The Nintendo Switch is finally out, and players are having a blast with their new console. There's tons of new things to find out, as with any new system. However, some of those things aren't always good, as it seems that using vinyl skins for your Nintendo Switch can cause a lot of issues. Maufactorer "dbrand" has made an announcement: Do not use any sort of cover for your Switch at this time. They tested one of their vinyl skins on a unit, only to find that after removing the skin, the plastic from the Switch raises up and becomes warped and damaged. The company states that any adhesive-based cover for the Switch is dangerous, and will damage your console's appearance. If you purchased a skin from dbrand, they will be cancelling all orders, and refunding customers in full.

As for anyone who pre-ordered a Switch skin, we’ll be refunding your order in full over the next 72 hours. Upon execution, you can expect an email from our customer service robots confirming that the refund has been processed. If you pre-ordered a Switch skin alongside other item(s), you’ll receive a refund for only the Switch portion and the remaining pieces will ship normally.

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Discussion Thread

In terms of other cosmetic related Switch news, be wary of docking your system, as you can really scratch it up that way, according to Glixel, and other users.

 

[Veho]

Isn't everything mobile that can be plugged into a television with an HDMI a handheld game Console at that point then?

If it's dedicated to gaming (and not, say, a smartphone, where gaming is a secondary feature), yes. Playing on the TV doesn't automatically make it a home console. The definition of a handheld console is "a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls, and speakers." "Small" is debatable here but the rest fits. The old PSP had TV-out and games could be played on the TV, but it was still a handheld.
The Switch has the option of touchscreen-only games, and there are no extra features available only in docked mode, so basically the Switch has more features and can play more games undocked (i.e. as a handheld) than it does docked (as a home console). It is a beefed up (and some may argue it's not even that beefed up) handheld.

As for releasing new versions or revisions of their consoles, remember the Wii Mini. They have released revisions of their home consoled as well as handhelds. There has been debate over whether the revision here will be a "Switch TV" that won't be portable, or a "Switch Lite" that will be a rework of the portable version, but there's little doubt they will release something.

 

[Ritsuki]

Yes, a handheld game Console. What's your point?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handheld_game_console#Nintendo_Switch

Fun fact, Nintendo advertised the Switch as a home console with a portable function in some parts of the world (ex. in France), and as a portable system with a docking functionality in other parts (ex. in Japan)

 

[FAST6191]

Great job losers, you could't make a product that worked well. If you're going to make something like that for the switch, make sure it will work right. THEY ARE IDIOTS

Though I agree it is on them, and they seem to be the ones that discovered it and are now sharing it, if the mechanism at play is what I suspect (polycarbonate in the mix and thus having some fun with the adhesives) then it is maybe not something people would check for a general consumer product.

Fun fact, Nintendo advertised the Switch as a home console with a portable function in some parts of the world (ex. in France), and as a portable system with a docking functionality in other parts (ex. in Japan)

Wonder if that is a tax thing (see the PS2 and PS3 technically being a PC by virtue of Linux being available) or a "market analysis says people want ?" thing.

On consoles vs the world I tend to find that debate changes somewhat when you are from a place that a) never had anything resembling a crash and b) had things like the amiga, c64, amstrad...

On revisions then there are some fairly notable ones for most consoles going, even if you might be at first inclined to write them off as minor internal things, of things which only matter to hackers. For the gamecube look at the fate of component cables, the SNES has a bunch of things that play into video quality ( https://ancientelectronics.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/the-best-version-of-super-nintendo/ ), the original xbox had a bunch of revisions changing hard drives and dvd drives, the PS1 lost its serial port, the megadrive had two major shell styles on top of internal stuff, the master system had a bunch with one losing a way of playing games (granted it was only the SG1000 and you could buy an adapter).

 

[true_decoy13]

Someone try scratch joy-con soft-touch, ? It look like very unreliable. Any resistance against fingernail?

 

[Noctosphere]

just dont remove the skin, then you wont see anything

 

[true_decoy13]

Why Nintendo made joy-cons coated soft-touch.. it so stupid idea.

 

[WiiuGold]

I'm looking into getting one of these myself.

https://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Switch-Joy-Armor-Guards-Pack/dp/B01MT91CJV?th=1&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01N...=0MYRFXG3MX7VBHEE5TPX&dpPl=1&dpID=71G9YQwhl6L

Or perhaps waiting for. TPU material one.

I have them both, they work great

 

[Noctosphere]

I have them both, they work great

i o0rdered this one

 

[lgnmcrules]

Maybe Nintendo purposefully made their Switch out of weird materials just so that vinyl skins wouldn't be applied.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

I have them both, they work great

They certainly do look the part, I'm waiting for a third party maker to release a silicone case for the Pro Controller. I've already sent an email to Zedlabz who're known to make this type of stuff or import it (guessing they import it from China than actually produce it).

 

[T3GZdev]

I have them both, they work great

Are they both a rubber like material or a type of Plastic?
Also can they fit in any of the cases with them on?

 

[Fronic]

If it's dedicated to gaming (and not, say, a smartphone, where gaming is a secondary feature), yes. Playing on the TV doesn't automatically make it a home console. The definition of a handheld console is "a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls, and speakers." "Small" is debatable here but the rest fits. The old PSP had TV-out and games could be played on the TV, but it was still a handheld.
The Switch has the option of touchscreen-only games, and there are no extra features available only in docked mode, so basically the Switch has more features and can play more games undocked (i.e. as a handheld) than it does docked (as a home console). It is a beefed up (and some may argue it's not even that beefed up) handheld.

As for releasing new versions or revisions of their consoles, remember the Wii Mini. They have released revisions of their home consoled as well as handhelds. There has been debate over whether the revision here will be a "Switch TV" that won't be portable, or a "Switch Lite" that will be a rework of the portable version, but there's little doubt they will release something.

I think this argument is ruined by the fact that games could technically be played only in docked-mode. Or they have limitations in handheld mode. Bomberman on a single system is 8 player on the dock but only 4 player off. I noticed the back of the games have a lot of details on how it can be played and numbers of players for each game. I think a lot of this is because the supposed downclocking by as much as 40% in handheld mode. We might see something in the future.

 

[FAST6191]

By similar token my copy of bomberman on the original gameboy can be stuck in a super game boy (a dock for the SNES) and played with multiple players there, several more than can be played on a single GB. Is the GB not a handheld?
My GBA could connect to a gamecube to do all sorts of things.
Pokemon had pokemon stadium in various guises which did all sorts of things the console might be unable to do.

 

[hksrb25s14]

Lol did I not tell you guys that putting it in the dock will scratch the screen? Look back in my old post and the date. People were like nah man Nintendo got this.
It's sad that Nintendo didn't use better glass.
Every time I played with my switch I felt like I'd break it easily.
And like any gaming tablet form factor heating issue. I mean not now, it's okay.
It trigger after a year or 3 depending on how long you play it. The parts that keeps the console cool starts to wear off and you're get overheating issues.

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

Lol did I not tell you guys that putting it in the dock will scratch the screen? Look back in my old post and the date. People were like nah man Nintendo got this.
It's sad that Nintendo didn't use better glass.
Every time I played with my switch I felt like I'd break it easily.
And like any gaming tablet form factor heating issue. I mean not now, it's okay.
It trigger after a year or 3 depending on how long you play it. The parts that keeps the console cool starts to wear off and you're get overheating issues.

That's inevitable which is why it's worth buying a screen protector for it. I haven't even removed the Switch from the dock since day one 'cause I'm waiting for my screen protector to arrive.

 

[Ashtonx]

and another one


Guess nintendo decided to conquer brick market, that said seems like they're damn expensive and have many unecessary features.

 

[Zeriel]

Nintendo made it like this on purpose so they can sell you 90$ vinyl skins later

 

[Saiyan Lusitano]

and another one


Guess nintendo decided to conquer brick market, that said seems like they're damn expensive and have many unecessary features.

Yikes. My Switch is working perfectly fine without any of those issues and I'm glad, those look painfully horrible.

 

[Ashtonx]

Yikes. My Switch is working perfectly fine without any of those issues and I'm glad, those look painfully horrible.

Yep, They really need to lookup their qc, that said some of those issues are caused by bad design (scratches from dock, controller wear) With so many bad design decisions I kind of wonder if there's no design fault that causes chips to fail and go crazy and those guys just gotten it faster then others...

Oh well we'll see.. That said n is gonna need to start throwing some emergency fixes to their next batch of consoles.

I'm one of those who are pesimistic about switch, but at the same time I hope it'll change tablet/phone making market.. For example shield tablet with detachable controllers and docks that switches it into android tv mode / more power.

I mean hell with controllers themselves it'd finally make sense to stream games from pc for me. And with tv dock it'd make awesome media player. It'd prolly succeed original intent of shield products if they went at it using nintendo ideas and made 3 shields in 1 this way

If there's one thing i hate about phones and tablets as a gaming hw it's lack of decent controllers.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

Why are people debating whether or not the Switch is a handheld or a home console? Despite Nintendo's marketing, it's still a hybrid and future revisions could go any way. It can't simply be compared to standard console or handheld upgrade practices over time, since it's not a full console or a full handheld. Nintendo marketed the system differently in different regions, too, which means that argument is dead in the water, too.

My personal take is that the Switch will get future upgrades of some kind. At the very least, manufacturing fixes to prevent things like defective joycon rails and fixing that god awful wrist strap. Battery upgrades are also likely in future refreshes. But really, you can't compare this system to a normal console or handheld life cycle, not at this time.