Developer teams have been responding to today’s announcement of the Nintendo Switch. Not only are the larger dev teams reacting, but so are smaller teams, including indie ones. Here’s a list of reactions that have been made by them:
“The technological choices they’ve made with the system are incredibly interesting. What we have here is a high-definition gaming device that provides a consistent experience whatever your preferred gaming environment happens to be. What really strikes me are the social implications: having two simple controllers as part of the base portable model. Without filling my bag or backpack with a bunch of extra accessories, I can play games with a friend on a standardized screen. I really like how Nintendo is promoting this feature, because in 2016 we so often interact with each other through a screen, and this technology facilitates playing together in person. Where VR and 4K technologies are pursuing early adopters and enthusiasts, Switch is setting itself up to be appealing to the mainstream.” – Samantha Kalman, creator of Sentris and founder of Timbre Interactive.
“The Switch looks like a neat concept. It seems their product design has taken a step up, which is great to see. I’ve always wanted a more unifying experience between their handheld and console divisions, if only to own fewer devices, so I hope this idea pans out and gets the support it needs to be a success. I’m excited!” – Alex Preston, chief of Heart Machine and director of Hyper Light Drifter.
“I’ve heard rumors about the NX for a while, and am happy to see that the Switch is indeed a dual home/mobile unit, combining 3ds and WiiU. I thought the detachable controllers were a bit of a gimmick until I saw that they can each work as an independent controller for 2 player games. Now we’re talking – a tablet with two controllers, video out, and a GeForce GPU. Except… no touchscreen. This seems like a step backwards. It can’t function as a web browser, and won’t work very well for the strategy and puzzle games that I make (and like to play – my favorite 3ds games all used the stylus). If Nintendo continues to release successful mobile games with their IP, they might not port very well to the Switch. I also guessed – just from the number of kids I see playing games on iPads with their intuitive touch interfaces – that Nintendo has been losing the youth market to mobile. Maybe that’s why the Switch’s first-look video features only adults. As a developer, I’m excited about the new GPU and the built-in dual controllers. But whether we decide to release our indie strategy/puzzle games on the Switch will probably depend on the usual factors: how popular the Switch is for indie games, and how easy Nintendo is to work with.” – Sarah Northway, cofounder of Northway Games and developer on Fantastic Contraption (as well as her own Rebuild games)
“At Yacht Club Games, we’re very excited for the Nintendo Switch! Nintendo continues to put fun first by focusing on delivering new, engaging ways to play, which is what we’re all about! We can’t wait to take advantage of the system’s capability to have local and online multiplayer anywhere. It will allow for some truly great game experiences. We can only imagine the pure joy we’ll have playing Nintendo’s games both on the go and at home.” – Yacht Club Games’ David D’Angelo, developer on Shovel Knight
“I think it looks great, though I question why the marketing is focused exclusively on making big screen games portable and doesn’t depict 3DS-style games. One of the missteps of the Vita seemed to be assuming that everyone wanted a portable Uncharted when in fact the system is most treasured for smaller, quirky, or indie style games. So I hope in the future they show some of those kinds of games since they could possibly be their bread and butter. I do wish the screen were 3D like 3DS, but that’s a minor gripe. Hopefully we can get a dev kit soon and start porting Axiom Verge over.” – Thomas Happ, developer of Axiom Verge
Got 3 questions about the Nintendo Switch: what's battery life, is the network interface better than the 3DS one, & is it easy to dev for?
— Rami Ismail (رامي) (@tha_rami) October 20, 2016
I probably won’t for three reasons: 1) There’s only one of me 2) I’m focussed on VR and 3) I’m not a Nintendo registered dev)
— Shahid Kamal Ahmad (@shahidkamal) October 20, 2016
Did I miss something ? Screen is not touch ?
It hasn’t been confirmed either way. There wasn’t any touchscreen functionality shown in the trailer, nor has it been confirmed by any official sources, so a lot are assuming it won’t have it. I’ll wait until Nintendo confirms. If it doesn’t I’ll be a bit disappointed because it’s missed potential, but it won’t be a deal breaker for me.
Agree I was like this thing does everything but I thought it had a touch screen as well, not a deal breaker by any means I just thought it was a given…
I did notice while watching the video that there were noticeable fingerprints on the display when they put it back in the dock later in the video. This led me to believe they had been using it as a touch screen as you usually don’t touch the screen as often if it doesn’t support multi touch. Just a complete guess though.
Emily Rogers has been right on everything shown thus far before it was even shown, i am pretty sure the screen is touch screen, especially since Super Mario Maker or a sequal was mentioned to be coming to the Switch back when it was still called the NX.
I think she was making an assumption based on it not being in the trailer. She doesn’t seem to have had access to it yet.
Nintendo might not have wanted to show off a touchscreen out of fear of drawing too close a comparison to regular tablets.
It might not be.
As you can’t use the tablet when playing on the TV.
Good point … I wonder if that square shaped controller has any touch functions though it didn’t look like it.
Tbh I think it would have to have touch controls in this day and age.
Agree! I saw on Nintendolife that Blizzard tweeted something about Switch from their Hearthstone account. I was like that would be pretty cool! Then I read this about no touch controls and thought then maybe this won’t happen after all (not that it’s happening regardless but one can hope ;)
Also, from Yacht Club Games:
“We can’t wait to take advantage of the system’s capability to have local and online multiplayer anywhere.”
I don’t think Switch will have online multiplayer anywhere, only on WiFi of course (or a wired connection presumably, also). I don’t see how it would be possible to have online anywhere, unless you pay Nintendo for a data service or something, and that’s very unlikely to even be provided by Nintendo.
…or tether it to your phones data plan. Most smart phones allow that now.
U DONT NEED TO EVEN DO THAT
USE YOUR PHONE AS A WIFI HOT SHOT
That’s what tethering is, my good Bowler.
I could see the device creating its own wifi network for others to connect to and do local multiplayer where ever with multiple devices but I’m not sure about online wherever.
given that :DeNA is listed as a developer, is likely gonna be touch to have the mobile games too
DENA IS DOING THE NINTENDO ACCOUNTS ITS BEEN CONFIRMED
People beat Nintendo up the whole generation for “keeping the Wii name” on the new console, and now we have people asking why it’s not “swiitch”…. b*tch, please, no….
Swiitch would have been a bad idea. Especially from a marketing standpoint.
maybe now nintendo can focus on the IPs with the switch because they been having alot of massive problems with the Wii U Sales lately.
I’d like to get Shovel Knight for my NS. Yooka Laylee too.
Swiitch? THANK THE HEAVENS ITS NOT CALLED THAT. “Shudders”
But what was this patent we all heard about infrared tracking? Will that not have anything to do with the Switch at all? I could definitely see them using that to implement something similar to touch controls.
My one concern for the console is that it cant possibly have much of a hard drive to store digital content. So are they going to completely do away with buying games digitaly. I have a 500gb hard drive for my Wii U and I prefer digital games because I don’t like having to replace the games all the time, also a small 32gb HD you can not store much downloadable content for games.
Not a concern but something I am a little disapointed about with no wiimote type device is on the Pikmin I really liked playing with the pointer better than using an analog stick. It just felt really natural.
I don’t see why Nintendo wouldn’t make the screen a touchscreen, it’s been a very successful aspect of their consoles for the last 10 years.
Swiitch!? Who the fuck expected that horrible, horrible name!? That’s way too close to the Wii brand! Clearly someone was a sucker for that brand & thought it was the best brand name ever. Idiot…
“Say hello to the Nintendo S-Wiitch!” Ugh! That sounds fucking horrible when spoken out loud! Thank God this chick wasn’t part of the guys naming the console with the final say in the name!
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