New and tentative game announcements (V2)

All other video games not related to the main farming series - Pokemon, Stardew Valley, My Time at Portia, and other indie-developed games.
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JustABeautifulGuy
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Finally Switch 2 has been announced after not months but years of rumors. We're finally entering a new Nintendo era.

The reveal trailer is far more simple than it needs to be but I like it. Shows a new look, a new way to use your joycons as a mouse, magnetic joycons, confirms physical backwards compatibility, a predictable but nice name for a successor and a look at the next Mario Kart. MK9 (that's what I'll call it for now) looks moreso the same but it's cool to see that there will be 24 racers now.

The only complaint I'll have for now is how I hate they drained it of all the color :( I feel like maybe a white version with the same under-the-surface colors would look nice but then the bezels would probably look way too off.
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Kikki
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The best thing about the Switch 2 announcement for me is that this means we're going to start up a new round of anticipation for major first-party game releases, again. That was almost entirely gone from the Switch, at this point. I was surprised they were even releasing the XCX remaster for the original Switch (though I did wonder if maybe they had some sort of enhancement held back for the S2. We'll find out, I guess.)

Now the next gen of GAMES can begin. I really don't care about consoles or tech specs...I care about games. I get that a console's tech specs are what people build the games upon, but I don't care about those details. I just want to know what I'm going to get to play. What will a NEW 3D LoZ be like? What about Animal Crossing? A new Xenoblade?

And THIS console won't be a continual flood/trickle of ports and remasters, because it's backwards compatible. The majority of what is playable on Switch will already be available on S2, so no need for ports. At most I would think that for some games, there might be updates that allow existing games to perform on a higher level in terms of graphics, frame rate and so on.

EDIT: I would have liked if the S2 were white, as well. I'm so tired of big black lumps of plastic (including the TV itself) marring my white/gold/brown/pink room.
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Meowie
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I like the new look but I definitely would love some more colors too. I think colored buttons would complete the look. It would also look similar to my 2DS XL and I'd love that. I think a white version with the same blue and orange colors would look really good and reminiscent of the Wii/U era.

But wow! We have another new Nintendo era happening. This might be the most excited I've been for one. Wondering if I should get it on day one? I've always gotten my consoles rather late because I was never financially well off and now that I actually have money, I have no clue if I should be an early adopter.

I'm excited for so many things. I know Nintendo's first party games will deliever on their end so my personal hopes are that RF6 and the first Switch 2 exclusive SoS game are really good and what I expected from these series back then when Switch was announced.
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Kikki
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If I have the money when it drops, I will buy it immediately. No question. I bought the original Switch a few months after it released (it released in March but I didn't get it until summer...first time I found it available, and for some reason, at Walmart.) I've had and been using the same one all the way through, and it never dropped in price, so I don't know for what reason I should have waited...I don't think there is any.

But yeah, I will buy day one, if I can actually get my hands on one and if I have the money that day. If not, no big deal. But I'll be early on, one way or another.

I hope to see lots more detail on April 2. I hope they'll do something like show a game I know (Animal Crossing, for example) and how it looks on original Switch, versus how it looks and performs on S2. I'm hoping devs will release patches for their games that allow them to operate on the highest standard the S2 can offer...that'd be awesome. But we'll see! Just having them work normally would be fine, too...some devs will probably have to provide updates, to get their games to work on the new system at all.

I have no idea when to expect the S2 to drop. I suppose fall or holiday 2025 make sense in a financial way, but I'm not sure they'll leave it that long.

Show us lots more. I want to see what the S2 can do, compared to original S.
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My husband and I each have a Switch due to us both not wanting to share when there's the odd game we both want to play (BotW, TotK, XBC2, among others), but we haven't had the need to have two for a while now. I think we might trade one up, or, maybe both if there's some title we both really, REALLY want to play on launch.

But I honestly think 'Switch 2' is a dumb name. I feel like a whole new generation of grandparents are gonna struggle now just like back in the 3DS era.

"I want to buy a Switch for my grandchild."

"OK - do you want a original? Lite? OLED? The Switch 2?"

I get that it's an organic way to move forwards, but still, I just think it's dumb.
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Watch out for Sun Haven.

I have loved playing Sun Haven. However, there's a LOT of controversy about it, and it's exploded in the last few days, perhaps thanks to reviews from heavily-watched streamers.

Turns out that...according to former employee reports and various people digging up as much info as they could themselves...Pixel Sprout uses some very questionable business practices, such as not crediting ANY of their workers (the only credits in the game are for the Kickstarter backers) and paying extremely low wages and trying to get as many foreign workers from countries with comparatively bad economies where they can pay much lower wages than in the US.

The credit thing is just obviously true, since there are no worker credits in the game at all.

Also the DLC stuff is obviously true since you can see it for yourself. That is that they have about $170 worth of DLC (all cosmetic, mind you) and they keep pumping more and more out, while being relatively slow to get out fixes for their game or adding promised content.

The Switch version of the game appears to be a disaster. Josh played it live, so evidence of this was seen by plenty of people.

Pixel Sprout is also not all that small an indie company, and reportedly, they've got plenty of money, though I don't know who verified that, if anyone, though Sun Haven has sold quite a lot and there is an insane amount of pricey DLC that plenty of people have purchased. (The DLC doesn't work quite right, though...apparently the character's arm goes on TOP of the outfit and doesn't fit into it, every package, so they all look weird, not like the sprites that are used to show them off in the store.)

The game is VERY fun, honestly...I like it better than Stardew by a long shot. The dialogue is great. But the head of Pixel Sprout didn't do any of that work themselves...they hired people to do it for them and paid them very little (one person revealed that they were paid $7 per hour) and then didn't even credit them.

It's easy to look this stuff up if you want to know more. It's everywhere right now.

The game is great fun, just...make sure you know a little about it before buying, just in case this will turn out to be something that matters to you and you regret buying. If you don't care about the background of your games (most people probably don't) and you aren't buying on Switch, then I think you can just buy without worry, as it's very fun and none of the DLC matters so you can easily ignore it.
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greensara
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Saw that Gematsu reported Fantasy Life i : The Girl Who Steals Time may be coming to platforms like PS4 and 5. Apparently a listing was published on the Playstation store and quickly taken back down, with a release date of April 23 of 2025. Hope that's a Switch release date too and they haven't decided to skip the Switch.

https://x.com/gematsu/status/1883872387562946769
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Bluie
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They're not going to back out of a Switch version now - it'd be financial suicide, and Level 5 needs money right now. All their games are in development hell or are stuck at concept stage until we're shown otherwise. Why they've been such a wet fart of a company the majority of the Switch's lifespan will forever baffle me, but them releasing their once exclusive titles to other platforms is a show of desperation. They can't fully rely on Switch user numbers, they haven't for a while now (ie; Yokai Watch 4 was also released on PS4 while their most recent title was multiplat from the get-go). As far as I can see, Nintendo isn't paying them for exclusivity rights, so they're branching out to soak up what dosh they can.

Honestly? Fine by me. I'll be getting this on PS5 as it's my preferred system these days.
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K8sMum
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Bluie wrote: Jan 19, 2025 11:34 am My husband and I each have a Switch due to us both not wanting to share when there's the odd game we both want to play (BotW, TotK, XBC2, among others), but we haven't had the need to have two for a while now. I think we might trade one up, or, maybe both if there's some title we both really, REALLY want to play on launch.

But I honestly think 'Switch 2' is a dumb name. I feel like a whole new generation of grandparents are gonna struggle now just like back in the 3DS era.

"I want to buy a Switch for my grandchild."

"OK - do you want a original? Lite? OLED? The Switch 2?"

I get that it's an organic way to move forwards, but still, I just think it's dumb.
Perhaps, if the grandparents were born in 1920. Many who are now grandparents have been gamers for a good portion of their lives.

If they aren't a gamer, then they are no more ignorant on the subject than any other non-gamer.
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Bluie
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K8sMum wrote: Jan 29, 2025 1:59 amPerhaps, if the grandparents were born in 1920. Many who are now grandparents have been gamers for a good portion of their lives.

If they aren't a gamer, then they are no more ignorant on the subject than any other non-gamer.
...Okay? What point are you trying to make here? It's STILL a problem then. Not sure why you came out of the woodwork to sass me. Many kids rely on their parents/elders to make purchases pertaining to entertainment. One of the big things in making a product enticing to the consumer is to make it simple and easy to understand. Playstation keeps it simple - it's numerical. XBOX is a « Snuggly Bunny » mess - I hear every year about someone who got the wrong one because it's so « Snuggly Bunny » confusing. The Wii to the WiiU transition will always be a flop to remember because the marketing was « Cow Poopoo » and parents didn't know what they were buying while there wasn't enough 'gamers' adopting the console. It's less of an issue with something like a 3DS where you got the freaking system regardless of what iteration it was on. The Switch 2 is backwards compatible, but it will eventually have exclusives which is inevitably going to cause confusion to the non-gamer consumer picking up either a game that can't be played on the handful of original switches OR grabbing an old Switch with games that can't be played on it. I work with the populous, I work with people who literally come to me for advice because Google is an unreliable mess and they want to get their kid something and not « Snuggly Bunny » up. They shouldn't HAVE to worry about « Snuggly Bunny » up if they just kept things simple. We could argue that by going the numerical way is helpful, which it might be, but PS has had that for years and it works because it works for them. The transition from Switch to Switch 2 is probably going to have more hiccups as Nintendo is going numerical for the first time.

So don't you 'durr hurr, unless they were born in 1920~!', me. You grossly underestimate how easily confused the average consumer gets over change.
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Kikki
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I'm going to poke my nose in unasked-for.

I'm pretty sure K8sMum took offense at it being said that it would be the *grandparents* who were confused, not that there would BE confusion.

It's typical for grandparents to struggle even more with tech specs of what grandkids are into than parents, though many parents also struggle, and of course there are plenty of exceptions since there are a few grandparents now who've been using technology their whole lives. Though not many. I'm close to the youngest of people who could reasonably be a grandparent. I COULD have had a child at a reasonable age of about 20 and my kid would already be 26 and could have a child of t heir own, maybe 6 years old...so I COULD be a grandparent of a child old enough to be asking for their own console. And I've been using a PC at home since I was 8...been gaming since then, too.

Certainly I would not be confused if I had a grandkid and they asked for a Switch 2. I'd get the right console, no problem. But I'm a gamer. I'm quite aware of the consoles. (Though I have no idea right now which Xbox is the most current iteration...I could look it up, lol, and be sure of getting the right information.) I'm also a natural information-gatherer so I tend to look things up excessively before doing/buying anything, so even if I wasn't a gamer, I'd probably still get the right console.

Of course, I am not a grandparent. I am not even a parent. So this is all just talk.

But I get it. Between all the versions of Switch and this being the first time Nintendo has ever released a '2' version of a console...a numbered addition, being a direct upgrade of an existing console instead of an entirely new one...there's going to be more confusion among children and those who wish to give them gifts about which is the correct console.

I do think more grandparents will be confused than parents even still, because it's still true that most grandparents are further removed from technology than people younger than them. And in general, as humans age, we stop following new 'stuff' and stick to what we know, more.

So Bluie's right. There's going to be confusion. An ENTIRELY new name, like, uh...the Lightbox, or something...would have helped a lot with that.

K8sMum is also mostly right. There won't be a lot more confusion among grandparents specifically than among any other groups (like parents or aunts/uncles/cousins/siblings/whatever).

But there will likely still be little more, simply because even now that older generations are more technically savvy, there are still a higher proportion of people among older generations that aren't aware of all this gunk. (Though I wouldn't have drawn the line at 1920...you don't need to be over 100 to be unaware of technology. I'd draw the line much more recently, at about 1970. I get a few older customers who still aren't even comfortable using the card reader at the checkout, even the ones who came in intending to use debit or credit. They're not over 100, lol. But it never happens with anyone under about 60.)
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