Has anyone actually found the NSP/XCI somewhere?

I’ve found an update file but the base game doesn’t seem to be anywhere I have access to.

  • @Sgagvefey
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    2 months ago

    They didn’t meaningfully innovate on software. They “innovated” on hardware by using a tablet and giving it a dock to make older games viable on handheld that weren’t before. Which is fine; it demonstrated the market for handhelds playing real games even with the worst controller the world has ever seen, and kickstarted the steam deck and a bunch of PC copycats. But collectors are their core market. If they do a switch 2 that doesn’t do physical games, it will fail.

    Physical media has mostly died out. Streaming has almost entirely replaced music, TV, and movies. Ereaders are still growing, but they’re also a huge market, and libraries support multiple ebook borrowing apps with different libraries because ebooks are so much of their job now.

    Nintendo makes a handful of games a year. Most switch games aren’t from Nintendo. Most switch games don’t work well without updates. And if you want to talk about how popular the switch specifically is instead of the fact that their core audience is physical collectors, all of the switch’s popularity is because it could play third party games.

    You don’t need Nintendo servers to get digital games.

    The used market has massive compromises that you’re just ignoring. It doesn’t matter if it’s “only” 1% chance of a bad transaction. Bad transactions happen, and it’s a risk that nullifies much of the benefit if you experience it.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 months ago

      They didn’t meaningfully innovate on software.

      Have you heard of the game “Breath of the Wild”? O.o

      They “innovated” on hardware by using a tablet and giving it a dock to make older games viable on handheld that weren’t before.

      Yeah, and apple “innovated” by combining available technology to create the iphone, which became the archetype of the most commonly used type of technology today. That’s how innovation in tech usually works: lateral thinking and application of available technology. And the switch’s success proved Nintendo right.

      If they do a switch 2 that doesn’t do physical games, it will fail.

      You’ve done a horrible job convincing me of your divination powers. All you’re doing is speculating very confidently/arrogantly.

      Physical media has mostly died out. Streaming has almost entirely replaced music, TV, and movies.

      What are they streaming, if streaming killed movies? O.o

      Yeah, the convenience of streaming has severely reduced the amount of physical media around. Bookstores, libraries and Bluray players still exist, though. You’re sounding liks execs claiming that single player games or not streaming games is about to die out.

      Nintendo makes a handful of games a year.

      And they have been successfully applying that model for decades. Compare the quality of each new Zelda/Mario release with the n-th Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty.

      Most switch games aren’t from Nintendo.

      But Nintendo supplied the system sellers. The switch sold like hot cakes and then everyone wanted a piece of the slice.

      instead of the fact that their core audience is physical collectors

      The switch audience is way too large for that to be the case. You can’t rely on collectors for hardware that’s so expensive to make (compared to the classic mini consoles, for example - here. I’d accept that collectors were the core audience).

      all of the switch’s popularity is because it could play third party games.

      It’s actually hard to port to the switch. You wouldn’t put that much effort into a port if the switch didn’t already have such a high adoption rate. The switch was successful first and then they made all the 3rd party ports for it. Again: compare it to the WiiU.

      You don’t need Nintendo servers to get digital games.

      You need them to access them the way that you bought them. The whole discussion doesn’t make sense if piracy is your main mode of getting the games, since people psually don’t want pirate cartridges. (Unless it’s like an everdrive… where the games are still digital)

      The used market has massive compromises that you’re just ignoring. It doesn’t matter if it’s “only” 1% chance of a bad transaction. Bad transactions happen, and it’s a risk that nullifies much of the benefit if you experience it.

      You’re dismissing the benefits wholesale. Cartridges aren’t CDs. Using a cartridge doesn’t degrade the contents. Buying used/borrowing from friends is really safe, or the friendship won’t last. Marketplaces like ebay have checks in place so that the seller doesn’t get the money if there’s a serious issue with the game. It’s less like a 1% likelihood than a 0.01% likelihood. And again: not everyone can buy new and not everyone has access to a 1st gen switch.

      Edit: it doesn’t even “nullify” with your numbers. If I get a game for 20€ cheaper and every 100th purchase is a scam, where I lose all my money, then statistically, I’ve only payed 20,20€. If you’re on a tight budget, then buying and selling used is way cheaper than waiting for sales on switch games.

      • @Sgagvefey
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        2 months ago

        Breath of the Wild was a good step on one aspect of open world, destroyed by not knowing that open worlds still need actual content. It’s a good tech demo. It’s a terrible game. And it can’t be “innovation that sells a system” on the Switch when it was a port that was already available before the Switch.

        Try getting a physical copy of big, successful TV shows now. Many of them don’t exist at all. Some movies never get physical copies.

        Nintendo provided a handheld that just met the bare minimum threshold to play their games. But the argument for physical being acceptable is about all games, not the 1% that are from Nintendo.

        The hardware wasn’t expensive to make. Again, that’s their entire design philosophy. They took junk chips nvidia had no use for dirt cheap and screens you can get on a $30 tablet. There was no meaningful up front R&D cost and there was a very small cost per unit compared to the other consoles. They didn’t invest anything in the Switch. Their “system seller” wasn’t even a new game.

        It’s always expensive to port to Nintendo consoles because they always use ancient technology.

        Giving up legitimate access to a game until you buy it again is a big cost you’re ignoring, as is the time you invest in selling. You’re also ignoring that the cost of a bad experience goes way above the couple bucks involved.

        • @[email protected]
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          22 months ago

          Breath of the Wild was a good step on one aspect of open world

          Lol. As if BotW is comparable to what the Ubisoft game (for there is merely one by now) or other open world games have been doing up until then.

          destroyed by not knowing that open worlds still need actual content.

          Lol. It’s ok to not like a game, but claiming that a game on which so many players sunk 100+ hours into didn’t have “content”? Come on. xD

          It’s a terrible game.

          Lol. That’s why it was incredibly successful and attracted immediate copycats, right. \s

          And it can’t be “innovation that sells a system” on the Switch when it was a port that was already available before the Switch.

          What are you talking about? BotW released with the switch. It was also available on the WiiU, yes. But that only proves my point that it was a system seller, since people bought it with a switch, instead of getting a cheaper WiiU.

          Try getting a physical copy of big, successful TV shows now. Many of them don’t exist at all. Some movies never get physical copies.

          I constantly see them in my library (e.g. house of dragons). Also, again: book stores continue to exist.

          Nintendo provided a handheld that just met the bare minimum threshold to play their games.

          Thats not how console releases work. Games usually get technologically more advanced as the hardware ages. TotK is way more advanced than BotW. Also: I’m not following your point here.

          The hardware wasn’t expensive to make.

          It is, especially the cartridges. Not as expensive as the Playstation, or XBox, true. But that’s because Nintendo on principle don’t sell hardware at a loss. Still, the markup is waaaay lower than with the mini consoles, which were my examples for collector’s items.

          That’s pure maths: if you focus on a small demographic (like collectors), you need a high markup. E.g. MtG is only lucrative, because the cardboard is so cheap. The switch doesn’t have such a high markup, so they need to go for mass appeal. If collectors would be Nintendo’s main source of revenue, they wouldn’t have bothered with the switch lite, which is clearly aimed at the opposite of collectors.

          There was no meaningful up front R&D cost

          The main reason why the supposed R&D cost was so low was because Nintendo fuzed their hard-held and console team. They had a lot of experience with hand-helds (and innovation in that space, for that matter).

          Their “system seller” wasn’t even a new game.

          Again: you’re talking bullshit. (Also: they had a second system seller with Mario, which arrived half a year later)

          It’s always expensive to port to Nintendo consoles because they always use ancient technology.

          And you’re refuting my point… how? Why am I getting the feeling that you care less about a coherent argument than dunking on Nintendo?

          Giving up legitimate access to a game until you buy it again is a big cost you’re ignoring.

          You’re ignoring the budget point and that all digital purchases will inevitably be void in the future.

          You’re also ignoring that the cost of a bad experience goes way above the couple bucks involved.

          And you’re gnoring how rarely that happens.

          • @Sgagvefey
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            12 months ago

            It’s the emptiest open world ever made. Shrines take longer to load than to beat.

            Bookstores are also dying, and stores are abandoning physical media of all kinds because people don’t buy them.

            Thats not how console releases work. Games usually get technologically more advanced as the hardware ages. TotK is way more advanced than BotW. Also: I’m not following your point here.

            It’s how they’re supposed to work. That ARM CPU was tapped out before the switch launched. The entire cost of porting to Nintendo systems is always for the same reason, making the obscene downgrades visually and mechanically mandatory to get games running on their system. There isn’t performance to eke out of it. It’s bad.

            The switch has a huge markup. Cartridges are actually expensive. Nothing else is. Their costs were low because they used tech that would have been thrown in the trash if they didn’t buy it, and they spent virtually nothing on R&D. They absolutely could have made money on an extremely small market. It’s what they’ve been doing for years. Even without their huge cash reserves, they could have sold 500k switches and wouldn’t have lost money. Again, that’s their entire philosophy as a company. They do not take financial risks.

            • @[email protected]
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              2 months ago

              It’s the emptiest open world ever made. Shrines take longer to load than to beat.

              You are entitled to your opinion, if you find BotW boring. But the original point was that it was a critically acclaimed and incredibly successful system seller. You claimed that the switch sold well because of the third party support. But if it weren’t for Nintendo’s system sellers (Zelda and Mario Odyssey), the third parties wouldn’t have bothered developing for the switch. You also agreed that the switch is hard to develop for. By your logic, the PS Vita and the WiiU would have had to be successful. Stop focusing on your shit takes in order to distract from the original point.

              Bookstores are also dying, and stores are abandoning physical media of all kinds because people don’t buy them.

              Yes, and single player games are also dying. /s You have already shown that you make wrong assumptions based on what you feel is right (like Nintendo depending on collectors).

              There isn’t performance to eke out of it.

              Compare TotK to launch titles. That game is a testament on how much you can get out of aging hardware. Supposedly, Alien Isolation’s port for the switch is the best edition.

              They absolutely could have made money on an extremely small market. It’s what they’ve been doing for years.

              When? When has Nintendo relied on niche markets (since the NES, I mean).

              Even without their huge cash reserves

              What “huge” money reserves? The ones from the WiiU? They only got their cash reserves after they released the switch.

              Again, that’s their entire philosophy as a company. They do not take financial risks.

              Lol, do you remember the N64, the Virtualboy, the Gamecube, the WiiU, etc? Edit: what was the Wii, if not both innovative, as well as a big, fat risk???

              Edit (addendum): so you hate BotW but still find it “unacceptable” if you didn’t have constant access to it? And you don’t get how people sometimes want to cash out on experiences they don’t value?

              • @Sgagvefey
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                12 months ago

                A console being different is not a financial risk when you spend no money on developing it and no money on producing it.

                There was no path to bankruptcy, or even meaningful financial loss, if the Wii failed.

                The market they actually get isn’t the point. It’s that they never invest enough money for it to be possible for them to lose meaningful money if their gimmick doesn’t work. If Sony doesn’t sell PS5s, they’re diverse enough that it probably won’t bankrupt them, but it will hurt bad. Nintendo isn’t even willing to invest enough that not selling is a mild inconvenience. They just refuse to invest.

                • @[email protected]
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                  12 months ago

                  You’re spouting non-stop bullshit. The Wii didn’t have R&D costs? Get outta here!

                  Nintendo was on the cusp of going the way Sega went after the Gamecube and the WiiU. The financial successes of the Wii and Switch saved their asses.

                  • @Sgagvefey
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                    12 months ago

                    Compared to any other non-Nintendo platform ever made? No, it didn’t. They used cheap junk tech, exactly like the Switch, and didn’t commit to any meaningful investment in number of units.

                    The fact that they use hardware not capable of playing modern games is why third parties have very limited involvement with them. It’s why they got ports of 15 year old games instead of most developers of new games even considering putting their games on there. And their bad hardware is a direct result of their unwillingness to invest like everyone else does. Even Valve, who has very limited hardware production, invested far more in the Steam Deck than Nintendo did on the switch.