As much as everyone hates Nintendo, apparently, this means literally nothing for them. This does, however, make the used market a nightmare to deal with
I’ve skipped the Switch 2 due to that, and that even physical media versions are just a download key
Same reason why I’ve decided to skip Switch 2, and I’ll pirate the games 10 years from now.
If it’s going to be digital anyways, fuck it, ya know? If I don’t get a physical copy, why am I going to clutter my physical space with a case that does almost nothing?
Now imagine if NES, SNES, N64 games had been like this. If internet had been around in the 80s like it is now, do you think an SNES download cart would do anything today? I still have NES/SNES/N64 games. If the cart were a digital download, I’m sure the download links wouldn’t work today. WiiU doesn’t even work, and that was 10 years ago.
What you are describing existed! The Satellaview. You are correct, while some have been preserved, most of the games were lost to time.
I mean…I guess. I wouldn’t exactly call SatellaView the same thing as internet downloaded games.
My understanding is it was a Japan only thing, that you downloaded the actual game from local corner stores (like 7/11), and then dialed in for the “live” voice acting from random actors. So even though they’d be reading the same script, your experience would differ wildly, and the audio was about onpar with a telephone call being played out of your tv speakers.
And the reason it was Japan only is because as patchy as that sounds, it’s still more advanced than what we had available in terms of connectivity in the USA at the time.
Your first statement is ironic because the SatellaView is literally internet downloaded games. It used satellite internet. You also didnt need anything other than the peripheral and the included software disk. It downloaded and stored the games locally.
That being said its not entirely related to the question of downloaded games on the switch 2. SatellaView games were all free. The service was free. You just paid for the peripheral. The games were a variety of stuff, some that were minor modifications of existing games, some that were basically leaderboard based challenges, and some that were actually pretty fully fleshed out titles based on existing franchises.
The voice acting bit youre remembering is true, but the games themselves were still downloaded via satellite and stored locally on the peripheral.
that you downloaded the actual game from local corner stores (like 7/11)
No, games were broadcast via satellite modem - hence the name.
The live radio dramas were only part of a few special event titles, but there was a lot more on the service, including standard downloads of both retail games and Satellaview exclusives.
Both the Satellaview and its competitor the Sega Meganet allowed for direct downloads. As did the US version Sega Channel.
But it isn’t any different from what was happening on Switch 1. And only a few physical game releases are actually key cards.
Except this time around it’s already looking like a minority of games are going to be on the carts. The blank key only cards are cheaper, so publishers are choosing solely because of that to maximize profits.
Previously on the original Switch the key carts were often games that didn’t fit the onboard space.
There were no key cards on the original Switch, only some games (like Doom) that would only have some of the data on the cartdridge and some downloadable.
Well, on top of that the Switch 2 Cartridges come in one size, 64GB, and it’s allegedly something like $14 USD per cart.
If your game is 20GB in size, why would you want to eat up that much of your profits on top of Nintendo’s cut?
It’s a tough choice to make. I won’t support ‘Game Key Cards’ because that’s stupid but I like to buy physical games because if I’m going to buy digital it’ll be on PC.
There are still games that are complete on the kart like Cyberpunk 2077 and Mario Kart World.
A minority. And it’s only going to get worse as time goes on. The digital only carts are cheaper for publishers, so you know that’s what the majority will pick just because. The ones with the game on board also only come in a 64GB flavor (currently) so anything larger than that won’t fit and would require a digital cartridge.
Nintendo clearly wants to transition to digital only for some reason, even though they’re releasing some first party games on the carts still.
Can I ask where the material difference is to a game that requires a Day 1 patch download to work? With a Game Key Card, that patch is simply very large. You can still sell the game, just like a standard cartridge. And the Switch cartridges never had infinite shelf life to begin with, so they’re not suitable for archival either.
Single player games should work without a day one patch. Not necessarily perfectly, but they’ll still work.
I’m not interested in the switch 2 but why is this such a big deal. Don’t pirate and you don’t have anything to worry about
Banned consoles are getting returned and sold as used already to unsuspecting consumers.
It also brings other choices they’ve made this generation into question. Many games aren’t actually on the cartridges, they require downloading them to play even if you have a physical cartridge. If the device is banned, you cannot access the eShop to download anything.
