General Switch Discussion

[dazzybee]

1 hour ago, Sheikah said:

9 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Gotta remember that the PS4 launched in Japan 3 months after the other releases. Not that it would make much difference anyway, seeing as home consoles struggle over there. Nintendo essentially has market dominance in Japan due to the Switch also being a handheld.

I think as well we have seen Zelda, 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Splatoon in these few months as a big factor. Great sales now but I wonder how Nintendo will keep momentum going at the same level over say 7 years.

I’m hoping all their other franchises personally. But they may not equal sales. But maybe with a massive increase in third parties it might be...

Realistically though I animal crossing, smash bros, Pokemon and metroid over the next two years. Then probably Mario kart 9. Maybe even sequels to Zelda and odyssey using the same engines...

[Ronnie]

2 hours ago, Sheikah said:

10 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

Gotta remember that the PS4 launched in Japan 3 months after the other releases. Not that it would make much difference anyway, seeing as home consoles struggle over there. Nintendo essentially has market dominance in Japan due to the Switch also being a handheld.

I think as well we have seen Zelda, 3D Mario, Mario Kart and Splatoon in these few months as a big factor. Great sales now but I wonder how Nintendo will keep momentum going at the same level over say 7 years.

2D Mario, Smash, Pokemon, Animal Crossing are all big sellers, and if they can find another Wii Sports, Wii Fit type thing to get the casual market in as well, that'll help. That said there's no way this gen will last 7 years for them, and even if it does, we'll see another 3D Mario, Zelda, Kart, Splatoon etc long before then.

[Dcubed]

7 hours ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

I posted yesterday (I think) that Switch has sold 2.5 million LTD in Japan so far, so that's 7.5 for the rest of us...if that's the stat you were looking for!

Thanks, that's a good idea! Looking at Game Data Archive, we can see that PS4 had sold about 760,000 after 9 months on the Japanese market.  So if we subtract that from Switch's LTD total, we can see that PS4 is ahead by around 1.74 million if we just look at western sales in the first 9 months.

 

That's actually not bad, considering the complete dearth of western 3rd party support up until just a few weeks ago!

 

I do feel that PS4 is likely to pull ahead even further though, unless we see a real change in tune from most other 3rd parties like EA and ActiBlizz.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Dcubed

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Yeah the biggest factor now will be momentum; as @Sheikah says this year has been top loaded, we now need to see Metroid footage, next Pikmin, Smash etc to see that the games are still coming and they haven't done a reverse of the Wii U and blown their load too soon, as it were.

Tempering that, though, is they've set their bar so high again in terms of the quality of software; I remember last year the Respawn employ Mohamed Alawi (apologies if that's not spelt right) did that drunken interview where he trashed Nintendo and said they hadn't made a great game for 10 years. While I disagree, this year they've undoubtedly produced some incredible titles which the likes of Prime 4 need to follow.

And if it continues to sell well then it can't be ignored by third parties, you'd think! 

Also I know it's already been released on other platforms, but I literally can't wait for Wolfenstein on the Switch, hopefully it might get some more sales recognition with a "re release" as such.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Kaepora_Gaebora

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, Kaepora_Gaebora said:

Yeah the biggest factor now will be momentum; as @Sheikah says this year has been top loaded, we now need to see Metroid footage, next Pikmin, Smash etc to see that the games are still coming and they haven't done a reverse of the Wii U and blown their load too soon, as it were.

Tempering that, though, is they've set their bar so high again in terms of the quality of software; I remember last year the Respawn employ Mohamed Alawi (apologies if that's not spelt right) did that drunken interview where he trashed Nintendo and said they hadn't made a great game for 10 years. While I disagree, this year they've undoubtedly produced some incredible titles which the likes of Prime 4 need to follow.

And if it continues to sell well then it can't be ignored by third parties, you'd think! 

Also I know it's already been released on other platforms, but I literally can't wait for Wolfenstein on the Switch, hopefully it might get some more sales recognition with a "re release" as such.

The Wii sold stupidly well but it didn't stop 3rd parties from shunning it. 

3rd parties are still in a position of having to faff on with their games in order to get them to run on the hardware. Stuff like Doom and Rocket League run on the Switch but not without compromises. It has to be worth it for the company while also giving the consumer a decent product.

 I imagine ports from the 360/PS3 generation will be on the cards but I can't see many publishers trying to downgrade their newer games in order for the Switch to run them. 

Japanese support should be fine though. A lot of the big publishers over there don't really push hardware to its limits, with S-E being the exception, so most games should look and run fine.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The Wii sold stupidly well but it didn't stop 3rd parties from shunning it. 

3rd parties are still in a position of having to faff on with their games in order to get them to run on the hardware. Stuff like Doom and Rocket League run on the Switch but not without compromises. It has to be worth it for the company while also giving the consumer a decent product.

 I imagine ports from the 360/PS3 generation will be on the cards but I can't see many publishers trying to downgrade their newer games in order for the Switch to run them. 

Japanese support should be fine though. A lot of the big publishers over there don't really push hardware to its limits, with S-E being the exception, so most games should look and run fine.

We haven't heard much from third parties regarding sales apart from Ubisoft saying Rabbids was good for them; Rocket League has been top of the eShop chart since it's launch so it must be shifting a fair few copies you'd think?

True on the ports front though, I can see Switch getting included in the remaster/re release phenomenon that's happening at the moment but bigger titles that require more grunt, like say Assassin's Creed Origins, will probably be MIA as the compromise will be too great.

In the mean time, indie developers seem to be filling that void, especially with actually quality titles as well, not just dross!

[Hero-of-Time]

I suppose it depends on what the expectations are from the 3rd party publishers. I imagine if the likes of Rayman, Doom, FIFA etc. had done stupidly well they would have been shouting it from the rooftops.

In regards to the indie games, I'd like a little more time and care in some of the releases. The likes of Rime, Sexy Brutale and Oxenfree launched with lots of issues. It's as if some of the indie developers are just trying to knock their games out, regardless of quality, in order to cash in on the success of the Switch.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

I read the review of WWE 2K18 on Nintendo Life yesterday, sounds like a shockingly bad port! 

You can tell who has taken the time with their releases or, like Golf Story, those that started development on Wii U or have already seen release elsewhere that have those issues already sorted. 

It's like day one patches on my Xbox all over again in many respects, how can you release a game that borked?

[Dcubed]

The only really fair major 3rd party retail comparison we have to go off at the moment is LA Noire (given that it launched day and date alongside all other platforms and was a very good port by all accounts), and that seemed to sell roughly in-line with the Xbone version.  But it didn't exactly do gangbusters on any platform, so...

 

14 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

In regards to the indie games, I'd like a little more time and care in some of the releases. The likes of Rime, Sexy Brutale and Oxenfree launched with lots of issues. It's as if some of the indie developers are just trying to knock their games out, regardless of quality, in order to cash in on the success of the Switch.

I don't really think that the port to Switch itself was the issue here with those games in particular, given that they run poorly on all platforms (hell, the former was even ported by Tantalus and they generally do good work).  That being said, there is certainly a trend of poorly ported games, like Pinball FX 3 (Which apparantly only runs at 30FPS in handheld mode and is hardly a looker) and Overcooked (which definitely needed more time in the oven before it launched); there are plenty of Switch eShop games that rightfully should run much better than they currently do, given the hardware.

 

The eShop is quickly becoming crowded though and the gold-rush is likely to end soon; meaning that there's less of an incentive to cash-in quick.  Nintendo also desperately needs to fix the Switch eShop's discoverability, as games are already getting buried (it's impossible to find an older game now unless you either search for it, it goes on sale, or you trawl through the All Games list).  Wii U had a far, FAR better eShop layout than Switch does.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Dcubed

[Sméagol]

6 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

In regards to the indie games, I'd like a little more time and care in some of the releases. The likes of Rime, Sexy Brutale and Oxenfree launched with lots of issues. It's as if some of the indie developers are just trying to knock their games out, regardless of quality, in order to cash in on the success of the Switch.

My biggest qualm with indie games so far.. Well I guess not just the indie games. A lot of games simply aren't optimized for Switch. I don't mind the occasional framedrop or lower framerate, but some of these games just grind to a halt in certain situations, and that's not what I want to see. I can understand this if you're playing them on a PC with less than the recommended specs. This is a Switch with no variation in its specifications.. Optimize for it, or simply don't release the game for it. I mean, a lot of the games aren't even that detailed. I actually almost want to buy Yooka-Laylee digitally for 40 euros just because I know those guys bothered to put some actual work into the port.

I was thinking my Switch would pretty much replace Steam regarding indie games, but it's stuff like this that make me reconsider.

[nekunando]

6 hours ago, Sméagol said:

My biggest qualm with indie games so far.. Well I guess not just the indie games. A lot of games simply aren't optimized for Switch..

I've been addicted to Rocket League since getting it last month but it certainly isn't free of criticism in this regard.

I remember playing the PS4 version briefly in split screen with my brother and finding the text very small when selecting between the orange and blue teams but this was taken to a completely new level of illegibility when trying to do the same on Switch last night

I'm sure there are maybe reasons related to cross-play or whatever but it's horribly poor. Surely changing text size in a menu or altering the layout to adapt to a particular platform isn't a huge undertaking!

[Hero-of-Time]

5 minutes ago, nekunando said:

I've been addicted to Rocket League since getting it last month but it certainly isn't free of criticism in this regard.

I remember playing the PS4 version briefly in split screen with my brother and finding the text very small when selecting between the orange and blue teams but this was taken to a completely new level of illegibility when trying to do the same on Switch last night

I'm sure there are maybe reasons related to cross-play or whatever but it's horribly poor. Surely changing text size in a menu or altering the layout to adapt to a particular platform isn't a huge undertaking!

They've just put out a patch for the game and, going by the Era reactions, they've made certain things worse in the game.

[khilafah]

13 hours ago, Hero-of-Time said:

The Wii sold stupidly well but it didn't stop 3rd parties from shunning it. 

3rd parties are still in a position of having to faff on with their games in order to get them to run on the hardware. Stuff like Doom and Rocket League run on the Switch but not without compromises. It has to be worth it for the company while also giving the consumer a decent product.

 I imagine ports from the 360/PS3 generation will be on the cards but I can't see many publishers trying to downgrade their newer games in order for the Switch to run them. 

Japanese support should be fine though. A lot of the big publishers over there don't really push hardware to its limits, with S-E being the exception, so most games should look and run fine.

Regarding the Wii. Yeah it sold lots but the demographics of that system is why 3rd parties stayed away and then let's be honest. The Wii was a really weak machine compared to the 360.

Porting 360 games to Wii just wasn't really viable. 

[Hero-of-Time]

1 minute ago, khilafah said:

Regarding the Wii. Yeah it sold lots but the demographics of that system is why 3rd parties stayed away and then let's be honest. The Wii was a really weak machine compared to the 360.

Porting 360 games to Wii just wasn't really viable.

We are already at that point on the Switch with certain games. Something like The Witcher 3 or Assassins Creed Origins simply couldn't be done on the Switch. You'd end up with another Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop on our hands.

Japanese support will be there but the AAA support from Western publishers will be lacking. This may be a good thing, considering many are focusing on GaaS and microtransactions.

[S.C.G]

23 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

We are already at that point on the Switch with certain games. Something like The Witcher 3 or Assassins Creed Origins simply couldn't be done on the Switch. You'd end up with another Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop on our hands.

Japanese support will be there but the AAA support from Western publishers will be lacking. This may be a good thing, considering many are focusing on GaaS and microtransactions.

Or so-called "Treeple Aaayy Gamez!" [/JimSterling]

I think the Switch will do pretty well as a solid middle-ground, it has the unique hybrid nature which is good for multiplatform indie titles (assuming the ports are good) plus it will get some decent third-party titles which have come out on current gen systems and by the look of it some pretty good ones too while avoiding a load of those controversial titles which have been plagued with the aforementioned gambling simulaton and/or microtransactions... it's a good compromise, especially with the stellar first-party support.

Because of this, I don't mind buying the odd season-pass for some games which really deserve the support on Switch, I'll likely pick up the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 one, so long as the extra content doesn't break the game again or in different ways after patching out the existing issues.

What the Switch definitely needs now is some decent organisation on the eShop, some more concrete plans on the online/accounts front and some new Virtual Console games we haven't seen before when the service hopefully launches next year.

[liger05]

The Switch will get western support. Some games just won't run but there will be enough that can. 

The hardware is selling and more importantly software is selling. Developers won't ignore that. Publishers can't just leave money on the table.  

The demographics are different with the switch. 

• 86% of the Switch’s install base is 18 or older.
• 69% of the Switch install base falls within the 19-34 age group.
• 90% of the Switch install base is male

That's the demographic with buying power and the demographic which appeals to third party publishers. 

Now those numbers will change especially after holiday season as switch will be gifted to teenagers and kids but still the numbers will be similar to the xbox/ps4 demographic. 

Games take time to be produced but I'm expecting 2018 to see western third parties announce plenty of games. 

[Goron_3]

8 hours ago, liger05 said:

The Switch will get western support. Some games just won't run but there will be enough that can. 

The hardware is selling and more importantly software is selling. Developers won't ignore that. Publishers can't just leave money on the table.  

The demographics are different with the switch. 

• 86% of the Switch’s install base is 18 or older.
• 69% of the Switch install base falls within the 19-34 age group.
• 90% of the Switch install base is male

That's the demographic with buying power and the demographic which appeals to third party publishers. 

Now those numbers will change especially after holiday season as switch will be gifted to teenagers and kids but still the numbers will be similar to the xbox/ps4 demographic. 

Games take time to be produced but I'm expecting 2018 to see western third parties announce plenty of games. 

Whilst the bolded is certainly true, that doesn't mean Switch owners are the same audience that Microsoft, Ubisoft, EA etc are targeting with their software (especially with the GaaS model). The Switch is a very good proposition for third parties but I have no interest in seeing Switch get down-ports on PS4 titles. Instead I would rather third parties focus on:

-Definitive versions of last generation games

-Games built ground up to take advantage of the Switch

With the former, I would absolutely love to see GTA V and Fallout 3 on the Switch, especially having seen Skyrim run on the system. The idea of playing those games portably is certainly an enticing one, and with Mario, Zelda and Xenoblade, developers know that Switch fans are clearly enjoying titles that have a long play time.

It has to be said that Nintendo's software strategy this generation has been absolutely amazing. They've moved away from their Wii U strategy and have gone back to what made the Wii so successful. By releasing the heavy hitters first, they can focus on releasing the big selling, supplementary titles later down the line once the system gets a price cut. I really hope this ends up leading to a sequel to 3D World - like NSMBWii I can envisage a game like that selling like hot cakes 3-4 years into the Switch's lifespan.

 

[Daft]

I bought Poly Bridge yesterday. Was really looking forward to it. The docked controls are absolutely dire. Really ruin the experience.

I hear undocked is better but I've not tried it yet. I hope they patch it soon.

[Ashley]

And @Daft and I were talking yesterday and does anyone else have problems with their joycons when using gyro?  I went to a friend's a while ago and we played Mario Kart with them and everyone was steering slightly to the left and we thought maybe we'd knocked the analogue stick when booting up so we reset and same issue across two sets.  Daft was having issues with the pointer device steering off slightly too (unless I misinterpreted) so I was wondering if this is a known issue?  I've not really used gyro all that much on the console.

[Kav]

Is it worth buying a used 200gb SD card if it meant getting it £20 cheaper?

Or would you steer clear of used?

[Dcubed]

11 minutes ago, Kav said:

Is it worth buying a used 200gb SD card if it meant getting it £20 cheaper?

Or would you steer clear of used?

I wouldn't say that a used one is bad per-say, more that I'd be concerned about it possibly being fake.  As long as you're confident that it is not an el-fako one, go for it.

 

@Ashley.  Are you sure that it's not a matter of your Joy-con's wireless connection to the Switch getting cut off? Mario Kart is probably gonna be a kind of worst case scenario (especially if you're using gyro controls without the wheel) as your hands are wrapped around the Joy-con and will block the signal very easily if you have a dodgy Joy-con.  And in a game that uses motion controls, wireless cut-offs are gonna be very noticeable.

 

The wireless cut-off issues are a known problem with a huge chunk of the first lots of Joy-Cons that were produced (It wasn't until the Yellow ARMS ones came out that they finally fixed them proper)

 

I know that I had a hellish experience playing MK with motion controls and games like World of Goo until I got my Joy-cons replaced (and the old ones fixed).  I had 4 Joy-cons at the the time and they ALL had disconnection issues to some varying degree (my grey ones were borderline completely unusable in my living room until I got them fixed).  Now that I have some new ones (and the old ones fixed), they work like champs!

Edited December 15, 2017 by Dcubed

[Ashley]

@Daft's joycons are from the new Mario bundle though.  My friend got his recently too, will have been post-Arms but obviously can't tell which stock he got as he has the neon ones (i.e. could be old stock).

In terms of fixing them, is it just a case of sending it back to Nintendo?

[ArtMediocre]

Have you tried updating the joy-cons? There is a update button either in the settings or in the controller menu (can't recall which one...) where you can update every controller connected to the Switch. Pretty handy, but well hidden. 

[Dcubed]

26 minutes ago, Ashley said:

@Daft's joycons are from the new Mario bundle though.  My friend got his recently too, will have been post-Arms but obviously can't tell which stock he got as he has the neon ones (i.e. could be old stock).

In terms of fixing them, is it just a case of sending it back to Nintendo?

They should be fine in that case then I'd imagine.  I'd suggest updating the Joy-cons in the way that @ArtMediocre mentioned.  I've heard of some people having gyro drifting issues that were fixed after they updated their Joy-cons.  See if that works for you.

 

You can also test to see if it's being caused by wireless interference by going into the controller input test screen in the Settings menu and then pressing some buttons on your Joy-cons, while trying to block the signal.  If it's noticeably bad (like, really obvious - as in, can't press inputs consistently when the joy-cons are behind your back bad), then I'd suggest sending it in for repair.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Dcubed

[Daft]

I updated the controllers. Basically, the controls are responsive and there are no inputs being lost. It's just that the on-screen pointer starts to drift frequently. Which is honestly infuriating when I'm trying to build a pretty precise bridge.

 

Bottom line, I don't want this crappy pointer functionality anyway. There really should be another option for the game.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Daft