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Comment by whatshisface | Hacker News Reader

The "don't call us, we'll call you" model already exists in the form of game consoles. Nintendo is probably the most restrictive in this way. If you don't have a pile of money for the development equipment, don't bother calling.

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I don't think this is as true for Nintendo anymore. The switch store is full of tons of stuff. Maybe they're not letting everything through, and they certainly aren't letting everyone make physical games, but the digital store seems like it must not have a big filter.

I don't own a Nintendo console: what's a physical game and how does it differ from a digital game?

There are some games where you can't buy a physical cartridge and Nintendo actively encourages players to buy digital versions of games that are stored on the switch by offering a discount. Personally I refuse to buy digital versions whenever I can after what happened with the Wii, but some titles I can't actually get.

To add on/clarify. A physical game for the switch is basically a memory card --- put it in any switch and you can play. A digital game is a download, tied to your device and/or account.

Ah! The downside is that you can trade memory cards but you can't do the same with downloads?

Yes, exactly.

I thought a nintendo dev kit was about $100 bucks.

I believe for 3DS it was closer to $1000, definitely at least double the regular console cost, whatever it was.

No surprise here. Apple and Nintendo are cut from the same cloth.

Big marketing budget, medium quality product, high price.

I do my part in capitalism by purchasing products that are quality.

Both companies are famous for the high quality of their products, but are also often criticized by some due to the specs of their hardware for the price. Is that what you mean by “medium quality”?

Because the easily quantifiable specs of a device are usually a very poor indicator of quality, and quality is much more nuanced in reality.

For instance, the Xbox has always had higher specs than same generation Nintendo devices, but does that mean the quality is better? The Xbox One has almost no significant exclusive games, whereas the Switch has a huge number of critically acclaimed exclusives.

"critically acclaimed exclusives."

Marketing

BOTW wasn't even an 8/10

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