Eager customers in the U.S.and around the world lined up outside electronics stores hours in advance on Thursday to collect their pre-ordered Nintendo Switch 2 video game consoles.The much anticipated Switch 2, being released at midnight worldwide Thursday, is an upgrade to its eight-year-old predecessor with new social features meant to draw players into online gaming.
Nintendo is counting on the Switch 2 to boost sagging sales.In the U.S., a chaotic pre-order process in April left some fans frustrated after the consoles quickly sold out.Still, some eager fans lined up early Thursday at retailers such as Target in hopes of purchasing a unit."I'm just rolling the dice here," said Edgar Huo, who was in a line of about 25 outside of a Target in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York.
Many of those waiting for the store to open had ordered online, but a few like Huo hoped for a chance at purchasing any extra inventory the store had.In Japan, the new consoles were sold through a competitive lottery system that Nintendo said got about 2.2 million applications.
Outside the official draw, some retailers offered their own lotteries to pre-order the devices.Nintendo Switch 2 featuresThe original Switch, released in 2017, is "one of the most popular game consoles of all time," Scott Stein, editor-at-large at CNET, told CBS News Boston in January.The new console comes with a larger and higher resolution screen than its predecessor, with improved processing power, offering smoother and more vivid graphics.Central to its updated system is a new "C" button on its controller, which will launch a "GameChat" feature that requires a subscription to Nintendo's Switch online service.
It allows players to "communicate with friends and family while playing a game," and lets them share their game screen with others.A built-in microphone will also allow chatting with other gamers.Nintendo has said it expects to sell 15 million Switch 2 consoles for the fiscal ye...