Nintendo NX is now Switch (Official thread) (2 Viewers)

[LeoA]

Wasn't today, two weeks before launch?

Perhaps I'm taking it too literally and they really might say something next Monday, but I think that was just a rumor.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I'm getting the Switch at launch with Zelda and possibly 1-2-Switch (I think this would be fun to play with the wife and friends occasionally). I am hoping to pick up a screen protector and carrying case, too, since I plan on going away for a couple trips this year and would like to bring it with me.

I might pick up extra JoyCons depending on if/when I see myself having a multiplayer game, like Mario Kart. $70-80 for 2 JoyCons is a lot, but its kind of in line with Wii remote pricing at the time.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I missed the online pre-order window and no retailers are taking new orders for now but that's ok. The only release game that interests me is Zelda and I'm kind of luke warm about it after seeing more footage. I just picked up about a dozen games for my 3DS and found a NES Classic Edition last weekend so I'll wait it out and see what kind of games get released throughout the rest of 2017.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Here's a list, if you're interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nintendo_Switch_games

There is something good coming out at least every 1-2 months, and that's not counting the regular flood of holiday releases that aren't announced yet.

 

[laser]

Interesting theory about the Switch launch timing:

 

[Edwin-S]

I might try the WiiU version of BotW. Maybe one of these Zelda games will finally keep interested. I'll keep an eye on the Switch sales. I want to see a big install base on the system before I decide to spring for one. Frankly, I'd almost like to see sales tank after the "first-on-the-block" demo burns out, so it would force Nintendo to drop the price to something reasonable for the system, similar to what happened for the 3DS.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I lucked out with the 3DS and bought it a few days before the price drop. I qualified for the 20 free "Ambassador" games then price-matched the drop and got my money back.

That said, I doubt the Switch will see a price drop any time soon. The price is pretty competitive for a console (outside of Canada, I guess) and is probably not too far off from a break-even price on the hardware for Nintendo. I imagine you'll see bundles around the holidays (Switch with Mario Odyssey) rather than a straight-up price drop.

 

[Edwin-S]

I should clarify that most of the price difference between Canada and the US is the difference in our dollars. C$400 is about US$305, so in those terms the launch price is about the same. I still think US$300 is too much for this system, considering that it doesn't even come with one game that you can play without having to shell out US$60 or about C$78.

 

[Brandon Conway]

I imagine you'll see bundles around the holidays (Switch with Mario Odyssey) rather than a straight-up price drop.

I totally expect a Switch w/ 1-2-Switch bundle during the holidays.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Edwin - the PS4 and Xbox One launched at $400 with 1 controller and no games packed in. I'm not sure how $300 with 2ish controllers and no games packed in is much worse. The Wii and Wii U came with Wii Sports and NintendoLand, but...I mean...those were Wii Sports and NintendoLand.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

A couple news items this morning. First off, Virtual Console won't be ready at launch. Second, Switch previews are now out. They show pictures and video of the UI and such but no gameplay yet. I believe hardware final reviews are out 3/1 and Zelda reviews are out 3/2.

I read through a couple of previews and it seems like the hardware is physically excellent, the left JoyCon for some people has syncing issues, and the pro controller is great. The UI seems pretty simple and straightforward but the lack of games for launch (and even fewer being in the hands of reviewers) means there's not much to judge the system against since there's nothing to use it with. There's a day one update that adds the eShop and all the online stuff, so right now there's no way to see all of that stuff. IIRC, the pre-updated Switch can't even use SD cards. It seems like the firmware is maybe coming in a little hot, kind of like the Wii U did, but Nintendo claims the update process will happen in the background, seamlessly, and will be small, so at least it won't be the 3 hours of waiting for the Wii U's update.

Also, I think it was the Polygon preview that talked about how nice it is to just pop a game card in and immediately play, rather than installing it like on PS4 or Xbox One.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Overall I'm not concerned with the VC not being available at launch - it's coming within the year, and I'm gonna be busy with new games for the time being.

The OS is very nice - especially when compared to the cumbersome and slow Wii U OS.

More on the joycon interference here. Definitely seems to be an interference issue and not a sync one. Things like this can get resolved via firmware updates, so hopefully that occurs. In the meantime, just make sure you don't have anything physically blocking the controllers in close proximity if playing 10+ feet away. (I wonder if most interference has been when players are lowering their hands to their sides near the arm of a chair or something in super relaxed mode).

 

[laser]

Unboxings happening today:





They're loving the build quality of the console.

 

[LeoA]

Made an account.

I can't help but notice that I can only see my Wii U and 3DS purchases, not my Wii purchases. I really didn't think there was any chance of it recognizing purchases made on the account-less Wii, even after they had been transferred to a Wii U system, like Morgan thought there was.

So there's still good reason to pay the upgrade fee to enjoy VC games on the Wii U for now, since it's likely the only way to get your old Wii VC downloads linked to your account for eventual use on the Switch (If it even has an upgrade mechanism in place). And with the Virtual Console not present at release on the Switch, who knows how long until it launches.

 

[Sam Posten]

I'm now Kadath on Nintendo to match PSN and XBL. Word is that there is a massive day 1 patch to fix wonky joypads.

Anyone going full digital? I may actually buy a card if I can get the Zelda CE, otherwise going 100% digital only. Any recs on an SD? I see some reviewers buying 200gb cards!

https://www.amazon.com/Sandisk-Ultr...=UTF8&qid=1487905230&sr=8-4&keywords=200gb+sd

Anyone on how speedy that is?

 

[laser]

Another glowing review of the hardware.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

There is definitely a day one patch, but the only things that Nintendo has said about it is that it deals with online functionality. They also said it will download quietly and quickly in the background since the Wii U's day one patch was tedious.

The Wii U could "find" your Wii VC purchases because they were in the internal memory, not because they were tied to your account. If you bought the upgraded version for the Wii U then those will show up in your Nintendo account purchase history.

 

[LeoA]

Morgan, you argued a few weeks ago in an older thread that there was a chance that the Nintendo Switch would allow Wii/Wii Mode to Switch upgrades for the Virtual Console.

As this clearly shows, even for Wii Virtual Console content that I've transferred to my Wii U's Wii Mode, no record of those purchases are displayed on my account. So that all but seals the deal that such a thing isn't going to be possible here.

Thus as I argued then and you disagreed with, there's likely value even today in paying the upgrade fee to upgrade to the Wii U version of a favorite VC title when available, unless foolish Nintendo just has no upgrade mechanism in place for our 3DS/Wii U VC downloads.

Even paying $1 twice to get a Wii Mode NES download to the Nintendo Switch with no intentions of ever firing it up on the Wii U in-between, beats paying $5 all over again from scratch.

 

[Edwin-S]

A 100 bucks for a standard controller for the Switch? That is a quarter of the price of the entire system! Nintendo, obviously, has adopted the Disney business model of thinking their customer base as suckers to be milked.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

Yeah, I thought they might be able to connect the content on your Wii U's Wii Mode with your NNID account so that you could upgrade from Wii to Switch. I think the reason for that discussion was to debate whether or not it was worth upgrading a VC game from Wii to Wii U a few months ago, or better to hold off and see what the options would be for Switch. It appears that there is no Wii-to-Switch upgrade. Not too surprising.

Edwin - what controller is $100? (I assumed C$100) The pro controller or the JoyCon L/R bundle? If it's the pro controller, then keep in mind that you don't need it. If you're talking about the JoyCon bundle, then keep in mind its actually 2 controllers. (I think the US pricing is $70 for either, which is only $10 more than a new PS4 or XBO controller.)