I find myself in a bit of a quandary over the upcoming Nintendo Switch release slated for this fall. Having navigated my way from the Switch Lite to the standard Switch, and now being confronted with the OLED model, I can't help but feel a sense of continuity, rather than any groundbreaking advancement. I revel in the games, no doubt about it, but the purported 'improvements' haven't sparked any significant eureka moments for me. Each upgrade has cost me an additional 100-150 euros, yet the experience, albeit slightly enhanced, doesn't seem to justify the price tag. I'm left questioning, is the elusive "it's better" worth it? What are your thoughts, fellow gamers?

Depends on what you expect. I've got an almost launch day original Switch and have played dozens of games on it and feel I'm still getting my money's worth. The Lite and OLED models are just slight variations on the same machine so why would you expect groundbreaking advancements?

A Switch won't play 100Gb+ AAA titles, but everytime I see video's from 'next gen' games I still see 'uncanny valley' effects and about the same gameplay. While it could look better, Mario Kart with realistic water reflections and raytraced shadows still would be Mario Kart (and probably no longer run on a portable console).

The difference between standard and OLED wasn't enough for me to upgrade. In general, I think console revisions are better as a first purchase than as an upgrade - the nicer screen or bigger battery helps sell people on the slower processors and limited future software support of a console that first released a few years ago.

The OLED version had the stick drift too, I had to return it.

My expectations for this new model are zero. Nintendo hardware sucks nowadays.

All mainstream console controllers experience more or less stick drift. Nintendo still replaces Joy-cons (even out of warranty) for free in the EU.

> All mainstream console controllers experience more or less stick drift

Yet my two xbox controllers that I've had for 5 years have not experienced this, and nor have my PS4 controller (4 years old at this point).

I've had to replace the joycon twice. And the third one still has drift. I gave up and just use a Nintendo Switch Pro controller with it now.

You shouldn't have to do this, but you can buy replacement Joycon joysticks with hall effect sensors that won't drift

The Pro controller has drift issues as well (although less often)

Did you use/abuse the xbox/ps4 controllers as much as the Switch controllers? My guess is the amount of hours played is a big factor in wear and tear. Since the Switch is portable you have a lot more opportunity to play.

Switch: Barely used, and gently used. PS4/Xbox: Gets tossed around, used as a media center as well as for gaming.

After the first joycon replacement, we were even more gentle with it.

My Xbox controllers never did it either. Never once had my character walked himself off a cliff after I stopped giving input.

The field is looking very different now with so many companies releasing portable steam deck style pc's.

Is nintendo's brand strong enough to withstand them ? It very well could be, but I think they have serious competition now.

Yes because even the "easiest" of them to use the Steam Deck can easily run into its fair share of PC gamer problems. I've never once had my Switch boot a game with the incorrect button config, there's no need to fiddle with output resolutions on a game by game basis, pairing controllers for local play always works flawlessly etc. And this isn't even getting into trying to find the best settings for optimal battery life/noise, adjusting TDP, frame rate cap etc.

There's a lot of value in handheld PCs but they just don't have the ease of use a console like the Switch does.