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24

Console War, p99

February 14, 2025 by Tim

“The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse.”

It’ll be a couple months before we really get to dig into the Switch 2, and any real little tweaks to the formula (like the mouse-cons), but mostly it just seems like… more Switch. Which, honestly, makes a lot of sense. Don’t need to reinvent the wheel every time.


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Darkhorse
Darkhorse
8 days ago

Who can make a summary of the great and bad points?

Soeroah
Soeroah
8 days ago
Reply to  Darkhorse

Great:
Portable, good to hold (most likely), strong first party titles (most likely), decent third-party support, quick UI

Bad:
Less power than competitors, limitations on third-party support due to power, arguably overpriced subscriptions for online features and game access

Rossbane
Rossbane
8 days ago
Reply to  Soeroah

Less power yes, Nintendo is always behind but if I’ve read preliminary info correctly….this will roughly be equivalent to ps4 level of graphics?

Urazz
Urazz
7 days ago
Reply to  Rossbane

No idea, because Nintendo’s reveal had no information on the specs of the Switch 2. If it has PS4 level graphics, then that’ll be quite the jump in power and will pretty much make the people not bother with the PS5 anymore I think.

Pulse
Pulse
6 days ago
Reply to  Urazz

considering i cant tell the difference between gamecube and ps4 graphics wise, not even a concern.

Soeroah
Soeroah
7 days ago
Reply to  Rossbane

That’s what the rumours are, yeah. Nintendo’s systems ‘recently’ have been about one or one and a half generations behind their competitor’s contemporary consoles, so I’m expecting the Switch 2 to be about as powerful as a PS4, maybe a PS4 Pro. But its other strengths and the kinds of games that end up on Nintendo systems will likely make up for any perceived shortcomings in the power, like usual… I’ve got a PS5, and most people I’ve seen talk about their PS5s kinda feel like it’s not *that* much better than a PS4, probably because it’s mostly focused on… Read more »

Peosea
Peosea
7 days ago
Reply to  Soeroah

I think at this point the power is not a problem. Nintendo has proven time and time that people will enjoy a great game with lesser graphics more than a shitty game that looks great

DahrAmahr
DahrAmahr
8 days ago

yes, I don’t realy need some revolutionary changes. The switch is great as it is – just stronger hardware needed. BUT what I can’t understand is why Nintendo does not capitalize on what made Wii great and famous. There are waaaay less cool party games or gimmick games that take advantage of gyro of the controllers. 1 Rabbidz game (I’m not couting Mario&Rabiddz Xcom games), just couple of Mario ones, very little crapy sports games. They could go and sell gun-strapons and turn the TV into shooting range and make games like Virtua Cop (anyone remembers that?).

Last edited 8 days ago by DahrAmahr
Leonel
Leonel
8 days ago
Reply to  DahrAmahr

Bring back Duck Hunt!

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
7 days ago
Reply to  DahrAmahr

Because that only made the Wii “great and famous” for about three years. The first half of Wii’s life cycle was fire; the second half was slump. And in doing so, they dropped their core audience for a bunch of fickle casual folk who don’t really care about gaming. With the Switch, they’ve gone back to what made them great and famous in the 90s – solid hardware, good relationships with third parties, a solid handheld line. They’ve also made it possible for Wii-style games to be released and enjoyed. But you can’t pretend that 1-2-Switch, ARMS, and LABO have… Read more »

Chris
Chris
7 days ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

The Wii gave some awesome family memories for me. Seems like it was the only game system I ever got my parents to play on the regular, other than our old PS1. It was THE gateway drug to gaming, even for the most casual observers, and that’s a formula I’ve yet to see repeated anywhere else to the same degree… Not going to say there aren’t more successful formulas currently being used, but it was the kind of success that brought families playing together more, that otherwise wouldn’t play “vidya-games” together. Wii Sports and Tanks, in particular, got a lot… Read more »

Not that Brian
Not that Brian
7 days ago
Reply to  Eldest Gruff

That and honestly a lot of that kind of gaming has been taken over by VR now.

Serious story and RPG style games will still do well on the switch. But a lot of the gimmick games are moving to VR for a reason.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
7 days ago
Reply to  Not that Brian

Yeah, and they’re dying for it. If you pay attention to VR-focused news (I do), you’ll see that VR isn’t doing so hot. Profits are declining and many devs expect to be seriously cutting their departments down. One of the main reasons for it is that the largest group of VR enthusiasts are kids with Quests who want to play free-to-play junk like Gorilla Tag instead of something that takes time and effort. This is echoing what Nintendo was experiencing with the Wii: that this group of gamers will jump on *now* because it’s cool and new and exciting, but… Read more »

Rob
Rob
7 days ago
Reply to  DahrAmahr

The Conduit was a great fps that used motion controls on the wii

Justin
Justin
7 days ago
Reply to  DahrAmahr

Seems easy enough to do both the gateway games (eg Wii Sports) and the more ‘true fan’ games (eg Breath of the Wild)… I hope that’s what Nintendo do

Lord Foxxy Foxington
Lord Foxxy Foxington
8 days ago

Oh no he’s hot.

gnarph
gnarph
8 days ago

Yeah we are missing Agent Cart-er wanting to play with his mouse-cons

GUNnibal
GUNnibal
8 days ago

Between this and the previous page in this series, I think Tim just enjoys drawing dudes with muscles, and I’m all for it.
Now please excuse me while I’m busy having flashbacks about playing Broforce.

Snark
Snark
8 days ago

“One single Injection
Unlocks your DNA
And will release another version of yourself…”

I’m SUE.

Scortch
Scortch
8 days ago

Honestly what they are doing is working. I know the console war is viewed by some as Xbox vs PS, but really Nintendo is currently winning it, simply because they can make great games. The other two are too invested in killer graphics that it’s not possible to do the same.

Darkhorse
Darkhorse
8 days ago
Reply to  Scortch

PS and Xbox are too close to PC territory with their games. They obviously have their advantages, like being optimised to hell and back, and often being relatively cheap compared to PC when they come out. However, a PC is more versatile in many ways. You can get laptops for portability, buy into high refresh rate, higher graphics, have streaming setups, do ten thousand more things with software (music, video editing, productivity), backwards compatible, upgradable, etc. The list goes on. It’s not that you can’t do many of these things on a PS or Xbox, but the PC is just… Read more »

Maxwell
Maxwell
8 days ago
Reply to  Darkhorse

I think the moment Nintendo allowed PC games on its own console it dug it’s own hole. At the time it looked good, but once SteamDeck came out it simply waved to Switch, thanking it to making people believe some games can be played in lower resolution on small screen and took over with its capabilities. I mean, comparing to SteamDeck Switch basically only presents exclusives and better Multiplayer (4 joycon games, AND the console has better radio on this than steamdeck)

Lord Foxxy Foxington
Lord Foxxy Foxington
7 days ago
Reply to  Scortch

There is no console war, it’s over and Nintendo won, it ended the moment both Microsoft and Sony published games on the Switch.

WarIsEnding
WarIsEnding
8 days ago

For the sake of the comic I hope that the war will go on but it seems that the companies behind them have different ideas. Nintendo don’t care about the teraflops and the rest but will stay in the middle with it’s mix of handled/fixed console. Microsoft is capitalizing every once of cash from selling their games everywhere until will be able to move to steadily to cloud gaming placing it everywhere maybe in Sony consoles too. Sony is the only one that is still doing like in old day with a middle gen hardware revision (that’s not really needed)… Read more »

The Legacy
The Legacy
7 days ago
Reply to  Tim

It also doesn’t help when the console war itself is coming to an end. It seems like everyone except Nintendo is starting to pull away from consoles. It feels like the PC Master Race has won.

ThatGuy
ThatGuy
8 days ago

I see it more like the Switch Pro we were supposed to get a year after the Switch’s initial release. At least, I remember that was in the plans, but it got waylaid by…well, what DIDN’T waylay it?

MarthKoopa
MarthKoopa
8 days ago

Switch but not outdated struggling hardware is a great thing

Number51x
Number51x
8 days ago

I recently upgraded my router and re-discovered that I owned a switch when I checked the DHCP list! I haven’t picked it up in years apparently. Not because it was bad or anything; it just faded into the background for some reason.

JayEnfield
JayEnfield
8 days ago

I’m very disappointed that they decided to call it the Switch 2 instead of using the traditional Nintendo sequel-console naming structure and calling it the Super Switch.

Mike
Mike
8 days ago

I want a backstory to this super switch! (damn nintendo missed a golden naming opportunity there, i just realized)

Did he join the war a frail half complete switch but through his courage and moxy got volunteered for the MORE serum? (Magnetic controllers, Optimized performance, Refined design, Enhanced display – Thanks AI for doing the heavy lifting on that one xD
)

Kevin Greenbaum
Kevin Greenbaum
7 days ago

Don’t fix what isn’t broken, the switch is a great console so updating the hardware while keeping the same set up makes a lot of sense.

StanG
StanG
7 days ago

“More Switch” would’ve been a more fun name than Switch 2.

Yes, I’m still bitter they didn’t call it the Super Switch. It was right there, and would’ve been so, so fitting.

kaelin
kaelin
7 days ago

nintendo doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel every time?
I’m sorry but have you looked at their track record?

LOL.

The Legacy
The Legacy
7 days ago

Personally, I have no complaints about this strategy. They’ve always been good at innovating, and I feel like they hit the peak with the Switch.

Dr DoobieDo
Dr DoobieDo
6 days ago

Is this going to be the Wii-U of switches?