Online, gamers declared the Switch 2 “anti-consumer.” In reality, no one cared.
With Nintendo charging $450 for its new device — and up to $80 for some games — influencers and TikTokers took to their accounts to warn it was too expensive. Across social media, others decried how new terms of service gave the Japanese firm the ability to remotely disable the latest machine if they detected unauthorized activity. Many games sold in physical packages were, they complained, glorified download codes.
Anyone expecting the backlash to dent sales was disappointed. The Switch 2 is not only Nintendo’s best-selling device ever, it has become the fastest-selling games console of all time with 3.5 million units snapped up in the first four days alone. Shares have hit record highs.
For executives, it’s the latest example of an increasingly pertinent lesson: While the internet has given consumers a voice, you must not confuse it for reality.
It is too early to declare ‘success’. Selling consoles during launch is very easy. We still don’t have a clear picture of market demand. This story must have been written by someone who isn’t aware of the sales history of consoles (but thinks they are).
Much of the Switch 2 momentum is actually Switch 1 momentum. Soon, Switch 2 will have a reputation. The first year seals the console’s reputation, and it will be very hard to break afterward.
People, both pro and con Switch 2, need to wait. I think people should wait until early 2026 actually. We’ll see if anyone aside from me does that.
Note this story, editor. We may be returning to it in a few years.
I used to believe the same thing, but my excuse is that I started with Zero Mission and Fusion where having full health was the norm due to frequent health drops and recharge stations. So I assumed that in Metroid 1 I would also have to be at full health, and that I would have to grind trash mobs in front of those pipes.
But that’s blatantly wrong. There is in fact programming place that reduces the drop rate if you keep killing the same enemy. So no, you are not crazy for thinking that farming health takes longer and longer.
So what are you supposed to do? Just play the damn game, avoid getting hit, keep killing enemies and you will be up to 100% health in not time.
Honestly, it’s not that hard of the game once you know what you are supposed to do. In hindsight it’s actually quite genius how the game designers were pushing the player forward and punishing those who liked to play it safe.
The only instance where I would say this system is bad is if you die in Tourian at Mother Brain. There is not really any progress to be made to fill up your health. The only solution is to leave one health container, that’s close to the elevator, then write down the password for that.
Tedious, but still beats grinding.
All Metroid is really need was a save system, an automap and a way to switch beams without having to pick up again the item. It would be cool if there were a real remake that just add quality of life changes.
All Metroid ‘remakes’ are really “Crazy Sakamoto Manga Adaptions for Samus Aran”. Sakamoto doesn’t understand Metroid. Metroid, after all, doesn’t sell in Japan. Making it more manga and having Samus run around as a thot didn’t make it sell any better in Japan.
You are right that no one is interesting in playing the game. The only reason why they are playing it is to cross off ‘beat Metroid’ on some list. They’re not interested in actually experiencing the game. They’re better off just beating Zero Mission and leaving NES Metroid to the real Metroid fans. Note how even though Zero Mission exists, people still feel obligated that they must play NES Metroid. Sakamoto failed in making Zero Mission ‘replace’ NES Metroid.
Video games did not start with the NES or in 1985. People need to understand the trajectory of gaming and not think it began at one ‘point’.
You know what the alternative to passwords is?
“Saving!”
No. It would be STARTING OVER FROM SCRATCH.
Saving is a ‘new’ concept reserved only for disk writing systems. Nintendo began putting it on cartridges as early as 1986 with Zelda. There was no ‘saving’ in any console game prior to 1986. The technology simply wasn’t there.
However, passwords are a way to continue.
We don’t like passwords because we are used to saving. But the choice wasn’t between saving and passwords. It was between passwords and starting over again. And I’ll choose passwords over starting over again.
The mid and later generation NES games had no excuse for not allowing saves. Did you know that ALL Mega Man games used passwords? EXCEPT for Mega Man 1 which had NO passwords?
I wish Guardian Legend had saves instead of passwords. Blaster Master, Bubble Bobble, Bionic Commander, and Batman also use passwords.
When was the last time you saw anyone criticize NES Mega Man games for using passwords and not saving? Or any of the NES classics mentioned above? NEVER. And those games came out WELL after 1986.
But poor, poor, Metroid, the whipping child of the Youtube Era. How dare Metroid use passwords in 1986! Oh, the outrage!
How dare Metroid use 8-bit graphics as well in 1986. What was Nintendo thinking!!!?????
1. That explains the sudden interest for Nintendo pushing out feature films and putting up a spot in a movie theme-park resort owned by a movie company
2. This helps connect the dots as to why Sony was chosen as the main company for handling the production of the live action Zelda movie, as while Kojima’s company is technically independent, their allegiance priority is still Sony since they’re the ones throwing out blank checks to fund death stranding
3. This might still be a very focused, but experimental pivot as a safety net to prevent getting blindsided if video games are really losing its appeal (they’re not obviously). However, this double-mindedness is showing up a lot ominous their messaging to journalists. To be fair, Sony has a massive vertically-integrated presence in most of the entertainment industry that matters, but their PlayStation brand has been the breadwinner since the turn of the century, so maybe Nintendo’s trying to do a similar business structure.
4. Sony’s covert takeover of the console e-sports scene is probably the reason why the switch 2 was designed the way it was; while e-sports represented the “hardcore” (oh that word!) streaming scene, the switch 2 online infrastructure feels more like a casual/expanded audience approach to streaming, and I know how not plug and play it is for some random person to start a streaming setup by yourself.
So uh, this email is not about my experience with the switch 2 so far. That’s for another email down the line.
I think we’re overthinking it. Switch 2 isn’t hatched from a deep analysis of gaming. Switch 2 is hatched more from the concept of ‘allowing players more ways to interact with each other’ and rubber stamping the desires of their shareholders. I believe by placating their shareholders, they are going to lose their base customers.
Bonanza is more than a Donkey Kong game. It is a Donkey Kong Reboot. I’m not a fan of this direction.
Iwata said that we should value video game characters that were created through gaming. Having the movies alter and change the characters seem extremely wrong.
My interest in Nintendo movies is only as spectacle (as in how the hell are they going to make a movie of this). I have no interest in watching movie content from Nintendo IPs which are not story related.
Movies are very dangerous for video game companies as ‘Spirits Within’ destroyed Square. It is very possible for these movies to bomb.
It definitely feels like Nintendo is losing its connection to gamers especially with all the game key card nonsense.
Nintendo might ask, “Why is someone not buying the Nintendo game?” But I am asking, “Why would anyone buy a Nintendo game today?” Is it even a ‘real game’? Or is it just more franchise slop?
I think Nintendo’s software direction is way off. For a new 2d Mario, we get voice acting and singing flowers. Just no. Since I bought the game, it registers as a ‘sale’. But I won’t be buying any more 2d Mario games from Nintendo with this shitty quality. I know I’m not alone.
There are complaints about Mario Kart World especially in regards to the ‘intermission’ courses. I think these complaints are going to rise up with all the first party software. And people will drop off from playing. And over time, Nintendo’s money pipeline will slow.
Nintendo’s decline can come suddenly (through bizarre hardware changes like the Wii U or N64) or slowly (like the SNES). For Switch 2, I believe it will be like the SNES.
“But Malstrom, and like the SNES we will return to Switch 2 software twenty years from now and be amazed at how good it is.”
Not when you can’t own the games. Switch 2 will be non existent in the retro scene. Switch 2 is a console bridge to oblivion. It’s like buying a PSP Go.
Normally I ignore people who get 8-bit and 16-bit games wrong, but Angry Video Game Nerd can put up a video like this and within a dozen hours have half a million views. As someone who keeps trying to combat misinformation (i.e. Zelda 2 not being received well back during release) or that people were upset over Super Mario Brothers 2 (completely not true), the original Metroid trilogy has whoppers of misinformation about it. Angry Video Game continues spreading the misinformation. Why? Because it is easy, and because truth runs contrary to conventional wisdom… thus harming viewership.
Here’s the video where he goes through the first three Metroid games.
To sum it up, on NES Metroid he thinks the game is completely wrong. With Metroid 2, he thinks game ‘improved’ but is still broken. But Super Metroid is perfection with no real flaws.
NES Metroid has two real flaws in it which a remake would easily fix. The first is using passwords. The Famicom version allowed saves but the US version used passwords. Zelda got a battery in the cartridge, but Metroid didn’t for whatever reason. The other is refilling your energy tanks as that is a massive time sink.
But there needs to be some perspective here which Angry Video Game Nerd chooses not to provide.
Metroid is a SILVER BOX GAME.
Metroid sold so well that Nintendo of America reprinted and re-released it with new box art.
The above cover shows that even during the 8-bit Era, Metroid had risen to the status of ‘classic’. As anyone alive during that time knows, the other two big Nintendo NES classics were Mario and Zelda.
Metroid was so popular that it appeared prominently in the video game cartoon show of that time (forgot the name).
The Black Box games were the very first NES games (1985). The Silver Box games were the second NES games (1986). These include Kid Icarus, Metroid, and Rad Racer.
Metroid gained notoriety but not for the reasons people list today. Metroid is a phenomenally hard game even by NES Gamer standards. All the marketing emphasized this ‘challenge’.
The reason why the kid is shown with playing Metroid with the NES Advantage is to signal this game is for advanced players. Advanced players who had gaming experience were Atari and Arcade veterans. The joystick was their talisman, not the D-Pad. Metroid isn’t being marketed for children. Metroid is designed for the advanced gamer. In this case, the young adult. The teenager.
Today, gamers go and play the NES games and get their asses kicked. One reason why this is because of input lag from not playing on original hardware. But the bigger reason is because they grossly underestimate the skill level 8-bit gaming requires.
“You say that in a condescending way.”
No, it’s true. Consider the 8-bit Generation. The gateway game to the NES is Super Mario Brothers which was included on most NES systems sold. No one will dispute this. Look at the skill level required to play and even complete Super Mario Brothers on the NES.
What one can conclude is that there is considerable skill level required. And we also know that SIX YEAR OLDS could play and complete Super Mario Brothers on the NES. In fact, this became quite common. The skill level to play Super Mario Brothers is really the benchmark for all NES games.
So when Mister Gamer From the Future Twenty First Century goes back in time to play the 8-bit game, they get their assed handed to them because they don’t even have the skills to finish the original Super Mario Brothers let alone the other NES games. The incorrect reaction is to say, “These games suck and are broken.” No. The games are fine. You need to ‘get good’ as they used to say. You need to practice. There is a heavy skill requirement needed.
And when you leave Super Mario Brothers and go to other NES games, with the exception of games designed specifically for children, all the NES games get harder. Contra is infamous for its challenge. Mega Man games can be challenging. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is pretty hard. The sequels to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are arcade ports or arcade spiritual successors. The point is that NES hard is a real thing.
Yet, there was demand for EVEN HARDER games from the hardcore gamers. After mastering Super Mario Brothers, some gamers wanted an even harder challenge. Shigeru Miyamoto gave it to them in the case of Super Mario Brothers 2 (which Nintendo of America balked at sending over because it was TOO HARD.)
Metroid is a game designed to be hard to the NES gamer. So if you mastered Super Mario Brothers, Metroid is supposed to be a challenge to you. But if you never mastered Super Mario Brothers, Metroid will absolutely destroy you. This is by design.
The flaws of Metroid are really issues of the 1986 time period. NO GAME in 1986 even remotely had quality of life standards compared to today. It’s just silly to even ask for that. You want to see a game of 1986 that is rough? Try Kid Icarus. Still a classic, but it is very strange and challenging game.
Metroid does many things right and even superior to all its sequels. For one, the challenge. Metroid is a true hardcore game. The other is the eerie atmosphere and music. Metroid feels alien because it was designed to have the sounds not be harmonic until you pick up a new upgrade (or finish the game). Some tunes are just haunting.
Above: Kraid’s Lair is one of the best tunes from the 8-bit Era.
Above: Brinstar’s theme is also iconic.
Angry Video Game Nerd doesn’t even acknowledge this greatness. He just whines like a bitch over issues no one complained about during that time period. And the only real antidote to refilling up your life is to not die (or die rarely). We achieved this back in the day. It is no different than trying to get through Gradius (because once you die, you lose all your powerups).
For Metroid II, Nintendo successfully pulls off making a creepy Metroid for the Gameboy. It is an incredible feat of engineering.
Above: Listen to the title theme. And keep waiting. It changes on you!
Above: Metroid 2 has some kickass themes. This is your ‘heroic’ theme usually after a Metroid earthquake.
Metroid 2 was released in 1991. This was FIVE YEARS after the original Metroid. And while Metroid 2 has many improvements, what holds it back is clearly the hardware. The Gameboy could only do so much.
But to put such an EPIC GAME on the Gameboy is literally a Wonder of the World. My biggest problem with Metroid 2 was that it was a direct sequel and not a ‘gaiden’ spin-off like how Super Mario Land or Link’s Awakening were. If any game could use a NES sequel, it would have been Metroid. But we never got it.
Angry Video Game Nerd never ackowledges the time differential between original Metroid and Metroid 2, and ignores the brilliant engineering required to make the Gameboy run such rich and epic software. While Metroidvanias are indie’s favorite genre to make, they aren’t easy to do. Now try making one on the GAMEBOY.
I love Metroid 2 because it is Sakamoto Free. This is why the game is sooooo good. Sakamoto is not needed for quality Metroid! Metroid 2 is unique because it isn’t replaying the original Metroid (that Super Metroid, Metroid Prime, and Zero Mission all do).
And then he goes into Super Metroid and does nothing but gush over how ‘perfect’ it is. The few complaints he brings up are nothing to ignoring the TRUE complaints of it. One major flaw in Super Metroid were the controls especially for WALL JUMPING. It’s not easy to do and very frustrating. I’d rather replay Metroid than go through the terrible wall jumping of Super Metroid. Metroid of 1986 has the excuse from being from 1986. But Super Metroid is from 1994. Hell, even Batman on the NES did wall jumping easier and better.
Super Metroid is a VERY EASY GAME which is why gamers today think it is ‘good’. Super Metroid presents NO CHALLENGE. It is a baby’s Metroid, a game designed for children, not for hardcore gamers like the original Metroid was (and arguably Metroid II). No one denies that Super Metroid is an audio-visual feast, but this is a mid to latter SNES Era console game. Ever mid to latter SNES Era console game achieved this. Super Metroid is not unique in that regard.
Super Metroid is where the series lost its identity. The game was a flat out remake of the original Metroid. And since then, nearly every Metroid is a remake of Super Metroid which was a remake of the original Metroid.
My problem is comparing Metroid (1986) to Super Metroid (1994). It is as stupid as comparing Super Mario Brothers (1985) to Donkey Kong Country (1994).
“Did you know that Donkey Kong Country has much better graphics and music than Super Mario Brothers?”
“Donkey Kong Country just plays better than Super Mario Brothers.”
“Super Mario Brothers doesn’t have the quality of life that Donkey Kong Country has.”
Why on earth would anyone compare a game from the mid 1980s to a game from the mid 1990s? NO ONE DOES THIS FOR ANY OTHER SERIES. But for Metroid, everyone does it. I think they do it to cope with how bad they are with the original Metroid. To demonstrate the absurdity, I will show you how it is with other series. Observe:
“Final Fantasy 1 is rough around the edges compared to Final Fantasy 6.” NO SHIT.
“Super Castlevania IV plays much smoother than Castlevania 1.” YOU THINK?
“Legend of Zelda doesn’t have the quality of life features that Link to the Past does.” REALLY? NO WAY!
“Mega Man 1 is pretty hard compared to Mega Man X.” NAHHHHH…
We can go through these all day. You see, no one makes this comparison ‘except’ for Metroid. The reason why they do it for Metroid is because Metroid received no ‘same console sequels’ like other franchises did. So when we have Super Mario World, we compare that to Super Mario Brothers 3 and find the two similar in quality. But if you compare Super Mario World to the original Super Mario Brothers, yeah, there’s a huge massive gap.
Since there is no NES Metroid 2 or NES Metroid 3 to compare Super Metroid to, the poor early 1986 game gets toggled for it. And all mention of Metroid being a 1986 game is somehow magically removed.
Metroid, in 1986, was so far ahead of its time. The password sucked but it sucked on all the games of that time period. At least you didn’t have to start from the beginning. Refilling your life sucked but that is the cost of dying. In many games of that era, you weren’t allowed to come back but had to start the game over entirely! So from someone of that time period, Metroid was an improvement, not a decline.
I am really tired of comparing a 1986 game to a 1994 game. “Look at all the flaws the 1986 game has! Gosh!” Fucking morons.
If Super Metroid was so great, then why did the series become non-existent until Metroid Prime? It was because Super Metroid didn’t sell. Super Metroid’s mission was to end the great 16-bit Console War. It didn’t do that. Donkey Kong Country, however, did accomplish that.
To give an idea of how badly Super Metroid sold, here are comparisons:
Starfox: 4 million copies sold.
Final Fantasy 6: 3.4 million copies sold.
Chrono Trigger: 2.5 million copies sold.
F-Zero: 2.8 million copies sold.
Mario Paint: 2.3 million copies sold.
Super Mario RPG: 2.1 million copies sold.
Pilotwings: 2 million copies sold.
SimCity: 1.98 million copies sold.
Super Metroid: 1.4 million copies sold.
Sure, some of these titles are Japanese centric in their sales. But Super Metroid couldn’t even outsell Mario Paint. Super Metroid couldn’t outsell Pilotwings.
Donkey Kong Country, released a few months after Super Metroid, sold 9.3 million copies.
The point is that Super Metroid, despite its heavy marketing and first party publisher push, couldn’t and wouldn’t sell.
Why did the game not sell? Because it wasn’t a good sequel to Metroid. Metroid was a CHALLENGING game. Super Metroid was SO EASY you could beat the game in a rental. I bought Super Metroid when it was on clearance for $20, a bargain back in the day.
Super Metroid is loved today as a COMFORT GAME. But since when was Metroid a COMFORT GAME? Super Metroid might as well be a walking simulator as you walk around, smelling the digital flowers, as there is no real challenge in the game. They even give you the maps and a SCANNER so you don’t have to do any work in investigating. Because of this, Super Metroid had LOW VALUE with Metroid fans.
Putting Super Metroid on a pedestal while running over the original Metroid with a bus does a disservice to both games. It feeds more of the incorrect myths running through both titles.
At least in the US, there is no console seal on the box to speak of. No tape, no plastic wrap, or anything else to prevent you from opening it, taking a peak inside, and bringing it back to the store saying you never used it.
Nintendo can have the box opened post delivery to the store to change out the internal packaging and none would be the wiser.
Was Nintendo smart enough to make this change to packaging ahead of time to allow for swaps like the previous writer? I don’t know…
Did they just assume that big box stores would keep the Switch 2 behind glass to save a few extra cents in packaging? Probably…
I’d expect more of this to come as Nintendo finds this to become an inexpensive way to increase the value of their SKUs to products, for a very small expense to themselves. What else are the workers at Walmart, Target or Best Buy going to do? Perhaps a different consideration… how many opportunities do companies get like this that they can uplift the value of their products on shelf by having inexpensive local labor slap a sticker on a device and toss a piece of plastic or cardboard inside?
Just another reader
While this situation sounds very messy, my question is why would Nintendo need to ‘uplift’ the value on a sold-out console?
Hey Sean, didn’t know that the image hosting site would be a jerk about not showing the images when you published the links directly on your blog.
Here’s the Reddit thread that clued me into the whole debacle about inserting Mario kart world download codes into $449 switch 2 boxes and then slapping the Mario kart world sticker on them to jump up the price $50. Theres example photos from the previous blog post in that Reddit thread, so everyone can go here for what I was talking about in the previous email:
One user posts their testimony on how those stickers ended up on those switch boxes after the fact:
“Those stickers are just stickers. When I worked at GS (game stop) they had them in the drawer. We would peel them off mostly to get sleeves off boxes so we could display the sleeves instead of the actual product. Once it sold you would go in the back and slide the sleeves over the unopened box and retape it with the same tape. Sometimes things would show up with an official seal that couldn’t be broken. I imagine they just simply removed a little clear sticker off the front and stuck in a code before resealing it. It is just tape and im sure the consoles barely saw the light of day before being purchased.”
There’s other posts in that thread where people bought the sticker bundle and the security tape was already broken, but the download code worked fine.
Either way, it’s pretty funny (and annoying for gamers like me who just wanted vanilla switch SKU) that they did something like this.
So for some context, here’s what a Nintendo switch 2 box with the Mario kart world bundle is supposed to look like:
This is what a regular Nintendo switch 2 box is supposed to look like:
And this is what a last regular Nintendo switch 2 box with the Mario kart world bundle slapped onto it at the very last minute looks like:
Yes, they literally just opened these standard Nintendo switch 2 boxes, put in the game code, and then resealed it and slapped that dumb circular sticker on it so they can sell this with the $499 SKU instead of the $449 SKU.
I ended up getting a switch 2 packaged like the last picture because Nintendo knows how high the FOMO is for this system right now, and I wasn’t going to walk away empty-handed after spending so much time trying to track down an available unit.
I know this is one of their major decisions to try and eat the costs of tariffs in one of the largest markets in the world for this product without explicitly telling the US market there’s a price markup; everywhere else around the world was not so fortunate since they’re immediately eating up the big markup in price due to the changes in supply chain conditions.
This is really the only major negative experience I’ve had with the switch 2 so far. I’ll send another email later about my thoughts about it.
P.S- I never used the code for Mario kart world because I’m one of those weirdos that wasn’t planning to get a switch 2 for nintendo’s first party titles, but instead for the third party games. I’m eventually going to sell it because if I wanted to have a switch 2 launch racing game that came as a download code for my system, I’d get fast fusion rmx. It even supports game share!
The sticker is an interesting development. I wonder if it has something to do with the hardware pipeline with tariffs. However, all the Switch 2 hardware is the same. The bundle boxes wouldn’t all be manufactured in China, would they?
Nah, it seems like Europe is getting these sticker versions as well. It appears that Nintendo is manipulating supply to fit the demand? Everyone wants the Bundle so Nintendo is converting the stand alone Switch 2s to that?
None of this makes sense with Nintendo’s recent actions. I’ve never heard of Nintendo breaking a console seal to create a bundle.
Perhaps they got market data that showed no one wanted the stand alone Switch 2. Console launches are tough. They are definitely all hands on deck now. In order to keep momentum going, it could be possible they decided to convert more Switch 2s to Mario Kart Bundles.
If Switch 2s start appearing on store shelves now, it would be a PR nightmare.
While first party Switch 2 titles will be the focus of observers, it is the non-first party and non big third party titles that I worry about. I expect full collapse on that physical ‘indie library’. The entire point of releasing a game onto Switch was to get it on a physical cart. While this can still be done, it isn’t enough to make it economic feasible while remaining a budget title. I believe the game carts sparked a huge collecting frenzy among passionate gamers. With the game carts no longer being the same, those collectors aren’t going to show up as they did for Switch.
When a game console sells really fast, it also stops really fast. I expect that for Switch 2.
Much of the Switch 1 hardware install base were people purchasing multiple consoles for themselves or multiple consoles for a home. This is why it is laughable to compare Switch to home consoles because home consoles almost nearly had a ratio of one per household. Switch is one per gamer which is very different and matching of handhelds.
It’s great when blog posts write themselves!
Remember that the bundles are a price cut while not officially being a price cut. Watch how many Mario Kart World bundles Nintendo makes.
One of his most memorable works was the short story called “The Last Question.” It basically talks about how a computer so advanced keeps helping humanity out throughout the ages solving every problem asked of it but always cannot answer how humanity can undo all of the finite energy that will eventually disappear from the universe despite becoming so advanced at the end of time.
Here’s a youtube video that does a good job talking about the story. It also has a link to the short story in the description as well:
This story is probably one of the many out there in the SF community that reinforces the theory that this reality that we live in is merely a super-sophisticated computer simul
Isaac Asimov was completely wrong about energy being finite. One of the most influential books ever written was called “The Ultimate Resource II” by Julian Simon (link goes to the book which author uploaded free for everyone). While his aim was to persuade academics, the book missed its mark. Instead, the political sphere was influenced. Even the Catholic Church got rid of any thoughts of ‘overpopulation’.
A Danish statistics professor and environmentalist, Bjørn Lomborg, decided to use Simon’s book as an example to pick apart with his grad students. What he discovered was that much of the information was correct. He reversed the environmental pessimism and wrote The Skeptical Environmentalist. His book eventually elevated him to director of Danish government’s Environmental Assessment Institute.
It’s strange that the people who make predictions about the energy business have no experience in it. Oil is not running out. We are flooded with it. The truth is that resources do not come from the ground. They come from the Human mind. And the more energy we use, the more we create. The data shows this. People’s emotions do not.
Asimov is a brilliant man in that he wrote voluminously. I cannot keep track of all the books he wrote… both fiction and nonfiction. When Asimov read Ultimate Resource, he wrote a letter to Julian Simon. He literally said he couldn’t believe it, but was shocked at Simon’s data. Simon praised Asimov because Simon said “At least Asimov allowed himself to be shocked,” unlike the other critics.
Simon did the famous bet with a Malthusian doomsday pusher. The bet was ten non-government controlled resources would be cheaper within ten years. Simon won the bet.
I used this example in real life in terms of confrontation. I make people bet on their idea. It has allowed a more interesting life to be sure.
One thing I liked about following Nintendo was that their console releases were ‘bets’ so to say. Iwata bet that the Wii U would succeed. He was wrong. I enjoy the accountability that brings. It is great to see companies pivot.
However, this will not be the case for Switch 2. Fingers will be pointed somewhere else.
I will be traveling the United States and doing some re-locating to another state for job purposes. I will not be responsive to my emails as I have been. So I am reading all the emails, and I am making sure nothing goes to ‘Spam’ folder, just don’t expect every email to get a blog post.
I’m tired of ‘negative’ posts such as any posts about Switch 2. The reason why ‘negative’ posts perform so well for streamers and news is because ‘negative’ is associated with ‘true’. And ‘positive’ is associated with propaganda.
My job will be changing very soon. You guys think you have seen the AI boom, but you’ve seen nothing yet. The Big Beautiful Bill in Congress has a provision that doesn’t allow States to regulate the infrastructure of energy for AI for ten years. Why do you think that is, Dear Reader?
This is not about AI. This is about The Fourth Industrial Revolution which looks like is going to be called AI.
The first industrial revolution was the steam engine (and the factories that it spawned).
The second industrial revolution was the mass assembly line (what Ford innovated which allowed mass production).
The third industrial revolution is digitization such as computers and Internet.
The fourth industrial revolution is the synergy of all that. While the computer and Internet can download you a map, only the fourth industrial revolution can have the cars talk to each which can create a new route on your map.
Energy requirements for the fourth industrial revolution will be immense. While I am not part of the computer industry, I am part of the energy industry. AI is going to demand so much more energy! Already, the US government is cooperative with such an AI push.
I don’t know if AI is coming for your job, but I do know countless new energy providers are going to be needed!
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