20th October 2016, 10:19 PM
So yeah, basically all the rumors were true. Nintendo usually doesn't leak, so I wonder where all this stuff came from... like everything about this system was known well before the announcement!
As for it though, yeah, it's a console/handheld hybrid. We don't know anything about the hardware power in the thing, but given that it's got to fit in that tablet form factor (and the hardware is in the tablet part) it can't be too high end, not at the kind of price points Nintendo's surely looking at. The system looks fairly well designed hardware design-wise, and the concept of one system that is both portable and console isn't terrible... but it's also something which has never been especially successful yet. What we will see with this system is if graphics are now good enough for people to buy something with definitely worse graphics as a home console, for the convenience of having one device which is also a portable. I remain not really convinced that it's a good idea, since you end up with a badly behind-the-curve console, but maybe a handheld with terrible battery life and a too-large form factor! That thing won't fit in your pocket, how could it ever be a 3DS replacement?
Now, the games look good for the most part, I like the idea of going to carts/cards instead of discs for this system, and the simple, gamepad-focused design seems to have gotten a good reaction with most so far, so the press and fan reaction so far is pretty positive and I can see why. But personally, I liked the Nintendo that did try to compete in hardware power, so this direction they've gone in since the mid '00s has always been something I have issues with and this goes even farther down the path of abandoning power.
And on top of that, are they going to abandon motion too? One important issue is that we also don't know what, if any, sort of touch/motion support it will have. I didn't think of this while watching the video, but the point has been made that Nintendo showed no motion or touch anything, and has not confirmed any of that to be present in this system. They won't even confirm if the screen will support touch! I have to imagine that it will, but we don't know for sure right now. I know that the current trend in gaming is against motion controls and towards traditional ones again, which is kind of a shame (both are good!), but if Nintendo doesn't even have much in the way of touch support that would be kind of horrible! If this thing is ultimately going to replace the 3DS as a portable, it better have touch. I don't want everything to go back to buttons only, that is worse controls for many things than touch is. This applies to the Wii U as well, for the few games that used touch well -- how do you do a new Mario Maker game without it for example? It'd never work! Oh, and I would like to see some sort of gyro controls too, that's simple enough to add and can be nice.
Additionally, it's quite sad that Wiimote-style pointer controls are apparently dead, at least for Nintendo. The concept itself is not dead, as the VR world has picked up motion and all three headsets have motion controllers now. Apparently they really make the experience better, but Nintendo doesn't have a VR headset or any hint of a pointer controller for the Connect at the moment, so it will be sadly ironic if they really do abandon this thing they popularized, while another field still uses it.
Still, though, I did like the video, and the Connect has promise. Right now I definitely want to get one, if just for the games shown! They showed a 3d Mario game, it's been quite a while since the last one so I'm really excited to see more of what that is. Bits of new Splatoon and Mario Kart games were shown too, and that's cool as well. And as much as I like having multiple platforms, it is true that by having only one device there should be more software for this because you aren't dividing your teams across multiple formats anymore.
As for third party support, at this point I expect little of note. Yeah, they showed Skyrim in the video and that's interesting, but no way could something that pushes the PS4 Pro or Xbox Scorpio run well on this hardware! Game size is a big issue as well. With the limited space of game cards or the internal memory, how many current-gen games even could fit into the amount of space available for games on the Connect? Will there be external hard drive support? But that'd only work when docked even if it does exist, which is a pretty big restriction. I know this system will be less poweful than the others so maybe that allows you to shrink game size a bit, but even so hoping for much of anything seems unlikely. Another point I've seen mentioned is that this thing can't be assumed to be always online, so that's an issue with third parties as well considering how many games now are always online. The whole process of Nintendo and third parties separating and going opposite directions over the past couple of decades has been sad to watch, and for major-console stuff this system sure won't help there. So between these issues and others, third party support will surely continue to be low. We'd better hope that the thing sells well in Japan so that it continues to get the game support the 3DS has gotten from there... There will be indie support of course, but that doesn't bring you many hardware sales. What else is there to hope for, that it is indeed a touch-capable tablet and it gets phone ports? I'm sure it will, but most people have smartphones already so that's no draw. So this again leaves a LOT of focus on the first party library. Fortunately what little we've seen looks good. We'll need to see more to know how good.
So yeah, this post has been pretty negative, but the thing could do great despite these potential issues; many of my complaints are just about my own opinions and not those of others, after all. Have the right price point, the right first-party software, good marketing, and rely on most gamers not wanting motion anymore outside of VR as they clearly do not, and it could do well for sure. I hope it does, and I hope third parties support it too with something or other. It's just great to see Nintendo finally actually announce what this thing is, it's been ridiculous how long they've waited ot make this announcement!
As for it though, yeah, it's a console/handheld hybrid. We don't know anything about the hardware power in the thing, but given that it's got to fit in that tablet form factor (and the hardware is in the tablet part) it can't be too high end, not at the kind of price points Nintendo's surely looking at. The system looks fairly well designed hardware design-wise, and the concept of one system that is both portable and console isn't terrible... but it's also something which has never been especially successful yet. What we will see with this system is if graphics are now good enough for people to buy something with definitely worse graphics as a home console, for the convenience of having one device which is also a portable. I remain not really convinced that it's a good idea, since you end up with a badly behind-the-curve console, but maybe a handheld with terrible battery life and a too-large form factor! That thing won't fit in your pocket, how could it ever be a 3DS replacement?
Now, the games look good for the most part, I like the idea of going to carts/cards instead of discs for this system, and the simple, gamepad-focused design seems to have gotten a good reaction with most so far, so the press and fan reaction so far is pretty positive and I can see why. But personally, I liked the Nintendo that did try to compete in hardware power, so this direction they've gone in since the mid '00s has always been something I have issues with and this goes even farther down the path of abandoning power.
And on top of that, are they going to abandon motion too? One important issue is that we also don't know what, if any, sort of touch/motion support it will have. I didn't think of this while watching the video, but the point has been made that Nintendo showed no motion or touch anything, and has not confirmed any of that to be present in this system. They won't even confirm if the screen will support touch! I have to imagine that it will, but we don't know for sure right now. I know that the current trend in gaming is against motion controls and towards traditional ones again, which is kind of a shame (both are good!), but if Nintendo doesn't even have much in the way of touch support that would be kind of horrible! If this thing is ultimately going to replace the 3DS as a portable, it better have touch. I don't want everything to go back to buttons only, that is worse controls for many things than touch is. This applies to the Wii U as well, for the few games that used touch well -- how do you do a new Mario Maker game without it for example? It'd never work! Oh, and I would like to see some sort of gyro controls too, that's simple enough to add and can be nice.
Additionally, it's quite sad that Wiimote-style pointer controls are apparently dead, at least for Nintendo. The concept itself is not dead, as the VR world has picked up motion and all three headsets have motion controllers now. Apparently they really make the experience better, but Nintendo doesn't have a VR headset or any hint of a pointer controller for the Connect at the moment, so it will be sadly ironic if they really do abandon this thing they popularized, while another field still uses it.
Still, though, I did like the video, and the Connect has promise. Right now I definitely want to get one, if just for the games shown! They showed a 3d Mario game, it's been quite a while since the last one so I'm really excited to see more of what that is. Bits of new Splatoon and Mario Kart games were shown too, and that's cool as well. And as much as I like having multiple platforms, it is true that by having only one device there should be more software for this because you aren't dividing your teams across multiple formats anymore.
As for third party support, at this point I expect little of note. Yeah, they showed Skyrim in the video and that's interesting, but no way could something that pushes the PS4 Pro or Xbox Scorpio run well on this hardware! Game size is a big issue as well. With the limited space of game cards or the internal memory, how many current-gen games even could fit into the amount of space available for games on the Connect? Will there be external hard drive support? But that'd only work when docked even if it does exist, which is a pretty big restriction. I know this system will be less poweful than the others so maybe that allows you to shrink game size a bit, but even so hoping for much of anything seems unlikely. Another point I've seen mentioned is that this thing can't be assumed to be always online, so that's an issue with third parties as well considering how many games now are always online. The whole process of Nintendo and third parties separating and going opposite directions over the past couple of decades has been sad to watch, and for major-console stuff this system sure won't help there. So between these issues and others, third party support will surely continue to be low. We'd better hope that the thing sells well in Japan so that it continues to get the game support the 3DS has gotten from there... There will be indie support of course, but that doesn't bring you many hardware sales. What else is there to hope for, that it is indeed a touch-capable tablet and it gets phone ports? I'm sure it will, but most people have smartphones already so that's no draw. So this again leaves a LOT of focus on the first party library. Fortunately what little we've seen looks good. We'll need to see more to know how good.
So yeah, this post has been pretty negative, but the thing could do great despite these potential issues; many of my complaints are just about my own opinions and not those of others, after all. Have the right price point, the right first-party software, good marketing, and rely on most gamers not wanting motion anymore outside of VR as they clearly do not, and it could do well for sure. I hope it does, and I hope third parties support it too with something or other. It's just great to see Nintendo finally actually announce what this thing is, it's been ridiculous how long they've waited ot make this announcement!
Quote: Online support is the wild card. Nintendo made some big jumps between the DS/Wii and 3DS/Wii U. Here's hoping they realize the importance of making big jumps again to finally reach feature parity with their competition. Nintendo has a good working relationship right now with Google, so here's hoping they can foster that relationship and maybe even get Google to DESIGN their whole online infrastructure. That alone would make them a serious contender, since Google's online prowess makes Microsoft seem out of touch.Nintendo, good online? That would be fantastic, but I won't believe it until I see it.