The reason for my question: I don't want to own obsolete hardware in 10 years. Lately most games seem to depend on a "phone home" feature, which is not really an issue for my pc because it is always connected, but a console is something I want to play always and everywhere.

I already did some searching and found that games can be played offline fine (most of them, some exceptions are there like Multiplayer and Mortal Kombat), but:

There is something like the paid Nintendo Online Account. I am not planning on having a paid account. How much of the system depends on the account?
Can I have progression in a game (let's say: one of the Zelda franchise) and will my Wife and Kids all have their own progression, without having to pay for X accounts?
People who own a Switch, let's take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)

Also, feel free to rant about "paying is not owning", the state of the gaming industry is horrible.

edit: Thank you all for the comments! I don't post a lot, so it was kinda overwhelming :)

For clarity:

I meant I want to "buy for life" (not really "life", but, if the hardware survives you can play on pre-internet consoles forever - you can even buy more games if you can find them)
I want to buy a physical copy of the games, not download them

I've decided to go with the Nintendo DS for now (I have a DSi - this week I bought a couple of games, 2nd hand). Reasons:

I already had it
Joycons on switch. Multiple people mentioned having problems with them. I don't count on being able to buy them new in 10 years, meaning they will have to last.

Again: thank you all for the useful input!

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[–] nintendiator@feddit.cl 1 points 9 months ago (10 children)

People who own a Switch, let’s take this to extremes, do you feel like in 20 years from now you can still do the same things on your hardware as you can do now? (No multiplayer is fine)

No chance.

Not only it is unlikely that the hardware will last that long, the supplies for hardmodding it likely won't either, and in 20 years there won't be enough of a community interest to support hardmodding services unless some sort of master keys are leaked. And without hardmodding, the only Switches that you can install whatever you want on are very ld ones that were released with firmware 3.x or something, which are also less capable hardware and lower quality joycons.

Heck, if I had to bet on 5 years more instead of 20, I'd flat out sell my Switch and buy a Steam Deck 2.0 as soon as they release.

[–] wowwoweowza@lemmy.ml 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I’m using a thirteen year old XBOX 360 — love it. Have all physical media. It’s fun. 7 more years until 20 so I guess I’ll keep you posted.

[–] nintendiator@feddit.cl 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

But is it jailbroken?

That, for me, is pretty much half or 3/4ths of the point of "can I keep the same things" with the Switch. The console (any console, really) is useless for me if it comes without aftermarket / altermarket value.

[–] wowwoweowza@lemmy.ml 2 points 9 months ago

It’s not jailbroken. I can still pick up games for it at garage sales. I haven’t run into problems — but I mostly play racing games — obviously not online but it’s still fun. RDR still runs. Working as usual.

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Have you replaced the thermal paste? I just did mine

[–] wowwoweowza@lemmy.ml 1 points 9 months ago

I’m not a huge gamer. 30 hours per year max. I get to longing some immersion so I do four hours and I’m free of the longing for months. I think this might be why I haven’t needed any maintenance.

My kids are still on an XBOX ONE but they too have pretty much grown out of excessive gaming.

Who knows how long these will last when the use falls to minimum.

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