Did anyone watch the Nindies showcase today? They seemed to announce a good slate of indie games that are good fits for the portable/console feel of the Switch. Also most of them seem to be coming out by Summer which is reassuring to anyone who has legitimate concerns about the thin software lineup. Curious if anyone thought any of the announced games were particularly interesting. I'm curious about War Groove which seems to be like medieval Advanced Wars, which sounds good to me.

I actually caught it right after it ended live. Just finished catching up. It looked pretty good to me. =)

I understand that it's an issue with Indie games as a whole, but there was way too much pixel art, faux retro stuff, going on. I'm sure it'll be fine for people who want that but some of that stuff wasn't doing it for me. I did like Yooka Laylee, and that cooking game. Personally, I think Snipper Clips is a really cool launch game that makes a good case for the hybridized controls and the table-top mode and I'm surprised that it wasn't stressed that it was launching with the Switch along with Zelda and 1,2,Switch.

I went on with fairly tempered expectations and was very pleasantly surprised with the quality of the line up. Wargroove looks like a lovely Advance Wars style game and I can never get enough of those. I loved the first Steamworld Dig game so a squeal to that is very welcome. Blaster Master Zero and Shakedown Hawaii also look great. Overall I'd say that this is a really solid bunch of games coming over the next few months. These will certainly be great for padding out what was looking like a fairly light lineup for the rest of the year.

Just watched it after seeing this thread. A new Master Blaster might be fun, and Shakedown Hawaii looks pretty good too.

There aren't a lot of Switch games at launch and right after, so if a lot of these games can come out when people are thirsting for something new to play on their Switches, they have to potential to be pretty successful.

The real question is how much this support will extend past 2017.

That's an excellent question. I think it depends on whether or not the Switch becomes Nintendo's next handheld as well as its next console. If it is the successor to BOTH the 3DS and Wii U then I think it has a real shot, if it is just seen as the successor to the Wii U, then I'm more skeptical of its long-term viability.

It's a really nice line-up and the fact that you can play those games on the go makes it a lot more appealing than other platforms (at least for me). Furthermore if you check the banner they had at the end you can see more games such as Thumper and Enter the Gungeon.

Also it was very nice that Nintendo was making it clear what games were exclusives, timed exclusives, console exclusives, etc..

I was really pleased with the presentation. I'm so happy that Runner 3 exists and Shakedown Hawaii is a brilliant name.

Anyone else read this title as "nudies showcase" click it then get drastically different content then they thought?

I did....

Pocket Rumble on Switch is gonna be a lot of fun.

Great, kind of feels like the time Sony had a bunch of indie devs on stage. And hey, they kept that going.

I love my Vita for smaller games, but looks like going forward I'll have the Switch as my go-to if they skip Sony's handheld. Even if the big games are few and far between (which hopefully won't be the case), I know I'll have that SD card filled up at all times with these sorts of titles.

I got a chance to watch the showcase tonight on the Wii U. The games that caught my interest were Runner 3, WarGroove, and Steam World Dig 2. I got enough cash to get the new Zelda in March at some point, but I won't be able to get a Switch until maybe June? I got dentist bills and taxes to pay in March, and because I need my teeth and don't want to go to prison because of tax evasion, I gotta prioritize. As it is, Fire Emblem Echoes is slated to release May 19 on the 3DS, and so having two strategy games to look forward to in 2017 is nice. I love getting into some of those every once and awhile.

I'm excited to see this indie lineup and look forward to trying some out here in 2017!

Some great stuff there. I'm in no doubt that Switch will outsell WiiU and Vita combined, and am pleased with lots of recent news coming from Nintendo about the new console, even with blows like VC not being there day one. Very excited to get my hands on it on Friday.

Nindies...

Pretty good..

I think it's most definitely a successor to both, Nintendo is just hedging their bets like they did with the DS. Leading up to the launch of the DS - they kept on iterating that it was a third pillar alongside the GBA and Gamecube - but we all know how that ended up.

Not saying that the Switch will be a success on the same level as the DS - but Nintendo has a history of spinning this kind of spiel, and I don't really see much support for 3DS beyond this year if the Switch is anything but a complete failure.

It was pretty good. Master Blaster 0 I'm interested in.

It was rumored Undertale would come to the console so I was disappointed that wasn't shown but oh well

@frostyryan: I think the rumored Undertale and Rocket League would be E3 level announcements to be honest - Undertale could potentially be console exclusive to the Switch.

FYI, Here is the video showcase so people don't have to search around for it:

P.S. Damon Baker has a fantastic voice!

I'm also on the War Groove train. Whilst the name seems a little peculiar, the game looked fantastic. I don't think I'd want to play it on my TV, but if it doesn't destroy the battery in handheld mode I could see myself playing it a lot on commutes.

I feel like the battery life is going to be a big factor in how successful these 'Nindies' can be - Zelda, at 2.5-3hrs, doesn't really seem well suited for handheld play. Here's hoping the indies can get over 4 hours.

There were quite a few titles that interest me, so I'm pretty stoked.

@feive_vz: You can just get a portable battery to extend your battery life. That's what I'm doing (and have done with phone for a while now as Pokémon Go destroys my battery!).

@wonderboycoz: Yeah, same. I mean, the Switch uses the same charging connector as my phone, so I can just use the portable battery and cable I have in my bag anyway. Going with USB C was a really smart move.

Besides, I reckon most of these indies'll probably get pretty close to the five-six hour max they specified in the pre-launch marketing. They're certainly not gonna be as demanding as Zelda. (Well, assuming the ports are any good...)

In any case, I really hope Nintendo keep aggressively courting indie devs for the Switch going forward. It’d go a long way towards making up for their traditional lack of substantial third-party support from the major publishers, at least in the sense that it'd really change the value proposition for the Switch--it wouldn't be just 'the Nintendo box', as Nintendo's consoles have been for a really long time now.

I mean, consider that pitch for the Switch to the gaming consumer: all the development might of Nintendo consolidated into one console – no more divide between portable and home – that’s also the premier non-PC platform for indie games? Heck, just the promise of some of these indies in a portable format – that isn’t as cumbersome as a laptop – is enough to get me interested, without even considering Nintendo’s traditionally fantastic first-party stuff.

There’s the potential here for Nintendo to carve out a new niche all of their own, that holds wider appeal than either of their existing platforms. Now, even if they do everything right, it’ll still take a good few years – and at least one substantially cheaper Switch SKU, to attract the cheap 3DS/2DS audience – to get there, but I’m super excited to see if they manage it.

I'm just thrilled I have another means to show Jackbox to people

Also I want all the games announced, thats pretty good going if I'm honest. And I'll get them on switch (at least the games showcased here) because the idea of playing these kind of games at my lunch break and in bed before I go to sleep is super appealing to me.

@wonderboycoz: I also have a couple of portable batteries, but I don't like to charge on-the-go or whilst using my device. Of course, I have to sometimes, but I usually prefer to set the device down for a while whilst it charges. This is just preference based on the type of places I usually play, though. I feel sure I read somewhere that it doesn't take charge well, too? Maybe I'm just thinking of Jeff saying that his PC didn't seem to be charging it much.

While the Switch has USB C like many smartphones all the smartphone charging cables I've seen are USB to USB C which means that it doesn't charge very efficiently (USB C to USB C is significantly faster).

That's probably why Jeff wasn't seeing much charging going on if connected through the PC - not even sure if the Switch can charge connecting to the PC if I'm being honest. Even if it can though it's going to be extremely slow. I mean, it's already slower for phones so just imagine for a Switch which, to begin with takes longer to charge.

@judgementxd: Just to confirm here; it's the cord that matters and not the battery, then? If I find a USB-C to USB-C cord it should just fine off of my battery?

@feive_vz: The battery is also pretty important but I haven't done much research yet. From what I've gathered the Switch draws up to a maximum of 15V and 2.6amps. Most battery packs are meant for phones and are in the ballpark of 5V and 1.5amps. While these can help extend the battery in all likelihood the Switch's battery will still drain if you're using it while it's connected to a battery (of course it'll be slower than without but still). Since you mentioned that you probably won't charge it while playing it's probably not a big issue but something to keep in mind since it'll take more than the advertised 3 hours to charge from 0 to 100.

I've just done a quick search on amazon and I found quite a few battery packs at 10000mAh which is good but they're still only 5V, though they can go up to 2.4amps.

With all that said since you mentioned you have a few battery packs lying around you might as well try them out before looking for a new one.