Opinión - Softonic English

The Switch 2 has disappointed me with its luxury prices for a premium remake

It’s not the first time that Nintendo, when launching a new console, looks at its last success and adds a subtitle: from Nintendo to Super Nintendo, from Nintendo DS to Nintendo 3DS, from Wii to WiiU. Of course, after the hit of the Switch, we couldn’t expect anything other than Switch 2. After much talk, back and forth, the console has already been presented to the public, and the aftertaste it leaves is… bittersweet. No matter how exciting its new features are, in the end, it is literally more of the same but much -much- more expensive. Put down the cash, […]

This is not the first time that Nintendo, when launching a new console, looks at its last success and adds a subtitle: from Nintendo to Super Nintendo, from Nintendo DS to Nintendo 3DS, from Wii to WiiU. Of course, after the hit of the Switch, we couldn’t expect anything other than Switch 2. After much talk, back and forth the console has already been presented to the public, and the aftertaste it leaves is… bittersweet. No matter how exciting its new features are, in the end, it is literally more of the same but much -much- more expensive.

Put the money, kid, put the money right here

I must confess that I have been a lifelong Nintendero: I grew up on Game Boy, Super Mario, Kirby, and Animal Crossing, and I have always defended the Japanese company as an essential “second console” in any self-respecting gamer household. PlayStation and Xbox are more interchangeable with each other, but the big N will always offer things that no one else can: worlds full of color, vibrant gameplay, unique characters, gaming experiences that you can’t find anywhere else. And usually, at a family-friendly price. After all, it’s Nintendo, it’s home, it’s family, it’s that uncle with somewhat strange ideas that somehow always end up working.

In Switch 2, apart from explaining the obvious technical improvements (4K finally on a console from the Japanese brand!), Nintendo has spent a large part of its Direct selling us a button to talk to your friends while playing with them online. Moreover, it has added a camera (sold separately for 60 euros) to be able to see each other while playing, even sharing your screen. Yes, you all know what Nintendo has just invented: Discord. However, it’s paid. That was the missing piece.

Perhaps it’s an age thing, but I couldn’t help but feel that the presentation of the new console has been superficial. A way to show us that they can compete with “the big players” and, for that reason, they will release a handful of games that have already appeared years ago on Sony and Microsoft consoles, something like a greatest hits of recent years, between Cyberpunk 2077 and Yakuza 0. Being completely honest, the effort is appreciated, but if we buy a Nintendo console, it’s to play Nintendo games. And what they have shown us is… disappointing.

Mario Kart World looks stunning, of course, and all its promises really open the doors (literally) to the franchise, which now becomes a semi-open world while respecting the rules known to all. It’s exciting, it’s fun, it’s unique, it’s a true console seller. But beyond that, what is there? New versions of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Mario Party Jamboree with additional levels or graphical improvements for Switch 2, for which you have to pay extra? An exclusive from FromSoftware? A late sequel to Kirby Air Ride? It already feels a bit tedious, but the price is what has ultimately made me decide, to be very honest, to sit back and wait and not let myself be carried away by the intense desire.

Time to dig into your wallet!

And the clean console, without a single game (even the technical demo has to be paid for) will cost 469.99 euros, and the edition with Mario Kart World in digital will be 40 euros more. In other words, more than the PS5 Digital and just a little cheaper than the regular one. But it’s not that Nintendo is going to offset this price with games for all budgets: Mario Kart will cost 89.99 euros in physical (79.99 in digital), and Donkey Kong: Bananza will be ten euros less. Preparing for a next generation where releases will already cost three figures, and with the difference that, unless there is a debacle (like in the case of the 3DS), prices here do not drop. Never.

I acknowledge that I am horrified. Switch 2 has ceased to be an accessible console for everyone and has become a luxury product. And no matter how many small (or not so small) improvements it has, it is an unaffordable price for a secondary console. Obviously, if you are a die-hard Nintendo fan, you probably already have it on your shopping list. If not, you may need to think it over and do the math before making a decision. On social media, you could read that quite a few people had backed out after learning the price, and that is a bad omen for the company.

For now, it is impossible to know if we are facing a new WiiU or a repeat of Nintendo’s success: it is true that the mouse mode will be perfect for playing shooters and that, obviously, we will have the Nintendo franchises of now and always, but one must ask whether it is worth waiting to see if they really make the most of its capabilities and check if, in some way, there is a price drop and the bigger games go below the barrier of 89.99 euros.

If this is all there was, Nintendo has slipped up. It will sell like hotcakes, yes, but that doesn’t change the fact that they probably expected a warmer reaction on social media. Believing that the majority of their audience would follow them at any cost (literally), Switch 2 has become a kind of rich version of the battle console that not everyone is willing to pay for. A spectacular cold shower for a premium rehash.

The Festival Bubble: Why Giant-Scale Music Events Are Everywhere This Summer

You could spend all of July and August jumping from pogo to pogo without stopping for a single day… even if it means seeing Gin for the fifteenth time.

For a long time now, the word “summer” has become synonymous for many affluent individuals with music festivals. Benicassim, Madrid, Bilbao, Barcelona, Vilanova i la Geltrú, Alcalá de Henares, Santiago de Compostela, Palencia, Villarobledo… There is no city or town that wants to be without its festival. So much so, that you could spend the entire months of July and August jumping from mosh pit to mosh pit without having to take a single day off… even if that means seeing Ginebras for the fifteenth time.

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Another year more Jota singing at Primavera Sound

It’s not that I don’t like Ginebras. On the contrary, they’re a fabulous group. The same goes for La Casa Azul, Sidonie, Amaia, Veintiuno, Ladilla Rusa, Lori Meyers, or Love of Lesbian. The problem is that attending a music festival is increasingly becoming equivalent to taking an Interrail trip: you pay relatively little, see many things, understand little of what happened, and repeat year after year, even though it will never be the same as the first time.

In fact, it’s like taking the same Interrail trip over and over again but making only small changes to the itinerary. The companies behind the mega-festivals know that the audience anticipates seeing Rufus or Florence + The Machine with more excitement than discovering a new band. And in the end, festivals become a Groundhog Day of fun: a lot of it, but always the same.

Not to mention the harm it does to smaller venues. Sure, you, who go to festivals, may also go to concert halls throughout the year to enjoy exclusive performances, savor two-hour concerts in an intimate setting, and support the artists. But the majority of people settle for the marathon, treating it like a Netflix series: twenty bands in a row, and the next week the same twenty, but in a different location. How many times can one listen to “Emborracharme” without getting bored or feeling like they’re experiencing the same concert over and over again?

This may be controversial, but festivals (whether it’s BBK, MadCool, or Primavera) somehow devalue music by offering it in bulk, as if it were a dump truck of notes and songs. Now it’s Amaral, then El Drogas, and twenty minutes later it’s Iván Ferreiro. Everything is presented without the capacity to be truly enjoyed or savored, with beers priced at fifteen euros and restrooms crowded with people praying not to be poisoned when they close the door. The audience is treated like cattle, a necessary nuisance for the organizers to make money.

Note: I’m not trying to turn anyone against festivals – who am I to do that? – but I would like for them to be viewed with a bit more critical thinking, more like a factory producing mass-produced sausages rather than promoters of the arts concerned about our well-being and the well-being of music. If the festival next door used a band that brought in more money, we’ll book them next year. And again, and vice versa. Music as a business rather than art, still enjoyable as ever, but much more sinister than it has ever been.

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Shifting Paradigms: The Post-iPhone Era Draws Near

The naturalness of being able to touch the software almost directly with our fingers will change the experience of using technology.

In the world of technology, change is inevitable, constant and happening at full speed. With the upcoming unveiling of Apple’s extended reality headset, times are beginning to change in a direction that few could have imagined just a few years ago. While the iPhone has long been and remains a key element in the lives of all of us, in a few years it could be replaced by extended reality glasses.

The iPhone 15 Ultra: Pushing the Limits of Mobile Technology

We will see how the rumors evolve, because everything seems to indicate that we can see an important change of course in the iPhone strategy.

When we heard that one of the new iPhone 15s might use a titanium frame instead of a stainless steel one, many of us thought of the Apple Watch Ultra. It was impossible not to make a connection. Introduced relatively recently and with durability and strength as one of its pillars for success, more than one of us saw how the company established a three-pronged strategy: aluminum, stainless steel and titanium to classify the devices.

Apple (Maybe Not) Should Develop an Alternative to ChatGPT

Apple is exactly where it wants to be, at the center of an ecosystem where all the pieces, including artificial intelligence from other companies, fit together to make great products.

Which is the best Apple device? All of them. And I mean that in the literal sense, all of them. Together. In the union between iPhone and Apple Watch, in the union between iPhone and Mac or between AirPods and Apple TV is born the strength that makes Apple stand out. From the outside, Apple products can be seen as similar to what is on the market. Some may prefer them, some may prefer other options, but from the inside the perspective changes.

iOS 17 wishlist: The exciting updates and features we’re hoping for on the iPhone

The list of what’s new in iOS 17 could be long, it could be short, but what is certain is that it will take us by surprise. In the meantime, we can consider what we’d like to see coming to the iPhone this coming June.

When a new version of the iOS operating system approaches, we tend to all get excited about the potential improvements and new features that may be coming. Especially since software makes such a big difference to devices, and a simple update is the next best thing to debuting a new iPhone, iPad or Mac.