video game music

My Hopes for the Nintendo Switch

Posted by Ray on 02/27/2017

Posted in: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch. Tagged: Nintendo, Nintendo Switch, Switch, video game music, Video Games, videogames. Leave a comment

I am actually someone lucky enough to be getting a Nintendo Switch on launch day. I have had my pre-order into Amazon since you were able to do that, and for the first time in a long time, I am excited for a Nintendo platform. I skipped both the Wii and the Wii U, they never felt right to me, but this does. However, the opening month of the console seems really dry, unless you plan on putting crazy Skyrim time into Breath of the Wild. I have a mental wishlist for what I want to see coming around on the system short-term, let’s go over them.

The Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console (including your past purchases) carries over to the Switch: Nintendo has been less than stellar with their treatment of the Virtual Console, which is odd. If anything, it is their greatest strength, if only they leveraged the properties available to them. People had to deal with a rocky transfer from the Wii to the Wii U, either using the sub-par Wii U emulation of VC games (and paying a small fee to transfer compatible games), or dealing with the Wii U emulating a Wii emulating old games. Completely inelegant in execution, Nintendo has a chance to finally make this right with the unification of their profiles and sign-ins to one account. While I may own no games from those VC’s, I have a ton on the 3DS I would like to play on the new system, and I would gladly take advantage of this library, spending more money on these games than I would on anything new coming out immediately.
Nintendo realizes no one will pay 50 dollars for 1-2-Switch and makes it free with the system: One of the biggest strengths of both the Wii and the Wii U was the pack-in titles. Despite the fact that pack-ins being standard largely died with the 16-bit generation, Nintendo’s consoles have since been out-of-the-box enough to sort of need something that proves why they’re not just making a powerhouse machine. Wii Sports was probably the main reason for the console succeeding on the level it did. Nintendo Land, while not as insanely popular as Wii Sports was a compelling enough show of the Wii U’s potential. While 1-2-Switch seems even less compelling than Nintendo Land, something is needed to show the broader audience why Nintendo is taking this system and loading it with so many gimmicks. While the thing exists, very few people would be willing to pay 50 dollars for it. The sooner Nintendo realizes this, the better.
Allow for External hard-drives: While I plan on treating my Switch as primarily a portable system, many people will not. I purchased a 128gb micro-SD card for the system and knowing Nintendo file-sizes, that will be fine. However, for people who want to go nuts, you can get something like an 8tb passport drive for around 200 dollars. With the PS4 finally coming around on the idea of external drives, it seems silly for Nintendo to not have support for them.
Pokémon: Nintendo should really leverage their largest properties as fast as possible on the system. Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are great starts, but Pokémon probably cuts across the largest segment of people with wallets/people who are in the care of people with wallets. People have wanted a proper Pokémon game on consoles for ages, and the third version of the Sun/Moon combo would be a great place to start.

Will any of these things happen? Probably the last one, if any. In any case, I am finally giving money to Nintendo for a console, and I hope to holy hell they do not disappoint me.

-Ray

I love the website Humble Bundle. Ever since I found out about it, I make sure I check it all the time for the new stuff going up for stupidly cheap prices. These games are never so old as to be irrelevant, and the fact parts of the proceeds help charity is always nice as well. While I have enthusiastically told anyone I speak to ever that plays games to check these bundles out, the newest Humble Indie Bundle may be the best deal I have ever seen on the site.

As of this writing, for the extremely cheap price of…well anything, you can get Guacamelee!: Gold Edition, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Gianna Sisters: Twisted Dreams and The Swapper. You could pay a penny and get these games, as well as their soundtracks. If you pay at least a dollar, you get Steam keys for them. Even better however, is if you beat the average donation, which at the time of this writing is $4.29. If you pay at least $4.30 (I paid $4.50), you get all the games previously mentioned, as well as Antichamber, Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine, as well as the soundtracks.

Making this already incredible deal more tempting is the fact that as the two week sale goes on, more games will be added, which you automatically get if you already beat the average. As with all of these bundles, you are able to decide how your money is distributed, between the charity, the developers and Humble Bundle itself. The default split seems very fair, but you can honestly do however here and really do no wrong. So far, close to 170,000 bundles have been sold, adding up to a little over $720,000. So come on folks, get some great games for cheap, and give to charity in the process. Here is the promotional video.