The entire article has a tone of “it is exactly as we expected it to be”. Good to have a journalist say that Nintendo was not covering up some horrible, obvious flaw.

There is a reason that most games are listed as “capable of starting, more testing required”. It should not be too hard to set up automation that loads a game on to the Switch 2, launches it, and checks that it did not crash within 30 seconds.

Nintendo US website. Mario Kart has an MSRP of $79.99. Donkey Kong has an MSRP of $69.99.

For me, it depends on how much the upgrade packs add. If you frame it as “We will be releasing select Switch titles as enhanced editions on the Switch 2. If you already have the Switch version, you can buy the enhanced edition at a discount by getting it as an Upgrade Pack.”

Doesn’t PlayStation have a similar program?

At $500, the system would cost as much as a PlayStation 5 or XBox Series X and Nintendo would not be able to sell it as a low cost alternative. It would also be a 60% price increase over the previous generation. I would expect $400 and hope for $350.

I am ready for the battery life to keep getting worse, especially at the lower end of the range (so from 2.5-6.5 down to 2-6).

No graphics or performance improvement for old games running on the Switch 2 unless the publisher puts out a Switch 2 specific patch. Nintendo would rather have ugly games that work as expected rather than pretty games that introduce new bugs.

Sony sells (launch) systems at a loss, so they want people to stay on PS4. Nintendo makes a profit on systems, so they want to get as much demand as possible for launch systems, to attract third parties to the install base. They don’t mind selling 2 million copies this month and the other 98 million over the next 5 years.

It would be very short sighted of Nintendo to announce their new system and say that it is going on sale in 7 days. For one thing, it does not give any time for people to budget or save up for the purchase.

I have heard that this is in addition to the old system, not a replacement.

Based only on the trailer, I am guessing it is Animal Crossing but with your friends likeness instead of your friends’ fursonas.

Is this and Super Smash Bros the only two Mii games for the system? Was Mii Fighter even in Smash Switch?

You and I are very different then. If I tell someone that dinner is at 6 and they give me a thumbs up, I would interpret that as “I acknowledge that I heard you and have no objections. It is not worth taking my attention off of whatever I am doing.”

1. I assumed that the code was running on a machine that Lu controlled.
2. Most companies I have worked at had code reviews, but it was on the honor system. I am supposed to get reviews for all the code I push to main, but there is nothing stopping me from checking in code that was not reviewed (or getting code reviewed and making a change before pushing it). My coworkers trust me to follow the process and allow me to break the rules in an emergency.

I assume that the PS5 Pro is great for its target audience: people who care about getting the best possible graphics on a console. They bought it, they tried it, they loved it, and they praised it. The issue with the PS5 Pro is that not everyone fits into that niche. For people who are not playing on giant 4K TVs, what is the benefit? What does it provide that a regular PS5 (or even a PS4) does not? Sony has not provided an answer, from what I have seen.

I am sure they will. At least one third party accessory vendor has leaked that they are manufacturing a Switch 2 Mouse Grip (which is how the joycon mouse rumor started in the first place).

The telling thing is that Nintendo is not planning to reduce the price of the Switch. Hopefully they will drop the price when the Switch 2 comes out, or we may have different definitions of “affordable”.

The Switch currently sells for $300 and the OLED. In order to keep selling, those systems need to be significantly cheaper than the backwards compatible Switch 2, which would mean that the Switch 2 has to be sold for at least $400 (if not $450).

I would not be sure that Switch 2 will improve the performance of Switch games. Nintendo has shown that they care about perfect backwards compatibility (putting last gen chips into systems, allegedly testing the hell out of their emulators whenever they add a ROM to Switch Online). I could see the Switch 2 being limited to Switch 1 performance when in backwards compatibility mode to remove the risk of breaking some badly coded game.

I assume that the system will still be very hard to get on release. Nintendo is going to hoard systems until November and flood the market until December. If you or I cannot get the system on release day, we will complain to other fans, but we will keep looking until we find one or break down and pay scalper prices.

On the other hand, parents will want to go to Walmart at 3 PM on Black Friday and grab a system. If they don’t find one, they will be super mad that they have to explain to little Timmy that he is not getting a new Nintendo for Christmas. It will make the news.

What I would like to see is Nintendo limiting how much their resale partners can bundle with the system. For a while with the Switch, you could find one in stores… assuming you also buy a GameStop carrying case, a GameStop controller, a set of gold audio cables, and 3 shovelware games for a premium price.

I would seriously question the competence of Nintendo developers if their system cannot survive an unexpected shutdown. Computers losing power unexpectedly has been a possibility for server and desktop computers since those form factors were first created.

Sure, maybe some clever code cowboy decided that since the system will always have a battery, their OS can be optimized around never losing power. That reasoning should have been rejected, with prejudice, in a code review. Batteries fail and the older they are, the less charge they hold. Even if the battery is still good, the connection between it and the rest of the device can wear out or come loose.

I actually agree with the article, though I think it is premature. The Switch 2 trailer does nothing to attract normal people to buy the Switch 2. The trailer showed that the S2 is slightly larger, has a new JoyCon attachment, and implied that the graphics are better. None of that is a reason to throw away your Switch 1 and buy the Switch 2. Most people don’t care about top of the line graphics and those that do know that a PC or PS5 Pro is the top of the line and a high end phone will beat the Switch 2 for portable power.

Normal people want to hear the story about what the system offers. The Wii sold video games that made you more active instead of less. The Switch offered the same gaming experience at home and on the go. Every generation of PlayStation sells on top end graphics in a plug-and-play box.

What will be the unique selling point of the Switch 2? Hopefully we will know after the April announcement.

Gaming is a luxury but it is also an escape. Alcohol sells well in any economy. When the market goes up, you sell champagne to celebrate and when it goes down, you sell beer to forget. Nintendo is firmly positioned as “affordable gaming”.

Don’t want to go out and deal with other people? Stay inside and game.

Tired of kids screaming homophobic slurs at you in CoD? Now you know why Nintendo limits voice chat.

Can’t afford to take your kids to Mario Land at Universal? Bring Mario Land into your living room (on the Switch 1).

I would not mind if they kept the quick, efficient UI but still included all of the fun bundled software. I love transferring my Miis from one system to the next and seeing all the friends I played with (shame more Switch games don’t use them). I fondly remember commuting by light rail and collecting Miis in Street Pass Plaza.

With the Switch, I assume that the development cycle was rushed and the software devs churned out the OS but did not have a chance to develop any fun apps. It is a shame that they never went back and added them. With how well the system was selling, there was no need for them. Hopefully with the S2 having plenty of development time, they will do better.