8-4 Play: 10/21/2016: SWITCHEROO

Nintendo Snatch

Are those episode notes REALLY necessary? REALLY?

Can't wait to listen

TOTAL DISASTER

Bonus episode! YAY

Mmmm, hamburger.

Great surprise episode. Really excited for this thing.

You guys are more optimistic than me.

There's no sign of touch, motion or a media drive, which isn't necessarily bad. But this isn't a better WiiU without the touch or motion.

Fantastic show notes.

I really wish the official GB podcasts did show notes.

@warmonked: I try to never give Nintendo too much credit since they're prone to doing idiotic things (resistive screens on 3DS+WiiU, 32GB internal storage, no USB3 for external storage on WiiU, etc, etc, etc) but even they can't possibly be dumb enough to not have a touchscreen and motion input on Switch.

That stuff's too important and obvious.

SURELY.

...Right?

(sigh)

Thanks for the podcast

This was an amazing rundown of the Snitch. It was entertaining but they also made some great points.

Those controllers were definitely made for baby hands.

I think the useless seeming plastic flap on the front of the Switch home base is actually really smart, its a perception thing. They want to market this as a handheld and a home console, if its just a standard iphone style docking station or worse, a single wire connecting the handheld and the TV it will be perceived as a handheld with a HMDI out, not as a home console. When docked without the controller bits it actually looks like a console.

The real purpose is probably something mundane like stabilizing the tablet when sliding it + the controllers in and out, but its clever either way.

Emergency listening commencing. Thanks for this!

I can see a reason to hope for a touchscreen on that tablet, but motion controls, really? Is there a single good example of usage of U's motion input?

@mapimopi: Sounds like you haven't played any of Nintendo's touch screen games. It's one of the reasons Super Mario Maker works so well.

Your clueless if you don't think kids will love this. My 8yr old saw the trailer and totally flipped. When he saw the release date was March,he asked if I would want it for my birthday since its in April and we could get it faster since his birthday is in September. So I think kids will love it.

@chicken008: You're totally right. For some reason word "tablet" made me completely forget about nintendo's stylus, so I was only thinking about finger-based touch only. Now I feel stupid ranting about something that has nothing to do with the topic, I'm sorry.

Listening to the podcast first my interest was piqued, Nintendo and Nvidia that's a win-win, because they have been pouring money into their Nvidia Shield, and the Shield Tablet and streaming for some time, without commercial success. Nvidia tech seems a generation ahead of the industry, though Shield Tablets have even been recalled due to battery overheating. Nvidia also has been touting XBox 360 performance with their mobile chips which are anywhere between 4.5 and 15 watts. That is impressive in a way, but still there is a huge gap to ~150 W consoles. Even if you double or half those numbers twice for the genrational jumps they are still not that close. Skyrim (2011) tells the tale, in 30 FPS probably.

I don't understand how they could get it to work like the Wii U with the screen pad as a controller running on a TV, seems impossible if the CPU is in the tablet. There won't be a touchscreen+TV mario maker on this transforming monstrosity.

I really don't get why someone would need this thing to check your twitter feed or do a video conference or something like that. Are you going to leave your phone at home because of a gaming handheld? As a gamer I really want it to play games well. Something a phone or tablet doesn't do all that well. Everything else is probably going to be quirky and just a bonus.

And why wouldn't you want to play the next Pokemon game on the Switch? Didn't they want a 3DS? They already had a DS... This thing is going to have a way better screen and 10x more power than a 3DS. And why would you need to want to do the things they did in that video to be into the Switch? I buy handhelds every time and I never take them with me. Why do I buy them? For the games. I don't see why someone wouldn't buy a Switch to play Nintendo games on their TV or in bed or where-ever.

3DS and 2DS and Wii U will be phased out, I hope. Because that would be a very strong advantage: to have everything on the Switch. Less droughts, more reasons to buy it, more reasons for third party to get in some titles. Monster Hunter HD. Yeah baby. Give it to me.

Only crazy people say "carts".

In reaction to the discussion that Switch is for kids. I'm not buying each of my kids a $300 system. I certainly wouldn't want my kids dragging around a $300 system, dropping it in the store, losing parts or even the system. Even $200 each is an issue. My kids can just live with their 2DS and hand-me-down smart phones for gaming-on-the-go.

We would consider buying one Switch for the family but certainly not in March. Maybe for Christmas 2017. Later depending on what games are available, battery life, all questions answered...

About what I expected. JJ and John being off in la-la land about pretty much every aspect of the Swatch and Mark slowly but surely bringing them back to reality while their inner Nintendo fanboy tries to remain hopeful this thing isn't behind the 8-ball.

It's basically a souped-up Vita except with Nintendo IP behind it. It won't tank as hard as the Vita solely because of juggernaut franchises like Mario and Zelda, but it's not going to do any great numbers. The only thing it has going for it is being a unified home/portable console from Nintendo. If they keep the 3DS going in parallel, I agree with Mark, it is all but doomed unless it's super cheap. Like <$200 cheap.

US teens def will play and use handhelds.

(As to who will this sell too

It'll probably sell to folk who want to play nintendo games,

or more specifically folk who bought the 3DS)

Probably not the hardcore gaming crowd. Nintendo has never penetrated that market.

I see people carrying iPads all over the place in the city, how is this any different?

Seeing all these comments about how it's an absolute necessity that the screen has touch has me like... wha?

Am I the only one around here who could care less if it's a touch screen? Only like 10% of the games that incorporate the touch screen on the Wii U or the 3DS truly need it.

@graf1k: You realise the irony of you scoffing about 8-balls, then making bold predictions of your own?