Despite it being a Nightmare. I think the Switch will be succesful.

The Nintendo Switch is a Hellish Nightmare for Fans and Gamers alike.

1. Pay to Play Online with the worst incentives.
2. Expensive Controllers and Accessories. (including a Controller dock that charges the controller that is NOT included with the console)
3. Weak Launch Line Up and Weak 1st Year.
4. Over Priced Games. (Ultra Street Fighter 2 is $40, Skyrim is $50, 1-2 Switch is $50!)
5. Online Services like Amazon Video, Hulu, Youtube, and Netflix not available
6. No heavy hitting 3rd Party Games hitting Switch (Games like Resident Evil 7, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Red Dead Redemption 2)
7. Party Chat locked to not just the Paid Online Service, but to a Separate Phone App.
8. Disbanding Miiverse and Spotpass
9. $299.99

And the thing is Nintendo is going to get away with it all.

Unless you haven't been paying attention, The Console is SELLING OUT EVERYWHERE.

Amazon, Gamestop, Walmart, Best Buy... As of right now at the time of writing this post (1/17/17) The Nintendo Switch is not available to Preorder. (you can still preorder the Grey version at Target apparently?)

This System went on Pre-Sale LAST FRIDAY and by the Following MONDAY the System was starting to sell out.

Given the fact that Zelda is launching with this system and there's a strong hatred for the last console (the Wii U). I feel that Nintendo and it's terrible consumer Practices are going to get away with a LOT of stuff simply because they make Video Games that people want to play.

Yes Zelda Breath of the Wild is launching on Wii U as well, but so far it seems like It's much more desirable to get the Game on Switch then Wii U (probably because it's the only game that's kind of worth it for Switch).

Also given that Nintendo making a Much more desirable version of Mario Kart 8 (more Characters, Dual Item Wielding, Actual Battle Mode, All DLC for the same price as Wii U Mario Kart 8) and Splatoon 2 coming to the Switch Exclusively with both 2 of them being Wii U's top played Online titles. It's likely people will be willing to pay premium to Play these games online despite the Incentives being hella weak.

Nintendo Switch is a Nightmare that we wish would go away, but it's likely that Nintendo will pull through with it and get away with a ton of mistakes simply because they're Nintendo.

Of course this is all speculation since it's ONLY JANUARY and not March, yet.

You are so wrong my friend

1) We don't even know the specifics or services their online is offering so this point is irrelevant right now

2) Yup a bit overpriced (although you CAN charge the controllers with whats provided within the box)

3) Disagree i think the launch is fine as well as having a decent first year ( Zelda, Xeno 2, Mario kart, and Mario all in year one. Not to mention Super bomber man, Disgaea 5, Skyrim, FIFA, NBA2k, Splaton 2. Toss in the reggie quote saying metroid and mother 3 are coming within 1 year also) Pretty solid IMO. At least DECENT

4) Nintendo doesn't price games other than their own. 1-2 Switch sure, you could say it is a bit much or should have been a pack in.

5) Who gives a shit? We have 10 other devices to use these. OR they could be coming later on if you really want them

6) Nintendo hasn't had third party forever and who knows maybe a bunch will get announced or come later once the Switch sells.

7) We don't know enough details for their online, not to mention using your phone for the portable chat makes sense rather than looking for hotspots on the switch

8) Things everyone said sucked and didn't use but now you want them? Maybe they got replaced with different things or are still working on it.

9) 299 is fine for a price. The switch offers value in other ways that isnt pure horsepower. Console on the go, joy con tech, and it is still like a WiiU2x. Doesnt have to be 10 times the power to offer value.

Also gives em wiggle room to drop the price if needed later. And yet keeps it high enough so the consumer doesnt think its a toy or isnt a sexy piece of tech, as most have said it is.

But you are correct i think the Switch will still succeed even though your speculation is bunk :P

Nintendo Always does good at first. Then reality. They rape us but we like it. Actually, I'm liking it less and less as the gens go on. They either need new IP's or need to recognize the old Ip's such as Metroid and F-Zero. What they need is third party and they ain't gonna get it.

Also, would it kill them to cater to people above the age of 12?

Nightmare and success doesn't go together.

@LegatoSkyheart:

1. Handheld device form factor is a major positive feature. Weaker laptop PCs are destroying desktop PC in unit sales and laptop's major feature is mobility.

I agree with the sentiment, if not your specific points.

It will be like the 3DS all over again.

@flyincloud1116: again- 3DS.

If it's a nightmare it won't succeed. Launches don't mean anything. It can sell really well at the start and then fade quickly. Or it can sell poorly at the start and then gain steam. But either way, if its that bad where it's that much of a nightmare for gamers, there's going to be too much dislike of the console for it to succeed. Casual people who may want to buy it would see all the media negativity against it with a quick Google search.

That is well said. It will be great for some but not so much for me.

Zelda Botw, Arms, Splatoon 2 and Mario Odyssey in the first year looks pretty good to me.

More games than I wanted for Xbone or PS4 in their first year.

If it's like the 3DS, it will launch poorly in sales and then become a hit. That's quite possible as this launch isn't that great, but there's a lot of good games coming out for it at a later time.

After the abysmal last year of the WiiU I would have thought the first year of the Switch would be better. Like they had that terrible year on the WiiU because they were working on games for the Switch. They said they delayed the Switch so that they could have more games ready at launch. I'm not following their narrative here.

Man, all the drama queens are coming out of the woodwork these days.

Were you hoping for a drama free Nintendo release? Ha!

Personally I think they should have waited to launch this console for the holidays so they could have launched with a lot of games like Zelda, Splatoon 2, the new Mario, Mario Kart, ect., and built up a lot of momentum. It seems like Zelda forced their hand to launch it a bit early. With making online a trial until the fall, it seems like they should waited a bit and thought things over in how to approach things. Not to say it's going to bomb. But now there's questions about the system's lineup and if it's another Wii U rather than about how exciting the console is.

"A nightmare we wish would go away" - speak for yourself. :-)

Why is it so hard for people to understand that other people may not like what you like? Why does someone else have to be "wrong" if they have different preferences or appreciate value in different ways?

I mean, although I own a 3DS I've never been a huge 3DS gamer (or Vita gamer, for that matter). And yet, I'd never tell people that these platforms should "go away" or imply that they are wrong or stupid for loving those platforms. Geeze.

Being sold out only proves the limited availability.

@smashed_pinata*use bullets

1. We do know that you'll get 1 month of a NES/SNES title free to play, but once that month is done you have to pay to continue playing that NES/SNES title.
2. Never said there wasn't a way for you to charge the controller out of the box. Just the Controller Dock is a separate device that would be really convenient to have if you have multiple controllers. Still overpriced Accessories are overpriced.
3. We can disagree and agree all we like, but when you look at the line up, it's about as Strong as a Staggered Wii U year, and the Wii U barely had any good years.
4. You may have a point there, but there could be part of Nintendo's problem too, with there being no real communication from Nintendo, Bethesda is free to Price their games whatever they want. Heck Nintendo could have suggested to them to price it at $60 cause that's a Nintendo thing to do. Worked for Windwaker, Worked for Twilight Princess, Why wouldn't it work for Skyrim?
5. This is actually Pretty important actually! Can you imagine a New Smart Phone launching in 2017 and it didn't come with a Internet Browser Option? Different Market, sure. But in an Age where just about EVERY mobile device can view Netflix (which includes 3DS mind you), It's a HUGE deal for this system to not have even THAT as an Option.
6. Third Party isn't something to brush off just because "Nintendo has never had 3rd Party". One REALLY BIG factor in why so many didn't buy into the Wii U was purely because it didn't get the Heavy hitting 3rd Party Releases. It missed out on so many during it's first year despite it's Launch Line up getting some fairly heavy hitters like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty. Not Having that Big Third Party at Launch or even during that First Year is a HUGE Blow to the System's overall Life.
7. You're generalizing this as if using the Switch as a handheld, the Switch however is being marketed as a Console. CAN YOU IMAGINE IF SONY DECIDED THAT THE PS4 PARTY CHAT WAS LOCKED TO THE PLAYSTATION APP ON YOUR PHONE? Cause that's essentially what Nintendo did.
8. Miiverse didn't suck. It was generally well received and Spot Pass was pretty underutilized, but when it is it worked pretty well. Miiverse could have evolved on the Switch and become a Share space much like what Xbox One and PS4 have. A Place where you can share Live Video, Screenshots and messages to Friends and Others a like. It's a shame Nintendo is getting rid of such a neat concept.
9. The point of this bullet was to show case you're paying $300 for a device that has all of these things going against it. a Poor Pay to Play Online experience, Very Few worth while Games in it's launch year, No 3rd Party hits, No Video Streaming options, The first actual Exclusive Game to this system isn't till *Summer 2017, Must have a Smart Phone to use Party Chat, A Share Button with no Share Space, Big launch Title isn't Exclusive to the system, (didn't get to this) 32 GB of Memory, overpriced accessories, and probably some other things I have yet to talk about, but yeah. $300 is a LOT to ask for given all the details we have NOW.

So far I doubt Nintendo will drop this thing's Price any further then what it is. They have stated that they will NOT sell Switch at a loss unlike 3DS and Wii U and I'm willing to bet they're going to keep their word on that.

I think we will have to agree to disagree with a lot of those. We are gonna hear more details as the weeks go by and i think it will alleviate some of the worry.

I think the price and lineup is fine, you don't thats chill.

Also i think the unified development of handheld and console titles all for one device will REALLY help with game droughts and lineup issues and not having third party support.

Let's stop bitching about not getting third party support. The thing that attracts them is tech and power....Nintendo doesn't go that route and i think it's their best bet.

Makes you wonder...why does a third party dev's "creative vision" rely primarily on hardware power? Nintendo is able to creative some of the best games ever on "weak and limited" hardware, why can't anyone else?

I personally think some people aren't giving enough credit to Nintendo for making what is essentially a "Very powerful" Handheld despite it's still a home console first and foremost. We can cherry pick the bad stuff all day long, but it is a pretty amazing handheld hardware.

I really hope this works out well for Nintendo, but as DF suggested, they need to decide whether they are marketing this as a home console first and handheld second, or vice versa. Being only slightly above the Wii U, and below the PS4 for a second time (following the Wii U being under-powered in 2012), it may be difficult to convince consumers this is a home console worthy of their time, especially with Nintendo's history of not setting the world on fire with their previous console. On the other hand however, focusing on the machine's handheld capabilities could possibly do wonders to position it in the market. If they came out and said this is the eventual successor to the 3DS, featuring compatibility to play on your TV at home, then it may put things into a different perspective. Especially considering how the 3DS, DS, Gameboy are all remembered for being incredible handheld systems and everyone knows Nintendo is the king of that particular market. Fortunately they're off to a good at communicating this is a new system, unlike their failure to clarify this with the Wii U.

Overall, I think Nintendo made a mistake by NOT releasing Super Mario: Odyssey as a launch title for Switch and this idea should have been thought from the Switch development start but at least, Breath of the Wild will fill in the void however.

So far, it seems to be a great secondary system to play Nintendo games on with the occasional third party exclusive but a bad primary system. I'm getting a lot of N64/3DS vibes with it, especially comparing Breath of the Wild to Ocarina of Time in greatness as well as Super Mario Odyssey to 64 and the fact that it has 3DS-like JRPGs coming to it.

The price of the Joy Cons is steep. I'm sure the tech behind it is expensive, but I also question how much Nintendo will actually push it. It's not just a matter of including the tech, but also making something of it. Regardless of how much Nintendo utilizes it, I dont see myself going crazy with the Joy con controller detached, and don't recall ever losing or breaking wii motes back in the day, so I'm not seeing those 50-80$ price tags being relevant to me.

The pro controller pricing sucks a bit more since I actually wanted the pro controller. That being said maybe the controller that comes with the system will actually be nice. I actually got used to playing with the Wii U gamepad so maybe the same thing will happen again. Or maybe I can buy a cheaper off brand pro controller and get the $70 as a gift for the holidays or something.

It's the paid online I'm concerned about, and want some details on. Hopefully there will be more to it than what's been announced currently, as neither the monthly rental or phone chat app are doing anything for me. Also need to know about pricing for that.

Of course a Nintendo system will sell out pre-orders. What console doesn't? What's important to ask is will it keep that momentum over the years? Selling 5 million the first month is great. Selling 6 million the entire year isn't.

Fandem pre-orders and scalpers will make the system seem like a smash success initially and then all of the noted pitfalls and disastrous decisions surrounding it will cause it to sink and fail horribly.

Just like Xbox One will catch up with PS4 by 2015 end, and Uncharted 4 will fall below 90 on Metacritic.

Just like me being hopeful about the Xbox One catching up to the PlayStation 4, your hope won't save you from this disaster.

If you say so

Well I said so, so yes.

Your word, after all, is known to carry the force of truth

In mostly all cases, absolutely, if there's one thing I do not partake in it is lying, and if I say something that is wrong I was mistaken, it doesn't happen often.

Oh I'm sure it will be successful. Its degree of success has yet to be determined though. Initially it is off to a much better start than the Wii U. Seems like the biggest struggle will be getting Nintendo to stop being Nintendo- as in, all these questionable decisions. Despite the BS looking online stuff, I'm still excited.

At the very least I'm sure it'll do better than the WIIU.

PSN and Xbox live offers free games every month, Nintendos online services offers you a rom file that you rent for the month and then they are gone by the end of the month. Yeah, it's a fucking disgrace. But it's Nintendo just being Nintendo, I hope the Switch is another failure as the Wiiu so that they finally wake up to the reality of the whole situation. Having another poor line up as well is beyond stupid.

The Switch threads are everywhere. But hey, it keeps the board alive.

1. Yeah, pay to play sucks and the incentives as they are believed now suck. But I am strictly against pay to play anyway so they could not win me over here unless the service costs $20 a year.
2. Controllers and accessories are both pricey. I thought $65 Dualshocks were insane, but $80 joycons? Madness! (Considering the battery life of the joycons the absolute need for a grip that can charge them as you play is practically non-existent, so this complaint is more of a whine.)
3. All devices tend to have weak launch line-ups. Some have good first years. Switch has one strong launch title, and at least two strong titles total in the first year. That's not too shabby.
4. Game pricing is too high across the board, but I doubt they'll be lowering console game prices from $60 to $50 and handhelds from $40 to $30.
5. Strangely missing indeed, but it could be added later. If it's not added within the first six months I'd consider it an issue.
6. Nintendo has always lacked third party. Par for the course.
7. Ehh... still too unclear about this. Some accessories seem to point that you can party chat from the device, but only undocked. Until verified, it's a hindrance when docked at worst.
8. Yeah, that sucks. Rarely used Miiverse but it was at least some kind of social network for Nintendo. I'll also miss Streetpass and Spotpass.
9. Should've been $249.

You sure need to take your fanbase for a bunch of dumbasses if charging $50 for 1-2-Switch is reasonable to you. I mean, are you kidding me? This is not a video game. Its not even a mini game... its a F2P app that demonstrates the waggle capabilities of your system. This is almost triggering me, but at the end of the day, i'm not the one that is getting ripped off so meh.

@silversix_: Bro you get triggered every Nintendo article, its hilarious.

Being triggered isn't funny. Its a serious matter and shouldn't be laughed at.

Are games $60 now? I have seen some?

https://www.amazon.com/Legend-Zelda-Breath-Wild-Switch/dp/B01MS6MO77/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484713070&sr=8-1&keywords=nintendo%2Bswitch%2Bgames&th=1

So a $10 increase over last gen games?

Also paid online is oh so delicious and you have to use an app on your smart device for it AND pay for it?

And when you use a smart device application that will connect to Nintendo Switch, you will be able to invite friends to play online, set play appointments and chat with friends while enjoying online matches in compatible games, all from your smart device.

That's atrocious in my opinion. So you have to use your OWN device and then PAY to access multi player and chat? How is that acceptable?

O no, its funny.

@iandizion713 said:

@silversix_ said:

@iandizion713 said:

@silversix_: Bro you get triggered every Nintendo article, its hilarious.

Being triggered isn't funny. Its a serious matter and shouldn't be laughed at.

O no, its funny.

who gave you my picture?

@Heil68:

Not sure where you live, but here in the states console games have been $60 since 2005-ish (around the time X360 was released). Memory is fuzzy, but prior to that they were $50? Hopefully someone will clear that up.

Handheld games have been $40 for just about as long if not longer. Again, fuzzy memories.

As for the multiplayer and chat; I don't know how it works on PS4 and X1, but don't you have to pay for the services to play online? And with it comes the voice chat? Or is the voice chat somehow free but the online play locked behind the service?

@mmmwksil: Your right, both PS3 and 360 increased price, Nintendo decided to stay at $49.

I'm in the states, weren't WiiU games $50? I could of swore they were...If not, then I retract my statement about that.

Online is a paid forMs and Sony but you chat, party and invite through the console itself, how Nintendo has setup the paid online is downright awful unless I'm missing some miraculous way that it's the better way?

"What I don’t get is why they think that doing this through a mobile app is the way to go. If I’m going to have to pay to chat through their system, why wouldn’t I just use one of the plethora of free gaming party apps out there? Are they going to charge me to have a friends list? To host a gaming party? If so, that completely kills the system for me. The best part about Nintendo games is the multiplayer."

"That sounds nuts. You could imagine it making sense if it was that all the Switch’s social features are also available from you phone for when you don’t have your Switch with you, but if they’re not available from the Switch at all that’s just crazy."

So you are supposed to give your kids a smart device or your phone so they can play with their friends or possible randoms and enjoy online?

@Heil68: Just buy your kids Iphone 7 for Pokemon. Get with the times bro.

How anybody can call a launch lineup that includes Zelda: Breath of the Wild weak is unfathomable to me. The Nintendo Switch has a killer app at launch which is something that both the PS4 and Xbox One did not have for their launches.

In fact, neither PS4 nor Xbox One even got a killer app in their entire first year. The Nintendo Switch is going to have at least two killer apps in it's first year, one of which is almost certainly going to be the Game of the Year.

Sorry Billy, you cant play online with Nintendo, they are afraid you will say **** to random people.

@Heil68: Ill say it to your children's. Theyre my favorites.

That's the only reason I want Switch, to be able to go online and troll people.

@Heil68: Day 1 baby.