Breaking Ideas 1 - Nintendo Switch
Breaking Ideas 1
This is where I had no time to film a video but write my thoughts about stuff in life.
The Nintendo Switch so far
The Nintendo Switch has been out for nine months and steadily increasing the library of video games to play. The variety of games that are on the system right now and soon to come out the can be played anywhere you want. Anyone can play games on their tv or take it out during trip to a friends place with more games that allow local and online multiplayer.
Nintendo Switch has sold so much in the last few months and has games that are fun to play such as Golf Story a golf game with a RPG way to play it. Another game that has came out to the Switch is 2016 DOOM which is making a port from the PC version of this fast paced, first person shooter that could be fun to pick up and play.
(10 million units sold report by Polygon - https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/12/16766332/nintendo-switch-sales)
Support from video game developers outside Nintendo has been a positive thing towards the Switch and it gives players a choice to play any video game they can enjoy.
The biggest surprise is the first party video games from Nintendo that have been different from past games with new perspectives on what these games can be. Since launch day the video game that changed the most from its previous titles Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the idea of Nintendo focusing of creating new games with well known titles like Mario and new games like Splatoon.
Breath of the Wild is different from past Zelda games that explored a new way with an open world setting allowing players to travel the world meeting new people, explore landscapes and fighting monsters in a large world of Zelda. The ability to see different environments like snow mountains or hot desserts that can traversed feeling as the world can exist as one is awesome. Exploring a world that has creatures to fight or places to gather food for a grand adventure. These are the type of experiences that the Nintendo is creating and taking on new ways to develop video games by taking existing ideas and develop a way to keep players interested and rewards curiosity.
The developers at Nintendo EPD (Nintendo Entertainment Planning and Development) have built systems on top and in combination of other systems to make the world organic and lives as an actual world. The world in Breath of the Wild seems to move without any action but my own actions can affect the world in small or big differences.
Super Mario Odyssey recently released and it has improved on the scale of challenging platform gameplay. The worlds are structured for players to explore and still rewards them for finding hidden coins and thinking of unique moves to reach hard places. Mario this time around has a lot of moves where he can roll then long jump, air dive and wall jump to a higher platform plus more with Cappy his hat friend.
These are video games we all know well and have been developed for the Nintendo Switch so we can play with friends with more games like Splatoon 2, Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Fire Emblem Warriors and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. This is also the first year of the new console with more opportunities of new video games coming soon.
Nintendo Switch is great but….
These games came out and the Nintendo Switch has been out a few months. The first year so far has been great for Nintendo video games and they seem to focus on improving the games but also fail in other areas like voice chat. The voice chat function started with Splatoon 2 with a crazy setup of just talking into a microphone with your smartphone. Starting with a Nintendo app on smartphones they are trying to make it easier to manage your account but also force to have voice chat on that.
Here is a flow chart of what a dedicated headset connecting to the Nintendo Switch then a split cable to your phone and hopefully it works with WiFi on multiple devices at once.
Technology is based on innovating existing hardware/software and sell the improved tech on a regular basis. The Nintendo Switch might have a future update with voice chat support via software instead of building new hardware again. Nintendo can create great video games and it is possible to focus on the OS and improve functions of the system itself.
Right now the Nintendo Switch is a great console to play awesome video games. Unfortunately not yet a place to chat with friends and watching other media.
More video games for the Nintendo Switch
Developers from all areas are supporting the console with ports from existing video games and hopefully a sign for future new games as well. The Game Awards 2017 had announcements of a ton of video games but one series that caught attention was Beyonetta. The first announcement was Beyonetta 1 and 2 are combo pack and coming soon to the console but a new addition is Beyonetta 3 first appearance exclusive to the Nintendo Switch. A new video game from Platinum games and Nintendo supporting the developers to create a new game is a great method of creating content for the console.
Video games are getting better and adapting to new hardware. Microsoft released the Xbox One X this year and has an established network of video games with its own online functions that Switch does not have yet. Xbox has voice chat, online store and streaming apps like Netflix along with PS4 Pro and their consoles.
The Nintendo Switch does need to do a better job with its network and improve on the UI/UX for voice chat and unique names instead of friend codes which is hard to view who is adding as a friend. E-store is a good first step for digital downloads and has introduced a video games on sale for a lower price list. These are a few examples of the console doing one part right but not improving the core functions.
Nintendo should be doing a better part of supporting the players to make it easier to navigate the e-store and online multiplayer. The way players can chat with each other and play games together makes a huge difference of how the console is used. There have been updates on a regular basis but nothing of note for the core functions of the Nintendo Switch.
For players who bought a system that has complex methods of functions like the friends list, online multiplayer accounts locked on hardware specific units this is not the way to do it. There are better and more convenient ways that other systems have done a better job. Xbox Live and PlayStation Network have better core functions compared to Nintendo to where this could be their chance to make a better place to play and share with more people.
There is still hope.
This is the first year for the new console and it can be improved. There is time for Nintendo to make the console better where players hope they have a solution. Nintendo does not have to follow exactly what players want but at least make it an easy way to play with friends. There can be improvements along the way but right now we just play the Nintendo Switch in silence for now.