Accountability Is Key

I have a question to ask. As of the time of this blog, there still has been no word on when the successor to the Nintendo Switch will even be REVEALED, much less given a release date. So many people have reported on when they thought the device would be revealed based on their "sources" and their best guess estimates based on prior Nintendo behavior. There is nothing inherently wrong with that in general, but, it is a potentially dangerous strategy to use when Nintendo is involved because they do not operate in our universe. The laws of logic and physics don't seem to apply with Nintendo. They do things that in no way, shape, or form make a LICK of good sense, and yet, somehow it works.... WELL. It really makes you look bad, or less credible as a journalist, blogger, or YouTube content creator when you try to predict what Nintendo is GOING to do. That is a practice best to be left alone. That's not what I want to talk about though. What I want to talk about is the "aftermath." Someday, the successor to the Nintendo Switch will be announced. People have made up in their minds what they think that is based off of leaks that have been "confirmed" as real, and based off of rumors and conjecture from people that have leaked information before on Nintendo-related rumors that panned out to be true. I think at this point, all of us have an image of what we think it is going to be. We have an image of what we want it to be, and we have an image of what we think it needs to be. My question is this. If the successor to the Nintendo Switch falls short in ALL of those categories, or for anything that you want or expect it to have, how are you going to respond? Are you going to be upset? Are you going to the apathetic and say, "Eh, whatever. It's better than what I have now at least." Or, are you going to say, "I don't care if it IS weak-sauce! NINTENDO ALL THE WAY BAY-BAAAAAAAH!!" Undoubtedly, there will be people that have any one, or combination of those responses. There is no right or wrong answer here. Let's just say for the sake of argument that this device is only as powerful as a PS4, when DOCKED. If Nintendo had revealed the successor the Nintendo Switch in 2022 and it released in 2023, I think a lot of people would be fine with that. Still lacking in power, but it would be more reasonable based on the time-frame. It's pretty much what people were expecting the fabled "Switch Pro" to be. We are only 2 months away from 2025. We have heard absolutely, NOTHING..... You already have powerful hybrid-devices on the market right now, with MORE powerful successors on the way for each of them. You also have new entries from other companies on the way to jump into the hybrid-device pool. The market is quickly becoming saturated with hybrid-devices. When the Switch released in 2017, it had no competition in it's arena. For five years, that platform stood undisturbed. It was like Nintendo was standing in a hot, burning, sweltering desert with a bunch of thirsty people crawling around in the sand looking for water and Nintendo had big, huge coolers full of fresh, ice-cold water. It worked, and Nintendo quenched the thirst of a lot of people ALONE for 5 years. Then, in 2022, Valve showed up and opened up a larger cooler with water and treats. Then, ASUS showed up with water and different kinds of treats. Then, Lenovo showed up. Then a bunch of other people showed up all offering comfort to those in this hot, burning desert. Maybe some like the taste of Nintendo's water better than Lenovo's water. Maybe some like the taste of ASUS' water better than Value's water. The point is, now, they have a choice. Everyone is doing good business, but no one company has all the marbles anymore. It wasn't because of Nintendo's 1st-party games that the Switch did so well. It is because it was something that the industry needed to bring the casuals back that left Nintendo after the bottom dropped out from the Wii and only ONE COMPANY was doing it, or doing it properly. Nintendo. I know it's hard for Nintendo fans to see it any other way, but casuals don't have that connection to Nintendo IP that they do. They see a device of practicality, and for THAT purpose made the purchase. Sure, they have a couple of 1st-party Nintendo games here and there, but that isn't why they bought it or what keeps them there. It is no longer a "Blue Ocean" strategy just to have a hybrid-device. It is "Red Ocean." It is "normal" to have a hybrid-device of some kind. Just as normal as having a set-top box used to be. Now, the set-top box is becoming the anomaly. Not every hybrid-device is the same in terms of features and design, but the overall concept of having a device that can be played at home or on the go remains constant. Just like all smart phones aren't the same, but the base concept of being a pocket computer/telephone is universal. While Microsoft and Sony do not have a hybrid-device as of right NOW, there are strong indicators that either one or both will have one within the next couple of years. Sony has already dipped their toe in the water with PS Portal. It's not a stretch to say that they are seriously considering a full-on hybrid-device and wanted to use PS Portal as a trial to see if their install-base would be interested portable gaming again. We saw in the FTC leak that Microsoft was indeed planning a portable device. I wouldn't hold my breath on that ever coming to fruition as they seemingly cancel every good idea these days and replace them with stupid ones, but it's still possible. It is fair to mention that as hybrid-devices became more popular and normalized, the sales of the Nintendo Switch declined in tandem with that. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but as I stated earlier, now people have several choices whereas before for five years they only had one. The Nintendo Switch was responsible for turning people on to the hybrid-gaming aspect, but many people that have no interest in Nintendo IP and only bought it for the hybrid-functionality aspect have graduated into more powerful hardware that can be used for more than just gaming. So, whenever Nintendo does reveal this thing, it can't just be a "better" version of the Nintendo Switch if they want people that are perfectly content with the Switch they already have that aren't interested in Nintendo 1st-party IP to fork over $400 dollars or more. That may satisfy some, but the vast majority of people will be over that pretty quickly once the "New Car" smell is all used up. As comedian/actor Eddie Murphy once famously said in his 1987 stand-up movie Eddie Murphy: Raw....

**paraphrasing** ~ If you are starving, and someone throws you a cracker, you are gonna think it is the most delicious cracker you ever had in your life! If you've had the same crackers everyday for a year, eventually you'll be like, "Hey! I just got some regular, old crackers." So, my point is that with all this secrecy, subterfuge, tantalizing and teasing, and them dragging this thing out longer than they ever have in their entire company's history with no tangible information regarding the device at all other than the fact that it exists, the "Nintendo Switch 2" has become an idol. I want to make this point abundantly clear. This is NOT about comparing the Switch successor to the XBOX Series X or the PlayStation 5 in terms of power, graphics, or performance. AT ALL. I'm also not saying that it has to exceed everyone's expectations whatever they may be. The RUMORED specs might not be what we want necessarily for a 10th-generation device, but, I haven't heard any complaints about them thus far. Even tech heads at Digital Foundry and Moore's Law Is Dead seem to be fine with the RUMORED specs, as am I. Something that is around XBOX Series S (which is what the RUMORS say and is why I am mentioning it here) power-level when docked? I can work with that. Realistically, you can't ask for much better than that for the price point that Nintendo will probably want to stick with. Of course we don't know what the price-point will be, but it is hard to imagine Nintendo selling a piece of hardware over $400 USD. Then again, they just told us that they want everyone to buy a digital alarm clock for $100 bucks.............so, there is that, too. What I'm asking is if this thing is under-powered based on those RUMORED specs and this thing is BARELY as powerful as the PS4 when docked, after all Nintendo has put their fan-base through, will you hold them accountable, or will you make excuses? REMEMBER, there is a very public record of many people saying that they wanted a more powerful Switch. When the RUMORS came out regarding the Switch successor using DLSS 3.1, Ray-Tracing, Universal Flash Storage, and having anywhere between 12-16 GB of LDDR5X RAM, NUMEROUS Nintendo fans said there were excited about that. Not only did they say that they wanted that, but that is ALL they wanted. No crazy gimmicks. No weird form-factors. Just a Switch with "more power." I'm right on board with that. What if it doesn't have that though? Sometimes people will voice their displeasure at FIRST, but then a week later they will go back to making excuses again as to why that was the "right" thing to do, and even go so far as to attack anyone for even having a different point-of-view about it. You can't on one hand champion Nintendo for "possibly" giving something that is decently-capable to give you games that at least feel close to what you see on everything else, but then turn around and say that "power doesn't matter" if you know you AREN'T getting any. Not only is that hypocritical, but that is going into the 'Fox and the Grapes' territory. He wanted the grapes really bad, but when it was clear he could not reach the grapes, he acted like he never wanted the grapes in the first place. I'm not saying that IF the successor to the Nintendo Switch is weak-sauce that people shouldn't buy it. Like I said earlier. A lot of people will be upset if that happens, but then will buy the console anyway. Not making an excuse for it. Just saying that it's better than what they have. If it's at a good price, and you have the money, why not? It's very rare that any console just hits a home-run with features, performance, game line-up, price, etc. I mean, what's the biggest gripe for the PS5 and XSX? Lack of 1st-party games. Some of it is due to hardware constraints. MORE of it is due to the greed of companies choosing to pad their own pockets rather than hire the manpower necessary to get games done quicker. That's the true motivation, in my opinion, behind PS5 Pro. These companies don't want to pay employees right, treat employees right, or hire enough employees to be able to use the PS5 the way it needs to be used. So, they "begged" Sony to make a more powerful machine so that the work can be done easier to give us games that the regular PS5 is more than capable of doing, but FASTER. Even Nintendo has stated that game development will take much longer and be more expensive for THEM AS WELL. So, it's not just a high-end console issue. I'm just trying to see how many people will keep that same energy if Nintendo lays an egg with the successor to the Nintendo Switch? When Sony does bogus stuff, we call them out. When Microsoft does bogus stuff, we call them out. When 3rd parties do bogus stuff, we call them out. People are welcome to whatever opinion that they wish, so here is mine. You have the Steam Deck, Ayaneo 2, ROG Ally, Lenovo GO, and many other hybrid-devices more powerful than the Switch as it is. They all have more powerful successors on the way. They do much more than just play video games. They are priced competitively for which each device does and offers respectively, and Nintendo comes in the room and says in 2025, here is our next-gen, 10th generation console, a portable XBOX One that is a PS4 when docked....... C'mon now. How to you justify that? I'm NOT saying that this IS going to happen. I'm just curious as to what the response will be IF that happens. Nintendo fans care a lot about 1st-party IPs. Casuals do not so much. Hardcore gamers did not make the Switch successful. Casuals do. In fact, casuals are the reason why every 100+ million console seller got to that point. The original Sony PlayStation had ZERO fan base and beat the every-loving breaks off of the Nintendo64 despite the N64 having far superior, genre-defining 1st-party content. How did that happen? The casuals. How did the PlayStation 2 completely destroy the Dreamcast, GameCube, and XBOX? The casuals, who used the PS2 as an all-in-one entertainment device. So, I end by saying that IF the RUMORS are true about the Switch successor in terms of the specs, this is all a moot-point anyway. Those specs are just fine. They will keep for at least 3-4 years, and Nintendo can always do a mid-gen refresh if necessary. HOWEVER...... After all this time of waiting when they could and should have released it two years ago, they give you something that is far weaker than even you expected even in the worst-case scenario, will people call out Nintendo on this or make excuses for it? It's a simple question. Will you say "yay" or "nay?" No explanation is needed as to why. It's your opinion, and you are entitled to it. If you say "yay," stand on that, and move on. "If you say "nay," stand on that and move on. It's not a big deal. I'm just saying. If Sony can get dragged, if Microsoft can get dragged, and if 3rd parties can get dragged, Nintendo is not beyond reproach. They can get that work, too.

Alarmo? I think NINTENDO needs to "Wake Up."

This post isn't going to be an expose' about the product itself. I will say briefly that it's a clever little device, I suppose. Not something I'm particularly interested in, but I can see avid Nintendo fans that are collectors finding interest for this device. I think $99 dollars is WAY too expensive though for what it does. There are a few things that come to mind here. One thing is that it seems like the mystery has been solved regarding the FCC patent filing model number CLO-001 by Nintendo for a device with a 2.4GHz Wi-Fi radio and a 24GHz mmWave sensor.

I mean, even the model number gives it away. "CLO"-001. The first letters in the word "clock" are "CLO." You see that they only showed the bottom of the device as if they showed it from the front or back, it would have given it away as a clock because Alarmo is a typical old-fashioned clock shape. The other thing that comes to mind here is timing. This seems to be a very odd time to announce such a device as this. Granted, you do want to start planting seeds now for the Holiday season, but you already know where I am going with this. The whole world is on edge with baited-breath waiting for Nintendo to give us something substantive regarding the successor to the Nintendo Switch. We are nearing the end of 2024 and quickly closing in on March of 2025 which will be a full 8 years that the Nintendo Switch has been on the market. We are in October of 2024 and we have not even heard a code-name for this blasted-device yet. This is ridiculous. Let me show you how unprecedented this is. In 1993, we first started hearing about 'Project Reality' and on June 23rd, 1994, they officially announced the console as the 'Ultra 64' which would eventually become the Nintendo 64 released in 1996. In 1998, we first started hearing about the 'Project Dolphin,' and Nintendo officially announced it on May 12th, 1999. That would eventually become the Nintendo GameCube in 2001. In 2001, Nintendo began working with Gyration, Inc. to leverage their motion-control technology. At E3 2004, then President Of Nintendo of Japan the late Saturo Iwata announced the 'Nintendo Revolution.' This would go on to become the Nintendo Wii in 2006. In regards to the Wii U, it is a little more complicated because management at Nintendo were too stubborn to admit that the motion-control bubble had burst, HARD, and they needed to move on. They were still trying to find ways to hang on to the Wii. So, no concrete announcement came from Nintendo regarding the rumored 'Project Cafe' until E3 2011 when the Wii U was unveiled. I think a lot of this indecision by Nintendo played a huge role in the lack of innovation and features for the console, but that is a different conversation. In 2013, we first heard from Saturo Iwata that Nintendo's next-generation device would be a family of devices sharing a common operating-system. 'Project NX' was first announced by Nintendo in 2015, and we got the Nintendo Switch in 2017. So, you see the trend here. This isn't just with Nintendo. Both Microsoft and Sony have done the same thing in regards to generational hardware. So, to be this far along and not to have ANYTHING concrete from Nintendo except a short announcement from current Nintendo of Japan President, Shuntaro Furukawa, stating that they will ANNOUNCE (not release) the successor to the Nintendo Switch before the end of the fiscal-year which is in March-April of 2025 for Nintendo. In a vacuum, as annoying as it is for them to keep us waiting this long with nothing to go on, it's not "wrong" from a business standpoint necessarily depending on what it is. If there is something that isn't ready, or something that they don't want competitors to know about the console until it is too late for them to respond, I guess I understand that strategy. What I DO NOT understand is the fact that you would announce a digital alarm clock right around the time people were expecting you to at least say SOMETHING about the Switch successor. I refuse to believe that Nintendo is that daft or dilapidated. They know what fans are saying online. This Alarmo device is something that could have waited. It would make more sense to announce this just before Black Friday. People already will have the money in hand ready to start buying gifts. Even though $99 is a little steep, I think more people would be willing to buy it then, because it would put the idea in people's minds for a perfect Christmas gift for someone they know that loves Nintendo. Even if you know officially from Nintendo when Switch 2 is coming by that point (hopefully,) this would be a nice present in the meantime. Now, people can still do that, and will do that. I'm just saying that this is pretty dense on their part at best, mean-spirited at worst to announce this thing, now. Nintendo needs to wake up, and grow up. If you are gonna be quiet, then STAY quiet until you are ready to talk about what your consumers actually WANT. They are getting dragged BIG TIME by major news outlets for doing this. When you combine this with the Nintendo attacking emulation, and with the lawsuit against Pocket Pair, they are not making the best decisions right now as a corporation. They seem to be consumed by their own arrogance and even greed. They'd better snap out of it quick.

What is REALLY behind all these Nintendo lawsuits?

A lot of people are confused as to why Nintendo seems to be on an mission to wipe out all emulators that have anything to do with their IP. The timing of all of this seems a bit strange. It could even be a bit "convenient." The team from Moore's Law Is Dead has not gotten the credit that it deserves for breaking TANGIBLE information regarding the Nintendo Switch successor. These are the same people that broke information regarding the PS5 Pro and even have the litigation from Sony to prove it. However, this idea was suggested by one of their followers during a live-stream. Pay attention to the 1:23:56 mark of this video.

Interesting huh? It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. If Nintendo is close to releasing the Switch successor and the OS is basically the same as the predecessor, it would be very easy for someone to emulate it right off the bat and that would severely cut into sales. Rest assured, people are still gonna mod it and emulate it anyway. In this day and age you can't stop people from cracking any version of technology. However, this aggressive action by Nintendo could be a sign that the Switch successor is coming sooner rather than later. It just seems like there is too much subterfuge regarding the Switch successor and I feel like they are waiting too long. The longer they drag this out, the worse it is going to be for them in the long run. Just announce the thing and get it over with. Even if the best-case scenario of the rumored specs are true, it's really nothing to get that excited about. You are still talking about a 10th generation console that is barely above the 8th gen in portable-mode, and somewhere between the 8th and 9th gen when docked. In the short-term, it will be fine, but in the long-term when we start seeing more and more games built from the ground-up on PS5 and XSX hardware, you will start to see a significant difference in quality and performance. For people that only play with Nintendo consoles, it may feel like a substantial-leap, but for people that are used to playing games on pretty much everything else, it's barely even on the level they WERE in the previous generation. I also think that the reason why Nintendo sued Pocket Pair is because Palworld does things that Nintendo was planning to do with the next-gen Pok'e'mon game, what they SHOULD have done already in Pok'e'mon a long time ago, and they got beat to the punch. Again, waiting too long will cost you. This could backfire on Nintendo because if I were the lawyers for Pocket Pair, I would demand that Nintendo make public any and all patents that they have they "claim" Palworld infringes on. Now, EVERYBODY will know what you are planning. Even if court statements are redacted, that won't save them. Ask Microsoft. I really think Nintendo has let the success of the Switch go to their heads. Pride goes before the fall.