Nintendo Switch Revealed

Copy-pasted from what I posted on Facebook:

Summing up how I feel about the Nintendo Switch: “Worried, but hopeful.”  It doesn’t quite do anything new and innovative that we haven’t really seen before.  I think this was ultimately what Nintendo wanted to do with the Wii U.  At this point, I’m just hoping for better support for the Nintendo console with a lot more games.

Nintendo finally revealed their new system.  The system is a home console/portable system hybrid where you can play games on the TV like a traditional console and take it along with you like a portable system. Here's a break-down of my thoughts on the reveal.

Positive/Excited Opinions:

-Name: I don't particularly like the name, but I think it'll catch on. At the very least it's straight-forward (much like the N64 being a 64-bit console, the Gamecube was cube shaped). The Wii U name caused confusion and grief for marketing.

-Portable Console Quality: This might be the first time a portable system has the exact quality of a console (I haven’t played with the nVidia Shield so I’m not sure if that counts).

-Company Focus: Having to focus on one system that supports both home console play and portable gaming on the go gives fans hope that 1^st/2^nd/3^rd party support will ensure a large library of games will be available for the system (something that the Wii U sadly lacked).

-Easy LAN parties: Games like Splatoon are generally played online, but the way it’s previewed they could potentially allow you to connect several systems together (much like the 3DS does for local multiplayer) for an easy setup for a LAN party.

-Cartridge-based: I hope this means faster loading for everything.  The one thing that has bugged me to no end since the introduction of the Sony Playstation is that Disc-based games take so long to load everything.

Negative/Concerned Opinions:

-Controllers: At a glance, the switchable controller looks ugly, uncomfortable, and delicate.  The Wii U gamepad and Pro controller were also uncomfortable, but I eventually adjusted to them, so it might be okay.  My main concern stems from its main functionality to detach from the controller and onto the portable screen and back: will it wear out quickly?  Is it sturdy enough?  Will it hold the portable screen securely?  Using the mini-controllers also looks uncomfortable.  That dedicated home controller looks particularly ugly (it makes the Wii U pro controller look amazing).  Ugh, I hope these are prototypes…

-Portable screen: When I had the original B&W Gameboy and Gameboy Color, one of the problems I ran into was that the screen was unprotected.  It would get dirty, oily, or scratched.  But ever since the Gameboy Advance SP, the clamshell design has protected the screen and buttons while keeping the device portable.  It’s cool that the Nintendo Switch will have a large screen to play on, but now there isn’t an implemented method of protecting the screen and it won’t easily fit my pocket anymore because of the protruding joysticks.  These were probably ignored due to conforming to our tablet culture (the Wii U was half way there, and now it’s all the way there).

-Battery life: The portable screen looks small, but it has to be strong enough to run a console quality game on it.  How long would a battery hold out before it knocks out?

-Exclusive support: It’s great to see that games like Skyrim and the NBA2K series being supported, but I hope it’s not ONLY going to be multi-platform game support.  The Wii U tried to regain its core gamer audience that it lost during the Wii Era by bringing a lot of multi-platform support.  The problem is that a lot of people playing those games will already have another console that plays those games and won’t go out of their way to pick up the version for the Nintendo console.  Games like Bayonetta 2, Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE really set it apart from other consoles and was a great addition to the library of games available, but it wasn’t nearly enough for Wii U.  The Nintendo Switch needs a lot more games like those and I’m hoping that a lot of developers are willing to create a tons of games fans are craving specifically for the system now that they only have to focus on one system rather than 2.

-Audio: The Nintendo DS and 3DS finally had stereo audio for the portable system!  From what I can tell in the preview video, the audio might come out from those holes on the top of the screen.  Does this mean it’s going back to mono?  I hope not!  At least there’s still a headphone jack.

Overall, I’m not THAT excited since it doesn’t really seem to bring anything new to the industry that the Wii, DS, Wii U, and 3DS did; however, I am hopeful that we’ll get a lot more games for the Nintendo console this time around.  Despite the public complaints about the last generation of Nintendo systems and its seemingly poor sales, I really enjoy playing my Wii U and I absolutely love my 3DS which currently holds a ridiculous backlog of 20 games on it.  I wish Nintendo the best and hope they’ll continue to provide innovative and entertaining games for many more generations.

Autumn Approaches

I really shouldn't have started my last post with "I'm feeling pretty good lately" because about a week later, I wasn't feeling that way.  I started to experience hunger feelings with some slight burning, sharp pains around where my heart is, and numb to occasional sharp headaches everyday.  It wasn't as bad as all the other times I felt ill in the past year, but it did affects during the time my sister was visiting.  I always seem to fall ill around the time I see her.

Anyways, Summer ends in 3 days and it makes me feel a bit sad.  I'm not sure what to look forward to nowadays other than release dates of games I really want.  Summer has all the events I'm excited for and it's always a bit sad to see it end each year, so it's been the one season in the year that I'm usually excited for now.

It's been a crazy 3 weeks since my last post, and it all passed by so quickly.  I had found some VSTs that mimic the soundchip used in the NES and decided to experiment with it and create an original song inspired by Mega Man using the VSTs:


I started up my remix of Elegant Summer right before my sister came home.  I wanted to finish and upload it before the Summer ended, but I don't think that's viable anymore unless I rush it, and I don't want to rush this one.  I also got word back from the company I applied a job position for and was declined and won't be making it to interviews.  I did mention in my last post that I certain I wouldn't be getting the job, but it was still worth it and I really liked the mock-up I created from it.  There's another position open that I could apply for, but it's not exactly what I want to do.  Still, it's an opportunity and I'll take it.  So I'll be working on that in the following weeks.

In the first two weeks of September, I mainly spent it composing Swift Man, starting up the Elegant Summer Remix, and playing lots of God Eater Resurrection.  I forgot to mention last post that I had started with God Eater Resurrection that came free with the purchase of God Eater 2 Rage Burst.  I am up to 68 hours on GE:R so far and have a bit more to go before completing all missions.  I really like the game.  It has a good story, fun characters, exciting combat, and lots of depth in character builds.  And then in the past week, I spent time with my family with my sister visiting us.  We went out to dinner a few times, watched half a dozen movies, played some games, caught up with each other, and went shopping (well, they went shopping while I just walked around with them).  I haven't watched movies in a very long time, and so this is the most amount of movies I've watched in years.  We watched X-Men Apocalypse, which I didn't like very much.  I requested to watch Red Cliff since I've always wanted to watch it but never did.  It was split into two movies and each one was 2.5 hours long.  It had some slow moments, but it really immersed the viewer into the world of Ancient China.  The battles were well choreographed and exciting.  I enjoyed it.  My sister wanted me to watch Pop Star and Spy.  Pop Star was not only funny, but is a great critique in our modern day society.  Spy was hilarious and well worth the watch.  I also wanted to watch Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV.  It was pretty much what I expected.  The graphics were incredible, but the story was typical and the pacing was slow.  My sister left yesterday to go back to her home in SoCal and got back to work today.  She seems really stressed about work, even when she was home with us during her visit.  I hope she can finish what needs to be done in the next 3 months so that she'll be able to relax during Christmas time.

Mystery Chronicle: One Way Heroics released last week and I've been waiting for it all Summer.  The game has some stuttering problems, can't be closed in-game (gotta Alt+F4) among other problems, but the extra content and a more updated/polished graphics are worth it.  The game's still a lot of fun as the original One Way Heroics, but there's some aspects from the original that I still like more (such as status of other players, the retro-like charm, and smoother map scroll).  Besides continuing God Eater Resurrection, I'm still playing Resident Evil Revelations 2 and just finished my 3rd run of campaign about 2.5 hours ago on Survival difficulty.  Bosses and certain enemies would kill me between 1-2 hits.  It wasn't too bad, but decently challenging.  It unlocked another difficulty level after that one, but I'm not too keen on playing through it.  I might consider playing Countdown mode.  Otherwise, I'm going to play Raid mode a bit more and finally call it quits on it.  Resident Evil Revelations 2 exceeded my expectations and I really enjoyed it.

As sad as it is to see Summer come to a close, I'm looking forward to playing more fun games and working on new projects.  It's been a rough year, but at least the gaming side of things have been great.