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Don't Call Switch a Tablet, Also It's Not Here To Oust the 3DS, Says Nintendo (cnet.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report on CNET: Don't call the new Nintendo Switch a tablet. And don't assume the shape-shifting device for gamers will replace the company's popular 3DS handheld, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime said in an interview with CNET. With its latest gadget, Nintendo is playing to win the same game it has for decades: the one that takes place in your living room. "The form factor may be that it looks like [a tablet]," he said. "But...it's a home console that you can take with you and play anywhere with anyone." [...] "With Zelda, with Kart, with Xenoblade, I think the initial consumer for Switch will be more young adults with disposable incomes, given the price points and the large library," Fils-Aime said. That doesn't mean Nintendo is ditching its core audience. The company will continue to skew toward a younger crowd with the 3DS. "In the end, we want people of all ages engaging with Mario and Zelda and the content that's available across both platforms," Fils-Aime said.
As LL Cool-J would say: Don't call it a comeback!
(because this product ain't a comeback).
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
It's a New New 2DS with an dock for outputting to a TV....
Let's see: it's mobile, it's underpowered, and it happens to be able to plug into your TV. Yup, it's a 3DS replacement that gets rid of the 3D gimmick in favor of motion control.
A good, real Metroid game. None of this "Federation Force" stuff.
Useless CRAP, with lower computing power than three-year old PS4 and Xbox One, at an even higher price.
It's exactly like a 3DS, except without 3D, and doesn't fold in half, and has removable controllers, and supports couch multiplayer, and ... well they both play games, so there's that.
It does kind of resemble a tablet, except it's a tablet with actual joystick and button input, instead of touch screen garbage. And honestly, that alone sounds like everything I've ever wanted from a tablet.
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Sure, I believe you, Nintendo. Just like you said its not a replacement to the Wii U. Its not replacing the Wii U, they just stopped all development on the Wii U in the months leading up to Switch launch. Big difference, see!
Really, it damn well should be a replacement for the 3ds because that's the only way they're going to get 3rd party support- by migrating all the 3ds third party support to it.
Getting HD versions of franchises that are on the 3ds today like Fire Emblem and Monster Hunter is the only way I'll consider buying it, really. Nintendo doesn't have the game output to sustain 2 separate, incompatible pieces of hardware all by their lonesome.
Not to oust the 3ds? You make me laugh, Nintendo!
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
I don't really see the point of the Switch, for either Nintendo or its customers.
It wants to be a home-console system, except without the power to match the PS4 or XBox360, and without the huge line-up of games.
It also wants to be a portable, except without the convenient "drop-in-your-pocket" size, the ruggedness or (comparative) cheapness (enough that you can give it to your 10-year old without worrying if he'll break or lose it) of the DS line.
It wants to be a tablet, except without all the extra non-gaming features (email, Facebook, chat, web, even word processing) that modern tablets offer.
And while its controllers are "neat", they look - and early reports confirm, feel - terrible to play with over long periods of time.
Frankly, I think Nintendo would have been just as well to release a slightly updated version of the Wii and the 3DS and call it a day. Combining both lines into one jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none just doesn't seem to be a winning move. Nintendo seems to be sacrificing both lines - despite their claims that it is not a replacement for the DS - on the altar of the Switch.
Then again, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not anywhere near Nintendo's target market; I'm not ten years old . The requirements and likes of those markets are about as far from mine as you can probably get. The Wii and its games were amazingly popular with the pre-teen crowd and arguably the Switch is exactly what the kids want. But as a parent, I'd dread giving my kids a $300 portable device that looks as if it would snap in half if dropped (say what you want about the controls and graphics of the DS line, those things could take a beating).
For fuck's sake, that's why tablets are called tablets in the first place, because they are... you know... shaped like a tablet.
Suggesting that it shouldn't be called one because it's actually a portable home console is is like saying that you shouldn't call an EV a car because it's not powered by gasoline.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Listening to customers gave us "Snakes on a Plane." Sometimes the customers are fucking idiots and should be ignored.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present: a random Xbox live user. Stick around while he tells us how many times he fucked our mothers.
The 3DS's death knell happened when they got access to the boot ROM, and discovered sighax. They can't update it with a patch. The hacking community can now sign their own firmware for the 3DS. Only option is a hardware refresh that will require everyone move to the new-new 3DS.
In short... Yes, the Switch is here to oust the 3DS, at least temporarily.
Your move, Reggie.
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This is specifically because the comparison between the Switch and a regular Apple/Android tablet wouldn't be very favorable to Nintendo. The Switch has modular controller attachments and Nintendo's first-party titles, that's it. Everything else is largely working against them: poor screen, virtually no use case beyond games, poor battery life, not pocketable yet not very large either, no integration with other devices you might have.
Basically, if you want a tablet and a Switch, you need a separate tablet on top of the Switch. Hence, the Switch isn't really a tablet.
For fuck's sake, that's why tablets are called tablets in the first place, because they are... you know... shaped like a tablet.
So my book is a tablet? What about my computer screen? Oooh I'm going to go into the kitchen and cut up something on a tablet instead of a chopping board.
Language is specific to use not only to shape. Your analogy fails for the same reason, an EV is still a car that does all the car like things.
This not tablet likewise does nothing a tablet does.
The hardware looks okay but there's some real WTFs coming out of Nintendo right now.
WTF is a Nintendo release without a Mario as a launch game?
WTF is one of the key game releases coming after the console and nothing more than a "Deluxe" version of the existing Mario Kart 8, a game that caused a surge in Wii sales.
WTF is the idea of charging for a subscription service for multiplayer, copying the hardcore gaming giants when you are in a casual gaming market?
The word "tablet" predates computers, you know, and referred to any (generally portable) flat slab which may be used for inscription or writing, whether it was wood, stone, wax, or any other material. Your monitor is not a tablet because it is probably not a flat slab, your chopping board, however, is. Tablet computers are called such because they have the form factor of a tablet, not because of their capabilities.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
So it's not a typical tablet computer... there's nothing wrong with that, but the entire notion of calling something a tablet computer in the first place comes from what such a computer LOOKS like, not what it might do. Tablet means a flat slab, and if it looks like a tablet, then it is a tablet, by definition.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Remember when the DS wasn't replacing the GBA? It was a "third pillar" along side the GCN and GBA... but it actually took off and devs migrated. I can understand that this is a console enough, but being able to take console games on the go makes the 3DS look dusty. Although the game and system cost of the 3DS is still waaay cheaper
299 isn't bad, but the games aren't there on launch day. I'll find it used before the end of the year and take my time about it.
In nintendo's defense, I have a feeling that this will be the last console I buy. Both scorpio and the next playstation are over glorified 4k pc's at this point...and I already have a kick ass 4k pc with vr, windows games, steam games and linux games.
Nintendo is the last maker of what I would consider a "true console" rather than a complete entertainment solution (ala a media center/media pc). ...and I don't count steam box, its a pc.
One of our kids is a BIG Nintendo fan, and just from the lack of excitement about the "Switch" coming from him, I can tell this isn't a product likely to set the world on fire.
I've always been more of a computer than a console gamer, but I've owned the PS2, 3 and 4, as well as a few misc. older 8-bit consoles, back in the day.
One of the big downsides of the Switch is that multiplayer gaming will start requiring a fee, just like the XBox and Playstation do. Especially for kids with limited incomes, this really marks the end of one of the reasons to advocate for Nintendo vs. the competition. I don't know what Nintendo plans to charge, but I'm assuming it's going to be in line with today's "industry standard" of an annual price equivalent to a new release game title.
It also appears to be a situation where you'll essentially get forced to buy one, if you want to play the latest in Nintendo's most popular game sagas like Mario Brothers and Zelda. (Yes, I understand they're promising games like the new Zelda will also be available for Wii -- but good chance that's the end of the line there.) IMO, that would be completely forgivable if the Switch had great new graphics capabilities and a faster CPU, so the new titles could utilize the superior hardware resources. But that's not the direction Nintendo has gone here either.
Either Nintendo should produce a console that comes close to the power of the other consoles on the market, or stop trying to sell to console users. They do handhelds well. They should stick to that before they drive themselves to bankruptcy only to prove they don't understand the console market
It's a serious question. Sure, if they decide to bring their software to other PS4, XBox, and Steam, they'll have to pay Sony, Microsoft, and Valve a cut. But their target market increases massively, and they can drop the whole hardware development side of things, which must also be costing them an absolute fortune. And surely a party as large as Nintendo can have a better deal than a small developer can get from the big boys...
I dunno what's the fans position on this one, so this might be an unpopular opinion, but here it goes.
Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed with what Reggie is saying here. I don't see why Nintendo would keep the 3DS going with a product like the Switch. Fear of commercial failure perhaps, I dunno, but from a gaming standpoint, I'd be plenty glad if Nintendo just chose to focus on a single device making sure it had all the best content they could close deals with and whatnot.
Contrary to many voices out there, I was a plenty glad Wii U costumer. Don't regret the singlest bit the purchase, the console paid for itself and was one of the most used in my particular and admitedly very peculiar case (I got a console mostly to play in party game scenarios).
If the Switch can work as a portable, I don't see why it'd be a good idea to segment the market by releasing a successor of the 3DS with some sort of classification as if it's more for kids or something.
Also, if there is one thing that made me furious with the Wii U (and make no mistake, despite liking the Wii U I had a ton of frustrations with it), was watching all the great titles being released for the 3DS with the Wii U left to collect dust specially in the past year.
One recurring thought was always... if only the 3DS games ran on Wii U, even if it kept that awkward resolution and didn't work all that well, I would have used and bought far more games for the console. I'm not even asking for actual Wii U version of these franchises... just ports would've been enough.
Now, if Nintendo ends up with a Switch and a New New New New 3DS or whatever comes next to it, we'll end up in a similar situation with Switch owners wanting the portable games, and whatever hardware sells the most being relegated to no titles at all.
Other than multiplayer games, which I can't imagine was a HUGE market at the time, isn't the fact that the DS plays GBA games somewhat significant? Hard to feel abandoned if your old system still worked, and your old games worked even if you upgraded to the newer device?
The word "tablet" predates computers
You're right, so meet our other linguistic friend "context". A word in a context means something. The word "tablet" in the context of an "electronic device" does not mean what the Switch is offering.
The word "tablet" in the context of an "electronic device" means a device that is shaped like a tablet. That is, after all, why tablet computers were called that in the first place.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
And me without mod points... I've played "similar" games to Advance Wars on iOS and the bigger screen/touch input can be a boon... But they never match the style or story of the originals. I'd vote for Fire Emblem games as well.
Sorry Nintendo and it's legion of fanboys.
Last I checked: Nintendo doesn't own the copyright to the Freedom of Speech.
YouTube, on the other hand...
That approach will let them sell out the initial shipment of switches on launch day. They'll sell a few million units in the first few months after launch. Then come E3, they'll announce "All our handheld teams have been making games for the switch. So you get a Kirby game, a Pokemon, a Phoenix Wright, an animal crossing, a Mario and Luigi RPG, and a Fire Emblem! Oh by the way, these teams all targeted the games to use the resources of a handheld, so they can be played for 6 hours on the switch before needing to be charged!"
Thats when they will remind us that the switch is a handheld mobile console.
The combination of a home console with the Marios, Zelda's and Skyrims, plus all the amazing hand held games you are used to seeing from a nintendo handheld console will be the big seller. Then a bunch of 3rd parties will join in cause it turns out when you take a PS4 game, downscale it to 720P (which lets face it, on a 6 inch screen still looks really impressive) and drop the draw distance or texture resolution by 10% the game still looks great on the switch and runs at a good 60fps, oh and the load times will be cut in half cause your streaming data of an SD card and not a rotating disc. Only when you want VR or 4K do you need the power of the PS4/Xbone. Take that away and the switch can run your game just fine and gets the added benefit of suddenly being a mobile on-the-go gaming experience.
You got me. But the top two consoles of that generation both have limited-geometry, partial-screen, texture-mapped, software-rendered first-person shooters. For every Zero Tolerance, there's a Jurassic Park and a Wolfenstein 3D.