Side Quest, Episode 5: How Nintendo Switch Dominated 2017 (and Won My Heart)

You simply can't count 'em out. We all learn the hard way one way or another. =) Glad you enjoyed the video!

Colin Moriarty

I'm bringing mine. We can play together. =)

Colin Moriarty

I was a diehard Nintendo fan with the Nes, Snes and 64 (then traded it and Goldeneye for a Ps1 and FF7. #NoRegrets 😁) and you are absolutely spot on with the erosion of trust/build it back up comments. Even last year the mini Nes launch here in Australia was a farce. I wrote a scathing open letter about it. Then when they had the Switch conference, I thought it was the WORST conference I had ever seen. But then it launched and it's exactly what it needed to be. I don't know how they keep me interested, but god damn if I played more Golf Story (shout out to the Aussie devs) on my Switch than ANYTHING on Xbone. And that speaks volumes.

Smokey Joh

I can't wait to play it. If the boys here in VA won't share, you'll maybe help your ma out with how to play it when I go out west to visit. 😉❤️👍🏻

BettyAnn Moriarty

I'll see what I can do! That's my actual desk, so it's hard to get something there that won't have to be immediately moved afterward, as opposed to CLS, which is a standing set. It's something Erin feels passionately about, so we'll see what the new year brings. That said, I'm typically on camera for less than a minute in both CLS and Side Quest, so I'm hoping most people won't/don't care.

Colin Moriarty

I'd say it's been PS4, Vita, and Switch for me.

Colin Moriarty

Presumably so. What I'm interested in is this idea I saw floated that I had never heard or considered before: Will Nintendo shave off a few bucks in the (near?) future for Switch by selling it as a handheld, without a dock and all the rest? Could be interesting.

Colin Moriarty

It's funny how gaming speaks to different people at different times in different ways. Switch really ignited something in me, too, something that I definitely couldn't begin to ignore. I'm glad it's resonating with you! Thank you for your support.

Colin Moriarty

I'm gonna pass on Xenoblade, because 1.) I don't have the time to dump into it, and 2.) I heard it's not very good from multiple people. To each his own! Thank you for watching.

Colin Moriarty

Thank you so much. Happy Holidays!

Colin Moriarty

I was gonna make a "That's What She Said" joke. (Well, I guess I just did.) The average watch time for Side Quest is about 8 minutes and 10 seconds. So, going much longer than this won't make much sense for a majority of the audience. I hope you understand!

Colin Moriarty

LONG ISLAND IS AN ISLAND.

Colin Moriarty

It's funny you say that: Today, I went on Amazon and bought a new Vita and memory card, because my Japanese launch device has been shitting the bed. Looking forward to spending more time with it in 2018.

Colin Moriarty

Love this series, Colin! Monday is a great day of the week with you and Jim Sterling bringing out your opinion piece videos. I'm sure you're on it already, but I'd love to see a backdrop as beautiful as the regular CLS for Side Quest, full of various gaming thingamijigs. It's looking a bit sparse at the moment! But that's just icing on the cake - it's a really slick series. Also, I'm glad you're enjoying the Switch, i've had such a good year with it myself

Sam

My Vita was my #2 console of the year, and the Switch was the #7, in total time used. The PS4 dominated my time, double the usage of any other console.

Kaz Redclaw

TLDR: I like the Switch, but in today's era of gaming I don't see how it could be your console of choice for gaming when there are far better playability options for third parties, online, the ever leeching nature and continue vacuous non entity of Virtual Console and that outside of the few first party properties, first parties are better served and more varied elsewhere.

The Rose Experience

The Switch is cool, but I still don't get the overwhelming love. Like you've always said Colin ( and to be fair, so have I for well over a decade ) the industry always seems to overrate almost anything Nintendo. Odyssey isn't a 97 metacritic, it's a very fun, albeit glorified collectathon platformer and while Breath of the Wild is good, it's highly flawed and it really isn't doing anything that hasn't been done before, better. Oh and that combat *shudder* In addition, its capability of handling third parties on the console is grossly overstated and it's amazing what levels of mental gymnastics some will go to play games on a Nintendo console even when they're highly marginalized by comparison.

The Rose Experience

Fireside Chats is the only one available on podcast services. He releases the other shows (CLS and CLS:SQ) as audio files at some point after the videos go live.

Brent Lindquist

As a side comment, in terms of the future: A lot of people who had a 3DS had multiple per house (each kid, each partner, etc). I would imagine Nintendo must want the same for the switch. This means that Nintendo has to get the pricing down on it sooner than later (maybe by making a portable only version or something).

CTE

I just don't feel that it competes in the same space in the same way that you would never suggest that the 3DS competes with playstation or xbox. I know the hybrid nature of it means it will cross over a bit, but the usage stats they've released showing that people use it more as a handheld suggest that this is a handheld that offers the bonus ability to play it on your TV rather than vice-versa. This is kind of obvious when you consider that every constraint of the system is dictated by it's portable nature. As long as it was portable it would never compete with those consoles, even if they went with the very latest tech (the X2 chip might be 20 to 30 percent more powerful).

CTE

The Switch basically got me back in gaming. I have a PS4 I haven't even turned on in nearly 2 years (but will for the new God of War I think). I have a nice gaming machine with a Nvidia 1080 that I haven't used much for some time. I had looked at both and questioned my purchases as being me wanting to hang on to my past, and remember having a conversation with a friend that maybe I'm done with gaming. Then the switch comes, and my curiosity over Zelda made me dip my toes again in that world. Zelda was a revelation, making me enjoy a game again like I hadn't since I was much younger. Just that sense of discovery was amazing. My wife is NOT a gamer in any sense, and each night she looked forward to sitting down with me and playing a long side, offering good suggestions on things to try at different points (again, that ability to be surprised when things actually work, even if they weren't necessary designed to be done a certain way was so incredible). Since then I've played the switch regularly. The advantage of the Wii U failure is they have a huge catalog of games that should be ported for those of us who never played it (MK8 is amazing). The thing that doesn't quite get discussed enough is that the hybrid nature of the system is what makes it so perfect. I have a new kid, so traditional console gaming is just a bit harder, but the switch will adapt well to whatever constraints you have. We know it kind of plays in a different field that the other consoles but with killer first party support, and the third party support typically offered to 3DS and Vita (Indie's, AA, and portable AAA) I think it has a good future.

CTE

I mainly use the Switch as a handheld device. I highly recommend checking out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 if you are interested in those type of games. It's my 2nd favorite game of the year behind Persona 5.

strawhatninja

A video that brought me back in time, loved it! Great way to end 2017 for Side Quest. Hope you 3 have a Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy festivus!

Dav9834

Still don't have a Nintendo Switch but I hope you're enjoying yours on your holiday to Long-Island? Peninsula? Idk i'm from Nantucket and if you can take a bridge there and not a 1-3 hour boat, I'm skeptical.

Good stuff. Wish it was longer!

Donald Difford

I have mixed feelings about the year in success of the switch. One the one hand, I'm happy Nintendo nailed year one, but in the other, I don't see how they can maintain this pace especially 2-3 years from now with new hardware from Sony and Microsoft, not to mention recent history of failing to support their consoles after year 3. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Toren R. (KESA)

Hey Colin, I'm not finding Sidequest in my usual podcast apps like Pocket Casts. Is it only available on Patreon?

Loved the video! The Vita had an excellent years as well (December even saw a bunch of releases), which largely has gone under the radar. In addition, 2018 is looking to be amazing for Vita as well, with games like Secret of Mana, Rainbow Skies, Stardew Valley, YiiK, Cosmic Star Heroine, and many others expected to drop. It would be great to hear about how it lives on years after Sony has dropped it!

Sean Chandler

Mmm, Splatoon.

Steven Camilo