I guess I have to start by clarifying that I do own all major consoles. I've been a big Sony fan since the PS1, and I enjoy the hell out of Halo and the Forza games which keep me buying Xbox consoles. I also know that this conversation has probably come up before, but I feel that there is a very real reason why chasing pixel counts DIRECTLY affects the gameplay experience. Sony owns a ton of amazingly talented studios. Studios that brought us games like LittleBigPlanet, Infamous 1 and 2, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter, etc. Those games were AMAZING and had tons of replayability. These games were all made in an era where graphics were one of many selling points, but not the ONLY selling point. This was when studios were still trying to create fun experiences with interesting art styles. The only game in that list that had a somewhat realistic art style was infamous, and even that had a comic-book style look to it. Microsoft had games like Fable 1 and 2, Crackdown, Shadow Complex, and Halo 1-3. Super fun games that all have really amazing gameplay. Fast forward to the X1 and PS4 reveals. It couldn't be more clear that the reveals were mostly based on the graphical power of each console (well, MS decided to talk a lot about TV stuff which is a non-gaming function). Hell, during the PS4 event especially, they prominently featured Mark Cerny, who was the SYSTEM ARCHITECT for the machine to show a bunch of demos of particles exploding in real time. I mean, what? Why should this be what you spend your time showing on your newest console instead of a few awesome launch games? Even Knack, Mark's game, was just one big tech demo to show how much crap they can have on screen at once. Now, we're on the precipice of the Scorpio launch, which has been nothing but TFLOPS (a term no one has ever heard of until this freaking console), and how much "stronger" the GPU is going to be. Have we heard about games for it? Have we heard about anything FUN regarding the console yet, other than "It'll be sooo much prettier than PS4 Pro"?! These companies are pressuring their studios and their system architects to build these pseudo-PCs, but guess what? They will never reach the level of a PC. They will always be less powerful and more restrictive. It is objectively a worse option by all accounts to own either one of these machines than a PC. Games are usually more expensive, you have to pay for online, and the "graphical prowess" has already been reached or exceeded by PCs months or even years ago. Even so, Sony and MS tell their studios to worry about making the prettiest games possible. More lighting! More particles! MORE POLYGONS! I mean, I haven't felt the desire to replay a single PS4 exclusive game this entire generation. They are all one-and-done because you just aren't playing games these days. You're watching them with a little input by the player to get them to the next beautiful cutscene. Now, there are exceptions. I think we can agree some games like Nier or Horizon or Sunset Overdrive are clearly great games and are very fun. How come I can only think of a few though? How are FUN games the exception, and not the rule? Games like Infamous SS, The Order: 1886, Uncharted 4, Knack, Killzone, Gears 4, Quantum Break....these were all so forgettable and underwhelming, no? You watch the trailers and the previews and think, "Oh my god this is gorgeous! I can't wait to play this!" Then you actually play the game, and you're realizing you're just watching the previews and trailers again but now with a controller in your hands. Enter: Nintendo and the Switch. Hell, pretty much all of their consoles. They must know that entering this pixel race would not only suck the soul out of their company, but it would also suck the fun out of gaming. I think they are the one company that truly and forever realizes the immense value in gameplay and the user experience. Games are meant to be played and shared, which is why I feel they prioritized this hybrid idea so hard instead of creating a powerful box. How many people have said that they were about to give up on gaming, but then got a Switch and had it re-kindle their gaming spirit? Do you think this was just because it's a new thing? I think it's an extremely calculated and time-tested move by Nintendo that having games that rely heavily on GAMEPLAY that you can bring ANYWHERE and share experiences with people is about 1000x more important than how realistic a game looks. You just won't find a Nintendo game on Switch that will have you sit through set-piece cinematics or use quicktime events or throw so much story at you that once you've gone through it once, there's no reason to ever replay it. Nintendo has been two steps ahead this whole time, and unfortunately, it's just took people a long time to realize it. Just as most artists aren't appreciated at the time of their life, Nintendo has struggled with that as well with some of their consoles. While most gamers were distracted by shiny new boxes with graphics galore, Nintendo kept the faith that the gameplay experience would ultimately win out. Luckily for us, Nintendo isn't dead yet, and now they've given us the Switch. The opinions of nearly everyone are positive. I think we've all finally hit the point of being jaded by the cookie-cutter AAA games featured on other consoles and just want to have fun again. I'm thankful that Nintendo hasn't wavered in their beliefs even after pretty rough failures in the console market. They kept at it and kept trying to improve the experience between the user and the games, not between the tiny chips and the plastic box they're housed in.