A Switch in Time (General Switch Chat II)

Snowballadeer wrote:

Which does he opt for?

We were feeling it out on the day, but I have the impression that the boys are going to be allowed to game in pulses. They had about a three-hour break before being allowed back on. I've now Switchily befriended my eldest nephew, and made him my Best Friend, too.

Snowballadeer wrote:

That is an utterly charming story Sir Duckington.  I'm glad she had fun.  And I fully agree that there's nothing more fun than seeing someone discover a great game for the first time.  My sister's experience is not overly different from your cousin's, in fact!  (Except I'm a terrible backseat gamer, and seeing her spend an hour chasing a fox and wasting arrows made my fists clench. )

Oh make no mistake, it was really painful to watch at times but it was Christmas and Christmas is a time for bottling up emotions.

I had fun few races on MK8 with my young nephew on Christmas eve, we were doing a team race (same team) but that didn't stop him from rubbing it in if he got first or if he hit me with weapons.

That's the way to play Mario Kart! If it hasn't ended a friendship/relationship it's not worth playing.

I had several cracking Switch sessions over Christmas. Jackbox was a hit with the family and watching my very drunk mother try to grapple with Mario Kart for the first time was fantastic. I turned on auto-steer and auto-drive for her and everything but it was like she was actively trying to hit the side of the road. Watching the poor game trying to cope with adjusting her course was hilarious. She loved "that mad rocket" item.

Sounds very relatable. My parents would understand.

They love Rocket League too. They're so happy whenever they manage to hit the ball!

Aw, there's a lot of nice family Switch stories there.

Mine's not. Before Christmas, while i was at work, my aunt/uncle/cousin/cousin's kid visited my folks while my Switch was there, and the kid played it. I've only actually been on for a couple of times since then, for Zelda sessions, and I've noticed the left joy-con's started "going up" by itself. I completed the Zelda DLC with the "hard mode" of Link tipsily trying to walk off ledges.

Shit, I'm about to start Mario Odyssey with that.

Er, Merry Christmas

Just realised what a good move it is to have that little Switch 'click' noise at the beginning of TV ads. I was sitting on my phone in front of the telly, heard the click and started to pay attention (it was a general ad for the Switch, featuring Breath Of The Wild). I felt like Pavlov's dog.

It's much like the bong the Wii had or the chime of the DS, its a great littlr piece of marketing.

I didn't get why it was such a great marketing device, that sound... and then it clicked.

Treesmurf wrote:

It's much like the bong the Wii had...

I was genuinely confused when I read this at first. The Nintendo Wiid...

Balladeer wrote:

I didn't get why it was such a great marketing device, that sound... and then it clicked.

Reminds me of this joke from the great Stewart Francis: "I wondered why the frisbee was getting bigger and bigger - then it hit me."

Nothing is original under the sun...

I was briefly tempted to put this news in the Switch Bargains thread. Nintendo Switch Online service to launch in September: it'll be $19.99 for a one-year subscription (which I assume will convert into the same number for all of our local currencies). It was about time we learned more about the service! I suppose that primes us for it to be discussed in more depth at E3.

I thought they'd have abandoned it at this point. I don't think there's anything on Switch I'd want to pay for this for. I certainly don't want Balloon Fight, Mario 3 or Dr Mario.

It's cheap compared to the other two but one has the best online infrastructure and you can see what you're paying for and the other is PSN which went up to £50 due to Brexit but it has a point of why we would still use it be it the Plus games (why I first signed up back on the PS3) or to play things like Monster Hunter World, Overwatch which we do play often.

Like Andy I don't get why I need the Nintendo online as a group we barely play it online and getting an NES or two games a month isn't fantastic.

The only thing is I can see from the rumour mill today is that Nintendo will show the other half of the year at E3 this has led people to think they could have SMASH ready to go for the online in September or maybe Pokemon as we don't know what that will that will be like on Switch and the financials are pointing to that being 2018.

Also some images of the starters of Pokemon Switch are going around, they look really fake to me but apparently exactly the same happened for Sun and Moon, that could be real or could be a copycat.

I'm hoping it'll enable those of us with FIFA to play each other online. I do agree that there will have to be other incentives, though.

This is the thing we've heard so much about the online from devs etc and I can't just see Nintendo when they suddenly getting our money going to EA etc and going you can now add in friend support guys and seems such a crummy thing to add in as well as an incentive.

I was thinking when walking home that we've not heard much about VC and we know we're getting an NES game a month with this and seems we can keep them now as long as we're subbing but what if it's like Game Pass with VC and it does rotate each month and if you're subbing you get to play what's in rotation or the bigger one as they're adding online to NES games.

Imagine if they added online to GameCube games, Melee or Double Dash with online would be well worth the £20 and I could see what I'm paying for as someone would have put in the time effort to get them running online.

The thing is it is only £20 and you brought up in the retro section an idea which would be worth it and we know will eventually have SMASH, Pokemon and deathmatch in Metroid maybe etc.

Crumpy Andy wrote:

I thought they'd have abandoned it at this point. I don't think there's anything on Switch I'd want to pay for this for. I certainly don't want Balloon Fight, Mario 3 or Dr Mario.

This was just Nintendo confirming a launch date, wasn't it? I'd like to think since they delayed it for quite some time that the finer details may have changed a lot but you're right that in that state (no massive online game & a handful of old games) it doesn't seem worth it.

Hopefully Nintendo don't keep us guessing over these coming months as to what those finer details might be.

This was one of my predictions for this year, along with it 'being widely panned'. I guess we'll see?

I'm very much dubious about this paid online system as whilst Nintendo have struggled with online capabilities in the past, it's never been tremendously bad as it's been a free service. Now they've GOT to get it right if folks are handing money over for the service.

Still, if it's still definitely going ahead, I hope they retain that lower price point as I'll be far more willing to part with £20 for a relatively unproven service compared to £40 or £50.

Finally something useful


That's from March where 1 Gold coin = 1p off something on the Switch eShop, meaning I've got £3.50 to spend.

Any Gold coins earned after March will have a 12 month expiry on them and the rates of earning will change to this:
Switch eShop Games & DLC: 5% of total paid amount
Wii U & 3DS eShop games: 5% of total paid amount
Download codes: 5% of undiscounted eShop price
Retail game cards: 1% of undiscounted eShop price

I hope they've had a good think about their internet service since they first talked about paid online way back when. Even putting the monthly games you get with PSN/XB aside, both offer substantial discounts on select games each month for subscribers too. Can't say I've ever been impressed by Nintendo eshop prices, not least of all when you consider how much they charge for dusty old ROMS every generation.

That's a start, now give me something for the silver buggers as well. You're shutting down the one place they really got used, it's the least you could do.

That's still coming soon the rewards it seems, so the platinum coins still have no purpose.

Also don't register any cartridges as even though new system is 1%, it's better than the current system as for a £60 game at the moment you get 16 gold where in the new one you'll get 60 gold.

Anyone still subscribe to Switch Player? Issue 12 just came out, with a belting Wil Overton cover that... basically spoils the SMO postgame something rotten, which I was surprised about. Anyway, reading through it makes me think how much the Switch deserves a proper glossy A4 print magazine. They just don't have room for all the games in Switch Player.

Also I'm not sure I buy their reviews at all. They review 13 games in a row, all of which are labelled 'essential' or better. And one of them's Teslagrad. Inigo Montoya-isms aside, that either highlights what I said above (that they don't have room for all the games and have to focus on the good ones, meaning we miss out on reviews of terrible games which are always the best #content (breathe)), or suggests their freelance squad are overly optimistic.