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The good news is the Nintendo Switch 2 is coming very soon, specifically on June the 5th.

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But there's also bad news. Nintendo has jumped on the gameflation bandwagon hard with a price of $450.

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For those keeping score at home, that is 50% more than the OG Switch.

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And there's more. It was very clear from today's Direct that Nintendo learned some big lessons from the Wii U,

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like that teaching people what makes the console different from its predecessor is a good idea.

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What might not be a good idea though is charging people for those lessons.

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I mean seriously Nintendo, what the heck?

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And seriously Linus, why the heck are you still gonna buy two of them?

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Well, because aside from the bad bits, that might have been one of the strongest console

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showcases that I have ever seen. We've got oodles of details on the hardware itself, new online features, and most importantly,

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games, games, games. There's old favorites, there's some soon-to-be-new favorites, and some big surprises.

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What won't surprise you though is that as I'm continuing the sentence,

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I'm already 15 words into this segue. Music

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While they didn't dive into anything especially technical,

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Nintendo did confirm a lot of what we suspected was coming on the Switch too.

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At its core, it's still a juiced and jacked up Switch,

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but there are also important quality of life improvements that really set it apart from its

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predecessor, like a built-in microphone, improved speakers, active cooling in the

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dock for stronger performance on the big screen, bigger and faster storage,

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and bringing Nintendo finally into this decade support for 4K HDR output.

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Not gonna lie guys, that one's a big relief for me after all those rumors that it would

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be stuck at 1080p. But now we also know that the tablet got a big upgrade from 720p to 1080p,

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and maybe more importantly, it is now 120Hz refresh rate with support for variable refresh

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rate. These are both huge wins. I mean with the amount of competitive gaming that takes place on Nintendo hardware,

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seeing them finally take latency seriously is a giant relief,

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and especially on a mobile device where frame rates can be all over the place,

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variable refresh rate is great for perceived animation smoothness.

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What isn't a win though is the panel technology in the launch version of the console.

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After the original Switch OLED, I was very hopeful that that would be the end of LCD displays for

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Nintendo, but knowing that that would have certainly pushed the launch price to $499,

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I can at least understand why they felt the need to hold off for the inevitable OLED refresh.

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It just sucks for me because I know I'm gonna buy the launch one and the refreshed one,

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hence the title of this video.

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Speaking of things you need to buy over and over again, we've got a few more details

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about the new Joy-Cons, including a closer look at the magnetic lock and release system that looks

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like a huge improvement in function and reliability over the old rail system,

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the bigger shoulder buttons on the inside rails that will hopefully make using Joy-Cons

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in landscape mode somewhat tolerable, and the new mouse functionality that,

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well I gotta say, I was just plain wrong about. See, in our last rumor roundup, I hedged, okay?

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In the video, I was like, maybe it'll happen. Off-camera though, I was adamant that there's no way Nintendo would take the world's worst

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controller and then turn it into also the world's worst mouse.

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But I was wrong. Or maybe I was wrong.

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I mean, Nintendo, it looks so uncomfortable. You could still just bail.

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It is an option. Another big surprise for me was the C button,

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present on both the right Joy-Con and the new pro controller that looks

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just like Gen 1, plus the addition of a three and a half millimeter jack.

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The speculation around the meaning of C was rampant with some folks proposing

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some pretty cool ideas for it. Unfortunately, we ended up with the most disappointing one.

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It's a chat button. Yep, Nintendo spent a few minutes showing off their new game chat feature that connects players

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online via voice chat with a brand new menu brought up with the C button.

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That's right, folks. After 23 years, Nintendo has finally caught up to the first generation Xbox.

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Speaking of generations, that is so long ago that the nine-year-olds that were

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shrieking into your ears in Halo 1 literally have their own nine-year-old kids who will

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now shriek into your ears in Mario Kart World.

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But wait, there's more. Game chat will also support streaming your gameplay to your friends

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at what appears to be 480p sub-10 FPS.

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I mean, it's still neat, I guess, if you've never heard of Discord, and you can even buy an optional webcam and add your face to the stream

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or even to supported games. Wow, Nintendo also caught up to the PS2's iToy,

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both in terms of gameplay implementation and camera quality.

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A big question this all raises for me, though, is

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quality of the features aside, what's going to become of Nintendo's family-friendly image?

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Even support for emotes feels like a relatively new addition for Nintendo.

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With voice chat, honestly, how many hours are going to pass

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after I hand my eight-year-old a Switch 2 for her to hear her first N-word?

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And I realize that that's a really strong way to put that, but serious mode here for a second.

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As a parent watching this reveal, Nintendo did show off some new parental controls,

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but I still have a lot of questions that I need answered

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before I hand one of these things to my kid. Okay, back to excitement.

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Speaking of online, Nintendo is adding some GameCube games to the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass,

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meaning you'll be able to play F-Zero GX, Soul Calibur 2, and Wind Waker on the Switch 2.

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All at a higher resolution than the original GameCube, but seemingly not quite HD,

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like the full Wind Waker HD remaster that is still currently marooned on Wii U Island.

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Give us that version, Nintendo. Thankfully, though, you'll be able to play GameCube games online with your friends,

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customize your controls to fit a modern controller, or buy a wireless GameCube-style controller

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with more games looking to be added in the near future.

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Honestly, pretty stoked for a whole new generation of gamers

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to get to fall in love with some of the all-time classics that really haven't gotten as much love as they deserve.

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And even more stoked that Nintendo, of all companies,

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is loosening restrictions on game sharing. Now, even online, in-supported games,

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up to three friends will be able to play multiplayer games with you,

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even if they don't own a copy. That means you probably won't need to buy

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four copies of the new Mario Kart across your friend group,

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even though, if you're being honest, you still will.

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And this is an addition to Nintendo's recent improvements

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to console and family sharing for digital games that we saw last week.

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Absolutely fantastic. What feels a little less fantastic, though,

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is Nintendo's approach to updating the experience of Switch One games

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on the Switch 2 hardware. Personally, I was hoping that I could just play the same game

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at 60, or even, dare I say, 120 FPS.

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But it looks like instead, these are mostly going to be paid upgrades on a per game basis.

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The good news is that it seems like they generally include

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real performance and visual upgrades, as well as additions to the games that range from exciting,

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like new DLC chapters, to kind of sort of nifty,

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like new game modes, to one of the stupidest,

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second-screen features that I can even imagine. Proceed, Nor.

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Now, I can't be mad yet, because I don't know the price for any of these upgrade packs.

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And they did announce that some of them will be free,

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for some games. It's just a little frustrating when you compare it

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to some of the other handhelds that seem to be on the horizon,

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like the rumored Xbox XROG ally that I imagine

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is going to be capable of the same, if not better, performance

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for free on every OG Switch game.

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Though, with that said, I doubt it'll manage the same two to six and a half hours of battery life

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that Nintendo's advertising. So there is that. And, if we look at some of the first-party Switch 2 games

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that, likely, you won't be able to YAR anytime soon,

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it may be worth it to stick with Big Red for your next upgrade.

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The first thing Nintendo showed off was Mario Kart World, the looooooooooooooooooooong.

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Awaited sequel to The Cardin King. Now, with a bit of open world exploration in between your contests, seemingly like Crash

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Team Racing. It also boasts 24 racer.

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Not necessarily player support, which seems pretty slick.

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And it looks better! Though not by as much as some folks seem to have hoped.

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Which as a stark reminder, just how much juice Nintendo can squeeze out of low powered

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hardware which makes me pretty excited for the future capabilities of this new

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handheld even if the launch titles might not look like that much. Jumping to the

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end of the presentation, the last thing Nintendo showed off was Donkey Kong

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Bananza. It's the first 3D Donkey Kong game since literally the N64 and you'll

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be digging your way through destructible environments, platforming your way to

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giant bananas and punching bosses all while wearing pants. Very respectable

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Mr. Kong. We also got our first look at Kirby Air Riders, a new Hyrule Warriors

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for the people who are into that, a wheelchair basketball game that focuses

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on mouse movement and lastly what actually looks to be a tutorial where you

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walk around activating text boxes that tell you about the Switch 2 with some

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mini-game sprinkled in. And yes, that bit in the intro was not a joke. Nintendo

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wants real actual money for Switch 2 Welcome Tour. Is this even the same

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company that put Wii Sports in the box of a $250 console? Okay, so maybe there's

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not that much on the first party side, which normally would be a death knell

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for a Nintendo console. But check this out. Strong third-party game support? No

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no. That would be an understatement. We saw, I kid you not, 48 non-Nintendo

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titles during the Direct with 15 being available at launch and 21 more coming

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before the end of the year. Immediate standouts for me were definitely the

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new From Software game, Dusk Bloods, a more modern set multiplayer Bloodborne-esque

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and Demon X Makina, a cross between Vanquish and Armored Core. We also saw

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classic heavy hitters like Elden Ring, Street Fighter 6, now with added

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waggle, Hogwarts Legacy featuring mouse magic, Hitman, Cyberpunk 2077, the

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upcoming Borderlands 4, and final fantasy is back! That's right baby! Final Fantasy

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7 remake! Let's go! EA and 2K are even porting their biggest sports

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franchises. We're getting a new Tony Hawk and that new 007 from IO Interactive

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was teased. Wait, teased again? Come on guys, show me some gameplay! We're also

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getting some indie darlings like Hollow Knight Silk Song, which I'll believe is

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actually coming in 2025, when it's out in 2025, Hades 2, and new chapters for

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Delta Rune. As a big handheld lover by the way, the quality of the visuals in

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the gameplay that was shown was really impressive to me, with many of the games

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appearing to run with noticeably better fidelity than what we've seen on most

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PC handhelds. There are a couple of potential reasons for this. One is that

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Nintendo is likely running their demos docked, which is going to give the Switch

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2 more performance. And the other is that NVIDIA, the provider of the Switch

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2's GPU, just plain knows what they're doing when it comes to efficient gaming,

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and especially when it comes to AI upscaling. Now, the words DLSS were

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never mentioned in the video, but looking at what I'm looking at, I stand by

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what I said. If the Switch 2 doesn't have some form of AI upscaling, I will buy

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and eat an entire box of this Super Mario cereal with Mountain Dew as the milk

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live on Wansho. Now let's talk about the value. $450 is the price for the base

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console, and I really do mean base, given that you have to pay for the freaking

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instruction manual. Sorry, I know this is the third time I've mentioned this, but

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I'm still annoyed about it. Then it's going to be $500 for the bundle with

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Mario Kart World. Now, that's not an outlandish price, at least when you

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consider its functionality as both a living room console and a portable

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console. But a 50% price bump versus its predecessor is certainly going to make

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it up a less obvious purchase for many families out there. And that's on top of

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new games getting a wicked next-gen tax. I didn't mention yet that Mario Kart

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World sets a new high mark for pricing at 80 US dollars for a digital copy with

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the physical copy rumored to be even higher. Now, not every title is going to

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be so expensive, but this is Nintendo, so it also probably won't be the only

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one at that price. So if you look at this as spending a whole console's worth

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of dollars for what is essentially an evolutionary change, the Switch 2 kind of

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looks like a big miss. But from my point of view, it's been almost four years since

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Nintendo has asked for any money from me for our console and eight years since the

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original Switch. And when you consider that the Switch 2 addresses most of the

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fundamental issues that I had with the original, which is exactly what a good

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sequel should do, it's hard not to get at least a little excited about it,

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especially with Nintendo actually taking strong action against scalpers to ensure

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that gamers can freaking buy these things and not just resellers. Now, personally,

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I am fairly irritated that they are requiring 12 months of Nintendo online,

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which I don't pay for on principle because I shouldn't have to buy a

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subscription to back up my save games, but I still do have to acknowledge that

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they've done something to ensure that their most ardent fans can pre-order this

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thing at MSRP. And I also have to acknowledge you for listening to this segue.

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If you want some more Switch 2 details, you should check out the last video we

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made, which is more about rumors, but still manages to include a deeper dive into

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what are the likely technical specs of the system.