Poll of the Day > Are you going to get the Switch 2?

(+) Yeah! (+)

CyborgSage00x0 posted...

That, and pre-orders exist. Just pre-order.

I generally don't try to pre-order, but the vibe I get is that it can be a crapshoot in its own right whether or not your order will actually be filled, and if it's a product that's going to be hard to find without a pre-order, pre-orders also sell out pretty quickly.

The connection mechanisms for the joycons looks extremely flimsy and prone to breaking. I've seen discourse from some people working in electronics repair who are ecstatic about it because they're going to have a lot of business from the switch 2.

adjl posted...

I walked into Walmart and grabbed a Switch on day 1 in the early afternoon. I think they had like 6-7 left.

Now, the Switch has since exploded in popularity and there may be more demand for 2, plus scalping bots have gotten significantly more aggressive since 2017 and may present some challenges, but it's not like there's no precedent for being able to get Nintendo systems at launch. The Wii's the only one I've ever had serious trouble with.

Scalping should be illegal.

TimeForAction posted...

No on the switch 2, at least until the next Animal crossing game in a few years. And even then only if theres other remastered IPs on it. Im not really a current gen gamer anymore and just prefer playing games I know

Hopefully they'll also allow you to have every item too.

I'm considering getting the original Switch. The backlog will be crazy but fun since I haven't really played a Nintendo console since Super Nintendo.

SrRd_RacinG posted...

I'm considering getting the original Switch. The backlog will be crazy but fun since I haven't really played a Nintendo console since Super Nintendo.

Just get a Switch 2 and play Switch 1 games on there

One reason Nintendo is guaranteed to turn off Switch 1's online service as some point

Damn_Underscore posted...

Just get a Switch 2 and play Switch 1 games on there

One reason Nintendo is guaranteed to turn off Switch 1's online service as some point

What exactly does that entail?

Look what they did to Wii U

SrRd_RacinG posted...

What exactly does that entail?

Based on previous console online service shutdowns, it means you can no longer access online features using games (mostly online play, but also stuff like Miiverse integration would have stopped working if Miiverse hadn't been shut down earlier) and can no longer purchase digital games from the shop. In each case, the commitment has been that previously purchased games and content will continue to be possible to download for the foreseeable future, and I believe that hasn't changed (though I haven't tried redownloading anything on the Wii and the WiiU/3DS shops only shut down recently). I think games can still receive updates, but I'm not 100% sure on that. In the case of the Wii, the option to do a system transfer to the WiiU was locked behind a Wii Shop download and you therefore had to do that transfer before the Wii shop shut down, but I'm not sure if that will be the case with whatever system transfer option we end up getting to go from Switch to Switch 2.

The 3DS and WiiU eShops got shut down in March 2023, so assuming the Switch's eShop follows a similar trend, you can expect it to last for another 5+ years. In each case, there was plenty of messaging well in advance of the shutdowns and they happened very gradually (started by not letting you add credit card funds, then not letting you use eShop cards, then not letting you make purchases, then finally phasing out the option to combine any remaining balance with the newer Nintendo Account to use it on the Switch, all happening over the course of nearly two years), so while it'll suck to not be able to get more stuff, you're not likely to be caught off guard if you're actively using the system.

Here's the page explaining the process for the 3DS/WiiU, which I'm guessing will be pretty similar to whatever ends up happening to the Switch:
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57847/~/wii-u-%26-nintendo-3ds-eshop-discontinuation-q%26a

If Prime 4 ends up being a launch title, I'll consider getting it day 1. Otherwise I am happy using my Switch 1 for a few more years until I run out of games to play on it.

adjl posted...

I generally don't try to pre-order, but the vibe I get is that it can be a crapshoot in its own right whether or not your order will actually be filled, and if it's a product that's going to be hard to find without a pre-order, pre-orders also sell out pretty quickly.

I've always pre-ordered via GameStop, and never had a problem. You have to put an amount of money down, so you're "locked in", but for consoles I think it's only like $50? Less? Of course, that doesn't mean a store couldn't fuck up with it's delivery or miscounting, but that could happen with anything.

I've successfully pre-ordered a few games, but not a console, via Amazon, with it arriving the promised day as well.

Dikitain posted...

If Prime 4 ends up being a launch title, I'll consider getting it day 1. Otherwise I am happy using my Switch 1 for a few more years until I run out of games to play on it.

It's really the only thing that makes sense for it being delayed.

dragon504 posted...

It's really the only thing that makes sense for it being delayed.

they did the same with breath of the wild, yeah

It's also kind of a no-brainer to delay it to be a launch title at this point. It's highly anticipated, MP games in general are known for being really good-looking and the idea of playing it on a more powerful system will therefore be an attractive prospect, and they haven't made any commitments to release it sooner than the Switch 2's launch. I'm guessing they'll pull a TP/BotW and release it on both.

If they discontinue Nintendo Switch, I can still play physical media (like games) on it though, right?

SrRd_RacinG posted...

If they discontinue Nintendo Switch, I can still play physical media (like games) on it though, right?

negative. I cant even play my snes games on my Super Nintendo anymore that pisses me off about nintendos shady business practices

SrRd_RacinG posted...

If they discontinue Nintendo Switch, I can still play physical media (like games) on it though, right?

Like if they discontinue the online service? Absolutely. You'll still be able to play new or old physical games with no issues (updates might no longer be offered somewhere down the road, but I'm pretty sure WiiU/3DS games can still be updated, so that's a ways off), any digital games you've already downloaded will be fully accessible, and any digital games that you've purchased but don't have downloaded can be redownloaded "for the foreseeable future" (with how vague they are about that commitment, I've made a point of downloading everything from my accounts just to be on the safe side, but there haven't been any issues yet). The only things you'll be losing are online play, secondary online features for some games, and the ability to buy new digital content.

It's certainly not ideal that the online services get shut down, since particularly on the 3DS that's meant a very substantial number of games are just straight up not available legally anymore, but aside from losing online play there won't be any impact to your ability to continue enjoying the games you already have.

Switch 2 is supposed to use the same online service this time. Hopefully Nintendo will finally quit fucking around with online stores being different for every device.

dragon504 posted...

Switch 2 is supposed to use the same online service this time. Hopefully Nintendo will finally quit fucking around with online stores being different for every device.

Hope they optimize it better also, its currently so slow its almost unusable

dragon504 posted...

Switch 2 is supposed to use the same online service this time. Hopefully Nintendo will finally quit fucking around with online stores being different for every device.

One can hope, but the WiiU and 3DS use the same account system as the Switch (even being able to buy games for all three systems through the same site if you browsed on a computer) and still had their eShops shut down, so I don't know that being able to use the same NSO subscription will keep the Switch from suffering the same fate. At the end of the day, they're not shutting it down because they don't want to maintain multiple generations of accounts, they're shutting it down because they don't want to maintain the servers and to encourage holdouts to move on to a modern system.

Ogurisama posted...

Hope they optimize it better also, its currently so slow its almost unusable

That too. Runs like a slug on Xanax, doesn't offer nearly enough filtering, sorting, or recommendation options to deal with all the shovelware, awkward interface... I virtually never "shop" on there. If I'm interested in something, I look it up on a different storefront and wishlist it if I'm interested, rather than finding it in the eShop. The Wii, 3DS, and WiiU shops were all half-decent, so I can't help but wonder if they just churned the Switch's out with the expectation that the system was going to fail and it didn't matter how functional the shop was.

Remember friend codes

adjl posted...

That too. Runs like a slug on Xanax, doesn't offer nearly enough filtering, sorting, or recommendation options to deal with all the shovelware, awkward interface... I virtually never "shop" on there. If I'm interested in something, I look it up on a different storefront and wishlist it if I'm interested, rather than finding it in the eShop. The Wii, 3DS, and WiiU shops were all half-decent, so I can't help but wonder if they just churned the Switch's out with the expectation that the system was going to fail and it didn't matter how functional the shop was.

I have never really liked any of Nintendo's online platforms. Some were less bad than others but they all felt like an afterthought.

Yeah, Nintendo is the worst out of the consoles at online.

I understand now that I could play physical games even if the Switch's online service was taken away.

But also, that would mean that it would not be possible to buy indie games or any games digitally on their store, right?

dragon504 posted...

Yeah, Nintendo is the worst out of the consoles at online.

It was kind of excusable when they finally got into having an online marketplace later than the other consoles and it wasn't as sleek but it's been like 20 years and multiple consoles now, it's completely unacceptable now how clunky it is. It's almost as if Nintendo doesn't really care any more because they own three of the biggest franchises in the world and not having competition for them allows them to just coast by. . .

ill be getting two

one to use, one to sit on until it can be exploited

oh I have already posted in this topic

There's no reason to. At least with what little information we have about it now. Bigger screen, whoopie. Let me know if it'll make the Switch games I already have run better, then maybe I'll think about. They're going to have to seriously come up with something to convince the general public to shell out that much for essentially the same exact console.

SrRd_RacinG posted...

But also, that would mean that it would not be possible to buy indie games or any games digitally on their store, right?

Correct. That is, however, probably several years out, and you'll be warned of the shutdown a year or two in advance so you can buy up any games you've been on the fence about.

Salrite posted...

They're going to have to seriously come up with something to convince the general public to shell out that much for essentially the same exact console.

Is that not the case for most console releases? The PS5 is essentially the same console as the PS1, just with shinier graphics and new games. Outside of whatever wacky thing Nintendo's decided to do in a given generation, significant functional differences are pretty rare.

adjl posted...

Is that not the case for most console releases? The PS5 is essentially the same console as the PS1, just with shinier graphics and new games. Outside of whatever wacky thing Nintendo's decided to do in a given generation, significant functional differences are pretty rare.

There is a significant difference in graphical quality and performance between the PS1 and PS5. Even between PS4 and PS5. We've all been begging Nintendo to modernize their severely outdated hardware for years, but I am very worried that the difference is going to be negligible, essentially being the exact same hardware with maybe different ports and connections.

When you look at the teaser for the alleged "New Mario Kart", it literally looks like Mario Kart 8, pixel for pixel.

Not even Nintendo is out of touch enough to release a new system that isn't technically different from 8-year-old hardware, at least not without some other paradigm-shifting features to make up for it. Whatever the new specs are, they will almost certainly be a substantial improvement over the Switch, to the point that games that are released exclusively for the Switch 2 will be beyond anything the Switch could handle. Mario Kart has never exactly been a showcase of its system's graphical capabilities, thanks to the art style and the design principle of optimizing to handle lots of stuff going on at once instead of photorealism, so I wouldn't base too much of anything on that.

That said, I genuinely haven't felt that consoles have needed to update their graphical capabilities since I picked up my Gamecube in 2001. GC games with competent art styles looked - and still look - great. On the technical side of things, making consoles stronger so developers don't need to be as thorough in their optimizations is a good thing because it allows a greater variety of games to be made, and in that regard there have been meaningful improvements in the last two decades, but we're now many years into very harsh diminishing returns on the improvements that new tech can offer. The Switch 100% had performance issues that have limited its games in ways that aren't exactly ideal (including not playing nicely with Unity, as I understand, which has been pretty harshly limiting for indie devs), but it isn't going to take much of an upgrade to iron those out and end up with a legitimate candidate for a forever console. Games just don't need to get that much more demanding than a slightly stronger Switch could handle, as much as the allure of bigger numbers is hard to resist.

After my Switch finally taps out on me sure.

adjl posted...

Based on previous console online service shutdowns, it means you can no longer access online features using games (mostly online play, but also stuff like Miiverse integration would have stopped working if Miiverse hadn't been shut down earlier) and can no longer purchase digital games from the shop. In each case, the commitment has been that previously purchased games and content will continue to be possible to download for the foreseeable future, and I believe that hasn't changed (though I haven't tried redownloading anything on the Wii and the WiiU/3DS shops only shut down recently). I think games can still receive updates, but I'm not 100% sure on that. In the case of the Wii, the option to do a system transfer to the WiiU was locked behind a Wii Shop download and you therefore had to do that transfer before the Wii shop shut down, but I'm not sure if that will be the case with whatever system transfer option we end up getting to go from Switch to Switch 2.

The 3DS and WiiU eShops got shut down in March 2023, so assuming the Switch's eShop follows a similar trend, you can expect it to last for another 5+ years. In each case, there was plenty of messaging well in advance of the shutdowns and they happened very gradually (started by not letting you add credit card funds, then not letting you use eShop cards, then not letting you make purchases, then finally phasing out the option to combine any remaining balance with the newer Nintendo Account to use it on the Switch, all happening over the course of nearly two years), so while it'll suck to not be able to get more stuff, you're not likely to be caught off guard if you're actively using the system.

Here's the page explaining the process for the 3DS/WiiU, which I'm guessing will be pretty similar to whatever ends up happening to the Switch:
https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57847/~/wii-u-%26-nintendo-3ds-eshop-discontinuation-q%26a

They wouldn't do it with the Switch if it's backwards.

TimeForAction posted...

negative. I cant even play my snes games on my Super Nintendo anymore that pisses me off about nintendos shady business practices

Wat.

Revelation34 posted...

They wouldn't do it with the Switch if it's backwards.

They did it for the Wii even though the WiiU was backwards compatible. Now, part of that may have been that the Wii Shop was a fully different system from the eShop used for the 3DS/WiiU, fully tied to the system and not to any sort of account that could be transferred, so I expect there were some technical issues that made it non-feasible to keep it running. Still, there's precedent for shutting down online services for a system even when a current system is backwards compatible with it.

Remember that a big part of the motivation for shutting down old services is nothing to do with technical or resource limitations, but rather a matter of deliberately limiting what people can do with those old systems. If buying a current system is the only way you can access digital games, that's an incentive to buy that current system instead of picking up a used older one, and that's what platform holders want because they make more money off of current systems.