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[Ghills]

So I was thinking of getting a Switch in a few months for open world Zelda, but then I saw this: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/four-hours-of-horizon-zero-dawn-made-me-crazy-with-anticipation-for-more/

Now I'm really torn. I can get a used PS4 + this game for about the price of a Switch, and then I also have a Bluray player and have access to all the PS4 games.

Arg Nintendo, I've been a fan for years. Why do you make it so hard to want to buy your products?

[Sean Mirrsen]

You can get a PS4 now if you want, and a Switch later. (Good luck finding a store with open preorders anyway)

They're not mutually exclusive. The Switch can be a great companion platform to anything else.

Though I'd be wary of all hyped games right now, even Zelda. Feb 28 to March 3 is just 3 days. If you wait three days and let reviews for Horizon roll in, you'll have a better idea of whether you want that game, and might be able to grab a Switch if it turns out to, say, have crippling problems on a base PS4.

[Nighthawk]

So I was thinking of getting a Switch in a few months for open world Zelda, but then I saw this: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2017/01/four-hours-of-horizon-zero-dawn-made-me-crazy-with-anticipation-for-more/

Now I'm really torn. I can get a used PS4 + this game for about the price of a Switch, and then I also have a Bluray player and have access to all the PS4 games.

Arg Nintendo, I've been a fan for years. Why do you make it so hard to want to buy your products?

If you already have a Wii-U, remember that Breath of the Wild is coming to it as well as the Switch. If you don't, well... I guess you've got a decision to make.

(You could also just wait longer and see if the Switch ends up being worth it, but I know it's just as tough to wait sometimes.)

[Ghills]

You can get a PS4 now if you want, and a Switch later. (Good luck finding a store with open preorders anyway)

They're not mutually exclusive. The Switch can be a great companion platform to anything else.

Though I'd be wary of all hyped games right now, even Zelda. Feb 28 to March 3 is just 3 days. If you wait three days and let reviews for Horizon roll in, you'll have a better idea of whether you want that game, and might be able to grab a Switch if it turns out to, say, have crippling problems on a base PS4.

LOL no I'm not spending enough to get a brand new PC just for consoles. $360 + $310 = 700, you can grab good PCs on sale for that or I could get a top graphics card and update.

Yeah, the waiting game is probably the right thing to do. I'm just sad that Nintendo is so out of step with the market that my enthusiasm for the Switch is basically gone.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I'm just sad that Nintendo is so out of step with the market that my enthusiasm for the Switch is basically gone.

Are they, though? They're just not going after the same market that Sony and Microsoft are going for (which is, the PC market). The Switch is a companion device. A Nintendo console would never have gotten Playstation exclusives anyway, most other "AAA titles" are better on PC anyway, and Nintendo is again the only company going for something new instead of more of the same. Or rather "the same" for Nintendo is "something new every time".

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they rolled out one of those rumored SCD units and portable VR sometime next year. As much as "more power" is un-Nintendolike, making a console upgrade without actually upgrading the console would be very Nintendo.

[frostshotgg]

If you time it right, you can probably get a wii u on the cheap right after the switch comes out from craigslist or the like.

[Ghills]

I'm just sad that Nintendo is so out of step with the market that my enthusiasm for the Switch is basically gone.

Are they, though? They're just not going after the same market that Sony and Microsoft are going for (which is, the PC market). The Switch is a companion device. A Nintendo console would never have gotten Playstation exclusives anyway, most other "AAA titles" are better on PC anyway, and Nintendo is again the only company going for something new instead of more of the same. Or rather "the same" for Nintendo is "something new every time".

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they rolled out one of those rumored SCD units and portable VR sometime next year. As much as "more power" is un-Nintendolike, making a console upgrade without actually upgrading the console would be very Nintendo.

Dude. It's great if you are still enthusiastic about the Switch. But like I said, I'm not, and regurgitating the exact same arguments that were said about the Wii U isn't going to change that. 

[Ghills]

If you time it right, you can probably get a wii u on the cheap right after the switch comes out from craigslist or the like.

Maybe? But I've been keeping an eye on things, and so far prices aren't budging much.  Nintendo didn't sell enough Wii Us to have a surplus, and I know people who are holding onto them for the VC games.

[Neonivek]

Well the issue with Nintendo's "Newness" is that people have sort of caught onto the fact that Nintendo is sort of compensating for its limitations... and that these gimmicks are often not well thought out or barely functional as it is... and people have caught onto this during the Wii (which isn't a mystery why the Wii U didn't do too well. Sometimes the best way to know how much something didn't do well is to look at the response of its sequel)

There is a reason why most of the Wii games that used motion control were basically forced to... and later ones almost entirely forgot about it. (Nintendo isn't a very good company when it comes to... some of its features)

So what Nintendo needs to do with the switch is "Hey, this isn't some gimmick, this is a serious gaming console and not some pale imitation of one. See?"

Instead of its current "Hey? Remember how the Wii U wasn't popular? Well the Switch will copy everything you didn't like about it and MORE! Watch as we focus on that AND how it even implements worse features!"

The Nintendo doesn't seem to know who it is advertising to most of the time. THAT is why the hype fell off a cliff.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I haven't seen a single time where motion control was forced in Switch gameplay, so far. I mean, as a "for instance". None of its "gimmicks", unless you consider the hybrid nature a gimmick, are really at the forefront of their marketing. Even ARMS has regular gamepad controls.

They're pretty clear in saying "here's a console that gives you the freedom to change your playstyle", and everything else is mostly depicted as a bonus. It's meant to give you freedom, including freedom to ignore any and all of its features.

Granted, they're pretty reluctant about sharing some of the features, like the much-beaten online functionality. We sort of know nothing of the price of it, or the actual functionality. Or the Virtual Console. But aside from a curious/suspicious lack of information on that front, their marketing is pretty solid from what I see.

[Neonivek]

I haven't seen a single time where motion control was forced in Switch gameplay, so far.

I am not sure it would yet to be honest.

[TheBronzePickle]

The Wii and Wii U both made a huge deal out of showing off their gimmicks in their initial marketing.

The Switch has, as well, with some very dumb presentations, but at the very least it seems like they're not pushing it in their actual games nearly as hard as they have. I like to think that Star Fox Zero was the final wake-up call Nintendo needed to realize that gimmick-based games still had to actually be playable.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I haven't seen a single time where motion control was forced in Switch gameplay, so far.

I am not sure it would yet to be honest.

I... um. Me fail English, please rephrase? Or clarify?

Also Re: who it's being marketed do, I don't think it's really possible to pin down a coherent group of people for something as broadly defined as the Switch. Closest I can come up with is my somewhat inaccurate and maybe insulting statement of "If you have a home console, if all you need is a home console, and you don't care for Nintendo exclusives, the Switch may be not for you". So it's, like, three qualifiers. People who have no home console, and/or people who want more than just a home console, and/or people who care for Nintendo exclusives. The latter would buy the next Nintendo console regardless of what form-factor it took - the exclusive games are drawing them in, and the Switch is pretty strong on that front so far, with some good games throughout the year and maybe more to come. The former is the weakest of the three, since the Switch is only starting out and can't boast a big back-catalog like the PS4 and XBOne can - for people who are choosing their first console the Switch is an option, but not the most appealing one without the other two factors. And it's the third, middle factor that really matters here, I think. Its draw is not as strong as the draw of exclusive games, but for people who want more than just a stationary gaming system, whether or not they have one already, the Switch offers something promising. Vita is a contender here, as are regular tablets and Nintendo's own handhelds, but the Switch is more than any one of those, and for a comparable price.
 
So... yeah. It's that broad, slightly amorphous group of people that I see the Switch as being marketed towards. It's barely competing for the position of a primary home console outside of the brand-loyal fanbase, but it's doing pretty well so far for that fanbase, and its claim to the spot of a companion platform is pretty strong. At least, that's the way I see it.

The Switch has, as well, with some very dumb presentations

Eh. They literally showed off two games. The entire presentation was focused on what sets the Switch apart from other consoles, and they had just two games to showcase it. I don't think it's fair to expect them to have made do with less, seeing as they had both the strictly casual and the semi-pro hemispheres to cover.

[Leafsnail]

The Wii U was really just catastrophically mismarketed. It wasn't super clear that it was a new console rather than just some add-on for the original Wii, which is a big deal when it's primarily aimed at casual gamers who don't pay as much attention to gaming media. The Switch doesn't have that issue and its core gimmick of "you can carry it around" seems more versatile than the weird extra screen thing. Games don't have to specifically support it, and it makes ports and remakes more interesting than they otherwise would be since it's likely to be the cheapest or even the only way to play that game on the go.

It does remain to be seen whether it can ever get a decent library together though, the launch lineup seems absurdly thin.

[TheBronzePickle]

I imagine that Nintendo will be relying quite heavily on third-party titles. Since they're supposedly competing with the Vita in Japan, they're probably going to play host to a lot of Japanese IPs to draw the otaku crowd, while in the US they're probably hoping desperately for a strong indie adoption.