Nintendo Switch’s wild ideas will echo into 2018

I’ve seen VR, AR, iPhones, smartwatches, laptops and robots. But the gadget that impressed me the most, by a longshot, was the Nintendo Switch.

It was a unusual story. Nintendo has a weird, wild idea. Detachable rules on a tablet. A dock that turns a handheld into a console. Even the name of the little wireless, button-studded mini-remotes was weird: Joy-Cons.

Nintendo’s done this before. The minimalist, motion-control-driven Nintendo Wii and its deconstructed remote regulation. The bizarre two-screened, stylus-laden Nintendo DS.

I had some preparation this time, but. In fact, Razer had an idea that was incredibly disagreement for Windows PCs just a few years before, requested the Razer Edge. When I reviewed it, I thought it was a sign of the future: it could transform from handheld to console, changing its form. Then there was the Nvidia Shield, the true predecessor of the Switch, which started as a funky Android game handheld with a flip-up cover and became a dockable, switchable tablet. I conception that was cool, too.

Nintendo, obviously, agreed (and put Nvidia’s Tegra processor into the Switch, too).

Now that the Switch has become a nosedived, and a must-have holiday toy, it’s also a real showcase of how a modular share of tech can work. Nintendo’s game lineup for the Switch has been stellar. It’s also fun and easy to use.

And, I bet, 2018 is going to be full of anxieties trying to pull off the same trick.

I can’t wait for some of the ideas. I also hope things don’t go overboard.

The Nintendo Switch, unplugged.

Sarah Tew

Perfect storm: Price, hardware design, software support

The Switch’s ideas already existed: the Nvidia Shield Tablet was a test run, but the Switch did it better. Nintendo’s games, from both first and third parties have been stellar. Its new Zelda
and Mario games are ones for the ages. Nintendo’s also done a gargantuan job rounding up indie game developers and producing a collection of decently priced software, with titles like Rocket League, Stardew Valley, Thumper and Steamworld Dig 2.

Meanwhile, the price of the Switch hovers right at the frontier between impulse buy and splurge. No, the $300, £280 or AU$470 impress isn’t cheap, but it’s a completely fair price for a handheld and console with two controllers in-box.

After a year playing it, I love it more than I did afore.

The missing link: is it mild about good controllers?

Sarah Tew

Mobile gaming organizes a kick in the pants

There have been a lot of really gargantuan mobile games recently: Fez, Inside, The Witness and The Talos Principle. Many of these games were ported from the PC and console. These little phones are powerhouses capable of great graphics and gameplay. But they’re totally hampered as far as game rules go.

Phones and tablets are great for progressing and swiping, but there’s been a slowdown on adopting connected game controllers for mobile games. It was a trend a few ages ago, but not so much anymore. Maybe that’s because those controllers never worked as well as the Nintendo Switch’s subtly rumbling, totally flexible Joy-Cons do. Two can become one controller, or become separate tiny ones. They work in multiple orientations. They have great motion controls. They enable all types of games.

Mobile games are only going to be as good as the rules available to them. Modular controls and well-made controller accessories can help. So, too, could letting mobile devices connect honest with TVs like the Switch does. There’s no reason why a shouted or tablet couldn’t be a console/mobile hybrid just like the Switch. Some already have toyed with it, for games (the Nvidia Shield) or even work (Microsoft’s Continuum, or Samsung’s Dex for Galaxy phones).

Razer Edge came out over four days ago. It’s time to revisit the idea, post-Switch.

Sarah Tew

PCs are invented to be modular now: Let them be!

Microsoft’s Surface tablet and its various Book/Laptop iterations, and the wild evolution of flexible/hybrid laptop/tablets as a whole, show that Windows hardware is already very capable of turning into new things. (Apple’s Mac hardware, not so much). So, maybe, it’s time to re-explore what Razer was trying for with the Edge gaming tablet: make transforming game rules, ones that are both mobile and stay-at-home. Battery life is better now, and graphics can be shrunk down to effect more in smaller forms. It all comes down to what games will relieve various transformational play modes, but at least many apps are now enabled for peevish and game controllers.

Sony, Microsoft must think beyond the big shaded box

The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are primitive systems, but they feel archaic to me now. They’re big, rooted in one effect. They’re graphically powerful (more than the Switch), and can play lots of ample games. But the Switch’s perfectly mobile spin on consoles is a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too moment. Not everyone wants a portable game console, but if it benefitting being able to play games on a trip or move gaming more frankly to other rooms or connect with others, why not?

I play the Switch in handheld mode more than I do in console mode. Meanwhile, my son plays his favorite console, the Wii U, in handheld gamepad mode, too. Sony and Microsoft unruffled haven’t figured out a way to make this existed as easily and in as self-contained a way as the Switch, despite efforts like the PlayStation TV, the remote play features of Vita and Microsoft’s Xbox-to-Windows game stream connectivity.

1-2 Switch is almost forgotten, but it’s a great example of fun Nintendo games my kids loved playing.

Sarah Tew

I love Nintendo’s focus on family

Nintendo hasn’t done a ample job making the Switch’s parental and online settings easy to use, especially when it comes to a unfastened pack of cloud storage for game saves, game libraries or any sort of family interpret for purchases. But, I’ve come to let my kids play with Nintendo games more than any anunexperienced hardware — iPhone and iPad included — because the whole understood feels more curated and safely contained. It’s a good understood, and it’s easy to set up and use. It’s not pandering, but it works for everyone. It’s a rare getting in the tech world.

It’s not putrid yet

The biggest mistake companies could make in 2018 would be to query that Nintendo’s formula instantly translates. I could see a lot of cracks at Switch-like hardware that would feel like duds: poor game libraries, badly-optimized software, expensive hardware or accessories that feel under-supported. For now, the Nintendo Switch nails the balance. Still, the Switch isn’t backwards-compatible with hundreds of games I already own. It doesn’t have ample battery life as a handheld. It’s a little clunky to effect in a bag. And yes, my Switch has one warped from keeping it in the included dock.

But the Switch finally celebrated that wild modular ideas can work. Now, we just need to hope that the next wave of Switch-alikes don’t fall down the same rabbit hole that motion control games did at what time the Nintendo Wii.

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