17th May 2018, 11:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 18th May 2018, 7:29 PM by A Black Falcon.)
Nintendo released more information about their online service recently, and... it's still really bad, just like it was before, except now you will have to spend $20 a year to continue using their unforgivably horribly thought through cellphone-required online gaming network. Thanks. Nintendo saw the dollar signs from Sony and Microsoft's paid online services and are copying them but with a worse network and less reward for paying. At least the price is lower, and that is nice, but I'd rather get better services than a low price for something no good, so that's not worth too much.
That said, the big announcement here is perhaps that with your subscription you get access to 20 NES games on the Switch. However, a full Virtual Console service is not coming, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Seriously, I thought Nintendo likes making money! A VC service, where people pay for games, would probably be more profitable than this online network will be, particularly when you could just do both, like how Sony and MS give you 'free' games which you need to continue subscribing to play, or you can pay for access to the game as long as the consoles' internet network stays up. But no, the Switch will continue to have no classic Nintendo console games available for purchase, only arcade and Neo-Geo games. I know Nintendo has choices to make here -- should they go harder in on a subscription service for access to their old games, with different payment tiers for access to different consoles and such as some people have suggested online, or should they bring back a traditional paid classic-games shop like Virtual Console? But the problem is, the Switch released over a year ago, and we still have no answers to what Nintendo's answer to that decision is; it's still 'no VC or full subscription service for you, enjoy our new games and classic arcade games!'. That's okay, but it's throwing away all kinds of money, given how many people surely would buy their favorite Nintendo classics yet again if Nintendo offered them for sale!
Seriously, still not seeming to have made a decision, this far into the Switch's life, for what to do with their potentially valuable classic library is really strange. Nintendo is usually good at making good financial decisions...
Otherwise though, so long as this online service mostly requires a cellphone it's awful and needs to go, so not much else has changed.
That said, the big announcement here is perhaps that with your subscription you get access to 20 NES games on the Switch. However, a full Virtual Console service is not coming, which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Seriously, I thought Nintendo likes making money! A VC service, where people pay for games, would probably be more profitable than this online network will be, particularly when you could just do both, like how Sony and MS give you 'free' games which you need to continue subscribing to play, or you can pay for access to the game as long as the consoles' internet network stays up. But no, the Switch will continue to have no classic Nintendo console games available for purchase, only arcade and Neo-Geo games. I know Nintendo has choices to make here -- should they go harder in on a subscription service for access to their old games, with different payment tiers for access to different consoles and such as some people have suggested online, or should they bring back a traditional paid classic-games shop like Virtual Console? But the problem is, the Switch released over a year ago, and we still have no answers to what Nintendo's answer to that decision is; it's still 'no VC or full subscription service for you, enjoy our new games and classic arcade games!'. That's okay, but it's throwing away all kinds of money, given how many people surely would buy their favorite Nintendo classics yet again if Nintendo offered them for sale!
Seriously, still not seeming to have made a decision, this far into the Switch's life, for what to do with their potentially valuable classic library is really strange. Nintendo is usually good at making good financial decisions...
Otherwise though, so long as this online service mostly requires a cellphone it's awful and needs to go, so not much else has changed.
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