Goodbye NX, hello Switch

[zerocool84]

No, I think its portability is for gaming with friends. I remember days when I would lug my gaming PC to a friends house to coop game. There used to be a term for this but it escapes me at the moment.

Yea used to, people don't lug consoles or computers to each other houses anymore. It's a rare occurrence for LAN parties anymore. Portability for friends, so everyone has to buy this expensive console which with all this built in will at least be $400-$500

 

[Kaido]

No, I think its portability is for gaming with friends. I remember days when I would lug my gaming PC to a friends house to coop game. There used to be a term for this but it escapes me at the moment.

LAN party?

 

[Zenoth]

It reminds me of the SEGA Nomad (to some degree). I have no issues about the Switch basically being a refined Wii U concept (just more compact, cartridge-based, and completely portable if you so choose). I like it, could be interesting eventually.

The only thing I'm wondering about is the ownership of Wii U games Vs. the same game on the Switch. What happens if I "already own" Mario Kart 8 on the Wii U (which I actually do)? Will I get to download it for free on the Switch? Can we even just download games digitally for the Switch without having to buy the cartridge itself? Or is Nintendo actually expecting me to re-buy MK8 on the Switch? That part right now isn't clear enough.

 

[jpiniero]

Will people really truly carry this thing around for gaming ON TOP of their smartphone? That is the big question which will determine the success or the utter failure of Switch.

The 3DS has sold almost 60M units, so yeah.

Yea used to, people don't lug consoles or computers to each other houses anymore. It's a rare occurrence for LAN parties anymore. Portability for friends, so everyone has to buy this expensive console which with all this built in will at least be $400-$500

The rumor is $299, which is still too much. The 3DS was $249 at launch but they cut it to $169 several months later because initial sales were poor.

 

[zerocool84]

The 3DS has sold almost 60M units, so yeah.



The rumor is $299, which is still too much. The 3DS was $249 at launch but they cut it to $169 several months later because initial sales were poor.

I don't think there's any way it's $299, with the dock plus screen and detachable controllers. We know Nintendo doesn't like losing money on hardware.

 

[jpiniero]

I don't think there's any way it's $299, with the dock plus screen and detachable controllers. We know Nintendo doesn't like losing money on hardware.

The screen is only 720p, and nVidia I'm sure gave them a pretty good deal on the Tegra. It doesn't have a hard drive or optical media and it's probably no more than 4 GB of memory. This stuff is really cheap now, it's totally realistic. The dock is my only question.

The Switch btw almost certainly has a fan which I have a question of how annoying that's going to be.

 

[cmdrdredd]

The 3DS has sold almost 60M units, so yeah.

The 3DS sold that many but I think I've seen maybe 2 kids in the entire lifetime of the DS actually have it with them on the go. Adults are on their phones and/or have headphones on for music, not lugging around a game system. Even when I was in NYC I didn't see one person with a DS or other portable game system.

 

[Aikouka]

The dock is my only question.

I can't imagine the dock being very complex. It's most likely just a proprietary connector that's really just power + HDMI/DisplayPort. They may add a little bit more to it for future expandability like USB 3, but that's about it. In other words, given that the dock has no processing capability, it should be cheap.

The Switch btw almost certainly has a fan which I have a question of how annoying that's going to be.

I'd probably bank more on the dock having a fan in it. The purpose of the fan would be to allow the SoC to clock a bit higher to support faster processing for the TV... or the Switch could just upscale and not even worry about prettier graphics when displaying on a TV.

 

[zerocool84]

The screen is only 720p, and nVidia I'm sure gave them a pretty good deal on the Tegra. It doesn't have a hard drive or optical media and it's probably no more than 4 GB of memory. This stuff is really cheap now, it's totally realistic. The dock is my only question.

It would have more than 4GB of storage though for any updates, dlc etc. Games are only getting bigger as are apps and dlc. Patches for games are huge now even for WiiU games.

 

[Tweak155]

No, I think its portability is for gaming with friends. I remember days when I would lug my gaming PC to a friends house to coop game. There used to be a term for this but it escapes me at the moment.

LAN party?

EDIT:

Wow for some reason when I refreshed, it didn't show me all the replies. I see someone already suggested it

 

[ImpulsE69]

I don't know, I've had all the Nintendo portables, but I've found I use them less and less. I simply don't game on portables unless I'm travellling and staying in a hotel or something and that is rare these days even then.

 

[jpiniero]

I'd probably bank more on the dock having a fan in it. The purpose of the fan would be to allow the SoC to clock a bit higher to support faster processing for the TV... or the Switch could just upscale and not even worry about prettier graphics when displaying on a TV.

The X1's TDP is 10, and I believe the X2's is as well. It almost has to.

It would have more than 4GB of storage though for any updates, dlc etc. Games are only getting bigger as are apps and dlc. Patches for games are huge now even for WiiU games.

I'm not sure what they are going to about patching honestly.

 

[KentState]

Think I will probably end up getting one. Like the idea of actually getting to play Zelda on the go.

 

[fr]

I wonder how the specs compare to the Wii U so I can know what the expect from the next Zelda game.

 

[zerocool84]

I wonder how the specs compare to the Wii U so I can know what the expect from the next Zelda game.

Seeing as its a port and we've already gone through a similar situation with Twilight Princess, not much.

 

[desura]

This looks pretty bad. I'm going to say it.

Like, all of those complicated moving parts which can be damaged or lost are going to make it a nightmare for warranty RMA. And the thing IMO is that the main draw is being able to take your save game state from home to on the go without missing a beat...that could easily be accomplished with cloud technology and traditional handhelds/home consoles.

chips aren't that expensive. This is overly engineered, overly complicated. Nintendo is done.

 

[Justinbaileyman]

I'm gonna be passing on this console this time around. I still have a bitter taste left from the Wii-U and the fact there are no games from the main 3rd parties. To me this is just a bunch of the same old hype they pull every Gen and I see a repeating pattern finally.Pretty sure this is gonna flop big time anyways and I dont want to get suckered in yet again like I do every time they release something new.Maybe its just me getting older but I am starting to stick more and more to Xbox Consoles and PC titles.Or it could be the fact that they are targeting little children instead of the main stream and hard core gamers like they claim every Gen.I guess enough is enough for me.Maybe if it turns out that I am wrong and its the next best thing since sliced bread then maybe I would be willing to give it a go.

 

[zerocool84]

Looking at the controller, that's not a dpad, those are buttons so basically if you want to play any fighting games you are forced to buy the pro controller which of course is sold separately.

So yet again they don't care and the gaming crowd which is fine, that's their decision, but I don't see the average gaming consumer, which isn't hardcore going crazy over this instead of a PS4/Xbone.

What's going to happen to the 3DS? They certainly aren't going to abandon the huge selling 3DS so why would someone that already owns a smartphone which they play games on, and a 3DS which they already play games on and buy this? We've seen multiple times that only Nintendo exclusives can't sell tons of systems.

 

[Red Hawk]

I hope this console flops harder than the Wii-U does and Nintendo finally jumps ship to being a software only company. Well if they keep the DS I don't care, but screw the home consoles. They are terrible at it and have been for over a decade. This shows they have not learned a damn thing from their previous failures.

The fact they have a Mario deal with Apple and iOS right now gives me a glimmer of hope that they may be starting to think the way a lot of us are - just become a software company already and start putting games out on better consoles than their own outdated pieces of crap. Them putting out a Mario game on iOS is a pretty huge milestone for Nintendo if you think about it.

No. You don't know what you're asking for. Hardware development is such an integral part of Nintendo that if things got to the point that they could no longer put out consoles, their games wouldn't be the same either. They wouldn't be the same company. They would have had to let go of much of their workforce and the talent that makes them Nintendo before they got to that point. Like I said in another thread, the games made by a software-only Nintendo would be a shell of the games made by a successful hardware-and-software Nintendo.

I'm not going to knock what they are going for..it's an interesting approach, however I imagine none of those controllers, connecters, etc are goign to be very durable if used as intended over long periods of time.

I also think that the people they are marketing for....aren't going to be interested because they are just going to play on their phones.

Nintendo products tend to be pretty well made and durable. Also, people can't play Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild or Mario Kart 8 on their phones.

Serious question here: Aside from kids in the back of the SUV, how many people want a portable gaming system? I guess if you're taking long public transportation rides, but that's not a huge percentage of the US population. Do you folks like to go sit in the park or coffee shop and game (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that). I've got nice monitors and a projector, so I want to game on those. I literally can't think of any time I'd use the mobile feature.

I get what Nintendo is trying to do here with Switch for portability.

But people game on smartphones because they already have to carry around the smartphone which is the #1 ubiquitous device for everyone.

Will people really truly carry this thing around for gaming ON TOP of their smartphone? That is the big question which will determine the success or the utter failure of Switch.

Like others have pointed out, the 3DS has continued to have strong sales, indicating there is a market for people who want dedicated handheld game systems. 3DS sales did decline in comparison to DS sales, indicating that phones did eat into the market somewhat, but not nearly entirely. There are still people who want to game on the go and want more than the touch controlled and microtransaction-laden games they can get on phones.

 

[Elixer]

I asked my niece & nephew (10 & 12) about this, and they go, they already have a portable game device (aka phone), so, they are not interested in it at all, and they have every other nintendo product. Heck, they haven't used their 3DS since last Xmas when they got a new game.
Not sure who the target audience is for this thing, but we need to know much more than what was shown.

The controller sure look small, I assume they will have some kind of motion detection like the wii's controller?

 

[renz20003]

Is it me or did Zelda look laggy on the tablet screen?

 

[purbeast0]

No. You don't know what you're asking for. Hardware development is such an integral part of Nintendo that if things got to the point that they could no longer put out consoles, their games wouldn't be the same either. They wouldn't be the same company. They would have had to let go of much of their workforce and the talent that makes them Nintendo before they got to that point. Like I said in another thread, the games made by a software-only Nintendo would be a shell of the games made by a successful hardware-and-software Nintendo.

Realistically you have no clue and you're simply guessing about all of that. I also don't see how they would have to lose people who make games if they lost hardware. Sure they go hand in hand, but the people who work in the areas don't. You aren't going to have the same group of people who are working on the design of Mario 64 working on the design of the N64.

What they are doing now sucks so I really don't see it getting any worse in my eyes. I haven't owned a nintendo console since Wii and don't really plan on getting another one any time soon. Sometimes I tell myself I'll get the consoles for Nintendo exclusives but then I remember even those have gone downhill to me. The only one I would really care for is some type of Mario 64 game or possibly side scrollers like DKC or NSMB. Mario Kart has sucked for ages, Zelda has been meh for as long as I can remember, I don't care about Pokemon, the last Metroid game I enjoyed was Prime on GC. They need to do something different, they've been doing the same shit for like 2 decades now. All of console gaming needs to do something different IMO and is a big part I don't game as much now a days. Everything is sequel this sequel that, there is hardly any new stuff coming out. I've completely lost all enjoyment from FPS since every other game is an FPS (or used to be), same with open world games. There are still the series I am a sucker for though, but those are far and few between now a days. Like Gears of War 4 - that game looks IDENTICAL to the original one in every aspect other than graphics.

There are PLENTY of software only companies out there. You are probably just basing your thoughts off of what has happened in the past with Sega and Atari, but neither of them were ever as close to as big as Nintendo was as far as first party games and the amount they sold. To say they couldn't make it as a software company only is dumb IMO and either way, there's no way to validate if it's a good/bad idea since it's never happened with them.

 

[Oyeve]

LAN party?

Yes! Geez, im getting old. I used to lug my PC to a friends house who had DSL (high speed back in the day) to play some UT and such. Good times!

 

[zerocool84]

So now we have confirmation that it is not going to be a powerful console at all. The dock does not add any extra power or cooling or storage to the system, it is just a charging stand/TV output stand. We are obviously not getting even close to comparable graphics to PS4/Xbox One.

The core concept of Nintendo's upcoming Switch console is that it's a portable device with games that you can also play on your TV at home by way of a dock. But don't expect the docking unit to provide more storage or performance capability to the tablet — Nintendo has confirmed that it's primarily a way to get the tablet-style portable's games onto the bigger screen.

"The dock is not the main console unit of Nintendo Switch," a representative tells IGN. "The main unit of Nintendo Switch is the unit that has the LCD screen, which the two Joy-Con controllers can be attached to and detached from. The main function of the Nintendo Switch Dock is to provide an output to the TV, as well as charging and providing power to the system."

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/21/13356760/nintendo-switch-dock-functionality-tv-output-power

 

[agfkfhahddhdn]

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