Don't Call Switch a Tablet, Also It's Not Here To Oust the 3DS, Says Nintendo (cnet.com) 116
An anonymous reader shares a report on CNET: Don't call the new Nintendo Switch a tablet. And don't assume the shape-shifting device for gamers will replace the company's popular 3DS handheld, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview with CNET. With its latest gadget, Nintendo is playing to win the same game it has for decades: the one that takes place in your living room. "The form factor may be that it looks like [a tablet]," he said. "But...it's a home console that you can take with you and play anywhere with anyone." [...] "With Zelda, with Kart, with Xenoblade, I think the initial consumer for Switch will be more young adults with disposable incomes, given the price points and the large library," Fils-Aime said. That doesn't mean Nintendo is ditching its core audience. The company will continue to skew toward a younger crowd with the 3DS. "In the end, we want people of all ages engaging with Mario and Zelda and the content that's available across both platforms," Fils-Aime said.
Don't call it a tablet? (Score:1)
As LL Cool-J would say: Don't call it a comeback!
(because this product ain't a comeback).
Re:Don't call it a tablet? (Score:5, Funny)
I'll call it what I've called every new Nintendo console in the 21st Century: An answer to a question that no one asked.
No One: "Hey could you make us an overpriced handheld that also doubles as an under-powered console?"
Nintendo: "Sure!"
Re:Don't call it a tablet? (Score:4, Insightful)
No One: "Oh, and could you also throw in a monthly fee for online multiplayer like Xbox Live and PSN, but make us use our iPhones for basic features that those services have provided for fifteen years now, like voice chat and matchmaking?"
Nintendo: "Yep, gotcha...."
No One: "And can you make it so we can't just transfer over all our Virtual Console games, so we have to buy them all over again?"
Nintendo: "We hear you. No problem."
Re: (Score:2)
With no touch and no touch-based software, nothing about this thing resembles an oversized smartphone. "Don't call it a tablet." seems to be accurate.
Sorry Nintendo... (Score:3)
It's a New New 2DS with an dock for outputting to a TV....
Re: (Score:2)
hopefully more of a WiiU where the gamepad IS the console. 3DS games, even for the same titles, are watered down half-ass versions of the same full-featured counterparts. I dont like PS Vita or 3DS games, because the games are gimped. The argument that it was a limitation of space and size has been crap since ipad2/iphone4 era. If I can play the full version of FinalFantasy IV on the ipad2 3yrs ago why does the 3DS version suck so bad? The hardware in a 3DS blows the doors off the SNES. No excuse besides la
Re: (Score:2)
Not holding my breath on the Switch tablet...
If it walks like a duck... (Score:1)
Let's see: it's mobile, it's underpowered, and it happens to be able to plug into your TV. Yup, it's a 3DS replacement that gets rid of the 3D gimmick in favor of motion control.
Re: (Score:3)
"in favor of motion control" - But the 3DS already had the accelerometer and gyroscope. This is more like "in favor is single-system multiplayer"
I only want one thing (Score:4, Insightful)
A good, real Metroid game. None of this "Federation Force" stuff.
Re: I only want one thing (Score:1)
Mario, Zelda, Metroid...all great 2D games AND 3D games.
Prime 3 was not a good game though.
Re: (Score:2)
Metroid will forever be 2D for me.
Prime just felt lame and hard to control. I tried again with Prime 3, but alas, they hadn't fixed anything.
The GBA ones were good. The NES and GB ones were great. And nothing beats good ol' Metroid 3 (a.k.a. Super Metroid). If you want proof, just watch any of the GDQ's and see what their "main event" is to cap off their marathons. It's always Super Metroid in some configuration or another. That game was just a masterpiece.
Metroid will forever be 2D for me.
DEER FORCE!
So basically, follow the trail of Megaman? Those type of 2D scrolling game doesn't age well.
Personally I find that Metroid Prime was one of the most impressing revival of the videogame history and it completely transformed a series that became one of Nintendo's strongest. I'm just a little sad that they dropped the ball after Metroid Prime 3. As for "Federation Force", I find that the initial idea was a great way to restart the franchise again, but it was poorly done.
Re: (Score:2)
Sure, let's call it correctly (Score:1)
Useless CRAP, with lower computing power than three-year old PS4 and Xbox One, at an even higher price.
Re: (Score:2)
And yet it'll still sell like crazy when it launches.
Re: (Score:2)
And yet it'll still sell like crazy when it launches.
Like the Wii U?
Re: (Score:2)
Useless CRAP, with lower computing power than three-year old PS4 and Xbox One, at an even higher price.
Implying that the existence of high computing power intrinsically makes a game fun and worth playing? Man you must live a sad life.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, but they're also throwing in great new services like Xbox-Live-circa-2003 and a wonderful opportunity to buy all of your old Nintendo Virtual Console games all over again!
Yes, but no ... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's exactly like a 3DS, except without 3D, and doesn't fold in half, and has removable controllers, and supports couch multiplayer, and ... well they both play games, so there's that.
It does kind of resemble a tablet, except it's a tablet with actual joystick and button input, instead of touch screen garbage. And honestly, that alone sounds like everything I've ever wanted from a tablet.
Re: (Score:2)
it's a tablet with actual joystick and button input, instead of touch screen garbage. And honestly, that alone sounds like everything I've ever wanted from a tablet.
Didn't the Archos GamePad, the NVIDIA Shield, and a bunch of Android tablets by JXD do that?
Sure... (Score:2)
Sure, I believe you, Nintendo. Just like you said its not a replacement to the Wii U. Its not replacing the Wii U, they just stopped all development on the Wii U in the months leading up to Switch launch. Big difference, see!
Really, it damn well should be a replacement for the 3ds because that's the only way they're going to get 3rd party support- by migrating all the 3ds third party support to it.
Getting HD versions of franchises that are on the 3ds today like Fire Emblem and Monster Hunter is the only way
Re: (Score:2)
What it really is is just a backdoor way for Nintendo to leave the console market, while saving face. They get to leave the console market while claiming that TECHNICALLY they didn't. Unfortunately, it will probably do damage to their handheld line too. But with Sony seemingly throwing in the towel in the handheld market, they don't have any real competition to exploit this weakness.
Re: (Score:2)
Getting HD versions of franchises that are on the 3ds today like Fire Emblem and Monster Hunter
We could have had those things years ago if Japanese developers weren't so stuck in the past with their development practices and weren't so Japan-centric and actually made versions of those games for the mainline consoles.
Really? (Score:2)
I don't get it... but maybe I'm not supposed to (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't really see the point of the Switch, for either Nintendo or its customers.
It wants to be a home-console system, except without the power to match the PS4 or XBox360, and without the huge line-up of games.
It also wants to be a portable, except without the convenient "drop-in-your-pocket" size, the ruggedness or (comparative) cheapness (enough that you can give it to your 10-year old without worrying if he'll break or lose it) of the DS line.
It wants to be a tablet, except without all the extra non-gaming features (email, Facebook, chat, web, even word processing) that modern tablets offer.
And while its controllers are "neat", they look - and early reports confirm, feel - terrible to play with over long periods of time.
Frankly, I think Nintendo would have been just as well to release a slightly updated version of the Wii and the 3DS and call it a day. Combining both lines into one jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none just doesn't seem to be a winning move. Nintendo seems to be sacrificing both lines - despite their claims that it is not a replacement for the DS - on the altar of the Switch.
Then again, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not anywhere near Nintendo's target market; I'm not ten years old . The requirements and likes of those markets are about as far from mine as you can probably get. The Wii and its games were amazingly popular with the pre-teen crowd and arguably the Switch is exactly what the kids want. But as a parent, I'd dread giving my kids a $300 portable device that looks as if it would snap in half if dropped (say what you want about the controls and graphics of the DS line, those things could take a beating).
Re: (Score:2)
The Super NES was good, but crippled by the fact that MODE 7 could only scale and rotate backgrounds, not sprites.
In the same generation, Genesis needed the Sega CD peripheral to rotate anything, and though Neo Geo could scale, it couldn't rotate and was too expensive for most players.
Re: (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
The Mega Drive/Genesis has no hardware-native feature comparable to Mode 7, though the Mega CD/Sega CD and 32X peripherals add such a feature. However, as in Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean's sprite effect add-ins, some comparable technical feats were programmed entirely in software, seen in games such as Dick Vitale's "A
Both platforms had raycasters (Score:2)
You got me. But the top two consoles of that generation both have limited-geometry, partial-screen, texture-mapped, software-rendered first-person shooters. For every Zero Tolerance, there's a Jurassic Park and a Wolfenstein 3D.
Re: (Score:2)
But they have legendary IP. They just need out of the hardware market and to start making Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc games for other systems.
Re: (Score:2)
I can help you out here.
- Games don't need to be played on powerful systems to be performant, pretty, and fun. Nintendo has essentially built their company on this premise.
- Portability here is for lan-party-esque participation, not "stand in line at the DMV" participation. You could use it in line at the DMV, but that's not its design.
- It has no desire to be a tablet, regardless of our many uses of that term.
- Nay-sayers about Nintendo's controls have basically been wrong every time. It's odd, not sill
Re: (Score:3)
Games don't need to be played on powerful systems to be performant, pretty, and fun.
Man, I'm sick of that argument. Nintendo fans has been saying that for over 15 years now, and it's still just as silly as it was back when Nintendo basically gave up trying to compete with Sony.
Yes, you can still have fun with an old Pong console from 1977. But if you release it to compete with modern consoles, no one is going to pay $300 for it.
The core demographic of Nintendo lines are not children, they are families and 20-somethings that aren't into whatever the latest Call of Duty is.
No, their core demographics are kids and nostalgic adults who won't grow up.
It is important when discussing poignant points like you have presented that we understand that Nintendo sells most of their consoles at a profit while Xbox and Playstation have largely been subsidized, and yet Nintendo still sells.
Actually, from what I understand that hasn't been true for several years now. They've be
Re: (Score:2)
The WiiU is actually an exception here, as it was sold at a loss for a good while: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/... [arstechnica.com]
The idea being presented by elrous0 is that this somehow means it's an equivalent loss and invalidates Nintendo's profitable console sales outside this exception. I built into my original point that it was only "most" of their console sales were at a profit, because these and certain temporary sales have been exceptions to that. His packaging of his point is false, though, and his point does
Re: (Score:2)
Nintendo has always had a cartoonish aesthetic about their games. They aren't trying to be hyper realistic, they never have. I seriously don't get where this "competing on graphics" thing came from.
Nintendo most certainly tried to compete on graphics with the NES, SNES, N64 and Gamecube. After all, the codename for the N64 was "Project Reality"
Back in the SNES days people who I believe to be people like you always said "Why have a SNES, Sega has better graphics". Nintendo has literally never been top tier graphics except possibly for the original NES, at which point I honestly can't tell as I was too young.
The NES wasn't quite as graphically capable as the Sega Master System, it does have better sound though. The SNES however is a different beast and does have superior graphics and sound to the Genesis.
Re: (Score:2)
Your numbers are crap. Yes, the Wii outsold basically everything, it was a huge hit. It was also TEN YEARS AGO. Yes the DS/3DS sell great, no doubt. But in the current home console space Nintendo are failing spectacularly.
According to Nintendo themselves [nintendo.co.jp], the Wii U has sold 13.4 million units worldwide. Sony and Microsoft don't publish hard numbers, but most estimates have the Xbox One at around 25 million and PS4 at around 49 million. Or a total "not Nintendo" of 74 million. This is despite the Wii U launc
Re: (Score:3)
As a game developer, I'll tell you honestly that in theory, Nintendo is right. Powerful consoles need huge pipelines. Games for XBox 1 and PS4 take hundreds of people to make, and every time the power goes up, our team sizes scale up accordingly. Game engines don't magically provide content on their own. Marshalling data into memory takes a non-zero amount of time. We need more animations, bigger textures, and more people working on AI, trying to make it seem better. (Spoiler: all AI in games is mainly smok
Re: (Score:2)
the expense of having to own 4 copies of a game if you and your kids want to play through a game together
That's what Steam sales are for: four copies at $10 each are cheaper than one full-priced copy at $60.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, this is why my family is primarily PC gamers. $500ish PCs for the kids and these kinds of sales (as well as GOG and Humble Bundle DRM free games) are much more feasible here. We do the 3DS thing for Smash and Mario Kart though, which is nice on road trips.
Re: (Score:2)
that Nintendo sells most of their consoles at a profit while Xbox and Playstation have largely been subsidized
Not the PS4, that thing has sold at a profit since day 1, which is something that couldn't be said for the Wii U.
It's very difficult to play an XBox One or PS4 with my kids on the couch.
How so? Playing Disney Infinity, Skylanders, Lego-whatever, Uno or Minecraft on a PS4 is no different from playing it on a Wii-U. I think you're letting your "Nintendo Nostalgia" cloud your objectivity on "family friendly"
If you don't want to hear what was done to your mother by a 12 year old, but want to play with others, Nintendo is the console to fulfill that.
You're letting your Nintendo Nostalgia cloud your objectivity again. It is quite possible to play online on non-Nintendo platforms and not have that issue. Besides the fact
Re: (Score:2)
Let's show you the point:
1. Home consoles don't need to be powerful. Nintendo has no problem creating fun games without AAA graphic designers spending years and millions of dollars to crank out something boring that causes the studio to go bankrupt.
2. Not all portable things go in your pocket. You don't complain that your laptop can't fit in your pocket do you? Not all portable devices need to be carried with you in a train to some foreign destination. The ability to pick up a device and move it into the ne
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that it's not trying to compete with PS/Xbox in the horsepower category is a good thing. Any halfway-decent PC is going to trounce them all anyway, so they're all struggling and scraping for 2nd place at best, meanwhile sacrificing things like fun and playability. I would much rather have a console that plays sprite games at 60fps 1080p, instead of one that tries to render photo-realistic images and struggles to reach even 30fps at 720p, because cheap graphics tend to leave more room in the budge
Re: (Score:2)
I grew up playing games like Mario and FF3 (6). Hence my inclinations towards good gameplay over good graphics.
The graphics in those games WERE good state-of-the-art-for-consoles graphics at that time. You're letting your Nintendo Nostalgia cloud your thinking there.
It was popular with EVERYONE.
We actually dusted off the old Wii just a few weeks ago for New Years:
It it is so popular why did you have to "dust it off"?
The reason you had to dust it off was because the Wii is like that Monopoly, Risk or Life set everyone has....that doesn't actually get played that all that often.
Nintendo focused on simple FUN, and absolutely destroyed the much more powerful competition of the time.
There was plenty of simple Fun to be found on non-Nintendo systems, your Nintendo Fanboyism is getting in the way of objectivity.
Nintendo
Re: (Score:2)
Nobody cares about graphical power, they just care about fun. The point is to make something other than a traditional console, to offer different ways to play, that can complement the other consoles, if you even want that. Only hard core gamers start caring about these things (luckily many Nintendo first party games do please the hard core gamer while remaining accessible).
Nintendo did make an updated 3DS by the way, the New 3DS. The Switch seems to be taking the Wii U concept much further. And everyone alr
Re: (Score:1)
Listening to customers gave us "Snakes on a Plane." Sometimes the customers are fucking idiots and should be ignored.
If the form factor is tablet, then it is a tablet (Score:2)
For fuck's sake, that's why tablets are called tablets in the first place, because they are... you know... shaped like a tablet.
Suggesting that it shouldn't be called one because it's actually a portable home console is is like saying that you shouldn't call an EV a car because it's not powered by gasoline.
Re: (Score:2)
Basically, if you want a tablet and a Switch, you need a separate tablet
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
For fuck's sake, that's why tablets are called tablets in the first place, because they are... you know... shaped like a tablet.
So my book is a tablet? What about my computer screen? Oooh I'm going to go into the kitchen and cut up something on a tablet instead of a chopping board.
Language is specific to use not only to shape. Your analogy fails for the same reason, an EV is still a car that does all the car like things.
This not tablet likewise does nothing a tablet does.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
The word "tablet" predates computers
You're right, so meet our other linguistic friend "context". A word in a context means something. The word "tablet" in the context of an "electronic device" does not mean what the Switch is offering.
Re: (Score:2)
3DS (Score:2)
The 3DS's death knell happened when they got access to the boot ROM, and discovered sighax. They can't update it with a patch. The hacking community can now sign their own firmware for the 3DS. Only option is a hardware refresh that will require everyone move to the new-new 3DS.
In short... Yes, the Switch is here to oust the 3DS, at least temporarily.
The Switch is a tablet (Score:2)
Stupid launch (Score:2)
The hardware looks okay but there's some real WTFs coming out of Nintendo right now.
WTF is a Nintendo release without a Mario as a launch game?
WTF is one of the key game releases coming after the console and nothing more than a "Deluxe" version of the existing Mario Kart 8, a game that caused a surge in Wii sales.
WTF is the idea of charging for a subscription service for multiplayer, copying the hardcore gaming giants when you are in a casual gaming market?
Like the DS (Score:2)
Remember when the DS wasn't replacing the GBA? It was a "third pillar" along side the GCN and GBA... but it actually took off and devs migrated. I can understand that this is a console enough, but being able to take console games on the go makes the 3DS look dusty. Although the game and system cost of the 3DS is still waaay cheaper
Used purchase....but last of the mohicans (Score:2)
299 isn't bad, but the games aren't there on launch day. I'll find it used before the end of the year and take my time about it.
In nintendo's defense, I have a feeling that this will be the last console I buy. Both scorpio and the next playstation are over glorified 4k pc's at this point...and I already have a kick ass 4k pc with vr, windows games, steam games and linux games.
Nintendo is the last maker of what I would consider a "true console" rather than a complete entertainment solution (ala a media cent
I don't think this will be a huge hit either..... (Score:2)
One of our kids is a BIG Nintendo fan, and just from the lack of excitement about the "Switch" coming from him, I can tell this isn't a product likely to set the world on fire.
I've always been more of a computer than a console gamer, but I've owned the PS2, 3 and 4, as well as a few misc. older 8-bit consoles, back in the day.
One of the big downsides of the Switch is that multiplayer gaming will start requiring a fee, just like the XBox and Playstation do. Especially for kids with limited incomes, this real
Maybe we should call it the Wii U 2 (Score:2)
Either Nintendo should produce a console that comes close to the power of the other consoles on the market, or stop trying to sell to console users. They do handhelds well. They should stick to that before they drive themselves to bankruptcy only to prove they don't understand the console market
Why does Nintendo even bother with hardware? (Score:2)
It's a serious question. Sure, if they decide to bring their software to other PS4, XBox, and Steam, they'll have to pay Sony, Microsoft, and Valve a cut. But their target market increases massively, and they can drop the whole hardware development side of things, which must also be costing them an absolute fortune. And surely a party as large as Nintendo can have a better deal than a small developer can get from the big boys...
Why not? (Score:2)
I dunno what's the fans position on this one, so this might be an unpopular opinion, but here it goes.
Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed with what Reggie is saying here. I don't see why Nintendo would keep the 3DS going with a product like the Switch. Fear of commercial failure perhaps, I dunno, but from a gaming standpoint, I'd be plenty glad if Nintendo just chose to focus on a single device making sure it had all the best content they could close deals with and whatnot.
Contrary to many voices out there, I
Re: Why not? (Score:2)
Oh, and then, why not see it as a tablet?
Far fetched as this thought might be, if a Nintendo console could be used as a regular tablet, with options to read news, visit webpages, watch YouTube, Netflix and whatnot, plus be used to do everything people buy a tablet for, it'd be a no brainer purchase for tons and tons of people.
The Switch is pretty well priced when compared to high end tablets, it has the most powerful SoC for tablets out there, the design is neutral enough (I mean, you have the choice to mak
I'll call it whatever I John Kramer damned want... (Score:2)
Last I checked: Nintendo doesn't own the copyright to the Freedom of Speech.
YouTube, on the other hand...
Today a home console, tommorow a mobile device (Score:1)
That approach will let them sell out the initial shipment of switches on launch day. They'll sell a few million units in the first few months after launch. Then come E3, they'll announce "All our handheld teams have been making games for the switch. So you get a Kirby ga
Re: how about i call it a failure (Score:3, Funny)
Ladies and gentlemen, I present: a random Xbox live user. Stick around while he tells us how many times he fucked our mothers.
Re: (Score:2)