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That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone ap

That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches, as well as multiple levels of play while on the go. It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) and has an incredibly diverse range of titles to be excited about this calendar year. It managed to loop "The Americas" in with a Reggie appearance that worked well, and upsold Skyrim and Fifa, two gigantic American games with international appeal. They also talked up Dragon Quest X, which is an MMORPG, launching on Switch, as well as Dragon Quest XI, which until tonight was a PS4 exclusive. Essentially, they placed value squarely in the face of everything your PC/enthusiast-level gaming rig won't ever replace. The ability to pick up and play elsewhere. Like the Wii, it's not even trying to compete with the current crop of consoles. It's value proposition will be placed somewhere a bit obtusely, between your mobile phone and everything else you leave at home. Yes, this obviously functions as a home console as well, but I can't help but suspect Nintendo absolutely meant to go for what makes handhelds great. If any company can do it, they can. So what if it cannibalises their current 3DS offerings? Pokemon seems to be going strong with its fanbase. The whole presentation, from the demonstration of the hardware to especially the finishing trademark "One more thing!" with Zelda making a predictable but nonetheless amazing launch date. It's a strategy that worked wonders for the Wii, remember, so why not? Nintendo absolutely killed it, and I'll be keeping a really close eye on this thing. But the marketing and presentation was honestly textbook. [1] https://youtu.be/uuC4YLLkqME?t=33m20s https://youtu.be/uuC4YLLkqME?t=33m20s

JimmyAustin 10y ago
Small note, it's Dragon "Quest" X. I got really excited for a Dragon Age MMO for nothing.
- ericzawo 10y ago
  You're right! So sorry for getting your hopes up.
sjm 10y ago
The underlying content was good, and they did well with the Zelda launch date announcement, but to praise the whole presentation as masterful, I'm not so sure. It was extremely awkward throughout.
g00gler 10y ago
FIFA looked so promising. I can't remember what bullshit political reason kept Madden off of the PS Vita, but that's why I sold mine. Very much looking forward to the switch.
city41 10y ago
I personally am excited for the Switch and will get one at launch. And for me personally, the Wii U is the best console of this generation. But I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about the Switch in general as you are from this presentation. So far it feels like "the Wii part 3". Yes the Wii sold well, but it didn't sell very many games. Most Wii owners were perfectly content with Wii Sports. The Wii U has pretty much been a flop. Nothing about this presentation suggests to me the Switch will finally do what Nintendo has tried three times now: make a gimmicky, low powered console that appeals in non traditional ways and is successful. So far (and sure, a 1 hour video 3 months before launch isn't much), this very much feels like the Wii and Wii U, and not in the good ways. I love Nintendo and am a huge fan. But part of me can't help but wish Nintendo would just straight up compete with Sony and Microsoft.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  >But part of me can't help but wish Nintendo would just straight up compete with Sony and Microsoft. // Surely though if you want that experience you can buy a PS4/Xbone/PC. Personally I'm really happy that Nintendo continues to give a different twist to their consoles and provide some texture to the market.
  - city41 10y ago
    But will you still be happy if Nintendo bows out of the market altogether? It's no coincidence they are exploring mobile games. They aren't exactly killing it these days. If the Switch doesn't do well, I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo go completely 3rd party.
    - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
      That would be a big shame IMO. I think, the Wii and WiiU have both brought interesting developments and that the Switch looks like it will develop things to - bring tighter integration between mobile and home gaming. Surely the next step would be VR, though it's probably right to enter that arena partnered with an established player. If smart-watches/wearables push on then people may move away from using a smart-phone form factor and instead have a paired device trailer more towards gaming and media. I wonder if Switch can (in theory) run Android, whether it'll have Skype or other video calling (I didn't notice a camera?).
hkmurakami 10y ago
It's basically everything i wanted my PSP to do. It could be great.
chalupa-man 10y ago
I do want to point out that it matches current consoles in the US, but is actually going to be significantly more expensive than anything on the market in many countries. Where I am, for example, if they release at exactly the US price -- which they won't, prices always get inflated -- a Switch will cost more than a PS4 that comes packed with Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Dishonored 2, three hit games. On top of this, I think they've made a fatal flaw when it comes to handheld pricing. If you remember, the 3DS launched at $250, tanked hard, and received a whopping 33% price cut only 4 months after it launched, followed by the announcement of the new 2DS which would be even cheaper. One of the things Nintendo produced the 2DS is because they found, to their great surprise, that almost 80% of 3DS customers outside Japan never took their 3DS outside the home. They weren't buying it for portability, like Japanese customers usually did; they were buying it because it was the cheapest way to play videogames, only a third the price of a console and with games that were half the price of console games (in many countries even less). Right now I can buy a 2DS for 105 and brand-new games for 40 where an Xbox One is 400 and games are 80 - 100. That's a big reason many of my friends have one. Then note that they've also priced the Switch above the iPad Mini. Most handhelds are bought by parents for kids. If parents see that they can get an iPad for less than the price of this new console, they're very likely to: iPads are seen as luxury products with a wider variety of uses and many cheap games, and the iPad Mini is even more portable. This is the first handheld Nintendo have announced since iPads hit the market and I worry they haven't taken this into account. For those customers, who make up a majority of 3DS customers worldwide, the Switch is a non-starter; it's likely to be considerably more expensive than its rivals, and those rivals happen to have either larger libraries, greater popularity, free online, and better graphics (Xbox One/PS4) or a luxury image, greater portability, lower software costs, and a wider variety of uses including educational uses (iPad Mini). I'm really hoping Nintendo succeeds, because I'm a big fan of theirs, but I worry they have totally killed the big draws to handhelds.
- misingnoglic 10y ago
  Regarding the iPad, do kids/parents see that as a gaming device? You can't get real games on one of those.
  - 10y ago
sb057 10y ago
>They also talked up Dragon Quest X, which is an MMORPG, launching on Switch Dragon Quest X launched in 2012 on the Wii, and from the way he announced it, it's not coming to the west.
- flukus 10y ago
  On the plus side, Switch games won't be region locked.
  - mikesickler 10y ago
    Yes! This is the most exciting feature for me.
atmosx 10y ago
I'm not a games fun by any means, but one of my fav titles is Zelda. I was a bit concerned when I didn't see Zelda appear right after "Super Mario", I thought they didn't bother to create a title and was kinda disappointed until 1h 35m in :D
Sniffnoy 10y ago
> It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) Not if you want to get lots of controllers, though.
- mathw 10y ago
  But it does come with two. Sure they not two dual-analogues, but you can play two-player Mario Kart with the pair of Joy-Cons (urgh, naming) that come with the system.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    "Swii-motes"?
  - deelowe 10y ago
    Those things do not look comfortable at all. I'll wait until the reviews come out, but it looks like I'd start cramping after 10 minutes with those.
    - ericzawo 10y ago
      I don't really know about that. Take a look at how mushed your hand gets just to type out a message with your thumbs on your phone.
__david__ 10y ago
> From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches… Actually, this has me very worried. Putting down the controller and pulling out a smartphone to manage my online matches seems about the worst possible user interaction they could think of. No matter how good this smartphone app is (and really, is it going to be good?), it's going to pale in comparison to just selecting a menu on the console. The fact that they said this at all makes me think they still haven't figured out online interactions. Microsoft and Sony have them down pat, all Nintendo really has to do is just copy them. But instead they're trapped in their own bizzaro world for some reason.
agd 10y ago
'Nintendo absolutely killed it' I'm afraid I have to disagree. Here's why: - price: much more expensive than most people were expecting (£280 vs for example, £200 for a PS4 with a game) - battery life: potentially only 2.5 hours? Really not good enough for a handheld. - storage: only 32gb, will run out very quickly - online offering weak vs ps4/xbox as only NES/SNES games and you only get them for a month - very few titles on launch and key titles (e.g. Skyrim) delayed until much later in the year Battery life and price are the real killers for me. I can see Nintendo slashing the price soon, just like they had to with the 3DS. Edit: It seems like many others weren't impressed either. e.g. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-precarious-reveal-runs-risk-of-switching-off-fans http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-preca...
- gambiting 10y ago
  Absolutely agree. This whole presentation just shown that Nintendo excels at killing good hype. I know several people(including me) who were going to preorder today as soon as they could, but after the news dropped about the price and how late the games are going to arrive, no one did. I work at a large games publisher, sitting in the office full of people who are full-on gaming enthusiasts, and I haven't yet met a single person who is not disappointed by that presentation.
  - martin_bech 10y ago
    I feel the exact same way.. Its basicly a Nintendo 2DS XXXL, with awful battery, a stand HDMI, and next to no games. And its pretty much priced as a PS4 PRO, with 1 tb storage. The games are on cartridges.. what year is this?
    - Roritharr 10y ago
      The WiiU already supported Downloading Games from their store, i'd expect this to be able to do the same, the question is just how big of an SD Card you want to cram in there.
      - 10y ago
slantyyz 10y ago
>> But the marketing and presentation was honestly textbook. I don't know if anyone else noticed but I thought this presentation would have played better if it had been done with a western live audience because of cultural differences. The Japanese audience was very polite and seemed fairly quiet throughout the presentation. If it was done in front of western fans, there would have been continuous eruptions of raucous applause during each of the game presentations (much like an Apple event).
- ericzawo 10y ago
  Indeed. I was thinking they should have held it in Los Angeles, and had drinks beforehand. ;)
DelTaco 10y ago
I believe Dragon Quest XI is also for 3DS. They've announced DQXI localization for both 3DS and PS4, but during the switch presentation said that DQXI and DQX would be Japanese only so far. Dragon Quest Warriors I and II will be localized for the Switch, however. At least there's no region locking!

JimmyAustin 10y ago

Small note, it's Dragon "Quest" X. I got really excited for a Dragon Age MMO for nothing.

ericzawo 10y ago
You're right! So sorry for getting your hopes up.

sjm 10y ago

The underlying content was good, and they did well with the Zelda launch date announcement, but to praise the whole presentation as masterful, I'm not so sure. It was extremely awkward throughout.

g00gler 10y ago

FIFA looked so promising. I can't remember what bullshit political reason kept Madden off of the PS Vita, but that's why I sold mine. Very much looking forward to the switch.

city41 10y ago

I personally am excited for the Switch and will get one at launch. And for me personally, the Wii U is the best console of this generation. But I'm not nearly as enthusiastic about the Switch in general as you are from this presentation. So far it feels like "the Wii part 3". Yes the Wii sold well, but it didn't sell very many games. Most Wii owners were perfectly content with Wii Sports. The Wii U has pretty much been a flop. Nothing about this presentation suggests to me the Switch will finally do what Nintendo has tried three times now: make a gimmicky, low powered console that appeals in non traditional ways and is successful. So far (and sure, a 1 hour video 3 months before launch isn't much), this very much feels like the Wii and Wii U, and not in the good ways. I love Nintendo and am a huge fan. But part of me can't help but wish Nintendo would just straight up compete with Sony and Microsoft.

pbhjpbhj 10y ago
>But part of me can't help but wish Nintendo would just straight up compete with Sony and Microsoft. // Surely though if you want that experience you can buy a PS4/Xbone/PC. Personally I'm really happy that Nintendo continues to give a different twist to their consoles and provide some texture to the market.
- city41 10y ago
  But will you still be happy if Nintendo bows out of the market altogether? It's no coincidence they are exploring mobile games. They aren't exactly killing it these days. If the Switch doesn't do well, I wouldn't be surprised to see Nintendo go completely 3rd party.
  - pbhjpbhj 10y ago
    That would be a big shame IMO. I think, the Wii and WiiU have both brought interesting developments and that the Switch looks like it will develop things to - bring tighter integration between mobile and home gaming. Surely the next step would be VR, though it's probably right to enter that arena partnered with an established player. If smart-watches/wearables push on then people may move away from using a smart-phone form factor and instead have a paired device trailer more towards gaming and media. I wonder if Switch can (in theory) run Android, whether it'll have Skype or other video calling (I didn't notice a camera?).

hkmurakami 10y ago

It's basically everything i wanted my PSP to do. It could be great.

chalupa-man 10y ago

I do want to point out that it matches current consoles in the US, but is actually going to be significantly more expensive than anything on the market in many countries. Where I am, for example, if they release at exactly the US price -- which they won't, prices always get inflated -- a Switch will cost more than a PS4 that comes packed with Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Dishonored 2, three hit games. On top of this, I think they've made a fatal flaw when it comes to handheld pricing. If you remember, the 3DS launched at $250, tanked hard, and received a whopping 33% price cut only 4 months after it launched, followed by the announcement of the new 2DS which would be even cheaper. One of the things Nintendo produced the 2DS is because they found, to their great surprise, that almost 80% of 3DS customers outside Japan never took their 3DS outside the home. They weren't buying it for portability, like Japanese customers usually did; they were buying it because it was the cheapest way to play videogames, only a third the price of a console and with games that were half the price of console games (in many countries even less). Right now I can buy a 2DS for 105 and brand-new games for 40 where an Xbox One is 400 and games are 80 - 100. That's a big reason many of my friends have one. Then note that they've also priced the Switch above the iPad Mini. Most handhelds are bought by parents for kids. If parents see that they can get an iPad for less than the price of this new console, they're very likely to: iPads are seen as luxury products with a wider variety of uses and many cheap games, and the iPad Mini is even more portable. This is the first handheld Nintendo have announced since iPads hit the market and I worry they haven't taken this into account. For those customers, who make up a majority of 3DS customers worldwide, the Switch is a non-starter; it's likely to be considerably more expensive than its rivals, and those rivals happen to have either larger libraries, greater popularity, free online, and better graphics (Xbox One/PS4) or a luxury image, greater portability, lower software costs, and a wider variety of uses including educational uses (iPad Mini). I'm really hoping Nintendo succeeds, because I'm a big fan of theirs, but I worry they have totally killed the big draws to handhelds.

misingnoglic 10y ago
Regarding the iPad, do kids/parents see that as a gaming device? You can't get real games on one of those.
- 10y ago

sb057 10y ago

>They also talked up Dragon Quest X, which is an MMORPG, launching on Switch Dragon Quest X launched in 2012 on the Wii, and from the way he announced it, it's not coming to the west.

flukus 10y ago
On the plus side, Switch games won't be region locked.
- mikesickler 10y ago
  Yes! This is the most exciting feature for me.

atmosx 10y ago

I'm not a games fun by any means, but one of my fav titles is Zelda. I was a bit concerned when I didn't see Zelda appear right after "Super Mario", I thought they didn't bother to create a title and was kinda disappointed until 1h 35m in :D

Sniffnoy 10y ago

> It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) Not if you want to get lots of controllers, though.

mathw 10y ago
But it does come with two. Sure they not two dual-analogues, but you can play two-player Mario Kart with the pair of Joy-Cons (urgh, naming) that come with the system.
- pbhjpbhj 10y ago
  "Swii-motes"?
- deelowe 10y ago
  Those things do not look comfortable at all. I'll wait until the reviews come out, but it looks like I'd start cramping after 10 minutes with those.
  - ericzawo 10y ago
    I don't really know about that. Take a look at how mushed your hand gets just to type out a message with your thumbs on your phone.

__david__ 10y ago

> From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches… Actually, this has me very worried. Putting down the controller and pulling out a smartphone to manage my online matches seems about the worst possible user interaction they could think of. No matter how good this smartphone app is (and really, is it going to be good?), it's going to pale in comparison to just selecting a menu on the console. The fact that they said this at all makes me think they still haven't figured out online interactions. Microsoft and Sony have them down pat, all Nintendo really has to do is just copy them. But instead they're trapped in their own bizzaro world for some reason.

agd 10y ago

'Nintendo absolutely killed it' I'm afraid I have to disagree. Here's why: - price: much more expensive than most people were expecting (£280 vs for example, £200 for a PS4 with a game) - battery life: potentially only 2.5 hours? Really not good enough for a handheld. - storage: only 32gb, will run out very quickly - online offering weak vs ps4/xbox as only NES/SNES games and you only get them for a month - very few titles on launch and key titles (e.g. Skyrim) delayed until much later in the year Battery life and price are the real killers for me. I can see Nintendo slashing the price soon, just like they had to with the 3DS. Edit: It seems like many others weren't impressed either. e.g. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-precarious-reveal-runs-risk-of-switching-off-fans http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-preca...

gambiting 10y ago
Absolutely agree. This whole presentation just shown that Nintendo excels at killing good hype. I know several people(including me) who were going to preorder today as soon as they could, but after the news dropped about the price and how late the games are going to arrive, no one did. I work at a large games publisher, sitting in the office full of people who are full-on gaming enthusiasts, and I haven't yet met a single person who is not disappointed by that presentation.
- martin_bech 10y ago
  I feel the exact same way.. Its basicly a Nintendo 2DS XXXL, with awful battery, a stand HDMI, and next to no games. And its pretty much priced as a PS4 PRO, with 1 tb storage. The games are on cartridges.. what year is this?
  - Roritharr 10y ago
    The WiiU already supported Downloading Games from their store, i'd expect this to be able to do the same, the question is just how big of an SD Card you want to cram in there.
    - 10y ago

slantyyz 10y ago

>> But the marketing and presentation was honestly textbook. I don't know if anyone else noticed but I thought this presentation would have played better if it had been done with a western live audience because of cultural differences. The Japanese audience was very polite and seemed fairly quiet throughout the presentation. If it was done in front of western fans, there would have been continuous eruptions of raucous applause during each of the game presentations (much like an Apple event).

ericzawo 10y ago
Indeed. I was thinking they should have held it in Los Angeles, and had drinks beforehand. ;)

DelTaco 10y ago

I believe Dragon Quest XI is also for 3DS. They've announced DQXI localization for both 3DS and PS4, but during the switch presentation said that DQXI and DQX would be Japanese only so far. Dragon Quest Warriors I and II will be localized for the Switch, however. At least there's no region locking!