Questions about switch

[Video]

Yeah, I know most can be looked up on google, but I'm more interested in personal experience.

 

It's been what, two or three weeks since it come out and I still haven't seen one.

 

What are the games? I know its supposed to be some kind of card, which is cool IMO (been waiting for cart based consoles since 64...er...nintendo 64, not 1964 ) Also how do they work? I mean, does the system actually play on the card or move it to some internal memory or something? Do the cards go in the tablet part or the base?

 

Is the tablet truly portable or does it have to be in range of the base to work (kind of like playing Playstation console games with the vita.)

 

How actually is the controls? Not seen the system, but the controllers I've seen look like a real controller, like xbox cut in half or something. I assume there's still some motion sensor or something, but it's nice to see a usable controller on there.

 

Is the difference playing on TV or handheld very noticeable? I mean, I know people mentioned that the base will provide some sort of extra power or something but would running on batteries kill the games (or any of the ones out so far)?

 

How is the battery handled? Is the controller powered by the tablet portion or do they use their own batteries when connected?

 

What is the battery life when using the tablet? I know most tablets run 4-12 hours or so.

 

Is this thing going to be a crapload of updates like the other two? Man, I hate coming home, having 30 minutes to play a game and having to piss that away waiting for some damn update.

 

I'm sure I got more but that's all that come to mind now. I'm genuinely excited by this console unlike the WiiU which I still haven't gotten (though I wanted mario Maker and almost got one for that0 The Idea that you have a handheld you can play, come home and plug it into the TV to play is something I've dreamed of since Gamegear (if only Sega had just used the SMS card for the gamegear instead of a new custom cart style) and it should be less hassle than the PSP TV cable and more convenient than using something like Fire TV...if I could figure out how to transfer saved data.

 

Oh yeah, sorry if this is all answered already, I looked around and the topics that may have the answers looked rather lengthy.

[Punisher5.0]

The base is only for playing on a TV and charging. You don't even need the base if you just want it as a handheld. The games go in the system itself and are not installed on it. The contollers have their own batteries that are charged through the system. Battery life is probably around 6 gaming hours. Contollers have around 40 hour life.

[OldSchoolRetroGamer]

If the reports of scratched screens due to the Dock concern you there is even a way around that.

 

Nintendo Switch Dock Scratching Solution! TV Mode Undocked!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQZqKoi86Mk

[Tanooki]

To the topic starter in order here I guess...

 

- There's both a physical and digital list, sorry but I won't paste it. I will offer though that some games only Japan got on real media will in fact work on a US system in english if it was coded for it like I Am Setsuna (which is US digital only, I imported it.)

- They are in fact on cards, Vita sized micro sized memory cards. They range in sizes from 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32GB in size currently and can go larger (when cost effective) in the future. They also have a special coating on every one that's the most lab made bitter substance created to fend people (kids or fools) off from eating them accidentally.

- You put the card in, as you miss from the N64 era carts, and they pop up on the screen with a colorful Square filled in with the game name/art there, and you tap the button and it plays, like a classic game cart or a 3DS game card. Nothing is placed into system memory stock, only repair/patch upgrades, updates, or free/pay DLC, and otherwise any save data (they don't save to the cards.)

- 100% portable. I was playing Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+ on my couch for an hour yesterday. You can take it wherever like some Vita, 3DS, Gameboy, whatever.

- Controls are dead on accurate, nothing wonky or delayed. They also have hiding in there far more odd control choices from Wii like motion/pointing, haptic '3D' rumbling effect feedback, an IR camera, and other stuff. It can do what the Wii did a decade ago and more or just work like a modern full layout button controller.

- Is there a difference, yeah from maybe running at 720p handheld to 1080p docked, but given the screen size you probably will never notice other than maybe on certain game to game basis in the future which isn't here now. That's the battery issue you're talking about people noting. If you run in handheld mode it down clocks the GPU to a slower speed as to not overheat the thing or burn out the battery very fast.

- There are THREE batteries. There's one in the handheld 'tablet' body. Then both JoyCons have one a piece (that last I think 20+ hours easy of continual powered on use.) The system lasts like 3-6+ hours depending on the load intensity of the games.

 

Crapload of Nintendo updates? Maybe. They haven't dropped one yet so I have no idea. When you do get an update on a game though, you have the option to download the update and go play something else, don't download it and keep playing, or run the download and find something else to do.

[Video]

Awesome. Well, if I ever find one, I now have enough dough on my card to get one without paying out a couple months for it

 

The update comment was more the hope that this is one area where Nintendo had still not joined the popular trend of updating your systems and/or games every few days or weekly.

 

Scratching it? Eh, if I use it very much as a handheld it's going to get plenty of those anyways , guess I'll need some screen protectors.

 

Anyhow, thanks for the info guys, maybe I'll pick up some games in the mean time. It could be like the wii, take me a year or two to get one (I hope not) you never know.

[Atariboy]

I have a question of my own. Is there finally an account based DRM solution in place? Or are eShop downloads yet again tied to the hardware that they were bought on?

[Flojomojo]

I have a question of my own. Is there finally an account based DRM solution in place? Or are eShop downloads yet again tied to the hardware that they were bought on?

 

Nope, not yet -- not all the way, anyway. Nintendo Accounts can share a few things (coins, eShop balances, and progress in mobile games, friend lists), but it's not like you can buy a new Switch and download all your game saves and eShop purchases to it like you can on Android/iOS or even Playstation/Xbox. You can have other people's profiles on your device so they can play games you've downloaded, but you can't log into their device and expect your stuff to be there.

 

Hope springs eternal that they'll continue to evolve. I can understand why they want to keep it to one account per system -- simpler for customers to understand, simpler to support, but probably holding back adoption of downloads.

 

I just decided to stop worrying about it, take care of my stuff, and hope it doesn't get damaged/stolen. If something bad happens, I'm reasonably confident Nintendo support would eventually let me re-download the $hitloads of stuff I've bought from them over the years.

[Jinks]

I told my daughter yesteday when the switch hits the store shelves if she wants one. She said no the controllers are too small(her boyfriend has one) and wishes splatoon 2 would be on the wii U so she could play it.

One system I won't have to buy then.

[Mord]

I just decided to stop worrying about it, take care of my stuff, and hope it doesn't get damaged/stolen.

 

For my part I'm probably going to be relatively conservative about how much I'll be buying due to the way they handle stuff, and be extra strict with price caps. I'm sure they're fine with that though, so they can continue playing catchup to Sony and Microsoft with respect to this. Simply hurts their bottomline oh so slightly.