Hey Nintendo, you’re an awesome company! You almost single handedly raised an entire generation of kids on consoles with less processing power than the worst phone on the market today. It’s hard to be objective– You’re a part of a collectively shared childhood with many of my peers along with myself.
It’s kind of funny when you think about how with the release of the Switch, Nintendo’s undeniable turn to mobile gaming has become apparent. Combine that with the announcement of Mario arrival IOS (It’s about time!) one can only wonder how long it is before even the most uber members of the PC Master Race/Console Peasants begin the jump into your pocket.
The Switch is undeniably shaped and sized to be portable, not much larger than a tablet carried by commuters on a train or person flipping through pages in your local coffee shop. The similarities aren’t uncanny, they’re finely tuned and plotted. It’s no coincidence that the questions and criticism towards the Switch echo those raised at mobile gaming- ‘Where’s all the computing power? What will its processor handle? Why doesn’t it have a more adequate graphics card? What is the battery life?
“I’ll never pick it up!”, “It’s not a real console!” You might be saying to yourself, vehemently denying the inescapable acknowledgement of mobile as gaming platform. Remember when IOS declared the same sentiment their in defiance towards the stylus? They also chanted with a fervor not unlike yourselves. Look where they are now. It’s easy enough to wave a finger at the latest hardware powered elite, but instead of treating this as a detriment to our socket-straddled gaming brethren, let’s actually take a peek as to what this really means for the industry as a whole.
Platform compatibility is already here in some form or another. You can, in many cases, use your console to charge your mobile device, as well as use it as a form of portable hard drive to store all your favourite replays/high scores.
So why not gaming? Gamers have long held their consoles in their pockets- Let’s not forget here that pop starlet Taylor Swift is roughly as old as the original Gameboy (Released in 1989, next to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, The Little Mermaid and of course the most timeless of albums: Madonna’s Like a Prayer.) Nintendo has always taken huge leaps (for better and for worse) in gaming and (bias fully disclosed) it’s great to finally see where gaming can go once it’s finally free of the cord.
I get that change is hard. However,= without it, innovation becomes impossible. So how about we all just take a second and pump the breaks on our judgements on the Switch at least until it comes out, alright?
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