5 ms·

I really wonder what the point of this is. Mobile gaming is a meme at this point. It's a thing but phones and tables have it well catered too. We don't need ano

I really wonder what the point of this is. Mobile gaming is a meme at this point. It's a thing but phones and tables have it well catered too. We don't need another mobile gaming thing that will surely be in the bargain bin in as couple years.

sinstein 5y ago
Nintendo Switch sales figures will prove otherwise.
- deeviant 5y ago
  I own a switch. I have never played it in mobile configuration in the years I have owned it, neither do any people that I know that have it, neither do my nieces or nephews. I would trade switch mobile capability for 4k in a second. The reason why the switch is popular is the same reason why a long line of absolutely craptastic Nintendo hardware is popular: exclusive Nintendo software, which this platform will obviously not have.
  - rdtwo 5y ago
    Must be you I used it almost 100% mobile
    - deeviant 5y ago
      Regardless, without Nintendo's library, this thing is going to sink. And frankly, if the switch had no Nintendo exclusives, it too would have sunk.
      - rdtwo 5y ago
        I agree but mostly I think it’s because most games need a special GUI to use a controller. I would buy it if playing factorio and rim world felt natural and intuitive on a mobile platform but it’s not.
RankingMember 5y ago
This is clearly influenced by the Nintendo Switch, which has proven that if mobile gaming is "a meme", it's a supremely popular one.
- jerf 5y ago
  I would not classify the Switch as portable gaming. It definitely acts more like a console. Of course this is ultimately a definitional issue, but there is IMHO clearly a difference. I think rather than "mobile" the distinction might be "touchscreen only" gaming; contra some of the wild predictions I recall on HN about a decade ago, "touchscreen only" has failed to displace all other input mechanisms, because it's honestly not all that good. It works, and can be better than nothing, but I think it's hard for touchscreen to ever attain that transparent "flow" state where controls just disappear, and is table stakes for being a 'core gaming' platform.
  - retromagik 5y ago
    The switch is widely used as a portable game console. The switch lite can't even connect to the dock
    - deeviant 5y ago
      Widely-used really doesn't mean anything anything to me. The numbers are 13 million lite vs 85 million non-lite sales. The mobile part is a meme, it's subsidized by the people who just want play Nintendo games (and the switch is the only/best way to do it)
      - RankingMember 5y ago
        There are numbers from Nintendo on the breakdown between mobile and dock usage, and they indicate a larger percentage of users play undocked vs docked. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/nintendo_gamers_prefer_using_switch_as_a_handheld_rather_than_docked https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/nintendo_gamers_pr...
mbesto 5y ago
> Mobile gaming is a meme at this point I can't take your post seriously, but just for posterity: - The lifetime-to-date sales figure now stands at 84.59 million Switch units shipped worldwide since its launch in 2017 - Game sales for the year also spiked by 37 percent, selling 230.88 million units compared to 168.72 million units in the previous fiscal year https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/6/22422451/nintendo-annual-earnings-switch-84-59-million https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/6/22422451/nintendo-annual-e...
- deeviant 5y ago
  I fail to connect your point to.. a point? The switch sells well because its where you have to go to play Nintendo games, but you just go on about sales figures. If it had no exclusives, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
vehemenz 5y ago
I wonder if you read literally anything about this product before commenting on it. Because I immediately understood what it was and who it was for. This is a portable PC with a built-in screen and game controls. It's much closer to a laptop than a "gaming thing".

sinstein 5y ago

Nintendo Switch sales figures will prove otherwise.

deeviant 5y ago
I own a switch. I have never played it in mobile configuration in the years I have owned it, neither do any people that I know that have it, neither do my nieces or nephews. I would trade switch mobile capability for 4k in a second. The reason why the switch is popular is the same reason why a long line of absolutely craptastic Nintendo hardware is popular: exclusive Nintendo software, which this platform will obviously not have.
- rdtwo 5y ago
  Must be you I used it almost 100% mobile
  - deeviant 5y ago
    Regardless, without Nintendo's library, this thing is going to sink. And frankly, if the switch had no Nintendo exclusives, it too would have sunk.
    - rdtwo 5y ago
      I agree but mostly I think it’s because most games need a special GUI to use a controller. I would buy it if playing factorio and rim world felt natural and intuitive on a mobile platform but it’s not.

RankingMember 5y ago

This is clearly influenced by the Nintendo Switch, which has proven that if mobile gaming is "a meme", it's a supremely popular one.

jerf 5y ago
I would not classify the Switch as portable gaming. It definitely acts more like a console. Of course this is ultimately a definitional issue, but there is IMHO clearly a difference. I think rather than "mobile" the distinction might be "touchscreen only" gaming; contra some of the wild predictions I recall on HN about a decade ago, "touchscreen only" has failed to displace all other input mechanisms, because it's honestly not all that good. It works, and can be better than nothing, but I think it's hard for touchscreen to ever attain that transparent "flow" state where controls just disappear, and is table stakes for being a 'core gaming' platform.
- retromagik 5y ago
  The switch is widely used as a portable game console. The switch lite can't even connect to the dock
  - deeviant 5y ago
    Widely-used really doesn't mean anything anything to me. The numbers are 13 million lite vs 85 million non-lite sales. The mobile part is a meme, it's subsidized by the people who just want play Nintendo games (and the switch is the only/best way to do it)
    - RankingMember 5y ago
      There are numbers from Nintendo on the breakdown between mobile and dock usage, and they indicate a larger percentage of users play undocked vs docked. https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/nintendo_gamers_prefer_using_switch_as_a_handheld_rather_than_docked https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/10/nintendo_gamers_pr...

mbesto 5y ago

> Mobile gaming is a meme at this point I can't take your post seriously, but just for posterity: - The lifetime-to-date sales figure now stands at 84.59 million Switch units shipped worldwide since its launch in 2017 - Game sales for the year also spiked by 37 percent, selling 230.88 million units compared to 168.72 million units in the previous fiscal year https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/6/22422451/nintendo-annual-earnings-switch-84-59-million https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/6/22422451/nintendo-annual-e...

deeviant 5y ago
I fail to connect your point to.. a point? The switch sells well because its where you have to go to play Nintendo games, but you just go on about sales figures. If it had no exclusives, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.

vehemenz 5y ago

I wonder if you read literally anything about this product before commenting on it. Because I immediately understood what it was and who it was for. This is a portable PC with a built-in screen and game controls. It's much closer to a laptop than a "gaming thing".