I completely forgot about the direct today but I have watched it now and thought I’d share my thoughts here. Also three blog posts in the space of a week? Crazy lol.
First of all, here are the bullet points I made while watching, I will put some final thoughts below but if you want a quick overview of what was going on in my mind at the time then please enjoy:
- Starting out strong with Mario Kart – a classic.
- Driving anywhere in the world is kind of crazy, I will definitely be taking some scenic drives.
- 24 drivers?? Yikes. Can barely keep track of 12 half the time.
- Knockout is a cool gameplay mode, I can’t wait to immediately lose since I am not good at Mario Kart lol.
- Why does the game chat look like Zoom lol – can we minimise it because it’s ugly. I don’t always want to see the people I’m chatting to at the bottom of the screen.
- A mic on the console and not the joycon seems weird, especially on the other side of the room. I know it said the mic is good and everything but I just imagine it being echo-y.
- Screen sharing is giving lag but also confusion when trying to play. Plus you can screen share your game even if everyone is playing something different?? Again confusing. Why would I want that?
- OMG NOT THE WEBCAM LOL idk why it feels so 90s
- I can’t wait to use this chat feature with none of my friends, I needed this in the pandemic. I am strictly a solo Nintendo Player.
- Finally bigger SL and SR buttons lol
- I want mic functionality built into games like DS – like let me blow into the mic in Cooking Mama to cool things down again/speak to my Nintendogs plz. UPDATE on this they are doing that for Mario Party Jamboree – okay we love to see it.
- 4k is boujie but don’t see many Nintendo games actually supporting this, seems like more of a 3rd party situation.
- Magnet joycons, interesting, will it break easily? You’d assume not and they tested it. But we’ll see.
- They are making you PAY for a welcome game to learn more about your console??? Nah that seems like a scam.
- I would be annoyed if I already owned a game and needed to then upgrade for the Switch 2 like cba with that. Even if it has new features will the upgrade pack be worth it??
- Gameplay WITH THE CAMERA??? Basically the PlayStation Eye Toy returned, don’t hate that.
- How much more is the Switch 2 version of a game vs the Switch 1 version? Like Switch games are already expensive, I think I’ll start weeping when I see the prices.
- I don’t care much for the mouse feature tbh? It just means when playing you have to find a flat surface near you to use it. So I don’t feel like I’ll be using that.
- I’m not remotely interested in any of those 3rd party games lol besides, most of them you can get on other consoles so not really fussed.
Overall, I think the direct was fine. Nothing I’m super excited about if I’m honest. Sure I love a good Mario Kart game but I don’t think it’s worth buying a new console solely for that. Says the woman who happily spent money on two Nintendo Switches in the past for Animal Crossing – one initially before they announced the game and then the Animal Crossing version when they did announce the game lol. But Mario Kart doesn’t give me the same joy Animal Crossing does.
Anyway, my point is this direct seemed a bit flat for me. I just wasn’t interested in the games and the new console is just a console. It was never going to be as revolutionary as the original Switch considering it is just a second version of that console so I didn’t think it was going to majorly different. And I suppose if you do care about specs and stuff it’s probably really good but I’m not fussed on that.
So I’ll clearly not be buying a Switch 2 anytime soon. Maybe if they announce a new Animal Crossing game we will talk but currently I don’t see enough appeal. Especially when I have a perfectly fine Switch at home which I am currently not using very much. I also was surprised they weren’t a lot of Nintendo games announced in this direct; a lot of them are 3rd party. I know they announced upgrades for some upcoming/existing games but not much that was new.
Obviously, it’s just the beginning for the console so we will see what other things get released over time but for now it seems a bit lacking. It’ll be interesting to see people’s feedback on it once it launches and people are actually playing. So I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out to see the vibes. But for now, I’m fine with my current consoles and games.
If you haven’t seen the direct then check it out below:
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