Looking forward to it! I guess I wrote a lot of thoughts here.
1.
Not sure if you were watching ProJared's "Now in the 90s" but it was my favorite thing to watch on YouTube while it was going on, and I was genuinely bummed when he ended it due to lack of interest. I actually don't watch that much of his stuff otherwise; I thought that series was the best thing he produced. In any case, maybe his format will give you some ideas for the newsletter format.
2.
I'm in the rare club that received I think 2 issues of the Nintendo Fan Club Newsletter. Based on your note, I probably don't even want to know what they would be worth if I kept them. I actually learned how to read from these and from Nintendo Power, after my parents threw in the towel and refused to read any more of this "garbage" to me.
3.
The Switch 2 will be interesting, and I think your DS to 3DS comparison makes sense. If I make the "bull case" for it, it's this: the Switch 1's form factor is a hit; the only reason it isn't more dominant is that there are so many popular games it can't handle at all, and the Switch 2 should largely solve that problem.
Because progress in computing hardware has been so stagnant over the past 15 years or so, it's easier than ever to have a device that is able to play most games at acceptable graphics quality for a long time to come. Especially if most games are designed with this hardware in mind. The only reason the Switch 1 can't play most games is that it wasn't designed to. Its hardware was pretty weak even when it came out; IIRC Nvidia was selling its same core chipset in 2012.
If the Switch 2 is able to play most popular games at an acceptable framerate and price point, and especially if it has fast load times and features like "quick resume", I don't see how it doesn't take market share from Sony and MS. But it probably doesn't EXPAND the market that much into casual gamers and phone gamers, the way the Switch 1 likely did, and the way the Wii and DS certainly did.
4.
As for the competition from the Steam Deck -- my wife got me a Steam Deck for Christmas, which I had resisted buying for my own good. We also got a docking station to plug it into the TV. I have a huge, mostly-unplayed Steam collection from my days as a single man, including a year or two subscribed to Humble Bundle. Plus I've been compulsively accepting the free games from Prime and Epic for years, with no plans of ever playing them because I don't really game on my home PC these days. So the thing has had a huge library for me to explore Day 1 at no added cost, and meanwhile the free games keep piling up from Prime and Epic. This is before we even get into emulation, where the fan community has built some tools to really simplify the process of configuring everything.
But I can also see how the Deck is not for the average gamer. Depending on my state of mind, sometimes it's not even for me. Sometimes games just don't work without extensive fiddling. And this goes double if you're trying to do multiplayer. I tried to get my wife to play some games with me, but I find she quickly loses patience if I call her over and hand her a controller and it doesn't work as intended. Which CAN happen on the Switch, but much less often, and it has that convenient menu that automatically pops up for assigning controllers.
I grew up playing DOS games right alongside my Nintendo consoles, so I'm used to things not working. In fact, at times I enjoy it because it feels like "earning it" when you finally get a finicky game to work correctly (this was even true with the NES, blowing on cartridges and so on). But this mentality was rare among us Millennials and even rarer among the youth -- though I would like to inculcate it in my kids. The Steam Deck seems like it could be a decent way to teach beginning computer skills.
1. I have not seen this, but I will check it out! I typically have avoided ProJared in the past, but you have me intrigued with this series, anyway.
2. Shame about the discarded Nintendo Fun Club newsletters, but very cool that you learned to read from them! Yeah... they're worth a lot these days.
3. Really good point that I hadn't considered about the Switch 2's ability to play more recent games and look pretty amazing without too many concessions. I'm sure Nintendo has done a lot of testing with heavy hitter titles to make sure they run well. Shoot, if the Switch 2 is as powerful as an Xbox Series S, Nintendo is set.
4. This provides more context to me with the Steam Deck, thank you. Based on what you described, the Deck is more for PC leaning people already and perhaps some who might want to get into PC, but don't want to pay a couple grand for a huge gaming rig. But there is still a learning curve that doesn't exist with consoles. Yeah, the Switch 2 can definitely co-exist with that for sure.
After I wrote this, the one thought I had is that Nintendo is notoriously bad at online multiplayer. I think it’s a Japanese thing, that they still don’t really get it. I don’t really get it either so I don’t have a strong opinion on it, but it seems like something that could be a hindrance to adoption by Madden + Call of Duty players (which I think has to be at least half the PS+Xbox market).
Sounds like a fun ride. Happy to be tagging along.
Looking forward to it! I guess I wrote a lot of thoughts here.
1.
Not sure if you were watching ProJared's "Now in the 90s" but it was my favorite thing to watch on YouTube while it was going on, and I was genuinely bummed when he ended it due to lack of interest. I actually don't watch that much of his stuff otherwise; I thought that series was the best thing he produced. In any case, maybe his format will give you some ideas for the newsletter format.
2.
I'm in the rare club that received I think 2 issues of the Nintendo Fan Club Newsletter. Based on your note, I probably don't even want to know what they would be worth if I kept them. I actually learned how to read from these and from Nintendo Power, after my parents threw in the towel and refused to read any more of this "garbage" to me.
3.
The Switch 2 will be interesting, and I think your DS to 3DS comparison makes sense. If I make the "bull case" for it, it's this: the Switch 1's form factor is a hit; the only reason it isn't more dominant is that there are so many popular games it can't handle at all, and the Switch 2 should largely solve that problem.
Because progress in computing hardware has been so stagnant over the past 15 years or so, it's easier than ever to have a device that is able to play most games at acceptable graphics quality for a long time to come. Especially if most games are designed with this hardware in mind. The only reason the Switch 1 can't play most games is that it wasn't designed to. Its hardware was pretty weak even when it came out; IIRC Nvidia was selling its same core chipset in 2012.
If the Switch 2 is able to play most popular games at an acceptable framerate and price point, and especially if it has fast load times and features like "quick resume", I don't see how it doesn't take market share from Sony and MS. But it probably doesn't EXPAND the market that much into casual gamers and phone gamers, the way the Switch 1 likely did, and the way the Wii and DS certainly did.
4.
As for the competition from the Steam Deck -- my wife got me a Steam Deck for Christmas, which I had resisted buying for my own good. We also got a docking station to plug it into the TV. I have a huge, mostly-unplayed Steam collection from my days as a single man, including a year or two subscribed to Humble Bundle. Plus I've been compulsively accepting the free games from Prime and Epic for years, with no plans of ever playing them because I don't really game on my home PC these days. So the thing has had a huge library for me to explore Day 1 at no added cost, and meanwhile the free games keep piling up from Prime and Epic. This is before we even get into emulation, where the fan community has built some tools to really simplify the process of configuring everything.
But I can also see how the Deck is not for the average gamer. Depending on my state of mind, sometimes it's not even for me. Sometimes games just don't work without extensive fiddling. And this goes double if you're trying to do multiplayer. I tried to get my wife to play some games with me, but I find she quickly loses patience if I call her over and hand her a controller and it doesn't work as intended. Which CAN happen on the Switch, but much less often, and it has that convenient menu that automatically pops up for assigning controllers.
I grew up playing DOS games right alongside my Nintendo consoles, so I'm used to things not working. In fact, at times I enjoy it because it feels like "earning it" when you finally get a finicky game to work correctly (this was even true with the NES, blowing on cartridges and so on). But this mentality was rare among us Millennials and even rarer among the youth -- though I would like to inculcate it in my kids. The Steam Deck seems like it could be a decent way to teach beginning computer skills.
Hey Thomas! Love the long comment!
1. I have not seen this, but I will check it out! I typically have avoided ProJared in the past, but you have me intrigued with this series, anyway.
2. Shame about the discarded Nintendo Fun Club newsletters, but very cool that you learned to read from them! Yeah... they're worth a lot these days.
3. Really good point that I hadn't considered about the Switch 2's ability to play more recent games and look pretty amazing without too many concessions. I'm sure Nintendo has done a lot of testing with heavy hitter titles to make sure they run well. Shoot, if the Switch 2 is as powerful as an Xbox Series S, Nintendo is set.
4. This provides more context to me with the Steam Deck, thank you. Based on what you described, the Deck is more for PC leaning people already and perhaps some who might want to get into PC, but don't want to pay a couple grand for a huge gaming rig. But there is still a learning curve that doesn't exist with consoles. Yeah, the Switch 2 can definitely co-exist with that for sure.
After I wrote this, the one thought I had is that Nintendo is notoriously bad at online multiplayer. I think it’s a Japanese thing, that they still don’t really get it. I don’t really get it either so I don’t have a strong opinion on it, but it seems like something that could be a hindrance to adoption by Madden + Call of Duty players (which I think has to be at least half the PS+Xbox market).
Rumors are that Nintendo is vastly improving their online service for Switch 2. We'll see!
So looking forward to the Switch 2!
Me too, Jay!
Sounds good! Looking forward to the newsletter and the continued growth of this Substack!
Thanks JT!
If this thing ships with Mario Kart 9 (or 10 idk if MK Tour is considered 9) it will be a home run
Absolutely. Day 1 purchase for me!
I was a little bit on the fence but a day one Mario Kart is definitely tempting