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Nintendo Switch 2

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I'm torn, multiple times.

On the one hand, I have cast aside my previous reluctance to buy new and full priced games, as long as I want to play them right away. I've just bought Two Point Museum and it's great, not just because it's a phenomenal game, but I am enjoying playing the shiny new thing.

On the other hand, it is expensive. The console price point is fine, but the games are very expensive. I understand the point about cartridges in the past and inflation etc, but the fact remains that for the market right now, the RRP for those games is very high, and that's a relevant consideration. I have barely played my Switch and my kids haven't played my Switch at all, just when at friends' houses here and there. We haven't had our media wall put into the games/media room yet. Once we do we're going to set up the PS4, Switch etc, and there will be plenty of life left in those consoles from our perspective. There's no need to upgrade anytime soon.

On the other other hand, I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to jump in early and buy the games if I want to. The idea of getting in on the ground floor with Switch 2, getting my kids involved in it and just immersing the family into this console in the same way that I was with the SNES is very appealing.

I don't know, but there's no rush. I'll think on it.
 
I'm torn, multiple times.

On the one hand, I have cast aside my previous reluctance to buy new and full priced games, as long as I want to play them right away. I've just bought Two Point Museum and it's great, not just because it's a phenomenal game, but I am enjoying playing the shiny new thing.

On the other hand, it is expensive. The console price point is fine, but the games are very expensive. I understand the point about cartridges in the past and inflation etc, but the fact remains that for the market right now, the RRP for those games is very high, and that's a relevant consideration. I have barely played my Switch and my kids haven't played my Switch at all, just when at friends' houses here and there. We haven't had our media wall put into the games/media room yet. Once we do we're going to set up the PS4, Switch etc, and there will be plenty of life left in those consoles from our perspective. There's no need to upgrade anytime soon.

On the other other hand, I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to jump in early and buy the games if I want to. The idea of getting in on the ground floor with Switch 2, getting my kids involved in it and just immersing the family into this console in the same way that I was with the SNES is very appealing.

I don't know, but there's no rush. I'll think on it.
You've pretty much got the same thinking as me. The Mario Kart bundle helps since it's only £34 more but that's only one game and flagship Nintendo games rarely go on sale. The console price is OK-ish if a little high, but even the Donkey Kong game is expensive.
 
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I feel like I'm the only one not surprised at all by the prices of both the console and the games. Like, does everyone really think GTA 6 is going to be less than $75?

1743780306772.png
This is from 1996. Why was the generalized sentiment that games are too expensive now? I think people are upset to see games going to $80-90 range, but I think Nintendo is just the first ones getting shit for it. I think $90 for a game is crazy, sure, but I'm going to buy it the same way I thought a $50 PC game was expensive 10 years ago. It's the same thing to me.

Maybe I'm biased because I don't have children or dependents to worry about? But I was more disappointed by the battery life than I was the pricing. I actually thought $500 for the console and the game was a good deal, considering how expensive everything else around me is. At least this box brings joy.
 

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I understand the point about cartridges in the past and inflation etc, but the fact remains that for the market right now, the RRP for those games is very high, and that's a relevant consideration.
Apparently, not all of the physical "game-key cards" as they're calling them are even on the cards. It has the license key in it and you have to download the game and install it onto your system. So there's that now.

How many games will that be, I don't know. I can rationalize and say the games probably work faster off of the system than from the card and considering even Switch games have had patches to them for issues and content. The premise of a "physical copy" having a dud card with just a key in it leaves a bad taste.
 

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I feel like I'm the only one not surprised at all by the prices of both the console and the games. Like, does everyone really think GTA 6 is going to be less than $75?

View attachment 29039
This is from 1996. Why was the generalized sentiment that games are too expensive now? I think people are upset to see games going to $80-90 range, but I think Nintendo is just the first ones getting shit for it. I think $90 for a game is crazy, sure, but I'm going to buy it the same way I thought a $50 PC game was expensive 10 years ago. It's the same thing to me.

Maybe I'm biased because I don't have children or dependents to worry about? But I was more disappointed by the battery life than I was the pricing. I actually thought $500 for the console and the game was a good deal, considering how expensive everything else around me is. At least this box brings joy.
Probably thanks to how much money people are making these days? We got used to $60, so adding another 15ish% onto that or more feels bad. Then there's the argument that making the physical consoles and game media (cards, CDs, whatever) is cheaper if not thanks to better manufacturing, but also thanks to the volume of units moved.

This is my tinfoil argument, but I'm wondering if many of the financial experts, high level managers, and whatnot, moved away from traditional media, from movies and TV, and hopped on to cash in on the games industry as it's gotten into the billions now. Probably some have for sure. Some games are more or less interactive movies now as well.
 

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I feel like I'm the only one not surprised at all by the prices of both the console and the games. Like, does everyone really think GTA 6 is going to be less than $75?

View attachment 29039
This is from 1996. Why was the generalized sentiment that games are too expensive now? I think people are upset to see games going to $80-90 range, but I think Nintendo is just the first ones getting shit for it. I think $90 for a game is crazy, sure, but I'm going to buy it the same way I thought a $50 PC game was expensive 10 years ago. It's the same thing to me.

Maybe I'm biased because I don't have children or dependents to worry about? But I was more disappointed by the battery life than I was the pricing. I actually thought $500 for the console and the game was a good deal, considering how expensive everything else around me is. At least this box brings joy.
And that after the N64 came out and the SNES was at the end. Street Fighter Alpha 2 came out after the N64 released.
 

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Apparently, not all of the physical "game-key cards" as they're calling them are even on the cards. It has the license key in it and you have to download the game and install it onto your system. So there's that now.
Where did you see that? That would be incredibly annoying. If my Switch 2 library grows even half as much as my 1 library, I'd be deleting games all the time.
 

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I'm torn, multiple times.

On the one hand, I have cast aside my previous reluctance to buy new and full priced games, as long as I want to play them right away. I've just bought Two Point Museum and it's great, not just because it's a phenomenal game, but I am enjoying playing the shiny new thing.

On the other hand, it is expensive. The console price point is fine, but the games are very expensive. I understand the point about cartridges in the past and inflation etc, but the fact remains that for the market right now, the RRP for those games is very high, and that's a relevant consideration. I have barely played my Switch and my kids haven't played my Switch at all, just when at friends' houses here and there. We haven't had our media wall put into the games/media room yet. Once we do we're going to set up the PS4, Switch etc, and there will be plenty of life left in those consoles from our perspective. There's no need to upgrade anytime soon.

On the other other hand, I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to jump in early and buy the games if I want to. The idea of getting in on the ground floor with Switch 2, getting my kids involved in it and just immersing the family into this console in the same way that I was with the SNES is very appealing.

I don't know, but there's no rush. I'll think on it.
You could always purchase a different console and get the kids in on it, since they sound like they don't have much gaming experience. Why not a Switch 1 and explore those games together? PS5? Hell, why not go retro and nab an N64 or something?
So like, they are really gonna charge for a tech demo game that shows off the systems features?

Steamdeck and PS give that shit for free
That was one of the most befuddling things for me. Astro Bot was an excellent and lengthy free tech demo for the PS5. The Switch 2 tech demo looks kind of underwhelming, and they're charging for it? Nah. No thanks.
 
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We really cant compare with just inflation. Sales were far fewer back in the cartridge days, there was also a strong rental market. Digital and discs are so much cheaper to produce and with far more sales profits are even higher.


Leaps in gaming innovation is stagnating which should in theory make development cheaper and easier, plus most things being multi platform there are many ways to make and save money

Not to mention Nintendo loves to never put things on big sales or resell the same game over and over. If games I bought on the Wii VC worked on Switch and Switch 2 that is one thing, but they want to sell you the same game many times without any improvements.

We are also talking a huge jump in price too, not a simple $10
 
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There isn't a single Denuvo game released in 2024 that has been cracked.

RDR2 used different protection but took just under a year.

How many use Denuvo? Assassin's creed I know of and we're only 3 months in

We'll see, I think and maybe it is just copeium that there will be a lot of people trying to say they were the first to crack it and will work hard on it and maybe they can build from what ever they did on RDR2 if GTA uses similar system

Either way Im waiting for a sale or a crack depending on release price
 
How many use Denuvo? Assassin's creed I know of and we're only 3 months in

We'll see, I think and maybe it is just copeium that there will be a lot of people trying to say they were the first to crack it and will work hard on it and maybe they can build from what ever they did on RDR2 if GTA uses similar system

Either way Im waiting for a sale or a crack depending on release price


First table.

Also, 2024 was last year! :p
 
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I posted it in another thread, but it's worth relaying that Nintendo have suspended their US pre-order date to analyse the impact of tariffs.
Was just reading this https://www.forbes.com/sites/conorm...s-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-china-and-vietnam/

Insane that Nintendo literally moved operations to Vietnam in response to Trump's first term, and now are just as fucked. The tariff situation just makes this more expensive for everyone, worldwide. I fucking hate our government dude. No sane human would have predicted a tariff formula that is the country's trade deficit divided by its exports to the United States times 1/2, because that's deeply stupid.
 
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Also, 2024 was last year!

No GIF
 
Was just reading this https://www.forbes.com/sites/conorm...s-trump-imposes-tariffs-on-china-and-vietnam/

Insane that Nintendo literally moved operations to Vietnam in response to Trump's first term, and now are just as fucked. The tariff situation just makes this more expensive for everyone, worldwide. I fucking hate our government dude. No sane human would have predicted a tariff formula that is the country's trade deficit divided by its exports to the United States times 1/2, because that's deeply stupid.
That's because they came up with the idea on Monday. They imposed the biggest shakeup in world trade in nearly a century in the manner of a child rushing their homework.

Still, Trump claimed today he had a call from Vietnam's leader, so who knows?
 

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Leaps in gaming innovation is stagnating which should in theory make development cheaper and easier, plus most things being multi platform there are many ways to make and save money
I agree with the rest of your points, but this one is obviously not true. Games take several orders of magnitude more effort to make nowadays. Just watch the credits for a game from the PS1 era compared to now (I don't remember NES games having credits but it's possible I just forgot them). Voice actors cost money. All those pretty graphics cost money. Open and 3D worlds are more effort to build than 2D ones. More complex games means a more complex design process and more testing needed. Even between the first Switch and this new one, the better hardware means more is expected from games, and that takes a lot more time and effort.

Yes, it's easier to build a complex game after it's already been done a bunch of times, but it's still really fucking hard, and players expect noticeable improvements between console generations. People who work in the gaming industry make less money and work more hours compared to people doing similar work in most other industries (which is why I don't do it), but they're still expensive. Even a small team is probably millions per year, and you're not going to get a game you can charge $70 or $80 for out of them.

I completely understand being frustrated by high prices in general because most wages haven't kept up with inflation, but games have not gotten cheaper to develop. It's the opposite. Even porting a game from one system to another can take a ton of effort because of how complex they've become.
 

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Elden Ring has already been confirmed as a game-key card.

Cyberpunk 2077 is on the card.
I just don't get the fucking point of them. If I'm having to download the game anyway, I'm just going to a digital store and getting it there.

The only benefit I could see to this would be the ability to resell the game, assuming the key doesn't get system locked, but I haven't cared about doing that since I was 12.

Just seems dumb to sell a physical card that's just a key to play something you need to download anyway. My son has a bunch of physical Switch games and has countless times wanted to play something only to realize it's not in his case. Meanwhile I just boot up whatever my ADHD tells me to.
 
I just don't get the fucking point of them. If I'm having to download the game anyway, I'm just going to a digital store and getting it there.

The only benefit I could see to this would be the ability to resell the game, assuming the key doesn't get system locked, but I haven't cared about doing that since I was 12.

Just seems dumb to sell a physical card that's just a key to play something you need to download anyway. My son has a bunch of physical Switch games and has countless times wanted to play something only to realize it's not in his case. Meanwhile I just boot up whatever my ADHD tells me to.
The resale argument is the main one.

Also, physical games have tended to be cheaper, especially here in the UK where savings are substantial. However with RRP at least being higher for physical than digital it's blantantly obvious that Nintendo would really like you to buy their games digitally.
 
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I agree with the rest of your points, but this one is obviously not true. Games take several orders of magnitude more effort to make nowadays. Just watch the credits for a game from the PS1 era compared to now (I don't remember NES games having credits but it's possible I just forgot them). Voice actors cost money. All those pretty graphics cost money. Open and 3D worlds are more effort to build than 2D ones. More complex games means a more complex design process and more testing needed. Even between the first Switch and this new one, the better hardware means more is expected from games, and that takes a lot more time and effort.

Yes, it's easier to build a complex game after it's already been done a bunch of times, but it's still really fucking hard, and players expect noticeable improvements between console generations. People who work in the gaming industry make less money and work more hours compared to people doing similar work in most other industries (which is why I don't do it), but they're still expensive. Even a small team is probably millions per year, and you're not going to get a game you can charge $70 or $80 for out of them.

I completely understand being frustrated by high prices in general because most wages haven't kept up with inflation, but games have not gotten cheaper to develop. It's the opposite. Even porting a game from one system to another can take a ton of effort because of how complex they've become.

I was going for more they could cost less

We don't need super big open worlds and a lot use already built engines and they don't have to learn radically different hardware

It's getting to a point like capitalism where you must continually make more money for that becomes less feasible, these games don't need to get bigger and bigger and bigger and the graphics are already pretty good we're not seeing the leaps and graphics nor will we ever see them again like we went from like ps1 to Ps2. Gaming as a whole would probably Improve if they narrowed the scope for most of these games what's up
 

Ben

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I was going for more they could cost less

We don't need super big open worlds and a lot use already built engines and they don't have to learn radically different hardware

It's getting to a point like capitalism where you must continually make more money for that becomes less feasible, these games don't need to get bigger and bigger and bigger and the graphics are already pretty good we're not seeing the leaps and graphics nor will we ever see them again like we went from like ps1 to Ps2. Gaming as a whole would probably Improve if they narrowed the scope for most of these games what's up
I'd disagree with this general sentiment.

As someone who likes open world exploration games, I do not fucking support limiting the size of a game world just because some other game was "big enough".

That's just knee-capping creativity. It's like saying Tolkien should have stopped at one book because that's enough for other authors.

And I enjoy games that are expansive, and have so much more to do than just a linear plot, far more than just following the story. THAT is where value comes from in my opinion. If I can play a game like Tears Of The Kingdom for 100+ hours because I'm building wild Zonai contraptions and flying around instead of rushing to beat Ganon, I get more than if it takes me 5 hours to finish a Split Fiction (I dunno what that actual playtime was, but it's the most recent linear plot I could think of.)

Sure I've got nostalgia for games of the past, but I don't see any need to cap creativity and innovation for some concept of "they're good enough".

That being said, pricing games by how much playtime you'll get out of it seems like a more fiscal approach. Or at least, evaluating that when buying. A $70 game you play for 100 hours is costing you $0.70 per hour, over $70 for a 5 hour game being $14 per hour. They'd better pack some fucking marvelous plot into that 5 hours for that to seem worth it.
 
Yeah, I'm with Ben here. I tend to see that the AAA guys who are struggling (*cough* Ubisoft *cough*) are typically shipping bad product, but people who are offering quality are not. Look at Black Myth: Wukong, from a no-name Chinese studio that has done well because it was a great game.

Likewise there is still space for smaller guys too. I know the indie scene can be rough and the market is crowded but that's a nicer problem to have for the consumer than 15 years ago when it was really difficult to sell your game at all. But, ultimately, a small studio could never make something large-scale like Zelda, and that fact should be appreciated.
 
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