Thanks for the info and sorry for the very late response. I'm pretty lost on what I should do so I'm going to have to leave it for a bit longer before I get back to it, as I'm a bit too busy to deal with it all. But your message has given me some point to start with figuring this out. I'm just going to have to continue to record videos of my articles for the time being and hopefully someone more informed who bumps into this post in the future (if ever) might be able to help with some more info.
Thanks, I didn't even know Nintendo had an official RSS Feed. My understanding though is that an RSS feed typically pulls information from web page articles, and I don't think that the Switch displays web page articles. If the Switch is pulling information from somewhere using RSS, I have no idea where to begin to find out where. Maybe a modded Switch might be able to see an exact URL it's pulling from, but even if I modded my Switch, I don't know how to check that sort of thing.
And of the RSS feeds Nintendo does provide, I've only been able to find the Nintendo UK feed (that you linked), and the possible existence of a Nintendo US feed. So even if the Switch is pulling articles from RSS, my Australian Switch is very unlikely to be pulling from anything from the US or UK.
But that's kind of my point. If Nintendo was trying to break apart Sony's 'no one buys physical anymore' narrative, then why would they be skewing the statistics of their sales so much by not only including purchases of digital-only games, but also throwing in all sales of DLC, Switch 2 Edition upgrade packs AND Nintendo Switch Online payments? If they didn't skew the statistics so much, the number of physical game sales would probably be over 50%. They could have destroyed Sony's narrative so much more if they calculated everything properly.
But that raises the question. Why is Nintendo adding so much digital-only purchases to the statistics? The current narrative is that Nintendo wants physical media to stay, so why would they be skewing the statistics so much just like Sony has been doing if they were so pro-physical?
So even when including all digital-only games and DLC, it's still at 38.5% who are buying physical. That's monumentally high on it's own and more then enough reason to keep physical games going for a fair while longer.
I've never seen or heard of EB Games testing games before. They might do it with pre-owned games, but I'm not sure. I'm glad you got that refunded, I would have been pretty pissed and demanded they refund the game. Or... at least try to lol, I'm a pretty calm person even when I'm annoyed but there's still no way I would accept being given the wrong game.
I find that pretty annoying. I think it's totally fine if they game was already pre-owned when it arrived at the school, but selling used games as brand-new is just wrong no matter how good a condition they kept it in.
What country was that in? Was that Australia too, or somewhere else?
No, I actually just enjoy looking closely at my new cartridges when I buy new games. And this is my first Switch 2 game, so I was extra-analysing it out of curiosity of what's changed from the Switch 1 carts. I just then happened to notice these scratches as a result. I know most people wouldn't care to look this closely at their carts, but I wasn't actually looking at the pins to check if they were scratched, I just happened to notice while looking at the pins that they were.
I'm pretty sure there's more used games out on the shelves then there are new ones, and it's like that in every EB Games I've been to in Australia. Maybe people just sell their games here more. As a matter of fact, one of the guys working there today told me that someone just traded in 30 games, and they get quite a few trade-ins on most days.
I'm not sure if you're understanding my "theory" correctly. I never said they could be making and selling fake cases, I said they could easily put a used cartridge in the case of a brand new copy. The case already has it's plastic wrap taken off after all, it's only a matter of... popping in there. And I'm not actually saying they're doing this, the problem is the fact that they shouldn't be unwrapping the plastic, because it allows this sort of thing to happen. I acknowledged that this not likely to happen though. I said that what's more likely to happen is they simply get the cartridges mixed up by mistake because they store them all in the same drawer as each other. Even with good organisation, mistakes can and will inevitably happen eventually.
This is also the same drawer that they store all the discs for PlayStation & Xbox, too. I'm not personally concerned about the cartridge getting physically scuffed up in the drawer, because I can see that they store them in these little sleeves that keep them protected.
Unfortunately though, as I'm in a pretty rural area, this is the only game store within a few hour radius, and I prefer supporting actual cash-payments at in-person stores as much as possible. There's a few other stores just nearby to that EB Games that sell games: JB Hi-Fi, Target, OfficeWorks... but they all do the exact same thing with storing the games in a drawer. I think it's just standard practice in Australia, or at least Victoria which is the state I live in.
Oh wow, I forgot about GAME. I remember a GAME store in Australia near where I used to live prior to where I am now. I was about 5 then, lol. That was 2007. It shut down a very long time ago. I have no memory of how the games were displayed. I didn't really think about games back then outside of the few games that were on the N64 at my Dad's house.
But yeah, the only shop in current-day I can recall (of what I've bought from) that only does dummy-cases is Target... or it might be Big W, it's one of the two.
Fairly sure we had a policy that once the plastic wrap had been removed it was only returnable as a pre-owned trade-in
That makes sense to me, but yeah, I can see how it would be annoying if someone were simply to just buy the game, quickly give it a try-out, then return it, get their money back, and then you can only resell it for used price.
FWIW I imagine genuinely pre-owned stock would get a label on it to not mix it up with new stock
At EB, the actual game cases that are on the shelf do have differing stickers depending on whether they're pre-owned or new. Maybe they do stickers for the games they store in the drawer, too. I know that from what I could see of the drawer while the employee has the drawer open, they at the very least have them organised by platform and game name.
Game testing isn’t the same thing as cartridge testing.
Appreciate the YouTube link. And I understood that thanks. I knew they wouldn't be literally booting up the game and playing it. It's just a matter of whether the correct data is on the cart and can be read correctly.
I'm sorry. I don't quite understand your question. "What would be the theoretical source of used carts?" Used carts come from people who trade in (sell) their games to EB Games. Is that not normal wherever you live? Or am I not understanding the question right? EB Games sells used games all the time. I believe the same applies to GameStop in the U.S.
Someone else here said something similar, except that it was apparently store policy that this was only allowed to be done with pre-owned games. It would be insane if they were allowed to play brand new copies and then sell them as new.
Though this is outside the realm of the topic, the reason I don't buy online is because I want to support physical on-site stores of all kinds as much as I can (especially since this is the only dedicated game-store in the area I live. The next-closest EB Games is around 2-3 hours drive away). And by principal I also strictly try to support cash payments as much as possible. Honestly though, if they can deliver it to you online through post with the plastic wrap on, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to keep the wrap on at the physical store as well.
And as others say, it was probably new and just tested at factory as part of QA.
Yes, you're all probably right. I'd still like to wait and see first if someone checks a new game. I know there are lots of Nintendo collectors who buy games brand-new and don't play them until they get around to them, which could be over very long stretches of time. There's bound to be someone here who can easily help.
If it had the shrink wrap on it when you bought it, this is almost certainly from QA at the factory as others have said.
The game did not come with the wrap. I thought I mentioned this in the post, but just realised now that I only implied it when I said that stores in Australia don't sell games with wrap on them.
It is trivial to build a machine that would read carts on the line
Thanks for letting me know. Others here have been saying this, too, which makes a lot of sense now that I've thought more about it.
If no shrink wrap, then it was either opened at the shop to use as a display case
It was on a shelf full of Switch 2 games. They are all real cases. Most of the stores I've bought games from in Australia sell the actual game cases that are on the shelf, and they are absolutely definitely official cases.
Or perhaps someone bought it and returned it within the return window if the store allows such a thing, I don’t think typically it would go into pre-owned, but maybe clearance in that scenario.
That's maybe possible. I don't know how they could easily tackle that issue if wanted to try, but that does still present the problem of: if the case is not in the plastic wrap, how do you know they haven't just put a used copy of the game in a brand new case. Every store I've bought games from here in Aus doesn't have the actual game cart in them. The game carts are all stored in a drawer behind the counter. It sounds like they could easily get mixed up by mistake, even if they have some specific organisation methods they're supposed to follow.
Though I think many places don’t really let you return games once they’re opened due to online registration features
At least when it comes to EB Games, they do let you return used games as long as they weren't a code-in-a-box. I've only ever returned one game before though, but that was like a decade ago so doesn't really count. I know that they do still allow returns though, because I've asked them and they said yes.
Other people here have suggested they use a specialised test system. It's quite obvious to me now that I think about it and makes perfect sense.
Speaking again from a complete lack of knowledge about how these things work, my assumption would be that a machine is programmed to move and perform actions in a very specific order in the same exact way every single time. I could see though how there could be a little bit of shakiness that could sometimes cause imperfect straightness in the lines, but my assumption (not that I'm saying I'm correct, necessarily) would be that only some of the carts would be left with imperfectly straight lines. If it was shaky all the time, you would think it would greatly increase the risk of damaging something, after all.
Okay, well thanks for the lesson then 😀. I had no idea because I've never looked into anything around manufacturing of electronics. I just assumed millions of cartridges would be too time-consuming and expensive economically to work on.
Thanks for the info and sorry for the very late response. I'm pretty lost on what I should do so I'm going to have to leave it for a bit longer before I get back to it, as I'm a bit too busy to deal with it all. But your message has given me some point to start with figuring this out. I'm just going to have to continue to record videos of my articles for the time being and hopefully someone more informed who bumps into this post in the future (if ever) might be able to help with some more info.
Thanks, I didn't even know Nintendo had an official RSS Feed. My understanding though is that an RSS feed typically pulls information from web page articles, and I don't think that the Switch displays web page articles. If the Switch is pulling information from somewhere using RSS, I have no idea where to begin to find out where. Maybe a modded Switch might be able to see an exact URL it's pulling from, but even if I modded my Switch, I don't know how to check that sort of thing.
And of the RSS feeds Nintendo does provide, I've only been able to find the Nintendo UK feed (that you linked), and the possible existence of a Nintendo US feed. So even if the Switch is pulling articles from RSS, my Australian Switch is very unlikely to be pulling from anything from the US or UK.
But that's kind of my point. If Nintendo was trying to break apart Sony's 'no one buys physical anymore' narrative, then why would they be skewing the statistics of their sales so much by not only including purchases of digital-only games, but also throwing in all sales of DLC, Switch 2 Edition upgrade packs AND Nintendo Switch Online payments? If they didn't skew the statistics so much, the number of physical game sales would probably be over 50%. They could have destroyed Sony's narrative so much more if they calculated everything properly.
But that raises the question. Why is Nintendo adding so much digital-only purchases to the statistics? The current narrative is that Nintendo wants physical media to stay, so why would they be skewing the statistics so much just like Sony has been doing if they were so pro-physical?
So even when including all digital-only games and DLC, it's still at 38.5% who are buying physical. That's monumentally high on it's own and more then enough reason to keep physical games going for a fair while longer.
I've never seen or heard of EB Games testing games before. They might do it with pre-owned games, but I'm not sure. I'm glad you got that refunded, I would have been pretty pissed and demanded they refund the game. Or... at least try to lol, I'm a pretty calm person even when I'm annoyed but there's still no way I would accept being given the wrong game.
I find that pretty annoying. I think it's totally fine if they game was already pre-owned when it arrived at the school, but selling used games as brand-new is just wrong no matter how good a condition they kept it in.
What country was that in? Was that Australia too, or somewhere else?
This is an interesting looking game and concept.
No, I actually just enjoy looking closely at my new cartridges when I buy new games. And this is my first Switch 2 game, so I was extra-analysing it out of curiosity of what's changed from the Switch 1 carts. I just then happened to notice these scratches as a result. I know most people wouldn't care to look this closely at their carts, but I wasn't actually looking at the pins to check if they were scratched, I just happened to notice while looking at the pins that they were.
I'm pretty sure there's more used games out on the shelves then there are new ones, and it's like that in every EB Games I've been to in Australia. Maybe people just sell their games here more. As a matter of fact, one of the guys working there today told me that someone just traded in 30 games, and they get quite a few trade-ins on most days.
I'm not sure if you're understanding my "theory" correctly. I never said they could be making and selling fake cases, I said they could easily put a used cartridge in the case of a brand new copy. The case already has it's plastic wrap taken off after all, it's only a matter of... popping in there. And I'm not actually saying they're doing this, the problem is the fact that they shouldn't be unwrapping the plastic, because it allows this sort of thing to happen. I acknowledged that this not likely to happen though. I said that what's more likely to happen is they simply get the cartridges mixed up by mistake because they store them all in the same drawer as each other. Even with good organisation, mistakes can and will inevitably happen eventually.
This is also the same drawer that they store all the discs for PlayStation & Xbox, too. I'm not personally concerned about the cartridge getting physically scuffed up in the drawer, because I can see that they store them in these little sleeves that keep them protected.
Unfortunately though, as I'm in a pretty rural area, this is the only game store within a few hour radius, and I prefer supporting actual cash-payments at in-person stores as much as possible. There's a few other stores just nearby to that EB Games that sell games: JB Hi-Fi, Target, OfficeWorks... but they all do the exact same thing with storing the games in a drawer. I think it's just standard practice in Australia, or at least Victoria which is the state I live in.
Oh wow, I forgot about GAME. I remember a GAME store in Australia near where I used to live prior to where I am now. I was about 5 then, lol. That was 2007. It shut down a very long time ago. I have no memory of how the games were displayed. I didn't really think about games back then outside of the few games that were on the N64 at my Dad's house.
But yeah, the only shop in current-day I can recall (of what I've bought from) that only does dummy-cases is Target... or it might be Big W, it's one of the two.
That makes sense to me, but yeah, I can see how it would be annoying if someone were simply to just buy the game, quickly give it a try-out, then return it, get their money back, and then you can only resell it for used price.
At EB, the actual game cases that are on the shelf do have differing stickers depending on whether they're pre-owned or new. Maybe they do stickers for the games they store in the drawer, too. I know that from what I could see of the drawer while the employee has the drawer open, they at the very least have them organised by platform and game name.
Appreciate the YouTube link. And I understood that thanks. I knew they wouldn't be literally booting up the game and playing it. It's just a matter of whether the correct data is on the cart and can be read correctly.
I'm sorry. I don't quite understand your question. "What would be the theoretical source of used carts?" Used carts come from people who trade in (sell) their games to EB Games. Is that not normal wherever you live? Or am I not understanding the question right? EB Games sells used games all the time. I believe the same applies to GameStop in the U.S.
Someone else here said something similar, except that it was apparently store policy that this was only allowed to be done with pre-owned games. It would be insane if they were allowed to play brand new copies and then sell them as new.
Though this is outside the realm of the topic, the reason I don't buy online is because I want to support physical on-site stores of all kinds as much as I can (especially since this is the only dedicated game-store in the area I live. The next-closest EB Games is around 2-3 hours drive away). And by principal I also strictly try to support cash payments as much as possible. Honestly though, if they can deliver it to you online through post with the plastic wrap on, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to keep the wrap on at the physical store as well.
Yes, you're all probably right. I'd still like to wait and see first if someone checks a new game. I know there are lots of Nintendo collectors who buy games brand-new and don't play them until they get around to them, which could be over very long stretches of time. There's bound to be someone here who can easily help.
The game did not come with the wrap. I thought I mentioned this in the post, but just realised now that I only implied it when I said that stores in Australia don't sell games with wrap on them.
Thanks for letting me know. Others here have been saying this, too, which makes a lot of sense now that I've thought more about it.
It was on a shelf full of Switch 2 games. They are all real cases. Most of the stores I've bought games from in Australia sell the actual game cases that are on the shelf, and they are absolutely definitely official cases.
That's maybe possible. I don't know how they could easily tackle that issue if wanted to try, but that does still present the problem of: if the case is not in the plastic wrap, how do you know they haven't just put a used copy of the game in a brand new case. Every store I've bought games from here in Aus doesn't have the actual game cart in them. The game carts are all stored in a drawer behind the counter. It sounds like they could easily get mixed up by mistake, even if they have some specific organisation methods they're supposed to follow.
At least when it comes to EB Games, they do let you return used games as long as they weren't a code-in-a-box. I've only ever returned one game before though, but that was like a decade ago so doesn't really count. I know that they do still allow returns though, because I've asked them and they said yes.
Other people here have suggested they use a specialised test system. It's quite obvious to me now that I think about it and makes perfect sense.
Speaking again from a complete lack of knowledge about how these things work, my assumption would be that a machine is programmed to move and perform actions in a very specific order in the same exact way every single time. I could see though how there could be a little bit of shakiness that could sometimes cause imperfect straightness in the lines, but my assumption (not that I'm saying I'm correct, necessarily) would be that only some of the carts would be left with imperfectly straight lines. If it was shaky all the time, you would think it would greatly increase the risk of damaging something, after all.
Okay, well thanks for the lesson then 😀. I had no idea because I've never looked into anything around manufacturing of electronics. I just assumed millions of cartridges would be too time-consuming and expensive economically to work on.
That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the input. It's also nice to know there's still a lot of human work involved in these things.