Age of the Geek

Switching it up
     At long last, Nintendo has finally given some solid details about their upcoming new system, the Nintendo Switch. And, as is typical for the company, it comes with a mix of exciting new features and worrying drawbacks.
 
     The Good - No gimmicks
     Well, it has a gimmick. The Nintendo Switch is a console/handheld hybrid. While you can dock the system to connect to your television for a traditional home gaming experience, the system also features a built in screen that can be used for playing games on the go. As far as gimmicks go, this makes the Switch much more compatible with most of the games on the market today.
     For the most part, gaming has become standardized. Games designed for the Sony PlayStation 4 or Microsoft's Xbox One offer basically identical experiences. Nintendo, however, has continually opted to defy these standards. The Wii's focus on motion controls made playing traditional games difficult and the Wii-U's gamepad forced developers to redesign their games around having two screens.
     The Switch, portability gimmick aside, is the most traditional console Nintendo has built, which should make it more attractive to third party developers.
 
     The Bad – No power
     Unfortunately, gimmicks aren't the only obstacle keeping third party developers from putting their games on Nintendo systems. Like its two predecessors, the Nintendo Switch is not exactly a graphical power house. Even though it's coming out nearly four years after its competitors, the Switch still comes in short in the hardware department. Particularly since games will doubtlessly be expected to run in the system's portable mode, which throttles the hardware to conserve battery life.
     As newer games begin to dive into 4K resolutions, Nintendo's highest profile titles are struggling to reach even today's standards. Their flagship launch title, "The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild" maxes out at 900p resolutions while docked, and drops down to 720p when on the go.
     These hardware limitations won't necessarily be a stopping block for every game, but don't expect the Switch to be on the cutting edge of graphics.
 
     The Good – No region locks
     Back in the days of old, video games were region locked to make sure that systems sold in a particular part of the world would only play games that were sold in that part of the world. While most games released in Japan are eventually adapted for the American market, there are still many games out there that never make it across the Pacific. With region locks in effect, gamers that want to play these games have to not only import them, but import a second Japanese game system to play them on.
     This practice has largely been abandoned by the industry and Nintendo has finally caught up with the times, announcing that there will be no region locks on the Switch.
 
     The Bad – Online services are not quite there yet
     While Nintendo may have caught up with today's gaming environment in terms of region locking, they seem to be stuck in the past in regards to other areas. Nintendo's online infrastructure is archaic at best, lacking many of the community and sharing features that have become standard on other systems. Where the PlayStation 4 comes with the innate ability to stream games to Twitch.TV and post images to your Facebook account, it is not yet confirmed that the Nintendo Switch will even offer Netflix.
     To their credit, while Nintendo's online offerings may be barebones, they've never charged for them either. However, that changes with the Switch. Nintendo has announced that online matchmaking will require a paid subscription. Concerns are abound that, considering Nintendo's history of limited online functions, a paid service won't offer the value proposition that gamers are used to.
     Already Nintendo has announced that the subscription will include access to one classic title per month, which will only be accessible during that month. Such an offer seems pretty tame compared to the PlayStation Network, where subscribers are given a new game every month that can be played indefinitely so long as they stay subscribed.
     Moreover, Nintendo has indicated that matchmaking and voice chat will be coordinated not from the system itself, but via an app for a smartphone or tablet. Details are limited about how that would work, but initial guesses sound like it's a clunky workaround to avoid straining the already overworked system.
 
     The Good – The Games
     Ultimately, even if it's lacking in the hardware department, and third party support, and online infrastructure, Nintendo games are still Nintendo games. For the many drawbacks that kept the Wii-U from living up to its potential, the fact is that I still own more Wii-U games than I have time to play and I've enjoyed every one of them.
     The Switch will be no different. I'll be buying the new Legend of Zelda game on day one and expect to lose significant portions of my recreational time to wandering the new land of Hyrule, even if I'm doing it at 720p and 30FPS.
     For all their faults as a company, Nintendo's games are still the best, and that's what matters.
 
     Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and is ready for a Switch.