How Nintendo Switch’s Portability Has Defined Its Dominance

The Nintendo Switch is the US’s fastest-selling console ever, and one year after its release, it’s fair to call the system’s launch a smash success with gamers. While great games in classic franchises, like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, certainly play a large roll in its success, the one feature that has defined its dominance is its portability. It’s a versatile piece of hardware that, much like a smartphone or tablet, can feasibly be taken anywhere we go, while also delivering a high-quality home console experience. Check out our video above to see how the Switch’s portability has changed the game for Nintendo.

Of course, the Nintendo Wii U was also a console with a portable screen attached to the controller. But the Switch has taken portability to the next level. The hardware has changed how we think of games being released on the system, too. Its unique design has meant people are hungry for older games to be ported to the console.

For new games released on multiple consoles, the Switch’s portability has also given it a considerable competitive advantage. Celeste, one of 2018’s early Game of the Year contenders, was released on all major platforms, but the Switch version is currently outselling them all, despite having a smaller install base. People are seeing the Switch as the best way to play certain games, and the portability of the console is definitely a contributing factor.

To celebrate the Switch’s one year anniversary, we’re taking a big look at the console’s journey to this point, and what we’re hoping to see from Nintendo in the years to come. Check out our video on the few but substantial ways Nintendo missed the mark with the Switch’s release, and the five Wii U games that definitely deserve a second chance on the Switch.

How Far Cry 5’s American Setting Shows The Anxieties Of Being An Outsider

Far Cry 5‘s setting of an American county under siege seems to become more provocative as the days go by. Moving away from the tropical jungles of the South Pacific and African savannas, the series now dips its toes into the US setting of Hope County, Montana for its action-packed fish-out-of-water story. With the new locale, the series also looks to break away from the standards that past games have set, which includes a more open world to explore, deeper co-op, and a custom character to create.

But with the move to North America, it definitely has chilling parallels to real life, whether that’s the developers intention or not. During a press event for Far Cry 5, I had the chance to experience the early hours of what looks to be Ubisoft’s most eye-opening entry in the series, and how unsettling several of the game’s moments can be.

In Far Cry 5, you take on the role of an unnamed Deputy–your created character–who accompanies federal marshals to arrest Joseph Seed, the leader of the Eden’s Gate cult that has occupied the isolated mountain community of Hope County, Montana. With a large following of heavily armed residents at his command, Seed, “The Father”, instills them with the belief that the end times are coming and only he can save them. Once you’ve placed him in handcuffs, things quickly go south and you find yourself outmatched against Eden’s Gate. But in traditional Far Cry fashion, the Deputy finds allies in the form of the Whitetail Militia, a group of citizens who’ve taken up arms to resist The Father’s influence and dismantle the Seed family’s control of the county.

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The set-up is familiar when compared to other Far Cry games: you’ll be able to explore a vast map and retake enemy bases, hunt animals, stealth-kill enemies, take part in co-op, and steal an assortment of vehicles, which includes planes for the first time in the series. But because all that carnage now takes place in the US, Far Cry now carries a similar unnerving sense of uncertainty and also absurdity that feels common in today’s political climate. Extremism is often rooted in isolated communities where interactions with outsiders are few and far between, and Far Cry 5 takes place in such a location. While the game features several characters of color, including some of the common enemies, its leadership and the majority of its cast are predominantly reflective of a mostly white region of America.

The distortion of American iconography isn’t exactly new, and FC5 also comes at a rather interesting time for that discussion to happen. However, what made my time spent with the game more interesting was experiencing it as a person of color, with my created character reflecting that. This added an extra layer to the game. Far Cry 5’s setting is already a powder keg, so playing as a person of color feels especially poignant–if somewhat appropriate. Making a person of color the central character in this absurd and equally unsettling situation created some higher personal stakes for me, while also adding more tension to minor encounters.

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During one interaction with my character meeting Hurk Sr.–the father of the series’ traveling side-character Hurk from Far Cry 3 and 4, and also a hard-nosed conservative–he quickly goes into a diatribe about “Obama-loving libtards” and how they’ll ruin his run for Senate. He eventually tasks the Deputy with tracking down his campaign truck; standard Far Cry side-mission hijinks ensue. While this encounter is the same regardless of what character you make, experiencing it as a character of color makes it an awkward and uncomfortable talk, especially with further lines about protecting his land as a “red-blooded American gun-owner” from outsiders, which most definitely includes you.

There’s a number of ways to look at this scene, but it’s clear that both Hurk’s dad–a confident and staunch conservative–and Far Cry 5 are a product of their respective environments. Granted, Hope County exaggerates many of America’s greatest fears to the extreme. While there are plenty of moments that feel empowering for the type of character you make, it’s still surprising to see how often Far Cry 5 rides the line between being unsettling and celebrating cartoonish action. There are many genuine interactions with side characters, including Jess–one of the Guns for Hire–who talks about the torture she’s witnessed from “The Cook,” a sadistic member of Eden’s Gate. But there are also moments where you and Cheeseburger the Bear–another Gun for Hire–fight off cultists in one of the nearby lumber mills, making for an encounter that’s too bizarre to take seriously.

On the surface, these ridiculous gameplay scenes would seem to weaken or trivialize the more profound moments I experienced, and in some ways they did, mostly due to how jarring some of the transitions between comedy and the more dramatic moments are–made a bit worse by some odd bugs and the general videogamey-ness of it all. However, the Far Cry series is a power fantasy as a whole, and playing as a person of color in a setting where someone like that would be marginalized–especially in a community filled with trigger-happy religious extremists–does give it some added some weight behind the generous amount of agency the game gives you to explore the landscape and leave your mark on it.

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As an outsider, you’ll quickly need to learn the ins and outs of Far Cry’s new setting. Hope County is a sprawling environment filled with small towns, lumber mills, cattle ranches, and mountain resorts nestled within a large, dense wilderness. The rural farmlands and tiny communities are a clash between modern buildings and the old-fashioned architecture of a generation once or twice-removed, all placed within the pocket of a mountain valley. While the previous games had a fairly standard, if repetitive gameplay loop–find the tower, fill out the map, and finish the nearby objectives peppered on your display–Far Cry 5 takes a more organic approach by removing scouting towers almost entirely.

With the largest open world of the series, there’s a greater focus on letting you do your thing. It’s a refreshing change of pace to be able to explore at your leisure, and be rewarded for your curiosity. I was impressed with the game’s scale, and exploring Hope County offered a lot of moments to learn the history of the region and many communities trying to survive in a cult-occupied county–all while trying to unify the many sane individuals left.

While it’s easy to make a relatable story with a westerner in a foreign country (think Jason Brody in Far Cry 3), telling that sort of story in America–with an American protagonist–has potential for something that feels relevant and powerful. Even during those early hours, Far Cry 5–despite its more familiar setting–was still a fish-out-of-water story. The Deputy, however you make your character, is framed as an agent of change to combat the cultists in a land where American religious extremists have taken hold of an isolated town and where opposing ideologies come to a violent clash.

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When Far Cry 5 gets ridiculous, it does so in bizarre yet oddly endearing ways. Despite its heavy themes, it still presents a number of dynamic systems that inspire fun and engagement. Yet that doesn’t take away from the strange and disconcerting encounters that recall imagery and phrases from our current day, whether it’s intentional or not. I’ve been an admirer of the Far Cry series for some time, and I feel like I’m more interested in seeing how the narrative turns out this time around.

Having said that, Far Cry 5 is undoubtedly a product of Trump-era America and will be viewed through that lens. Whether it succeeds in telling a story that says something interesting with its highly evocative setting, or if it just results in a story about the good heavily-armed militia beating the bad heavily-armed militia, remains to be seen. While the main story is about you dealing with The Father and Eden’s Gate, the player-story you create–with your own version of the deputy–has equal relevance. Hopefully, Ubisoft will be able to tie it together in a meaningful way.

For more info about Far Cry 5, be sure to check out our interview with lead writer Drew Holmes and lead actor Greg Bryk about the making of the game, along with some videos showing off the more ridiculous and over-the-top moments of action.

CinemaScores: What Audiences Think of Jennifer Lawrence Movies

Jennifer Lawrence made headlines last year when her psychological thriller mother! earned a rarely given, dreaded “F” CinemaScore, the letter grade domestic filmgoers assign to a movie in audience exit polling opening night. CinemaScores have been a barometer by which Hollywood has gauged how their movies will perform at the box office for many years now, but they have become, in the digital age, an even more talked about facet in how studios and the media respond to a movie’s performance.

Well, the CinemaScore is now in for Lawrence’s latest movie Red Sparrow, with audiences giving it a “B” grade. With that in mind — and the stink of mother!’s “F” CinemaScore still hanging in the air — let’s look back at what audiences thought of JLaw’s other films, including her turns in the X-Men and Hunger Games franchises.

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Nintendo Switch, One Year Later

Nintendo has been on a roller coaster this century. While its dedicated handheld business has remained strong despite competition from Sony and an explosion in mobile gaming, its console business has been up and down, to say the least. GameCube, a fairly direct competitor to PlayStation 2 and Xbox, sold fewer than 22 million units. Nintendo tried something radically different with Wii and it paid off in spades, selling more than 101 million units. With Wii U, Nintendo again shied away from directly competing with the more traditional (and powerful) consoles offered by Sony and Microsoft, but this time it failed, selling fewer than 14 million units. With nearly 15 million sold already, Nintendo Switch has surpassed expectations, outsold Wii U in less than a year, and looks primed to have another tremendously successful year in 2018. How did we get here?

Switch’s reveal back in October 2016 came as little surprise. A console/handheld hybrid had been heavily rumored, and to some, it appeared to be nothing more than a second attempt at Wii U that addressed its biggest flaw (the need to be tethered to a console plugged into the wall). The immediate reaction from the investment community wasn’t strong; while Nintendo’s stock price had recovered somewhat since its Wii U era collapse, it dropped again in the immediate wake of the announcement, and analysts doubted its appeal. Much of Wii’s success stemmed from reaching a mainstream audience, attracting those who wouldn’t typically buy a games console. Considering the continued surge of interest in free-to-play games, some questioned the potential of the Switch.

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Nintendo certainly appeared confident, setting the system’s price higher than many of us here at GameSpot predicted. Even with its premier launch game, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, being available in functionally identical form on Wii U, strong sales at launch were inevitable. There’s a die-hard audience out there who is going to pick up any new piece of hardware, particularly when it comes with the potential to play future Zelda, Mario, and Metroid games.

Sure enough, sales were strong right out of the gate, setting various records for the company by outselling all of its previous systems, including Wii. By the end of its launch month, it had sold 2.74 million units, despite Nintendo planning to ship only 2 million total in that timeframe. It did this in part by making the unusual–and pricey–move of shipping consoles by air in addition to sea. Clearly, the early demand was there.

There were early stumbles. We knew in advance of Switch’s release that it would launch without Virtual Console or its premium online service, and Netflix–and every other streaming service–would be absent. (Streaming services are still nowhere to be seen except, oddly, for Hulu.) But in the wake of its release, supply problems (which lasted much of 2017) and technical issues threatened to upend Nintendo’s momentum. A number of users reported that their dock had scratched the system’s screen. Some found the dock warped the console due to extreme heat. And many of those who used the Joy-Con controllers wirelessly found the left Joy-Con would briefly lose connection with the system. The dock issues only affected some, and after a period of silence, Nintendo began quietly offering repairs for Joy-Cons to those who were impacted.

What appeared to be a potential mass recall situation blew over; despite all of this, Switch’s momentum carried on. The system masterfully executes on its vision–the basic concept of being able to seamlessly move from portable to docked mode and vice versa works every bit as well as you’d hope. Just as importantly, it’s somewhat quietly had one of the greatest debut years ever in terms of its game lineup. Run through a list of releases from the first year of Switch versus that of PS4 or Xbox One and it’s not a crazy argument to say that Nintendo’s console comes out on top. That’s a fact that may have been lost on some Switch owners. Thanks to its exceedingly basic Eshop (seriously, where’s the Wii shop music?), those who don’t check in routinely may miss out on some quality Switch game releases.

The Eshop has been home to so many good games thanks to solid third-party support–a trouble area for Nintendo platforms in the past. While we’ve occasionally gotten decidedly inferior versions of multiplatform games, and some of the big-name releases of the past year haven’t shown up, Switch has still amassed a very strong lineup. It’s easy to naysay ports, but whether they come from Wii U (a system that few people bought) or other platforms (where people still may have missed them), the abundance of re-releases on Switch has made it easy to build up a huge library of quality games. And thanks to Switch’s hybrid nature, many of these games feel like fresh experiences in handheld mode. Quick-fix games like Gonner or Graceful Explosion Machine, for instance, can be more appealing when you can easily jump in for a round. Being able to play a single day in Stardew Valley across multiple short sessions or collect one moon in Super Mario Odyssey before turning the system off transforms those games into different types of experiences that wouldn’t be possible on other platforms.

Year one for Switch has not been without its flaws. Accessories–particularly the $90 dock for those wanting to connect to a second TV–feel excessively priced. The system’s user interface, while pleasantly minimalist in some ways, still lacks some of the features we’ve been hoping to see for quite some time now: better game management and folder support, system-level rumble settings, and an activity log. Worse still is the absence of any way to back up save data; even older system like PSP (saves could be backed up to a PC) and Vita (cloud saves) offered some option, yet Switch offers nothing. Particularly for a system that is meant to be played on the go, where it could easily be dropped, the inability to do anything to protect your Breath of the Wild progress beyond developing an ironclad grip is worrisome.

Online support remains rudimentary. Voice chat support is laughable, and the system lacks any kind of messaging or invitation features at the system level. And Nintendo faces an unappealing task in asking those who have enjoyed online multiplayer for free to this point to begin paying for it after 18 months, assuming its paid online service launches in September as planned. It’s been delayed multiple times now and we still know very little about it, beyond the fact that it will grant access to online multiplayer, exclusive deals, and a library of online-enabled classic games. That last point is of course the most intriguing, particularly with no sign of Virtual Console surfacing. The specifics of exactly how that will work remain to be seen but will play a large role in determining how worthwhile it is.

Despite some shortcomings, Switch’s future is bright. Sales thus far have exceeded those of PS4 through a comparable period following its launch, and investors seem confident, with Nintendo’s stock price doubling since Switch’s release and reaching heights not seen since the Wii’s heyday. And that’s with good reason: Switch’s handheld nature opens the door to sell multiple units per household, rather than the one-per-family you traditionally see with consoles. That may seem unimportant to you, but a larger install base can only help in convincing third parties to continue or expand their efforts on Switch.

We don’t yet know if Nintendo will be able to keep up the software momentum seen in 2017–we didn’t go more than a few months without a big new first-party game, and it’s still kind of wild to think we got Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey in the same year. To Nintendo’s credit, it does feel like it’s finally inclined to open the floodgates to some extent, confirming the long-awaited Metroid Prime 4 and bringing the Pokemon RPG to a non-handheld that fans have been wanting to see for years. Beyond all that, there’s the unrealized, unexpected potential of the system: Labo, while not appealing to everyone, showcases functionality no one realized was possible. And we’ve yet to see alternate Joy-Cons that are more than just new colors. Combined with what we can hope will be a quality online service, there’s good reason to feel that year one for Switch was just the start of something greater.