Julius

Agreed. I thought this was one of the falsehoods Brexit was supposed to be built on, bringing back our factories and industries and creating new jobs, but it feels like it's gone even further the other way – and everything is more expensive in a post-COVID world. Not to derail the thread with Brexit talk, but Brexit or not, this is something we should've been looking to do anyways But yeah, as for your question @Will, I think for me I might have a bit of a read up on things, but ultimately like H-o-T says, it's something difficult to do in practice, though I do think a good number of these have been highlighted over the last year and a half or so with people boycotting certain companies over what was going on in Palestine. Personally, I struggle to see it much differently to how I view boycotting some games (because of crunch, bigoted views of licensors, etc.) – where you can do it and it suits your day-to-day needs, in this case I guess in a way which is cost effective more than ever given the rising cost of living, great; but otherwise, depending on your circumstances and maybe product preferences, I think it's fine to continue as you are as and where you see fit. I suppose a difference here, too, compared to my examples of games, is just visibility and conversation – this is honestly the first I'm even hearing of this, whereas comparable boycotts in the gaming space seem like all-encompassing pieces of news when they happen. Now that I'm aware, though, it's something which I imagine will at least make me second guess and want to check things for a time – even if it's just out of curiosity more so than a want to take action.

I think that game is awesome for being the game where people are basically put in the position of a wheelchair-bound person. But I also think it doesn't look remotely fun and was a terrible showcase for the Mouse-Con. Unfortunately that game is deader than dead on arrival, even if it somehow turned out to be a budget title (it's Nintendo first-party, though, so we're probably looking at the price of an OG Switch game in the most optimistic case). Giving me serious Destruction AllStars vibes. That's not even mentioning @Cube's point during the reactions where Nintendo's accessibility options are historically low effort/poor, and so a dark irony to this game with wheelchair-bound players characters is that there are a good number of wheelchair-bound people - who I think would otherwise be happy to see some much-needed representation in games - unable to play the game, leaving the gesture a bit of a token one that rings hollow. Anyways, for me, it was just missing obvious use cases. Again, I thought it was a total lock-in, but Baldur's Gate III seemed like the easy win here – yet after all the hullabaloo about third-party access to dev kits, I question if Larian even have one at this point? So we ended up with our best look at "traditional mouse controls" in Civ VII, where they showed an on-screen pointer for all of 3 seconds: It was shown off so ineffectively. We've been talking about the possibility of DS, Wii, 3DS and Wii U games built off the back of the potential for Mouse-Con, but nothing shown really sold that concept well enough in my opinion. Totally glossed over. Even Prime 4 is only kind of half using it, and that feels like something of an alternative for the gyro aiming controls you see in Prime Remastered and some other first-party games (which I'm not a fan of, so I'm curious to see how I'd get on with Mouse-Con there!). Again, though: I think the hands-on events will spill the proverbial tea here. This is actually something I've been thinking about a lot, since the Mouse-Con first got leaked, as I'm much the same way and mainly play on the sofa (and very, very, very rarely play in bed) – I think the solution for us here could be one of those bed trays for breakfast in bed?

No mention of Hall Effect outright, but it sounds to me like they've either gone with Hall Effect or have come up with their own solution. It's Nintendo, so goodness knows, but they keep referring to this "smoother movement" for the sticks of both the Joy-Con 2 and the new Pro Controller. From Chapter 2 of Ask the Dev for Switch 2: Love this idea of trying to create the "pinnacle of all controllers" – I wonder how close they think they've come with this new Pro Controller? As for the new GL/GR buttons, as something of a screenshot fiend, think I've already learned how I'm going to assign it I was also going to ask if we thought they'd have profiles we can save for different games - you know, to save swapping around GL/GR and other buttons around each game - but they've confirmed profiles which can be saved on a per game and per profile basis! I'm liking the sound of that

They're not yet live (as evidenced by not being able to click through to them), but the pages for pre-order can now be seen on Argos, so it'll be worth keeping an eye on throughout the day as they could seemingly go live any minute- LINK

Digital Foundry reaction is up: Elsewhere, worth highlighting that in one of the Ask the Dev pieces for Switch 2, they nearly did call it the Super Nintendo Switch...but totally wussed out Something else I thought was worth mentioning and was kind of glossed over in the Direct: the Switch 2 Pro Controller will have two mappable rear buttons (GL/GR), as well as HD Rumble 2 and an audio jack.

How could I forget? The official site fleshes these points out a bit more: RPG Site seem to think this is coming to Switch 2 first, implying that it will come to other platforms later – and while I'm inclined to agree, I can't seem to find a source for that little tidbit. Assuming it does come to other platforms at a later point, I'll likely be waiting to play it on PlayStation purely because me and a friend have been talking FOREVER about wanting to throwdown against thugs on the streets of Kamurocho together, and heck, give me a Director's Cut for all of the brawler-style games if online co-op is the plan give us the option to eat together, too, damn it! Anyways, Yakuza 0, one of the greats and a perfect get for the Switch 2 launch. The side activities (I'm thinking Club Sunshine) are absolutely perfect for handheld mode, but I'll hunt you down and scream at you personally if you witness the epic story beats on anything other than your TV or monitor!

I probably won't be up in time to advise of this dropping if and when it does, but the Argos site is currently undergoing maintenance – so there's a decent chance that pre-orders could be going live this morning/later today? UPDATE: "coming soon"

Trailer should've just been this

So, uh, this one only gets weirder. On the upside, price-wise, but maybe an orange flag in terms of effort put into this? It seems to be a budget release: US$39.99 (below), and listed for €39.99 (nedland)... ...on the downside, it's one of the new "Game-Key Cards" – as in, the game will require a download and not be included on the cart. So, let's just get this straight: this is a HD remaster of a 3DS game which will be available exclusively on the Switch 2 - a launch title at that - which is actually looking like it's a budget release which isn't going to have a physical release actually containing the game on the cart...

Right then, I was watching the UK stream of the Direct so missed this, but the US stream closed out by shooting off the games and features we can expect to see shown off in the upcoming Treehouse streams, starting from 15:00 BST today and tomorrow (timestamped): Now, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up here, this is total conjecture on my part, but I think it's going to be worth paying attention to the order these games are streamed in – because if it goes in the listed order and tomorrow's Treehouse closes out with Prime 4? I'm seriously thinking there's a decent chance that we could see a release date announced. What better way to end the streams than with an announcement like that? I mean, it's the only first-party game we knew about going into the Switch 2 Direct which still doesn't even have so much as a release window! I've seen some people point out that it feels like there's a bit of a single player-shaped hole in the launch lineup in terms of first-party releases...and to not jinx it, that's all I'm going to say about that I mean, seriously though! Discounting Switch 2 Editions of BotW and TotK and GameCube games on NSO, the only Nintendo-developed, single player focused launch title Switch 2 has is Welcome Tour! It also wouldn't be the first time Metroid has had special treatment in a Treehouse – it couldn't fit into the E3 Spotlight back in 2017 anyways due to the sheer focus and dedication of that presentation to the Switch, but a whole ass Metroid game was announced in the Treehouse that day (Samus Returns for 3DS). And to anyone going "hey, Julius, why wouldn't they announce that in the Switch 2 Direct?" – I say that this is Nintendo, Metroid could've been buried in all the other announcements and also, let's not forget, Nintendo have already announced daily updates on the Switch 2 leading up to launch via the Nintendo Today! app, so wouldn't it be in line with that to save one or two big bits of news featured in the Treehouse livestreams, too? Considering that Metroid is still a relatively niche series as far as Nintendo IPs go, and that Treehouse streams attract the more hardcore of the Nintendo crowd, too, it would make sense to me to keep something like that to share exclusively with them, and obviously perpetuate the hype and news cycle for the Switch 2 along with it.

@Jonnas I'm sure this'll give you a chuckle

Tales of the Underworld was announced amidst the Switch 2 chaos – and will release May 4th!

I don't know if this is a hot or a lukewarm take, but anyone else feel like they completely dropped the ball on selling the concept of Mouse-Con here? Yeah it's going to be demo'd in Welcome Tour and something like Drag x Drive, but the biggest selling point I feel we got for it was Prime 4's Switch 2 Edition having it essentially be a point-and-click shooter – and even that feels like a matter of preference and not necessarily a case of being "the best way to play". Didn't really feel like there was an experience they showed where it convinced me "oh, this is what they're going for – I see the vision!" Could be that they're leaving it to people share their first impressions of it from hands-on events, but it felt like they made a much bigger deal out of things like the Switch 2 Editions and even the C Button than they did Mouse-Con.

Just seen that ShopTo have now marked their Switch 2 'Register Your Interest' page as Sold Out – they've been open to people registering interest pretty much since the Switch 2 trailer dropped in Jan, so I'm guessing that means they've had enough registrations to fill their allocation? Sounds like they learned their lesson after the dumpster fire experience a lot of people had with them when it came to the PS5.

I think I was a bit late in cottoning onto that one in fairness! I don't think it was a mistake, though apparently those who purchased through them it showed a potential placeholder date of August 20th/27th, so it doesn't seem like they were completely ready. Just reminds me of the PS5 pre-order experience. PlayStation said "pre-orders open tomorrow" after that presentation and yet they randomly went up a lot of places just a couple of hours later and well into the night. Unfortunately, I don't think it was realistic to think that anyone but Nintendo, for their own online stores, were going to be able to hold off until the 8th/9th as they planned – the steps they took to purchase from them specifically are great to see, but yeah, total free-for-all everywhere else. Think it's just a case where retailers know their allocation and want their pre-orders locked in ASAP – I imagine that's pretty much all there is to it.

Probably easier to get a Switch 2 pre-order in than any of the recent Pokémon TCG stuff at this rate

PRE-ORDERS UP AT VERY - LINK

I had checked this less than a minute before you posted, so I was all Then reloaded the page and was all Thanks for the update! Never seen them do this before, seems like a lot of people have learned from the mess that was the PS5 pre-order experience! Put my name in – will see what comes of it. Nintendo Store would still be my first choice so if I'm able to get that next week then great, if not then I should be covered with backups anyways

This is killing me

Seems like it, but I'm not complaining IGN Deals UK and other similar accounts I've turned notifications on for this haven't said a thing. Think everyone's asleep at the wheel assuming pre-orders go up everywhere on the 8th or after just because that's what's going on with the My Nintendo Store. ...which they should probably know isn't the case based on what happened with the PS5, but

Done, that's my Switch 2 pre-ordered Don't think Smyths are my first choice so I'll continue to keep an eye out and probably have them as a backup. Also, yes I was silly and didn't buy the Mario Kart World bundle...I want that physical copy

PRE-ORDERS LIVE AT SMYTHS - LINK

Bah, it is what it is, I was mentally preparing for needing to wait in queues and keep an eye on things anyway, so no change in plan for me plus, there's no denying that they're going about things the right way, with the people who play more and who have continuously used NSO being prioritised. At least here they're being pretty transparent about the criteria here, too, which I've got to respect – things in the past like the physical release Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition seemed like a real coin toss with no real rhyme or reason to it I turned on my Switch for...two games last year, I think? I'd be prioritising other players over me too if I were them!

Nintendo, you sick bastards

Hell yeah @Hel– Seems like they're being rolled out in waves rather than all at once. Huh. I wonder how long I need this list to be to get included? Kind of want to know how low down I must be