similar now to when people were so negative about Microsoft and Sony when they launched their console during the height of COVID-19. You try doing something like that while stuff is happening that has never happened before.

We should direct any anger we feel towards those responsible for it.

I still have enough PS5 games to play, but I'm looking forward to Donkey Kong and Mario Kart.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't name two games I'm looking forward more this year. And that's including GTA6, which I don't expect to release anyway.