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Zekkyou on 22 November 2017
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TheMisterManGuy said:
Zekkyou said:

Many do care (there's literally an industry largely powered by that care), it's just not all they care about.

I don't really understand your last point. I agree Nintendo shouldn't make a PS4 clone, but that argument has always been made on the basis that it'd (potentially) give Nintendo something close to home console 3rd party parity with Sony and MS. The Switch doesn't have anywhere near that yet (and personally i don't think it ever will), so it seems silly to say it's effortlessly shutting down that 'narrative'.

Yes, there are people who care about having the latest and greatest specs, not saying there aren't. What I am saying, is that your average consumer isn't going buy a console based on how many gigaflpops or polygons it can churn out. They just want good games that look good. That's why the Switch is succeeding, it's a product that offers great games that look good enough, without having to brag about or try and have the most powerful hardware on the market. 

As for the second point, while the Switch isn't going to get every 3rd party game, especially the obvious *too-demanding-for-tablet-hardware* games, developers are still going to support it with content anyway because it's a successful platform that's both very easy, and very cheap to develop for, which allows for low-cost, exclusive software, akin to the support of the DS. Besides, most games are developed on flexible, easy to use, and easy to scale engines these days like SnowDrop, Unreal Engine 4, and especially id Tech 6, so there's still plenty of content from the PS4 and Xbox One that can be ported over to the Switch, without getting into the overly demanding stuff. 

The Switch is about as power conscious a handheld as the PS4 and X1 are home consoles. Spec wise it's effectively a Nintendo PSP/Vita, but it leverages that power in a different (and arguably better) way. 'Good enough' as a home console is quite context dependent, and it's the added portability that defines that standard for the Switch. If it was a $300 home console with the same specs, i don't think it'd be unreasonable to say it'd be doing considerably worse. Even at $200 i'd expect it to do worse.

Of course, the Switch's success makes support inevitable. I just took issue with you claiming it was shutting down a narrative that (right or wrong) is distinct from the one the Switch is painting.