Nintendo Switch (NX) announced

[Deleted member 219079]

It's been almost a year and a half since Nintendo announced the NX, and now the gaming giant has finally dropped the codename and secrecy in favor of something more official: Switch. Like the countless rumors previously asserted, it's indeed a hybrid mobile and home console with a tablet element and detachable controllers.

The tablet itself (which Nintendo calls "the Switch Console") is thin and pretty attractive. It looks to have a screen measuring around 7 inches, of unspecified resolution. At home, it'll plug into the "Switch Dock," which in turn plugs into your TV. While out and about you can either hold it like a Wii U gamepad or use the built-in kickstand to prop it up. In the trailer, a gamer slides what looks to be a 3DS-style cartridge into the tablet, meaning games are likely to distributed both digitally and physically.

It's powered by an unspecified custom Nvidia Tegra processor, which is "based on the same architecture as the world's top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards." Whether that means Pascal -- the architecture underpinning the 1000 series of GeForce cards and the yet-to-be-announced Tegra X2 -- or just that Tegra chips in general are based on the GeForce architecture, is not clear. But the question of which SoC is powering the Switch -- and whether it's based on newer or older architecture -- is important to answer if we're to work out what exactly it's capable of.

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Cartridges are nice game storage solution, no scratches and disc reading noise, also silent.

I most likely pass this, the price will be astronomical compared to what you get (not PC *insert master race meme guy*), but it also depends on the collection of games it will have over time (damn Skyrim! but I'd be more excited over Witcher 3 or Overwatch), of course it doubles as a Netflix viewer.

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Edit: ReviewTechUSA brings good points to the discussion in this video.

The trailer placed a grown up man playing the console. Taking the dog for a walk resembles a responsibility you need to take care of, but you'd really like to play as well. Now you can experience the triple-A game on the go.

He also thinks 1:05 of the video was a shout out at Apple

At 2:09 they placed a grown up woman playing the console. She gets invited to outside by her friends, she couldn't be able to continue the game session with ordinary consoles/PC.

Edit 2: I just realized, this is what people thought Wii U would be

 

[Kyrbi0]

Wow.

I fear I'm old before my time; I'm in the demographic for this but all I can think is "I miss my N64". :< I get annoyed by little tablet-gaming enterprises, and the itty-bitty side-parts that can be used as a single controller (re: Mario Kart) would kinda bug me.

But it looks hecka cool, at the same time. And golly if we can't say that Nintendo retreads the same path year after year (*cough* Sony/Microsoft).

 

[Dr Super Good]

Cartridges are nice game storage solution, no scratches and disc reading noise, also silent.

It solves two problems that have plagued Nintendo's consoles since the GameCube.

• Failing optical drives.
• Loading times.

Cartridge based solutions have practically no loading times. Neither PS4 Pro nor XBO Elite can compete loading speed wise. Level, objects etc load as fast as the processor can decompress, process and use the information, which is very fast. Anyone who uses a SSD can vouch for this as it makes a huge difference to loading times with the average modern game.

The problem with cartridges is price. A BluRay is far more economical to produce than a ROM based circuit. This could easily be a repeat of the N64 where the console was superior to the PS1 in every way except its game media which was why the PS1 ended up winning the generation as PS1 games could be an order of magnitude more complicated than N64 games. Or will it be? No games even fully use BluRay disks, and FLASH storage prices (more expensive than ROM) are starting to even be competitive to mechanical drives.

Does it even use cartridges entirely? They might be nothing more than licence keys which when inserted allow the console to download entire games into internal FLASH memory, which is also extremely fast.

One should not underestimate the potential power the console might have. Just because it is ARM does not make it slow, as ARM does not suffer from the bloat that x86-64 processors have (hence the increased energy efficiency) while still keeping most of the high speed functionality (pipelining, register renaming etc). Its GPU tech is superior to AMD's current XBO and PS4 solutions (not the Pro and Elite), and NVidia has always been king of performance per watt so it might pull off a miracle. Even if it is not as powerful as the XBO/PS4, it will still be roughly in the same ball park so one could expect lower fidelity ports of PC, XBO or PS4 games for it.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

Apparently Skyrim is not confirmed for the console: Skyrim Not Confirmed for Nintendo Switch, Despite Appearing in Video Reveal

When Wii U was being presented lots of developers appeared to be promoting the platform as very attractive target, but the collection of Wii U triple-A titles fell short. This time, to have something like Skyrim in the reveal trailer itself, they better have Skyrim available on the launch or the sales will not be anything to adore.

 

[chobibo]

Would be nice to setup a steam-like service for the console then? People could buy the game online and keep the said purchases tagged on an account and the player just downloads the fucking game on the console. The console could probably save the data on a secondary storage medium SSD-like device.

Uh... That sounds like a PC lol.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

They had Switch debut event on Jimmy Fallon show:

The presentation for Switch starts roughly at 4:37.

Pay extra attention to 7:40 and onwards, when he's pulling it out. The transition takes seconds and after that there's some message covering 2/3 of the screen that prompts the user for something. Compared to 0:30 of this video, transition took roughly a second and the TV output remained for a shady amount of time, and on top of that there was no message.

Also I just can't believe the battery would last long. The unit is too thin to wield any good battery in there.

My concern is that the mobile aspect to the Switch is just a marketing gimmick. Good example is XBone which was advertised as entertainment center rather than a gaming console. Switch will try to appeal with its uniqueness, but in the end it's a couch console like any else, and ultimately its appeal is in its exclusives (which are strong I admit).

 

[Dr Super Good]

Good example is XBone which was advertised as entertainment center rather than a gaming console.

You mean like the PS4 was?

Also I just can't believe the battery would last long. The unit is too thin to wield any good battery in there.

Unless it used a Samsung Galaxy battery, the sort that was made too thin for its power and caught fire...

I am guessing it will use ~15-20 watts at most.
So assuming a standard phone tech battery at 3.6v 3,000 mAh that would give it a battery life of...
P=IV
I=P/V
I=20/3.6
I=5.5 A

3/5.5 = 0.54... hours

So 30 minutes!

This is assuming standard smart phone battery technology of a single lithium cell of 3,000 mAh. Since the device is considerably bigger than a smart phone it is possible it might have a 1 cell 6,000 mAh or larger battery in it which would give 1 hour of play. The estimation of 20 watts was based on the previous generation Tegra using 10-15 watts for less performance and allowing 5-10 watts for the motherboard, memory and display overhead. Since Tegra has to list worst case power consumption the actual running power usage should be more like 10 watts. If one factors in a bigger battery and lower average power consumption a 2 hour battery life is reasonable.

This is assuming no sort of "reduced power" mode when playing not plugged in. If such a mode runs at only 5 watts or less then one can expect 4 hours of battery or more, which is sufficient for most purposes. Seeing how the device can likely be charged from a USB there should be little problems recharging it on holidays or when visiting friends.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

Well if it really could run for 4 hours I'd actually buy it (in 18 months from now, believe the prices have dropped and game collection has matured a little by then). That or 11 series GTX, depends on reviews Switch receives.

 

[Chaosy]

I don't see any benefit to buying this vs a PS4 at the moment.
Some great exclusives there.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Some great exclusives there.

Some would argue otherwise... Most of their great exclusives are from the past.

 

[Chaosy]

I can name 4-5 exclusives that I want from PS4, I cannot say the same for any other console.
Depends on the taste of course but I've heard really good stuff about the upcoming ones, generally speaking.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

This is relevant picture (list of upcoming PS4 exclusives):

Hidden

Still if I was after exclusives I'd say Nintendo offers the best ones. Smas Bros., Mario, sports games (Wii Sports, Fit etc.), Pokémon. Also Nintendo doesn't promote realism.

 

[Dr Super Good]

This is relevant picture (list of upcoming PS4 exclusives):

The only reason Crash is on that list is because Sony still has rights over the original 3 games. If they were not so restrictive it would have been a multi platform game and released a long time ago as Crash is owned by Activision Blizzard.

Personally a lot of them are really generic or intended for Japan only, and might not even end up being exclusive. For example the Final Fantasy 7 remake will likely start Sony exclusive, however like all modern Final Fantasy games it will eventually filter down to other consoles and the PC.

I miss when Sony made exclusives that were really ground breaking. Such as the original Spyro (yes they still own it... hence why no remake although since crash is getting one I guess one will come soon after), crash, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter etc. Games like God of War are very generic gameplay wise now as so many nock offs have been made, some even better than it due to not being all about gore or such insane plots. Unchanted is nice and all, but it also is kind of generic in this day and age. Many of the "exclusives" are nothing more than games one picks up if they decide to go with the PlayStation 4.

To put it in perspective if one goes with the Xbox One then one has access to most games, especially the popular ones, that the PlayStation 4 has as well as a huge library of Xbox360 games that are backwards compatible and emulate extremely well on it. Sure Wii U lacked games, something Switch is promising to fix, however the exclusives for the Wii U just cannot be beat. Legend of Zelda, Super Smash Bros, Xenoblade Chronical, etc are all extremely good games and the sort that makes one want the console to play them, which is what Sony lacks.

Let us not forget that future Xbox One exclusive games will run on Windows 10 computers. What does Sony have to even compete with that?! If Microsoft introduces Xbox360 compatibility to Windows 10 I can really see Sony having to make a deal with them or being blown out the water.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

In CET, a lot was covered on the Switch.

Quoting Nintendo Switch: All the latest details:

$300, £280 or AU$470 price

Nintendo's upcoming Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will be a launch title on March 3, and it's just the start. Nintendo says there are over 80 titles in active development, including:

• Splatoon 2 - Summer 2017
• Super Mario Odyssey - a different Mario game set in the real world? Coming Holiday 2017
• Fire Emblem Warriors
• The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - April 2017
• Xenoblade Chronicles 2
• FIFA
• Skylanders Imaginators - March 2017
• Minecraft
• ARMS, a cartoony multiplayer boxing game that uses the two Joy-Pads wirelessly - Spring 2017
• 1-2 Switch, a quick-draw shooting game that uses one wireless controller each
• A new RPG from the Bravely Default team
• A new Shin Megami Tensei game
• A new game in the No More Heroes franchise (from developer Suda51)
• NBA 2K18
• Super Bomberman R
• Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers
• Has Been Heroes
• Just Dance 2017
• Disgaea 5 Complete
• Puyo Puyo Tetris
• Rime
• Steep
• Fast RMX
• Syberia 3
• Sonic Mania
• Project Sonic 2017
• Lego City Undercover
• I Am Setsuna
• Rayman Legends Definitive Edition

Nintendo estimates you'll get between 2.5 and 6.5 hours of battery life at a go.

Nintendo says it won't be region-locking any of its own games.

Nintendo's online multiplayer will require a paid subscription now.

 

[Deleted member 219079]

From this day onward, you can expect to get your switch fix from the growing coverage of videos on YouTube. I'm highlighting GameSpot's 'review' (seems like an overview to me, but review gets more clicks I assume):

• With JoyCons in the other pocket and Switch in the other, you can effortlessly have the system on the go
• Nintendo's claimed 3hrs play time seemingly holds true
• Framerate dips when rendering Zelda at 900p, in docked mode
• Fan is very quiet, low temperatures
• Operating system is barebones, not even video playing solution

At its current state I have no interest in buying the console. 352 euros could get me 1060 among other possibilities. If the price drops significantly over the years to come I might reconsider.