[Hellsing Abridged clip]
Uhg...
Fine, so in the past year or so since it's announcement, I admit, I've been a bit of
a... "negative nancy" let's say when it comes to the Switch.
But despite that, over the past few months, my desire to own one has been skyrocketing,
so obviously it's doing something right, right?
So with this video, I wanna look at all the reasons I was initially hesitant, and see
if they've improved any.
My main concern was that I was worried the Switch would just be another Wii U.
Now when I say that I mean several things, because the Wii U failed in a lot of ways.
The Wii U was a console without an identity or purpose, and all it's gimmicks only made
things worse.
Back when it was released, it was just about equivalent in power to the PS3 and Xbox 360,
both of which were less than a year away from being superseded by their successors, so AAA
devs soon found the system to be too lacking in power to port anything to.
If you wanted to make anything releasing around that time like Tomb Raider, GTA 5 or Advanced
Warfare run on the Wii U, it would've required massive visual downgrades, and not only does
that make buying the game on that console less appealing, but making those lower res
textures and figuring out that specific systems optimization takes time that most devs didn't
want to spend.
And so, the system got next to no AAA games.
As for indies, I can't speak for why the Wii U didn't get many of those, but the
potential reasons are as numerous as they are varied, from Nintendo's past issues
working with 3rd party companies, to the system never getting a big enough install base to
make porting their games worth it, to it just being difficult to get their games running
on the Wii U's hardware for whatever reasons.
I don't know, not a game dev, but suffice it to say, whatever its specific failings,
the system barely got any indie games, which left only the Nintendo developed first party
titles as the system sellers.
And we got a few of those.
Bayonetta 2, Splatoon... uh... that's literally it.
The only two other things I can think of are Smash which also came out on 3DS, and Breath
of the WIld which also came out on Switch.
Which uh... wow, that's actually kinda sad.'
The Wii U also had marketability problems.
It's infamously awful name is partly to blame, with a lot of people thinking it was
just an attachment for their long forgotten Wii, and those issues were only confounded
by the inclusion of the tablet controller which was inventing solutions for problems
that didn't exist.
But beyond the marketing, it's biggest issue was its image.
What was the benefit of buying a Wii U over a PS4 or XBOX One?
Aside from specific first party IP, there was nothing that it allow you to do that you
couldn't get elsewhere and probably better.
So Nintendo's inability to woo 3rd party developers with their underpowered console
resulted in precious few games, and that combined with basically no exclusives worth spending
the $300 for and a lack of clear focus, the console was dead in the water the second it
hit store shelves.
Which brings me to the Switch.
Now as I said, when it was announced I was worried it was falling into a lot of the same
traps.
The complete portability aspect was interesting, but brought with it a whole minefield of issues.
Now you had concerns about battery life, weight, and whether anyone even wanted to play a longform
game on the go?
Also, because it was portable console, it was by necessity even less powerful than the
already underpowered Wii U.
To me this was a clear indication that no AAA games of note would ever be released on
it, an impression not helped by the fact that all the had to boast about in that regard
for the longest time was Skyrim, a 5 year old game.
Now, I do still think I'm right about that.
Granted we have gotten port announcements of DOOM 2016 and more notably the currently
unreleased Wolfenstein The New Colossus, but outside of whatever backroom deal Nintendo
and Bethesda have going on, I don't think we should expect to see that trend continue.
I very much doubt that the Switch will be the console of the choice for the next Call
of Duty game, for example.
It's still underpowered which means porting the hottest newest shiniest things to it is
still a massive pain in the ass.
But recently I've had a revelation that's massively changed my outlook on the Switch:
Nintendo is no longer interested in competing in the console wars.
I don't think Nintendo gives a shit that the next Call of Duty game won't be on the
Switch, because they've turned their attention in a different direction.
You see, I think Nintendo realized that while they were messing about with the Wii, Sony
and Microsoft were busy stealing the hardcore audience out from under them.
The Wii U then was their attempt to reclaim that lost audience, and as we saw it failed
miserably.
My problem was that I was looking at the Switch as another attempt to recapture that audience,
and in that light it fails miserably.
But in reality I think that the Switch is actually Nintendo throwing up their hands
in defeat.
Rather than weakly attempting to compete with Sony and Microsoft anymore, I think Nintendo
is redoubling their efforts to focus on what they've always been the best at: handheld
gaming, with a system that technically counts as a home console but is really just a fancy
portable system.
They're now positioning the Switch as a companion device to the PS4, XBOX One, and
PC, rather than as a competitor to them.
To me, that completely recontextualizes how I view the Switch.
Suddenly, not having big AAA's doesn't matter anymore, and any one's that you do
get are just icing on the cake.
What really matters for a mobile gaming device, is having games that you would want to play
in short bursts while on a bus or in a car, and that brings us to the best thing about
the Switch currently, the indie games.
Over the past few months, we've been drowned in an ongoing tidal wave of indy port announcements,
and that doesn't show any sign of slowing down.
From Stardew Valley, Enter The Gungeon, Hollow Knight, Rocket League, Shovel Knight, and
many more.
And this is just the beginning.
I honestly think the Switch is gonna become a haven for indie games in the coming years,
partially because I've been told it's generally easier to port games to the Switch,
but mostly because of the portability aspect.
If you think about it, the portability factor alone is a huge selling point, and indie games
are both generally shorter and snappier than AAA games, and aren't prone to pushing the
boundaries of graphics hardware in the same ways.
To indie devs, releasing your game for the Switch means that a lot of your customers
have a reason to buy your game twice.
The console is also a natural fit for local multiplayer games because of the portability,
and the two controllers you're guaranteed to have with you at all times, which means
that great couch-co-op games like Lovers in A Dangerous Spacetime or Overcooked which
did terribly on PC, finally have a chance to shine!
And along with the indie stuff, you also have Nintendo's usual main series games, and
practically all of their big franchises are already confirmed to have new games coming
to it.
All of that combined means that recently, my interest in owning a Switch has skyrocketed
Of course I still have my reservations.
At the moment it seems pretty lacking on the software side of things.
I can't believe a console in #CurrentYear launched without YouTube or Netflix built
in.
Think about that.
There are refrigerators and blenders that are more ahead of the curve than Nintendo
right now.
And on that topic, Splatoon 2 resorting to using a phone app for voice chat might be
the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
I admit, I don't particularly care about voice chat myself because if I wanted to hear
nonstop racial slurs mixed in with video game sounds I would just go watch PewDiePie, but
the fact that they had to resort to this to do something that consoles had mastered back
in the days of the Dreamcast, shows' just how behind the times Nintendo as a company
really are.
There's also general concerns about battery life.
Yeah it seems like what it's got is perfectly fine for general use, but for long car rides,
flying, or if you're like me and just routinely forget to plug your shit in, you run the risk
of it dying pretty fast.
Now I can understand them wanting to stick with the bare necessities to keep the cost
low, but if that was the case, I would have expected them to let you switch the battery
out for a better one if you so chose, but you can't actually do that.
It angers me enough that my phone that lasts for 2 days without charging doesn't have
a hot swappable battery, let alone something that can die after 2 hours.
And also as I've brought up before, I would still like to see Nintendo slowly phase out
the DS's and just merge their usual two consoles into the one.
That means twice as many games, not having to lug around two devices, and also means
that you'd only have to spend $300 to play Nintendo games as opposed to $500.
Obviously we'll still be getting 3DS games for a few more years yet, but I really do
hope that this current iteration of the 3DS is the last one before we permanently hop
aboard the Switch train.
But all that's pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, and if they can
get it ironed out, I think Nintendo will have finally carved themselves a comfy little niche
in mainstream gaming for the first time since the Nintendo 64.
Not as a direct competitor to the current triforce of PC, PS4, and XBOX, but as a companion
device that capitalizes on offering an experience none of the others can.
So congratulations must be given to Nintendo for having successfully Switched things up....
Ahhhh, I'm so clever.
Ayyyy, recomendations time!
So if you want to see why I'm so excited to reply indie games on this thing, go check
out some of my videos on them, like "The Most Interesting Thing About Enter The Gungeon",
or "How Hollow Knight Captured The Magic Of Dark Souls".
Alternatively, I made a video speculating about what that new Switch Pokemon game might
be like, and what we can expect from it - all linked below.
Finally, I wanna give a special thanks to my wonderful Patreon patrons...
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