Topic: Switch Discussion Thread (Year 3: But where are the folders??!?!)

[Soren]

-sigh-


Switch will not support bluetooth headphones/speakers.

[lolmonade]

Absence of Virtual Console at launch isn't the issue by itself.  To me, the biggest issue is that the Wii U has been faced with a slow death for a long while now, and as an admittedly ignorant person to the process of a new console launch, this just feels like a big "what have you been doing with all this time?" question in my head as a gut reaction. 

As mentioned earlier, with no VC Day 1 on 3DS and Wii U, this now seems to be Nintendo's modus operandi. My only theory as to why this is the case is that Nintendo wants to have fewer things to look after at launch. With a lot of people suddenly buying a system at one time and booting up on their network, there could be glitches or bugs with the interface that need to be patched along with issues with all the games being released at the same time. So, keeping the VC off the console for a little while is one less potential problem to cause any issues or headaches.

The other possibility is that it gives them something to promote or announce after the initial launch enthusiasm starts to wane a bit but unless it is a new console offering like GameCube games available at the launch of the Switch VC I'm not sure how exciting an announcement it would be to promote that NES or SNES VC titles are available now on Switch.

From a business standpoint, I get time constraints and a severe stretch to make launch before their fiscal year end was the imperative for Nintendo here, and probably meant releasing the thing a little half baked feature-wise


From a customer standpoint, It being their MO isn't really a good excuse anymore IMO.  Their console competitors have been launching more feature-full products.  The Netflix & Web browser omission at start, while an inconvenience, isn't something that'll be missed if you have any other device.  The Virtual Console is just another cut that's taking the bloom off the rose a bit for me.


Just my perspective, but I think this is veering quickly to Nintendo apologist territory.

[lolmonade]

-sigh-


Switch will not support bluetooth headphones/speakers.

At launch, or ever?

[Kairon]

Is there an updated list of all the day 1 titles available somewhere? I need to make sure I'm not missing anything. I am Setsuna is launch in NA right?

[Fatty The Hutt]

While the display was bright and bold indoors, it didn't fare well outdoors. It was no match for sunlight of any kind, and the screen's high reflectivity was an issue even when it was cloudy. I had a hard time making out anything during dark portions of Zelda, and I couldn't see myself actually enjoying the game even when I could see what was happening. This is one issue that could really hurt the Switch: Nintendo is selling it as a console that you can take outside to play with your friends. But what good is it if nobody can see anything?

article here

[Fatty The Hutt]

-sigh-


Switch will not support bluetooth headphones/speakers.

There are conflicting reports:
here and here
Admittedlt the later-in-time link seems to specifically debunk the earlier one, but I still don't get it. The first confirmation came from Koizumi. The later denial comes from "Nintendo France"
sooooo ....

[Lemonade]

Im not sure why people care about the VC so much. Do they really want a drip feed of the same games all over again?

I would be perfectly ok with not having a VC at all and it just being the monthly game if you have a subscription.
Im much more interested in new eShop/indie games.

[Agent-X-]

Im not sure why people care about the VC so much. Do they really want a drip feed of the same games all over again?

I would be perfectly ok with not having a VC at all and it just being the monthly game if you have a subscription.
Im much more interested in new eShop/indie games.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with what most of us feel is the issue with the VC and its absence at launch. The fact that this thing is not ready to roll day one is just confirmation of the same ol bullshit all over again. The whole fucking catalog ought to be sitting there waiting to be browsed. Every fucking VC game you ever bought in the past should be sitting in your library ready to be played day one.


No, instead, you're going to get drip fed the same fucking content all over again, and you'll have to buy it all over again to play it on this system versus the other system you bought it on. Oh,  you bought Super Mario World for Wii U? Well plan on waiting the rest of this year for it to resurface on Switch a month ahead of Mario Odyssey!

[Soren]

This...could be really really bad.

EDIT: Blunty expands on GameXplain's video.

The Joy-Cons are using a very low bluetooth signal strength. and our human body(mostly made out of water) blocks the high-frequency radio waves used in bluetooth. The signal is low because Nintendo wanted the Joy-Cons to have 20 hour battery life. A software patch will not fix the issue. Nintendo needed to foresight to allow firmware updates to the Joy-Cons in order to fix this. Let's hope that's the case?

Of course the higher signal strength means a sacrifice in battery life. So...guess you'll have to spend an extra $30 on that stupid charging grip after all.

Also, as if that wasn't enough, Syrenne points out on Twitter that "increased signal strength of Bluetooth 3.0/3.1 notably interferes heavily with LTE and mobile phones, which Switch uses."

So there's the very real possibility that Nintendo has already totally screwed this up in so many ways.

I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST EDIT: This is probably the reason why the Switch will not support BT headsets or speakers.

[nickmitch]

Bad news keeps rolling in.

[Oedo]

I'm not bothered by Virtual Console not launching with the system. What's going to make or break Virtual Console on Switch is how much care Nintendo puts into taking it in a new direction and building up the catalogue of games. A Virtual Console with the same old games is going to be a disappointment to a lot of people, even if it launches with the system. If Nintendo launches the service with GameCube Virtual Console and/or something like Mother 3, that would be really exciting and I doubt very many will care about the timing at that point. There are a couple of obvious gaps in Nintendo's first-party lineup this year, like Breath of the Wild (March 3) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (April 28), and maybe Arms (Spring 2017) and Splatoon 2 (Summer 2017) depending on when exactly they launch. They could use the Virtual Console launch with exciting headliners like Super Mario Sunshine, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Mother 3 to fill one of those gaps. I'm still hopeful.

What I find more concerning is this talk surrounding the Joy-Con right now. I hope Nintendo gets out in front of this and tells us what the problem is exactly and what they plan to do to address it or fix it. And they better do it soon.

[Phil]

Really really bad is RRoD that bricks a system. A Joy Con turning off is something that could (dunno) be fixed with a firmware update or replaced by Nintendo with one that works. Though I think it's better to be in full doom mode regardless, as that is always fun and totally not obnoxious. Seems like certain Nintendo fans and certain gamers who get hard whenever the competition trips up (because corporate cheerleaders and fans of one plastic toy over another isn't pathetic at all) were ready to eat up bad news and say "see! I knew Nintendo would **** this up! DOOOOOOM!"

[Agent-X-]

This...could be really really bad.

EDIT: Blunty expands on GameXplain's video.

The Joy-Cons are using a very low bluetooth signal strength. and our human body(mostly made out of water) blocks the high-frequency radio waves used in bluetooth. The signal is low because Nintendo wanted the Joy-Cons to have 20 hour battery life. A software patch will not fix the issue. Nintendo needed to foresight to allow firmware updates to the Joy-Cons in order to fix this. Let's hope that's the case?

Of course the higher signal strength means a sacrifice in battery life. So...guess you'll have to spend an extra $30 on that stupid charging grip after all.

Also, as if that wasn't enough, Syrenne points out on Twitter that "increased signal strength of Bluetooth 3.0/3.1 notably interferes heavily with LTE and mobile phones, which Switch uses."

So there's the very real possibility that Nintendo has already totally screwed this up in so many ways.

I SWEAR THIS IS THE LAST EDIT: This is probably the reason why the Switch will not support BT headsets or speakers.

I've been following this since early this morning. I doubt this will be really really bad. Even if it's not something a software update can fix, it seems a lot of media people have only encountered the issue a little or even not at all.


Interestingly enough, the pro controller does not have the issue at all.

[nickmitch]

Might be a bigger battery in the pro controller, so the bluetooth signal is stronger.

[Agent-X-]

I'm still holding onto the belief that this will be chalked up to a final firmware update at the factory as the cause. Too many people have gotten their hands on these joycons at the preview events and had zero syncing issues playing everything ranging from Zelda to ARMS. This de-syncing issue makes no sense in comparison to what everyone has been able to do at the events.

Something is definitely off with these consumer units so hopefully this is just a case where Nintendo erred on the side of caution in favor of longer battery life, and they can adjust it with a firmware update.


EDIT: Also seeing theories that the joycons may be stuck in "lower power" mode as though they're still docked.

[Phil]

Really really bad is RRoD that bricks a system. A Joy Con turning off is something that could (dunno) be fixed with a firmware update or replaced by Nintendo with one that works. Though I think it's better to be in full doom mode regardless, as that is always fun and totally not obnoxious. Seems like certain Nintendo fans and certain gamers who get hard whenever the competition trips up (because corporate cheerleaders and fans of one plastic toy over another isn't pathetic at all) were ready to eat up bad news and say "see! I knew Nintendo would **** this up! DOOOOOOM!"

In retrospect, what a dick I am with this post.

Just reading NeoGAF gets me hot and bothered with console launches. Sowwy.

[Ian Sane]

My feeling has been that Nintendo coming off the failure of the Wii U needed to be essentially perfect to win people back with the Switch.  They're not doing that.  We're getting too many weird Nintendo "please understand" problems that never seem to affect everyone else.  We're having the same "what has Nintendo been doing this whole time" discussion we had with the Wii U, despite Nintendo having to only support ONE system and presumably having more time and resources to apply to the Switch.  The Wii U's fate was pretty much set in stone after the first year so Nintendo has had years to prep for a successor.

So I'm pretty nervous about this and Joycon desync stories aren't helping.  I hope that the Switch attracts Nintendo's handheld market and not just their much smaller console one.  The Switch as a 3DS successor that just also happens to be a console is a more realistic positive outcome than the Switch somehow dethroning the PS4.

Hopefully if the Joycon desync is a real thing that it's an issue with the controller, which can be replaced with a new model, and not the console which can't aside from an outright recall.

[Lemonade]

The joycon issue is worrying, but if you stay within 3 metres, it sounds like it will be ok, but thats still not a very big range.

Neal on Twitter retweeted someone saying

Breaking news: I heard from one of my contacts at Nintendo of America. The syncing issue will be resolved before launch.

https://twitter.com/Stealth___/status/834920412052078594
Not sure if that can really trusted though

[Phil]

I like Stealth and we follow one another, but why would a contact from NOA only talk to him and not a journalist with a big reach?

[Shaymin]

People who were at the events mentioned that the farthest they could realistically get from a Switch with the Joycons is less than the range this seems to kick in at (Neal's been saying on Twitter that it starts crapping out at 10 feet).

So we'll see if they have to include more power in the Joy-Cons on that day 1 patch.

[NWR_insanolord]

I was already planning to put the Switch dock right next to where I sit with an extra long HDMI cable to the TV, and this development makes me very happy I already accounted for that.

[Soren]

I'm still holding onto the belief that this will be chalked up to a final firmware update at the factory as the cause. Too many people have gotten their hands on these joycons at the preview events and had zero syncing issues playing everything ranging from Zelda to ARMS. This de-syncing issue makes no sense in comparison to what everyone has been able to do at the events.

Nintendo's preview events are well controlled environments that in no way represent the way people game in real life. No two game shelves or furniture setups are the same. So these kind of issues weren't going to be raised until the console went out to spaces beyond Nintendo's control.

[Evan_B]

It's fun to watch people meltdown.

[lolmonade]

Snipperclips confirmed for launch.  Good news for me, now I have something I'm excited to play besides Zelda at launch.

[Soren]

The Binding of Isaac will not be a launch game. It's now March 17

Launch List (Switch exclusives bolded)

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
1-2 Switch
Snipperclips
FAST RMX
Human Resource Machine
I am Setsuna
Just Dance 2017
Little Inferno
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove
Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment
Skylanders Imaginators
Super Bomberman R
World of Goo