Recently in Tokyo, there are more and more Nintendo Switch devices appearing on the train. I never thought there would be a day when people went back to decent portable game consoles considering that the majority seem satisfied with flimsy smartphone games. It is like a renaissance happening in the gaming industry.
I finally got my own Switch days ago with a copy of Super Smash Bros. As a former Sony fanboy, this was not an easy decision. I may eventually move from PlayStation to Switch entirely since Switch can also work like a home console. Still, since Sony decided not to make portable consoles anymore, there are no options left for me.
My experience with the Switch was actually beyond my expectations. The reason I bought this console was mainly for third party games. I didn’t have too much interest in Nintendo’s games. However, Smash Bros successfully drew my attention. The control is easy to remember and the characters are adorable. It included so many characters from a wide range of different titles, I guess everyone can find their favorite. My most favorite characters are Yoshi and Purin (Jigglypuff in English). One time, I was so focused on smashing buttons that I forgot I was on a train and there were people surrounding me.
Like Apple, my history with Nintendo is also longer than with Sony. My first home console was a Famicom my older cousin gave me. I spent hours and hours on the RPGs with Game Boy and DS. Back then, everyone around me had some sort of Game Boy handheld. If you didn’t anything about Pokemon, you would find yourself having trouble in making friends. I never really enjoyed PlayStation when I was a kid except games made by Capcom like Biohazard (internationally known as Resident Evil) and Dino Crisis. So, a renaissance is also happening in my personal gaming life.
By adopting the Nintendo Switch, I potentially accepted the possibility that my PlayStation 4 would be wiped out by it and maybe I wouldn’t adopt the PlayStation 5 coming at the end of this year. However, the PlayStation holds its position well. I noticed a few downsides to the Switch. First, the graphics are struggling on the Switch, which barely better than the PlayStation 3. Also, the operating system seems inferior to Sony’s. I only found limited options in settings and the screenshots the Switch takes is in JPEG while the PlayStation 4 is capable of shooting in PNG and even recording the whole screen. Finally, the online services Nintendo provides are primitive compared to Sony’s despite it being cheaper. Besides saving game data to the cloud, Sony also offers the cloud gaming service, PS Now.
Although PlayStation will still have a noticeable position in my home, its space is being squeezed by my Switch. Sony’s gaming department is one of the few areas at Sony that turns a profit. Many people are expecting the release of the PlayStation 5 and the continuing success of it as a business, but I doubt it. Unlike the old consoles who had their own features and frameworks, the next generation consoles share similar structures. In other words, they are basically powerful PCs. I can’t see a reason why people buy a PlayStation instead of an Xbox or go straight to a PC. The future of Sony and its PlayStation are fragile.
