The Nintendo Switch Thread

[GoGo Yubari]

There's a lot of technical/function aspects I'd like to see addressed about controllers and whatnot. But I think I'm on board for a combo console/higher-powered gaming tablet that I can take on trips. Cartridges make sense because of the portable aspect of it assuming they're not that big. I wouldn't want to carry CD cases or a bunch of CD slips around, way too much space wasted or risk of breaking.

[Pizza]

I hope that at least when it's at home that it can play Wii and Wii U discs. That'd be the difference between a Day 1 purchase and a Year 2 purchase for me. 

[Bobfoc]

I don't like to be a spoilsport because I like the idea, but some of those games looked as though they were running at choppy frame rates. I hope that's just how they come across on the video, rather than the actual running quality.

[RPS]

14 minutes ago, Bobfoc said:

Oh, and we now also have confirmation that this thing uses cartridges. I think that should mean that Splatoon will be a new version, rather than straight backwards compatibility.

When I saw Splatoon my heart sank because I do not want to buy a new console. 

But Splatoon is SO GOOD. 

[apsham]

Day 1 purchase.

I don't think there's backwards compatibility at all - the dock wouldn't have that kind of functionality.

[Maxx]

Cool concept, but they don't appear to be learning from the Wii U's failure.  Once again they're going to be putting out a system that lags behind from a technical standpoint, possibly worse than ever before with Sony and Microsoft both putting out suped up versions of theirs.  Once again we'll see developers having to scale down games to port them over, if they even bother doing it at all.

But, it's really going to depend on how they want to market this thing.  If they pitch it as the next step beyond a 3DS, they may be fine, because its certainly closer to than than it is to a PS4 or Xbone.  If they try to sell it as a true competitor in the console market, it's going to end up being another Wii U.  Market it as a Nintendo powered gaming tablet, the next evolution for hand held gaming and you might have something.  If they try to have it both ways, it will probably be another flop.
 

 

[Your Mom]

Yeah no thanks. I wanted to like it but I don't see the appeal at all

[Ruki]

I am skeptical of how it will run ANYWHERE without any lag. My PS4 lags stupidly hard with remote play at my computer 5 feet away.

[Bobfoc]

2 minutes ago, Ruki said:

I am skeptical of how it will run ANYWHERE without any lag. My PS4 lags stupidly hard with remote play at my computer 5 feet away.

I don't think this is a remote play device, but one that runs natively on the handheld system.

[apsham]

10 minutes ago, Ruki said:

I am skeptical of how it will run ANYWHERE without any lag. My PS4 lags stupidly hard with remote play at my computer 5 feet away.

The tablet IS the console so it won't be a lag issue.

[MalaCloudy Black]

Quote

 

Nintendo Switch is powered by the performance of the custom Tegra processor. The high-efficiency scalable processor includes an NVIDIA GPU based on the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards.

The Nintendo Switch’s gaming experience is also supported by fully custom software, including a revamped physics engine, new libraries, advanced game tools and libraries. NVIDIA additionally created new gaming APIs to fully harness this performance. The newest API, NVN, was built specifically to bring lightweight, fast gaming to the masses.

Gameplay is further enhanced by hardware-accelerated video playback and custom software for audio effects and rendering.

 

Also according to Kotaku, that is a new 3D Mario game.

[RPS]

9 minutes ago, Maxx said:

Cool concept, but they refuse to learn any lessons.  Once again they're going to be putting out a console that lags behind from a technical standpoint, possibly worse than ever before with Sony and Microsoft both putting out suped up versions of theirs.  Once again we'll see developers having to scale down games to port them over, if they even bother doing it at all.
 

What lesson is their for Nintendo to learn? If anything, the opposite of what you are saying is the truth. Nintendo's biggest selling pieces of hardware have often been ones that are inferior to the other consoles on the market from a technical stand point. The Wii was a literal piece of shit in terms of specs and it sold more than PS3 and XBox360. The DS and 3DS were in no way comparable to the Sony handhelds in terms of specs. The reason the WiiU did not take off had zero to do with technical specs and everything to do with the fact that the concept put forth by Nintendo, a console with dual screens that required the tablet to be within twenty feet of the console, was not appealing to a lot of people.

Nintendo has always excelled when putting out a unique product that appeals to a wide demographic of individuals. The question will be if a hybrid console and handheld will be a unique product that will appeal to a wide demographic. What it needs is: 

1. Hardware that supports their goals of being able to take Skyrim on the bus and to be able to play for extended periods of time. Android has been having a lot of problems recently with their phones as it pertains to battery life. If Nintendo wants to have a battery that lasts long, we may not actually be at this stage. Those removable controllers better be solid enough that they don't cause any headaches and break easily when sliding in and out. 
2. Software that showcases why people need a hybrid home and handheld consoles. We saw a three minute teaser that showed some potential uses, but it was obviously done in a manner where we don't really know at this point if the concept is going to hit a home run. 

Personally, I have to see more of this thing and what it is capable of before I would even consider a pre-order. The idea of being able to bring the tablet to friends places or to play with my niece and nephew is a huge draw, especially if there is interesting games. But if the battery life is two hours and there is concerns about how breakable the controllers are? I'm going to hold off. If there isn't a good selection of titles available at launch that use the concept in a novel way? I'll probably hold off.  

[apsham]

• 505 Games
• LEVEL-5 Inc.
• Activision Publishing, Inc.
• Marvelous Inc.
• ARC SYSTEM WORKS Co., Ltd.
• Maximum Games, LLC
• ATLUS CO., LTD.
• Nippon Ichi Software, Inc.
• Audiokinetic Inc.
• Parity Bit Inc.
• Autodesk, Inc.
• PlatinumGames Inc.
• BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.
• RAD Game Tools, Inc.
• Bethesda
• RecoChoku Co., Ltd.
• CAPCOM CO., LTD.
• SEGA Games Co., Ltd.
• Codemasters®
• Silicon Studio Corporation
• CRI Middleware Co., Ltd.
• Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd.
• DeNA Co., Ltd.
• SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD.
• Electronic Arts
• Starbreeze Studios
• Epic Games Inc.
• Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc.
• Firelight Technologies
• Telltale Games
• FromSoftware, Inc.
• THQ Nordic
• Frozenbyte
• Tokyo RPG Factory Co., Ltd.
• GameTrust
• TT Games
• GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE INC.
• UBISOFT
• Gungho Online Entertainment, Inc.
• Ubitus Inc.
• HAMSTER Corporation
• Unity Technologies, Inc.
• Havok
• Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
• INTI CREATES CO., LTD.
• Web Technology Corp
• KOEI TECMO GAMES CO., LTD.
• Konami Digital Entertainment Co., Ltd.

List of confirmed third party support.

[Maxx]

10 minutes ago, RPS said:

What lesson is their for Nintendo to learn? If anything, the opposite of what you are saying is the truth. Nintendo's biggest selling pieces of hardware have often been ones that are inferior to the other consoles on the market from a technical stand point. The Wii was a literal piece of shit in terms of specs and it sold more than PS3 and XBox360. The DS and 3DS were in no way comparable to the Sony handhelds in terms of specs. The reason the WiiU did not take off had zero to do with technical specs and everything to do with the fact that the concept put forth by Nintendo, a console with dual screens that required the tablet to be within twenty feet of the console, was not appealing to a lot of people.

Nintendo has always excelled when putting out a unique product that appeals to a wide demographic of individuals. The question will be if a hybrid console and handheld will be a unique product that will appeal to a wide demographic. What it needs is: 

1. Hardware that supports their goals of being able to take Skyrim on the bus and to be able to play for extended periods of time. Android has been having a lot of problems recently with their phones as it pertains to battery life. If Nintendo wants to have a battery that lasts long, we may not actually be at this stage. Those removable controllers better be solid enough that they don't cause any headaches and break easily when sliding in and out. 
2. Software that showcases why people need a hybrid home and handheld consoles. We saw a three minute teaser that showed some potential uses, but it was obviously done in a manner where we don't really know at this point if the concept is going to hit a home run. 

Personally, I have to see more of this thing and what it is capable of before I would even consider a pre-order. The idea of being able to bring the tablet to friends places or to play with my niece and nephew is a huge draw, especially if there is interesting games. But if the battery life is two hours and there is concerns about how breakable the controllers are? I'm going to hold off. If there isn't a good selection of titles available at launch that use the concept in a novel way? I'll probably hold off.  

The Wii was lightning in a bottle, and there's still a good lesson to take away from it;  The gimmick only takes you so far.  Yeah, it sold a ton of units, but interest in it died off pretty quickly thereafter from players and especially developers.  Wii U, was all gimmick, and it took them no where.  Hell, even the 3DS is only as successful as it is because they have such a fantastic library of games, no one is really buying them anymore for the glasses-less 3D gimmick.

That's why I said it really depends how they're going to push this thing.  As the next step in handheld gaming its fantastic.  As a competitor to PS4 or Xbone?  Not so much.  But from that first trailer, it looks like they are going to try and have it both ways, and they'll probably get mixed results.   I think a much more successful approach would have been marketing it as the Gameboy Tablet, and selling that one of its unique features is that you can dock it and play it on your TV.  That way, you've tempered expectations a bit and can likely live up to or surpass them.

[RPS]

Nintendo have long said they are not competing with the PS4 or XB1 and I don't think the Switch is any different. They see themselves as separate and apart from the other two and they always take a unique approach. In my mind, I don't see it as PS4 vs. XB1 vs. Switch. It'll be XB1 vs. PS4 and the Switch in their own world. Whether people want to visit that world is another story. 

In a year where Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all revealed the next iteration of what they are doing, Nintendo is the only one who is not playing it safe. I am not going to say they will be successful or that I won't pre-order the console, because so much of it is about the details. But the ability to take a console version of Smash Bros anywhere with me and play it is quite enticing. 

[TCO]

6 hours ago, Benji said:

I don't care for gimmicks. I just want a console similar to the PS4 and XBox that plays Nintendo brand games.

This. I want a powerful Nintendo console that gets all the AAA titles but also has Mario, Pokemon et al. This seems neat but there's no way I'm going to buy it.

It'll be the same case as always, some amazing Nintendo titles followed by virtually no 3rd party support. I want to support Nintendo but I can't justify paying for a console that won't have most of the games I want. 

Super Mario Galaxy was a masterpiece but I couldn't help think it'd be better if I didn't have to shake my wrist and have my controller tethered to my hand.

 

[Quom]

5 hours ago, Maxx said:

Cool concept, but they don't appear to be learning from the Wii U's failure.  Once again they're going to be putting out a system that lags behind from a technical standpoint, possibly worse than ever before with Sony and Microsoft both putting out suped up versions of theirs.  Once again we'll see developers having to scale down games to port them over, if they even bother doing it at all.

But, it's really going to depend on how they want to market this thing.  If they pitch it as the next step beyond a 3DS, they may be fine, because its certainly closer to than than it is to a PS4 or Xbone.  If they try to sell it as a true competitor in the console market, it's going to end up being another Wii U.  Market it as a Nintendo powered gaming tablet, the next evolution for hand held gaming and you might have something.  If they try to have it both ways, it will probably be another flop.

We don't have the specs yet so i don't know that it's fair to say it will lag behind from a technical perspective. Nvidia's new cards (released after PS4/Xbox) are like half the price for better performance than their previous cards. I'd imagine graphics might need to be neutered for battery life potentially but it might scale, 1080p if plugged into the tv 480p if a tablet to save processing power/battery.

I don't think Nintendo are stupid, naive and buy too much into the bullshit sometimes, but not stupid. When they've had a clunker they've generally been able to right the ship.

Also plenty of games on the Wii U were fucking beautiful and ran at 60FPS. It was less an issue with graphics and more a total lack of 3rd party support. Either porting over games, or making Wii U exclusives. I love Nintendo but I hated feeling like I bought a console that had 1-3 good games a year released which were sequels, even if they were super fun. I think that's what burnt a lot of people and really hurt the Wii U which is why they've re-built their relationships with other pubs.

 

[Pizza]

I still don't get the "I want a PS4 that plays Mario!" approach to Nintendo consoles.I could get wanting Nintendo became a 100% software company, but I don't want 3 consoles that do almost exactly the same thing with a small handful of exclusives instead of two. If they're going to make hardware, I want it to be different from the PS4 or XB1. Everybody already has one of those.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Pizza

[MDK]

9 minutes ago, Pizza said:

I still don't get the "I want a PS4 that plays Mario!" approach to Nintendo consoles.I could get wanting Nintendo became a 100% software company, but I don't want 3 consoles that do almost exactly the same thing with a small handful of exclusives instead of two. If they're going to make hardware, I want it to be different from the PS4 or XB1. Everybody already has one of those.

Or instead of a XBOX or PS4, get a PC >_>

[TCO]

I'd rather they become a software company but  yeah they're wasting their proprietary brands on their gimmicky consoles.

So yeah I'd buy the shit out of a Nintendo console that had all the power and perks of a PS4 and XBox One!