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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Stupid Gaming Journalists Confirm Nintendo Switch's Lack of Physical Backwards Compatibility

By LUDWIG VON KOOPA - Is it a question of negative coverage, or desperately trying to have any coverage?

We are less than a week after having watched and analysed the first-look trailer for Nintendo's new system, the Nintendo Switch, which is coming out March 2017. That's only five months away, folks. While some people believe that's a looooooong time away, I look back at five months ago and see that's when we annexed Alberta and had our three-year anniversary. I mean, for me, it feels like that JUST happened.

It turns out that Nintendo apparently does not plan to publicly announce any more relevant details pertaining to the Nintendo Switch until 2017. Oh no! What ever will a Nintendo-focused website do to pass the time until then, especially with the game lineup for Nintendo's current systems for the rest of the year basically depleted? (With the exception of Pokémon.)

Why, they'll run stupid headlines like this one from IGN: Nintendo Switch Not Backwards Compatible With Physical 3DS or Wii U Games.

That's newsworthy, isn't it? ...No, it's not. Look at our hyperlinked article in this article's first sentence. I made a very mind-blowing diagram of all of the Nintendo Switch's parts, just so we're all clear on which part is the actual Nintendo Switch: The screen.

Where in that did you expect to fit a Wii U disc? Don't you need, oh, I don't know, a disc drive for that? Wii U discs are basically bigger than the entire Switch device. (Wii U discs are 120 mm tall.)


Wii U disc Nintendo Switch tablet size comparison Ars Technica
Size estimate/diagram 100% courtesy of Ars Technica. All I did was put the disc behind it.

Here's how IGN reported it — and they are far from the only outlet to discuss the story:
When asked whether or not Switch can play physical Wii U or 3DS games, a representative from Nintendo responded to IGN with a simple ‘no.’” 



Anyway, to be fair to IGN, we've published interviews where the other party doesn't even reply.

Nintendo then refused to answer other questions about the Nintendo Switch, since their marketing plan says to say nothing until 2017. They gave the deadpan “no” about backwards compatibility with physical games because that's the equivalent of asking, “The Nintendo Switch is cool, but when will you show the NX?” Or, “Will you sell the Nintendo Switch for over $50?”

Dumb questions with self-evident answers.

The ultimate question is this: Why are they reporting this? Is it a continuation of the media's distorted and negative reporting against Nintendo, or is it because they really have nothing better to write about and they have to keep people clicking and present on their websites between now and the next bit of actual news?

Probably a mixture of both.

Anyway, it certainly SOUNDS bad to read that they don't have backwards compatibility. “Nintendo is screwing over the consumer!” or some crap like that. But that should be forgiven because, I mean, just LOOK at the Switch. It has one screen. It's small. By design, it shouldn't be backwards compatible. Being backwards compatible would compromise everything Nintendo is going for! It's not some massive black box like Nintendo's competitors where you can make it do all sorts of bells and whistles. The Nintendo Switch is omnichannel, not omnipotent.

But do these media outlets want the reader to conduct even the most basic analysis to reach that conclusion, or are they just trying to get people upset for clicks?


Ludwig wants to leave you with the thought that you could write the same kind of article not only about Nintendo headlines, but also headlines about the political election. The media for that wants you to focus on irrelevant things in an overt attempt to influence your vote, instead of having you look at what actually matters. Are you actually upset about the lack of backwards compatibility? Do you have to sell your previous system in order to obtain a new one?


For something that does matter politically and also directly relates to the gaming industry, click here for an exposé on a certain candidate's record.
For a blatant example of the mainstream media trying to destroy Nintendo with rumours and false information and never correcting the truth, click here.
KoopaTV has a list of media sources it trusts, and a list of those that are BAD.
Leading up to the Switch's release, journalists created FAKE NEWS instead of just useless articles.
The lack of backwards compatibility is to try something different after the Wii U's backwards compatibility, and it worked. 

8 comments :

  1. I saw many people speculating that 3DS backwards compatibility might be possible since the Switch used cartridges. That part wasn't obvious from the design.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Count how many screens the Switch has.

      Delete
    2. There are still people who didn't pick up on the fact that the Switch doesn't use two screens. Besides, it could have been select backwards compatibility, working with certain games that only needed one screen.

      I'm just saying, maybe it was immediately obvious to you that the Switch wouldn't have backward compatibility, but a lot of us wanted to know. So just think of those journalists as reporting the news for US, not for you. :P

      Delete
    3. Come on, that's absurd and confusing.
      Like hell Nintendo is going to specifically program physical backwards compatibility to select games. How would that go over with consumers? How many games only need one screen, anyway? Any games you enjoy?

      Delete
  2. Well, it looks like I'm not going to pick up the Switch anymore. What's the point of having a brand new console if it cannot play games from the last generation? Without this feature, nothing else matters, not even the new games. Who needs a new Mario game anyway?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I dunno, man!


      In all seriousness, I want to note the peculiar situation of the Wii U being directly compatible with Wii discs, but also selling select Wii games on the Virtual Console at the eShop.

      Delete
  3. I my days when we went from NES to SNES we were not upset about lack of backwards compatability, we just accepted it. Kids these days.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And SNES to N64, and N64 to GCN...

      Backwards compatibility is a very recent thing. Though, I guess the counterargument is that the Game Boy line featured it early-on.

      Kimishima is making the claim that the Switch is another pillar from the 3DS, which would explain why it doesn't play 3DS games.
      ...Though, they said the DS was a third pillar from the GBA, and the DS had a GBA slot. Maybe they've learned since a decade ago how to make your pillar PR actually plausible.
      (That alliteration sounds like a great article title.)

      Delete

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