Sony seems to have a really, really bad track record with security... like, as a company on the whole. AACS protection in Blu-ray, pretty much every one of their consoles getting a major exploit while the systems were still on store shelves... I like to think it's payback for the rootkits that Sony put on audio CDs back in the day.
I personally haven’t owned a Nintendo system since the N64 (my roommate back in the day had a Wii). Jumped back in with a switch 2 since my daughter expressed an interest after playing with friends. She has been a good kid so we called it a family day present and it is a shared system between her and I. It is a neat device for sure and if there are some good games I can see this becoming something that joins me on my work travels.
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I personally haven’t owned a Nintendo system since the N64 (my roommate back in the day had a Wii).
NES for a system and GameBoy for handheld for me. My dad was given a Wii by a guy he did work for whose daughter passed away in a car accident but he gave it to my nieces before even asking me if I might want it. I'm not sure how much use they put into it but I would have used it to play old school Nintendo games.
I've owned the SNES, 64, Wii and Switch 1. I've also owned game boys and DS lites.
As a parent, I've started to really understand the Nintendo ethos of a semi portable console that can potentially be played by 3 year olds to 93 year olds or whatever it was. IMO, Nintendo might be done if they ever walk away from that ethos and end up competing with all sorts of other devices.
I also kinda like that I can somewhat limit the technology via older Nintendo systems, without limiting the relevancy and playability of some of those games in the current era. Some of those games are still lots of fun and way more enticing than what's available on a phone/tablet. Some of those ios/android games seem like crippled SNES to DS games even decades after their original release.
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I've owned the SNES, 64, Wii and Switch 1. I've also owned game boys and DS lites.
As a parent, I've started to really understand the Nintendo ethos of a semi portable console that can potentially be played by 3 year olds to 93 year olds or whatever it was. IMO, Nintendo might be done if they ever walk away from that ethos and end up competing with all sorts of other devices.
I also kinda like that I can somewhat limit the technology via older Nintendo systems, without limiting the relevancy and playability of some of those games in the current era. Some of those games are still lots of fun and way more enticing than what's available on a phone/tablet. Some of those ios/android games seem like crippled SNES to DS games even decades after their original release.
The Switch is the 2nd best selling console of all time after PS2, and the Switch 2 launched with really good sales, they're not walking away from this path anytime soon. (Especially since it will be a long time they need to release a new console.)
More generally, Nintendo has been doing it's own thing for a very long time without caring much about what everyone else is doing, and it's working for them.
Portables are huge in Japan, especially as people move into smaller living spaces and fewer and fewer people in Japan have TVs in their home.
Focus on the flexibility and portability is why the Switch was a success, and honestly both the Switch 1 and Switch 2 really changed my own gaming habits away from the TV and back to the portable form factor.
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Nowhere to go but up. They certainly aren't going to exit the business after spending over $80 billion to acquire some of the largest game developers.
On a Decoder podcast EP from last week, the guest was Tom Warren from The Verge. He was basically saying the recent Xbox leadership changes point to a broader strategic shift at Microsoft--which isn’t exactly shocking.
What caught me off guard was how long there’s been speculation about Microsoft potentially spinning off Xbox into a separate company or restructuring it entirely. That idea has apparently been floating around for years, but I don't really follow this stuff too closely, and it was news to me.
But it’s only been, what, two years since Microsoft closed the Activision deal. It’s hard to imagine they would spend that kind of money just to turn around and cut the whole gaming division loose.
I didn't mind waiting a year or two for a PS5 exclusive to get ported to PC, but that might actually force me to get a PS5 eventually.
I actually haven't owned a console since the NES, but I've also got a 5 year old who's starting to show some interest so I imagine our next console will be a Switch 2 regardless.
I didn't mind waiting a year or two for a PS5 exclusive to get ported to PC, but that might actually force me to get a PS5 eventually.
I actually haven't owned a console since the NES, but I've also got a 5 year old who's starting to show some interest so I imagine our next console will be a Switch 2 regardless.
If you haven't really introduced games to the child yet, consider start off with those cheap retro games consoles and try to introduce video games to them like we were introduced to them.
Like... pong on a cheap projector projected on a wall, then pac man, then tetris, then side scrollers, RPGs etc. Slowly migrate through the gaming eras and let the crappy resolution evolve the understanding towards 4K or 8K by the end of a multi year journey.
My kids are slightly older than yours and I just started this and my kids a few months ago. They seem to be more engaged and hooked to it than the games on their tablets. So it's not too late to try. TBH, I've been more engaged too via nostalgia vs the apps designed for them that I don't have a care for.
My kids usually do their own thing and fight like siblings do. This morning I found them playing Mario Kart together and my oldest was sorta trying to coach the younger one how to "git gud". Warmed my heart. He was still making fun of his sister for sucking, but I noticed that glimmer of hope in there.
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Next generation will be interesting, what will XBOX due to try and persuade gamers to spend PC level money on the new system.
Are we going to see a shift to more exclusives? I think so.
That's the only way they would convince me to consider buying one. I was even considering maybe skipping PS6 this time around but I guess that's not happening now.
He was still making fun of his sister for sucking, but I noticed that glimmer of hope in there. 
