On January 12, 2017, Nintendo held its Nintendo Switch Press Conference that many fans could hardly wait for. Unfortunately, those same fans were left disappointed at the conclusion of the Confrence as it left a lot of their questions unanswered. After the Nintendo Switch Conference, it is unclear as to how the new console will stand in today's picky gaming industry.
We were first greeted by Tatsumi Kimishima, Nintendo’s President, briefly describing the Nintendo Switch reveal video. Kimishima then immediately revealed Nintendo Switch’s March 3rd global release date. He then listed the varying region pricing of the Nintendo Switch, with North American gamers paying $299.99 for a Nintendo Switch day one. He then announced that the Nintendo Switch would utilize a new online service that will start of as a free service that will soon become paid. Fans were then pleased to hear that all Nintendo Switch consoles would not be region locked. Region locking a console prevents the consumer from playing titles not availabie in their particular country. The attention of the presentation was then turned to Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo’s Leader of software development. Takahashi Briefly went over the many innovative technology past nintedos console have showcased. He then presented a video that demonstrated how the Nintendo Switch could played and would live up to the legacy of past Nintendo consoles. Takahashi then turned the attention of the presention to Nintendo Switch’s general producer Yoshiaki Koizami. Kozami first gave a detailed description of the invoative technology behind the Nintendo Switch controller called the Joycon. He mentioned many groundbreaking qualities of the controller including Nintendo’s all new HD vibration that could allow gamers to feel precision vibration like never before that could even mimic the sensation of ice cubes being droped into a glass and how many ice cubes are in the glass. He then introduced two additional color options for the Joycon controller, Neon Red & Neon Blue.
Possible the most innovative qualities of the Joycon controller is that it can be divided into 2 separate controllers allowing for cooperative play.
Kouichi Kawamoto, producer of the Nintendo Switch exclusive 1-2 Switch, then took the stage. Kawamoto explained how 1-2 switch was desigened to be a game played through face-to-face interaction as opposed the traditional on-screen video game experience. He then pleased the crowd by announcing that it would be one of the games lauching alongside the Nintendo Switch. We were then presented with another Nintendo Switch exclusive game, entitled Arms, by the games producer Kosuke Yabuki. Yabuki introduced arms as a fighting game and gave a brief description on how to play. He then gave the expected time frame of Spring 2017 for the games release. Nintendo Fans were pleased to hear the confirmation of the competitive game, Splatoon 2, by the games producer Hishashi Nogami. Nogami went into a brief description of some the new add-ons the sequeal would bring as well as how the game would utilize the Nintendo Switch technology. Yoshiaki Koizami returned to the stage and announced the highly anticipated Nintendo Switch Mario game which was confirmed to be called Super Mario Odyssey. Although his description of the game was vague, he did say that Super Mario Odyssey would deliver experices that could only be produced by the Nintendo Switch. He continued to awe Nintendo fans by stating that there was over 80 games in development for the Nintendo Switch including Dragon Age Quest X & XI, Dragon Quest Heros 1 & 2, a brand new Square Enix RPG, Fire Emblem Warriors and Xenoblade Chronicles. Excutive producer and game director of Bethesda Games, Todd Howard, joined the fun by announcing that Skyrim would also be making its way to the Nintendo Switch. Sega and EA games also made apperances during the presentation confiming that they both were working on games for the Nintendo Switch.
We were then given a description of what could come inside the Nintendo Switch box. Inside the box consumers should expect the Nintendo Switch console itself, both a left and a right Joycon controller, Joycon Wriststraps, Joycon Hand-Grip, HDMI Cable and an AC Cord. It was also announced the there would be a Joycon pro controller sold separately.
Lastly, we were given confirmation that the most anticipated Nintendo Switch game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild would be available for the March 3rd release of the Nintendo Switch. We were also informed of the Nintendo Treehouse Event that would take place that would be streamed live the day after the press conference where we received more in-depth information regarding the games discussed in the press conference.
At this point, a lot of Nintendo fans were left as to whether the Nintendo Switch will be worth it or not, especially day-one. One of the major concerns surrounding the Nintendo Switch is centralized around the lack of major game titles confirmed for the release date of the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo consoles have always struggled to have the support of major titles that competing companies showcase on their consoles. Many were also concerned at the fact that Nintendo Neglected to include any specification of the hardware inside the Nintendo Switch as that will be the deciding factor for a wide range of consumers. With the 299.99 price point the Nintendo is going to have to do their best to keep up with the competing Xbox One S and Playstation 4, as they are the same price if not cheaper. Overall the presentation was taken as a disappointment as many Nintendo fans were left worried as to if the Nintendo Switch will be as big of a flop as Nintendo’s Wii U console, which are slowing being taking off store shelves.
Even though many Nintendo fans expected to have all of their Nintendo Switch questions answered during Nintendo’s press conference for the new console, many were left questioning as to if the console will even be worth it. With the information provided at this point, the only thing Nintendo fans can do is wait until the consoles March 3rd global release date and hope that Nintendo provides an expericnce that is suitable for the current generation of gaming.