Kotaku : Once upon a time, Shigeru Miyamoto famously said, “A delayed game is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever.” It’s a statement that felt like it would never fall out of fashion, until it did. Modern games are never finished. Bad games become good. Good games become bad. Games of all stripes add social components, microtransactions, and events. On this week’s episode of the Splitscreen podcast, we talk about live service games, how they’ve taken over the industry, and how their dominance might finally be receding—a little bit.
Few games among the Nintendo Switch 2 launch line-up can match Cyberpunk 2077 in putting the system through its paces. It's a staple of our PC benchmarking suite for good reason: the open world design is a solid stressor for any CPU, while its effects-heavy battles challenge GPU resources as well. This Switch 2 release has clearly been a big undertaking for developer CD Projekt Red too, who produced the port in-house with unique optimisations for Switch 2's ARM-based architecture. It's also remarkably the Ultimate Edition of the game, with both the core adventure and the more taxing Phantom Liberty expansion bundled in - an extra portion that proved too demanding to justify a last-gen console release, and was instead restricted to PS5 and Series X/S, and yet here it is running on Switch 2.
To cut to the chase, Switch 2 offers a truly viable way to enjoy Cyberpunk, either in a portable format or docked under a TV. However, CDPR has shot for the stars in its ambition to include Phantom Liberty as well, and it's here that Switch 2 hits some technical limits - with frame-rates struggling as we explore its newer Dog Town region. Still, that aside, there's a lot to admire in the game's engineering for Nintendo's new console overall, and how competitive it is in comparison with other consoles.
I am happy for CDPR. Their hard work paid off because the Switch 2 version are always in the top 5 Switch 2 launch game sales.
This may be one of the weakest launch lineups Nintendo has ever had, with Mario Kart being the only first party game, but Cyberpunk 2077 will definitely give you tremendous value for your money.
One tip I can give people who have never played the game is to first read books from the cyberpunk subgenre. This will allow you to appreciate the story much better. If you find yourself asking which life path is the best to take at the start of the game, in this case it is Corpo, Streetkid, and Nomad. You likely don't know enough about the genre, and certain things will fly right over your head. While it is not mandatory, the game will be 10 times better if you read or listen to some books first.
Some books I have enjoyed in that genre are:
Cyber Dreams by Plum Parrot,
Stray Cat Strut by RavensDagger
Tower of Somnus by Cale Plamann
Mist Runner by Nicholas Searcy
If you can only read or listen to 1 book, then I recommend Cyber Dreams by Plum Parrot. It is the closest thing to Cyberpunk 2077.
I'd say its stronger than the switch as Mario kart has a broader appeal than zelda.
It was also a better launch line-up than the gamecube and possibly wii u
hahaha...what? are you serious right now? the Switch 2 is not a PC where you can just change the graphical settings to get to 60fps...Unless CDPR released a patch to make it run at 60fps, that is.
As of right now, it's stuck at 40fps at best and that too with DLSS from quite a low base res already. so yeah...it's not competitive.
100% 40 isn't a arbitrary choice its a strategic choice because it opens up access to supporting technology on the console
DF are Nintendo's occasional bootlickers after that blatant Zelda games ad scandal.
Games like CP2077 are meant to be played on big console or powerful PC on a big screen.
Got to love how they're simp for full price purchase of 5-year-old game and still getting the worst version to play on.
Wow you guys don’t let up for a second trying to blame DF for anything you can pick out the sky at any given moment. It’s embarrassing dude.
It’s always DF are bootlickers for Nintendo today, Microsoft yesterday, Sony last week. Make your mind up people… pick a side and stick to it. Sounds so stupid when you’re trying to make a point that some company is biased but that no one can make their mind up who the company is biased towards any given day of the week.
Yep, the amount of hate they get is ridiculous. The funny thing is if you actually look at the comments on their early switch 2 videos people are slating them for not giving it enough praise and constantly comparing it to ps4.
Now’s the best time to travel to Night City as Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition is the best pickup on the Switch 2 at the moment.
Begone, game-key carts. Full cartridges just work better and here's why.
I didn't bother buying any game key carts for my system despite my preference being physical.
I brought the mkw bundle and that was a digital code but I wasn't going to pay double for the game
I got yakuza 0 digitally as the key card made zero sense to me it costs more and its just a digital game in disguise (I never sell my games anyhow)
...obviously. If a game is 64gb or less, it should release on card. If it exceeds 64gb, the key card comes into play. It does suck that Nintendo wont support smaller cards, SW1 games came on anywhere from 8gb to 32gb cards. The cost of using a 64gb card for a game that would fit comfortably on a 32 or even 16 may not be cost effective for some smaller devs. Hence the use of the key card.
Then again, its taking a page out of Sony's book. They mandated the use of DVD media for all games a few years after the PS2 released. Until then, they supported games on CD. Then when it came to PS3, no game was allowed to use DVD, they all had to be bluray regardless.
Now with PS5, they only use UHD media, no regular bluray for games allowed. Even if the game is smaller than a DVD. So i can see Nintendo trying to standardize their game cards. If devs dont want to pay for the use... the key card is for them.
why even bother buying one of the fake game cards? It's just going to be digital anyway. Save yourself the hassle of having to insert these fake cards and just buy it from the online store.
But I absolutely 100% do not agree with Nintendos take this generation. Forcing the new norm price point, and releasing a majority of their titles digitally with no sense of game preservation. Very disappointing.
Huh? Comeback from... what? Single Player games never stopped being dominant. Not sure what this "article" is on about.
Lame Kotaku Clickbait
Even Wolfgang K. thinks this is something lame.
kotaku in the need of clicks. :D
Seriously SP games never left , and some of reasons why Playstation consoles are always on top in this gaming industry. ;)
Where did they go? I’m playing one right now.
This would be true.... if they ever went anywhere. Sounds like Phil Spencer circa 2017?
PlayStation has been dominating the gaming landscape for at least the past eight years largely due to SP games.
Take a look at the last eight consensus Game of the Year winners. FIVE of them are published by Sony, 5/8. That's an unprecedented run, and all of them were noted for their SP campaigns. More than half did not even feature mp at all and in the 2 of 3 years they did not win, they released seminal SP games like Bloodborne and HZD. Ofc Bloodborne has splashes of pve and pvp but it's largely a SP style game. And the other winners included SP titles such as Witcher 3, Zelda BotW, and Mordor.