Nintendo Switch

[DeciderVT]

Had anyone here tried one of those gooseneck tablet holders for the Switch? My wife and I are going to be huddled on our bed and isolating for a couple of days while a builder replaces the boiler in our cramped little flat, so something to mount the Switch nearby would be preferable to balancing it on some books if we fancy a game of Mario Kart.

 

Spoiler

The bonus (of course) is that I can be lazy when I feel like playing the Switch in bed too.

 

Most reviews I've seen recommend the Tryone mount but the Amazon reviews aren't kind, plus there are some anecdotal reports of the spring-loaded holder putting too much pressure on the Switch, causing the case to separate. Quite keen to find out if anyone here has had luck with a better mount.

[Stanley]

2 hours ago, Timbuktu said:

It is pretty much exactly what it said on the tin though, it’s ‘mini’ and only features third party games.  I do wonder if their strategy has shifted to announcing games much closer to release like with Paper Mario and think that is perfectly fine when it comes to game sales.

Personally, they can announce whenever they want as long as they are still making the games.  I don’t really mind them taking another year with BOTW2 to be honest, if that means it’s as good or better than the first.

Did it do what it said on the tin? I guess, almost, technically, but I’m not sure anyone really expected just five games, of which maybe one or two are of any real interest worthy of a presentation like this. I don’t know, kind of at a loss for what they were trying to achieve with it really. IMO they should have just published the trailers as and when. 

[kensei]

5 hours ago, rgraves said:

What they really do need to do now, is schedule a main Direct. One that covers first-party stuff - and announces at least a couple of things we've not seen before. I reckon they need to do that before the end of August....the clock is ticking.....

 

Or they'll continue to sell Switch consoles like crazy...? 

 

I suspect they are holding back stuff to boost things again once the Lockdown boost wears off, to be honest. 

[DarkCrisis]

I’ve just finished the Dragon Quest XI S Demo off the e-shop and absolutely loved it, not normally keen on JRPGs but increasing the combat speed to very fast has really helped keep the game interesting, the characters and story have been fantastic so far. A demo done right as I have ordered the game off the back of the demo when normally I wouldn’t have looked twice at spending £40 on a JRPG.

[Sarlaccfood]

49 minutes ago, DarkCrisis said:

I’ve just finished the Dragon Quest XI S Demo off the e-shop and absolutely loved it, not normally keen on JRPGs but increasing the combat speed to very fast has really helped keep the game interesting, the characters and story have been fantastic so far. A demo done right as I have ordered the game off the back of the demo when normally I wouldn’t have looked twice at spending £40 on a JRPG.

I heard it’s quite a generous demo time wise and you can carry on your save right?

[pulsemyne]

6 hours ago, DC Lemon said:

Rogue Company looks good for what it is, to be fair. It might struggle on the overcrowded PC market but fills a gap on Switch.

It's apparently 1080p and 60fps.

[Azrael]

Just got around to watching the mini direct

 

 

 

[Azrael]

(The wrestling game could be fun) 

[DarkCrisis]

25 minutes ago, Sarlaccfood said:

I heard it’s quite a generous demo time wise and you can carry on your save right?

It took me around 8 and half to complete I saw a lot of people mentioning 10hrs so it’s pretty substantial. Yes your save is carried over, it prompts you at end of the game to save and continue your game on the full version.

[rgraves]

12 hours ago, pulsemyne said:

It's apparently 1080p and 60fps.

 

Certainly seems solid enough

 

 

And, at £13, added to the pile 'o shame. Doh!

[dug]

10 hours ago, DarkCrisis said:

It took me around 8 and half to complete I saw a lot of people mentioning 10hrs so it’s pretty substantial. Yes your save is carried over, it prompts you at end of the game to save and continue your game on the full version.

 

Out of curiosity, what point in the story does the demo get to? I didn't play the demo, as I had already completed it on the PS4. I did buy the switch version though, because I'm a chump.

[DarkCrisis]

Just after you get a full set of party members.

[Stanley]

It’s a generous demo at 8-10 hours but even that is nothing compared to how big the full game is, it’s huge, and amazing. 

[pulsemyne]

 

A stream from earlier showing just how good the game runs. 720-900p docked, 540-720p handheld. 30 fps. Looks very good. Also features ray tracing on ps4 and Xbox one and would be possible on switch but it tanks the framerate too much. (the crysis engine features a soiftware based ray tracer).

[Benny]

Imagine selling your Switch. Imagine.

[Alex W.]

Looks like I might be getting the joycon drift, Link's been taking a couple of steps after I stop walking, just kept on walking in first-person once, and on the calibration screen the joycon's sometimes a bit slow to slide back to the centre position when I've let go of the stick. Because it's a bit intermittent should I just wait until it's pretty noticeable? My Switch was only bought last September and I think the warranty's two years, right?

[Stanley]

2 hours ago, pulsemyne said:

 

A stream from earlier showing just how good the game runs. 720-900p docked, 540-720p handheld. 30 fps. Looks very good. Also features ray tracing on ps4 and Xbox one and would be possible on switch but it tanks the framerate too much. (the crysis engine features a soiftware based ray tracer).

Shame they didn’t have something with which they could have included the likes of this in a presentation, a Direct Mini maybe. 

[deerokus]

Is the crysis port that impressive? It looks basically like a somewhat fancier take on the 360 version which is to be expected as the switch is quite a bit more powerful than the 360. 

 

Unless I'm missing something which I probably am. 

[Alex W.]

25 minutes ago, deerokus said:

Is the crysis port that impressive? It looks basically like a somewhat fancier take on the 360 version which is to be expected as the switch is quite a bit more powerful than the 360. 

 

Unless I'm missing something which I probably am. 

 

Yes, it's a port of the technologically-plausible rebuild of the original technologically-implausible game.

[Stanley]

It looks really impressive, I’m interested in what the ray tracing looks like on PS4 and Xbox One though. 

[Sarlaccfood]

Wait, is ray-tracing possible on current gen machines?

 

Maybe the main character in this called Ray Tracing idk never played it.

[Dudley]

It's always been possible.

 

All the RTX PC cards and the new consoles do is have hardware tricks to mean it's a lot less expensive.

[deerokus]

The Tomorrow Children had ray tracing. That game came out six years ago. 

[Alex W.]

Even the Switch version of Cryengine supports it apparently, although it doesn't seem to have been used in the actual Crysis port on that system.

[Stanley]

The footage looks great btw, did the 360 version have scenery deformation. 

[rgraves]

22 hours ago, rgraves said:

And, at £13, added to the pile 'o shame. Doh!

 

So, I gave Rogue Company a go last night....

 

1) On Switch, it crashed at the main menu the first two times I loaded it. Didn't even get into a game, just a crash almost immediately. The third time I got past the main menu and played 4-5 matches. Then it crashed again.

 

2) Either I'm really, really, really, really bad or everyone else is bloody awesome. I just died. A lot. Like I entered the play area and was sniped by someone that was at most only a single pixel off in the distance of my screen. I'm all for cross-play, but here it really did feel like I was being assassinated by MnK players all the damn time. I might just need to 'git gud' - but by christ it's hard when you're dead within seconds and never even really have a chance to get a single shot off back at them.

 

I'll stick with it for a bit in case it's just me being piss-poor - but it's a long way from being as welcoming and engaging to new players as something like Splatoon is....

[DC Lemon]

You’re really gonna need to be on a mic and hope the rest of your team is as well to get anywhere in a game like Rogue Company.
 

I prefer Splatoon’s extensive communication system of ‘booyah’ and ‘this way’, naturally.

[rgraves]

26 minutes ago, DC Lemon said:

You’re really gonna need to be on a mic and hope the rest of your team is as well to get anywhere in a game like Rogue Company.

 

Oh 

[smac]

36 minutes ago, DC Lemon said:

You’re really gonna need to be on a mic and hope the rest of your team is as well to get anywhere in a game like Rogue Company.
 

I prefer Splatoon’s extensive communication system of ‘booyah’ and ‘this way’, naturally.

 

All too often 'Booyah' and 'Ouch' for me...

 

[deerokus]

Digital Foundry breakdown of Crysis. Indeed it is markedly better than the last gen console ports although it is based on those.