westman98

@N00BiSH
Both of the 2D Zelda's already target 60FPS but have frequent frame drops, playing them on Switch 2 will presumably automatically smooth out any frame rate issues via brute force.

Frame rate not being mentioned in the parch noted mostly implies that the 2D Zeldas aren't getting a 120FPS mode, which isn't too shocking.

As I've said before, the Wii genuinely broke people's brains regarding Nintendo hardware.

I like the game a lot, but Red Dead Redemption 2 aiming to be realistic is what makes it a slog to play.

Wow, this leaker has some dirty fingerprints.

Back in 2013, Microsoft was on the verge of shipping an Xbox One that required a mandatory internet connection to operate, with an internet check-in every 24 hours to ensure compliance. A physical Xbox One game was tied to a user account once activated, which meant a "used" retail game couldn't be traded-in or given to somebody else, thereby eliminating the very concept of "used" games in general.

Switch 2 game-key cards are nothing like that LMAO. In fact, the idea of "game-key cards" isn't new to Switch 2, as there are a decent number of PlayStation/Xbox games that have adopted this approach for their retail disc copies (with the most notable example being the last few Call of Duty titles).

@DollyrotsFan1
Switch 2 is cheaper than the Xbox Series X, and that's before the Xbox price increase that took place last week.

@HeadPirate
There are no Switches manufactured in Japan, rather they are manufactured in China, Vietnam and Cambodia (mostly China). The Vietnam/Cambodia units are shipped to the USA to avoid the 145% Trump tariffs on Chinese imports, while the Chinese units are shipped to the rest of the world.

Nintendo is choosing to subsidize the Japanese market because the Yen is super weak and they don't want to price out the Japanese market, which is a very important market for Nintendo. On the other hand, Sony/Microsoft have increased the price of the PS5/XBS in Japan multiple times as the Yen has weakened over the years, but since PlayStation and especially Xbox have a relatively small presence in Japan, they can get away with pricing out the Japanese market and not hurt their global gaming business too much.

@HeadPirate
The Japanese Switch 2 only looks cheap to us westerners because of the significant devaluation of the Japanese Yen over the last 3 years. Japanese consumers still have to pay ¥50000-53000 for the Switch 2, a 50%+ increase over the ¥32000 Switch 1.

Xbox hardware sales are already in the gutter, so price increases will accelerate the decline.

The impact will really be felt when PS5 and Switch 2 prices increase.

I'm more sympathetic of the use of game key cards than most (especially for games retailing at well below $60/70 ala the Bravely Default remaster, Puyo Puyo Tetris 2), but come on now, a $250 Collector's Edition should ship with an actual real physical copy of the game, full stop.

I'm sure Switch 2 cartridges are expensive, but not "$250" expensive lmao

Kinda astounded that Split Fiction and Madden are the largest Switch 2 game by file size, I figured it would be Cyberpunk given that it's a big open-world game with a ton of dialogue and cutscenes.

It's weird that Madden is now on Switch 2 but not College Football.

Though this also applies to PC, where it gets Madden but no College Football.

@PikminMarioKirby
Censorship is bad, no thanks.

@PharoneTheGnome
That's because the Switch 2 is not actually an upgraded Switch but rather a brand new game system with brand new system-on-chip.

Specifically, the GPU on the Switch 2 is not natively backwards compatible with the GPU on the Switch 1, so it uses a translation layer to convert Switch 1 GPU code to Switch 2 GPU code. This works 99% of the time but does present some issues for some titles.

I guarantee that if the Switch successor introduced some crazy new feature as the new central selling point (like the 3D for 3DS or the GamePad for Wii U), people would be criticizing Nintendo for needlessly attempting to fix something that ain't broke.

The Wii genuinely broke people's brains regarding Nintendo hardware 🤣.

Remember in the good old days (i.e. last generation) when consoles would go down in price over time?

I don't play racing titles that make use of the analog triggers, so this doesn't impact me one bit. In fact, it's better for shooters (a genre that I do care about) like Splatoon or COD to have digital triggers.

A lot of people are going to experience 120FPS gaming on Switch 2 for the first time with this.

Come on now, Doug Bowser's statements and Don Mattrick's statements have completely different contexts. This is outrage for outrage's sake.

IIRC, the old rumor was that a bunch of younger developers from Nintendo EPD Tokyo really liked Donkey Kong and wanted to work on a new title, so they spun-off to form a "new" team to work on a new Donkey Kong game while the rest of EPD Tokyo worked on a new 3D Mario (as they have done since 2005).

@Overzeal
No it wasn't, just because the Trump administration listed 90% on that chart doesn't make that figure (or any of the listed percentages) accurate.

@Overzeal
First of all, the US won't reciprocate, Trump has already said he won't budge, stock market and economic collapse be damned.

Second, Vietnam does not have a 90% tariff on US imports, that's absurd. Vietnam's US tariffs are more like 5%, the 90% figure refers to the trade deficit between the US and Vietnam as a percentage of US imports of Vietnamese goods.

@Overzeal
What matters to US consumers is how much the US is tariffing Vietnam, not the other way around.

The Mario Movie debuted on a Wednesday, that's why its Fri-Sat opening weekend was lower than that of Minecraft.

Big question will be the legs. The Mario Movie made $92 million in its 2nd weekend which is very impressive. The Minecraft Movie doesn't have much competition so has the runway for a good 2nd weekend drop, but the audience reception isn't exactly the best (B+ Cinemascore) which could sting.

The Switch 2's $450/500 price probably accounts for the impact of some tariffs (since Trump has talked about leveraging across-the-board tariffs throughout much of his 2024 presidential campaign), but absolutely nobody expected the tariffs to be as high as they ended up being.

If those Vietnam/Cambodia tariffs dont change soon, then I expect Nintendo to increase the price of the Switch 2 from $450/500 up to $600 at bare minimum.

@Pat_trick
Guess I should have clarified that I was referring to 1st party PS4 to PS5 upgrades ala The Last of Us, Uncharted, Ghost of Tsushima, Horizon, etc. 3rd party publishers can do whatever they want on both PlayStation and Nintendo.

@rushiosan
Have you seen the file size of non-Nintendo games?

Glad they were able to create a huge roster without doing a "Super Smash Kart"-style crossover-galore as many people have suggested in the past.

Makes sense, a ~10× jump is what one would expect when you see the two 3D Zeldas go from running at 810-900p 20-30FPS on Switch 1 to 4K 60FPS with their Switch 2 Editions

Apparently CD Projekt Red as able to get a playable version of Cyberpunk running on Switch 2 in just 7 weeks, this definitely bodes well for 3rd party support on Switch 2.

@Pat_trick
PS4 to PS5 upgrades are absolutely not free, they are almost always $10 upgrades, which is similar to what Nintendo is doing here with Switch to Switch 2 upgrade packs.

Amazing Direct, the only issue is the $80 pricing of certain Switch 2 games which is not really an issue with the Direct itself.

Good, the simpler the UI is, the less system resources will be allocated for the OS, which leaves more resources to be allocated for the actual game software.

You already see this kind of thing with some retail games on PS5 and Xbox Series, where the disc only contains a few hundred megabytes of data and you have to download the rest of the game (i.e. the actual game) feom the online store. For example, the last 3 Call of Duty games do this - not exactly a small IP to adopt this retail delivery method.

It's at least better than the digital-code-in-a-box method that many Switch retail games have adopted, since game key cards have actual resell value.

I figured $70 games would become the standard on Switch 2 but $80 is crazy.

There is the Mario Kart Switch 2 bundle that is only $50 than the standalone Switch (a $30 saving), which easily alleviates the issue for me, but any $80 games that don't come with a hardware bundle is going to struggle.

This is going to be a ROG Ally with an Xbox sticker, the actual Xbox handheld is allegedly a 2027 release.

@timp29
Because upscaling to 4K is completely useless if the hardware can't actually output at 4K to a TV.

Honestly I think Insider Gaming and their sources don't know anything about the Switch 2. The "3-phase launch plan" sounded like complete nonsense, and now the Switch 2 supposedly can't even output at a 4K resolution even though every credible rumor/leak/datamine from the last ~3 years says it can?

That movie description sounds like a description of any of the Zelda games, probably a placeholder summary IMO.

Nintendo isn't adding a dedicated button that requires a completely separate console for the button to function.

People really need to accept that the Switch 2 is a straightforward successor to the Switch, where the biggest new "feature" is improved specs/power (and mouse controls), not the return of a gimmick from a decade ago.

Can't wait for April 2 not just for the new game announcements, but also for Nintendo to once-and-for-all show everyone that they are not resurrecting dual screens.

@Henmii
This is easily the best-looking 60FPS game on Switch, you quite literally won't find anything better looking than this on the platform.

Nintendo is a Japanese company, if the "C" of the C button stands for something, it would need to make sense in Japanese as well (and probably other languages outside of English too).

@StewdaMegaManNerd
Don't see what that has to do, but yes, they did just show Z-A at the Direct.

Wouldn't be surprised if Prime 4 is a no show at the Switch 2 Direct at this point, they would have showed this trailer at the Switch 2 Direct if it was going to appear there.

Unless the game is shockingly bad, I think the next Mario Kart will be huge. The appetite for a new entry after 11+ years will be enormous (similar to how it is for GTAVI, albeit not quite to the same extent) and it will release alongside a brand new console in Switch 2 that is currently primed to be the fastest-selling game system ever.

2 general Directs within the same week, Nintendo is crazy.

GBA launched in June in America/Europe back in 2001, it's been a while since a June launch but it has happened before and worked out quite well.

Why drop a Switch 1 Direct the week before the Switch 2 Direct where it will largely get overshadowed when it could have happened earlier this year (like in February) or late last year (like in September/October, before the Switch 2 was officially announced)?

@Olliemar28
Smart Delivery is not the same as backwards compatibility. Smart Delivery is when you download or insert the disc of cross-generation Xbox game (that supports Smart Delivery) into you Xbox, and then your Xbox console automatically picks which version of the game to install based on whether you are playing on Xbox One or Xbox Series. There would still be two versions of the game since it is a cross-gen game, but your Xbox is smart about which version to install.

If Prime 4 is a pure a Switch 1 game that doesn't feature in the Switch 2 Direct and releases after the Switch 2 releases, it will get completely overshadowed.

@nocdaes
The "BEE" designator in the FCC filings has been used for all Switch 2-related hardware. That's how we know this controller is related to the Switch 2.