At this time on Thursdays, we like to talk tech, and this week it is all about the Nintendo Switch too. We welcome in Mark Saltzman. I'm gonna play the little thing. You know, it's the little thing that's all right. We don't need to do it, Mark, Okay, Nintendo Switch too. If you are a dvo.
I can do it. I can do it.
Okay, I'm doing the dance. So we've got a cover.
All right.
Well, if you're a devote of Nintendo Switch, you're probably going to get a Nintendo switched too, right. I mean, I know there's an article, you've played with it, you've checked it out.
Is it worth it?
But I was kind of opining before I had you on, Mark that, like, if you love the Nintendo Switch, is it does it matter?
If it's worth it? You want the new one, don't you?
Yeah? You know the Nintendo's they know how to create It's like their secret sauces is very thought after by many other game companies. They know how to make games that are super fun. You often can't put your finger on it. It's often family friendly content, not always, but they just they they've got that Jena Sequa. They just know how to make a game system that makes it so desirable. You probably grew up saying Nintendo. I mean, long before the Wei and all that, you probably played Marrio.
My first foray into addiction was Super Mario Brothers for sure.
Yeah, yeah, me too. Meta. So yesterday in New York, Nintendo hosted an event for media to officially launch the Nintendo Switch to or at least announce the launch date of June fifth, And yeah, I mean, look, it's it's very similar to what made the Nintendo Switch popular in twenty seventeen and to this day, which is primarily the fact that it's a versatile console. You can play it
on the go. It has a screen, so to help, you know, reduce the are we there yet from the backseat if you will, on a road trip, But then you can dock it and play it on a big screen TV. For most of the Nintendo Switch models, not all of them, but most of them, so they haven't changed that that formula remains the same, but they've made
it better in virtually every other way. For one, the screen that you play on is instead of a six point two inch, it's nearly eight inches, and it's a better quality screen and with not just with better resolution, twice the pixels or dots that make up the image compared to the last model, which just means the games just look so much more vibrant. But they've also up the refresh rate, so it's a lot for those geeks listening.
It's one hundred and twenty hertz refresh rates, which it's double the sixty frames per second that most game systems play at. And so this is just incredibly you know, fluid gameplay. So the new Mario Kart World, which is the launch title, it can support up to thirty two players, and you know it's going to be really silky smooth when you play that. They've also added a Sea button shenon in the bottom right quarter of the Nintendo Switch,
and C stands for Chat. Before, believe it or not, they really didn't have an intuitive way to chat with other players while you were gaming. You can attach an external microphone, but it was clumsy, but now you just press that button. It's got a noise canceling microphone built into the Nintendo Switch too, so you can chat in real time with friends around the world over Wi Fi, and the option to add a camera if you want
for video calling. And so just for in gameplay as well, Like if I'm stuck in a level in the game that I know Shannon you finished, or Gary, I can call you through my Nintendo Switch too, and you can say and I can share my screen and you can say, oh, I know exactly where you are. Mark, this is what you need to do. Go over here and look for the Princess Peach whatever you get done. Yet, there's also yeah,
there's also a better kickstand. That was a pain point with the existing Nintendo Switch is kind of flimsy in the back, so when you prop it up on a table or desk, it might fall, you know. So they just added a budd of new technologies to it to just enhance the experience. But at its core, it's very similar to the original Nintendo Switch, just better and virtually every every other every way all the features.
Mario Kart World too, has the open world to race through this time. I mean we've seen it in Burnout Paradise or and for the Horizon, but it's the first for the Mario Kart series.
Yeah, look at you.
Hey, I did my homework, okay.
But yeah, it is open and it's going to add to the replayability because you can there's so many different modes. One of them is called free rome, which means even if you want to.
Oh no, he's cutting out, not in know the hell. Free rome means you don't, she doesn't know, we don't know. Try it again, try it back.
I love that this is a segment called tech talk and the technology is us right.
Now, right, try again, Free rome, what does that mean?
Free roam? They don't you don't play on a particular circuit, like you're not actually racing. You can free rome the environments in this game and even stop and get out of your car or your cart and take pictures with your friends within the game. And that's really fun. Yeah, lots of different environments, desert and like you know, mountains and it's that that was a real hit during the demo yesterday. Just the idea that you can just play
however you like. And yeah, it's going to get and then for those who do like to race, there's more modes, more competitions, more trophies. But yeah, I think Nintendo fans are going to love it. It's going to be four fifty when it comes out on June fifth. There'll be some bundles as well, where you can also get that Mario Kart World game with it and other bundles. So yeah, people are looking forward to it, I think overall, and it's going to be backward compatible for those who are
wondering World Grade. I just spent you know, a couple thousand dollars on games over the years. It will play your previous games and in some cases you can pay a small feed. They didn't disclose how much, but it'll upgrade the older games with even more features and better graphics and all that to play on your Nintendo switch to if you want.
Okay, and then a final question, what is Knockout mode?
Knockout Mode is a highly competitive racing mode within the game where you go from country to country, and it's like it's like what do you call what do you call it? Like sudden like deathmatch where sudden deaths where if you if you're out, you lose and then there's no going back. You got to start from the beginning. And so it's going to be for those who are hardcore gamers that if you lose a race, that's it.
So it's you're knocked out of that course and you have to find another way to get back in, but it's like the heartless way. I think a lot of the hardcore gamers are really excited about that mode. I did. I did play a bit of that in New York yesterday at this Nintendo event. Yeah, it's fierce.
I think the thing that's cool And I don't know because I'm not a Nintendo switched person, but the fact that every single lap on every single course is unique on this game, I think that's fascinating.
Yeah, that takes that takes a little bit.
Yeah, they do such a good job. Sorry to cut you off. They do such a good job with the course design, and then they add things like weather that will impact you know, your you know your performance. You have to keep that all in mind. When you're drifting, for example, and it's raining, you have to compensate. And so yeah, I mean again, Nintendo knows how to make great games. There. There's a new Donkey Kong called Donkey Kong Bonanza that we played yesterday with a fully destructible environment.
Instead of like running up a hill and around it or go around it, you can actually punch your way through the mountain like it's all interactive, And yeah, that was fun. There's going to be some Legend of Zelda updates. So part of Nintendo's success is their exclusive iconic mascot based games like Princess Peach like link from Legendzelda. That will all continue. So yeah, Circle the fifth of June four forty nine. It's more than what the Nintendo Switch
was when it came out, but hey, that's inflation. I don't know if triffs are also playing a role there, but it's a lot of fun from what I what I could tell with my day of playing yesterday. Yeah, tough gig, I know, all right.
And it's worth it's worth buying the five hundred dollars one that comes with Mario Kart World, right, because it's seventy or eighty if you're going to buy the game, obviously you're going to buy the game.
Yeah. There's been some, yeah, some negative coverage on X from gamers who resent digital games being eighty dollars. It is ten dollars more than other digital games for Nintendo Switch too, and then the physical game could be as much as ninety dollars. So yeah, before you know it, they'll be a hundred dollars video games. But if you can play for a couple of years, you might be
able to justify it. If it's a game that you can finish in five hours, then no, right, But Nintendo games, Nintendo games tend to have legs, longlegs.
That's the good thing about being bad at video games is it's just a lifelong fun for me. I will never beat the game in five hours. Mark, thank you so much, appreciate it. Always enjoy talking to you.
Likewise, Shannon, thank you.
Mark Saltzman.
There follow him Mark underscore Saltzman on the X always a good follow a lot of great content of their