Saturday, October 22, 2016

Beastly Bash: Nintendo Switch; how it could fail, but what can be done!

Big Disclaimer: This is merely speculations of the Nintendo Switch, formerly known as the NX. The facts on the system are subject to change within the development of the system and this is merely an opinion piece, meaning anything goes but things are most likely to change depending on how Nintendo and company handles the situation. Thank you for reading.


Nintendo has finally released the first-look at their newest system the Nintendo Switch, a Tablet hybrid of a portable game system  with that or a home counsel. In theory, this is a great idea and what the Wii U SHOULD have been. By partnering up with Nvidia's shield developers, Nintendo was able to make  a powerful system that is able to run most game engines including Unity. The shield didn't sell well because it requires to stream games and game streaming fails because of sync issues, so having a portable tablet that takes carts would have been a better idea.

However, Nintendo had problems in the past with advertizing and relations, causing them to falter within the gaming industry. From cheap networking to third-parties being shunned by Nintendo. And after not so long since the reveal, there's already a major backlash towards the new system at question that needs to be addressed to nintendo. Here's some of the major concerns about the council and perhaps  some ways for Nintendo to fix it down the line.


Nintendo Network

Let's face it, Nintendo fails at networking. From disconnections in Splatoon to their attempts to making the gamecube an online gaming attempt as well as a 3D counsel in the past.  While this is a minor complaint, Nintendo is missing out with games multiplayer since everyone these days are distant from themselves, a reason Online games with social features are a must in these times. Nintendo has released Miitomo as a social way to get their fans to meet other oddballs. Hopefully, Nintendo will fin a way to take advantage and use their earning to improve their network system. Maybe a HD remaster of PSO1. Please?

Third-Party Abandonment

Nintendo tends to make friends as much as a lone wolf company usually make friends and leaving them in a bloody mess. Even with most of the supporters and more that the released list from Konami, Activision, and Capcom who know how to piss their fan bases off. While there are Third-Party support for the system, there was a similar support as the one promised for the Wii U and the third-party didn't even touch it with a thirty foot pole. In fact, there's word of a backlash within certain companies because they lost faith in Nintendo's innovation in hardware. If Nintendo doesn't follow up with building up Public Relations with the third-parties, it could happen again and Nintendo would suffer for it.

System Size

Remember when the Nintendo 3DS first released? It was rather tiny because it was first designed for the Japanese and Asian demographic, which have tiny fingers. Judging from the reveal trailer, the switch tablet is close to the size of an Samsung phone. Most would think it's for children, but we all know they tend to smash those things more times and as often and it's being advertised towards adults. It's not known as how heavy the counsel is, but it should be light from the looks of things. While they COULD use the screen for Virtual Reality, Or VR for short, big handed people would find the controler painful to use. Releasing an Nintendo Switch XL or American version would probably fix that issue, but that would also increase the price and weight causing more problems. This is a system that really needs a protective case.

Battery Life

Battery life can either make or break a portable system, as many other tablets can last from three to twelve hours. From the rumors from reliable sources, the battery life is only up to three hours, as the same annoying levels of the Wii U gamepad. This issue can KILL the system on a portable level, something Nintendo is known for since the invention of the Nintendo Gameboy and the pokemon series. While the battery life can be fixed with third-party hardware, that would however clash with the dock Nintendo made. While a proper case with built-in batteries extend the controller, it has to have good batteries to sell!

Competition 

It is true that Nintendo innovated the fusion, but the fact that everyone predicted this would happen means everyone will follow suit and make knock-off. However, it's not these fools Nintendo will have to worry about. It's the companies like Microsoft and Sony that will try to follow up on the idea like they did with motion controls and now with VR. While first party games will keep the fans at bay, the third-party developers are more likely to make games for the competition more over because they have a deeper history with them because of multiplayer, graphics, and mostly the money they made from the different counsel developers. Microsoft has the capabilities and the power to fallow behind with their own line of tablets as they made during Windows 8's lifespan. While they have failed as well as their phones, they can make a recovery just like the Android line of phones.


In the end, the Nintendo Switch is one thing that might make or break Nintendo's success after the failure of the Wii U because of Nintendo's mismanagement of the system. There is still hope for the system to be successful if Nintendo advertise the features better. There are speculations that Nintendo will port most of their Wii U titles thanks to digital distribution, but it's confirmed that the Nintendo Switch is not backward compatible. More likely it will be an enhanced ports like EVERYONE is doing for the next gen consoles. It's hard to speculate when the only words are those of rumors and speculations, but when your company can't contain the leaks that are mostly accurate, Nintendo needs to release the info via more Nintendo directs, otherwise, Mario himself can't even clean up this mess...

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