Nintendo Switch

[omegadot]

It's a personal thing, but I find if I have to get up and put a game in the machine I'm more likely to try harder and not go take care of the bazillion other responsibilities in my life. My digital collections I tend to meander about for a bit then move back into meat space work. I also like when the media matters and isn't just a licensing check like my xbone.

 

Is that a personal flaw? Maybe, but Nintendo continues to support me on it.

[Agamon]

How is that 1-2-Switch game not pack-in? I wonder what the over/under for disposable income is when you start to actually consider buying that game....

[KidGameR186496]

30fps. Really? Reggie just announced in the Treehouse that MK8 plays 1080p60 (720p60 docked). Switch is more than capable of running 60fps.

BOTW plays at 1080p on the Switch while the Wii U version runs at 720p Nintendo confirmed it, so DF is talking puré bullshit this time. I respect DF but they better research more before talking.

[KidGameR186496]

Ten years from now your Switch breaks. You get a new one from a secondhand store.

 

Physical games: you keep your library.

 

Digital downloads: you lose everything.

And That's what i fear for digital only games like Sonic Mania.

[BillLoguidice]

BOTW plays at 1080p on the Switch while the Wii U version runs at 720p Nintendo confirmed it, so DF is talking puré bullshit this time. I respect DF but they better research more before talking.

 

I think we're better off waiting until release day to say one way or the other. 720/30 on the handheld makes sense and one would hope for 1080/60 when docked, but it may very well be 1080/30 or 900/30. We just don't know and even Nintendo themselves has provided conflicting info at various times.

[Tanooki]

It's a personal thing, but I find if I have to get up and put a game in the machine I'm more likely to try harder and not go take care of the bazillion other responsibilities in my life. My digital collections I tend to meander about for a bit then move back into meat space work. I also like when the media matters and isn't just a licensing check like my xbone.

 

Is that a personal flaw? Maybe, but Nintendo continues to support me on it.

I wouldn't call it a flaw. I'd call it someone who places far more financial and personal value into something that is real versus digital vapor you are just renting. Does anyone put the same value into a rented piece of media over one you own? No. The fact you have to buy the game and go get it and put it in to use it is a motivator because you own it, you're set up with it, and you wanted to use it. Plus you could find you're done with it or hate it, and can also freely get rid of it as well. You're fine. Those who consider digital the way to go are the fools when they don't demand the rights of ownership a tangible item holds. That whole premise alone is why a place like GoG exists, has rapidly and strongly not only thrived but expanded and encroached upon steam as well. Some people clearly get it.

 

 

 

As far as DF goes everyone talks about them like they're 100% honest and infallible, but they're not. Time and again they've been exposed to make up stuff and throw around the word 'assume' and variants of it to fill in the gaps of a story they must have out first before everyone else to maintain their look of authority. They've pulled those same tired lines with MS and Sony so they're not picking on Nintendo, but they sure as hell are not doing honest reporting either as they fill the honesty with tabloid level bs. The only real truth will be when the system is out, media and gamers own it, and someone can plug their devices into the thing and start tracking how fast and at what resolution this or that works. Until then, it's just media hit trolling at its finest.

[Keatah]

It does surprise me, not so much with the under the drinking age types but the older people why they don't have a problem over digital downloads. People our age know what it means to own stuff vs being sold a rental/lease contract you have no control over and have to abide by the rules or get kicked out. Digital is a curse unless you control the actual file (like only GoG.com and some stand alones do.) It's why I usually won't spend much at all and rarely ever over $5 for a non physical game.

I wonder if the old people simply don't care. I'm not there yet, so I can't speak from experience. I also wonder if they fully and completely understand it and are therefore able to compartmentalize it - and just use it for what it is, a rental service.

 

Stand alones.. The few games I have are moderately priced at about $70. I've been doing X-Plane this way for years. They offer a Digital Download or real CD/DVD you can order. Later on you can get patches and updates and fixes and 3rd party add-ones which are delivered digitally.

 

You can then backup and save your set-up to USB hard disk. Official patches, extra scenery, planes, airports, instruments, maps, textures, models, ATC mods and scripts, Wx databases, and other mods, all of it - can all be preserved.

 

It's a huge install so for those of you getting into X-Plane need to factor in the cost of a hard drive. Blu-ray backups won't cut it. Not practically. My X-plane box is a cardboard box with several partitions in it, holding the printed documentation, 2x HDD, correspondence and receipts, discs, and documentation.

 

I'm perfectly fine with this style of distribution. And as LR updates my copy, I can filesync it to backup. All this may be in a different class than "just videogames" but there's no reason you can't get a game via 2 distro methods and back one of them up.

 

For those of you wanting to re-sell your game, why? Just go with online distribution and pay a cheaper price up-front. It's like getting the resale money right away, without the hassle.

Edited January 16, 2017 by Keatah

[BillLoguidice]

I DON'T care about physical ownership anymore. I enjoy the convenience of being digital and digital ownership. I may be a special case because I have my fill in this lifetime of accumulating things as evidenced by my personal collection, but I don't think my reasoning is flawed.

 

I have countless thousands of digital goods and I'm glad I don't have to worry about storing all of that. It would be impossible, especially considering what I've already physically acquired. I can listen to the music I want when I want with services like Spotify, watch the movies I want to watch with some combination of cable, On Demand, and subscription services like Amazon Prime, I can read the book I want on Kindle (or PDF) on whatever device I'm on, etc. My modern game collection is no different. Sure, I still have some discs here and there, but I find that more of an inconvenience (particularly when I have more than one of a console) than a "relief" that I own a plastic disc with some data on it. To my mind, it's an outdated mode of thinking, just like using a computer without something like Dropbox or Evernote, which provide multiple layers of backup/redundancy and practically zero chance of me losing data, particularly since all of that stuff is saved locally in addition to the Cloud. Win-win.

 

Of course, I also have no interest in re-selling my stuff, so that's probably why I also don't mind that almost always when I own or use something digitally, I can't re-sell it. It's a non-factor for me. I buy, rent, or stream something as part of a subscription, I'm making use of it when I want to make use of it. I'm not owning it just so it can sit on a shelf and maybe one day I'll want to use it again (my pile of cassettes, VHS tapes, CDs, and DVDs, would agree). If that one day comes, it will either still be there via the same digital means or there will alternative means to make use of it. No big deal. At my age, I concern myself more with the now than worrying about having something 30 years from now (and again, I realize that may be partly because I'm already burnt out on having too many physical items). I feel burdened by all the physical stuff I've acquired, a feeling I think many 40-somethings might share. I'm glad my kids will be less burdened in that regard.

[Keatah]

Those who consider digital the way to go are the fools when they don't demand the rights of ownership a tangible item holds. That whole premise alone is why a place like GoG exists, has rapidly and strongly not only thrived but expanded and encroached upon steam as well. Some people clearly get it.

 

Fools indeed? Maybe. Maybe not.

 

Initially I was upset that real media was going away, no more manuals, no more CD's or carts.. But then, like I just pointed out, I discovered that if you can keep a local copy of what was just paid for then everything's kosher. As long as I got the install files and the documentation it's good to go. These can all reside in one spot, without mess, without fuss.

 

Granted, the click-download-install routine isn't nearly as fun as going to TurnStyle or Woolworth & Wilco to get cartridges and all that. But I bet some of that (old way) can be simulated. As an experiment I decided to read about, ohh let's say, an emulator update, or a new version of a ROM posted here on Atari Age. Read it like we'd read EGM. And then ask the wife to download it toward the end of the week and give it to me over the weekend in conjunction with a shopping trip or something. Bonus points if it's raining and damp and cold outside.

 

Should be interesting if not fun. See how it goes..

[Ransom]

Or, to put it another way, it's now possible for a middle-class American to buy enough stuff to completely fill their house, top to bottom, wall to wall.

 

You have to choose what physical stuff is worth having.

 

For most people, it's not important that they own physical media for music, movies, or video games.

[cybercylon]

There is no "flawed" thinking involved whether you really want the physical copies, prefer digital, or are somewhere in between.

 

I was pretty demanding about always wanting a physical copy, but as Bill pointed out, it can get to a point where it is annoying. I have way to much stuff, especially since we live in a small house. I will never get to it all, and selling it is pain when there are so many other things going on.

 

So at this point, I guess I am somewhere in between. Sometimes there are extras (sound tracks, etc) that pull me toward a physical copy. Or maybe it is simply a game that I have been waiting for ages for (ex, Persona 5) where I plan getting it on disc. But there is more these days where I can simply wait for the digital copy to go on sale, and that is good enough. It is possible I may lose access to that digital purchase, but I may not care by the time it happens, especially if it was something for $5-$10 on a flash sale.

[Tanooki]

Perhaps it is compartmentalized as a rental, but then the prices should be rental prices. If you can buy physical and digital for $60 or perhaps no-disc gets you a $10 savings, is that really a rental price? Perhaps if the game prices dropped down say 60% that would be more palatable as a rental. You question resale but why? The model out there now, outside of Steam/GoG and the rest on the PC side is a joke, you pay full price if it's physical or not...so yeah, resale is good if you're finished so you can recoup and reinvest. It shouldn't be considered a crime to sell a $60 game for $30 to reapply that $30 to another game perhaps on the same system and/or developer they would not have got otherwise. I'd agree if the games were in that $1-20 range, but $30, $50, $60...no.

 

I'm no fan of the lack of a manual with certain games but otherwise you get handheld so much it's not a loss so it's a toss up for me. We're on the same page with the local copy, but consoles really don't allow this without hacking or otherwise going around the roadblocks. GoG allows this up front and personal as do some stand alone developers. They are the ones I support 90%+ of the time when I buy a computer game. I'll even wait if I hear news of a release on GoG for a Steam title, even if it's 6mo or 12mo as I'm patient.

 

I think you're right it can be simulated, almost is with some one offs and what indiebox has where you get the game on a USB flip credit card like device. Throw it in, run the install, and you're done, it's like a mini one use cartridge for an old game system in a warped way.

[spacecadet]

So at this point, I guess I am somewhere in between.

Same here, although I still lean a little bit towards physical media. For me it really depends on the game and maybe oddly, the platform. I almost never buy physical anymore on PC; I use Steam and I don't worry about it. Game consoles, though, seem like more of a risk. Every 5 years a new system comes out and there's no guarantee you'll be able to carry your games over or even continue to use them on the original system without an online check-in that may no longer work.

 

I've bought and downloaded games for my PS Vita when they were on crazy sale, and I'd buy and download a game if it had no physical copy and I wanted to play it. But if there is a physical copy available, I'd probably still go for it. (I've bought a few new physical games in just the last couple weeks.) And of course it's still a really good way to save money, especially on slightly older games that you can buy used for probably 50% off what the download version still costs.

 

As for the Switch, generally I think I want one. I don't think it's a perfect system - it's still underpowered, the game library is spotty at best from what they've shown so far, and I think 1-2-Switch is the kind of game that demonstrates everything I hate about modern-day Nintendo - but it's the kind of system I *know* I will have at some point just because of how unusual it is. It's either the first of a form factor that every system will eventually be, or it's a total one-off. Either way, I'm going to have to have one even just as a collector. The question is just whether I buy one soon after release or wait for the price drops and a better game library. With all the recent Nintendo systems I've been doing the latter, although I'm a little more interested in the Switch than I was in the Wii, Wii U or 3DS, all of which I just didn't really get at all when they were first announced.

[cimerians]

Nintendo (not the Switch console) is a fine lesson in absurdity. I've lost count the face palms I've had this week.

 

I've had to personally cut down on gaming a lot, one of the cuts is finally all Nintendo related material. Sad in a way but necessary.

[Keatah]

For me, this is punctuated by Xbox actively trying to stop me from wanting their system. Guys, seriously, I don't want or need Call of Duty/Halo clone #612. I wanted to fight giant monsters with my f**kin' badass dragon friend! I mean REALLY! I'm a collector! Let me have a damn reason to collect already!

 

Videogame collecting seems largely unrecognized by companies despite them touting collector's editions of top-tier titles.

 

Or if it is recognized, they do a decent job of not making it convenient. Unlike the old days where you could get cartridge stands and holders and console "entertainment centers".

[Keatah]

What do you plan to do with all your physical consoles and carts and other material? Because it sounds at odds with the reasons (burden) why you want all digital. Perhaps transition periods are. And you're gonna start offloading things?

 

I DON'T care about physical ownership anymore. I enjoy the convenience of being digital and digital ownership. I may be a special case because I have my fill in this lifetime of accumulating things as evidenced by my personal collection, but I don't think my reasoning is flawed.

 

 

It's neither right nor wrong. Whatever works for you. Believe it or not I use digital delivery and all that. I have little or no desire to fill a wall with cartridges or a room with consoles and accessories. Not anymore. So more "digital" is in my future too.

 

I do have concerns about a service going down or eliminating things from its catalog, therefore material I buy must be able to be backed up. I also have concerns about juggling 20 different service providers. I don't need the full capability of the cloud either.

 

Some of us come from the 70's. And cartridges and cassette tapes, disks and magazine type-ins, were the way things were distributed. Those were necessary evils of the day. So I ask does the nostalgia bug come from the interaction and handling of the physical media and how it works in a console or player? Or is the nostalgia for the information and gameplay itself? Perhaps both? Perhaps one is confused with the other?

 

Its weird and everything, but a physical collection does affect the mind. Your head keeps trying to organize things. After a while it can become tiresome and draining. And that's why a small and tight collection is a good thing. It lets you focus without distraction. If you're the kind that has to have everything available I say dump it to a hard drive and let it take care of it for you. After all, computers were meant as as organizational tool, were they not?

 

Digital collections are advantageous in that you don't need a whole hella lotta kwipment to access them, or store them. And the huge overarching most compelling reason to have one is you don't have to clean up the mess when done playing. heh!

[BillLoguidice]

What do you plan to do with all your physical consoles and carts and other material? Because it sounds at odds with the reasons (burden) why you want all digital. Perhaps transition periods are. And you're gonna start offloading things?

 

Ideally I'd sell the whole thing off at even pennies on the dollar, but that's impractical (I couldn't work out at a deal with a museum because they really just wanted to pick and choose from the lot, which wouldn't have benefited me from a getting out from under it all standpoint). I'll just have to sell things off over time, and, frankly, there's never really much time. Perhaps if things ever settle down, I'll start selling the things I'm least interested in and go from there. Unfortunately, I have a low tolerance for putting in the effort to sell things most of the time, so there's also that. So, more or less a holding pattern. Let's just say the digital revolution hasn't come soon enough for me!

[adamchevy]

Accumulating physical items for the sake of having them has always seemed strange to me. I've always tried to keep my collection tight. It helps me focus my available gaming time. I find that it overwhelms me to have to many options available. Most of the time when my collection gets to big I end up playing a lot less and selling a lot more. Of course I come from a partially ferengi family who loves to buy and sell everything for a profit. That's how I was raised. The rising value in video games over the past few years hasn't helped that very much. I do agree having a digital collection is very nice. For me it provides the same problem as having a giant physical collection. To many options. Maybe less really is more?

[Keatah]

You have to choose what physical stuff is worth having.

 

For most people, it's not important that they own physical media for music, movies, or video games.

 

I think careful choice is becoming all the more important in this day and age. Gluttony and media-overload is around every corner, every activity. And we must take steps to curtail it.

 

I've successfully pared down my DVD library to a shelf of special keepsakes and movies I thoroughly enjoyed. Throw in a couple of TV series. I've not let my PC collection get out of hand, not any more. And my Ti-59 and TRS-80 Pocket Computer 1, 2, and 4 collection is self-limiting due to small market penetration. It's practically niche stuff.

 

My box of CD's is not likely to be sold or otherwise disposed of. Even if it weighs 50,000 pounds of solid plastic. I absolutely cannot stand streaming music. I cannot deal with being tied to a connection no matter how convenient - till it isn't.

 

Now if I could only get rid of all the Apple /// and ///+ stuff. And excess "ebay-purchased" Apple II crap I don't give a shit about anymore. (rushes off to bid on more stuff!)

[Guest LiqMat]

I joked about that clip, this one right?

 

Little unknown fact. Vivid Entertainment is the publisher of this title. Dude in the cow had not only is milking it but simulating a little cradling too.

 

Where do I get that lovely little Nintendo Switch pillow to cuddle with? :-)

[cybercylon]

 

Ideally I'd sell the whole thing off at even pennies on the dollar, but that's impractical (I couldn't work out at a deal with a museum because they really just wanted to pick and choose from the lot, which wouldn't have benefited me from a getting out from under it all standpoint). I'll just have to sell things off over time, and, frankly, there's never really much time. Perhaps if things ever settle down, I'll start selling the things I'm least interested in and go from there. Unfortunately, I have a low tolerance for putting in the effort to sell things most of the time, so there's also that. So, more or less a holding pattern. Let's just say the digital revolution hasn't come soon enough for me!

 

Exactly. I don't have the time to mess around with eBay, our market place, packaging things, running over to the post office, etc. There are a few things that may end up on Craigslist because minimal effort is required. Second hand stores are an option, and I do that on occasion for stuff I really don't care about and isn't worth all that much even if I tried to sell it eBay, here, whatever (time=money). But there are some things I'd like to unload, but it isn't going there. I am not in the habit of giving stuff away unless a friend really wants it and will use it... though I am grumpy and getting older, so I don't have tons of friends to worry about anyway :-)

[Tanooki]

I guess I'm fortunate with a kid in school for a little in the afternoon and my early start gets me off early in the afternoon I can deal with ebay bs. I use my 50 free a month and any extra. It's a nice way to get out from under the bs and the money is a nice motivator. Here's to hoping the non-tmss genesis bundle and a few other items I put up the other night sell as I want it gone. Had I not ran out of freebies I've got some Famicom and PS4 stuff I want up there but I'm not eating the fee. I probably should post all that stuff and the rest I have on here and see if there are any takers.

[Schizophretard]

As for the Switch, generally I think I want one. I don't think it's a perfect system - it's still underpowered

 

I bet if the power was at a level that no one would consider it underpowered then they would complain more about a higher price, it needing a bigger battery, it having to be a bigger size and heavier to hold, etc. A handheld has to balance out all of these things.

[spacecadet]

 

I bet if the power was at a level that no one would consider it underpowered then they would complain more about a higher price, it needing a bigger battery, it having to be a bigger size and heavier to hold, etc. A handheld has to balance out all of these things.

 

...when it's a handheld, yes. But there's no reason the dock couldn't have a helper chip or two in it.

[Keatah]

Ideally I'd sell the whole thing off at even pennies on the dollar, but that's impractical (I couldn't work out at a deal with a museum because they really just wanted to pick and choose from the lot, which wouldn't have benefited me from a getting out from under it all standpoint). I'll just have to sell things off over time, and, frankly, there's never really much time. Perhaps if things ever settle down, I'll start selling the things I'm least interested in and go from there. Unfortunately, I have a low tolerance for putting in the effort to sell things most of the time, so there's also that. So, more or less a holding pattern. Let's just say the digital revolution hasn't come soon enough for me!

 

Probably the two major detractors for sales on ebay. Neighbors throw perfectly good stuff out because of the time it takes to sell it. And myself as well.