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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.

12 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. Whatever floats their boat... by mattMad · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I want to taste something really bad, I just start cooking. Much cheaper than buying a Nintendo!

  2. waste of money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Paid over $300 for this new console, and all it's done is leave me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

    1. Re:waste of money by RogueyWon · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:waste of money by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

      I guess you're too young to ever had played with an Intellivision controller. Your list would be quite different.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  3. Re:Intentionally poisioning their product by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...to prevent kids from choking...

  4. To Be Fair, Licking Consoles Isn't New by rsmith-mac · · Score: 4, Informative

    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...

  5. Re:Intentionally poisioning their product by drinkypoo · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I used to think that, and hell, maybe it's true and I was more right then. But now I just think we need to educate people more at all ages. Just force more information about everything into them until they a) get used to the idea of learning new things again and b) start to make connections with the information. I think a lot of these people are smarter than they'll ever know, because they've never learned to enjoy thinking.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
  6. Too much news by sunking2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what happens when you have a society that can no longer make things that are productive and all become journalists and bloggers with nothing of use to write about. Nintendo did this to try to curb an issue they saw. Someone with no real news to report decided to try to make this news. Now it's an issue for no real reason. I'm not against reporting whatever you want, just noting how pathetic society is in its need to consume 'news' that really isn't.

  7. Re:Intentionally poisioning their product by GrumpySteen · · Score: 2

    At least read the summary before you comment. There are no adverse health effects from consuming denatonium benzoate. It is not poison.

  8. Re:Screwdriver handles by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2

    they do this to screwdriver handles too so ppl don't use it has a dildo

    Is this is true then Orange Is the New Black loses a significant plot point.

  9. Re:Intentionally poisioning their product by edx93 · · Score: 2

    unethical company

    Ironic since Denatonium Benzoate (the component that makes it taste so nasty) is used in countless products (methanol, rat poison etc) exactly to *prevent* people from getting poisoned. Also, it's used on nails to prevent nail biting: It's safe, tastes unbearably nasty, and much better than the alternative of a kid choking to death.