Should I buy Nintendo Switch? This would be my first console.

[cmdrdredd]

The problem with separating the social app and putting it on a phone is that it makes for a cluttered experience. You should be able to do all those things within the system itself. Now you have to drain your data plan on your phone to chat with friends while playing a game. Not to mention, how do you use headsets with it? You basically can't since game audio comes from the system and chat from your phone. That's just a stupid design. If it weren't for Zelda the switch would get almost zero sales.

 

[Sonikku]

*The screen scratches easy*
Buy a protector.
*The system's 32gb of system data is barely big enough for a single full sized game*
Buy a massive memory card.
*The joycons don't constitute an optimal controller experience*
Buy a Pro Controller.
*Online gaming used to be free on Nintendo platforms*
Now start paying a subscription to do what the Wii U did for less for still fewer features than Xbox Live.
*The joycons can't be charged in use like the dual shock can*
Buy a joycon charger.
*The Switch can stand upright, but not while charging because the charger port is on the bottom.*
Buy the Official Stand to circumvent input placement.

Buy, buy, buy. The system has many issues and the solution to basically all of them is to buy more and more accessories that feel basically mandatory. The system costs as much or more as the competition at $300 but unlike the the PS4, Xbone and even the original Wii does not come with a single game. That's another $60 on top of everything else. All told, the total cost to ownership could rival that of a gaming PC or launch PS3.

 

[cmdrdredd]

*The screen scratches easy*
Buy a protector.
*The system's 32gb of system data is barely big enough for a single full sized game*
Buy a massive memory card.
*The joycons don't constitute an optimal controller experience*
Buy a Pro Controller.
*Online gaming used to be free on Nintendo platforms*
Now start paying a subscription to do what the Wii U did for less for still fewer features than Xbox Live.
*The joycons can't be charged in use like the dual shock can*
Buy a joycon charger.
*The Switch can stand upright, but not while charging because the charger port is on the bottom.*
Buy the Official Stand to circumvent input placement.

Buy, buy, buy. The system has many issues and the solution to basically all of them is to buy more and more accessories that feel basically mandatory. The system costs as much or more as the competition at $300 but unlike the the PS4, Xbone and even the original Wii does not come with a single game. That's another $60 on top of everything else. All told, the total cost to ownership could rival that of a gaming PC or launch PS3.

1) you shouldn't have to buy a protector because they should have designed a dock that doesn't scratch the thing or use better glass.
2) game updates cannot install to a memory card. All game updates will only use the 32GB internal memory. What happens when there is a bunch of 10GB updates?
3) Nintendo should have packed a pro controller in a bundle for a discount. They aren't that easy to find either and at $70 they are overly expensive and don't even offer any headphone ports or analog triggers.
4) Nintendo' online gaming is a joke and will always be a joke on the switch. They are using friend codes again and you need to use your phone for it which is ridiculous. There is no way to do voice communication via the console and there is no way to use a gaming headset for both chat audio and game audio at the same time if you don't have it plugged into an AVR or something that has a headphone port and use a couple extension cables and even that won't allow you to balance game audio can chat audio like the PS4 and xb1 allow as well as most high end headsets. No Bluetooth on the switch either. Fail, fail, fail

I agree that Nintendo is basically nickel and dimimg everyone for all the stuff they either screwed up or saw as a cash grab opportunity.

 

[renz20003]

1) you shouldn't have to buy a protector because they should have designed a dock that doesn't scratch the thing or use better glass.
2) game updates cannot install to a memory card. All game updates will only use the 32GB internal memory. What happens when there is a bunch of 10GB updates?
3) Nintendo should have packed a pro controller in a bundle for a discount. They aren't that easy to find either and at $70 they are overly expensive and don't even offer any headphone ports or analog triggers.
4) Nintendo' online gaming is a joke and will always be a joke on the switch. They are using friend codes again and you need to use your phone for it which is ridiculous. There is no way to do voice communication via the console and there is no way to use a gaming headset for both chat audio and game audio at the same time if you don't have it plugged into an AVR or something that has a headphone port and use a couple extension cables and even that won't allow you to balance game audio can chat audio like the PS4 and xb1 allow as well as most high end headsets. No Bluetooth on the switch either. Fail, fail, fail

I agree that Nintendo is basically nickel and dimimg everyone for all the stuff they either screwed up or saw as a cash grab opportunity.

Aaaaand that's why I didn't buy one... I like their games but they don't care about the customer.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I won't be getting a Switch, but all the positive talk about Zelda makes me think I'll grab it on Wii U at some point. Might as well use the piece of junk for something. I will probably completely bypass Switch unless Mario and X2 prove to be nothing short of amazing.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I won't be getting a Switch, but all the positive talk about Zelda makes me think I'll grab it on Wii U at some point. Might as well use the piece of junk for something. I will probably completely bypass Switch unless Mario and X2 prove to be nothing short of amazing.

Agreed. If Mario is like the next coming, I may get one then.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Mario looks pretty good from the preview but I don't think I'll buy a Nintendo console until they go back to where they were Gamecube and before when they still had cutting edge hardware and interesting 3rd party games. Look at the difference in Dragon Quest Heroes 2 on Switch vs PS4:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbRA1mCbrac

It's not like PS4 is anything special hardware wise. That's just crazy to me the Switch version is a port of the PS3 version. The PS3 is freaking 10.5 years old and I'm going to pay $400 for Nintendo's console that can only run games at that level? (The Pro Controller and a 64GB microSD flash are 100% necessary IMO). My PS4 was $220 with a $60 game that I really wanted bundled in free (Uncharted 4), it looks way better, and has a far superior library now than what the Switch is likely to have in its entire lifetime. Smh at Nintendo with the constant gimmicks since Wii. They haven't built a must-have console since N64 (the Gamecube probably would have been if they didn't use those stupid tiny discs).

 

[Triloby]

Between the lack of online functionality on the Switch right now, the lack of games right now, and some of the reports of build quality issues in some Switches, I'd suggest holding off on the Switch for at least several months to around 1 year. Maybe by the end of this year, the Switch will have more games and probably have some deals going on by then. Right now, I wouldn't even consider touching it.

It may be the most powerful handheld gaming device out right now, but it doesn't really have much to show for it IMO.

 

[Zenoth]

They should just have done a couple of things to help the situation, in my opinion:

1) The Switch was essentially released almost a year too early. Instead, they should have delayed until the holidays.
2) That delay would have given Nintendo perhaps more time to polish the hardware and/or Dock and/or peripherals, etc.
3) March 3rd would have been the release of the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild.
4) The Switch version of Breath of the Wild would have been more polished until the holidays release, perhaps would have had a significant graphics / performance boost.
5) The holidays would have had two major releases on the day of the Switch's launch: Switch version of Zelda + Super Mario Odyssey (would have been a KILLER launch).
6) At that point, 1-2 Switch might have been more polished, would have had a few more game 'modes', AND should have been INCLUDED with ALL variants of the Switch package/bundles.
7) Such a delay would have also allowed the engineers at Nintendo to fix a couple more bugs (hardware/mechanism/software-wise).

Imagine a Switch November / December release with Mario Odyssey and a 'better' Switch version of Zelda on launch day? The Earth would have stopped rotating for a week.

Instead of doing any (or all) of the above, they opted to launch the Switch along with Zelda on BOTH systems, VERY bad business decision, it split sales on two fronts. They should have continued full support of the Wii U for an extra 9 to 10 months, from the release of the Wii U version of the game until the Switch's release. Additionally, releasing ONLY the Wii U version of Zelda last week and waiting for a holidays release of the game for the Switch (along with the 'console') would have allowed the Zelda dev team to figure out all (if any) of the bugs that the massive players base would have inevitably found as the following months passed. The Switch version at release would have been more polished, and might have even been released alongside one or two DLCs that would have themselves been released for the Wii U over a period of a few months.

Anyway, one can 'dream'. I just think that the Switch, right now, is a completely useless system that serves absolutely no purpose and only cannibalizes the already-established 3DS / 3DSXL territory. They won't win the Cup with just one player on the otherwise nonexistent team (analogy means their only Switch player right now is Zelda, they don't even have a goalie). As much as I love Nintendo GAMES and Nintendo's first-party dev teams and Mr. Miyamoto for his legendary contribution to video gaming in general... I think it's time for Nintendo to look at what Sega did to save themselves.

 

[nurturedhate]

They should just have done a couple of things to help the situation, in my opinion:

1) The Switch was essentially released almost a year too early. Instead, they should have delayed until the holidays.
2) That delay would have given Nintendo perhaps more time to polish the hardware and/or Dock and/or peripherals, etc.
3) March 3rd would have been the release of the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild.
4) The Switch version of Breath of the Wild would have been more polished until the holidays release, perhaps would have had a significant graphics / performance boost.
5) The holidays would have had two major releases on the day of the Switch's launch: Switch version of Zelda + Super Mario Odyssey (would have been a KILLER launch).
6) At that point, 1-2 Switch might have been more polished, would have had a few more game 'modes', AND should have been INCLUDED with ALL variants of the Switch package/bundles.
7) Such a delay would have also allowed the engineers at Nintendo to fix a couple more bugs (hardware/mechanism/software-wise).

Imagine a Switch November / December release with Mario Odyssey and a 'better' Switch version of Zelda on launch day? The Earth would have stopped rotating for a week.

Instead of doing any (or all) of the above, they opted to launch the Switch along with Zelda on BOTH systems, VERY bad business decision, it split sales on two fronts. They should have continued full support of the Wii U for an extra 9 to 10 months, from the release of the Wii U version of the game until the Switch's release. Additionally, releasing ONLY the Wii U version of Zelda last week and waiting for a holidays release of the game for the Switch (along with the 'console') would have allowed the Zelda dev team to figure out all (if any) of the bugs that the massive players base would have inevitably found as the following months passed. The Switch version at release would have been more polished, and might have even been released alongside one or two DLCs that would have themselves been released for the Wii U over a period of a few months.

Anyway, one can 'dream'. I just think that the Switch, right now, is a completely useless system that serves absolutely no purpose and only cannibalizes the already-established 3DS / 3DSXL territory. They won't win the Cup with just one player on the otherwise nonexistent team (analogy means their only Switch player right now is Zelda, they don't even have a goalie). As much as I love Nintendo GAMES and Nintendo's first-party dev teams and Mr. Miyamoto for his legendary contribution to video gaming in general... I think it's time for Nintendo to look at what Sega did to save themselves.

Releasing Zelda now on Wii U and then on the Switch in Nov/Dec would most likely have hurt sales. The Switch is selling out and it's not because of Just Dance 2017 and Super Bomberman R, it's Zelda all day every day. You push your hardware when you can to get the adoption rate up. There's no scorpio out yet. PS4 Pro is still $399. Waiting until this winter would have meant competing with a possible scorpio, a reduced price Pro, and most likely $199 One S and PS4's. That's suicide when you've already sold Zelda to your hardcore fan base on the Wii U.

 

[Sonikku]

I can see it from both points of view. Good points to be had for either route.

 

[Ichinisan]

The problem with separating the social app and putting it on a phone is that it makes for a cluttered experience. You should be able to do all those things within the system itself. Now you have to drain your data plan on your phone to chat with friends while playing a game. Not to mention, how do you use headsets with it? You basically can't since game audio comes from the system and chat from your phone. That's just a stupid design. If it weren't for Zelda the switch would get almost zero sales.

"Drain your data plan?" If your Switch is on WiFi, your phone also should be.

 

[cmdrdredd]

"Drain your data plan?" If your Switch is on WiFi, your phone also should be.

I guess you're right there but that doesn't make it a good idea.

 

[desura]

I wonder how Nintendo will crack down on piracy. The Switch looks like their most vulnerable console yet. Also, I bet that someone will hack the new Zelda and find a way to run it on all Android hardware.

 

[Ichinisan]

I wonder how Nintendo will crack down on piracy. The Switch looks like their most vulnerable console yet. Also, I bet that someone will hack the new Zelda and find a way to run it on all Android hardware.

What makes it "vulnerable?"

 

[desura]

What makes it "vulnerable?"

1. Chipset looks like it is not custom like the Wii U but is pretty much an off-the-shelf Nvidia X1.

2. Sd card slot and USB-c slot.

Unless they have some DRM system that goes through the joycons, this system's similarities to standard android hardware will probably speed up hacking. In which case...we might be able to play zelda at 60fps and 4K haha.

 

[Ichinisan]

1. Chipset looks like it is not custom like the Wii U but is pretty much an off-the-shelf Nvidia X1.

2. Sd card slot and USB-c slot.

Unless they have some DRM system that goes through the joycons, this system's similarities to standard android hardware will probably speed up hacking. In which case...we might be able to play zelda at 60fps and 4K haha.

• There was nothing unusual about PowerPC architecture in the Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U. Which console gets a 100% brand new undocumented architecture?
• The Gamecube (with adapter), Wii, PS3, and Wii U each have an SD slot.
• The Wii, PS3, and Wii U have USB.
• The JoyCons would have nothing at all to do with DRM. Heck, they can already be used with PC or RetroReceiver -- just like Wii and Wii U Bluetooth controllers (and PS3/4).

Practically no platform could be released without SD, USB, and an existing, established, well-documented architecture.

I wish it was as easy as you seem to think. We'd all be playing ripped XBOX One and PS4 games on our x86-64 PCs.

 

[sweenish]

As for OP, the question is honestly a bit stupid.

Does it have exclusive games you want to play? If yes, does the price of entry suit you? If yes, go for it.

If you're on the fence, save your money, even if it's just for a while while you think it over some more.

Not that getting advice from others is bad, but when it comes to game consoles, the decision making is pretty basic.

 

[Achilles97]

Maybe consider a used Wii to hold you over. There are some really fun, casual Wii games that are perfect for the occassional couch gaming session.