The SwitchFollow

Anyone getting it? Already ordered it? Zelda BotW,

Seems like some of the amiibos will add some real content. Wolf Link amiibo from the Twilight Princess Wii U release will add a companion that will attack enemies and help find items.

Other old Amiibos just give you random gathered/crafting items. No word yet on what the new ones will do.

http://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/amiibo/

The live event last night was pretty interesting. Only about an hour or so long. Atlus is bringing a new SMT game to the Switch. NISA is releasing a "Complete" edition of Disgaea 5 for the Switch. Skyrim is releasing on the switch (not sure if I'm interested in that at all). Xenoblade is getting another game for the Switch. FIFA is ... (No one really cares about Soccer, right?)

The console is, relatively, cheap. I'm guessing the hardware is minimal inside the thing. No optical drive so you don't get to play video discs (kind of a down side). And from what I gather it won't have very much internal storage space, and will rely on removable storage like the Wii and Wii U did.

I did place a preorder this morning when I woke up. Figure I can always move it around or cancel it if I decide later I don't want it. But the new Zelda game is all I'm really after at this time.

Pretty much what Shaowstrike said. I have no interest at all in Nintendo's silly little quest to be the special unique snowflake of consoles. I stopped caring about Mario, Zelda, and Metroid a long time ago, they have nothing to tempt me with. From some reactions I've seen around the web, I have a feeling I'm not alone in that opinion. This thing is going to go the way of the Wii U, only faster.

Also, Nvidia already beat them to this form factor for a console a long time ago, and look how well Shields are selling these days.

The two features of the Switch I like are the high precision feedback on the rumble and being able to carry the game around with me as I want without being tethered to the base like the Wii U is. Currently if you walk away from the Wii U with the gamepad more than like... 15-20 feet or a few walls in between it starts throwing up errors. Switch fixes that.

The motion control looks like a vast improvement over the Wii/Wii U. Abandoning the camera/scanner system in favor of high precision gyrometers and accelerometers. While I don't care for games that focus on the use of motion controls, the technology being better makes it easier to introduce the stuff into other games like using the PS4 Six Axis dual shocks for Gravity Rush 2 motions.

Exclusives, man! What if you want to play Last of Us or... uhhh... Microsoft Solitaire? Wait! Gears of War! Yes, that's a game that I assume people play. Gears of War.

No, wait, Microsoft ports those to PC now, don't they? Ok, don't ask me why you'd buy an Xbox...

Edited, Jan 17th 2017 9:41am by Jophiel

This is the first time in many years that a pre-release console has made me say "I want one." Last time that happened was with the Wii.

Kind of is an issue due to the size of the controllers and the varying sizes of people's hands and how they hold the controllers. I've never had a wireless controller become blocked just by holding it. And I've never had a car crash into a wall because my hands were twice as big as someone else's and I decided to hold my wheel at 6 and 12 instead of 10 and 2.

Can't say I've ever had my PS3/4, 360, Wii or Wii U controllers lose connectivity because of how I was holding them. (Infrared tracking thing on the Wii not counting) The main difference being that the way those controllers were designed, and their sizes, your hand was never able to cover the whole thing.

I'd imagine it's just a weak transmitter in the unit. Probably to prop up their 20 hour battery life. That can't go through small things like fingers.

It's Nintendo. I wouldn't really hold out for a game library anymore.

I got my Switch and Zelda last night and started playing it.

Joy con connectivity issues are real. I was actually having issues with the right Joy Con not registering button presses, but I was resting my hands on my knees in my chair, leaning forward. And the joy cons in my hands naturally (comfortably) tilted inward toward each other. Every time the tip of the right joy con came close to my left hand or arm (about 2 inches) it would start missing button presses (Left/Right triggers when navigating menus on Eshop was where I noticed it). Sitting about 7 feet away from my TV across my living room.

Modders have confirmed that the issue show up with the Left Joy Con more often due to a weaker antenna design compared to the Right, but both transmitters appear to be extremely low power and can't handle even moderate distances with normal gripping if something (anything) comes between them and the base.

The Grip/Charging Grip feels a bit awkward to me. But apparently that helps. I have a "Pro Pad" to play my games, so I just put my Joy Cons on the charger and left them there.

Only started the second tutorial shrine on Zelda. Frame rate dips are noticeable. Biggest annoyance so far is how fragile weapons are. A metal sword breaks very quickly. I found a woodcutter's axe, cut down a couple trees, and my axe proceeded to blow up. It feels like I'm playing Last of Us, where I could use a lead pipe twice before it was unusable... I'm pretty sure I could smash in 100s of skulls with a lead pipe, no problem.

But, other than weak *** equipment, my impressions in that short time are positive. Oh, other than the stupid "Here's an in game key item that looks exactly like the console you are playing... strange isn't it?". I hate that.

Edited, Mar 7th 2017 3:05pm by TirithRR

Admittedly I'm only a few hours in, but I only have two major complaints about Breath of the Wild so far.

1 - Weapons have ZERO durability. Why does a metal sword explode after a dozen hits? Why does a bow break after firing 5-10 arrows? I get that equipment is intentionally disposable, but it feels like they went pretty far overboard with it.

2 - The controls are weird and there's no way to change them. Who decided it was a good idea to make it impossible to press the dash and jump buttons at the same time? Seriously, did no one play test this?

I was able to purchase a second Switch when they went up for sale on Amazon at lunch today.

My brother wanted one, but he works in a job that doesn't allow him internet access. So I happened to sit down at my computer right as they went up for sale at noon.

I guess I'll give it to him as a late birthday gift. Still can't find the Pro Controller (I don't buy third party or scalpers). But he would use it retty much 100% handheld.

What's sad is you can literally fit the entire NES library (all of it. US, Japan, UK, and every variant in between), a program to run them, and an episode of most 30 minute tv shows (720p, not 1080p) on a single CD. And people want to pay for it, considering how easy it would be just to pirate it so Nintendo is just throwing money away.

I'd have understood that kind of mentality during N64 vs PS1 vs XBox when they still thought they were the top dog and could make bone head decisions, but now?