Oatmeal

Talking way too much about writing, technology, and video games. (he/they)

❤️ @Simon1844
Avatar by ➡️ @teknopathetico

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

https://t.co/7d2zCyFzDt

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

lots of people surprised that Nintendo added telemetry ("spyware") to FRLG, but they've been adding it to their games since 2017 lol

for example: Breath of the Wild is packed with telemetry for things like game progress, where players die and how, popularity of settings, etc

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

meanwhile, Digital Extremes is still waiting for a Switch 2 devkit so they can upgrade Warframe (a game that is currently averaging 50,000 players per day on Steam)

https://t.co/HGEQ7IwWft

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

how the heck is Nintendo is prioritizing who gets Switch 2 devkits

the campfire game from the Direct is made by Oink Games, a company primarily known for making board games

they have made some video games but none of them are super popular

https://t.co/T9kOgtVq5B

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

I sure hope Nintendo is going to replace this and Gold Points with something else...

the optics of this aren't great, especially since it's right off the heels of the Switch 2 game pricing fiasco

[OatmealDome @OatmealDome]

[NSO]

Game Vouchers will be discontinued on Jan 30 2026.

It will no longer be possible to purchase vouchers after that date. Vouchers purchased before Jan 30 2026 will remain valid for up to 12 months.

(Game Vouchers lets NSO subscribers buy two Switch 1 games for US$99.)

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

interesting, Chris Meledandri (Illumination CEO) only got 75% approval from shareholders for re-election to Nintendo's board of directors

all the other directors were elected with 90%+ approval (and last year, Meledandri also received 94% approval)

wonder what changed?

[任天堂株式会社（企業広報・IR） @NintendoCoLtd]

[任天堂HP]「臨時報告書（第85期定時株主総会議決権行使結果）」を掲載しました。
https://t.co/QHhTlOoTTj

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

honestly I personally quite like the intermissions

but I do think that an option for standard 3 lap lobbies should be added so that people who don't like them can have fun too

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

a Nintendo employee, 8 years ago: "In Japan, there’s a sense of, 'We’re making this thing for you, and this is how we think this thing is better enjoyed.'"

thought this quote was especially relevant with recent events

https://t.co/D31Q6stKIB

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

very happy with the Switch 2 so far, it's basically everything I wanted from a next-gen Switch

can't wait to see the upcoming first party and third party games

also hoping for more upgrades/upgrades for Switch 1 titles, because some really need it

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

tomorrow is the Splatoon series' 10th anniversary, so I wonder if they're planning something special

[OatmealDome @OatmealDome]

[Nintendo Music]

There was no update at the usual time. However, today is NOT a public holiday in Japan.

(US public holidays have not stopped Nintendo from updating the app in the past. For example, they added Wii Sports on Veterans Day last year.)

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

@TFrankie_TT I've heard that while it does run, the performance is very poor unless you use hacks like emulated CPU underclocking.

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

I highly suspect that the reason GC emulation is Switch 2 exclusive is that the hardware allows their emulator (Hagi) to directly run ROMs without prior work

Super Mario Sunshine and Pikmin 1+2 required substantial work for each game on the CPU side before they could run

[Digital Foundry @digitalfoundry]

Today on Digital Foundry, a look at GameCube emulation on Switch 2 with resolution and performance testing - plus a look back at 2017's 'forgotten' Wii emulator for Nvidia Shield, running at a higher resolution on the Tegra X1: https://t.co/T9Za9ujgbU

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

@LinuxMostly The Steam Deck is more powerful than a Switch 1. It's more like the Switch 2 in terms of performance. The Switch 1 contains a CPU from 2015 (which can't even reach full speed because of battery life concerns, on top of it having some of its cores disabled).

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

a JIT recompiler would let ROMs "just work", but the Switch 1 probably doesn't have the horsepower to run it very well, hence the Switch 2 exclusivity

(for comparison, afaik Dolphin's JIT recompiler doesn't run very well on the Switch 1 without underclocking the emulated CPU)

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

Super Mario Sunshine ran using ahead-of-time recompilation for the executable

meanwhile Super Mario Galaxy, Pikmin 1, and Pikmin 2 were all recompiled from their source code to run on the Switch CPU with a shim that forwards the game's SDK calls to the emulator directly (iirc)

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

@pastaboi168 honestly, I didn't pay much attention to the hardware leaks so I don't think that was a factor for me (the only thing I studied in detail was the rumored tech specs)

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

the Switch 2 reveal was kinda anti-climactic imo lol

but I think that's just because the hardware is about what I expect from a 2nd gen device, and there was only one game announced

I'm significantly more interested in the software, so can't wait for the Switch 2 Direct in Apr

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

where's the rooftop party Nintendo

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

@cs_dust3 I roll my own! https://t.co/8d6cC2pLXN

[Oatmeal @SentientOats]

currently testing video upload on my cross-poster, so have a clip of me winning in F-ZERO 99