Video Games

Got Disco Elysium on PS5, controls are to be improved in a patch but its clunky as fuck until then but enjoying it so far, remarkably slow paced game but very nicely executed. After a couple of hours last night I'm tempted to get it on Mac and just blow off work for a few days.

Kosmokrats on Switch is about to be my next time sink.

8 year old son wants a Switch. I have not owned a Nintendo product since the original Game Boy. Could use some hivemind help with this.

Model - Safe to assume the Lite is the better option? Or is there more mileage out of the Full Fat version?
Game prices - is there a sensible array of low cost games? Most of what I am seeing is closer to the £50 range which is mental.
Parental controls - What limits can you impose?

Parental controls - What limits can you impose?

Buy BOTW, and then he'll never even have the opportunity to play, as you completely monopolise the machine for the next 6 months.

Haven't played Zelda since the original NES version. Even then....meh.

Sacrilege.

I've not owned a nintendo product, but those that do, generally seem to love them.
I'm loving the switch and nintendo for this, which I think is genius.. And if it's still going when jnr is old enough I'll be getting him one.

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-Labo/Nintendo-Labo-1328637.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBdsTrtXpyo

re cost of games, you'll have to do the usual ebay/cex/wait for a sale to get them for a reasonable (sub £40) price. Also depends on how desperately first born wants the latest titles.

Games are spendy, but they do have sales on the digital store occasionally.
storage is increasable with standard MicroSD cards, so cheap to get more if needed.
eStore also has an awful lot of tat for a quid or so (mostly mobile games ported to Switch and sold for small change, mostly shit too)

Lite is hand held only, full fat has detachable controllers, and can be linked to a big screen for a more traditional console experience, or the screen can be stood on a table and controllers used remotely.

I know nothing of parental controls, what limits do you want to impose?

Online access is behind a paywall (£13 a year if you shop about) and you get a NES/SNES library of games for that old school revival.

Sacrilege.

That's the sort of rabid fan-boi Nintendo smack I was expecting. Mario is also boring.

Come at me bro.

Mario is also boring.

Love my Switch, completely agree with the above sentiment.

The first-party titles are a bit pricey (I bought mine purely to play BotW, and think it was completely worth it), but there's plenty of bargains to be had on the store. I love my Lite but if you're looking for some casual local multiplayer I imagine the separate joy-cons of the full-fat Switch would be a great thing to have.

Between BotW (a must own IMO), Stardew Valley (around £10 or so) and Rocket League (free), you've got years of mileage out of those alone.

OK. All very helpful. Thanks all. I will walk him through the economics of this and see what he is into.

Dark Souls Remastered is highly recommended
(I am aware this is for a child, recommend stands)

ok boomer

[Edit] You can play Fortnite on Switch. I assume kids are still into that in a big bordering on the unhealthy obsessive way.

He's big into Among Us right now.

there's plenty of bargains to be had on the store

The very poorly designed store, one of the worst things about the Switch. Poor search, doesn't learn from your previous purchases or make useful recommendations, wishlists are buried away from the main store UI, switching back and forth from the News section to the store (news items often don't tell you much or even anything about a game) means having to log back into the store every single time...

Consistent story with Nintendo is that they are 10 or 15 years behind the rest on anything Net.

Oh yeah I completely agree that the store is an utter clusterfuck. I normally just wishlist things here instead: https://www.dekudeals.com/

Take that fucking back!!

Plenty of parental controls - there is an app that you can use to set limits; it will give you a monthly report on what they've played, how long they've played it for etc. The controls for comms and friends are also decent.

Full fat Switch here - useful for family sorts of games when you can hook it up to the TV - Overcooked, JustDance etc. Also the caddy means it gets charged, unlike anything else in the house they use...

Been watching a few Circuit Superstars videos. Seen enough to convince me it's worth a closer look.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pybSQmwIP5E&ab_channel=GameRiot

Yep, definitely going to pick that up when it drops on Switch (assuming the frame-rate is decent)

Definitely go full-fat. I like playing handheld but it's hard to beat 4p Mario kart on the big screen.
Anecdotally also, on a flight to a foreign wedding a few years ago my switch and I were put to work entertaining young bored relatives with the screen stood on the tray table and joycons passed around

Anyone want a brand new, unused, white xbox One controller? I somehow ended up with 3 controllers when I bought the console so it never got used. £35 posted.

Anyone still playing GTA Online? Been hammering it with two mates for the last few years on and off, they've amassed a ridiculous and impressive collection of properties and vehicles. A decent 2/3 hours session is as entertaining as any game I'm currently playing despite there being no particular end game as such, just accruement of money in the most chaotic way possible.

Will be interesting to see how they handle integrating their online world with whatever GTA6 is.

You can go secondhand on the games as well for a fair bit off. I bought a few secondhand and sold them on for the same once I finished them