Nintendo Switch Conference
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There seems to be ‘thing’ at the moment regarding our entertainment consumption. For a lot of people, if they don’t get what they were expecting (almost exactly) then they’re straight onto forums, comment forms and social media to denounce said entertainment as “terrible”, “awful” and other profanities that I am refraining from detailing here, presumably you know what I’m talking about. Off the top of my head, major things people have, unnecessarily, written off, are: the latest season of Sherlock, Overwatch winning IGN’s Game of the Year and the majority of season 7 of The Walking Dead, so far.
You know what, its fine to not like something or to be underwhelmed or even disappointed in something. This doesn’t mean, however that this is the case for everyone. The last season of Sherlock provided a different story for the famous deductionist, Overwatch is an excellent game, just because it isn’t your type of game doesn’t detract from that and The Walking Dead provided a different pace in order to build up for the second half of the season which is building to be something pretty mega!
Over the weekend we had an awful lot of news regarding Nintendo’s brand new console, the Nintendo Switch. Though we had seen three minutes of the new device back in October, we have been left speculating and dealing with endless rumors until this weekend just gone, when Nintendo finally gave us more information via a live stream from Tokyo around the world. There was and is a lot of information to digest and we have been finding out new things ever since, the proverbial flood gates refusing to slam shut. I would say that for the most part. The Switch stream was a success, there was a lot of positivity following the reveal and some of the games look fun, exciting and downright odd!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ntzz8O7SpWs
It’s been a while since we had a full on Nintendo conference style event, with Nintendo leaving their announcements for their online Treehouse events, rather than attending big shows such as E3. I guess there hasn’t been much to announce from the Big N of late. All that changed on Thursday/Friday (depending on where you were). The conference didn’t start in the way that we may have to expect, perhaps spoiled by the likes of E3, the conference had a much more modest start. It didn’t start with a big game reveal, rather the President of Nintendo, Tatsumi Kimishima, given us a proper introduction to the Switch. An exploration of some of the specifics of the console; the unit, the dock, its new controller (the Joy-Con) and how it separates. Then, out of nowhere, BAM, release date and price!
I was always expecting to find this out towards the end of the presentation, a high to end on. Though this was probably a smart move, given that the price ended up being higher than we had originally anticipated it probably makes sense to get it out of the way, though you could argue that the very soon release date was an exciting reveal. It was originally rumored that the Switch would be available in multiple SKUs (i.e. different memory sizes, bundles with games etc.) but this wasn’t the case.
Straight after this we learnt about the online service the Switch would receive and a discussion on region locking. Simple and too the point, for the most part, region locking was clear and concise, there isn’t any. The online service was touched on but not enough detail was given and Nintendo announced that more details would be coming soon. Given how quickly after the stream the information was available, they might have well just announced it within the stream. Though if you consider the potentially questionable decision to only allow paid subscribers to access the free NES or SNES game for a month before losing that access, it may have added a negative spin to the conference.
Following on from this we learn where the idea for the Switch has come from. By taking all the ‘best’ ingredients from the previous Nintendo consoles, the Switch was able to be created. Combining all of that lineage together to make a device certainly is a great way to sell it, like a greatest hits of Nintendo’s consoles. The conference also goes into detail about how the machine can be played in different ways; TV, Tabletop and Tablet. Some further details were provided including battery life and how the controllers are utilized.
Following this, the presenters focused on the Joy-Con controller and the features it has. For such small devices it has a lot; built in IR sensors, accelerometer, share button, camera and ‘HD Rumble’. Explaining HD rumble, the presentation used useful visuals to emphasize the subtleness that can be expressed via each individual segment of the Joy-Con controllers. I liked the analogy they use, a glass with ice cubes being added and then being filled up with water to describe the difference you could feel in the controller.
I was engrossed in the presentation at this point and hadn’t noticed that it had gotten to the 18 minute mark before we’d been shown an official title for the Switch. I’m sure some people will be unhappy that the conference to this point has been all details and specifications, rather than what games we should be expecting to play come the release date, similarly to the Xbox One reveal where Microsoft were heavily criticized for not focusing on the games enough (something I don’t agree with, but that’s another article for another time). In Nintendo’s defence, the rest of the presentation is all about the games, another 40+ minutes showcasing some of the gamest that will be gracing the new machine.
I actually applaud Nintendo for the way they structured their conference. One of the biggest problems with the Wii U is that people didn’t know where it lay within Nintendo’s console ecosystem. Some people thought it was an accessory to the original Wii, others didn’t even know it existed and others were just unimpressed with the tablet controllered device. It was essential that the Switch was understood, that people knew how it worked and the concept of the console. To make sure the console can be a success people need to know what they’re selling. So taking the time to explore this is paramount.
To their credit, Nintendo then trotted out oh so many games. Whether all of them take your fancy is of course subjective, but there isn’t a problem with games. There’s loads coming, I think the biggest criticism being levelled at Nintendo for the Switch’s catalogue is that they aren’t all coming out on launch. I think a lot of gamers are expecting the same levels of titles made available as were for the PS4 and Xbox One’s launch. It is important to remember that an awful lot of the titles released for Sony’s and Microsoft’s hardware were ports of last gen games (Assassin’s Creed IV, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts etc.). Most of the titles, bar a couple, releasing in Switch’s launch month are all exclusive to the Nintendo’s machines and haven’t been released on any other console. There are around eight titles launching within March, giving people plenty to play with. That’s just new titles, we are still waiting on details of what will be available on the presumed Virtual Console. Besides, I’m sure Breath of the Wild will take plenty of time.
The titles that are announced through to the end of the year, so far, have mostly been seen in the stream we saw last week. There are a lot of cool titles coming, so being ports of previous games and some announced as coming to Switch as an additional format for multi-platform titles. Not only was there a good variety in genres (action, adventure, party games, platformers, sports and more), but there were also a load of exclusive titles coming. Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild were definitely the top titles on show but all of the exclusies looked fun. 1, 2, Switch and Arms were good ways to show how Switch handles more Wii like, ‘family’ titles handle for the more party-esque play style, whereas games such as Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Fire Emblem: Warriors give you some more serious looking titles for the more traditional play style. Add that to the announcement that Bethesda will be working with Nintendo to bring The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, it emphasises that Nintendo is serious about the more serious ‘adult’ titles. This was important to show off to show to gamers that they can do both.
It was a strong showing and Nintendo even game us some figures that there will be plenty of titles coming this year; plenty that aren’t even announced yet. What you have to remember is that this is a brand new system; the architecture, operating system etc. are totally different, so titles may be slower in appearing to start with. Don’t forget there are some titles we know about already, such as Seasons of Heaven, that weren’t touched on. Plus there’ll be more at E3.
The presentation was delightfully Nintendo, embodying the ‘Switch’ metaphor by literally switching between speakers with a snapping of the fingers and well timed ‘Switch’ sound effect. A couple of weird moments perhaps for us as Western viewers, particularly the scientist who was announcing Splatoon 2, bless him, he must enjoy what he does. Nothing seemed on the level of awkward cringe levels of Ubisoft’s E3 from 2016, or any Minecraft demonstration from Microsoft from the last couple years (as impressive as HoloLens was).
If I had to criticize Nintendo’s presentation it was that they deferred a number of announcements to ‘a later date’. Some of these later dates were merely hours later, which seemed like they could have just added it to the presentation. Not that it was a big deal. On top of that, I don’t think thre needed to be brief chat about EA Sports coming to Switch, it’s pretty much a given that there’ll be a FIFA on a console that releases, it just happens. Further to that, there were a couple of moments where some of the games shown or spoke about were literally fleeting glances. There was very little mentioned about several games and didn’t seem worth mentioning. Coming in at just over an hours length, it was a decent length and didn’t feel overly long.
I was excited for this conference and I feel good about the Nintendo Switch, there are plenty of games coming and unique titles to make the Switch worth purchasing, just got to wait for them to come. I agree with some people’s reticence, to a degree, not every game announced is going to appeal everyone and Nintendo’s deflection to a ‘later time’ for certain pieces of information must be frustrating when we just want to know what’s going on. But, for the most part, there is some great potential, which Nintendo showcased really well. As well as a whole gamut of guests (including Shigeru Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aime, Todd Howard and Eiji Aonuma). It was a fun conference setting us up for an exciting future.
