Link's Awakening Switch $49.94 @ Wal-Mart YMMV

I actually just got back from my local Walmart and all the new Switch titles were $50. Nothing was $60.
Strange.
 
TheHorrorNerd said:
I actually just got back from my local Walmart and all the new Switch titles were $50. Nothing was $60.
Strange.
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It's been like that for a few months. I think someone calculated it to be 18% off most if not all switch games. But it's only in-store and doesn't show online. Probably to avoid price matching elsewhere and get more foot traffic in store.
 
Anyone notice if Borderlands 3 was $50 as well? I heard it was on launch day but I don’t feel like driving to Walmart to find out
 
eminemobied12 said:
It's been like that for a few months. I think someone calculated it to be 18% off most if not all switch games. But it's only in-store and doesn't show online. Probably to avoid price matching elsewhere and get more foot traffic in store.
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*some* games show up lower online, and for pre-order, as well.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint for example, cause Amazon PM'd it. Plus the bonus $10 cert :D/

Also DQX1 for Switch shows $49.94 online BTW. (have to add to cart though)

 
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This is a nice surprise!  I want to pick it up today lol, but wondering if it's better to wait a few months for a performance patch (apparently has some memory leak issues)

 
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teetu said:
This is a nice surprise! I want to pick it up today lol, but wondering if it's better to wait a few months for a performance patch (apparently has some memory leak issues)
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Watch some gameplay, it’s not that bad. Noticeable but doesn’t effect gameplay. From 60fps to 30fps for a very brief second. It’s not like it’s going to 1-2fps..
 
If the game encounters something that starts dropping frames from 60 it quickly drops to 30 before returning to 60. It mostly happens in transitions between areas but can be quite jarring. 

I'm waiting for a price drop as I feel this one will probably end up at $30 in a couple months.

 
It’s a memory leak, happens in both docked and handheld. Handheld actually performs better with it..
“Quite jarring”? That’s the first time I’ve heard that about it.. everyone is saying the same thing, it’s not bad.. noticeable but not in anyway impacting the game.
again if you watch gameplay, you have to pay attention sometimes to notice it. And it’s never in combat, just transitions.

And btw it’s a Nintendo published Zelda game. A. It will be patched. B. It will rarely drop in price, at least not anytime soon.
 
bappt said:
I'm waiting for a price drop as I feel this one will probably end up at $30 in a couple months.
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Maybe if this was a Ubisoft game. Nintendo titles do not go half off within a couple months. Even seeing deals at $20 off is rare for them, and they shoot back up to MSRP immediately after.

 
Loving it so far but WOW they need to patch this ASAP!!!  The framerate is absolutely horrible, it dips constantly to the point where if I'm playing on my TV it makes me queasy.  I haven't tried handheld yet but hopefully that's a bit better.

 
JKSonic said:
Loving it so far but WOW they need to patch this ASAP!!! The framerate is absolutely horrible, it dips constantly to the point where if I'm playing on my TV it makes me queasy. I haven't tried handheld yet but hopefully that's a bit better.
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Another thing that gamexplain discovered is that it has a better framerate running on internal memory than the cart (or sd card).

 
teetu said:
Another thing that gamexplain discovered is that it has a better framerate running on internal memory than the cart (or sd card).
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Hmm, oh well decided to buy a physical copy since it's was a pretty big release for me. Not sure why that would be the case though, either way it shouldn't be this bad at all. I mean I'm completely shocked a first party Nintendo game would be released that is this bad.

 
That’s probably why mine isn’t bad, I read that about the sd card prior and redownloded it before it went live yesterday. I’ve played about 4 hours and it doesn’t bother me at all, most of it handheld.
It will get patched, Nintendo won’t leave that out there for long.
 
Thebacklash said:
It’s a memory leak, happens in both docked and handheld. Handheld actually performs better with it..
“Quite jarring”? That’s the first time I’ve heard that about it.. everyone is saying the same thing, it’s not bad.. noticeable but not in anyway impacting the game.
again if you watch gameplay, you have to pay attention sometimes to notice it. And it’s never in combat, just transitions.

And btw it’s a Nintendo published Zelda game. A. It will be patched. B. It will rarely drop in price, at least not anytime soon.
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That's not a memory leak, it is a side effect of using double buffering as opposed to triple buffering (Digital Foundry glossed over it, but did point it out). If you miss a frame, even slightly you have to wait until the next refresh before you can clear the frame buffer and start another frame even if you can finish the next frame prior to the update. Triple buffering lets you work ahead a little bit more and "catch up" when you barely miss a window allowing less severe drops. With double buffering when you reach a point where it take more than 1/60 of a second to generate a frame it typically lasts longer than a single frame, and every time you do it leaves you waiting for buffer space because you can only start a new frame every other frame (in other words, 30 fps).

You never want to go beyond three frame buffers (which is why they don't have quad buffering, etc.) because the more you have, the more frames get drawn ahead of user actions, increasing input lag. Double buffering can feel more responsive because the game never gets more than one frame ahead of what you see on the screen. That may have factored into Nintendo's choice.

 
JKSonic said:
Hmm, oh well decided to buy a physical copy since it's was a pretty big release for me. Not sure why that would be the case though, either way it shouldn't be this bad at all. I mean I'm completely shocked a first party Nintendo game would be released that is this bad.
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I opted for a physical copy for the same reason- although I think it's unfortunate that we are being "penalized" by getting the physical instead of the digital release.

This is the tech analysis from gamexplain that goes over the memory leak and the physical vs internal memory difference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnckUk830HA

 
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Thebacklash said:
Didn’t watch the digital foundry video, I got the memory leak from another YouTuber that had the game early. Austin John I think?
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It's not the symptoms of a memory leak. That's when you don't clean up memory you allocate completely, something gets forgotten. It results in running out of memory slowly (or sometimes fast if it is in a highly used area!) and results in good performance that slowly degrades over time as available memory starts to run dry and more and more swapping (paging) has to take place. It may be "fixed" or reset temporarily by loading screen or certain events that clean up.

Link's Awakening doesn't have that happen. When you enter certain areas (like areas with lots of water on the ground) it slows to 30fps, then quickly returns when you exit to a less taxing area. I watched my son playing it this afternoon and saw that happen. Performance just drops straight to 30, then goes right back up. It's definitely v-sync combined with double buffering and performance that just can't quite do a frame every 1/60 of a second in all cases.

And it really isn't all that bad. Part of me just thinks no one would have complained if they just hard locked it to 30 fps. Just seeing it jump to 60 fps every once in a while makes it easier to notice. Sometimes sites fretting over things like this causes more pain than it should, because they need something to talk about for views after all. Games like Spider-man and Horizon: Zero Dawn did 30 fps all the time and it didn't hurt anyone's feelings. Hell, half the shit Digital Foundry talks about no one would notice otherwise.

Edit: Oh and what they are talking about on the video isn't a memory leak, memory allocation for other processes and a memory leak are two different things. Memory being used by something else is different from a leak where it just gets lost and never cleaned up. But they did mention a real leak in the part where they are going in and out the door, but I'd say it isn't a leak and more of processes getting stacked up because they can't complete as fast as new ones are getting put on top of them because if you stop doing it all gets cleared up. If it was a leak the game would stay degraded.

Edit 2: Oh and it's funny the segment about figuring out the render resolution. You have to go through all this crap to figure it out as if the number means anything. The question should be "does it look good?", but instead let's import it into Paint, draw some lines on it, zoom in and count pixels then plug it into an equation to figure it out and get a number for kids to debate about on the Internet. WTF.

 
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TheLegendofTyler said:
Do tell!
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the store I went to for some reason couldn’t figure out why their machine wasn’t running credit cards. Like it wasn’t giving an option to select credit, wasn’t working with any known method of bypassing the pin for credit cards. And the rep would make zero eye contact (which is fine) because they kept looking at their phone in between every thing they said. 3 managers couldn’t figure out why 3 different registers wouldn’t run a credit card as normal.

Not a huge deal but man, idk if I will go back
 
so is this still an active price? I try not and go to places that make me feel sad about humanity when I leave, but $10 savings is tempting. I typically have a $5 rule........I avoid walmart if the savings are under $5......if its over $5 then I am in a real predicament 

 
spicoli420 said:
so is this still an active price? I try not and go to places that make me feel sad about humanity when I leave, but $10 savings is tempting. I typically have a $5 rule........I avoid walmart if the savings are under $5......if its over $5 then I am in a real predicament
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It's usually the everyday price nowadays for their games, so I am sure the price is still active. BS or their app should confirm this.
 
eminemobied12 said:
It's usually the everyday price nowadays for their games, so I am sure the price is still active. BS or their app should confirm this.
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Hmmm....alright thanks. I have this $40 off of $100 at target for getting their credit card, so maybe I will try my luck at a price match.....that would be awesome.

 
chibul said:
Works for me. Just means I'll be getting new games at Walmart going forward.
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Best Buy: We're cancelling GCU because 20% off games is too much.

Walmart:
tenor.gif


 
spicoli420 said:
Hmmm....alright thanks. I have this $40 off of $100 at target for getting their credit card, so maybe I will try my luck at a price match.....that would be awesome.
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I had no issue price matching at Target, the In Store prices were actually showing when you clicked Pick Up in Store in the app. Got Zelda for $42.xx after Team Member discount (my sis works there) and 5% redcard. I love Target!
 
eminemobied12 said:
I had no issue price matching at Target, the In Store prices were actually showing when you clicked Pick Up in Store in the app. Got Zelda for $42.xx after Team Member discount (my sis works there) and 5% redcard. I love Target!
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Awesome....good to know, thank you!! I'll give it shot

 
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