Nintendo Switch Event 2017-01-12 and Switch Launch discussion

Are you sure they didn't receive a faulty unit? I played with both the joycons and the pro controller for a couple of evenings on the Switch that my GF's sister got and I didn't have any problems with the joycon sticks in mariokart, seemed fine to me.

My GF, who's a filthy casual as well, started with motion controls and quickly switched to normal controls because, well, playing mariokart with motion controls is damn difficult. Even if you've never touched a analog stick before (ea never touched a controller in the past 20 years) I doubt mariokart is easier to play with motion controls.

 

Are you sure they didn't have smart steering on for Mario Kart? It defaults to on for new players so they can stay on the track easier, but for someone that knows how to play it can be very disorienting. The analog stick on joycons works great, so it was either a defective one, or something with smart steering.

 

Well, it wasn't easier as they often were behind, but at least it was kind of reliable with motion controls.

Maybe it accentuated the problem, I dunno. But the sticks had definitely some strong deadzone. I was very surprised (and I play Mario Kart 7 on my 3DS without any problem with the circle pad).

 

Smart Steering helps keep you on the track. This means that if you have it turned on, you're at a competitive disadvantage since you cannot take more optimal routes that often go off the track. It's meant to make it more casual friendly, not to help you do better in a race.

It also means that it will ignore analog stick inputs if the input would take you off the track and interferes with analog stick input if it thinks it might make it easier to go off the track. Anyone that has played Mario Kart before immediately turn it off once they find out. Unfortunately it's on by default and not everyone knows it's in the game (so they don't disable it).

Lots of streamers were getting annoyed with the controls until they found out about that setting.

Regards,
SB

 

Nintendo faces lawsuit over Switch design

https://www.kitguru.net/tech-news/f...on/nintendo-faces-lawsuit-over-switch-design/

 

Nintendo faces lawsuits over every piece of hardware they release. They very rarely lose these cases.

 

Interesting, I'm very late on catching last week's Co-Optional Podcast.

Jesse Cox, who had since the Switch was announced said that he saw no point in the console and that if he got it, it'd just be to play one or two games and then it'd basically gather dust. He absolutely hated the idea of the Switch for himself although he could see that it might have some appeal for other people.

Well, he finally got one and he's now using it more than his PS4 and more than his PC.

@#$$#, I'm going to get one someday. There was one at a local Walmart briefly. But it sold out before I could get down there. @#$#% Target no go either. Gamestop has some at MSRP (299 USD in store only)...61 miles away. Sigh.

Regards,
SB

 

I've been checking iStock now and then.

They show availability at Walmart or a Target nearby but when I click the link, it never shows availability on their respective sites.

 

I don't live in a big city but it's still in the top 40 municipalities by population. 6 Walmarts, 5 Targets, and 4 Best Buys within 30 miles and lots of Gamestops.

I also keep missing the replenishment windows at Amazon and Newegg. The MSRP Switches sell out within minutes/hours at those e-tailers usually.

Regards,
SB

 

I'm in the Bay Area. I've not gone into stores looking for them but if you check Walmart.com or target.com, none are available for order directly from those sites and none are shown as available at the local stores.

It also appears a lot of retailers are only selling consoles in some bundles of games and accessories that you may not want?

 

[Couldn't find a Switch owners thread or equivalent, so posting here]

Switch owner for a couple of weeks now (cleaning out some rooms and decided to take in a whole bunch of old Gameboy / DS / Wii / PSP / XBOX 360 hardware and software to a place that trades older stuff and used it as a starter amount for the Switch) and right now I'm completely enamored with it.

Initially was on my radar as I noticed my 4 year old watching and being excited by Mario videos – we had experimented with a Wii and they liked Mario but couldn’t use the Wii controls; the Wii quickly went in to cupboard as I couldn’t be bothered with it and they wanted to play Mario but due to the control issues we ended up being force to play it for them. In the meantime, the XBOX One X has displaced an original XBOX One to be moved upstairs for the kids and they have been getting used to traditional controls mucking around in the sandbox areas of Lego Avengers as well as my 6 year old creating quite detailed villages in Minecraft.

So, picked up the Switch with Mario Kart 8 and Odyssey and needless to say both are a big hit with the kids. Set up for them is great – playing on the TV so they can both play together or watch at the same time, goes in handheld mode if one has completed homework/chores and the other hasn’t.

The thing that stands out here are the controllers – their functionality of 2 players with one set of controllers is really well done; friends brought another Switch over and pairing their controllers is as simple as sliding them on the base unit. I’m convinced by a single dedicated controller is unnecessary and will instead spring for the costlier option of another pair of Joy-Cons and Joy Con grip.

For me, this twangs on the nostalgia string. I spent a significantly amount of my formative years with a Gameboy of some kind in my hands, and playing this as a handheld (I get to use it at night, when the kids are in bed) reminds me of those times, just a get the pleasure of a decent resolution for handheld system. Obviously, with a full 4K XBOX One X setup in in the basement, the graphics limitations are glaringly present to me on the TV, but as a handheld its looks great.

To fulfill the nostalgia stakes, had to buy Puyo Puyo Tetris (where the CPU opponents seem quite brutal at times) and I’m eagerly awaiting Lumines Remastered. Purchased Zelda at the weekend because I knew the Wife would like that as well, however even the kids started mucking around.

So far, very happy with the platform, very well thought out functionality that sets aside any gimmick notions. The only gripe I have is the price of the “full” game titles – at $80 (CAD) it seems too pricey, at times, for a “handheld” system.

 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=B8k8-YXAeb4&usg=AOvVaw21Y296ttJg04njqq1645VT

Demo coming 5/24.

Online play!


I may actually have to connect my Switch to the dock and my TV for the first time, to try out the motion controls.