dartmonkey

Modest Tech: The NX Generation (Nintendo Switch)

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It'll be great to get all you're Nintendo games in one place. As someone who would most likely jump onboard ahead of Average J, I'm game for anything that Nintendo is developing for. If they're angling for Wii-style mass-market, cross-generational appeal, I really think 3DS backwards compatibility is a selling point too attractive to refuse.

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Well all rumors point to a single-screen device, so 3DS games would be clunky at best.

 

I don't think it's an avenue worth going down from day one, at any rate.

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For what it's worth, DS games on the Wii U virtual console supports both screens displayed on a single screen

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It's definitely not ideal but it would still be a good box to tick. Maybe the carts will be DS sized and they might update with backwards compatibility once they've got the emulation on the new chips watertight.

Or maybe the controller won't even have the right buttons to do it. I keep forgetting about the non-square screen tech it might use. I hope they nail the design first time. A DSphat will not work in 2016.

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Clunky compatability is something Nintendo has done, and it's better than nothing for people who never got a chance to play the game last time round. I'd be happy to get clunky access to games I missed from the Wii U if it were possible.

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For the past week I've been browsing around for Wii U's, both in stores and on the second-hand market place. I've been shocked to see how expensive the thing still is. For a console that's basically written off and dead in the water, soon to be replaced, why is the retail price still a gross 288 - 300 euros (with a bundled game)? Come on. Second hand prices are often no better, with prices going upward from 250 euros.

 

I understand disappointed people don't want to give in too much, but consider the PS4 market. Second-hand consoles easily take 100 euros off retail price. There's something about the Wii U...

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I get that, but that's not how the market works. If it was awesome enough for people to pay a lot of money for it, it would've been a much bigger hit. It doesn't make sense that it would continue to cost a lot of money, especially on the second hand market. As if there were a scarcity or a high demand.

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When we're talking about the retail market, I think it's purely based on one factor: Nintendo will always refuse to sell hardware at a loss. Even if the device is not selling, they'd rather discontinue it than slash the prices. Whenever they do slash prices, they do it prudently and only after much deliberation. Nintendo gather that it's better to launch a new console and try again than lower the perceived value of their products in the eyes of the consumer. The reasoning is actually kind of solid: Nintendo products have a history of being both value for money and remarkably stable in price. Stunting with prices would hurt the credibility of future products.

 

As for the second-hand market, I have no fucking clue. Apparently there are enough people buying it, and the supply is low enough that prices remain high. This might make sense too: few people who weren't already crazy about Nintendo bought the Wii U, so there will inevitably be less of a trickle of 'regret-buyers'. Put differently: The few Wii U's that WERE sold, were sold to people who would dependably love them and keep them. This in contrast to for instance the Wii, which everyone bought and flooded all markets, driving the price down.

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They actually sold the 3DS at a loss because it wasn't selling well. Dropped the price like whoa.

 

I think the Wii U was also sold at a loss for a while, but I'm not sure about that one.

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I get that, but that's not how the market works. If it was awesome enough for people to pay a lot of money for it, it would've been a much bigger hit. It doesn't make sense that it would continue to cost a lot of money, especially on the second hand market. As if there were a scarcity or a high demand.

It seems to me that the target audience for the Wii U is exactly you: unwilling to buy it new at full price. This has driven up the price of secondhand units.

Kind of amusing if you ask me.

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After trolling for Wii U's on the Dutch market place site Marktplaats, I finally found one yesterday - a really good deal. Got me a Mario Maker bundle for 190 euros. Good as new and with factory warranty (from a dealer who specializes in returned goods that they buy wholesale from large internet vendors). Haven't hooked up the machine yet, but I'll start making troll levels today. Expect horrible, unplayable bullshit.

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Okay, with NX announcement fever buzzing all over the place, why not indulge in some in some witless speculation about launch games? (Or launch 'window' games - damn I hate that term!)

 

- The Mario Maker and Zelda ports should be filler for day one.

- I'm thinking something Pokemon to capitalise on Go, and my best idea is a 3D remake of Red/Blue. The devs have a (basic) blueprint to work from, new players from Go would recognise the first 151 'mons and oldtimers FINALLY get the home console Pokemon people have been wanting for 20 years (without sacrificing portability) and get their nostalgia massaged seeing all those old locations in 3D HD.

- NX versions of all Nintendo mobile games.

- Bayonetta 3????? I know the second didn't sell but it's got critical and 'core cache. Would tick a box.

- Ubisoft bring it with Just Dance 2018, Assassin's Creed the Sixth and Beyond Good & Evil 2 (hmm, perhaps not).

- Pikmin 4. Supposed to be in the can, unless Miyamoto is referring to the 3DS side-scroller...

- A couple of 'remasters' from big companies (your Activistions, EAs) putting their toes in the water.

- A Yoshi/Kirby game that looks pleasant enough but you'll hold off for the drought.

- Spla2n.

- Some Streetpassy Mii game to show off the portability angle. Hopefully called MiiNX.

- Amiibo Menagerie game thing. Vague I know, but they've got to capitalise on all the plastic out there and if parents see they can use all those figures with the new console, that's another box easily ticked.

 

Scattershot but fun. I was thinking Kojima could maybe get involved but we won't be seeing anything from him until 2019. Mind you, would Konami consider MGS5 on NX?

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Here's my crazy prediction: I expect the NX is going to be a big success. Initially, no 3rd party dev will want to support it, but after a year they'll scramble to port their stuff over (or create bespoke new games), once they see that there's a real market here. But fuck em, who cares? This is going to be the all-Nintendo console. They already said there'll be a Mario and a Zelda in the first half year after release, and let's just hope that that Mario is Galaxy 3. Enough with the dillying around with multiplayer stuff, it's time for an honest-to-god new 3D Mario game - and I wouldn't mind it being at least as weird and ballsy as Sunshine was.

 

What I'm also excited for is that, should the NX become the hit I hope it'll be, we'll see some real gems in the glut of titles that's sure to follow. The Wii, with its preposterously huge lineup of mostly forgettable trash, had some really unique and weird titles. Games that might not have been particularly good, but ever so interesting. I'm thinking of the likes of Fragile Dreams, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Zack & Wiki and Pandora's Tower. Though they might come from Nintendo too. I'm playing the DS-game Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland right now and it's the weirdest deconstruction of a Zelda game ever. Totally nuts.

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NX is now the Nintendo Switch.

 

So, one: Surprised it's coming out so soon. I would've expected next fall/winter at the soonest. Two: Nintendo's got their foley artists working some overtime to make sure you know exactly when those pieces are connecting/disconnecting.

 

Looks interesting, but at this point for me it's like all the other consoles. I can play almost all of the games I want to play on PC, so getting it depends on price and exclusives.

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It seems to be exactly what I want thus far. A nice tablet that can play games. Assuming they have a good back catalog of ports for me to catch up on and it functions reasonably well as a media device, I'm pretty excited for it.

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