Rummy

I'm tempted to let GAME try and sell me on a pre-order then let them down when they can't tell me about the online service. How can you be selling console in the current marketplace without revealing details of your online system/infrastructure until after it's out!? Surely that isn't offering consumers a properly informed decision - not one I'd be taking given what we've got at the moment. Do agree it feels rushed though - as time goes on since Friday I feel more and more like this is another, if not even worse, Wii U situation. I'm also intrigued by the weird sort of limbo period - will there be online there? Testing the waters? Mixing things up and evolving? Changing it around depending on response? I suppose it could be argued that having a system sitting outside of the console would give them some flexibility in making changes to it?

Rather agree. If anything feel like it's got a lot of unnecessary here - it certainly seems like Switch more than anything else!

NOT TAKE MIRROR Sorry; that's all I can ever think about when I think of TP dungeons(and what a bloody excellent dungeon that was too). Can't watch right now but I think it's gonna be the first thing I do when I get home! Be very interested to hear his thoughts on TP, as I felt it had rather excellent dungeon design and items but then let down by its lack of fullness and character in the world outside of them.

Did you ever have/look through Hyrule Historia and what were your thoughts if so? I bought it, and enjoyed it, but I actually expected it to have a lot more of the older games' stuff featured in it somewhere. Mostly seemed rather more recent for a historia than I'd hoped; but again I was mostly more keen for the artwork around the old games than the text/insights.

I've never had one because I've always been told similar to yourself - that they're not the best. Tbh I can survive quite ok without a dryer, though I do sometimes wish I had one in a pinch, and in some ways I prefer hanging the clothes out as it means less moisture in the same part of the house/hang outside in the warmer weathers. Similar situation as Eddage for myself though - so it isn't a huge impact on me either way.

Ironically I've just realised that I've had more Cube pads break on my than anything else. I lost two 3rd party N64 ones too, but that's not official so I kinda don't count them. I've had two cube pads where sticks got funny/would always calibrate off centre. Luckily I had other pads about but in the much later life of the console when I was still dipping in and out(most often for Smash) it could be tricky as pads were hard to come by - somewhat alleviated with Wii and WiiU/Smash but still wasn't particularly great a thing to happen. One pad did last absolutely years and saw a shit ton of use, another was only a couple years of occasional and mostly smash. Luckily I've got two working pads to back me now - but as I said would have been a bit annoying at the time if I didn't happen to have some fortunate spares about! One time I remember having a pad that was about 3 different ones put together :p Then I'll stand my point of your poor English skills. To class the offerings of one thing in the market as 'the industry standard' as you did is frankly bizarre. That's the argument you claimed you were making, no? So either you think the PS4/DS4 is industry standard and that's fine, or you don't and in that case I don't understand why you said you were referring to 'the industry standard' whilst using just a sole example to illustrate it in reference to your comparator(in this case, the as yet unreleased Switch). Don't hold me accountable because you can't express nor interpret what appears to be fairly plain English clearly.

Just to be a devil's advocate despite saying that I feel the GC's a pretty damn solid pad - I've also seen a few of them where the analogue stick has been worn apart. Admittedly more so it feels like situations where the pad's been super rinsed(gaming bars etc) but thought it's worth adding to the mix nonetheless. For someone that started my voice chatting career very briefly with Xbox for a month, but embraced far more come Xbox 360 and now PS4 - I can't stay I've ever felt any of them to be 'bulky headsets' and in particular the PS4 certainly is anything but as far as I'm concerned. Not to mention I carry some cheap but bulky actually headphones(not earbuds) around with me anyway that I wouldn't care about a bulky headset if I was playing a game on the go by myself - my bigger issue is that Nintendo essentially seem to be providing almost fuck all to support this online system of theirs. You have to use your own phone, rinse your own battery, presumably have your own headset etc - I don't ever use one on my phone and if I did it'd be at home where I can use my PS4 one - but I'm not gonna risk taking that out and about with me to lose and jeopardise my usual voice chat! Why on earth would you take this approach and assume everyone has some sort of mic/headset to use with their phone - or are you equally bizarrely expecting people to be doing it handsfree without any sort of headset at all?!

I didn't ask why you brought up the PS4/DS4 - so I'm not sure why you're telling me that(though we've clearly already been over the issue of your reading comprehension anyway). I asked why you don't bring up more than one comparison if you're talking about industry standards as you claim, unless you think the PS4 is representative enough to be a definition of the industry standard which, as I've already said, is the conclusion I am forced to draw from your posts given your previous argument made. I'm not going to blame or fault you for it, the PS4 is actually a pretty good system and a clear market leader - but I don't agree with you that it should be used as the comparison for 'the industry standard'. I'm still in the camp of one who has no issue with the DS4 so far - can't tell you my total playtime but I've got two pads and I play most days, albeit only having had my PS4 for maybe a year and a half. I haven't experienced the flaws referenced with the pads; though I am aware of them being issues in other pads. I'm presuming/hoping that the reason I haven't had it with my pads is that I either don't/haven't played as much as those other pads have been played with; or that they've address the issues in newer manufactured pads. Coming back to my original point/post - we've seen good build quality from Nintendo before from pads such as the GC pad(held by some as the best pad ever made) - why haven't we seen that level of standard in their offerings since? Unless of course you feel you have, but for me it hasn't really been the case. Whilst I think the Wiimote was of a decent build; it didn't 'feel' as good as a GC pad; and I felt the nunchuck was far too light too/fragile feeling. I also felt the build of the WiiU generally was a bit poor though the Gamepad was still better build than the console. However I still didn't feel it was really up there in the league of pad offerings: it just wasn't a great feeling build or design; especially on log sessions or if you had to hold the pad one handed a lot(ninja game in Nintendo land got tiring due to pad's poor balance imo). The thing is, many keep saying that it HAS to be wrong - and then it isn't. How many people were defending the conclusions some of us correctly 'leapt' to regarding online service, voice chat, free games etc. as a miscommunication by Nintendo that then turned out to be accurate? Again, my phone broke this week - am I then locked out of the online service that I'm paying for because of it? Is it fair? Gives Nintendo full liability to not give a shit either, as it's not their device to support.

I see your reading comprehension still hasn't improved from your recent venture into the Zelda thread there, @Ronnie. If you're going to talk about industry standards - why always only compare to the PS4? Usually in a disparaging way? Unless, of course, you realise and readily admit that the PS4 is clearly the ultimate console and is actually the finest definition of industry standard right now that Nintendo should be meeting. I think it's clear that's the explanation here

Really the attribution of fault should go to Ronnie - who yet again felt the need to bring up the PS4/DS4s in a Nintendo thread about Switch - something which we've seen time and time again leads to such derailments. I didn't see anybody talking about DS4 controllers at the time until Ronnie decided to mention them. (ftr I find the DS4 rather very good, possibly better than the 360 pad. As for Nintendo - I don't really feel they've had quite such a 'solid' feeling controller of decent build quality since the Gamecube pad. The Wiimotes were kinda up there, but I think their deviation from the norm and the nunchuk didn't feel quite as good)

Not played much other than OverWatch in the past...well, forever, but I did decide to take on Stories: Path of Destinies from December's PS+ lineup. Rather simple hack and slash - don't want to say too much but has varying playthrough with each one taking maybe about an hour or so - which makes it quite nice and bitesize-esque (even tho completionist is about 15-25hours depending and according to HLTB and other reports). I'm enjoying it so far - but have encountered a bug or two here and there. It's got quite simple/easy trophies a lot of which seem somewhat just routine/gotten as you keep playing through - so I think it may actually be the first game I ever actually attempt to Platinum. I've still got quite a bit to go; but I'll post more about it if/when I'm done - do recommend anyone who got it through PS+ last month to consider checking it out though!

Can you please just not.

Where you getting your firesticks for £20-25 @Shorty?! Last I knew they were still rocking at £35? I did have one once, but it was shit for Plex without having a PlexPass so unless that's fixed now I won't be able to get on board with one. I do still want another Chromecast for the kitchen possibly - may be tempted by a FireStick if they've fixed those issues and I can get a cheap one!

Chromecast all day for me mate! Though a FireStick might be better as I don't always manage to get a Chromecast to cater for all of my...erm...legitimate needs. Can couple it up with Plex ofc though. Never really bothered using my PS4 for that sort of stuff - just straight up gamingtings for me!

Yeah fuck you @Ashley and your lack of shout out to Chrises! I bet it's the most common name on the forum here. Although I'm not actually going to bet on it. I do wonder about that generationally though - I'd say the most common I saw growing up etc was probably Dans, Chrises, and Matt(hew)s. In my social circles that overlap atm I think we have a duplicate Simon, duplicate Annie, few Bens, Nicola/oles, and maybe a couple Jon/Johns. As for nicknames - I think my main one's pretty clear; though I have accumulated quite a few over the years!

I'd just add to that not to forget that Nintendo are going in with bad blood already behind them from the Wii U - and that's not just with 3rd parties but consumers and retailers too. They've already got an uphill struggle and I can't understand why it seems they're trying to make it harder for themselves!

Latest footage leaked; absolute must watch.

That's the one! There's a thread with a few more bits and vids in it over in General Gaming - hadn't realised it was active just today!

I think I've ended up with a few things from them via eBay, Amazon, and Rakuten/Play.com when they still had the marketplace. I wasn't intentionally shopping with them per se so I noticed the repeated coincidence - but they fulfilled my orders fine each time. Must admit that was a few years back now too - anything could have changed by now but I'd personally be happy to give them a crack again if they had what I wanted at a good price. EDIT: Tell a lie; just looked at their site and I do believe I ended up buying that Pokemon quote book from there just before Xmas. Came quicker than I expected considering it was at my parents on Xmas day, and I think I only ordered it like a week or so before! Was quite shocked by that(and annoyed, as it was too late to give to anyone :p, but that's not anyone's fault but mine). EDITEDIT: Got excited seeing posts here! Thought it was out already/sooner than Feb Not that I'm going to buy it any time soon but I wanna see more of the inside so I can decide whether it's gonna be something I pick up!

I have always loved how much work Nintendo put into the art around some of their games. The joys of little pictures etc in instruction manuals as a kid, or indeed scattered throughout Prima guides - I still do this day recall the Oracle/Seasons guide and a lot of the realisations of the characters not limited to the game's graphics/approach etc. I was hoping for a bit more of it over the ages in Hyrule Historia, but I do recall General Gaming having a thread about another art book out at some point. Very tempted by it, especially if it's gonna have more of stuff like this!

I think the problem for me, and a few others I've spoken to from here and elsehwhere, is that it annoyingly ISN'T as black and white as saying you either you want it or you don't. Ofc, bottom line it can come down to that - but nothing's ever really that clear cut, is it? Personally I like the idea of the system, I like the look of it and I like some of what it's doing. At the same time however - there are things I dislike and reasons I don't want it. Notably the online approach, lack of software appealing to myself at launch, and ofc - the price and what we're getting for it. It personally, at that price with what it's offering, is not for me on launch right now. But that still doesn't mean that I don't want the thing. I do want one, and at the moment think I may eventually end up with one, but as said for what it's offering at the price it's offering(plus the price of additionals etc) I'm not keen to get involved just yet.

Also at GAME....@nekunando (sorry, you're at least the second person to mention it when it's already been mentioned and also as if it hadn't been, so I couldn't resist the ol' classic :p) On the serious note if they're going out the gate with a view for a falling manufacturing cost over time (not surprised as I still very much thing they stung themselves hard with Wii U on a couple of fronts regarding this) then it's a very good sign for both them and us. Iirc PS4 and XBone(not meaning to bring them up for an argument) both went for more off the shelf sort of parts for a similar sort of reason(plus ease of development too I imagine) and it's surely done them quite well? It gives a lot more wiggle room to work with if the console doesn't initially take off; and more potential to try and turn it around. Unrelated - here's a thing on the online/communication/VC whatevers - my phone broke yesterday. What happens if that happens to me when I've got a Switch? No more online/voice chat for me until I get my phone sorted? Even worse that a broken phone is already losing me a number of communication channels - the fact I would also lose said communication on my console too would probably suck! If anyone's abusing us here - it's definitely Nintendo That bad girlfriend you just can't stop caring about! Isn't the thing actually still even launching without an officially defined online service? That's due to come later?

Not really Switch related but the pound's climbed quite nicely against the dollar in the last few hours following Theresa May's brexit speech/address thing - not saying it's going to indicate much but if we end up Brexiting/finalising Brexit this year and ended up with a stronger pound again it could be a good potential to expect a price drop; especially if the speculations on future proofing against negative shifts is true!

A very good question but also one of my Switch issues - sometimes if I know I'm settling in for a bit of a PS4 sesh I might pop my phone on charge if it's low - sometimes upstairs or sometimes nearby if I'm expecting communications; but still it isn't exactly within arms reach and I won't check it too much/reply to stuff until I'm done gaming. I know a few times I've got gone to the PS4 and realise I've left my phone in another room then just thought I can't be arsed to go get it as I'm about to hit up gamez! With PSN I can message from there if I'm super lazy - and ofc that has another added bonus of the phone app so even if I'm on my PS4 but NOT near my phone, I can essentially almost still message a majority of my friend who may not be at their PS4 but at their phones, if that makes sense!

Personally I don't like this argument at all. It's like saying all you've been doing for the past 30 years is 'breathing' or 'getting older'. It's too fundamental. Technology improves - it gets more powerful. That's essentially one of the things you can guarantee about it. Even Nintendo, believe it or not, are getting more 'powerful' with each iteration. The question is - what are you doing with it? Ok, Nintendo opt to innovate - but why innovate if not enough people want it? Why not go harder on power to give yourself more options along the traditional lines that folks might want? Here's just a couple examples of what Sony did with their 'more power' on PS4 over PS3 imo; -A smooth and rather slick UI/OS. One you can drop easily into and out of even whilst playing a game(that's right, very rarely am I getting my crossed out home icon when I hit my PS button) -System level party and voice chat etc. -Constantly recording your last X minutes of gameplay - so you can save and share those awesome moments you didn't see coming without having to be pre-prepared. Note that to save this is pretty much a two button press and takes pretty much no time. -Running multiple applications at a time - ie similar to above, I can 'suspend' my game and go into the capture gallery to check out/rename my save I just made, then get back into my game within a few minutes etc. Same for browser, store and a few other bits iirc. Stuck on a game and nothing to look up a guide? Pop onto the internet browser and have a quick peep on GameFAQs or something - get your answer and be back on your game! -Rest Mode/pushed downloads. Knowing there's a big patch coming to a game but I wanna play as soon as I get in - only to find I'm then waiting an hour for it to download as everyone's doing the same. Rest mode fixes that for me - it's already downloaded by time I get home! Same if I really fancy something off the store - I can log in at work, buy it, and push it over to the PS4 - it's not 100% but usually it's all done and downloaded ready to play by time I would get home. That's just a couple things that spring to mind. Those things need the power that the system can offer. I like the Switch, don't get me wrong, but I just can't find a justification of it at that price. How old is the PS4's hardware? How much should hardware and tech have moved on by now; if we look at the trend of it improving generally at an exponential rate? The Switch is MORE expensive than the PS4 currently is, but I feel personally as if it's less powerful. I can't square that up in my mind! I can't rationally justify it - I realise arguments may be made on JoyCon tech, screen etc - but the thing is those are the choices Nintendo are making; but not necessarily the choices that consumers want at such a price.