Was Nintendo right to opt out of the graphics arms race?

[OdinHades]

For me pesonally, yes, absolutely. I stopped caring about graphics about ten years ago. Because I can't see a friggin' difference anymore between low and ultra details. Sure, I can watch some digital foundry video that shows me a still image with 16x zoom to show me some detail that looks slightly better than in last gen or something. But I prefer to spend my time with actually playing games. Graphics have gotten good enough for me to not care about small details anymore. I used to be impressed by something like Crysis or Killzone 2 when those games initially released. But today when I see something like AC: Shadows or whatever the hell might be the shiniest game right now, I just think "looks nice", and that's it. Graphics just don't impress anymore as the jumps have gotten too small to really make a huge difference. That also applies to Pathtracing and stuff. Yes, the lightin in pathtraced Half-Life 2 looks gorgeous. But it's still Half-Life 2 and I kinda forget about the lighting or other stuff when I'm 30 minutes or so into a game.

Nintendos route lead to a portable system, which is absolutely fantastic for someone like me who travels a lot. Because in a train, on a plane or in a hotel room, my Switch 2 is indeed infinitely more powerful than my PS5 Pro that is sitting at home doing nothing. Yes, I know the PS Portal is a thing, but I don't like streaming with all the compression, lost connections, delay and stuff.

I prefer to get games on Switch 2 when they are available, although I do have a PS5 Pro. Portability beats the slight graphics upgrade any day of the week for me.