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We, You, and the Switch Two
15 Plays1 month ago
Join Dave and Jake as they give a rundown and their hopes, dreams, doubts, and reservations about the Switch 2 in this week's episode!
Intro: That thing you do with your fingers, but twice this time!
Outro: 3DS eShop Theme
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Transcript
Introduction and Hosts
00:00:01
Speaker
How's it going, everyone? Welcome to another episode of Soapstone. My name is Jake, and I am joined by my co-host, as always, Dave. How's it going today, Dave? Good. Very good. Good with me, too.
00:00:13
Speaker
right, next topic.
Switch 2 Announcement and Leaks
00:00:15
Speaker
So, the Switch 2. Yeah. There's another one? They did it. They finally did it after... Years and years of leaks that they were doing it.
00:00:26
Speaker
They actually actually announced it. How do you feel about them using a basic number naming convention? It's weird, right? It's kind of like GameCube. They've had Nintendo, Super Nintendo 64.
00:00:43
Speaker
Yeah, the Wii U.
Nintendo's Naming Conventions
00:00:46
Speaker
Basically every step along the way, they've been weird about it. The N64 is actually like I like the N64. That was one of my childhood consoles. Really enjoyed it.
00:00:56
Speaker
but it was also just literally named after the like processor architecture which is very very funny to me right well if i'm correct i think gamecube was initially going to be named dolphin for that same reason and that's why i think the uh the gamecube emulator is it's called dolphin yeah It's just very funny because it's just like, I mean, arguably all of the other actual marketing for a console like the N64 was around the games. It was Mario. It was like Super Mario 64 is Donkey Kong 64. Perfect Dark, stuff like that.
00:01:35
Speaker
Excellent lineup of titles, by the way. Right. Like so good. um But then they just named the console based off of processor architecture, which I don't think.
Skepticism About Switch 2 Features
00:01:46
Speaker
I think zero kids might have actually gotten or been interested in and contrast to everything else.
00:01:52
Speaker
Um, but it was also three characters, right? Like the abbreviation just in 64, um, was pretty great. PlayStation did it better, of course, but, um, Oh yeah. have The PS2.
00:02:05
Speaker
Yeah. PS1, PSP, PS3, p s three I mean you could just go on because they didn't change it. But um I mean, that's best.
00:02:17
Speaker
Right. So maybe Nintendo has taken a lesson from PlayStation with the naming of the switch. But it's very much like you have that one ah crazy cousin who shows up to family reunions and like dumb dunks his head in the punch bowl and stuff like that.
00:02:30
Speaker
And he just shows up and he like has a job. um He's like he's wearing khakis. He's got a calm, demure demeanor. And you're like, what are you planning? rights That's my approach. That's my response to the Switch
Joy-Con Preferences and Issues
00:02:43
Speaker
2. What are you planning?
00:02:44
Speaker
To go back to the punch bowl, but with fancy clothes. No one will suspect it. It's weird. It is weird to see them just slap a two on it. But, I mean, we now know all of the details about the console.
00:03:00
Speaker
um To be honest, we knew most of the details about the console before they announced it. Because, again, the Switch 2 rumors and leaks and stuff have been going on for years at this point.
00:03:11
Speaker
um It was just reaching that point of like plausible deniability because they had been going on for years and it hadn't been announced. It's Silksong. It was the Silksong of consoles.
00:03:24
Speaker
They were like, maybe it doesn't come out. i don't know.
00:03:29
Speaker
But I mean, like, what is actually different about it? Because in my mind, at least, this is just Switch Plus. Yeah. More so than the OLED.
00:03:41
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Well, I mean, it's funny you use that one as a particular example, because that's the one thing we know it doesn't have is ah OLED display. which Wait, wait two years. Yes, exactly. there's going to be There's going to be some sort of release with that updated display.
00:03:57
Speaker
um Because I don't have an OLED display myself, I don't believe. um I'd have to check. I'm not the biggest monitor buff. um But it is you know a pretty good display.
00:04:08
Speaker
I wouldn't want to like trade down on purpose. you know um
00:04:14
Speaker
And it's kind of weird to just be like, yeah, this one display doesn't this this one's display doesn't have as good of like color fidelity and stuff like that compared to our previous edition.
00:04:26
Speaker
That is a little bit weird. um To answer the rest of your question, though, ah the ah Devices a little bit bigger. um It's got like a larger screen. It's got less blocky corners, including on the the dock.
00:04:41
Speaker
um It's more rounded. They updated the Joy-Cons, which a lot of people were excited about, but I don't care at all about because I yeah, like when's the last time you use the Joy-Cons? I mean, think there's basically there's three types.
00:04:58
Speaker
um The one type is me, which is it stays in the dock forever. Yes. It's hooked up to a bigger monitor and I don't really travel around and move with it um or use it in public.
00:05:12
Speaker
Then there's people who will actually like use it in public and use it as the handheld. And that's where the joy cons come in as far as hand feel.
00:05:23
Speaker
Right. ah But they're obviously not going to be separated in that context.
Switch 2 Hardware Changes
00:05:27
Speaker
And the last group is, again, the switch is probably docked. But people are using the Joy-Cons as actual controllers. Right. Whether it be for like a motion-based game like Ring Fit Adventure or maybe it's just like a family party game type thing.
00:05:47
Speaker
And I guess I can see that case, right? But I'm definitely with you in that, like, I never actually consider them when I'm thinking about, like, a controller. I'm not like, oh, we have, I've got, like, two pro controllers, and then I guess I do have the Joy-Con, so we do have three people that could play Smash at one time.
00:06:04
Speaker
Like, no, right? Like, why would i insult someone like that? um they' It's also so insanely small, where it's like you're handing somebody a pen, and you're like, hey, there's, like, 20 different inputs on here. You can play, right?
00:06:17
Speaker
and And they just have like their hands squished together trying to. Oh, yeah. I mean, like, it's OK. I think the most OK scenario out of the ones you described is when it's attached to the console, because then it's like it still feels like a device, I guess.
00:06:33
Speaker
But if you just separate them out um and then like it's OK for like party games, I guess. But. I don't know. It doesn't feel very controller-y. I guess that's my own personal bias here.
00:06:44
Speaker
um And so I like the weight, the feel, the resistance, um the i the strength of a controller, basically. um So you can like hit buttons and not feel like you're going to break it or like you're abusing your device or whatever. like The whole point is that a controller um like has all of these benefits ergonomically also that like a joy con doesn't have when you're just like i guess i've just got a stylus in each hand let's freaking go or something right so i mean similar concerns with like the we for me um and i get i know it's just historical bias right it's just because i like having a controller um
00:07:27
Speaker
But I like having a controller. So joy comes in every big for me. It's fair. um I really think for we era, it was really just for the motion controls.
00:07:38
Speaker
Yeah, because games like boom blocks, which great. um You couldn't really do with a controller. Well, yeah. um Just because there are certain factors as far as like how hard you're quote unquote throwing something.
00:07:56
Speaker
Right. You can't really get that from an analog stick like, oh, they they hit it really hard. Uh huh. And I will concede that point. i agree with that 100% because like I played
Switch 2 Potential Improvements
00:08:06
Speaker
Breath of the Wild, Tears of the Kingdom, both very physics-based games.
00:08:10
Speaker
um And I think at some point I just disabled the motion control in the Pro Controller because you can technically just like tilt your controller up, tilt it down, tilt it to the side and stuff like that to like mess around with objects in the 3D space when motion control is enabled.
00:08:27
Speaker
It's not great to do that with like a full size controller compared to having these things in your hand where you're like air traffic control, basically. um And maybe literally, depending on whatever you're constructing out of all of the pieces and you've tied your little Deku buddy to or whatever.
00:08:44
Speaker
ah But yeah, it's outside of literally the motion controls. I'm not a big fan, but even if you were a big fan of the joy cons, they're not Hall effect, which I think is the biggest thing people were looking for.
00:09:00
Speaker
Like the changes, they're on magnetic rails on the side of the console. So like um they don't just slide on and off like pat plastic strips. Maybe that's better. i don't know. People say it is.
00:09:12
Speaker
um But for people who actually use anything with a joystick a lot, you're going to run into stick drift, right? um I have an entire rant that I'm not going to pack up. We're just going to leave that in a box here on the side.
00:09:29
Speaker
But I will just say i had a very bad experience with an official modern Xbox controller recently where it didn't last a full year um before I started experiencing stick drift and I couldn't fix it. I took it apart. Blue air and all that stuff sucks.
00:09:45
Speaker
Terrible. That really does suck because especially Outside of the USB Xbox controller that you plug in, it's like 20 bucks. um Controllers are at least going to be $60 and more likely than not upwards of $100. Yeah. Like the like this wasn't I don't even think it was an elite. It was like Xbox Series S X. ah Nice purple. It was a great looking controller. It felt great. Had all the old Xbox feel. I enjoyed using it.
00:10:15
Speaker
But then as soon as the sticks start to drift and there's nothing you can do, you're just like, well, Goodbye. I think it was around 60, 60 bucks, 60, 70, something like that. um I bought ah nice little ah like aftermarket type controller. I actually should look up the brand so I can rep them.
00:10:33
Speaker
But a lot of friends and our friend group also using some the controllers like $37. Works for Monster Hunter, works for all these different games. It's wireless also functions better than Xbox did. If you want to use it wireless like.
00:10:47
Speaker
So the TLDR, because we're talking about the switch, is they're not Hall Effect sticks. So they're still going to be ah susceptible to stick drift past a point.
00:10:59
Speaker
And that was one of people's concerns and one of the issues they had with the original Joy-Cons. um And I don't know if this is going to be better. Hopefully it is. But now we don't have as much evidence that it would be.
Pricing Strategies and Concerns
00:11:11
Speaker
And it could have been a selling point for the console, right? If you were somebody that used them and you had your joysticks go bad. Yeah, I feel like Nintendo, whenever they're doing anything, it's one foot in the right direction, like one one step forward, one step back.
00:11:29
Speaker
Mm-hmm. like they are improving things between Switch and Switch 2, such as the improved display, um finally having better hardware.
00:11:40
Speaker
Let's see if it can run a Pokemon game now. um But like missing out on something like that, that that common with other controllers or systems,
00:11:54
Speaker
feels like a ah pretty big miss also if their net code is bad in any way shape or form it is unforgivable because they've had so much time to be like oh here are all the issues with the switch maybe we were being limited by specific things in the hardware but going forward let's you know solve those problems yeah I mean, that's what you want to see, right? and A new console is improvement.
00:12:20
Speaker
Ideally, 8BitDo was the name of the brand. That's the controller brand I recommend. Awesome. Look them up. Friend of the show. um They did improve other things about the switch.
00:12:32
Speaker
So better CPU, a lot more onboard memory. I think they went from something like They like quadrupled it, whatever it was. I have some an SSD card in my Switch um for additional capacity because it was pretty much necessary to like have games installed, to actually have games installed.
00:12:52
Speaker
um And I don't think that's going to be necessary for the next one. um So that's nice, but also storage is generally pretty inexpensive and a large micro ss ah micro SD card is not even that expensive. so They're also doing this in tandem with um the online Nintendo store now having more legacy games true from like GameCube and other areas where they kind of want to actually have and flesh out an online library.
00:13:24
Speaker
So a lot of that would not be... installed. Well, mean, I guess you would need your save files. stopped to download it. Digitally downloaded.
00:13:36
Speaker
Actually, I'm not sure where where i was going with that point then. It would still take up the same amount of space. Well, I mean, a fair fair direction to go would be if they're moving towards a more digital um style, then they can't be reading from data from the disk or from the cartridges at all in this case.
00:13:55
Speaker
um And so you do need more local storage because everything has to be installed. um So that would be a fair point, right? If they're moving towards this emulation type setup and even specific examples beyond the ah the retro space one, ah like half, maybe 75 percent. I didn't do a breakdown of like the new releases for the Switch two are just remasters so of old things or like improved versions of games.
00:14:23
Speaker
I got say that is one of my biggest pain points. Yeah. Where um Like with Dead Space, I think it was fine because, i mean, they did change it good amount.
00:14:37
Speaker
A lot of time had passed as well. Where it's like, okay, let's redo this. Let's revisit it. Cool. um But something like The Last of Us, where they're like, hey, um I know it's been six months since the game was out, but like here's a new version.
00:14:53
Speaker
It feels very much like the George Lucas approach, where it's like, actually, i want to I want to change this one thing here. And they want to go back. backck Okay, it's a whole new version now.
00:15:04
Speaker
um Because this is a specific reference. But the ah Robin Hood dressed as a biker shaking a cup gif. yeah That's basically how they treat remasters these days and re-releases. Yeah, I don't think they need to do it.
00:15:22
Speaker
as much or if they're going to it'd be like hey do you already have this game have you already paid for it cool you have access to the updated version right from the online like library and i'm going to give them just a pinch of credit you know just in the interest of full disclosure they did describe that is going to be a process for the people who already own the games that are getting ah remasters for the switch to it's still $10, but it's like a $10 upgrade fee basically to go from ah the switch one version of breath of the wilds ah to the switch to version.
00:16:00
Speaker
And I don't believe that we have, I mean, wait for reviews, right? This is the the advice everyone should always follow. I don't know what the difference is going to be, right? Like what are they actually changing beyond these? i don't immediately care until they give me a reason to care. My default opinion is that...
00:16:20
Speaker
You have to sell me on a remaster is basically what i'm saying. um Yeah, because honestly, if you're playing a game and you're enjoying it, you're not thinking, oh, ah this lacks some graphical things that could be changed.
00:16:33
Speaker
um So really, you would kind of have to show them side to side and be like, hey, here's why this version is better. Because since the Switch 2 is going to be backwards compatible, if you already have Smash Brothers Ultimate, you'd be like,
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah, going keep playing that game that I already have that works on this new console. Exactly. Yeah, the one and we we talked about this even in advance of the official announcement.
00:16:59
Speaker
You know, what what do we actually want from the Switch 2? And I think we were both in agreement that it's like, well, if the games that didn't run at a high frame rate um, consistently could instead run it a high framer. That's kind of, that's kind of the main thing, right? We just, we really want functionality from the consoles. Yes.
00:17:18
Speaker
If that's not asking too much, it's not, I don't think it should be. Um, I do think, and this is one thing I should have looked up, but the Switch 2 supports a higher frame rate overall when it's um like docked in particular.
00:17:34
Speaker
um i think the Switch 1 frame rate caps at 60, if I remember correctly. mean, for a lot of Switch games, I think that kind of covered the bases.
00:17:46
Speaker
They're going to be going higher than that either, right? like not on Not on that hardware. Because at this point, the Switch 1 is just like, An okay phone, sort of, as as far as the processor and stuff. um Also, it does be need to improve a significant amount.
00:18:04
Speaker
Because when they were announcing the Switch 2 and all the games that were going to be on it, there were a lot of... large titles that were like, oh, this is a game really known for its graphics, such as Elden Ring.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah. First off, FromSoft doing anything with Nintendo, i was like, what the fuck? Very out of left field. ah We already talked about the Duskborners.
00:18:29
Speaker
Hmm. Duskborners. and um Whatever that new FromSoft game was that they were teasing. Mm hmm. But Eldritch in general... It's just called Duskborn, right?
00:18:41
Speaker
Okay, I was correct. Hell yeah. yeah um so I thought you said Duskborners. I did initially. And I was just like, I don't think that's right. but I thought it was like a plural. It's talking about multiple Dusk-related people. I don't know.
00:18:57
Speaker
It's the... ah We have Bloodborne at Home. made The game from... some From South. Yeah. Yeah, Elden Ring, at least for everybody who I've talked to, has been a more intensive game. Oh, yeah. Very pretty.
00:19:14
Speaker
Yeah, there's a lot going on with the graphics. And even if you to tune that down, ah there's typically a lot of entities on the screen yeah as well.
Consoles vs. PCs
00:19:24
Speaker
um So if your computer is not great, it's possible that it might struggle running that.
00:19:31
Speaker
Yeah. And Switch, which has been pretty notorious about running seemingly some of the most basic stuff. Nintendo games it struggled with. Yes. It's like, hey, we designed ah Pokemon Arceus for the Switch.
00:19:45
Speaker
Uh-huh. And then, like, you couldn't run without it slowing down. Yeah. They're like, we literally couldn't strip enough out of this game to make it perform on our own console.
00:19:58
Speaker
This is a pretty big promise on the Switch 2's part that I hope it actually holds Yeah. Yeah. You know which one stood out for me in the exact same vein.
00:20:10
Speaker
Like, how did you guys even think it was a good idea to announce this? Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition. Oh, yeah. That was the other one where I'm on the switch to.
00:20:22
Speaker
On the Switch as well? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Oh, that's the other issue. But they should just jump to three, the Switch 3. Would have been more in line with Nintendo to just be like, oh, yeah, no, this doesn't make any sense.
00:20:34
Speaker
What's crazy with specifically Cyberpunk is the fact that you can, like, have genitals showing. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And for, like, Nintendo, usually, like, they're very family-friendly as far as what they've allowed. Yeah. Yeah.
00:20:53
Speaker
I mean, i wouldn't put it beyond. i mean, they'll probably censor the game region based. um So, I mean, I wouldn't. I mean, in Japan, obviously, they're not going to allow any of that in Australia. They're not going to allow any of that.
00:21:08
Speaker
So ah different versions of the game probably will have censorship. In the US though, Cyberpunk 2077 got an ESRB M rating.
00:21:21
Speaker
It wasn't AO. So, um I mean, you can show frontal nu nudity and as long as it's not like egregious or in like a sexual context, um you can show that and get an M rated game.
00:21:35
Speaker
um Yeah, you just can't go overboard with it or they'll be like, yeah, refuse classification. um Other countries care a lot more. And so in before switch to ports in blood rain. Yeah. Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker
I mean, they might. There's there's a lot on this um on this list. But I mean, i yeah I kind of don't have faith in them for that, for Cyberpunk 2077.
00:22:05
Speaker
for For the record, they can tear enough graphical fidelity out of Cyberpunk to make it run on a given system at this point. The baseline like engine issues, I think, are largely resolved at this point.
00:22:20
Speaker
Also, Ultimate Edition, all that means is it includes the DLC, the Phantom Liberty DLC. and That's not something special for Switch. They've already released the Ultimate Edition on PC.
00:22:30
Speaker
um So nothing nothing special there. I do think they can tone down the graphics enough to make it runnable, but Cyberpunk still is used as a benchmark for like modern graphics cards where they're like, okay, well, how many frames does it get at 4K with post-processing settings enabled?
00:22:53
Speaker
And for a lot of like good graphics cards, month salary type graphics cards, you're looking at like
00:23:02
Speaker
50 frames a second and something like that, right? um It is a great high end test for the best hardware in the world. This ain't that. So it's going to be toned down.
00:23:13
Speaker
I don't think to date. um Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think there's ever been a console that has been really comparable with an actual standalone desktop as far as capability. Yeah, I mean, obviously, um a computer ah would be much more modular as far as things you want to tweak versus a console is like, hey, we have this computer in a box.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah. um And it runs these disks for now chips. It's kind of like you have to and this this goes back to the PC versus console wars. um But you have to pick your your battle lines very specifically when you're comparing consoles and PCs.
00:23:58
Speaker
If you say like, has there ever been a console that's better than PC could be at that time? Right. Or like the PC that you could make. Obviously, the answer is no, because consoles are computers but at this point. Right.
00:24:11
Speaker
It's just a snapshot. It's just like we're going to build computers with these standard parts. Right. um And then we're going to have our own operating system. And then we will run the games on that.
00:24:23
Speaker
And the upside to consoles is it's a very standardized, right? You don't have as many shouldn't have as many ah software issues because you're not going to have what the drivers are.
00:24:36
Speaker
run into issues really like, oh, I have to download a patch to this one thing and oh, I need to restart my machine now that I've updated an environment variable ah or other issues you can run into with that. um Because usually it's just consoles are meant to be very plug and play. Yeah.
00:24:53
Speaker
Like, hey, I turned it on. i put in my game. I'm going to play with the family. Right. And they're also very price efficient.
Game Pricing and Market Impact
00:25:00
Speaker
Right. That's the other thing is If money matters a lot, right? Like if that's your most important factor, you should pretty much never buy. it Well, okay. I shouldn't say you should never buy PC, but a console, like take the Switch, for example, um its retail price was $450. That does not buy you one good to high-end GPU right now, right? $450 is like
00:25:34
Speaker
Expect to spend twice that for like a high end, but not enthusiast end, GPU. Single piece of your computer, right? Conversely, this will play games.
00:25:46
Speaker
The upside to PC is it plays everything. And there are a lot of great free games. And it's got, you know, all of these games that you could play forever without needing to, or seemingly forever, without needing to switch between consoles to do so.
00:26:01
Speaker
But
00:26:03
Speaker
Yeah, potato, potato, potato. ah Hardware wise, consoles kind of compete with each other more than they compete with PC. um My TLDR from the statement 20 minutes ago was just going to be as far as what you were saying with um Cyberpunk running yeah on the Switch 2.
00:26:24
Speaker
Again, i really hope that they can pull it off. um But I do have doubts if a lot of modern PCs... need to have settings tweaked to be able to run cyberpunk elden ring anything else like that yeah because nintendo has not really demonstrated it yet therefore i have no reason to believe that that is the case yet yeah all it said is like hey when we launch ah these games will be launching with it
00:26:56
Speaker
yeah and that's pretty much i agree that's the information we have um so Is there anything that was mentioned that you're hyped about?
00:27:08
Speaker
ah There's a couple basic things, even before we get to games. ah Ethernet ports built in. That's nice, actually. I have a really crappy Ethernet dongle that I use, and um it caps out like well under 100 megabytes a second, um which depending where you're at, your Internet may be better or worse than that.
00:27:30
Speaker
Like, I'm not trying to judge anybody. um But it's very limiting and from a network hardware perspective to have this crappy little little dongle. Hopefully whatever adapter they have built into the, ah this is in the dock, not the switch itself. You're not hooking up an ethernet connector to the back of your handheld. It's nice to bake that in.
00:27:51
Speaker
That'll save a lot of aftermarket people like 30 bucks or so um over buying a ah specific converter. um They updated the wifi. Backwards compatible. i don't know if we touched on that or not. That's nice. A little bit. Yeah.
00:28:05
Speaker
Yeah. um
00:28:09
Speaker
by But what was your original question? My original question is, were there any games that were announced that you're like, oh, oh, hell yes. This is going to be my reason I get the Switch 2. No.
00:28:21
Speaker
Or New Smash will be the reason. And also, I wouldn't mind picking this up at some point. Yeah. Yeah. I'm kind of the I'm the wrong person to answer this question because.
00:28:35
Speaker
I guess the ah in the list, I'm looking at the list of games, we don't have to go through all of them, we shouldn't. um I'm interested in perhaps replaying some of the Zeldas, but I don't think I need to buy the new versions of the games for that unless they really sell me on important things in the remasters.
00:28:50
Speaker
um And don't remove Navi. Yeah. Well, Navi is actually not in the mail ready anyway. So that would be a very funny. That's kind of like the removed hero. Brian line from Minecraft. We remove something not in the game. Right. um ah Delta rune was the other one. It would be a perfect handheld game.
00:29:11
Speaker
Yeah, that is. I really hope it releases on other stuff as well. Yeah. Well, yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Switch 2 Game Lineup
00:29:20
Speaker
you've You've been talking to Toby? Yeah, just inside. I mean, friend of the show.
00:29:24
Speaker
Not a special guest yet. He's that he's been giving us the runaround for years. A little dodgy, that one. Yeah, it is nice that Del Turin is able to ah continue being on the Switch.
00:29:35
Speaker
Because I remember ah parts one and two um came over to the Switch. And that's how we were able to get San's skin ah for Mii Fighters in Smash Ultimate.
00:29:48
Speaker
Exactly. And Megalovania playing constantly in the lobby music. ah it's It was great. It was a very good crossover.
00:29:59
Speaker
um Even if we didn't get him as a full fighter. Would have been hilarious, by the way. Would have been broken. yeah but i can and I can respect the people. All of the people who were asking for Sora for so long.
00:30:12
Speaker
It felt right to end the roster on Sora. I get that. But also, Sans would have been hilarious.
00:30:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
But yeah, mean, Delta Rune, good handheld game. um There's some other games I've also kind of passed over. I guess um this this is my bias, but like 2D platformer type games, I could see um the more action FPS-y a game gets, the less likely I am to want to play this in a handheld format.
00:30:48
Speaker
Yeah. And I guess also, you know, just console docked switch. um If a game is only available on the switch and I'm interested in that game, I e Zelda like then, you know, I I'm interested in that.
00:31:03
Speaker
But. So much of what they announced in this list, like Yakuza zero Hogwarts Legacy, Civilization Street Fighter. um Like these are games that you can play on PC and I have no interest in playing them on the switch.
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah, if you already have them for PC um or if you're just a PC gamer in general, of having, I guess, not um console exclusive exclusive games like the, hey, what about this? You're going be like, i'm going I mean, already got this thing over here. I want to pay around 500 bucks to be able to play that again on this console.
00:31:51
Speaker
Right. Yeah. The other one that was interesting to mention was Split Fiction, which we did play recently, had our episode on it. um Overall recommend. Would you recommend playing Switch Split Fiction in handheld mode on the Switch?
00:32:08
Speaker
Um... I mean, I'd have to see how it feels if we're talking like Switch 1. No. Yeah. um Like you can do keyboard and mouse, but I think that's one of those things where anytime you're doing a third person platforming, um having a controller is so nice.
00:32:28
Speaker
I think that's really why they were designed because you're like, oh I'm going to move with this stick and look around with this stick so I can orient myself. Right. That's just very hard to do. with uh the switch motes yeah because i think i mean i i guess i was kind of joking in a way because like the way i envision this is someone's holding the control like holding the switch in front of them with the joy cons and then another person's over their shoulder with the controller because that's the way you would have to play this on mobile um right like you it takes both joy cons in order to control one character you know so um
00:33:03
Speaker
um obviously this is a game that you're going to actually play when it's docked, but it's funny to think about, right? Ask somebody on the bus if they want to play split fiction with you. Well, I figured that it would kind of work the way it does today where you'd still see, um, your screen and the other person's screen together, but you'd be playing remotely.
00:33:27
Speaker
I mean, it works that way for PC, but I don't know if it could work that way for other consoles. Um, I mean, maybe it does. i'm not I'm not sure if there's an option to like give people a guest pass for consoles.
00:33:43
Speaker
um Or maybe they just allow people to download it. Right. That would make sense. Just allow people to download a free digital download load for them. Yeah. Everybody downloads.
00:33:54
Speaker
is Well, I mean, that's the way it worked for me is I could download it but and I could sit at the menu or play a demo. But until you invited me to a game, I couldn't actually play the main game.
00:34:06
Speaker
um It probably works the same way for consoles. It's funnier because, I mean, they also must support a couch co-op version of Split Fiction. That's the way most people would choose to play the game, right?
00:34:19
Speaker
I guess, like, if you actually have a friend who can be there um in person. Very funny to just think about playing it over your shoulder. oh Yeah.
00:34:33
Speaker
Otherwise, yeah, I mean, there's not ah for you. I mean, is there is there anything here in this list that really compels you to go out and get a switch. I saw Soul Calibur, you know, I thought that was so fucking funny that that was mentioned because in my head, that has been a dead series for such a long time.
00:34:52
Speaker
But ah i mean, this isn't a new intro. Well, yeah, but like the fact that they're willing to advertise it and be like, hey, um this is still going to exist on modern consoles now.
00:35:04
Speaker
It's kind of crazy. We found this in a box in the garage. Do you want this in a new thing? Yeah. Yeah, it's not really a driving factor for me. Yeah. um I guess the one possible driving factor intended would be Mario Kart World.
00:35:21
Speaker
Yeah. It was because Mario cards are always
Consumer Impact of Game Pricing
00:35:24
Speaker
fun. um Was that a driving factor? Yeah, that wasn't the the intentional pun there. Gotcha. Locked it in.
00:35:34
Speaker
But yeah, it's still not really enough on its own. And also the price of the games um being higher than what I'm used to paying for games is also ah making me a little shy.
00:35:47
Speaker
Yeah. it's so So we should cover that. um Some of the games, it's so far it seems to be announced for the Nintendo exclusive games.
00:35:58
Speaker
They're not doing these for the ones that are like cross-platform. um But ah Donkey Kong, um like Banana Bonanza, or whatever it is, Bonanza, um and Mario Kart World are both $80 games USD.
00:36:13
Speaker
um And that's a lot of money. Part of this a specific thing to mention for Mario Kart World is there was a $50 USD Delta between um the Switch version that didn't come with the game and the Switch version that came with the game.
00:36:30
Speaker
So if you knew you were going to get Mario Kart, you should just get the version that comes with Mario Kart because then it's $50 upcharge instead of $80. And so that could play into it for that particular game. But this definitely sets precedent.
00:36:43
Speaker
They can be pricing their games at $80. How do you feel about that? I don't feel great. I mean, obviously a higher number ah wins more, but also Nintendo has this history of never dropping their prices for their exclusive games.
00:37:01
Speaker
Like if you try and go look for Smash Ultimate today, i'm pretty sure it's still like 50, 60 bucks. Yeah. yeah So it is kind of cool that they don't lose value in a sense.
00:37:13
Speaker
ah But it sucks if it's like, hey, this has been out for four years. um There's already a new version out. Will this be cheaper for me to now kind of buy in and get into ah this console and some of the games? And then the answer is no.
00:37:29
Speaker
which is Which is kind of rough um because a lot of people... who aren't a part of the I'm going to get this in like the first iteration that comes out, they might wait for the second wave of games to come out.
00:37:42
Speaker
Maybe they'll announce some new exclusives like, OK, now that this new stuff's out, um maybe some things are a little bit cheaper as well. I'll buy in. And then it's just not going to be that way.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah. No, it's... It's rough. um I didn't like it. I think Square Enix was... Square Enix, Ubisoft, these are two, like, the big companies that were pushing the $70 price point for games.
00:38:07
Speaker
And, like, I think we've talked about it before. There is a justification that... Adjusted for inflation, the price of some of these games should be a lot higher.
00:38:20
Speaker
But that's also assuming that your profit margin, well, one, it's not taking into account digital distribution at all, where you're not printing chips, you're not shipping all of this stuff, you don't have to work with retailers in the same way.
00:38:34
Speaker
maybe you still have like they ship plastic right it's very funny whenever they're like hey buy this plastic box thing there's no game in it but there's a code so you can activate the game hate that that's a waste on multiple levels and even for someone who's not the most environmentally conscious i could realize that's literally just waging war on the environment for no reason um but uh outside of that like I just i I don't think it's super justifiable that the price on games keeps going up when it's already been proven and continues to be proven in the less than AAA space, the AA or indie even space of games that you can get a full experience for like 30 bucks.
00:39:22
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Even like Phantom Liberty was an excellent DLC. Recommended to everyone who has any interest in cyberpunk. I think it was like 30 bucks, 40 bucks.
00:39:34
Speaker
It was DLC, but it was also pretty much a self-contained game. So like from a value proposition, I just don't see 80 bucks. You know how many times 20 goes into 80?
00:39:47
Speaker
Like at least four, maybe more. Impossible to know. But yeah. No, I agree with that. um The other part of it, I think, is while you can say, yes, it's being adjusted for inflation, I don't think at least my job, probably not a lot of other people's jobs as well, have been adjusting for inflation the same way. Right, exactly. So it it seems much steeper for the average consumer.
00:40:15
Speaker
Exactly. And not everything like gets adjusted for inflation at the same rate, right? so whatever argument they're trying to make here, a kind of at the end of the day doesn't matter. People either will pay the price point or they won't.
00:40:30
Speaker
um And it either is a good deal or it's not compared to what the rest of the market says. And for myself, anytime I see a $70 game, let alone 80, I'm like, I mean, I can wishlist this, but you better be really good.
00:40:50
Speaker
Like you have to be really selling your value proposition for me to buy in at 70 bucks. Cause I'm like, I could get and Enigma cosmetic, a Dota for like just twice that, right? Like just 140 bucks. I only did that the one time, but I think the last super expensive game I purchased, um, where 70 bucks is super expensive was like monster Hunter wilds.
00:41:18
Speaker
um because i believe that was 70 retail i got it on green man gaming because they had like 15 off or something like that um and i ended up paying like 56 bucks or something right like i mean would you say that that was worth it for you if i have like 200 even at the 70 price point would you say that that that is worth it it would have been yeah yeah um because I knew I was going
Upcoming Zelda and Metroid Speculations
00:41:44
Speaker
to put the time in, you know, it's I mean, I love the mainline Monster Hunter series and the value proposition was there, but.
00:41:55
Speaker
couldn't say the same for Mario Kart, to be completely honest. How many times am I just going to load up Mario Kart and enjoy it versus? Maybe there's some friends over. It's ah it's a good party game.
00:42:07
Speaker
Those are two different situations. There are other party games out there, you know, that's They're not selling me on it.
00:42:16
Speaker
don't know. Maybe there will be something where it's like, I mean, honestly, for me, it's just going to be if they do a new smash, I'm be like, son of a bitch. All right. I have to. I have to. um
00:42:27
Speaker
They're just going to like pump yeah youth energizing elixir into Sakurai to like keep him on that smash grind forever, even though he just wants to go back to making Kirby games. I've always ever wanted a tinfoil hat theory. He's actually been dead for years and he's just releasing these videos. Yeah.
00:42:45
Speaker
Pre-recorded very slowly pre-recorded. Yeah. You'll notice there's not a whole lot of pop culture references in those because that was foresight is always, you know, the same. Interesting. Interesting.
00:42:57
Speaker
Because if he would have been inserting pop culture references, we'd be like, why is he referencing Back to the Future? That's such an old movie. But no, that's when that was recorded. ah I will say, though, um The backwards compatibility thing, at some point, I could see myself trading in my Switch, getting a Switch 2, just to be a little more current. But also, there would have to be multiple games where i'm like, okay, I will also play these at some point.
00:43:31
Speaker
Like, for me, when I got my it took... it took several games to be out initially i'm like oh new Final Fantasy and then I never played it but I did get Monster Hunter with friends I did get a Mortal Kombat and a bunch of other stuff ah Bloodborne Spider-Man those are all on my list for for for God of War yeah there were enough things where it's like okay I think I can you know upgrade from playing PS2 era games to PS4
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah. And yeah, that's, that's not a line. The switch has crossed. It sounds like for, for either of us at this point. Um, I, I even, I think I was telling people like, yeah, I'm going to get it just for the performance increase.
00:44:21
Speaker
But like, as the details have been laid out, the arguments basically been drawn out of us over the course of this episode. I'm like, do I actually even need to like,
00:44:34
Speaker
I don't think I do. Right. I still am just playing smash. I've already played the exclusives that I'm interested in in breath of the wild and tears of the kingdom.
00:44:45
Speaker
Delta runes going to come out on other things. Yeah. i've already beaten Yakuza zero. I think like, I don't know. I guess the, the, the proposition is not quite there for me for the switch right now.
00:44:57
Speaker
That's what I'm saying. We've got to wait for the next round of exclusives coming out. Yeah. Yeah. I do have a tinfoil hat, ah super vanilla boring conspiracy, and that this is the reason that we actually haven't even seen the Switch 2 announcement for years. It's not because of the hardware wasn't available, because again, there have been hardware leaks for the Switch 2 for like literally years.
00:45:24
Speaker
But... um They just didn't have the games. And they still kind of don't. like Their list is made up of cross-platform games and some remasters that they could like get the wheels spinning on.
00:45:39
Speaker
But they must have just been sitting on Mario Kart and nothing else for like three years. Somebody's like, oh, Donkey Kong is one of our main IPs. ah I think that they need a new Zelda.
00:45:54
Speaker
Yeah. And it needs to be specifically on Switch 2 and it can't be another Breath of the Wild. An open world one. I mean, it could possibly be open world, but it can't be another piece of Breath of the Wild's map.
00:46:09
Speaker
That's fair. Yeah. I mean, I would if I kind of I don't stand or simp for a Breath of the Wild and Tears the Kingdom a little bit. There is differences between the first and second game. If you play them back to back, though, they will blend together. So I can't I can't contest that. It is not like you're going from Twilight Princess to Waker or anything like that or Ocarina of Time. Yeah, I just I'm just saying it needs to be enough of a difference where it it draws people in like, oh, I have to play this new game.
00:46:40
Speaker
can these This could have been DLC. Yeah, I agree with that. And honestly, i know at least one of our listeners would really love if it was a return to form for the series and they went back to some of the standard dungeons and puzzles and problem problem solving. But...
00:46:58
Speaker
Because I like when they've done the new Zelda game that you actually play as Zelda.
Personal Gaming Preferences and Metroid Prime
00:47:05
Speaker
Yeah. yeah um Those games in that style have been super cute and fun and laid back.
00:47:12
Speaker
Mm hmm. It's like a nice little experience. I still need to let you borrow that. Do they? Missed opportunity, though. This is the one thing I hold against them. They should have called that new game Legend of Link.
00:47:24
Speaker
It would be so funny they did. Like Zelda's Awakening or something like that. Zelda's Lullaby. ah It would have been incredible. You're like, oh, my gosh, we finally get play as Link. Yeah. All the time spent as Zelda.
00:47:41
Speaker
You know, the guy with the sword. Yeah. Yeah, I think that could be a good one. There was another one that was mentioned, and for some reason it doesn't show up on the list here. Maybe it's just my misunderstanding here, but I thought that they announced a Metroid Prime.
00:47:56
Speaker
um Maybe it's not a launch title. Maybe it's like in development for this which, too. I could see that. um I could see that happening, to be completely honest. And this is my great shame. This is my there's a safe place.
00:48:10
Speaker
I didn't finish Metroid Prime remastered playing on the Switch because like, It was good, but it was like it was good in that way that like old games are good, not in the way that new games are good.
00:48:26
Speaker
It was good for the time. Yes. And now if you go back, it feels very clunky and awkward. It's very sad because like I love every piece of aesthetic about Metroid Prime. it's like It's so cool, but also I don't want to play it. So...
00:48:47
Speaker
oh But I'm also i'm i'm kind of a scrub and I don't like the Metroidvania style of gameplay where it's like, here's a wall. Come back to this later. like Yeah. Do I have to really? Really?
00:48:59
Speaker
Yeah, started playing any Metroid stuff way later um than it originally came out. So I had played so many other Metroid venues.
00:49:10
Speaker
And then I think I borrowed Metroid Dread from our friend. And i was like, nah, this ain't it, chief. Yeah.
00:49:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely it's a lot easier for the people who are born into that lifestyle, the Metroidvania lifestyle, or they played those games when they're when they're younger and stuff like that. They're more acclimated to it.
00:49:36
Speaker
I still think it did well. I know a lot of other people enjoy that, and that's awesome. But yeah, get more power to you. It's no Hollow Knight. That's that's my issue with any 2D game.
00:49:47
Speaker
It's no Hollow Knight. Let's be honest with us. do you Do you want to talk about the the elephant in the room? ah Rivals of A3? Okay, I guess. I was going to say the the nine seconds of ah footage they showed of Silksong.
00:50:05
Speaker
It's very funny. As a part of that Nintendo thing. They didn't even mention it. It was just in a montage of... things that are going to be on switch to do you know if it was new footage or not or is it just the same footage because that's the only way you could have been elevated my understanding currently i have not verified is that it's new okay ah nine seconds of new footage um just because i heard subreddit was blowing up uh-huh and then for that there just needs to be anything silksong related
00:50:38
Speaker
I mean, that subreddit is like literally on fire all of the time. They go back to like World War II Germany and they're like, I'm pretty sure SS means silk song. You're like, no, kind of didn't. ah this is We shouldn't go down this path.
00:50:53
Speaker
um But yeah, no, it's... It's hilarious. It would have been so much funnier if it was like triple baked re encoded silksong footage from like the first announcement and they just put it there alongside all of the other good video of the game.
Silksong Hype and Switch 2 Impact
00:51:12
Speaker
So it was obvious, obviously like that. Um,
00:51:16
Speaker
I mean, if they had anything to say about Silksong, given my previous guess, that Nintendo is basically like, they've tried to find a reason to actually release this console for years, and they needed the gaming line lineup.
00:51:30
Speaker
That would have been a crown jewel in front. Oh my god, yes. On on everything. Someone in Japan would have been defending Mario's place at the top, but like...
00:51:43
Speaker
Nintendo of America would have been like, you should probably put at least Ilk Song in too. um
00:51:50
Speaker
So the fact that they really had nothing to say makes me think that they really have nothing to say. Yeah, they don't they don't have everything yet. um
00:52:00
Speaker
I mean, they might just be at this point being like the Nintendo style of we'll let you know when it's done and ready and like, hey, you can get this later today. i mean, they should.
00:52:12
Speaker
There's no... I think literally the hype for that game is such that they can't do the later today thing except for like a digital release because it'll just get leaked. GameSpot employee will be like, hey, i took $10,000 bribe to just steal the shipment of games and vanish into a bunker somewhere.
00:52:35
Speaker
And that's how we would know that Zookzong was coming out. um But... Yeah, it would be really good. I do expect you're probably right that they're waiting until they can just say it is done. And here's the concrete release date.
Switch 2 Market Potential
00:52:52
Speaker
um Because they don't want to hopefully they're trying to not not like no man's sky people by like dragging them along with all of this hype.
00:53:04
Speaker
Keep everybody pent up. um And that's just Hollow Knight 1, like slightly re-skinned Hollow Knight 1 plus DLC Yeah That would be very hilarious, by the way, if you just play as Hornet his Skin for Instead of Hornet, it's the Knight Oh, the Knight, yeah Not very original, is it?
00:53:32
Speaker
Yeah That'd be funny. People would buy it. i'm Yeah, I think that would be a deciding factor for me. Yeah. If you're like, hey, Silksong only on Switch 2.
00:53:45
Speaker
That's another son of a bitch. I have to. They're not going to do that, though. They can't do that because it was part of the ah the Xbox announcement back in the back in the day.
00:53:56
Speaker
it would have had to have literally enough time would have had to have passed for their existing licensing agreements to run out with Microsoft. something I mean, we're getting there. Maybe.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah. yeah At this point, still, there's not enough going for the Switch 2 yet. Yes. Maybe at some point in the future when they start adding more games or if they give me better news about how awesome it is. ah But for right now, it's just I literally have Switch at home.
00:54:30
Speaker
Yeah, kind of.
00:54:33
Speaker
think that's fair. Last thing is we don't really know how much it's actually going to cost because of stuff going on in the markets. um And that they canceled ah or they paused, I should say, pre-orders.
00:54:47
Speaker
So there's no expectation of delivery for those pre-orders because they may have to do a price adjustment. um So look forward to that. That's great.
00:54:59
Speaker
The good news, though, is the only thing that they're really competing with is like Steam Deck and those other third party like game console ROG type handhelds that no one knows about, but we've kind of all vaguely heard about.
00:55:16
Speaker
ah There is no like PSP or, you know, some other theoretical stadia, you know, something like that. All of those have died. They're all gone. Switch is basically the only handheld that's not also a PC, which is what Steam Deck's thing
Final Thoughts on Gaming Market
00:55:33
Speaker
is.
00:55:33
Speaker
And they they probably do compete. But um if you want a handheld and you go to Best Buy, This is going to be the only thing that's there. So that that's got to count for something for them.
00:55:49
Speaker
um Yeah. Nothing more to say about it, though, really. Yeah, and I think for all the information we have today, there's not really much more to add.
00:56:04
Speaker
Sure. Maybe they'll sweeten the pot. If they do, we will let you guys know. um Sounds like we're both on pause for the Switch. We're going wait to see if a they they give us a better deal or they give us must-buy game. This feels like we're... um Don't buy it. Hold, hold. Yes, hold.
00:56:29
Speaker
I would not make any advice as to whether people should buy or hold any sort of stock right now or sell. um So not that I could anyways.
00:56:41
Speaker
But yeah, circle back for the Switch 2. That's our coverage of it. Unless it gets a lot more exciting, maybe we probably won't talk about it much more. ah Maybe we'll acknowledge it when it actually ships and be like, why is this $10,000? But until then, I can consider that the totality, I believe.
00:57:03
Speaker
and Totality means completeness. That's the end of the episode. Thank you guys for listening. Check us out on the socials in the description. Always happy to hear from folks. Follow up with us.
00:57:13
Speaker
Follow along. um And as always, we'll see in the next one. Have a good night.