Nintendo is restricting the Switch 2's USB-C port — most third-party docks and accessories won't work thanks to proprietary protocols
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Basically Apple.
Nintendo has always been the apple of the gaming industry. Where have you been?
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First time in my life I've skipped a Nintendo console
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I was in elementary school when the 360 came out, so no, I wasn’t aware at the time of the corporate smarm coming from Microsoft.
You’re right to be put off of it though, MS is…yeah.
Hey, dude, just be older like me. How are you going to remember screwing your Atari into the antenna ports on the back of the TV if you weren't alive for that?
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The Switch 2 dock has built in fans.
The protocol enforces you to use the correct gear, preventing damage to the console and user.
I'm not knowledgeable enough on the standards to know if this can be enforced otherwise, but it sounds like a typical "Nintendo Quality" feature.
From what I gather, they use standard protocols for the webcam, so it seems more of a protective measure to me than the evil shit people are making up here. Otherwise, I'd expect them to lock down everything.
You can plug pretty much any webcam into the Switch as well.
I don't agree with their desire to lock things down but this probably wasn't totally a case of that.
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I do wonder why they decide to do this. Replacement Nintendo docks probably aren't a big money maker. Maybe they did HDCP (HDMI copy protection for movies and such, used for YouTube and such when they finally get it working) on dock side for Switch 2 so this is their attempt to stop people getting the video feed in between? Just speculation though, and I might be very wrong.
IMO, everything has to do with piracy.
Ever since the r4 for the DS spring boarded Nintendo piracy, every single console they've released since then has been ripped open and has had very easy-to-use tools developed for it to make it really, really, easy to put pirated games on. You can buy a flashcard from amazon with DS games on it. You can mod a 3ds in 15 minutes. You can play switch games on the steam deck.
They hate this. They want to do everything they can to lock down their systems and prevent this.
On the Wii (or maybe it was 3ds or Wii U) when updating, you used to get a notification "...this update will also check for unauthorized material and remove it."
Now they're simply saying it there's unauthorized stuff they're not going to account for it and let things break (or force it to break)Now they're locking down the usb-c port, again making it harder to crack the console. They failed with every console this far, so now they're trying something different.
In the long run it may get cracked eventually. But for now, like denuvo, it delays piracy.
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Even Apple isn’t this bad. You can use non-Apple devices on their USB-C ports just fine. Hell, Apple actually had a large part in developing the USB-C standard. The entire point is that the U stands for Universal.
Of all things they desingned the lightning port wasn't that bad. The issue with nintendo is their incredibly aggressive corporate culture. They have the games but having access (legal) to their catalogue is a whole other question. Than there's the nintendo fans.
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This shit should be illegal. Apple got smacked by the EU for this exact practice. Do we think that will applied evenly?
Apple was arguably different. They pushed the lightning port bu you still had third party accessories using that or even cables.
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IMO, everything has to do with piracy.
Ever since the r4 for the DS spring boarded Nintendo piracy, every single console they've released since then has been ripped open and has had very easy-to-use tools developed for it to make it really, really, easy to put pirated games on. You can buy a flashcard from amazon with DS games on it. You can mod a 3ds in 15 minutes. You can play switch games on the steam deck.
They hate this. They want to do everything they can to lock down their systems and prevent this.
On the Wii (or maybe it was 3ds or Wii U) when updating, you used to get a notification "...this update will also check for unauthorized material and remove it."
Now they're simply saying it there's unauthorized stuff they're not going to account for it and let things break (or force it to break)Now they're locking down the usb-c port, again making it harder to crack the console. They failed with every console this far, so now they're trying something different.
In the long run it may get cracked eventually. But for now, like denuvo, it delays piracy.
As far as I am aware, Wii, Wii U, DSi, and 3DS all had the warning about removal of "unauthorised technical modifications", alongside on the back of boxed games (probably referring to things like the Wii including new IOSes on the disc that could overwrite any cIOS on the system). A hardware lock down attempt would make sense given their previous history, as their attempts to stop any software modification before were very clumsy at best (never forget the cat and mouse race that was region unlocking Korean Wiis). Still, I'm not sure if this dock issue in particular is part of an anti-piracy drive. There's not a lot I can think of that anyone trying to crack the system open can do through the regular dock's signals (DisplayPort, USB, so on, that are already mostly exposed, with DP going through a HDMI conversion chip). However, this could be incorrect. If Nintendo have special docks out there for service centres that could do things like flash and dump firmware or make factory-level changes to the system (board serial number, for example) it could explain attempts at locking down the dock, and why they've gone to so much effort to encrypt the signals. The only way we can really know is for the Switch 2 to get modded fully and the system is explored in depth, and considering that Mariko (a.k.a. red box) Switch 1 was a tough nut to crack already (you needed a mod chip) I don't think it'll happen any time soon.
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If it's most, and not all, they are not locked out. If 3rd party releases a product that doesn't work, that sounds like it's on them. I've never bought a Nintendo device, but it's so easy to think this is all on them.
You assume Nintendo is publishing their changes to spec
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You assume Nintendo is publishing their changes to spec
I don't have to make that assumption to know that you shouldn't sell a product that doesn't work.
