AKA “Introducing Kidman’s Law Of Buying New Consoles”.
Nintendo held its Switch 2 Nintendo Direct overnight, formally launching its next generation Switch 2.
Odds are, you probably knew that already, and honestly, I’m not going to write thousands of words or dedicate hundreds of articles to it today.
If you want to support independent Australian tech media doing just that, scoot over to Vooks because it’s absolutely the kind of content he lives for. Enjoy (and remember, support independent media so that it can survive — and this doesn’t just mean me!)
However, the reality of this kind of launch is that it’s really all about the hype, and trying to secure as many pre-orders as possible.
Will the Switch 2 be as rare as, say, the PS5 was at launch? We have to hope that’s not the case.
Will the scalpers try to leap all over every pre-order to then try to sell them online at a massive markup? Magic 8-ball says yes.
All of this can severely accentuate your fear of missing out and make you rush towards that pre-order button… but I’d like to suggest a slightly different course of thinking, or at least of considering your purchase, based on a rule that I’ve used for many years when considering buying new consoles.
To give this a little bit of context, the very first console I purchased with my own money (and indeed, the first one anyone in my family ever owned, so the first, flat out) was a Sega Master System II back in 1990.
Yes, the one with Alex Kidd in Miracle World preinstalled on it.
Yes, I’ve heard the jokes before. Many times.
The point here is that I’ve been buying console systems ever since, and the only Nintendo console system I’ve not owned since the purchase of a SNES in 1992 (which I still have) is the Virtual Boy, because… well…
I have worked as a games journalist on and off over the years, and in those circumstances having access to hardware is a business requirement, but most people are not games journalists.
For most people, it’s a question of want, not need.
Which is why, many years back, I decided on the following rule.
Kidman’s Law Of Buying New Consoles At Launch
Only buy a new console if it has at least six “new” game experiences you can’t otherwise have on it
That’s it. Why six? Classically I’ve found that around six game titles at RRP has been equal to or greater than the cost of the hardware itself. The hardware is a means to an end, the games are what really matters.
At the Switch 2’s $699 AUD asking price, that should just about fit, given how much Mario Kart World appears to be going for, but the broader point was to ensure that I wasn’t rushing in to buy just because of the hype and/or FOMO, mixed in with a little dose of the classic “but we already have games at home” thinking.
Those six games don’t have to be entirely 100% new, never seen before ideas, mind you. What Nintendo’s shown of Mario Kart World does appear to enough to get one rather obvious launch title into my basket of six, and I can totally see some people (I know at least one for sure) jumping on board purely to play that game socially online.
So where does the Switch 2 sit in that equation? That will differ for everyone depending on your tastes but, honestly… I’m not quite seeing it as being “there” just yet.
Mario Kart World does look like a lot of fun, as does Donkey Kong Bananza… but that’s not a launch title anyway. I’ll dive into Vooks’ Switch 2 Launch Games article here, and note that while it’s nice to see a lineup of games at launch that deep… there’s not a whole lot there that jumps out as a title that I can’t otherwise play right now on hardware I’ve already got.
Which also rather (and rather annoyingly, given my retro gaming proclivities) knocks out the competitive advantage of the GameCube Switch Online stuff for me as well.
It’s lovely that it’s a feature, but it does mean that those games will never see light of day as an official physical release, but moreover, I’ve still got the originals for the announced titles sitting on my games shelf ready when I want to play them. Tastes and games libraries can of course differ there.
How Nintendo hypes up a game has… changed over time.
To be clear, I’m not saying the launch lineup is a disaster, or that I’ll never buy a Switch 2 at all. It feels kind of likely that I will, because Nintendo typically does end up with my dollars eventually.
But waiting a while for a better library that you can’t play elsewhere is rarely a bad strategy for making the most out of your gameplay buying funds.
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