​

Hi guys, I recorded a quick audio log of my thoughts immediately after attending the Nintendo switch hands on preview. The footage taken is from my phone and nothing special, just filler for the sake of showing what the event was like that is relooped halfway through.

​

I also just saw the prices of the switch peripherals and games, frankly I was disgusted. I felt that I needed to record an extra ten minutes of audio to voice my concerns. The prices for the games and accessories for the switch are purely Nintendo gouging its fanbase. Nothing can justify the prices here, in my opinion if these prices are not lowered by a good 30% across the board the switch is DOA and will fail.

 

[Foxi4]

I hate to stick my nose in here, but I do want to add that Nintendo's products generally have a higher quality standard than other items.

Their hardware has been flimsy for years, the 3/DS line is especially susceptible to wear and tear and accidental damage (the original DS' hinge would snap if you looked at it funny) so I find that statement debatable. The last rugged system of theirs would be the GameCube, at least in my opinion.

 

[FAST6191]

There was a mario kart version due out, also there was a wipeout/fzero clone thing at the demo called FAST RMX


On two controllers it worked well enough for bomberman and that snipper clips game. Sonic was not so bad either. That said all those were 2d classics or something not far off such a thing. For any kind of 3d I hope it is on rails or some other means to have a fairly fixed camera.

 

[TobiasAmaranth]

I was thinking more about their home consoles than the portables. That screen-scratch 'not an issue' totally-an-issue on the original 3DS's was the problem I had. My DS classic and DS Lite were both pretty solid, though.

And Gamecube controllers, Wavebirds included, were super sturdy. Wiimotes were really sturdy, too. Even the Wii U's controller is beefy and 'safe', haha. I'm pretty sure JoyCon's will be really sturdy, as well, though I wouldn't smack around that main console.

BTW, I've got two questions about the Switch I haven't seen answered:

1. What's the charge method for the JoyCon.
2. Has there been anything that clarifies the console's touch screen capabilities?

 

[UltraHurricane]

Pretending that the two joycons are two controllers is the equivalent of pretending that the WiiMote and the Nunchuck are also two separate controllers - they're two parts of one complete whole. Games like ARMS require two joycons, most normal games require a complete controller with two sticks and a full set of buttons, stop being facetious.

oh my mistake , sorry for thinking that two controllers with their own analog sticks, their own motion sensors, their own face and shoulder buttons not connected to each other by a wire could be their own controllers for multiplayer

i guess i just imagined those videos of two people playing Mario Kart and NBA Live with them

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

I was thinking more about their home consoles than the portables. That screen-scratch 'not an issue' totally-an-issue on the original 3DS's was the problem I had. My DS classic and DS Lite were both pretty solid, though.

And Gamecube controllers, Wavebirds included, were super sturdy. Wiimotes were really sturdy, too. Even the Wii U's controller is beefy and 'safe', haha. I'm pretty sure JoyCon's will be really sturdy, as well, though I wouldn't smack around that main console.

BTW, I've got two questions about the Switch I haven't seen answered:

1. What's the charge method for the JoyCon.
2. Has there been anything that clarifies the console's touch screen capabilities?

i think it's been confirmed that they have capacitive touch screens, as for how they charge, they probably have some hidden contact when you're sliding it in, sorta like the 3DS and it's docking cradle

 

[Foxi4]

oh my mistake , sorry for thinking that two controllers with their own analog sticks, their own motion sensors, their own face and shoulder buttons not connected to each other by a wire could be their own controllers for multiplayer

i guess i just imagined those videos of two people playing Mario Kart and NBA Live with them

i think it's been confirmed that they have capacitive touch screens, as for how they charge, they probably have some hidden contact when you're sliding it in, sorta like the 3DS and it's docking cradle

Are you playing dumb or are you not reading my posts? In order to play an average game, like a generic shooter, I'll need two analog sticks, which means that most games will require me to either buy a Pro controller for the second player or two additional joycons and a charge grip in order to play couch co-op. I'm sure certain titles can be adapted to be played on one joycon, but when was the last time you played a mainstream game that wasn't set up for a dual analog controller? If all you need is one, then why does the Switch have two? Is it because you need both halves, perhaps? Having a conversation with you is a very frustrating endeavour. Never in my life have I ever seen a stock controller dearer than 50 quid, and the Pro controller is already 60. This is price gouging, I don't really care if you agree with me on that or not.

 

[darkten]

Are you playing dumb or are you not reading my posts? In order to play an average game, like a generic shooter, I'll need two analog sticks, which means that most games will require me to either buy a Pro controller for the second player or two additional joycons and a charge grip in order to play couch co-op. I'm sure certain titles can be adapted to be played on one joycon, but when was the last time you played a mainstream game that wasn't set up for a dual analog controller? If all you need is one, then why does the Switch have two? Is it because you need both halves, perhaps? Having a conversation with you is a very frustrating endeavour. Never in my life have I ever seen a stock controller dearer than 50 quid, and the Pro controller is already 60. This is price gouging, I don't really care if you agree with me on that or not.

Your Lack of Imagination is not the fault of Nintendo nor platform devs. See, as someone actually paid to do this sort of thing in the real world, the solution to this was instantly obvious, man As someone "skilled in the art" it *literally* took me ONE SECOND of thought to solve how one did a shooter co-op with a Joy-Con.

I bet if you took a moment to drop the vitriol, read the controller specs from both Nintendo official and the patents, it would be obvious to you, too, that a single Joy-Con is capable of working quite well for this scenario...because, lol, it has already been done before, LOL

 

[Foxi4]

Your Lack of Imagination is not the fault of Nintendo nor platform devs. See, as someone actually paid to do this sort of thing in the real world, the solution to this was instantly obvious, man As someone "skilled in the art" it *literally* took me ONE SECOND of thought to solve how one did a shooter co-op with a Joy-Con.

I bet if you took a moment to drop the vitriol, read the controller specs from both Nintendo official and the patents, it would be obvious to you, too, that a single Joy-Con is capable of working quite well for this scenario...because, lol, it has already been done before, LOL

Oh for the love of God, are you talking about Wiimote-style aiming or using motion controls as an alternative for the second stick? God help us all.

EDIT: I like your appeal to authority fallacy too, I must admit. You get paid to engineer these kinds of things? Wow, that's great. We've never seen anything that's been poorly engineered by people who get paid to do it professionally. Please, educate us, and be sure to mention which company pays you to design controllers, so that we may avoid their innovative products.

 

[thorasgar]

Since MK8 Deluxe is just fixed battle mode and some DLC tracks surely it will be available on the Wii U.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Your Lack of Imagination is not the fault of Nintendo nor platform devs. See, as someone actually paid to do this sort of thing in the real world, the solution to this was instantly obvious, man As someone "skilled in the art" it *literally* took me ONE SECOND of thought to solve how one did a shooter co-op with a Joy-Con.

I bet if you took a moment to drop the vitriol, read the controller specs from both Nintendo official and the patents, it would be obvious to you, too, that a single Joy-Con is capable of working quite well for this scenario...because, lol, it has already been done before, LOL

Nintendo Switch one giant leap backwards in gaming (actually two)

 

[UltraHurricane]

Are you playing dumb or are you not reading my posts? In order to play an average game, like a generic shooter, I'll need two analog sticks, which means that most games will require me to either buy a Pro controller for the second player or two additional joycons and a charge grip in order to play couch co-op. I'm sure certain titles can be adapted to be played on one joycon, but when was the last time you played a mainstream game that wasn't set up for a dual analog controller? If all you need is one, then why does the Switch have two? Is it because you need both halves, perhaps? Having a conversation with you is a very frustrating endeavour. Never in my life have I ever seen a stock controller dearer than 50 quid, and the Pro controller is already 60. This is price gouging, I don't really care if you agree with me on that or not.

yup, cause when i think local multiplayer on Nintendo, i don't think of Mario Kart, Mario Party, Smash Bros or Bomberman, or any game that can utilize simple controls and be great in a party setting, it's not like their initial reveal video revolved around that or anything pffft

i think generic shooters

This is price gouging, I don't really care if you agree with me on that or not.

sure, your other dozens or so posts replying to me make it look like so

 

[darkten]

Oh for the love of God, are you talking about Wiimote-style aiming or using motion controls as an alternative for the second stick? God help us all.

EDIT: I like your appeal to authority fallacy too, I must admit. You get paid to engineer these kinds of things? Wow, that's great. We've never seen anything that's been poorly engineered by people who get paid to do it professionally. Please, educate us, and be sure to mention which company pays you to design controllers, so that we may avoid their innovative products.

Appeal to authority? I don't think one would need to be. Regardless of this, your rage is misspent. The product (clearly) isn't for you...perhaps you'd be better served spending that *grrr* energy on something you love...unless i mean, you *actually think* people that want these things will suddenly *not*...or the prices will change...or they will stop production, scrap the whole thing, and make whatever it was you thought they maybe should have?

It's really rather silly don't you think? They built what they did and are selling that...and word on the street is that is going really rather well for them...perhaps for reasons you did not anticipate...and they did.

 

[alpha_noj]

Do we know how many controllers can be used at once on a single console? Thinking eight player smash.

 

[Foxi4]

yup, cause when i think local multiplayer on Nintendo, i don't think of Mario Kart, Mario Party, Smash Bros or Bomberman, or any game that can utilize simple controls and be great in a party setting, it's not like their initial reveal video revolved around that or anything pffft

i think generic shooters

This is exactly why Nintendo platforms suck donkey scrotum ever since the GC, and possibly even since the N64, depending on how you look at things. I pushed you into a corner and you roll back to the only self-defense mechanism you have - "muh Nintendo gaems lulz".

Nintendo no longer makes competitive, efficient and well-rounded pieces of gaming hardware, they make consoles that play "their games", and fuck everybody else. Fuck blockbuster franchises like GTA, CoD or Battlefield, fuck the mainstream, you'll play what we allow you to play and nothing else, and they feel justified in doing so because they have an army of acolytes such as yourself forming a cult, treating them like gods who cannot make mistakes.

This is not sustainable, this is an idiotic approach towards gaming which alienates you from the majority of titles out there. In fact, it works both ways, as it also alienates the majority of customers from Nintendo's products. You guys are super-smart and know how to design a perfect controller, but you didn't sit down for 5 seconds to think that if the system was designed to be more friendly to mainstream audiences, perhaps you could have *both* Nintendo games and mainstream games. Microsoft fans get their Halo's, their Fables and third-party content, Sony fans get their Killzones, their Uncharteds and third-party content, not Nintendo. Nintendo has to be the retarded social outcast kid that's sitting at the back of the classroom, thinking he's original when everything that makes him original are drawbacks. You could have both Mario and mainstream releases, but you won't, because you want the world to bow to whatever retarded concept Nintendo comes up with instead of wanting them to meet the industry half-way.

I want a SNES 2.0, you want a Wii U 2.0, that's the difference between the two of us. You want more of the same shticks, I want them to be better than that. You think my critique is hate when in fact it's just sincere concern - I want them to succeed, but I keep catching them with their foot in their mouth, and you and your ilk keep praising them for it like a bunch of merry idiots. No offense, but I genuinely blame attitudes like yours for Nintendo's current situation - they focus on you, or rather, on themselves, instead of focusing on gamers as a whole. They pander to their sliver of the market instead of trying to broaden it by giving people what they want.

Appeal to authority? I don't think one would need to be. Regardless of this, your rage is misspent. The product (clearly) isn't for you...perhaps you'd be better served spending that *grrr* energy on something you love...unless i mean, you *actually think* people that want these things will suddenly *not*...or the prices will change...or they will stop production, scrap the whole thing, and make whatever it was you thought they maybe should have?

Three months until launch, plenty of time to address pricing issues and other customer concerns. The hardware is fixed, other things most certainly aren't. Constructive criticism never hurt anyone. People complained about the Kinect 2.0 being a "necessary" part of the bundle and what happened? Kinect-less bundles happened, and the XBO is now catching up to the PS4 thanks to significantly lower pricing which was a direct result of trimming the Kinect-fat. Criticism matters, companies have whole divisions dedicated to reading rants like mine, so if you want them to improve, praise what is worth praising and complain when you think it's justified. You're the customer, and if they want you're money, you're their boss. "This console isn't for you" isn't good enough - why isn't it for me, and what can they do to make it perfect for me, because I have money and I want to give it to them.

 

[foob]

Anyway, are people forgetting about one thing????

theese things have a non replaceable battery (i don't see it using AAA batteries)
so you know what this means? in 1 year you will need to buy replacements (if they lasted that much and you didn't break or lost them)

I can't wait for iFixit and others to do a complete disassembly. I want to see how easy they are to replace. I hope they are far simpler than PSVITA surgery. In reality, most players would probably get more than 2 years out of the embedded batteries before noticing a battery life problem. If not used that often, they would definitely get far more. I like keeping things longer-term and I like to know how easy things are to maintain, so it will be interesting to find out. If the batteries are abused (high heat, frequent complete discharges, etc.) things can be a lot worse.

There should be 3 batteries in the Switch: one in each piece.

 

[UltraHurricane]

Three months until launch, plenty of time to address pricing issues and other customer concerns. The hardware is fixed, other things most certainly aren't. Constructive criticism never hurt anyone. People complained about the Kinect 2.0 being a "necessary" part of the bundle and what happened? Kinect-less bundles happened, and the XBO is now catching up to the PS4 thanks to significantly lower pricing which was a direct result of trimming the Kinect-fat. Criticism matters, companies have whole divisions dedicated to reading rants like mine, so if you want them to improve, praise what is worth praising and complain when you think it's justified. You're the customer, and if they want you're money, you're their boss. "This console isn't for you" isn't good enough - why isn't it for me, and what can they do to make it perfect for me, because I have money and I want to give it to them.

you're right, consumers should vote with wallets, in fact that's EXACTLY what happened with the Wii-U, that's why the Switch exists now, but not entirely because people like you ranted about it

people didn't buy it.

sure, Microsoft probably listened to a lot of the criticism, but they ultimately dropped the Kinect because, say it with me now

people didn't buy it.

and if the things about the Switch turn you off that much and doesn't ultimately appeal to you

just don't buy it.

i'm all for criticism myself, i don't think the Wii-U was that great at all, and i'm a little weary if the Switch has enough hardware to satisfy third-party devs enough to make great games on it, but there's just something really whiny and entitled about the whole "this isn't made for me therefore it shouldn't exist" mentality, not everything HAS to appeal to you, and it's not an automatic failure that should be shamed if it doesn't

honestly i feel like this is why there's a lot of hate and pessimism for Nintendo, because they're one of the few companies in the industry that has no real obligation to appeal to hardcore gamers and that makes them angry, and it should be alright if they want to be in their own little bubble, as long as they still have fans and it's making them money

 

[Foxi4]

sure, your other dozens or so posts replying to me make it look like so

Just because we're having a conversation doesn't mean that I necessarily want to influence your opinion, or that I find it valuable in any way.

It's really rather silly don't you think? They built what they did and are selling that...and word on the street is that is going really rather well for them...perhaps for reasons you did not anticipate...and they did.

Not sure what street you're on, but the recent announcements caused more doubt and skepticism than any other launch campaign in recent memory, besides maybe the misguided used games policy on the Xbox which was almost immediately scrapped, due to fans complaining, no less. With high prices for software and accessories and only two flagship titles Day 1, Breath of the Wild and 1-2-Switch, one of which being a Wii U up-port, the other being a tech demo that should come free with the system, retailers are tremendously concerned about the launch window performance of the system. To use your parlance, I know that because I'm involved in it, not that it gives my opinion any more credibility compared to just a random user posting their opinion based on the available information.

 

[Xzi]

They pander to their sliver of the market instead of trying to broaden it by giving people what they want.

If that were true I don't think Nintendo would have partnered with Nvidia and they would have had a lot more children in all their marketing material thus far.

 

[Foxi4]

you're right, consumers should vote with wallets, in fact that's EXACTLY what happened with the Wii-U, that's why the Switch exists now, but not entirely because people like you ranted about it

people didn't buy it.

sure, Microsoft probably listened to a lot of the criticism, but they ultimately dropped the Kinect because, say it with me now

people didn't buy it.

and if the things about the Switch turn you off that much and doesn't ultimately appeal to you

just don't buy it.

i'm all for criticism myself, i don't think the Wii-U was that great at all, and i'm a little weary if the Switch has enough hardware to satisfy third-party devs enough to make great games on it, but there's just something really whiny and entitled about the whole "this isn't made for me therefore it shouldn't exist" mentality, not everything HAS to appeal to you, and it's not an automatic failure that should be shamed if it doesn't

honestly i feel like this is why there's a lot of hate and pessimism for Nintendo, because they're one of the few companies in the industry that has no real obligation to appeal to hardcore gamers and that makes them angry, and it should be alright if they want to be in their own little bubble, as long as they still have fans and it's making them money

Voting with your wallet is one ingredient, being vocal about your concerns is the other, together they form the kind of dialogue companies need to improve. I disagree with the statement that Nintendo can just coast on their little fanbase - that didn't help the Wii U and it won't help the Switch. They absolutely have an obligation to cater to as big of a target audience as possible because they're a corporation on the stock market and investors will have their heads if they keep tripping over their own feet.

 

[darkten]

...because I have money and I want to give it to them.

But not for what they are offering. So they should take a loss to please you? This is what I am saying...what would have been ideal? A Nintendo-branded Playstation 5? $10 controllers? Blood oaths from every IP/Franchise you love?

There is *currently* no evidence that they should or need to change *anything*. Your core issue seems to be, really the price...even tho, from what we know, that is NOT seemingly a core issue for "everyone"/"the general market at this time" for whatever reason. You just don't seem to want to acknowledge that while *maybe* they didn't get something right for *you*...they got enough right for enough people that we are pretty certain at this point they will sell as many as they can make for the foreseeable future based on both pre-launch interest and post-launch demand.

So...it seems to me you do NOT want this to succeed because it is a personal affront to you for some reason, they "fail" and if they "survive" they build the thing you want? Is there...any evidence at ALL that in such seemingly dire straights...*Nintendo*...of *Japan*...would do something so orthodox...or something completely not that thing?

Yeah.

 

[Foxi4]

If that were true I don't think Nintendo would have partnered with Nvidia and they would have had a lot more children in all their marketing material thus far.

Why is partnering up with NVidia a sign of them catching up with the market? AMD and IBM are mainstream companies too, that doesn't mean that the final product is competitive. The promotional material for the Wii U touted it as Nintendo's love letter to hardcore gamers, and then the PS4 and XBO happened. Neither argument holds water to me, the system has issues, I think we can all agree on that. Here's for hoping that customers give it a chance or that the issues can be rectified.

But not for what they are offering. So they should take a loss to please you? This is what I am saying...what would have been ideal? A Nintendo-branded Playstation 5? $10 controllers? Blood oaths from every IP/Franchise you love?

There is *currently* no evidence that they should or need to change *anything*. Your core issue seems to be, really the price...even tho, from what we know, that is NOT seemingly a core issue for "everyone"/"the general market at this time" for whatever reason. You just don't seem to want to acknowledge that while *maybe* they didn't get something right for *you*...they got enough right for enough people that we are pretty certain at this point they will sell as many as they can make for the foreseeable future based on both pre-launch interest and post-launch demand.

So...it seems to me you do NOT want this to succeed because it is a personal affront to you for some reason, they "fail" and if they "survive" they build the thing you want? Is there...any evidence at ALL that in such seemingly dire straights...*Nintendo*...of *Japan*...would do something so orthodox...or something completely not that thing?

Yeah.

I want them to learn from their mistakes and pay attention to what the competition is doing when it works. Both the PS4 and the XBO as they are on the market now are proof that gamers crave a back-to-basics device which provides them with a traditional gaming experience with options for branching out into gimmick territory via PSVR, PSEye, PSMove, Kinect and other assorted add-ons. People want that mainstream content.

I think that the idea of tabletifying the console is a great step in the right direction, even though I disagree with a number of design choices. For instance, if I were designing the Switch, I would make the joycons symmetrical. This would allow the users to pick and choose their orientation of analog sticks (symmetrical vs asymmetrical, top vs bottom etc.) by attaching the Joycons in their preferred pattern. I would also strip them of unnecessary gadgetry like NFC and instead integrate it into the main unit to lower the cost of the controllers. This would make them cheap, replaceable and almost disposable input methods for the actual main unit, it would also be a great opportunity for third-parties to build their own custom joycons. I'd probably fiddle with the idea of putting most of their circuitry into the "charging grip", so that they're just bare PCB's with buttons, sensors and sticks, coming alive once configured on the main unit or the powered grip. There's a number of things I would design differently, but I don't get to make those decisions - what I can do is voice my opinion on the things that can change, one of which is the pricing model. I most certainly want them to succeed, I merely feel that they haven't quite learned their lesson last time around.

 

[gamesquest1]

they really should be trying to make the system appealing to people who already own even a ipad or a ps4, specs wise, that's probably possible it hits the nice middle ground of power/portability that if they hit the price/appeal x factor they could sell to both sides, but pricing it at more than a ps4......it's a push, Nintendo fans will probably bite no problem, but for casual gamers and hardcore games I can see they need something a bit more to pull them in, and just taking a smaller cut on all the extra accessories might just have been the answer that made the system look inviting to people who already have money invested in their xbox1/ps4

I mean, even a half decent pack in game to take the edge off the initial investment would be nice