I thought I remembered when I got my first Wii, but it turns out that it came out in 2006 and time is slipping away from me.
I don’t remember most of my childhood, but the early consoles stuck around pretty long in my household. I was privileged to follow not one, but two mega corporation’s products and we chose Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s…whatever they ended up making. My brother was born into the Nintendo 64 and the Original Xbox while my 4 year gap from him brought me up to speed with the Wii and eventually the Xbox 360. Things followed that path—the DS and 3DS, opting for PC gaming with a Windows computer rather than the Xbox One, a Wii U and then Switch for us both as we moved up in age. With the newest Nintendo Direct this morning that introduced some new features, I’d like to bring myself back in time to explore how the Nintendo consoles have grown up alongside me.
With very little memory of the N64, I mostly remembered how the Wii was a unique and silly console that contrasted from the on the ground nature of the Xbox. The Wii-remote was a fun take on controllers—a different way to play that I always preferred to the unwieldy standard ones of traditional consoles. In that way, the Wii felt much more like a toy and to be played with. The gritty nature of the Xbox and the tone it set was off putting to me at a young age. It was never an element of seriousness—the first party joy from Nintendo’s family friendly arsenal allowed me to invite family and the young cousins into the action.
But as I grew up, this became a smaller concern. Gaming became an action I did with my fellow gamers, which is where the Xbox 360 stole my attention with Halo and such. This did bring about the usage of the DS and 3DS, which became a mobile console that encouraged me to make friends in a way the Xbox failed in. With Xbox Live, I found myself waking up in the morning where I’d get up, completely undressed for the day, and play in an Xbox party sat in the middle of the living room. The DS and 3DS had the unique feature of making me enjoy the local play elements of getting out of the house to play with friends, something I didn’t often do to my parents stopping me from leaving the house with it (I was a forgetful klutz). Even then, its most memorable moments were a grouping of us playing together in the same room with the console or sending dumb pictochat messages. In that way, the toy adapted itself towards something that still inspired my communication with friends but in a way distinct from other consoles.
I’m sure you’re getting what I’m going for with this article—The Wii-U was my introduction to bringing younger kids into the genre as the oldest members of our cousins, and the Switch was an accessible thing during the tumultuous high school and college times when I couldn’t sit down in one place for a while. So let me get to my focus point—The Switch 2, and particularly the GameChat feature, are following the pattern of growing up alongside me with a focus on digital connection.
I want to explain why I mean this because I understand that voice chat has existed in online play as far back as the Wii. GameChat functions as a miniature chat software such as Skype or Discord, disconnected from the game and instead allowing for simple connection that goes beyond communication. The camera features as well as focus on audio being clear independent of the background sound makes this a much more fleshed out idea than just communication within a game. It also allows for cross-game communication and streaming, something that directly conflicts with the reading that it’s solely just a new way to communicate for gameplay. The work of this system is directed specifically at connection from far away—particularly in the way discord is used now to have friendly connections with people who’ve moved away. With cameras as well as the auto green screen, the GameChat functions as attempting to feel like you’re playing together in the same room as your compatriots. The quality of the tools doesn’t matter as much to me—the fact that these are being introduced as they are is still a marvel compared to the power of the Switch 1 and it functions as very accessible for other people who aren’t as tech savvy.
The purpose of it to me is that the community and connection this builds comes right around the time as I prepare to graduate from university. As I grew up at age 4 with the Wii and then all the way to 21 with the Switch 2 on the horizon, the feature is coming at the moment that myself and other friends of my age are going to start moving out of their hometown and to different parts of the world. As we progress to this pivotal moment where my friends will be across the country from me, a feature like this is a reminder of how technology and gaming still manage to keep us connected. While I likely won’t interact with it myself (I still use Discord so it isn’t revolutionary), I can’t help but imagine how nice this must be for people my age that must be dreading the passage of time leaving them stranded in a new city. This feature extends modern online gaming to help connect in a human way that can’t replace the feeling of being in the same room, but works as a handy alternative for those of us that aren’t able to see our far away friends.
So I extend a thank you to Nintendo for growing up alongside me, bringing me connection and friendship no matter how old I’ve grown. The development of their technology in the lens of bringing people together is a powerful symbol for what Nintendo does differently, inviting the joy of playing with the people one loves no matter where you go in life. With tools like these in the gaming space, I’m reminded of why I play. It isn’t just for the adrenaline of a 1v1 clutch in Valorant or the beauty of cinematic spaces in Cyberpunk 2077, but the time and memories shared with the friends and family who joined me for them. In that way, Nintendo is doing everything right for their newest console release.