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Strange New Social Media Trend: Licking Nintendo Switch Cartridges (macon.com)
Now that the Nintendo Switch has launched, "lots of people are just licking their video games," reports McClatchy.
According to IGN, the tech company coated the cartridges, which are roughly the size of a SIM card, in a bittering agent called denatonium benzoate, which is also used in rat poison and antifreeze to deter human consumption. The chemical is also used to deter nail-biting, per the Telegraph. Nintendo used the chemical as a safety measure to stop small children and pets from eating the cartridges. While there is no adverse health effects from consuming denatonium benzoate, it does leave a sour, bitter taste that lasts for hours, according to taste testers from BBC News, Quartz and IGN. But even as more and more people take to social media to let others know how bad the cartridges taste, more and more people seem determined to try it in what some are calling the Nintendo cartridge challenge...
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
"Humanity deserves no faith," opines Slashdot reader RavenLrD20k. But meanwhile on Twitter, one gamer was already complaining that their morning coffee tasted like a Nintendo Switch cartridge.
...to prevent kids from choking...
Meh, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I've found a few things to like about it; the screen is good quality (first time for that on a Nintendo handheld device). The UI is pleasant and functional (compare and contrast with the XB1's). Plus, Nintendo finally step into the 21st century by abandoning region locks and the whole "multi region account switching" thing is pretty easy, which is nice.
But there is also a lot wrong with it, and I'd be lying if I said I don't have a bit of buyer's remorse. The ergonomics are bloody awful unless you have the pro controller. The joycons are so tiddly they must have been designed for toddlers or Trump. The locations of buttons on them, particularly the + and - buttons, makes accidental inputs inevitable. Worse, when holding the thing in handheld mode with the joycons attached, the shape and layout puts stress on all the wrong parts of your hands. In the long term, this thing is an express ticket to RSI-town. Nintendo have forgotten or ignored some basic design and ergonomic principles that everybody else has known about for years.
The pro controller is mostly fine, other than the lack of analogue shoulder triggers, which will screw things up a bit for certain genres (particularly driving games). It's expensive, though, and given the low quality of the joycons, it really should have been a pack-in.
There are a few other niggles with the hardware as well. The little stand on the back for use when the thing is undocked is nasty and flimsy, The cover for the cartridge slot feels like it is going to be very easy to snap off (also a problem with the Vita). The location of the charger port on both the unit itself and the docking station seems to have been designed for maximum inconvenience. Oh, and the undocked battery life is absolutely terrible.
I haven't experienced the joycon sync issues that have been plaguing some people during normal use, but I can replicate them if I switch on a couple of my other consoles and create a bit of wireless interference.
I'm also now seeing reports that the build quality of the docking station and its "fit" with the main console unit is of lower quality than in the pre-release demonstration units. Not sure whether that's true - although it is definitely true that the fit is loose and wobbly on mine - but if it is, it feels like pretty sharp practice.
In all fairness to the, uh, interesting people doing this, they're not completely off their rockers. Licking consoles was a thing before social media even existed.
A then-unknown Jessica Chobot (who these days hosts shows for Nerdist) basically started the whole thing by licking a PSP as a gag photo in 2005. Since then, someone, somewhere (usually Chobot, it feels like) licks a launch console.
The only novel change here is people licking the cartridge instead of the console, and that's due to the aforementioned use of a bittering agent. Maybe Nintendo got it wrong here and needs to go into licking controls instead of motion controls...
People are so stupid, I have no faith in humanity anymore.