Switch Discussion Thread

[BogusMeatFactory]

Here is a very crazy idea. If you don't want a product in the way they are presenting it, don't get it. Pirating something because a company doesn't want you to pirate it is asinine. Pirating something because a company is doing digital things in the digital era where the bulk of the consumers don't care.... is asinine. It is hypocritical and juvenile.

[PartridgeSenpai]

A bit broad, there are cases even if they are not the majority. I used to rip stuff off that I normally wouldn't have, though later some I did end up grabbing even if it was years or decade plus later. Back in the 90s when the internet was newer and people starting getting visibly angry over copy protection, some of it that would cancerously devastate a computer due to corporate paranoia and greed I'd do it. Stuff like starforce which would screw with your CD APIs in many cases causing your burner not longer to properly function in general (even after the game wasn't in the drive, or even installed anymore) I would not allow but wanted the game. I'd steal it, happily as a middle finger, yet years later when the company re-released the program without the bs involved, I paid for it, as it was fun and replayed it again. Not a majority or normal thing, but there are valid reasons to screw with a company due to their short sighted or cheap pocketed stupidity.

If piracy were possible and boots of Switch games were sold. I'd buy a pirate of Resident Evil Revelations 1+2 if it included 2 on the card. Any game that fakes being physical to make you download a large mandatory chunk of it because they're skinflints I'd do it. But if they came back later and did a proper full release I'd buy it. Same with Super Bomberman R being broken on the card they still sell from Konami that requires the second update made to the game to fix it that has stayed download only. If a patched game were warez copied I'd buy that. I already paid for the Konami beta, they got their funds on a lie. I'd have no conscience about it.

It's just that, as you say yourself, the old days of pirating through necessity of preserving your machine are long gone. Buying the Mega Man Legacy Collection (collection?) won't damage your Switch unless you pirate it. The truth is that most games these days are released requiring patches these days. It lets the dev team keep fixing and improving things in between the time they ship and the time the game actually goes live. It's extra seamless with PC games especially, given that virtually all PC games are just downloads these days anyhow. Games that are inoperable without patches is just becoming an unavoidable fact of life these days.

The whole "middle finger" notion also just doesn't work. A company may theoretically care if their game is pirated (obviously they'd prefer you pay money for their hard work), but there is no way to translate a pirated version of a game to a lost sale. A company ultimately can't care if you pirate their game because they really can't do much anything to stop you or make you buy a legit copy (in most cases). It's really just you steal a game and that's it.

Even if they have some gauge on how many copies have been pirated, the company has no idea why you stole it because you just stole it without a word. They don't know that it's because the cart doesn't have the DLC on it. How are they supposed to differentiate you between the people who just couldn't afford it? From the people who just don't wanna pay? From the people protest voting for another reason? You're protesting a problem but giving the institution no reason why, so the institution has no means how to change even if they were confident it would result in a sale.

[Reprise]

I don't pirate games full stop. Not even old games anymore.

But surely we must be able to find some kind of mutual ground regarding companies thinking it's acceptable to sell physical products that contain less than 20% of the game on the actual cartridge? Are we really just old and out of touch with the modern world? In my opinion, comparison with patches is a false equivalence. I can't think of many if any games I own, except for online games, that are flat unplayable or completely broken without patches.

Why even have a cartridge at all? They could just have a code in a box. So why don't they do that? Because they want you to THINK it's the same as having a physical product, but it really isn't. It's just a glorified activation card.

[Reprise]

Yes! Doom on the Switch now supports Metroid Prime Wii style motion controls, thanks to a new patch that went live last night!

[isiolia]

From what Arstechnica wrote about it, it sounds more like adding motion sensitivity on top of normal gamepad controls.

[Reprise]

Ah I see. Thanks for posting that. I might try it out tonight.

[Tanooki]

Yes reprise, that is the issue. Deceitfully selling a physical product that really isn't in the package after all or only is partly so just to save a buck. It's like why bother other than shelf presence, but a lame PS3 era code in a box would do that too. They're specifically trying to take advantage of those who want physical media by tossing part of a bone to force the downloads.

Did any of you see the story about EA, the UK, and FIFA out yesterday? The game was the worst seller in the region because they did the same crap as Capcom, but a step further entirely excluding like a 1/3 of the game choices the other releases had yet asked full price. It sold barely. They finally just lowered the price in value about equal to what the game was lacking in content. Now it tracked as the #1 seller in the region as people jumped on board with a discounted price matching the discounted lack of content in the game.

EA was so quick to blame Nintendo, blame their fanboys, blame everyone but their own shady attitudes. Yet once the price matched what they offered the sales went up 500%. It went to show them (and maybe though it is EA) and teach them the lesson that short changing a base and hoping they're stupid enough to fall for it isn't so easy. Nintendo owners punished them with little sales, and when the price matched the content rewarded them with a big boost in sales for the same content.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Sorry folks, didn't mean to start a piracy discussion. I don't pirate, and I'll probably just buy the second half of the collection on PS4.

I'm just aggravated- unlike say, RE or Bayonneta where it's two large games in one package, these are small games that easily could have fit into a single card. I just can't imagine Capcom is going to be that cheap, considering no information points to the Street Fighter Anniversary collection having this type of issue.

[marurun]

Are those codes re-usable? Are they tied to the cartridge or to the Switch? Maybe this is an attempt to short the resale market. The PC market has already pretty much left the used market behind. Maybe these publishers are trying to find a way to do this for consoles, too. I think it's a bad idea, but it has the potential to work. They have to be looking at the PC market in envy right now (Steam and GOG sales aside).

[Reprise]

Did any of you see the story about EA, the UK, and FIFA out yesterday?

I did, yeah. Sales went up 500%, because Amazon were selling it for £25. I'm actually quite shocked. I would have figured that with it being so old now (since it's an annually released franchise), a sale wouldn't have made much difference.

Sorry folks, didn't mean to start a piracy discussion. I don't pirate, and I'll probably just buy the second half of the collection on PS4.

I'm just aggravated- unlike say, RE or Bayonneta where it's two large games in one package, these are small games that easily could have fit into a single card. I just can't imagine Capcom is going to be that cheap, considering no information points to the Street Fighter Anniversary collection having this type of issue.

EXACTLY. I'm certain the whole collection would have fitted on a 8GB cartridge, let alone even a 16GB one.

Are those codes re-usable? Are they tied to the cartridge or to the Switch? Maybe this is an attempt to short the resale market. The PC market has already pretty much left the used market behind. Maybe these publishers are trying to find a way to do this for consoles, too. I think it's a bad idea, but it has the potential to work. They have to be looking at the PC market in envy right now (Steam and GOG sales aside).

They're tied to the Switch, although I think Nintendo at least ties purchases on the Switch to the eShop account now (i.e. if your Switch breaks tomorrow, you won't lose any purchases, unlike what it was like on Wii U, Wii, 3DS etc.). Anyone able to verify that?

Edit: BTW, the worst thing is the collection is unlikely to come to Europe. This means those of us who import the collection from America will have to go to the effort of setting up a US eShop account and redeeming the code on a seperate account. Okay, I know it's 'First World problems' and all and setting up a different region account isn't difficult, but it's a pain in the arse when you just expect to buy a physical cartridge and for it to work out the box as expected.