This low power mode has RAM running at half the bandwidth which will really kneecap performance but is a common way to increase efficiency in mobile devices. If it was about saving power they wouldn’t make adapting existing games this hard IMO.

Web browsers are the most resource intensive apps these days. Dedicated app doesn’t have to run JavaScript or ask for UI elements over network so it’s better for both battery and bandwidth.

Sony just introduced a low-power mode for PS5 that looks like groundwork for some kind of PS5-compatible handheld so this ”leak” sounds very unlikely from the get go.

It’s quite likely that Switch 2 have been in production for a couple of years already given massive stockpiles they had for release. There’s plenty of circumstantial evidence that they delayed Switch 2 because Switch 1 was selling like hotcakes and there was no good launch lineup.

Never let an opportunity to sell more stuff go to waste. GOG probably haven’t been targeted by payment processors yet so they can play tough.

Nintendo tends to keep their previous-gen as a budget option. Wii Mini launched as Wii U was coming out, same with New 2DS XL and Switch.

Experience curve was such a slog at level 70 and upwards that I never understood how people ever got to 99 (or rebirth for that matter). I’m not sure anyone was ever very good at RO, even at high level guild battlegrounds it only ever looked like random mayhem. I think most of us were there to sink time and escape reality via cute hats.

It hasn’t been that long, I’m just 40 and was playing RO maniacally until I was 20 or so.

I have very fond memories of hanging out south of Prontera gate on one of the first independently developed private servers where it was like maybe 3 maps, monsters and items implemented. It was running for an hour every day because the dev was running it straight off his PC. That handful of people I met there was my pack for many years and we migrated from one public beta to another because we couldn’t afford official servers. Fun times. I feel a relapse coming.

Huh, it was the opposite here (Poland), at least prior to launch because there are no shortages now. If you’re buying Switch 2 today it’s probably for Mario Kart World and this is cheaper than buying it separate.

Gaming has been an expensive hobby always and adjusted for inflation games are cheaper now than they were historically. If a game is too expensive for me I buy second hand and then sell it once I’m done with it and that’s still possible with Switch 2 games. Mario Kart games provide lots of enjoyment for a long time though so people are inclined to buy and keep them even at $80.

Not only that but Mario Kart is just wildly popular in general. MK8 Deluxe launched 2 months after BotW but sold twice as many copies.

As a RO addict I can say it looks very tempting. I’m pretty sure that monetisation will kill my enthusiasm and I’ll be back to relapsing into private RO servers every couple of years.