Lego City Undercover Switch cover mentions 13GB download [Up3: Full game on card]

Honest question here:

What makes this any different from mandatory installs on PS4 or Xbox One? I don't hear anyone calling for Sony or Microsoft's heads over that.
It's different because they can install from disc, this needs a supplement download from the eShop. Switch eShop goes away and this physical game is useless.
 
Skyrim is a pretty small game though since the game uses a lot of assets over and over again. I just checked, the PC special edition only needs 13 GB of hard drive space.

So 8GB cart with a 5GB DL I'm guessing?


Begun the cart wars has!

Whatever GB version, take lowest cart GB possible, subtract and that how much you DL!
 
Too much for Nintendo to subsidize? Too much for publishers to eat the difference?
Honestly, I can't tell you if Nintendo is subsidizing some of the difference already. They very well could be.

Could publishers eat the cost? In most cases yes, although I can't speak for every situation.
 
But what does that matter if you can't play it without the install?
Are you somewhere with internet or not? Not everyone has the luxury of no data caps. Not everyone has broadband internet wherever they game. Installing vs downloading is hardly insignificant.
 
It's different because they can install from disc, this needs a supplement download from the eShop. Switch eShop goes away and this physical game is useless.

And godforbid you buy a copy to play on a long plane ride and don't know to download the rest of the game beforehand.
 
Honest question here:

What makes this any different from mandatory installs on PS4 or Xbox One? I don't hear anyone calling for Sony or Microsoft's heads over that.

1) All of the core content is generally on the disc in those situation. Here, roughly 1/3 of the game is on the card and you have to download the other 2/3. You require an internet connection to download the vast majority of a full priced physical single player game.

2) Those installs are due to hardware limitations. The games would run like absolute shit straight off the disc. That's not the case with the game cards.

3) This is a portable device. You don't have the luxury of throwing high capacity, cheap laptop HDDs into it. Regardless of whether you view it as a home console or handheld first, it's a portable device and the expectations in some areas have to be measured in relation to that.
 
But what does that matter if you can't play it without the install?

It's not about the storage but the fact that you have an incomplete game. 10 years from now if the servers go down, your game isn't a coaster on a PS4 or Xbox One. This cartridge will be when it can't get 2/3rds of the game. This game requires the servers to be up and an Internet connection to function. A PS4 or Xbox One game can be disconnected from the Internet and the disc will still work and you can still play the game.
 
Are you somewhere with internet or not? Not everyone has the luxury of no data caps. Not everyone has broadband internet wherever they game. Installing vs downloading is hardly insignificant.

1) All of the core content is generally on the disc in those situation. Here, roughly 1/3 of the game is on the card and you have to download the other 2/3. You require an internet connection to download the vast majority of a full priced physical single player game.

2) Those installs are due to hardware limitations. The games would run like absolute shit straight off the disc. That's not the case with the game cards.

3) This is a portable device. You don't have the luxury of throwing high capacity, cheap laptop HDDs into it. Regardless of whether you view it as a home console or handheld first, it's a portable device and the expectations in some areas have to be measured in relation to that.

It's not about the storage but the fact that you have an incomplete game. 10 years from now if the servers go down, your game isn't a coaster on a PS4 or Xbox One. This cartridge will be when it can't get 2/3rds of the game. This game requires the servers to be up and an Internet connection to function. A PS4 or Xbox One game can be disconnected from the Internet and the disc will still work and you can still play the game.

Ok that's fair, but how is that Nintendo's fault? Sounds like WB's just trying to be pricks about it.
 
That's a whole different beast, and you know it.



Oh I'm not saying it's not shitty, I just think it's a little unfair to hold Nintendo's feet to the fire on this one when it's a result of them trying to make the platform approachable to third parties. This is all WB.

Also that last bit of your post...how many games on other platforms do you skip out on for shipping in various states of "complete"? Obviously this is an extreme case here (and let me be clear that I'm not buying this game), but in the current marketplace your ultimatum seems at least a little unreasonable.

Don't get me wrong, when I say 'hold the thing entirely' I mean that you can jam the disc in and play without any internet connection.

Of course, there are many games that perform leagues ahead/gain content with a Day 1 patch, etc.... I can deal with that, because at least, you can just play the game anyway.

But in this very specific case, this practice basically makes the cartridge a useless, non-preservable piece of plastic that only serves as a key to download the game online.
 
Yeah, I don't get why it's not on a 16GB cart at least. I can't imagine the cost difference between 8 and 16GB being substantial but what the hell do I know.

From DRAMExchange:

Item Daily High Daily Low Session High Session Low Session Average Session Change History
MicroSD 16G C4 (Major Brand) 5.00 4.80 5.00 4.80 4.895
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
MicroSD 8G C4 (Major Brand) 3.70 3.48 3.70 3.48 3.535
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 16G C4-C6 5.00 3.70 5.00 3.70 4.400
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 8G C4-C6 3.60 2.85 3.60 2.85 3.339
0.00 %

The jump to 16GB isn't free. And this is your standard microSD in large volume. Add the proprietary stuff for Nintendo and the smaller volume. The cost difference is likely greater.

No corporation is simply going to eat that cost.

And investing into better compression isn't going to happen. It's not needed anywhere else. So it would have to be an investment that a developer/publisher have to make just for the Switch. The internal rate of return for such a thing would be well below expectations.

This is simply Nintendo's decisions coming to bite them in the rear.
 
Because some developers would still want to make money on the platform. If you open up Pandora's box by allowing this, and the consumers normalize this, why wouldn't developers opt for a smaller cartridge to have a lower cost for all games moving forward? This is a bad precedent to set as normal and acceptable.
I largely expect this issue to work itself out over time. The cost of cards will go down, and as the amount of software on the system goes up, publishers will feel less emboldened to pull stuff like this.

But in the meantime, the Switch needs software.
 
Ok that's fair, but how is that Nintendo's fault? Sounds like WB's just trying to be pricks about it.

Err... I'm on the side of WB being the problem?... You asked for a reason as to why this is shitty, I gave you some. I didn't say anything about it being on Nintendo.

Nintendo didn't make us download 5GB of BOTW because they wanted to cut costs on the cards.
 
From DRAMExchange:

Item Daily High Daily Low Session High Session Low Session Average Session Change History
MicroSD 16G C4 (Major Brand) 5.00 4.80 5.00 4.80 4.895
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
MicroSD 8G C4 (Major Brand) 3.70 3.48 3.70 3.48 3.535
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 16G C4-C6 5.00 3.70 5.00 3.70 4.400
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 8G C4-C6 3.60 2.85 3.60 2.85 3.339
0.00 %

The jump to 16GB isn't free. And this is your standard microSD in large volume. Add the proprietary stuff for Nintendo and the smaller volume. The cost difference is likely greater.

No corporation is simply going to eat that cost.

And investing into better compression isn't going to happen. It's not needed anywhere else. So it would have to be an investment that a developer/publisher have to make just for the Switch. The internal rate of return for such a thing would be well below expectations.

This is simply Nintendo's decisions coming to bite them in the rear.
I will say those cost comparisons aren't really indicative of anything.
 
Err... I'm on the side of WB being the problem?... You asked for a reason as to why this is shitty, I gave you some. I didn't say anything about it being on Nintendo.

Nintendo didn't make us download 5GB of BOTW because they wanted to cut costs on the cards.

I hear ya. That was more of a response of people blaming Nintendo for WB being shitty. It's clear they're trying to max out the profits of this game as much as they can when they're charging $60 for a four year old game.
 
I largely expect this issue to work itself out over time. The cost of cards will go down, and as the amount of software on the system goes up, publishers will feel less emboldened to pull stuff like this.

But in the meantime, the Switch needs software.

That puts faith that the publishers won't try to save as much as possible by always opting for a lower capacity cart if the market accepts this as the norm. $1 times 500k copies is still half a million saved to the publisher. So despite higher capacity carts getting cheaper, lower capacity carts will still always be cheaper than the higher ones. So there's always money that can be saved. Money saved might still be something to factor in given the possibility of lower sales to maximize profits on the platform.

Ok that's fair, but how is that Nintendo's fault? Sounds like WB's just trying to be pricks about it.

Nintendo shares part of the blame because they certify and approve every game before it gets released. It's their policies and approval process that is allowing this to happen. They have all the power to say no to this practice but aren't.
 
From DRAMExchange:

Item Daily High Daily Low Session High Session Low Session Average Session Change History
MicroSD 16G C4 (Major Brand) 5.00 4.80 5.00 4.80 4.895
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
MicroSD 8G C4 (Major Brand) 3.70 3.48 3.70 3.48 3.535
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 16G C4-C6 5.00 3.70 5.00 3.70 4.400
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 8G C4-C6 3.60 2.85 3.60 2.85 3.339
0.00 %

The jump to 16GB isn't free. And this is your standard microSD in large volume. Add the proprietary stuff for Nintendo and the smaller volume. The cost difference is likely greater.

No corporation is simply going to eat that cost.

And investing into better compression isn't going to happen. It's not needed anywhere else. So it would have to be an investment that a developer/publisher have to make just for the Switch. The internal rate of return for such a thing would be well below expectations.

This is simply Nintendo's decisions coming to bite them in the rear.

Should be noted that the game cards are a different type of memory that should be cheaper than re-writable flash memory lol. They don't even have writable sectors for save data.
 
That puts faith that the publishers won't try to save as much as possible by always opting for a lower capacity cart if the market accepts this as the norm. $1 times 500k copies is still half a million saved to the publisher. So despite higher capacity carts getting cheaper, lower capacity carts will still always be cheaper than the higher ones. So there's always money that can be saved. Money saved might still be something to factor in given the possibility of lower sales to maximize profits on the platform.
While somewhat true, it's also extremely reductive. I imagine the 8 GB will be retired at some point, for example. And again, consumer acceptance of the practice will help to determine publishers' actions as well. 500K doesn't take that much to make up in sales.
 
Ok that's fair, but how is that Nintendo's fault? Sounds like WB's just trying to be pricks about it.

Nintendo is ok with
Slippery slope

If WB gets aaay with what's stopping others
Hell one poster brought up a good point

Why not Konami it up, buy 1GB carts, put installer/key as the cart
Make end user DL full game
Then keep cart into play there "retail game"

So you have the worst possible outcome your retail/digital hybrid
None of the good from both sides lol

Watch Ubisoft be the first to implement this
 
While somewhat true, it's also extremely reductive. I imagine the 8 GB will be retired at some point, for example. And again, consumer acceptance of the practice will help to determine publishers' actions as well. 500K doesn't take that much to make up in sales.

Consumers accept and normalize shitty practices all the time because they shrug it off as no big deal or minor without seeing the bigger picture until it's too late. You're putting faith on consumers being smart, and publishers not being greedy when the opposite tends to be the reality. We need not look further than how DLC has evolved or Free To Play.
 
Consumers accept and normalize shitty practices all the time because they shrug it off as no big deal or minor without seeing the bigger picture until it's too late. You're putting faith on consumers being smart, and publishers not being greedy when the opposite tends to be the reality.
I'm actually not putting faith in anything, I'm baseing everything I'm saying on hands on experience, and making clearly marked predictions, not claiming to tell the future.
 
I was entertaining double dipping on this, but not anymore. I really hope this doesn't become common practice by third parties with their Switch releases.
 
While somewhat true, it's also extremely reductive. I imagine the 8 GB will be retired at some point, for example. And again, consumer acceptance of the practice will help to determine publishers' actions as well. 500K doesn't take much to make up in sales.

Companies will always look for lowest common denominator
If 4GB goes away and say 2GB hangs around and 16GB doesn't move into 4GB price territory, you know publishers will go towards 2GB even if that sounds absurd

Nintendo should have set guidelines
Only on emergency basis could this tactic be used
If this becomes norm, other pubs will see how much more than can get away with
Ninty makes money from fees, pub makes money regardless from selling their game, it's the end user who gets assed out

If Ninty us stern, pubs will pull plug or back off, if Ninty lulls they will see their ecosystem get abused
Each company is looking out for themselves first and foremost, customers are like low on that totem pole
 
I'm actually not putting faith in anything, I'm baseing everything I'm saying on hands on experience, and making clearly marked predictions, not claiming to tell the future.

Your predictions are optimistic which again relies on consumers being smart and not accepting this practice, and publishers to not be greedy. Again, look how DLC and Free to Play has evolved. Those are examples of how these things play out.
 
Honest question here:

What makes this any different from mandatory installs on PS4 or Xbox One? I don't hear anyone calling for Sony or Microsoft's heads over that.


You don't see the difference between a mandatory install (from a disc, internet not required) vs a mandatory downloaded patch because the physical version of a game is sold incomplete?


Has there been another console game ever before sold physically that wasn't playable? I guess I'm excluding online only games like destiny.
 
Because it's their game and they can choose not to port it to the NS in the first place. If they don't want to deal with the costs involved, then they can avoid it. Giving them some sort of pass is crazy. They make the decision, so they'll live or die by it.



Yes. Or they should learn about compression techniques to lower the file sizes.

So just dont bring your games to the Switch then if you dont want to deal with Nintendo's hardware decisions? Another WiiU 3rd Party support generation if thats the case
 
Nintendo is ok with
Slippery slope

If WB gets aaay with what's stopping others
Hell one poster brought up a good point

Why not Konami it up, buy 1GB carts, put installer/key as the cart
Make end user DL full game
Then keep cart into play there "retail game"

So you have the worst possible outcome your retail/digital hybrid
None of the good from both sides lol

Watch Ubisoft be the first to implement this

The beautiful part is that we don't have to buy the game and can fight against this by not paying them. The funny thing is that buying the game on the PS4 or XBO, still gives WB the victory. Vote with your wallets, people.

Still, if you're gonna own a NS, then you should invest in a microSD card regardless. Patches will happen....
 
Honest question here:

What makes this any different from mandatory installs on PS4 or Xbox One? I don't hear anyone calling for Sony or Microsoft's heads over that.

32 vs 500gb.

EDIT: Funny to see people going from "I'm physical anyway, doesn't concern me" about the storage before launch to "well, day one patches, everyone gotta get a SD card".
 
Damn, had this pre-ordered. Time to cancel and move the money to other releases.

I hate when companies do idiotic crap like this and WB lost a sale. :/
 
Your predictions are optimistic which again relies on consumers being smart and not accepting this practice, and publishers to not be greedy. Again, look how DLC and Free to Play has evolved. Those are examples of how these things play out.
I can actually promise you that some DLC and free to play practices that have been proposed and developed for console and PC games have been killed because of consumer reaction to other such practices.
 
So just dont bring your games to the Switch then if you dont want to deal with Nintendo's hardware decisions? Another WiiU 3rd Party support generation if thats the case

People should already expect third party support to be sparse. The focus on indies is a good move to offset this as much as possible, but the ship for traditional third party support has sailed and people need to accept that reality with the Switch.
 
Has there been another console game ever before sold physically that wasn't playable? I guess I'm excluding online only games like destiny.

Hell even Destiny you can trick into making the game full digital playable
Have your Disc installed game
Go download the free trial, viola now you have access to the whole digital version of Destiny, no reason to keep your Disc in anymore (I maybe missing a step here, just look it up)

Hell Paragon the free to play MOBA for pc and PS4, disc just has the launcher inside of it, nothing else
You DL game, never need the Disc ever again, most are buying for the goodies/bonuses you net for buying retail copy
And they stack!
 
This shit makes day one patches look OK. At least without the download I can still play a game.

If third parties follow suit then the Switch will be my Nintendo only machine. Fuck this practice.
 
So people weren't turned off by the ridiculous pricing of a years-old port, but the downloadable patch is what does you in?
 
From DRAMExchange:

Item Daily High Daily Low Session High Session Low Session Average Session Change History
MicroSD 16G C4 (Major Brand) 5.00 4.80 5.00 4.80 4.895
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
MicroSD 8G C4 (Major Brand) 3.70 3.48 3.70 3.48 3.535
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 16G C4-C6 5.00 3.70 5.00 3.70 4.400
0.00 % [Historical Price Chart]
OEM MicroSD 8G C4-C6 3.60 2.85 3.60 2.85 3.339
0.00 %

The jump to 16GB isn't free. And this is your standard microSD in large volume. Add the proprietary stuff for Nintendo and the smaller volume. The cost difference is likely greater.

No corporation is simply going to eat that cost.

And investing into better compression isn't going to happen. It's not needed anywhere else. So it would have to be an investment that a developer/publisher have to make just for the Switch. The internal rate of return for such a thing would be well below expectations.

This is simply Nintendo's decisions coming to bite them in the rear.

How much do you think it cost WB to port this game to the switch as part of it's multiplatform release?

Please explain to me why it needs to be a full retail game, and how even at that price point they have to save $1.50 (being really fair to you here) on manufacturing costs for each copy in order to make the whole thing worthwhile?

Because that argument doesn't hold water.
 
Hell even Destiny you can trick into making the game full digital playable
Have your Disc installed game
Go download the free trial, viola now you have access to the whole digital version of Destiny, no reason to keep your Disc in anymore (I maybe missing a step here, just look it up)

Hell Paragon the free to play MOBA for pc and PS4, disc just has the launcher inside of it, nothing else
You DL game, never need the Disc ever again, most are buying for the goodies/bonuses you net for buying retail copy
And they stack!


Ok. That's not what I meant. I worded it incorrectly.


Has there ever been a console game that had a MANDATORY patch? A game literally unplayable/incomplete without s patch despite being sold physically.

Obviously almost all games have patches now. But they aren't mandatory. You could never connect to the internet and play the game, albeit a worse version.

But I can't think of many/any (excluding mmo/online only games) games that werent playable in their physical retail form.
 
So people weren't turned off by the ridiculous pricing of a years-old port, but the downloadable patch is what does you in?

It's not a patch, it's 2/3rds of the damn game. A day-one patch would be shitty but acceptable, but if you buy a game it better damn well be on the card/disk otherwise why even buy physical?
 
People should already expect third party support to be sparse. The focus on indies is a good move to offset this as much as possible, but the ship for traditional third party support has sailed and people need to accept that reality with the Switch.

No doubt "people" should, but will/can Nintendo accept it?

I would wager the Switch will sell more that the WiiU, but will it sell enough to satisfy Nintendo to remain in the hardware/console space?

The WiiU was a great console for the "people" (at least I enjoyed it for its 1st Party Games), but Im sure is was not so great for Nintendo the business
 
It's not a patch, it's 2/3rds of the damn game. A day-one patch would be shitty but acceptable, but if you buy a game it better damn well be on the card/disk otherwise why even buy physical?

Point stands: something to download, even if it is a requirement to play. I have zero intention of getting this game until it's under $20. Nintendo may deserve criticism for their cartridge decisions (I don't think they do, but I see the argument) but for WB to get away with charging this kind of shit for their port is ludicrous.
 
The beautiful part is that we don't have to buy the game and can fight against this by not paying them. The funny thing is that buying the game on the PS4 or XBO, still gives WB the victory. Vote with your wallets, people.

Still, if you're gonna own a NS, then you should invest in a microSD card regardless. Patches will happen....

Thing is you can do that on healthy stable platforms
Ninty is reeling, they want to get back on track

Do you think if people go no I won't buy, then pub goes fine, there's no demand, then what?
You go back into the stupid cycle fiasco Ninty is trying to get out of

Buy Ninty hardware for Ninty games, some "exclusive" third party/indie games
Most publishers scoff and throw shovel ware or dilapidated titles
Why invest in a dead system that doesn't support our greedy outlook...

We're ok making money on the other 3 platforms, we're ok
 
Point stands: something to download, even if it is a requirement to play. I have zero intention of getting this game until it's under $20. Nintendo may deserve criticism for their cartridge decisions (I don't think they do, but I see the argument) but for WB to get away with charging this kind of shit for their port is ludicrous.

This ain't a day-one patch though, to equate the two is dishonest.

My point is WB deserves to get shit on because this shit is unacceptable.
 
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