Sheikah

I think they've really cocked up the pricing here. I mean, it's £55 more than a PS4 slim is right now on Tesco. I'm not feeling the value for money here!

Then sell at a small loss. £280 is crazy.

Yeah they fucked up there. Seems it was 7AM and the timezone was a cockup.

Yeah, 1 per customer is a good way to combat scalper scum. I'm most interested to see if they sell out on Amazon and if so, how quick, than the presentation itself.

I spoke on Amazon chat who said they had the following information "Please be advised that Nintendo Switch will be available to pre-order from 06:00 GMT Friday, 13 January, 2017. Due to limited stock we are only able to offer one unit per customer per address. We will be fulfilling customer orders in the order in which they were placed." So it does indeed seem to be a 6AM preorder time and not just a mistake. Odd choice of timezone though.

I find it weird they're telling us in a timezone that isn't currently being observed.

One switch and two joy cons. You're sorted!

Nah...nah... Can sleep in and still get the news but preorders might pass you by.

Cool. Didn't see that when I tried it earlier...will get up a little before 7 then.

Just check amazon.co.uk and was greeted by this: So tomorrow. Doesn't tell me more when I click "Learn more" though. Maybe midnight, after the presentation, or later in the morning tomorrow then.

All about that Stardew Valley. Hope it gets confirmed for an early release...

Just finished reading this now, been working through it the past couple of days. Cracking read, really well put together. Really gives you an insight into the development of a groundbreaking game. My favourite bit was where some of the higher ups wanted to kill off all but two of your party members at the end of the game!

Whyyy are you giving GAME 50 pounds lol.

I remember Amazon sold out of their Wii preorder allocation in 7 minutes, and that was before it became a thing. Given the rumoured small amount of stock, do you think the same thing could happen here?

It's a shame that the dock doesn't have ethernet, given that it will just sit near the TV where wires going behind the unit are to be expected and of no detriment to the room. WiFi can be pretty unreliable for online gaming. Given this system is rumoured to be releasing with Mario and Zelda and is a handheld with low stock numbers to begin with, I can see scalpers getting hold of these.

Well, the ordering of the games is all automatic based on most recently played. If you have a manual system then it's fine for right now, but you would have to keep reordering the list yourself whenever you finish with a game and don't want it at the top of your list, or you get a new one. That to me feels like busywork. Anyhow, regarding the features at quick access, I wasn't referring to the quick startup (which is also a must) but rather the quick menu: A quick press and this loads up right away without totally covering the screen, with the most used features (and you can customise it). I would like the Switch to have something like this.

I think Nintendo could learn an awful lot from the PS4 UI. Most people generally access just a few things regularly (load a game they recently played or just inserted, see friends online, see trophies or see parties). So long as the UI is structured so that these are very quick to select (a la a 'quick menu'), and the UI is very snappy, I'll be happy. Folders and the like mean absolutely nothing to me. I'll likely not access most of my old games on a regular basis so it's just totally busywork.

I don't know how you can say it has bombed hard when PSVR has been completely sold out here for a while now, so it's not like it could be selling more even if the demand was there. Those original figures also sounded very optimistic given the cost of entry. If anything VR couldn't be receiving more mainstream attention if it tried. Watching BBC's CES 2017 coverage, VR seems to be everywhere and you can tell it's a real crowd pleaser. Given time the devices should become more affordable.

Nice to see you pick out one aspect while ignoring all his other points, because you feel that's an argument you can win. Not that PSN is unstable anyway. It's always people like me and lostmario, i.e. people using the network religiously and so would actually know, that correct you on this! What say you to his points about network and social features, and player base? Even if you ignore all my points, I don't see FIFA as a game that lends itself well to handheld anyway. It feels far more suited to playing on a TV with friends around you while drinking a beer, or playing online on a big screen. I don't even know how the online would work if you took the Switch outside.

Existing friends lists, controls, network infrastructure, graphics...take your pick.

If anyone is moving the goalposts it's you. You said that the graphics of this generation have done nothing really when they have done full-fledged VR. Quite clearly they have done it because you can see the PSVR out now. You're now trying to get out of it by pretending very simplistic VR that might work on Switch means that power hasn't given us anything and that these are comparable. Don't make me laugh.

Exactly my point - and that's with the PS4. All the improvements of the PS4 and it can only just about do it - power is an important factor for VR. Oculus and Vive need impressive rigs.

No it couldn't, the PS4 can only just about do it. The main problem is the very high refresh rate required so that you can map movements to what you see. I'm not talking about the joke VR that was around in the 80s, or cardboard, I'm talking about modern day VR that meets the standards of what is required for a competitive device. Let's not pretend that power hasn't been the primary force allowing the current level of VR tech to happen. Nowhere did I say it was a selling point - Serebii said graphics has not allowed anything new and off the top of my head I said more game models on screen and VR. I see that you have conveniently ignored VR though.

Um, VR has been possible (PSVR), as well as massive numbers of NPCs to create convincing crowds (AC: Unity). Two things off the top of my head that definitely couldn't have been done before... I agree with you that graphics hasn't always been the selling point as if there's something else there that people want, people will buy it anyway. That said, it makes sense that many people would want a graphical upgrade if buying a new system, since technology has moved on in the time since the last console. And if you're a home console only player, I can see why the Switch might not be the upgrade you wanted.

The main reason to care about power is that if a console isn't upgrading power then you wonder why a new console is even necessary in the first place. Power is always the thing people expect to go up considerably because technology is expected to have improved a lot in 5-7 years. It's also not just graphics as we've seen more player models and more sophisticated AI/level design (as well as VR) as a result of power jumps. Of course in the case of the Switch, it brings portability so that's a big plus, and I can see people overlooking power in this case due to the obvious benefits portability brings. That said, if you're only really interested in home consoles you might be able to appreciate why those people could object to not so much of a graphical upgrade with this system.