I'm a Switch, I'm a Lover, Talk About It With Each Other

Time for a new Switch chat thread.

Balla ended the other one with the shocking news that he's not bothered about online play or Retro games. I, on the other hand, will enjoy both of those things thoroughly on the Nintendo Switch from this September onward.

Huzzah!

We were discussing this news about Nintendo's paid online service.

For me it's all about Cloud saves and if we see games beyond NES in this Online Pass.

Drunka wrote:

I'm on ARMS/i] and [i]SPla2n all the time, so I'd happily pony up just for the online. A Netflix of NES games with added online as well? Baller! Hopefully we'll see that added to over time until it's basically a full Virtual Console.

Cloud Saving is cool as well. I'm sure people will complain that it's not available for free.

Overall, this is bloody good. Top job, Ninty!

I forgot to mention the only reason I'm not all over ARMS & Spla2n more is any time I want to play with/against people MH World & R6 Siege are my go to games.

I'm like that but with Overwatch unless a event is happening in Splatoon 2.

What's the thoughts on no VC? You all thinking like me the Online Pass will be like Game Pass / Netflix and things like Cube games getting HD'D?

Aye that sound like a decent idea, doesn't it Idris?

Don't see myself paying for this, I don't play my Switch online and the only upcoming online game I can think of is Smash, but I'm not sure if I care enough about that to pay for online either.

As soon as we're all playing something, you'll cave. It's not even that much.

I wonder if there's a way we could all buy a family pass and split the bill? I've seen people discussing that on twitter, among all the awful takes jumping at the opportunity to shit on Nintendo with misleading headlines. Looks like a good time to come offline and go for a big hike up the river and in the mountains.

The_Jaster wrote:

Aye that sound like a decent idea, doesn't it Idris?

I hear he's not a fan of a TTYD though, going to disappoint some.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I don't object to it as such. I just don't have an overwhelming desire to play anything on Switch online and I can't see anything in the immediate future changing that.

Drunkalilly wrote:

Balla ended the other one with the shocking news that he's not bothered about online play or Retro games.

That said, I am a massive Nintendo fanboy and want Nintendo to have the best of everything, even online play and retro games!

For all my concerns about the online service, it is dirt cheap, which is good. I might shell out for it despite not particularly being interested in what's on offer, it's that cheap! And if they crank out the games a bit faster than they have in the previous generations, we could have stuff like four-player online Mario Kart 64, or Mario Tennis, or the SNES Bombermen. That would be chuffing excellent.

...it's a big 'if' though. The only way I can see most of the NES titles being exciting to all but the most hardened of retro nerds (who will presumably already own NES Minis) is if they make some serious changes. Like four-player Balloon Fight, or some of the content from Super Mario Bros. DX.

Anyway, to end on a positive, it's a much better idea than the last online one we heard from them. All hail Nintendo!

I'll personally be waiting until Smash releases for signing up to the service. It's the only game I can see myself playing online with any regularity and there's not much point in me signing up early for the NESFlix service.

I do think the price point is spot on considering Nintendo's somewhat shaky track record in providing a stable online experience and the family pass idea is a cracker - one to look into for the forum? - which along with enhancing the NES games with online modes makes it for an easier sell than at first glance.

My only tiny concern, which admittedly is baseless at this point, is that NESFlix is taking the place of a fully fledged Virtual Console service. The radio silence on the VC is growing to be a smidge concerning and I was hoping to hear a bit more about it alongside with the rest of the information about Nintendo's online scheme.

Not at all, Jay - it is in fact well-based.

For the most part I'm none too fussed. The VC was done moderately well on the Wii but terribly on the Wii U (along with everything else, the sharp-tongued might say), and I'm fairly sure we'll get the best retro games through other means. The one thing that does grind my gears about that is that's another console's worth of VC purchases unable to be transferred to the next one. Granted, not many people may have bought the Wii U, but it's such a basic customer-friendly move and I do find it annoying that we can't move them forward.

Hm, from what I gathered from that article it seems as though Nintendo are still going to give us the Virtual Console in all but name. If I'm not clutching at straws, then I'm down for an on-demand retro collection in addition to the online subscription. I hope it expands beyond NES though - give me some SNES and Gamecube action, please!

How I took it be no Virtual Console in name or distribution that I think we see the online expanded past NES games also I said about HD'ing Cube games well we do have some in China along with Wii games on the Nvidia Shield (basically a Switch) that I can see Nintendo bringing them over to Switch for £20-30 maybe even on a cartridge.

I don't see it as a VC in all but name because there's no eve theoretical ownership of the games - otherwise, yes pretty much, especially given the NeoGeo range is already available.  As for expanding to other machines, I'm hopeful but wary, recalling how slow Ninty was on the VC(s).

In other topics, is it just me or are around half the games coming out on the eShop these days rogue-likes, or ones with some degree of procedural generation? It might just be me, because I loathe that sort of stuff.

I can see this being a better setup than the previous VC, anyway. I could easily see Nintendo including their on-demand retro classics with future online subscriptions down the line and considering we've never really had a big chance to take our VC titles with us from console to console beyond the Wii U, it's the next best thing.

My gut instinct is to subscribe to the Nintendo online stuff as and when there are games I'm definitely going to be playing online. My problem at the moment is money - Nintendo games are expensive, and while there are good deals for downloadable indie games, they're still not the sort I'd generally be taking online anyway.

Should we ever get around to a GNamer Mario Kart or Mario Tennis etc., I'll be opening up the wallet for a month or so. Otherwise, I can't really justify it. That being said, by September I'll probably have a stable income so my stance could very much change around then.

Far as I'm aware Balla doing procedural is easier for developers than actually designing world's. I think Jim Sterling brings this up in his recent video, to regards to God of War.

I play very little online so it's really just an annoyance. I do buy a lot of indie games on the store, so if there are decent discounts maybe it'll justify itself that way, but we'll see

I know people buy PSN just for the discounts that I guess even if you save 10% on each game are you going to save more than £20 over a year.

The problem with the PS+ discounts is that they don't make games cheaper - they just bump the price up for anyone /without/ PS+. I imagine the eshop will work the same.

I don't know if they can do that suddenly put a game up in price (wouldn't that be against some sort of law) and the RRP has always been the same pretty much between PS4 and Xbox for digital games and same with Switch if you look at something like Fe maybe an odd pound difference but largely the same.

And normally it's a game in a sale anyway and then plus members get a little extra off again or a preorder.

What I mean is, if there was no PS+ everyone would get a £5 discount in a sale. With PS+, PS+ members get a £5 discount and non-members only get a £3 discount.

I getcha, yeah guessing will be the same for Nintendo with the exclusive discounts for members.

masofdas wrote:

Far as I'm aware Balla doing procedural is easier for developers than actually designing world's.

As are chiptunes, and pixel art, and short length... difference being that of all things in gaming, world design is probably the most important to me.

OrangeRakoon wrote:

The problem with the PS+ discounts is that they don't make games cheaper - they just bump the price up for anyone /without/ PS+. I imagine the eshop will work the same.