Too Many Games...And Not Enough Space to (Eventually) Play Them

I took advantage of a day off to fully watch the Nintendo Direct dedicated to showing off the Switch 2 and well, I liked it! I don't usually watch these press events, opting to read the highlights elsewhere (usually on NintendoLife or Eurogamer) or preferably listen to Kris and Dan's take on the Stone Age Gamer podcast.

For something like this—the next iteration to a system that properly got me back into gaming among other things—I was glad to be able to catch the entire Direct live. The specs were impressive and it was clear during the entire show that the team was proud of what they accomplished. Mario Kart World feel to me like it might eclipse the already impressive Mario Kart 8 Deluxe—a hard act to follow as a game that started life on the Wii U, ending up with an entire pass of downloadable content which finished up only two years ago—and it's nice to see Yakuza 0 being one of the early titles. Of course, I'm most excited for Metroid Prime 4: Beyond, which will be a souped-up game to a title long-slated for the previous Switch!

There's a major problem though, but not one which is price-related. Considering America, I expected the price-tag to take a jump from the modest US $300 for the first Switch. I even bought a one terabyte Micro SD card a week after that election to help ease the cost a bit—and to be able to bring my Switch library over while having enough room for the games to come.

I cheered when the Switch 2's internal storage turned out to be two-hundred fifty-six gigabytes. I scowled when they later announced that only "Express" cards would be compatible.        

Of course, like anyone else on the Internet, I briefly ranted about it as well.

Thing is, out of everything the Switch 2 has to offer, it had me at backwards compatibility. I thought that with the new console, migrating my digital library would be more or less a cinch. Yes, I could technically transfer the data from my initial SD card to the new one, but unless I was a full-on Windows user, I'm screwed either way...

...and now, so are many others, regardless of operating system preferences. I feel like this requirement for a new Micro SD Express card will actually be the Achilles' heel of the Switch 2.

Considering a line-up which includes Cyberpunk 2077 and how much space Switch games like Final Fantasy X & X-2 and Skyrim take already, this should be a no-brainer as to why. Heck, the latter was the reason why I started buying more physical games so that I wouldn't burn through my own two-hundred fifty-six gigabyte SD card on digital games that would just sit in my backlog untouched for months (or in some cases years). 

Ideally, if I love a game like Stardew Valley, I'll end up getting a physical copy. If it's from a series that I already enjoy, like Shin Megami Tensei, I'll just go straight for the corporeal plastic casing (or in my case, a steel book).

Doesn't mean I don't like my digital collection, but it's convenient to not only get Skyrim while it's half off at US $30, but also to be able to play it with just a scroll and a button tap. Same thing with retro anthologies for game series that I'm interested in, but not fully invested in—see Street Fighter—or indies that don't have a physical equivalent. 

More importantly, these aren't e-books, audiobooks, mobile web apps, or even games like Balatro that take up a minuscule amount of space. They can all be easily downloaded again for the most part—wi-fi, ethernet, internet provider, or DRM-locks notwithstanding—compared to something like the story of Blitzball player Titus or the Dragonborn's epoch, which might take hours or even a day to fully take up space.   

The other big thing is that, well, there aren't many options with regards to Micro SD Express cards outside of SanDisk and Lexar. The linked Polygon article no longer has the Lexar cards listed at time of writing, but I'm unfamiliar with the brand so I'm not sure if it can be trusted.

Sadly, this is more of a wait and see thing for now. If I manage to get one of the Nintendo Store invites for a pre-order slot in May, I'll see if they have a one terabyte Micro SD Express card I can buy as well. Otherwise, we'll all find ourselves with clogged backlogs pretty quickly this generation and sadly, physical isn't exactly safe either. Not to mention the fact that we don't know how we'll transfer data from one  Micro SD Express card to another—as in, will it be easier for not just Windows users, but for everyone this time?

Even if I do get a Switch 2, I might hold off on even playing it until the Micro SD Express situation improves. Right now, this reminds me more of the 2015 12-inch Macbook than a full-on Steam Deck competitor...

...and it's sad when you spend the following morning looking at the Steam Deck's landing page. 

A List of Goals for 2025

I tried to get the perfect shot with the Stroopwafel in the coffee mug—it's behind the cassette tapes—but it was already making it's way into the chai tea when I found the perfect shot. Either way, it was delicious! —Taken with an 1Phone 13

I made a list of goals for myself last year in the hopes that I can keep myself sane as the United States continues to fall apart—in a way akin to Dave Winer's Scripting News tagline, "It's even worse than it appears."

Here's what I'm planning...

• Buy (and possibly fix) a cassette player so I can finally enjoy listening to the tapes I bought as featured in the above picture.
• Teaching myself how to speak Dutch.
• Migrate this blog over to a new platform.

The first goal was the one that spurred this idea after the results of last year's election when I put a question to the Fediverse as to how I could find one. The conversations threads and answers were very insightful and I have a good idea as to how I ideally want to go about the search—with the possible repair. (...and yes, the leftmost tapes in the photo are arranged incorrectly.)

Learning Dutch was something I've been considering for awhile. In fact, that book pictured above was one of the books I bought with Barnes & Noble birthday money last year alongside three others. I thought it was about time to pick up another language alongside Latin American Spanish  to keep my mid-thirties brain active. Not to mention that the Netherlands is one of the countries I'd like to visit in my lifetime—the United Kingdom, Canada (British Columbia), and Poland are also on that list as well.   

The last thing on the list is a change that I think will do myself and this blog some good in a continually enshittified web. After over ten years of sporadic writing, it's time to move on up and change platforms. I've been primary eying a service called Micro.blog, which describes itself as a blogging platform combined with the feel of a modern social network. What drew me into considering Micro.blog was the fact that they're interop-friendly by being pro-IndieWeb* and allowing for cross-posting to the Fediverse (alongside Bluesky and others).

In case I can't migrate over to Micro.blog, there's also WordPress—where I have a separate blog serving as my undergraduate writing portfolio. I can't see that possibility being much of an issue though. The biggest thing for me would be the process of updating the Scrivner files to note which photos were included in previous posts along with the order they were in and their associated captions. 

This will probably be the first of the goals, and one of the most important things I'd like to do this year. I'll set a early-July deadline at the latest, but I might get it done much sooner. 

The transition's going to be a bumpy ride—I still need to finish de-Twittering the blog—but I think the end-result will be for the better.      

...and maybe 2025 won't be as bad on a personal level. 

But until then: Keep resisting, stay safe, and take care of each other!   

*More on the IndieWeb from the official site.