General Switch Discussion

[Julius]

6 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

I think I know what this product is now.  Let’s just say that the reports of its death have been greatly exaggerated!

Somehow, the Wii U has returned

[Ike]

Wii Vitality Sensor 2.0

[BowserBasher]

17 minutes ago, Ike said:

Wii Vitality Sensor 2.0

That’s what I was gonna say lol

[Hero-of-Time]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

Somehow, the Wii U has returned

Both that are the Vitality Sensor are the two main guesses doing the rounds. Some are thinking the new Switch is gonna bring back the Wii U 2 screen idea but in a much better way.

[Julius]

12 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Both that are the Vitality Sensor are the two main guesses doing the rounds. Some are thinking the new Switch is gonna bring back the Wii U 2 screen idea but in a much better way.

So what you're saying is...

A 3RD SCREEN?!

[MindFreak]

Nonono, this is it:

[Julius]

3 minutes ago, MindFreak said:

Nonono, this is it:

You can't hint at one of the most randomly funny scenes and not share it! 

If this is what games become, I won't be complaining 

[Julius]

Monolith Soft are celebrating their 25th anniversary today, and have released a video in commemoration of this: 

Think I've played more games that they've supported on than I have games they led development on, but still – from my time with the games they've had some involvement in, it's clear that they're one of the greats 

Happy 25th Monolith Soft! 

[Dcubed]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

Monolith Soft are celebrating their 25th anniversary today, and have released a video in commemoration of this: 

Think I've played more games that they've supported on than I have games they led development on, but still – from my time with the games they've had some involvement in, it's clear that they're one of the greats 

Happy 25th Monolith Soft! 

Really glad to see Disaster DOC get a shoutout here too.  The oft forgotten Monolith Soft game, and arguably one of their best!

[Glen-i]

6 hours ago, Dcubed said:

Really glad to see Disaster DOC get a shoutout here too.

You just know that NoA's YouTube channel wouldn't have it.

But yeah, that game easily gets on my Monolith Soft Top 3 list. Janky, and low budget, yet still a complete riot!

The things I would do for a sequel...

[Dcubed]

BTW.  This has been bugging me for a while now, but has anyone else noticed how Nintendo games no longer have copyright dates attached to their title screens anymore?

I think Metroid Dread was the first 1st party game to do this, but it seems to have now become the standard for all of Nintendo’s 1st party developed releases.  I wonder why?

Perhaps they’re trying to hide the fact that many of their games have been sitting in their vaults already finished well before their release? I mean, it’s trivial for them to change the copyright date on the title screen if so; but perhaps it’s becoming such a common occurrence now that they just can’t be bothered anymore?

Either way, it’s a strange decision.

[Julius]

If anyone's interested in being involved in a test for an upcoming Nintendo Switch Online feature, here's your chance – open only to NSO + Expansion Pack members, with applications opening tomorrow at 16:00 BST: 

Quote

We will perform a test called Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program related to a new feature for the Nintendo Switch Online service offered for the Nintendo Switch™ system.

We will recruit people to participate in this test from customers who have an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack membership.

Customers will need to download exclusive software to their own Nintendo Switch system in order to participate.
Please review the application guidelines below before applying.

Seems like a neat opportunity, wonder what this is all about? Did someone say Activity Log? 

Seemed a bit weird to put in one of the NSO threads with how those have been split up (seems like it's open to Expansion Pack members for the Playtest, but will be a potential wider NSO feature?) – hence why I'm dropping it in here 

[Dcubed]

Feels a bit late in the game to be adding major new features, so this has to be something significant that's being carried over to Switch 2.

Maybe it really is the return of the Activity Log? Would explain the lengthy test period, and why it made a sudden comeback with Alarmo of all things.

Edited 6 hours ago by Dcubed

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, Dcubed said:

Maybe it really is the return of the Activity Log? Would explain the lengthy test period, and why it made a sudden comeback with Alarmo of all things.

I hope that is indeed the case. The yearly stats you get are nice but they pale in comparison to what we used to have on Nintendo's previous systems. 

[Dcubed]

Just now, Hero-of-Time said:

I hope that is indeed the case. The yearly stats you get are nice but they pale in comparison to what we used to have on Nintendo's previous systems. 

Totally agreed.  Also feels like the kind of thing that Nintendo would lock off as a NSO sub exclusive thing these days.

[Julius]

Yeah, I wasn't joking about the Activity Log idea, please let it be that Nintendo 

The other thing I think there's a very small chance it could be, but might make some sense just considering that they're testing it in such a weird way that we haven't seen before – is maybe some form of modern Miiverse equivalent? With Twitter/X uploads being removed from the system a while back, there's an additional barrier to sharing now than there was at launch, and I feel like that's something Nintendo would want resolved ahead of the Switch 2. And that just feels like the sort of thing you'd want to have tested rather than launch cold turkey with a new system? The method of sharing as it is now just kind of sucks 

[Jonnas]

Quote

Have a Nintendo Account registered to either Japan, US, UK, France, Germany, Italy or Spain

Even with the existence of a Nintendo Ibérica, NoE just keeps doing shit like this.

But seriously, in this day and age, why arbitrarily ignore territories like Ireland, Benelux, or all of the nordics? Or heck, the increasingly relevant Poland? I know this is just a beta test of sorts, but the PR speaks volumes about how the larger company sees this continent.

[Cube]

Perhaps they're testing the SNES mouse features (support for it was added to the NSO emulator code recently), and perhaps some sharing feature for Mario Paint?

[Dcubed]

1 minute ago, Cube said:

Perhaps they're testing the SNES mouse features (support for it was added to the NSO emulator code recently), and perhaps some sharing feature for Mario Paint?

Maybe.  Though they did say that the user would have to download a specific piece of software, so unless it’s going to be a specific separate SNES app? It won’t be an update to the existing one.

Also, why would Nintendo need to make a grand 7 month long testing period for such a feature?  Only reason I could think of would be that it’s something that they need to gather some long-term data from.

[Cube]

Another theory is cloud-based game trials. Limited countries would make more sense with some kind of cloud streaming, so you can test out a game instantaneously, possibly something they plan for the Switch 2, but need to test it before announcing it as a feature.

 

Or even crazier - the Switch will be able to cloud stream Switch 2 games, giving third party developers a massive potential user base from the very start of the Switch 2.

[Glen-i]

31 minutes ago, Cube said:

Or even crazier - the Switch will be able to cloud stream Switch 2 games, giving third party developers a massive potential user base from the very start of the Switch 2.

Don't you will that evil into existence! Still annoyed about the Kingdom Hearts collection...

Cloud versions of a game on a handheld console are a terrible idea!

[killthenet]

53 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

Also, why would Nintendo need to make a grand 7 month long testing period for such a feature?  Only reason I could think of would be that it’s something that they need to gather some long-term data from.

It's not 7 months, the play test lasts from October 23rd to November 5th

[Dcubed]

28 minutes ago, killthenet said:

It's not 7 months, the play test lasts from October 23rd to November 5th

Oh feck! I must’ve been looking at the US dates… Stupid Americans, don’t even know how to write dates properly

[Jonnas]

1 hour ago, Dcubed said:

Maybe.  Though they did say that the user would have to download a specific piece of software, so unless it’s going to be a specific separate SNES app? It won’t be an update to the existing one.

Generally speaking, programs and apps have a "Development" version and a "Production/Retail" version. New features are added to the Development version, tested extensively, tweaked as necessary. Only after they're approved, a patch/update is created and applied to the Production version. In some workplaces, there's also a "Quality" version that's meant exclusively for user tests (so that developers can't mess with a build halfway through the test).

If they're testing a new feature on the SNES app, they're not going to roll out a patch that's exclusive to a few people. Rather, they will take those few people and grant them temporary access to the Quality version so they can test the feature. After the test is done, access is revoked. And eventually, when the feature is okay to release, THEN the Retail app gets patched/updated with that feature.

tl,dr: They won't update the beta testers' existing SNES app, because they would have to "un-update" it later. Much easier to let them download a "demo-like" SNES app, let users go wild, and then remove that demo app from their systems after the test is over.

[RedShell]

1 hour ago, Cube said:

Another theory is cloud-based game trials. Limited countries would make more sense with some kind of cloud streaming, so you can test out a game instantaneously, possibly something they plan for the Switch 2, but need to test it before announcing it as a feature.

 

Or even crazier - the Switch will be able to cloud stream Switch 2 games, giving third party developers a massive potential user base from the very start of the Switch 2.

Ever since the emergence of cloud gaming I've always thought to myself that Nintendo of all companies would be very keen to incorporate it.

Not only does it fit perfectly with their preference for lower-end hardware, but if they were to (eventually) use it exclusively to distribute their games, wouldn't that finally solve the ongoing problem they have with piracy/emulation? Not to mention the added bonus (for them, anyway ) of ending recommerce of their games.

If so, I wouldn't really be surprised to see Nintendo fully utilise cloud-based gaming at some point. Probably not with Switch 2, but they could certainly get the ball rolling with it. So yeah, the theories you mentioned don't actually seem that crazy to me, in fact, the second one (original Switch streaming Switch 2 games) is straight up genius!