Yesterday I decided to sell our Nintendo Switch to a home that would use it and honestly I could not be more thrilled.
People may say that I am a Nintendo Hater but that is simply not the case. I have owned ever console since the start with the exception of the Game Cube and my wife and I spent many hours playing the Wii and the Wii U when it first came out. I am also thrilled that the Switch has been a success for Nintendo and that gamers have embraced it as it is great for the gaming community as a whole to have options and they have many iconic characters and franchises that I am happy to see continue.
We have also covered Nintendo at events from E3 , San Diego Comic-Con, and PAX to name a few for more years than I care to mention so it is not like we do not have interest. However after about a year after the launch of the Wii U; the luster wore off for us. The games did not hold our interest and the fact that many Nintendo games do not drop in price over time like their contemporaries left me not wanting to pay $59.99 for a game that I was only moderately interested in as well.
So the system sat and gathered dust as we played on the PC and PS4 systems and let staff handle the Wii U and Xbox reviews while we sold our Wii U to a collector who would be able to find better use for it.
With the announcement of the Nintendo Switch I was skeptical as Mobile gaming has never been a big draw for me and I do not like the idea of lowered graphics and framerates compared to what I would get on my PC and our PS4 systems.
Despite this, I went ahead and purchased the system at launch and we played Zelda and other games but still did not find them as compelling as we expected. The system sat and we found the P.R. firm for the company to be difficult to work with but there were plenty of Third-Party games to hold our attention. Or so we thought. Once again after playing them for a short while the system like the Wii U sat unused while we logged our gaming and review time on the PC and PS4 and assigned Switch and Xbox titles to staff.
I had thought it was just a matter of time for more exclusives to arrive and that would ignite a new wave of excitement for the system. Games arrived, and only held moderate interest for us, and like before, a year or so later they are still $59.99.
It is very hard for me to justify that price for an older game and one that I had little interest in. Had the Switch offered something like mobile streaming for movies I could really have embraced it as the ideal travel tool but once again it came up short.
I watched the E3 Treehouse and saw how excited the hardcore fans were for the announced games but I can honestly say I did not have a modicum of interest in a single thing that was announced. A staff member suggested that I would like Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance 3 but I said even that held little interest to me as I have been really put off by the graphics and gameplay that was revealed.
I loved looking at the Nintendo booth at E3 and took several pictures and some video while I was there, but when I started doing the summaries for the radio show, newspapers, magazine, and the website, I found myself covering the big titles that were bound for the PC, PS4, and Xbox one systems and found there was not a single Nintendo exclusives that was on my meter.
A month later the Switch still sits there. My wife who is a big fan of their past games has ignored it and now plays more games than ever on her phone or on the PS4 and PC which prompted me to sell the Switch. It sold very fast and while some might have some second thoughts about this; I remembered how the Wii U like the Switch was overlooked and I came to realize that what Nintendo is offering is simply not appealing to me. I know that makes me a minority amongst gamers but the whimsical fun they offer does not appeal to me like it once did and I find that if I am going to pay $59.99; I want a AAA production with cutting edge graphics and multiplayer.
I even told my wife the next time Nintendo releases a console remind me how the Wii U and the Switch sat there until we sold them and that is why we should not jump in and buy their systems right off the bat.
This is not a matter of malice towards the Switch it is simply a consequence of the system and games not meeting our interest, needs, or holding our attention the same way that offerings on other platforms have for the past several years. As much fun as the Wii was; the motion-control system became a gimmick as time wore on and so many games were watered down versions of what we could get on other systems. Let us not forget games that had no multiplayer or DLC, lower quality graphics, and of course the missing content such as the Star Destroyer level on The Force Unleashed. I know that Nintendo is not and likely never will be the system for cutting-edge graphics and Online play and that is fine. I just think that if I am going to be expected to drop $300.00 and upwards for a system and $59.99 for a game, I need something more than they have been offering.
To each their own as it would be a dull world if we all thought and acted the same and had identical tastes. I will still cover the news, take photos at the conventions, even play the games when they are made available at shows and such, but I am more than content to let staff handle the Nintendo coverage as I would prefer those who were truly passionate about their system do the reviews going forward and I will focus on what works best for me in terms of gaming platforms.
