David RichardsWith the Nintendo Switch set to go on sale today in Australia, several retailers still don’t have stock.
Attempts by SmartHouse to contact Nintendo Australia staff in an effort to get a SmartHouse review sample, has also proved futile with press releases arriving devoid of contact numbers or the names of PR media relations staff.
The Company has also failed to respond to our emails raising questions about the new portable gaming console.
According to several retailers contacted by SmartHouse the device which was supposed to go on sale today at a retail price of $469.95 has not been made available for testing by retailers set to sell the product.
According to UK publication Trusted Reviews the device which resembles a large phone with its 6.2-inch 720p touchscreen and discrete speakers, headphone jack, power button and volume rocker has a battery problem with users only able to get a “few” hours of use out of the device.There’s also hidden slots for game cards and a MicroSD card, as well as a single USB-C port at the base.
With brightness set on 50% the device sucked up -36% of its battery life, at 100% brightness according to TR, the life of the device is only two hours and 45 minutes.
Another big problem is that it appears to take ages to charge. According to Trusted Reviews the AC USB-C adapter provided with the Switch has an output of 5V/3A during 15 minutes of charging while in sleep mode the console only recovered 3% battery life.
Another problem identified by overseas reviewers is that Bluetooth-enabled, wireless headphones are not able to be paired with the Nintendo Switch, Polygon tried to connect a pair of wireless Beats headphones both before and after the day-one update went live, and each time they were unable to connect the headset.
They then discovered that it wasn’t that the headphones wouldn’t pair – there’s no option to pair them at all.
Peter Gothard reporting for the Inquirer wrote “From what I’ve seen today, it’s a charming and capable machine. Arms looks insanely fun, Zelda is undoubtedly going to be the usual slick, magical experience we expect. A built-in two-player option in the default machine is ace. Sticking Skyrim and FIFA on it are positive launch pushes. It’s all looking like a good idea.
But what is the $469 use case for a portable Nintendo machine with three hours of battery life that costs a third more than any handheld the company ever released?
What is the use case, when everyone has phones and iPads, and this bulky, low juice tablet is battling those for space and consideration in your bag? And battling the better-specced and more online-committed PS4 and Xbox One on its dock back in your lounge?
I don’t have confidence in Nintendo and its third-party relationships to make this console ride. And I don’t have the confidence in the company to produce enough of its own games for the whole party to not have dried up within six months.
In the time, we live in, Nintendo can’t help but make another Wii U, no matter the drastically improved thought behind its features. There are darker forces working in the consumer goods market to make such a charming idea play out successfully in 2017.
It’s sad, but that’s my forecast. I’d love to be wrong, but I somehow doubt I will be”
In Australia, the Japanese Company is set to host a midnight launch in Australia, this is a strategy that several other brands including Microsoft with their Windows launches gave up on years ago,
Nintendo claim that Australian’s will be the first in the world to celebrate at one of many Nintendo Switch midnight launch events being hosted by EB Games in Australia and New Zealand.
The event will feature entertainment from 9pm.
The Company has not said what they will do in Sydney.