Nintendo announced today that it would be taking the Nintendo Switch on the road beginning with New York on January 13th before heading off to five other major cities in a series of three-day events designed to let people check out its newest hybrid gaming system.
You don’t need to be Jimmy Fallon to get your hands on the Switch
The decision for Nintendo to kick off the Switch tour in New York is hardly and accident. The company promised in late October that it would be holding an event detailing price, launch date, launch lineup and more in a Tokyo event scheduled for January 12. As it happens, the Tokyo event will be held on January 13 local time and hours after we are given the above details a media event will begin in America’s largest city, New York.
As mentioned, each city: New York, Toronto, Washington DC, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles will be gifted a three-day event with the first two days of each reserved for those with invitations. The third day, however, will be open to the public and absolutely free of charge. That said, it’s likely to be an absolute madhouse in each venue and you’de better have your day free if you expect to get your hands on Nintendo’s newest game system.
“The Sunday stop of each tour is open free to the public, so anyone that wants to be among the first people in the world to experience Nintendo Switch will have her or his chance,” the company announced. “Space is very limited, however, and fans will be let in on a first come, first served basis. Early arrival is highly recommended.”
Nintendo said that it would be offering “select launch games” at the events without offering any more specifics. It’s a fairly safe bet that the lineup will include The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild having just allowed Jimmy Kimmel to play the game on “The Tonight Show” recently where the host could barely contain his childlike excitement and repeating “I’m geeking out” a handful of times. That appearance was the first time that Nintendo demoed the Switch “live” and on television.
Nintendo rewards its My Nintendo Members
In an email to My Nintendo Members today the company wrote:
To thank you for being a loyal fan, we’d like to offer you a chance to try the Nintendo Switch system before it’s released.
Look for an email from Eventbrite for the full details and be sure to register right away to save your spot (availability of tickets are on a first come, first served basis).
Thanks again and have fun!
Yes, we’ve recently read that the Nintendo Switch will not be as powerful as the three-year-old Playstation 4, but the Playstation 4 isn’t a hybrid console and mobile gaming system, so this makes a tremendous amount of sense. To look at Jimmy Fallon’s face during his recent demo, it doesn’t look like Nintendo is going to have much in the way of problems when it comes to selling millions of units come March.
With events finishing on March 5 in Los Angeles, should we expect the Switch to be released the following week? We’ll find out soon enough. The full schedule of events is as follows:
- New York – January 13th–15th
- Toronto – January 27th–29th
- Washington, DC – February 10th–12th
- Chicago – February 17th–19th
- San Francisco – February 24th–26th
- Los Angeles – March 3rd–5th
