tapedeck

Only good press they'll be getting today. They really need to have more positive info emerge over the weekend. Surely they must have picked up the groans online today. Many people (me included) have put down a pre-order and still want to know more. Is there a Miiverse? Where is Virtual Console? Where are 3rd parties? I need an App to chat? Please clarify.. And journalists need to be able to access Reggie/Shibata etc to ask the hard-hitting questions that consumers should have the right to ask. The presentation was "very" Japanese so I can forgive the stances/Cosplay/safe EA/SEGA talk etc. but Kimishima's first conference hasn't got off to a good start as some of those intro movies to games took up way too much time and killed the buzz. That price is poor too. At least have it come with 5 free downloads of Legacy games at launch. I feel an Ambassador Programme coming on and I'm tempted to cancel my order and wait until Mario hits at Christmas when retailers will be looking to shift stock for the festive period. I think the fall release was a major factor in that as well. I was always worried about the March release. Seemed well placed.

With inklings and the FEATHER (finally!). Fantastic

Ditto. Fuck. Amazing system seller right there. So many details yet to come. Zelda just makes everything else pale in comparison. Genuinely got chills and tears. EDIT: Mario looking like Sonic adventure done rught. GFX were Pixar-esque; stunning.

It should be snowing at 4am here in the North East of the UK. Feels like Santa is coming at 4am! Merry Switchmas Eve everyone.

ShopTo we're immense with the WiiU launch. I got it a day early which was sweet. Kinda missed the whole standing in line for the console and being part of a console launch zeitgeist. When I got the N64/GBA/GCN/Wii on launch day it was brilliant. Tons of passionate gamers (some in cosplay) hyped for that Nintendo magic. Think I may fire a back-up pre-order into Nintendo/GAME if there's doubts over the launch numbers.

I enjoy third party outings on my PS4 but unfortunately, I can't insta-play these games while the other half is watching Netflix or when we're downstairs and we're just chilling reading/browsing the web etc. Sure, I could buy a vita or use the laptop for access to the console but it's an extra cost/faff. Therein lies inherent value. (As much as the graphics would be sharper etc. on the PS4 - mobile trumps this to me). I recently started to play Xenoblade on the n3DS and the game has been a revelation. What was once something that demanded 100+ hours away from other people, stuck to a TV in my cave has been liberated by the "dip-in/out" policy that the 3DS Sleep Mode & portability affords. I've sunk 20hrs into it thanks to this feature alone and my 'QoL' - like nagging from other other half or having to do chores/answer the door/feed the cats etc. hasn't affected my play time too much. I gave up on the Wii version of Xenoblade as it was demanding so much time sat stationary on my own. (As much as I enjoyed it - it demanded my dedication and time). The only hindrance has been the screen size and the awareness that such a majestic game obviously looks better on the TV. Switch appears to alleviate both of these aspects. I can enjoy the game in a similar vein to the 3DS but then have the benefit of firing it into the TV for a "traditional" experience. To me, with my lifestyle, that is fantastic. Nintendo are on to something with Switch. The OFF-TV feature of the WiiU was great (but severely limited) and the ad-hoc nature of multiplayer on Switch should convert many to adopt the system as well. Many modern games have multiplayer aspects within as well as single player modes. With it's design, Switch should be able to piggyback on this trend, affording gamers to be freed from gaming alone.

@Ronnie I agree £199 would be hard to hit. I just think it would be the best price-point in regards to marketing/mindshare in relation to the PS4/XBone pricing (especially those bundles that come with valuable titles like FIFA 17/Uncharted 4/Star Wars etc.). But agree, the weak £ may screw consumers in the UK. With Nintendo needing to come out all guns blazing, they need a high value proposition straight away. Will they rely on Mario and Zelda for leverage? The way they promote the switch will be key here. Just like with WiiU, they maybe know people need to play it to appreciate it (hence all the global hands-on events and missing e3 highlights this need more). What will be interesting is how they launch in March. Will they go for the Nintendo-savvy customer with its highest-possible price point and software to match? And will this give them the opportunity to move the price point nearer Christmas if A)sales aren't high or B)the £ changes. Either way, the presentation on Friday holds a ton of surprises!

£199 would be immense and insta-purchase territory for more folk. A deluxe model being anywhere between £250-300 would be alright as long as there's no ridiculous "it's not the same game" MKart 8.5 or Splatoon 1.5 pack-in (or a tokenistic VC game). Nintendo need to come out swinging due to WiiU's sales and Kimishima's tenure will be judged by this launch. I wonder how much impact a March launch makes on a system sale-wise? Anyone got any figures/evidence I can read? It's not like Nintendo haven't done it before. At least Switch should have a big E3...

Thinking back to seeing Pilotwings, F-Zero and Super Mario World in 90's gaming magazines then watching GamesMaster in 1995 and seeing Mario64 in motion; and then, in 2000 (or thereabouts!) seeing .mov clips of the amazing GameCube Link/Ganon fight and Samus and Smash Melee on IGN64. I genuinely miss the days when new Nintendo hardware would just 'look' incredible and ushered in a new era on equal footing. I've had similar "hype" feel moments with the Wii/WiiU but having usually already played other systems with more power under the hood it has taken the sheen off new Nintendo systems somewhat. Note: not to say I'm not excited by new Ninty systems. Switch has me interested and I've already put down a pre-order on the basis that I still adore Nintendo's ethos and portfolio.

Think I'll be setting up two-step security. Cheers for the discussion guys.

Nintendo really need to have a few surprises and a big draw like (3D) Mario out of the gate. Hopefully they use the Mario Run goodwill to useful effect. All iOS app owners should get an advert for Mario on Switch at least. Coupled with Zelda at or near launch and the promise of more software on a modern, (customisable) tablet-like interface that allows for decent 'app' switching into games/miiverse/facebook/Netflix etc; Nintendo should look to bridge the language of the 'casual' gamer from the world of mobile and 'core' gamer into the switch. I can't wait for this system. Sick of being in another room from family when gaming, so have had more joy with my 3DS as of late. Will be up at 4am. Have been told to sleep in the spare room as to not disturb the other half as she's up for work at 6:30. Can't wait!

That's a ton of Kirby games!

I did a 6k jump and still not sure how. Similar to you I got some massive air time. I think that the physics being a little wonky deters the game from being truly great as it's often the game deciding how successful you are on jumps and when landing. The GForce meter is extremely sensitive to this. Still, spent four hours on it today with my nephew just trying to get golds on the wing suit challenges. They are fab and stringing a score together by playing close to the ground and cliffs is very fun in a :awesome:way!

I see that in the 'options' menu you can quickly access/view friend challenges via R1/L1 which is handy. Better than scouring the mountains looking for friend challenges. Should have had the options menu at launch as it was mentioned in a few reviews that it was easy to get lost in the mass of options presented to you. It gives the game more structure too. Much appreciated and player-friendly. (QoL or whatever is trendy to call such additions at the moment.) Anyway @RedShell how did you get near 6k in your 'one jump' challenge?! I spent a good 15mins but could only get 3k maximum.

Merry Christmas all. Had my first Christmas with the GF in our new home. Was lovely and the two cats loved their Turkey treat at lunch time. Only testing part has been the outlaws spending six weeks with us as they sold their house a week before Christmas. Thankfully the other half's mum's cooking has been sublime and every cupboard has been buckled with cake and biscuits. Every cloud... Just wish Nintendo had got the Switch out for Christmas. Nothing Nintendo to play this year has felt a bit weird! Wishing you all prosperity and good health for 2017.

Glad you were able to access the race @RedShell Creating challenges is great but I was unsure if friends could access it. It definitely takes a little time to get into but I'm sure you'll be destroying my times tropical freeze style soon enough hah.

Still enjoying this and with the update patch, being able to set the ambience (I.E: night time) has made this even more enjoyable. Love late evening and night skiing in the vast woodlands. I've struggled to complete golds on a fair few tracks but the quick restart with zero loading times is a god send. It needs it too as it's difficult to nail the big tricks. With the update patch, having all new events in the menu streamlines things more, making a gargantuan game like this even more accessible. A great surprise and even the wingsuit and paragliding give me Pilotwings vibes.

Lovely polish to this indeed. Loving the challenges. Getting the coins is insane. Green coins especially. Will nail the opening levels fully before deciding on a purchase or not...

Thanks for the OT link. Interesting how few folk are into snow sports games. I think they are perfect video game fodder. This is definitely the closest I've come to a 1080 game since the original. I've never played AMPED 1/2 but people speak highly of them as well. Loving the first person view on this. Surprisingly involving and just loving cruising about with the 1080 (N64/Avalanche) and SSX music blaring out. Takes a bit of getting into but yeah. Very enjoyable to me. Just done an immense challenge where you had to make your way downhill through massive woods to the goal. 5mins of carving snow for a gold medal. Love it. @RedShell did you pick this up?

Coming back to storage I think Nintendo will again use SD cards as seen on the 3DS. They are easily available, solid state and Nintendo have experience of using them well for DLC/patches. The WiiU hacking scene have shown software like Splatoon/Mario Maker and Mario Kart 8 can run from SD cards easily and Nintendo's internal teams are wizards at compression. Mario 3D World is only 1.6GB! Then again, Retro's Tropical Freeze is 11.4GB (Dat David Wise audio and so many assets) and many third party games are often on the large size. Maybe Nintendo and NVidia have worked on some compression tools or maybe the GUI will be broken into two switchable sections. Icons with/given a red switch icon can be used anywhere? Looking at the cost of SD cards, I think Nintendo will include 32GB (as there games are often smaller in size) but will put the cost on the consumer and thus hardcore gamers who play lots would be better off buying (in my opinion) a card from 128GB upwards. The average cost here is around £30 up to around £60-£80 for 256GB. This would easily house a number of titles (including most VC releases!) and if we look at something like FIFA 17 which comes in at 40GB. I'm sure developers could use compressed audio to reduce file size as a starting point and assets could be reduced as well if consciously developing for a system where gamers don't just want fun but also a reason to stop clearing the fridge out.

I've got excitebike64 to play still. (Would LOVE an Excitetruck/Bots sequel too!) Didn't mind Blue Storm at the time but it is weak when compared to the original. NST's Blue Storm is too loose when placed next to EAD's majestic control and unparalleled wave physics racer on the less powerful N64. That game has yet to be touched in 20yrs IMO.

We can dream, right? I still play them all (apart from Blue Storm, ugh) annually. Nintendo never go back and never change up (massively) their previous games so they just need to make more games in these franchises going forward. Ubisoft may put STEEP on the NS but other than that, the days of extreme sports seems to be over for the market. The SSX reboot hardly set the sales charts on fire and if the Stanper brothers hadn't mentioned Jet Ski's to Miyamoto; we would have had F-Zero on water instead of WaveRace64 anyway. Would love to see these franchises return but it seems Nintendo (and NST lol) are done. How about some Ridge Racer from NAMCO while we're wishing too.

So we never got Mario Universe on WiiU as dreamed by many, instead getting a laser-focused Mario and co. jump and bump outing, offering something that felt smaller in scope to the Galaxies that came before. I did love 3D World but coming from more expressive, explorative and deeper controls and larger worlds in Mario64/Sunshine and the Galaxy games; 3D world still felt like a step backwards for a console Mario adventure; truly showing its Mario Land 3D roots/inspiration. The trailer for this fills me with Mario64 and Sunshine vibes as Mario triple and long-jumps to the beat of his own drum. I'd love to be given that wide-open, expressive move-set again to traverse large, wondrous playgrounds that offer varied puzzle and skill sections for stars. It looked extremely polished too, giving hope that it won't be delayed. January can't come soon enough! All I need now is for Nintendo to give us the obvious Tropical Freeze subtitle and confirm David Wise is working on the soundtrack. I can dream, right?

Interesting discussions - especially using the eShop to test the waters of titles. What I do find interesting is that Nintendo (specifically Howard Lincoln and Minoru Arakawa) knew the importance of what launch titles were needed for different regions. Since the market expanded, Nintendo let other developers fill gaps where they didn't feel they could 'compete' (There's a quote out there somewhere from Miyamoto). The NS needs big hitters DAY ONE from 3rd parties like FIFA/ACreed/CoD etc. I just worry if a March release is a good time for this meaning Nintendo need to bring the content until the Christmas market push begins. It will be interesting to see how Nintendo fares under Kimishima's stewardship. No doubt he has a handle on the Arakawa/Lincoln approaches to software in the west from his NoA market experiences; but his banking background may bring a fierceness that the Iwata era lacked and Yamauchi era's were built on. With their software developers now working in an improved, cluster-like setup (as recognised by Iwata as the key to any future success), hopefully this time, with flexible hardware and industry-known toolsets and documentation comes a more market-savvy and braver Nintendo. Fascinating and exciting times for sure!.

Such a beautiful game. Enjoying this tons. The writing is as hilarious as ever and it's a great 'jump-in and jump-out' title. Love how many toads are in the game too - each with their own funny comments. Brilliant!