Mario Odyssey looks cool, however if they require using motion controls to throw the hat, forget it.

I'm looking forward to Shin Megami Tensei and Xenoblade 2. Xenoblade was one of the games that looked really interesting, but I missed for not owning a Wii U. Zelda (of course Zelda) looked to have a lot more polish on it since the earlier demonstrations. Can't wait to see what it looks and plays like come March.

The motion controls (*sigh)... I don't know. They could be on the periphery enough that I would never have to mess with it if I didn't want to. I just really wish that wasn't a feature. I'm sure it will be fine, but I worry that some game will require it (Like Mario Odyssey), for the sole purpose of shoehorning the gimmick rather than benefiting the gameplay. You could say "Well, it worked for the Wii..." But this is not the Wii. So the real question is, can it be both? That's the question that I wish I didn't have to ask. Unless it works really, really well! Which it might!!

I bet you anything the games like Zelda BotW, Xenoblade 2, Mario Odyssey are going to start at $70.

Breath of the Wild Switch Special Edition looks really cool.

Okay! Definitely pre-ordering that! So, $400 for March?

The official page shows an Amiibo logo at the bottom. Hmm...

http://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/

Ahhh... http://www.zelda.com/breath-of-the-wild/news/classic-amiibo-support-revealed

Wow the price of a Joy-Con does seem a bit expensive, but that little gadget apparently has a lot of technology in it, it can do quite a few things. It's not as simple as it looks.

@scrypt, why do you think those games will cost $70? Breath of the Wild, the Wii U version, is on Amazon for $60.

@Jon thanks for the details about the online service. That might be one I wouldn't mind paying for, I guess it just depends on what's offered.

I did notice Mario Kart in some of the videos they showed, but wasn't sure if it was the Wii U version or a new one, until I saw something different. I remember seeing 4 items above the player, as though you could store 4 and choose one among them.

@GregoPeck, because of the cartridge format. I really think they will have to compensate for production costs by increasing retail prices of games. Otherwise it won't be as profitable for developers to sell games on the Switch. The fact that DS/3DS are on cartridges is irrelevant, because there is no competition for those systems, no market to drive down prices, so they can charge what they want. Selling a console game on a proprietary system, with a proprietary media format... Unless they have a way of producing cartridges at the same cost as a Blu-ray disc, then they will have to make up the cost somehow. Proprietary media doesn't ever stick around for very long, historically speaking. Without the market required to mass produce, cost can't compete with more widely adopted media (e.g. CD, DVD, and now Blu-ray).

I'm just speculating, of course, but I'm very interested to see how moving to a cartridge based system will compete against the existing console market.

Of course, after I write that, checking Amazon and they have placeholder box art for Skyrim, Zelda, and Fifa, priced at $59.99. I'm really glad to see that. I don't know how they can do that, but I'm glad :).

Last night I felt a bit ready to pre-order one. Now that I've had some more time to think about it, I'm not sure. I'm only interested in the Zelda game and that would mean about $360 just for one game. It doesn't make much sense to spend that much on just one game. However, my son would play the Switch, too. He still uses the Wii U, which I haven't used in quite a while. So, I'm not really sure. Maybe I'll just go the cheaper route and get that Zelda game for the Wii U. Right now we don't know if our digital games will transfer from the Wii U to the Switch, or at least I haven't seen nor heard of that being possible. Is it at all backwards compatible with the Wii U? I doubt it, at least for physical copies. One of the games I bought for Vinny's birthday was Terraria, but then that disc failed. I can't get the system to recognize it anymore and it doesn't look like it's in bad shape. So I bought the digital version. I think we also have the digital version of Minecraft. While I like both games, I've already paid for multiple versions of each of them, so I'm kind of thinking, "geez how many times do I have to buy these games?"

Bottom line, I'm only interested in the one game. I still haven't even started playing the games I bought for my PC during the Thanksgiving sales (Steam & Origin).

I pre-ordered the special edition Zelda, but I'll wait on the system, for a bit at least. With Horizon Zero Dawn coming in February, and Mass Effect Andromeda coming in March, I'll be good for games for a while. I assume Switch systems will be hard to come by if you haven't pre-ordered already, anyway.

Reggie: "I think it would be helpful maybe to step back."

You'd have to also think backwards if you're trying to understand what Nintendo is trying to do. It's no real surprise. Nintendo has been hesitant to have anything to do with a modern online infrastructure (i.e. video, voice, multiplayer...) from the beginning (his line about "it continues to reinforce our commitment to online..." is hilarious). Exclusively using a mobile app for chat is completely ridiculous. You're exactly right, Travis. Why not use Discord, or any other free service which is already mobile friendly?

May be worth noting, too, that he's talking about playing online on-the-go. Is that alluding to using your phone as a hotspot? Will all the game audio come through the phone app?

Where? It's not available on Amazon right now.

It was yesterday, briefly.

The reason you used Skype or your phone in the past is because Nintendo has pretty lame online services. Now, they will be charging for those services, and seemingly providing little else of value. 30 day rental for games? Using an extra piece of hardware (your phone) to chat online? Presumably, they won't allow you to enjoy network multiplayer games without participating in the service. No one else is charging for online networks without giving a lot more of value. It's just a huge step backwards.

The Switch launches in just over a month. Why are they trickling information? They aren't competing with anyone in March. Why not tell us what the service does and does not do, in detail? Probably because it's in some kind of beta phase, meaning they don't really know. Which is probably why it will be free until the fall.

Yes, I'm being skeptical.

@Adam, nope it's a separate game. There are no games shipping with the Switch. I read that it was because they wanted keep the cost of the system as close to $350 as they could. I also read that 1 2 Switch is more of a game than Wii Sports.

I also thought Wii Sports was a great game. I had a lot of fun with it! I thought it was a good "ice breaker" to the Wii's motion controls. It seems that 1 2 Switch will be similar to the joy-con. It is hard to imagine playing a game where you don't even look at the screen, but we'll see how it works out.

Forgive my laziness, I should have looked for this and shared it with my previous comment, but here you go (see full article in the link below):

As for 1 2 Switch the article says, "when asked specifically about 1, 2, Switch and how it seems like the ideal evolution of the Wii Sports-style bundled game, Fils-Aime acknowledged the similarities between the two. However, he disputed this to some degree, arguing 1, 2, Switch is a more comprehensive game."

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/why-switch-doesnt-include-any-bundled-games/1100-6446940/

I'd also like to share what I just found regarding Breath of the Wild on the Wii U vs. Switch. Just from reading the article, it doesn't seem as though the difference will really be all that apparently noticeable.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/switch-vs-wii-u-all-the-zelda-breath-of-the-wild-d/1100-6447008/

I just pre-ordered Breath of the Wild for the Wii U and saved $12 with Amazon Prime! This satisfies my only desire for the Switch and saves me money. :)

Thanks for the game list additions, Jon!

Very cool! A friend was just saying "Man, I should have picked this up during the Steam sale..."

Nice! I tried to play the ME demo before the Steam Winter sale, but the EA servers were down, constantly. I have the demo, but you still have to connect to their servers to play, apparently (like Diablo 3).

Travis, I was talking about the Mass Effect demo.

I'm looking forward to it! I tried to figure out when this patch would be available and from what I read, it seems like it will be out, well technically today since it's already the 4th over here on the East Coast. If not "today" then it should be here this week! I'm not sure when the Necromancer is coming, but I think they said "some time in January." I also saw a video that stated that it's going to be a part of a paid DLC. If that's true, I'll buy it. I also saw that Blizzard recommends taking a new character through the new retro Diablo area. That means I have to decide on a gender, class, and name, too many choices!

So, I finished this about 24 hours ago. It took a few hours to complete, longer than I anticipated, which was good. It's basically a dungeon with 16 (I think?) levels. It looks different, but doesn't feel too different (I think that was the point). I started a new character as Blizzard suggested in something I read. I created a new Barbarian and almost made it to level 40. I modified the difficulty a few times. By the end, nothing was really hurting me on Hard, Expert, or Master, I can't recall what I finally stayed with. It did seem more difficult than the base D3 game. The problem though is if you leave the game to increase the difficulty, you have to make your way again to Old Tristram via the Old Tristram Road to the north west of Tristram to find the portal near the cathedral and start the dungeon again on the first level. It was hard at first, especially for a new character, but it eventually got easier with better gear and higher character levels. I definitely do recommend Diablo fans to check this out. I haven't spent any time with the first two Diablo games, but I do still enjoy D3. I believe this event is for a limited time only in January and from what I read it seems it may also be an annual event, which is cool. There are some cool things you get when you kill Diablo and something special you see, but I won't spoil that.

A few hours, maybe around 4, with a new character.

Thanks for that, Travis. I pretty much knew all of that. Since I've never played the first Diablo game, I wasn't disappointed at all. I thought it was great! The only thing is that it makes me think that the first game is just a dungeon of the same size. I don't know whether or not this is true, of course, but I'll probably get to playing the first game, eventually.

At first I thought it was a remake inside D3, but I think that misconception faded quickly and easily. I might recall that realization being a minor disappointment that didn't last very long. When I found out it was only 16 levels, I thought it would be much smaller than it actually is. Not every level has the same look, although it mostly looks the same. Most of the dungeon is pretty much the cathedral of D3. However, the last few levels are like the jail cells and torture chambers you see elsewhere in D3. There also seems to be places where new areas can show up randomly. Just as D3 does, where at one play through you'll see a place you can access, but another time around you won't see it. It did seem more difficult than D3 and that's why I often changed the difficulty. Pretty much, I increased the difficulty when I wasn't taking any damage at all. So, I ended up on Torment I or II just to get to the portal. But, by the time I got inside, I had to lower the difficulty to Hard, Expert, or Master. Thinking more on it now, I should probably go through it again with every other class, so that I end up with at least one reward for each.

I have at least one in each of the categories. DoTA2 is only there because when I turned on my beastly PC for the first time and launched Steam, it appeared in my library. I don't know why Steam says TF2 is in my library, because I haven't played it (nor do I intend to, though Vinny plays it).

Anyway, I have no idea what to expect for the top 100 selling games of 2017, with only one or two exceptions. The only new game I can think of that will hopefully make it to this list is Terraria: Otherworld. I hope and expect that it will be released this year and I'm looking forward to it. The devs have gone silent on it for a while now, but if you look at the announcement and follow ups to Terraria 1.3, then this could be a really good sign.

I'd also like to add that Ark: Survival Evolved is expected to graduate from Early Access this year (in the Spring). Since I've been following its development since the beginning, I have a lot of faith that this is actually coming to fruition. They're getting close to the end of content they've stated they're going to add. Almost all of the slated creatures have been added and they're even beginning to add more than usual each month. The January update, for example, is adding 7 creatures! Before it was about 2-4 every month (once the frequency of updates slowed). The last update added 5. So, I imagine Ark may be on this list for next year as well.