Nintendo fan or not, the Switch is an undeniably intriguing piece of kit, and its reveal has sparked a renewed wave of enthusiasm for the company. The Switch feels like Nintendo grown up, a design and concept with a mature market in mind. And its form factor is appropriately slick, too - a sheen and polish that seems more MacBook Air than Wii U’s tacky Fisher and Paykel finish. Yes, we don’t know quite enough about the console to say with any certainty that Nintendo are back as a tour de force in the console space again, but you do get the sense that they appreciate the importance of a change in company direction.
After Battlefield 1’s WWI premise so effectively captivated the gaming community, Activision was surely prepared for a divisive reception to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s teaser trailer. But even then, they must have gotten quite a shock when it became the most disliked video on the internet. In the weeks following both trailer reveals, the FPS community had never felt so segregated and, even if enthusiasm for CoD has waned slightly ever since Ghosts, had never felt quite so opposed to what has been the most successful and popular FPS franchise for a decade.
Things have been going pretty swell for Sony over the past few years. There’s no denying that the Japanese giant is currently reigning kingpin over its rival hardware manufacturers, with PS4’s impressive sales putting it on track to beat records. So much so that Sony have all but abandoned support for their handheld unit, the PS Vita, choosing instead to double down on PS4’s success with the souped-up Pro edition, and its recently released peripheral, PlayStation VR.
With an estimated install base of 2.4 billion phones, it’s no small wonder that mobile gaming has all but buried the handheld market. Unless you’re in Japan, where the devices such as the 3DS and Vita still sell respectably, tablets and phones are quite clearly the devices of choice over consoles. These days, at least in the West, an all in one device reigns supreme over a dedicated gaming machine, and the evidence of that is plain to see.
Research firm Cowen & Company have reported this week that Titanfall 2 sales have been well below forecasted figures, with initial projections of 9 million units apparently no longer realistic. Despite Respawn Entertainment's efforts to rectify the original Titanfall's shortcomings by incorporating a more fleshed out single player experience, the sequel title is now projected to record a 50% drop in unit sales over its predecessor. And that is very bad news. In fact, it's an unsustainable downward trend, and merely weeks after its big launch, there’s now a rather grim shadow of doubt about the future of the franchise.
From heart wrenching emotional narrative to the tackling of tough social issues, the indie gaming scene has forged a stellar reputation for storytelling over the past few years, and we absolutely love it for that. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t equal value in the games that do away with heavy-handed plotlines for a more whimsical, light-hearted gaming experience more akin to a corny B-grade action movie than an epic journey of self-reflection. And in the case of Homegrown Games’ shooter, Into The Ice - Nazis Of Neuschwabenland, that’s a premise they’ve wholeheartedly embraced with open arms.
We’ve waited for what's seemed like an eternity and now we've finally got our answers about the Nintendo NX. Well, some of them anyway. The Nintendo Switch, as it's been named, is the hybrid device we hoped it would be, a home console experience on the big screen that can be transformed into a slick mobile unit for handheld gaming on the go.
Nintendo’s desire to occupy a separate space in the video game market is no great secret. Conference no-shows, snubbing third party support, and hardware gimmicks over raw power; watching Nintendo over the past 5 years has been a frustrating affair. It’s an imperative that has driven many people away from the brand and hasn’t done much to appeal to a new audience, either. But if the next generation of Nintendo means a future for handheld gaming, supported by AAA games, then for those that don’t want to see a section of the industry go extinct, the NX might be the only way to stop that from happening.
