I haven't had a proper game console since the PS3.
I would like to get one, mostly to play with my family (wife, 7yo kid). I had been waiting for the Switch 2 for a while now (I really resisted the urge to get a Switch OLED back when it was released...).
On the plus side:
- it's really geared towards family/party gaming
- it's Nintendo, so you get the whole usual games (Mario Kart, Zelda, etc.)
- like most consoles, it's plug and play and can be enjoyed in the living room (I kind of gave up trying to set up a proper gaming experience with my Linux PCs, given that I don't have the hardware for it)
On the minus side:
- the battery life is not great to say the least (2.5 hours takes me back of the Game Gear in early 90s!)
- the screen seems to be pretty bad too (at least it's a step back from the OLED one of the Switch)
- the joycons are still not using a Hall effect sensor, meaning they might still be prone to drifting
- most of the games will not be sold as proper cartridges but as download codes
- the whole thing (console, additional gamepads, games) is quite pricey
- it's Nintendo, famous for their anti-everything (anti-homebrew, anti-emulation, anti-piracy)
Should I still go with it, or is there a better option? (I hope the better option is not to wait 4 more years for Nintendo to release a newer Switch 2 that would fix the shitty hardware).
Thanks in advance for your feedback!
Thinking about it, I don't think the fact that the Switch 2 is a handheld console matters much to me. Especially to play multiplayer games, I assume docked to a TV is the way to go.
So this is what I've been doing, but I always end up spending hours configuring the emulators, the shaders, everything... and then not playing that much! That's why I was talking about the "plug and play" nature of game consoles (even though it's less true now that you have to create an account and stuff like that).
As for PC games, I never have the proper hardware to play in good conditions. Again, the "plug and play" nature of game consoles is appealing. A game you buy for a given console is working fine out of the box.