Going off the ferocious demand for Switch 2 pre-orders, everyone's pretty psyched for Nintendo's upcoming console, but its quirky mouse controls and GameChat communication features have yet to really prove their worth. Even so, original XCOM creator Julian Gollop is fully onboard with both of those Switch 2 features, and specifically their potential for strategy games.
As part of a wide-ranging group developer interview with GamesRadar+, Gollop said he's been a big fan of Nintendo handhelds going all the way back to the original Game Boy back in 1989, adding that he's "very much looking forward to the Switch 2" and hopes it's successful "because the video game industry needs a bit of a breath of life in it at the moment, something new."
Gollop is now leading the upcoming action-strategy game Chip n' Clawz vs. The Brainoids for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation, but he told us he "would love to develop games" for the Switch 2 if given the opportunity. He designed the Game Boy Advance game Rebelstar: Tactical Command, released in 2005, and produced the Nintendo 3DS launch title Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars when he was still working with Ubisoft. These days, he's drawn to the Switch 2's beefier internals and new features.
"Obviously, there's a big update in the hardware, some cool new sort of co-op style game chat feature is really good," said Gollop. "Game share is really good. It's reminiscent of what we had on the DS, for example. So yeah, I'm pretty excited about it."
We asked Gollop about his thoughts on the Switch 2's mouse functionality, specifically, and he said he sees a lot of potential for integration in classic RTS games you'd normally see on PC.
"I would never have guessed that as something they would add to the console, and it's a really interesting feature," he said.
"Interestingly enough, a traditional style mouse control RTS might work really well here, and also you've got at least a reasonable number of switches you can use to substitute keyboard commands. It could be quite interesting. That's probably something I would look forward to. That adaptation of the traditional mouse and keyboard RTS using the Switch 2 controllers might be pretty cool."
Nintendo consoles always come with some degree of novelty, though they vary drastically in terms of impact and practicality, and the Switch 2's mouse controls and GameChat feature are classic examples that seem like they might be a little cumbersome, if not simply late to the party, but could also prove integral to some great games. We only have to wait until June 5 to find out.
