If you’ve just got your paws on a swanky new console then the thing you really want is some downtime when you won’t be able to access the online features. Thankfully for those of us in the UK the maintenance window for Nintendo Switch (and 3DS and Wii U) runs from 4am Monday morning till 10am. Online play, rankings and other services will be affected. Here are the maintenance times across the globe.
- US: 8pm PT (March 6) – 2am PT (March 7)
- US: 11pm ET (March 6) – 5am ET (March 7)
- UK: 4am -10am (March 7)
- Europe: 5am -11am (March 7)
Source: Nintendo
MrYd
Someone at Nintendo pointed out to someone higher up at Nintendo that they still don’t quite get this new-fangled online thing, and everyone quite rightly mocks them for it, and perhaps they should look at what Sony and MS are doing.
And since they obviously still don’t get it, they just thought “charging for it” and “random maintenance” are the defining features they should copy.
Give them a few years and they’ll launch a new console that gets it half right (maybe they’ll realise that friend code thing is silly), and then another new console and they’ll finally get to what the PS3 could do. And probably have to have daily maintenance to cope. If they’ll still around by then.
Avenger
They’re following in the footsteps of the best in the industry. Sony did it, so Nintendo are giving it a try.
TrumpyMx
Funny how Nintendo are given slack for downtime. Nintendo hsvecdjways been let off where other companies would be crucified….
JR.
I think a lot of it is due to nostalgia. If Nintendo released a game with Mario and Luigi making suicide vests for ISIS, it would probably get full marks from all the major gaming sites.
People like to go overboard with their praise when a product or brand they like has a high risk of failure. If the Switch was selling tens of millions and a guaranteed success, people would feel more comfortable being honest with their criticisms.
Stefan L
That’s not a fair summation. A lot of people were very critical of the direction that Nintendo took with the Wii U, and there’s plenty of place who are wary of how well the Switch can do and will openly criticise and pillory the fact that they’re still using friend codes, or whatever.
However, the Switch is brand new, Nintendo are building a new online network for it, have stated that it will grow and improve over time, and you have to make certain allowances for that. Right now maintenance isn’t so bad, because there’s only a handful of games that have online functionality and by the the most popular games on there are going to be single player or local multiplayer.
If there’s maintenance every week once Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2 are out and once Nintendo actually start charging for online play, then they should get a bit of a hammering in the media.
JR.
I’m not so sure. Nintendo nearly always benefit from restrained criticism, where others are thrown to the wolves.
Taking the criticisms of the PSVR as an example – no games, too expensive, Sony’s history of abandoning projects etc. All three are examples which easily apply to Nintendo and the Switch – there are hardly any games at launch, it’s £100 over priced and both the Wii U and the Wii were abandoned in their final years.
The Wii U failed to ‘take off’ but not through lack of trying from the gaming media, who did their best to campaign for it’s success. Similarly, any criticisms of the Switch are buried under heaps of praise and excuses where the same concessions are not made for other products.
A positive outlook is a good thing but if we are being overly positive about Nintendo products in spite of their shortcomings, the same should apply across the board.
colmshan1990
Almost like they’re not turning the network off during peak hours like Sony often do.
TSBonyman
Most Switch owners will probably be too busy enjoying Zelda to even notice.