Nintendo's new Switch console will allow remote parental controls via Apple's iPhone
In announcing its upcoming Switch console this week, Nintendo revealed that parents will have access to extensive controls on how their children play by way of a mobile app available for Apple's iOS.
These include time limits, not just for how long but on how late a child can play, IGN detailed. By default these limits will only trigger reminders, but stricter parents will be able to force the system to suspend itself. Times will be customizable per day, for instance allowing kids to play longer on the weekend.
Parents will also be able to see which games their kids are playing the most, with monthly reports, and spot when someone is going over the limit.
Further options will include blocks on games over a certain age rating, or on using chat and social media. The latter restrictions will be adjustable on a per-game basis.
Nintendo cautions, however, that any parental settings will apply system-wide, rather than to individual players. This could create problems for parents sharing a console.
The Switch is set to launch March 3 for $299.99. Unlike most consoles, the system will double as both a home and portable system, since its core tablet unit can be undocked and used in many different controller configurations, even portable multiplayer. Planned games include titles like Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Splatoon 2.
Nintendo has become increasingly attached to the Apple universe, thanks to the success of Pokemon Go and more recently Super Mario Run, released in December. Sources at Apple told AppleInsider that in-app upgrades for Run have been higher than reported, potentially translating into millions in extra revenue.
These include time limits, not just for how long but on how late a child can play, IGN detailed. By default these limits will only trigger reminders, but stricter parents will be able to force the system to suspend itself. Times will be customizable per day, for instance allowing kids to play longer on the weekend.
Parents will also be able to see which games their kids are playing the most, with monthly reports, and spot when someone is going over the limit.
Further options will include blocks on games over a certain age rating, or on using chat and social media. The latter restrictions will be adjustable on a per-game basis.
Nintendo cautions, however, that any parental settings will apply system-wide, rather than to individual players. This could create problems for parents sharing a console.
The Switch is set to launch March 3 for $299.99. Unlike most consoles, the system will double as both a home and portable system, since its core tablet unit can be undocked and used in many different controller configurations, even portable multiplayer. Planned games include titles like Super Mario Odyssey, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Splatoon 2.
Nintendo has become increasingly attached to the Apple universe, thanks to the success of Pokemon Go and more recently Super Mario Run, released in December. Sources at Apple told AppleInsider that in-app upgrades for Run have been higher than reported, potentially translating into millions in extra revenue.
Comments
The Switch doesn't know what it is.
Nintendo's hardware designers have left the company(I only know this because the old philosophies are gone) creating hideous hardware.
Nintendo killed the most successful gaming brand in history(Wii) in hopes to please a few hardcore gaming nerds(and failed).
In doing this Nintendo lost the monopoly they had on the indie game market.
I truly wish Apple would acquire them and point them in the right direction. They're so lost right now.
concept and teamed up with EA and others to bring "hardcore" games and bragged about them during the Wii U conference. The Wii U was far more like PS4 than Wii ever was.
I like the article giving more information about the switch console and the parental control.
I also think that Nintendo should have brought its software to different platforms sooner. The success of Nintendo switch will be seen.
Still, several people puke out their BS here without having tested, touched etc. it at all. ROFL ROFL LOL
The characters are from Mario. The thing to remember with Nintendo's consoles is their family friendly approach. If parents are looking to keep kids under 10 entertained, the PS4 and XBox aren't necessarily good choices as the games tend to target the teens/20s/30s gamers. If you look at the family and kids PS4/XBO section on Amazon, there's not a great selection of games just for kids. Look at the top selling games on each platform:
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?platform=WiiU&minSales=0&results=200
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?platform=PS4&minSales=0&results=200
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?platform=XOne&minSales=0&results=200
It's a different audience on the PS4/XBO. Nintendo didn't lose their audience to PS4/XBO, they lost it to Apple. Younger kids are playing games with iPads now.
Nintendo's setup before was to split their audience between mobile (GameBoy, DS) and console (SNES, GameCube, Wii). The console side eventually fell flat because the iPad just fits better into family life as kids can take them everywhere and are more powerful than Nintendo's portables. Nintendo has made a tablet to compete with the iPad and it's powerful enough to be used as a console.
This way they unify their mobile and console family-friendly audience, which is better for developers who were stuck between supporting more users on the underpowered portables or hardly any users on the more powerful console. Now they can target a single audience in both console and portable space with enough power to run most games available today.
The Switch will essentially be a portable/pocketable PS3/360/WiiU. While the same can be said about iOS devices, the App Store games aren't as high quality. The games are cheap but they are also cheaply made. Switch games will mostly be AAA titles and the prices reflect that. The game prices are starting out high and the upcoming launch in March will have missed the Christmas sales period so they might have a slow start but they have as many as 50-100 million fans of their ecosystem and this is pretty much their only gaming product now and the best way to experience their newer franchises.
Mobile devices aren't designed to handle larger games. Switch games will come on memory sticks. The next Zelda game is just over 13GB, which is about 10x the size of typical mobile games:
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2017/01/13/zelda-breath-of-the-wild-file-size-switch-wii-u/
In order to be a successful product for Nintendo, they need about 30 million+ sales over the lifetime of the console. The sales rates for their other consoles are here:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262074/worldwide-sales-of-the-nintendo-3ds-since-2004/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/349078/nintendo-wii-and-wii-u-console-sales/
The Wii at its peak was 25m units in a year and 3DS was 14m. DS was 31m. By combining the two groups together, I reckon they can still top 10m units per year. They are targeting 2m at launch:
http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/28/nintendo-ceo-well-make-more-than-2-million-switch-consoles-for-march-launch-if-needed/
Apple sells about 10m iPads per quarter so Nintendo isn't going to be affecting iPad sales much, they will just aim for the high quality family-friendly gaming segment. A higher powered console like PS4/XBO wouldn't have worked for Nintendo because the games that need those aren't kids games and a console like that wouldn't pull younger kids away from their iPads, nor could they take it with them.
Nintendo can do the whole original Wii experience again but it can fit into people's lives better so fitness software can go into the bedroom or bathroom for exercises and weighing. The Switch can be taken to hotel rooms, on flights, in cars easily to keep kids entertained and it can handle duties like interactive stories where the DS and Wii couldn't. If the strategy doesn't work then they might have to look at putting games on other company's hardware but I think there's still a space left for their whole ecosystem that other companies aren't able to satisfy or aren't interested in.
I'm fine with EA being shut down, myself. The industry needs a major reset a la 1983.