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[Evangelion Unit-01]

Japanese Direct also showed:

• Monster Farm 2 (PS1 title released as Monster Rancher 2 in West)
• Spiritfarer
• A Short Hike
• Takeshi & Hiroshi (I don't know Japanese and it took me way too long to figure out that the hiragana in タケシとヒロシ was for "and")
• New Derby Stallion Title (Not going to even try to make sure there isn't a subtitle, there is hiragana, katakana, and Kanji all in the logo-if somebody else can help let me know, it was announced near the end)

 

[Portugeezer]

Either blue balling us, or Nintendo have nothing this Holiday.

 

[Evangelion Unit-01]

Either blue balling us, or Nintendo have nothing this Holiday.

They have games. Out of all the game companies, Nintendo probably least prepared for remote work. It definitely threw off their release calendar. Some of it was certainly pushed to 2021. I expect we will get a direct soon.

Just think an March Direct + E3 with the current announcements and *leaks* would have been pretty good: Pikmin 3, Paper Mario, Shin Megami Tensei V, Min Min Smash DLC, Shin Megami Tensei 3 HD, Bravely Default 2, Pokemon Snap, and Animal Crossing Updates, Super Mario All Stars*, and Super Mario 3D World*.

It's been a good year for Nintendo. Not as good as it should have been without the world falling apart. I think the drip fed nature of it and lack of a big event alongside Xbox and PlayStation are what make it feel like a rough year.

 

[93xfan]

The next direct should have Botw2 and Metroid though?

So no new direct until 2022? I think you and Nintendo are on the same page.

 

[UnNamed]

Announce a Direct out of nowhere is something beyond stupidity.

I read this thread and for 5 minutes I thought it was a joke thread.

 

[BlackTron]

Im so glad I have a switch, pc and ps4, nintendo games are god tier but I just can't imagine being a nintendo only gamer it must be suffering.

Nintendo is like the booty call you can never delete from your phone, even if you would never let her permanently move in like Playstation.

She's a problem and flake, but you still can't ignore the text twice a year.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Why in god's name is the third party support for Switch so bad?

Jesus this was horrible. Getting serious late Wii and WiiU vibes.

 

[-Minsc-]

In Nintendo Fandom you like what Nintendo gives you.

Man, screw Crystal Chronicles.

Is that Penny-Arcade? That has got to be Penny-Arcade. I remember that long ago era when I used to ready Penny-Arcade.

 

[J4K]

The whole point of consolidating handheld and console was to have their dev teams able to focus on one platform, thereby preventing the dry spells that have plagued past Nintendo systems.

I love the Switch, but this has not panned out as hoped.

 

[hariseldon]

The whole point of consolidating handheld and console was to have their dev teams able to focus on one platform, thereby preventing the dry spells that have plagued past Nintendo systems.

I love the Switch, but this has not panned out as hoped.

The thing, I think, is that the games still require a tonne of care to create, as a non-hybrid non-handheld Switch would have done, but there is some extra effort required to make the games portable-friendly. Now some of that is just making the text bigger, some of that is figuring out control adjustments, some of that is making sure you have subtitles for all text as spoken content doesn't tend to work so well in the environments in which people game handheld, etc. All these things are going on and in the end it doesn't really prove to be that much easier to make a 2-form-factor game than it is to make two separate games.

That said, the issue right now is quite simple:
1. They've not really nailed working from home.
2. They're selling a fucktonne of Switches and copies of their existing games so there's really no point pushing new content out and potentially diluting the sales of their existing games.

 

[J4K]

All these things are going on and in the end it doesn't really prove to be that much easier to make a 2-form-factor game than it is to make two separate games.

I think this is a vast overestimation of the difficulty. Is there a learning curve? Absolutely. Devs struggled in the 360 era when it came to making sure their games looked good on HD TVs and also the old CRTs many/most of their customers still had.

It was a learning curve. Not akin to making two whole games.

We're three years into this. I expect better from Nintendo.

 

[kingpotato]

I guessing almost no one who said they have nothing left for the year skimmed the video. At the very end they literally said look forward to more partner showcases this year.

 

[hariseldon]

I think this is a vast overestimation of the difficulty. Is there a learning curve? Absolutely. Devs struggled in the 360 era when it came to making sure their games looked good on HD TVs and also the old CRTs many/most of their customers still had.

It was a learning curve. Not akin to making two whole games.

We're three years into this. I expect better from Nintendo.

Consider the mess that was Windows 8. Microsoft tried to make an OS that was suitable for phones and desktops. In the end they created a kludge that worked for neither. It's certainly not impossibly difficult to DO, but it takes time to learn the BEST way to do these things, it requires a buttload more testing in terms of usability, etc. And don't forget, they need to do this while retaining the Nintendo magic, and that magic, that intangible something, needs to translate well on both screens. That said, the numbered points below in the quoted post are also a fairly big factor here. Consider the release schedule was fine until this year.

 

[Walter Matthau]

I guessing almost no one who said they have nothing left for the year skimmed the video. At the very end they literally said look forward to more partner showcases this year.

I think the keyword there is partner. Most people are complaining because they are looking for more first party announcements.

As of this writing the only known release Nintendo has for the rest of 2020 is Pikmin 3. If that remains true and there are no further announcements for 2020 releases this will be the worst holiday lineup Nintendo has had since they rolled out the Famicom. For a company that is flush with cash and a console at peak popularity, this would be a huge wasted opportunity.


Not a bad showcase. Definitely will pick up Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 if it gets a physical release.

 

[jigglet]

If I were Nintendo I would release any games this year other than Mario collection and Pikmin 3.

Consoles are selling out regardless. And their dev pipeline is smashed by the wuhan virus, so why release games now and have a drought next year when demand likely won't be as strong? I'd save them for when demand for their console falls off. This year they will be able to get away with a bare release schedule. I'd take advantage of that.

 

[J4K]

Consider the mess that was Windows 8. Microsoft tried to make an OS that was suitable for phones and desktops. In the end they created a kludge that worked for neither. It's certainly not impossibly difficult to DO, but it takes time to learn the BEST way to do these things, it requires a buttload more testing in terms of usability, etc. And don't forget, they need to do this while retaining the Nintendo magic, and that magic, that intangible something, needs to translate well on both screens. That said, the numbered points below in the quoted post are also a fairly big factor here. Consider the release schedule was fine until this year.

We don't need to belabor this, because in principle we agree that there is more effort involved in making sure a game plays well in portable mode and docked mode.

But getting an operating system like Windows that has an infinite number of different use cases, devices, and resolutions to work well with two completely different input paradigms is not the same scale of problem as "I need this game to play well at 720p on a smaller screen and also 1080p on a larger screen."

(For past jobs I have actually done user interface designs that had to function across screen sizes and take into account touch vs mouse input)

I'm more inclined to think COVID punched them in the mouth this year and they haven't recovered, versus "We're 3 years into this and can't ship because we don't know how to manage this dual use case problem we ourselves created."

 

[jigglet]

I'm more inclined to think COVID punched them in the mouth this year and they haven't recovered

My guess is there were two main problems:

1) In most progressive western companies, working from home from time to time is normal. In Japan people are expected to be in the office until late, working from home isn't really a thing, so the transition is culturally a shock for them.

2) I have family in Hong Kong and if Japanese apartments are comparable, there's barely any room for a work from home office. A typical office in a modern HK studio is literally about the size of a bath tub. I went to visit last year and I was shocked. Now imagine trying to be productive after spending 12 hours a day in an area the size of a bath tub.

 

[eyesabitdull]

Soooo general consensus is avoid buying a switch?

Because I was super itching to buy one earlier this year, but now it seems like its not the best investment o.o

 

[93xfan]

Major Mario announcement stealth dropped

Super Mario Mania Manga Gets English Release Date

The Super Mario Bros. Manga Mania collection now has an official release date for the English version of the classic manga, available on Amazon.

gamerant.com

Finally!

 

[93xfan]

Soooo general consensus is avoid buying a switch?

Because I was super itching to buy one earlier this year, but now it seems like its not the best investment o.o

I would wait for a revision if one is truly coming next year. There's plenty of older games to keep you occupied though