Global Hardware 2 February 2019

[Bofferbrauer2]

setsunatenshi said:

Bofferbrauer2 said:

Well, from a German PC hardware forum I could get that they consider the Switch mostly too pricey and too weak (well, many consider the One X too weak there, it's a site for high-end PC gaming and upgrading after all, but the Switch is special case there). However, they do see the game lineup and consider it worthwhile if the price comes down. It should be noted though that a PS4 is generally cheaper to find there than a Switch, as almost all the time at least somebody has a promotion on the PS4 going, but that's rarely the case with the Switch.

@Setsunatenshi: It's not just that, it's also their background as Computer gamers. They are used to higher-end graphics, a department where Nintendo traditionally lags behind. Also, much more Playstation ads than Nintendo ads there.

I agree, but not just on the graphics part. The type of gaming experiences people tend to appreciate in Europe are the more "mature" ones. Nintendo still carries the kind of "toy for kids" perception in here.

Just an anecdotal experience that kind of illustrates this, I tried to get my gf into trying gaming for the first time, so I thought I would ease her in with some Super Mario (easy controls, 2d, etc). After 5 minutes of her failing miserably to control the character and complaining about video games being "for kids", she saw me playing Dirt Rally. Her comments then were: "oh, this looks much better, can I try?". I was like "are you sure? this is much harder than the previous one." She took the controls over and 30 minutes and 1000 crashes later she was still having fun with it.

There seems to be an aversion for more casuals or non gamers to try a more childish experience (with cartoony graphics, etc) than a more realistic looking game. Maybe it's something cultural, but it's extremely prevalent here.

Hmmm, I don't know, might also be that your gf is into racing. Because calling Nintendo kiddie largely died in my region (Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium) over the last years. Maybe not in yours, I don't know.

I can still remember some Germans bashing the Wii for not having mature games, only to learn that the Wii had such games - they were just too hardcore for Germany (House of the Dead: Overkill, MadWorld, ManHunt 2, Project Zero 2 (aka Fatal Frame 2), the Wii version of Scarface (since it got not bowlderized for Germany like the other ones) and originally No more Heroes were either not released in Germany because their Publishers knew they'd never pass the BPjM or simply didn't pass regulations there.