SuperKMx

@liquiddragon said:

Well no, they don't want to replace a Switch that I've already bought. I get that.

But let's say you get a Switch Lite for Christmas and don't already own a Switch. Your only choice to play on TV is to buy a new full-sized Switch. If they had included a dock port and sold upgrade bundles as I mentioned, it would still be a tough choice for consumers and the original Switch wouldn't be obsolete, while new people coming into the ecosystem would have options going forward.

I imagine they'd probably also be able to clear more profit from bundling hardware together that's much cheaper to produce than they would get from the sale of a standard Switch, too. (That's very much an assumption, though.)

@bisonhero: Couldn't agree with you more. My Switch has been more or less docked since launch, mainly because the battery life isn't just poor, but it's so erratic depending on what you play.

I grabbed Virtua Racing the other day and sat and played on the couch at about 7pm. It was dead by 11pm. Then I'll play some of the ported Neo Geo titles on the train for 3 hours and it'll have 50% battery life left at the end of the journey. Makes no sense!

Y'know, I like the concept and the design of the Switch Lite, but I can't see the reason for ENTIRELY stopping it from being dockable or outputting to a TV. I get what they're going for, but it just seems shortsighted.

I can't imagine that the physical dock connector would cost more than pennies per unit to have included, and it would give people two upgrade paths. Your one option to play Switch on a TV if you buy a Switch Lite and really love it is to go out and drop another $299 on a standard Switch, which would then render your Switch Lite all but useless. I mean, you'll be able to trade it in or give it to a family member, but otherwise...

If they had included a port for a dock, they could market a standalone basic dock + Pro Controller bundle to convert the system into a "full" console, or even throw together a basic dock/Joy-con charger stand/Joy-con set bundle for those who want to play stuff like Fitness Boxing (which requires Joy-cons.)

Even with a substantial markup, they could get that going for a decent price to the consumer and it would be a much, much more palatable path to take if you want to play the thing on your TV.

I'd be tempted to trade in my standard Switch for a Switch Lite if I could do that. But as it stands, I've no interest.

@bmccann42 said:

Slightly. Original Switch is advertised as 2.5-6.5 hours. Switch Lite is advertised as 3-7 hours.

So an extra 30 minutes! Wow.

Backwards compatibility from this list for me, but the absolute 100% KEY top priority feature that both the PS5 and Project Scarlett need is an interface that isn't absolute garbage. Navigating the menus on even the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X is a wholly unacceptable experience in most cases. It's all well and good these companies shouting "MOST POWERFUL CONSOLE!" repeatedly until the other one takes the lead, but it doesn't sit well when basic non-Internet-related functions like opening a list of locally-installed games will randomly take four and a quarter hours, depending on what the console feels like.

Plus, in Sony's case, we need more control. I have software installed that I can't remove and that requires the PS4 Camera, but I don't (and never have had) a PS4 Camera attached. I used to have the Sky TV app on the top level of the menu system because I use my PS4 to watch TV on Sky, but then a system update moved it back into the Movies & TV section, and I'm now not allowed to have it on the top level anymore. Why? Well...heaven forbid you get to use your favourite TV app without looking at a screen full of PlayStation Store digital movie adverts first.

Both systems need a smooth and responsive interface which is extremely customizable. If I want to boot into a list of games that are installed on my console, that's what I should be able to do. If I want to disable the slow-ass "news" feed (YAY! A guy I spoke to once has won a trophy!) for every game I dare to hover over, then I should be able to do that.

What I shouldn't have to do is sit and stare at a loading spinner every other time I touch a button outside of a game.

Arcade buttons with the team's faces on them.

I would build a Bombcade cabinet SO FAST.

Hehe, the fact I'm not even exaggerating is the best thing.

When I was at his house and saw that he'd bought a little stand and spotlight for the thing, I almost bust a gut. :D

I agree with a LOT of the points you make. I have friends that collect games, DVDs, Blu-rays, CDs, etc, and I just don't get it as I watch the bookcases and shelves take over their entire lounge, hallways, and garages. When I last moved house, I got rid of 2,000 or so CDs and 90% of my Blu-rays and DVDs, because I couldn't remember the last time that I'd actually used any of them.

I have a collection of games, don't get me wrong, but I think I'm in category C. I'm sitting in front of two full bookcases of Saturn/PS1/PS2/Xbox/Gamecube/Dreamcast games as I type this but aside from a couple of rarer titles, they've all been picked up at relatively bargain basement prices and - most importantly - are only things that I actually want to play or am intrigued by. Or, they're things that I think would make for a fun stream for when I finally get back into streaming. If I'm not definitely going to play it, I either don't buy it or don't keep it. If I play it and I know I'm not going to play it again, it goes.

I didn't used to be that way, but I feel much better about my "collection" now that I am.

One friend of mine collects absolutely anything videogame related. His dining room is lined with LED-lit cabinets filled with games consoles on display. Can't play them. Can't touch them. Doesn't do anything with them. Isn't even a TV in the room to hook them up to. He's paid hundreds for plinths and cable hiding doohickeys and other things to show off his collection (because that Dreamcast Fishing Rod needs a spotlight all to itself, apparently) and it all seems to be for the benefit of Instagram and Facebook.

He must have thousands of terrible quality or terrible condition PS1/PS2/Xbox/GC games just stacked in boxes and if you ask if he has a specific game, he can't tell you because he doesn't know. But every day on his Facebook account is the same. "Just got this sweet deal on eBay for all the Splinter Cell games for OG Xbox. Woo!" or "I was at a thrift store and I JUST COULD NOT pass up this Mary Kate & Ashley game on PS2! #LicenceToDrive AMIRITE GUISE?"

I showed him my OSSC recently and told him he could use it to hook all his old consoles up to his modern TV. His response was "Yeah, but £150 seems a little bit steep!"

Next day he was showing off £200 worth of signage that he'd bought for his Master System display case.

I'm kinda thankful that I'm missing the part of the brain that understands that. But hey, I guess if he somehow gets some enjoyment from it, then more power to him.

All depends on the person's situation (space, finance, etc.) and how much love they have for each thing.

I got to the point where firing up a NES, SNES or Mega Drive/Genesis game on the original consoles was annoying. Fish out the cart I want to play, unravel and run the controller cables across the room (which my cat would inevitably start to have a deep interest in after 20 minutes of gameplay) then unplug and replug things through an OSSC to make the games look decent on my TV. Then put it all back when I was done.

Cleared out ~200 NES/SNES/MD games and the relevant hardware and grabbed a Pi 3 with six 8bitdo controllers (two for each platform) and a charging dock. Turned a nice profit that I invested in a MAME cab and about the only thing I've lost is the ability to say "I play on the original hardware" and that didn't matter to me anyway. But there are no hard and fast rules. If you have the love for the original hardware and have the space to keep it all hooked up, keep the original hardware and enjoy your time.

I'm still swimming in a sea of discs, carts, and cables for the PS1, Saturn, PS2, OG Xbox, Dreamcast, N64, and Gamecube.

Lord, I hope the Polymega thing turns out to not be garbage.

The simple fact of the matter is that in days of yore, there was a need for a central event at which the industry could come together and pitch their products to retailers. It made sense that at the same time, developers would also descend on the event to meet with publishers.

Now, Gamestop and Amazon don't stock titles based on E3 presentations and the systems that get the physical games from the manufacturing plants to retail have become so much more efficient that they don't need to. They can order from suppliers day-to-day (hour-to-hour in some cases), rather than quarter-to-quarter. That's before you even consider that digital sales are creeping up. Meetings between pubs and devs can be done via video chat without them needing to be on the same continent, let alone in the exact same building. With streaming and things such as SharePlay (and soon Stadia and xCloud), demos can be provided to prospective publishers without anyone even needing to send a single file.

All that leaves are the consumers and the journalists. Was E3 to disappear, about 200 journalists who have actual meetings and demos to attend at the show would miss out, but could still do all that stuff remotely. The 4,000 other "press" attendees who think they're Joseph Pulitzer because they wrote an article about Smash TV for their own blog once and who turn up just to mill about on the show floor and write incredibly insightful tweets such as "The new Call of Duty looks AWESOME!!!!" don't really matter.

Consumers have multiple PAX shows, Gamescom, EGX and others, not to mention leaks, new game announcements, and other news being pushed to their phones and laptops on a second-to-second basis from a zillion different outlets. Microsoft and Sony already have their own events - XO and PSX - and could switch to kicking things off with a live-streamed press conference. Nintendo does their Directs. Bethesda has QuakeCon. SquareEnix could take the Nintendo route.

Don't get me wrong, the nostalgia and the "this is the week that we celebrate games" feel of E3 is nice, but if it isn't working as a consumer event and isn't needed as an industry event, the only thing anybody would be losing if it went would be tradition.