Switch

Switch! Nintendo Live Broadcast.

You have probably already got your fill of how it was covered via pretty much everywhere. The price for Canadians is $399.99 and although it’s cheaper than the other consoles initial reactions, myself included, think that it’s just a little too overpriced even for what the console is offering.

Keep in mind that the other console giants’ current entry level systems sit at $350 Canadian (down from their launch prices of over $400) making Nintendo’s offering appear to be even more overpriced. General internet consensus among Canadians would have preferred a $300 price tag making it hugely marketable for a population whose economy is still mostly on the downturn.

Have some Joy!

On the bright side the event covered in a lot more detail how the Joy Con(trollers) work and introduced some games specifically to engage these functions. I particularly like the party game 1-2 Switch. Oddly, this didn’t seem to excite a lot of bloggers/reviewers that I read up on last night. Maybe they don’t have board game nights and hang out with more than a friend or two? I thought that the concept they conveyed for this game was magnificent. It’s a great way to play games at a party with genuine interaction that goes outside the typical “gamer” requirement.

For example, if the Switch had been available on New Year’s Eve I would have most certainly pulled it out and had all my drunk party guests try to shoot each other in the high noon scenario that was played out in the event clip. My husband’s boss and family were there and a few of our friends who are a mix of people that play games and do not play games. This would be a highly inclusive for them all since it’s literally point and shoot.

More joy!

The controllers have Amiibo sensors, HD rumble, gyro, the ability to determine distance and the ability to interpret certain visuals like a hand doing “rock, paper, scissors.” These functions in the controllers alone leave a huge array of exploration for developers and the games that will be produced for the Switch will certainly be capable of a unique gameplay that we have never seen before.

Imagine playing a cooking game and you import Mario from an Amiibo to be your character. Mario picks up a spatula and you start cooking. You need to use the gyro to take your frying pan, shuffle the ingredients and flip it like a pro! You also have to measure out some water to place in the pan so the new HD rumble sensor allows you to “feel” the water be poured into your measuring cup and the distance sensor is used to let you know if your cutting the celery too close to your fingers! The potential for highly immersive gameplay that, while not virtual reality, is extremely impressive.

Outside of the controllers the presentation sorely lacked in A LOT of other spec information. We have had wide internet speculation on storage capacity and it looks like the guessing will continue for a bit yet.

Pay to Play…online

One other note during the event that disappointed me was the fact that Nintendo’s online services will also now mimic those of Microsoft and Sony with a monthly subscription in order to make use of online multiplayer functions. We will see if they offer anything else with this subscription as the other companies do with free downloadable games each month or if they might “switch” routes and reduce the monthly fee but exclude the free software.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wilde

I’m sure most everyone else was screaming and generally having happy spasms when the section for games came. I found it extremely lacking in information here as well. We got some announcements I know will be big for many gamers but we also had a large lack of information on actual launch titles. We have a heap of promises for games that will come out at some point in the future but very few were for actual launch day playability. Thankfully, yes, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is a launch title! It’s pretty much all most gamers will need for about a month.

…and other games…

We also were told about the worst kept game secret so far: Skyrim. I know a lot of people are all OH MY GOD SKYRIM! But honesty, the game is coming up on 6 years old so many people have definitely played this game into a pile of dust at this point and on a better quality rig than the Switch would ever be. Dead horse has been beaten. Let it die.

The game that piqued my interest was a new RPG from Square Enix entitled Project Octopath Traveler. Literally nothing but a 10-second clip but the early artwork looks like the same artist as Vagrant Story, erm, Bravely Default. Sorry, not sure if I just pegged myself for an old time gamer just now.

Anyway, as far as we can tell at this point LOZ and 1-2 Switch, Skylanders and Just Dance 2017 are the launch games. That’s it besides maybe a Sonic game?

Disgeae!

A game not related to the launch that is currently available for preorder and wasn’t discussed during the presentation is Disgeae 5 via NISAmerica’s online store. JRPG games like Xenoblade 2 and Shinigami Tensei were mentioned during the event as they are huge hitters for the genre but Disgeae is nothing to sneeze at either so I was a little sad that they didn’t touch on it during the event when it’s clearly a fully developed and ready to go game unlike several that were only hinted at.

D5 Preorder

Small and lovely bonus of the Switch: region free!!

Will you get it at launch?

Even after that if you are hotly anticipating Legend of Zelda and are getting the system at launch all I can say is “May the odds be ever in your favour.” At this point, we can all agree that Nintendo intentionally shorts the launch market to create a ridiculous demand for their new consoles. They did it with the Wii, again with the Wii U and they will do it again with the Switch. Their supply chain is well aware of the demand requirements but always produce a lot less than what is needed.

Limited pre-orders for many Canadian retailers like EB Games and Best Buy are already sold out as of 4 AM this morning. If Nintendo hasn’t shorted the market you can still expect to have issues with purchasing the Switch at launch for at least a month. If it’s anything like how the Wii was you could be potentially waiting up to a year before supply is readily available for a general consumer. I am that general consumer right now.

I love Legend of Zelda but I can’t drop $400+ on a console and game right now just for it and I need at least a small selection of interesting games before I will make the purchase…and I will likely wait until they bundle the console with a game to save some money on top of that.

Regardless, I’m pretty excited about the Switch. It’s still the console I’ve been waiting for and I will own it at some point. It will be my preciousss…

–Krysil