I attended PAX South this past weekend and I was able to play a few games on the Switch.

There were several lines you could stand in and I chose the general line (a 40 minute wait) and was able to play 4 rounds of Arms, 2 rounds of Splatoon 2, and 4 games of Bomberman R.

My favorite of those three was Arms by far. Talk about intuitive... it was very easy to get use to. I played as the Mummy Master and as the Nijanix (sp?). With each character, you can choose between three types of hands: you can pair them up or mix and match. I won each of the sets 2-0 against this other guy who was shaking so bad since he was so excited to play it (he had to be early 30s... and the kind of guy that lives in his mom's basement).

Over at the main Nintendo Stage, I was picked from the crowd to come on stage and play Ultra Street Fighter II... and you could choose Evil Ryu or Violent Ken (which are just tanned, white-evil-eyed versions of themselves). I chose Zangief... and lost 2-1 to a guy as Chun-Li... it was close. He got the Switch Hat and I got high-fived as I walked of the stage.

There was a line to play Mario Kart 8... but I wasn't interested in playing that.

However, the line to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was capped and the last person in line had a 3 hour wait ahead of them. 3 hours in line for 10 minutes of gameplay... I'm not that hard core. But I did watch someone play ot for awhile and I must say, THE GAME IS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Anyways, thought I'd share.

So a month out from the release of a new Nintendo console and it's dead as a doornail in here. 18 posts in a week. Crazy.

What would you like to talk about?

For me...!

Amazon
Nintendo Switch (gray, because I'm boring)

Best Buy
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

It's not a long or interesting list, I know.

I'm getting Snipperclips on day one too, whenever that winds up being. I'd like to see how the joycons + grip feel before shelling out for a pro controller (especially if I wind up getting a second set of joycons for ARMS). I'll wait until after launch to get a carrying case just so I can hear some first-hand opinions about what works and what doesn't.

I also have ARMS, Splatoon 2, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe preordered at Best Buy.

Exactly. It's not like there has been new news and no one is talking about it.

Dunno. Just weird.

The whole forum hasn't been getting very many posts here in general, I don't think this thread is indicative of anything. And yeah, there really hasn't been that much news. In contrast, I see a lot of discussion at places like NeoGAF.

Update : I'm still not buying one.

Yep, same here

Ditto.

I'm pretty sure i'm keeping my preorder. I only have the Switch and Zelda ordered, but there's a few things upcoming that i'm actually interested in.

Yeah, even the megathread on Cheap Ass Gamer is really active. I think it's the sort of thing where if you really want to talk about the Switch, there's a lot to chat about, but there really haven't been any seismic, earth-shattering, exciting revelations recently.

...although, well, there's this extended version of Nintendo's Super Bowl spot:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CdWd8fUC71g" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Maybe I'm just getting old, but I don't really see myself in any of the scenarios in the commercial.

Wouldn't it be somewhat beneficial for Nintendo to try and sell the console based on the games themselves and not just the portability and waggle gimmicks?

I'm waiting until Christmas to buy one. Hopefully, they won't be in short supply.

All the Switch commercials and promos have been dreadful to me since I also don't imagine playing games in any of the scenarios except for at home in bed, on the can, or on the couch. And maybe on an airplane, but even then I can't imagine using the kickstand and sitting back doing anything. The group scenarios are all really goofy looking.

I imagine these are more for the broad audience trying to recapture some of that Wii audience.

I'm sure I'll eventually buy one, just not at launch

Kimishima sez that the Switch's paid online service will be between 2000 and 3000 yen a year, so I'd expect it to be $19.99 or $29.99 a year in USD. That's not too bitter a pill to swallow, even though I doubt I'll use online for anything more than Splatoon 2 anytime in the foreseeable future.

I'll eat crow if I'm wrong, but I honestly don't see this console having much legs, if at all. I felt that Wii U had more potential than this thing.

According to this article, it's between ($17.50 - $26.50) Yearly. That's not bad at all.

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2017/02/01/s...-nintendomagfb

I have no idea if it'll have legs or not, but I am surprised by how much interest there appears to be out of the gate.

Yeah, that's the conversion from yen to USD, although that's not really how Nintendo tends to price things. They generally treat yen like pennies, so something that's 3000 yen would wind up being $30, no matter what the exchange rate actually is. Like, the Switch is 29,980 yen and $299.99, although the actual conversion from yen to USD would be $264.25. I wouldn't complain if it did wind up being as low as $17.50, of course!

Why do you say that? When has Nintendo launched a new home console without initial interest from the public? Until it's been out a while and after the early adopters/ Nintendo devotees grab theirs, we have no idea if this console will be a success or not.
Frankly I was shocked at how poorly the WiiU did. That was probably doe to the lack of original games more than anything, but the gimmick of the console wasn't much of a needle-mover either. That said, there was excitement around its launch.

This is a more exciting gimmick than that one, but we still don't know if it will have more of an impact.

Err... what games?

Seriously though, the gameplay elements that make it unique are probably hard to show in a commercial, and the graphics aren't going to blow people away on the screen.

Not that it matters too much. The majority of commercials I see for video games are all cutscenes anyway.

That, and I'd say that the U had a better launch/near-launch lineup than the Switch does.

The 3DS initially flopped in 2011 largely because of an underwhelming launch slate, excessive price tag, and that it wasn't entirely clear that it was a new platform than another DS variant. I feel like there was a lot more pessimism and confusion swirling around the Wii U as its release approached. (It's also the only time I can recall seeing stacks of unsold hardware on day one of a console launch. I don't remember if it was that way for the 3DS, but I sure didn't have trouble buying one a few days after launch.)

The Switch has more than its share of black marks -- the price tag of the hardware and accessories, the power/storage/memory/media compromises that come with a console/portable hybrid, the lack of third party support, the limited number of "holy shit gotta have it" titles announced so far, the emphasis on motion controls, etc. -- but by and large, the reception has been really positive. Preorders have been strong. Even accessories are selling out. YouTube views are stratospheric.

There's always going to be curiosity and interest in a new Nintendo product, but that it graduated to excitement and enthusiasm to this degree is surprising. I thought there'd (justifiably, even!) be more skepticism and negativity, especially coming off a flop like the Wii U.

I am glad that Nintendo learned some lessons from the Wii U's failure (as much as I love that little guy). They're definitely conveying what the Switch is, what it does, and what makes it different in a way they never could with the Wii U. I'm glad there's a new IP in ARMS relatively close to launch. At least through the end of the year, Nintendo's churning out enough games to stave off the kinds of droughts we saw so frequently for the Wii U.

A strong launch doesn't necessarily mean sustained sales/interest, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the way the landscape looks right now.

While I'm certainly liking that online service price, we're still in the "hold off" category mainly because of my job status. We're supposed to be getting a major re-organization later this year, and nobody knows if that means I'll be doing a new job or if we're getting the chainsaw treatment.