Nintendo Switch is powered by NVIDIA

[sxr7171]

I agree with most you wrote except this. Here I see Nintendo remaining conservative is a good thing. For me 4K and VR is just marketing to sell you new TV (which you don't really need) and new gear (which you don't really need) to keep the factories running at full blast and make more money.

There is hardly any 4k material. If you don't get a huge 70" + screen or sit very close to it, the benefits of 4k are lost anyway. See

For a 70" 4K screen, approx. 2.5 meters is the max distance you can see a difference compared to 1080p. Most people already have too small 1080p TVs and with 4k the benefit is lost even more,

VR is another hype. It's just not practical in the real world and extremely nerdy and geeky. There is a market for it in console/PC gaming but I doubt it's huge due to price. For mobile, I don't see it at all. See Google Glas, which compared to VR was small and light.

Thank you for that chart. 4K is such a huge buzzword and most people who buy into it are clueless that it makes no difference unless you sit very close to it. Less than about 2.5 times the height of the display.

However I disagree about VR. Current gen VR is not practical I agree, but when they address the resolution and bulk of the headsets it will change the world. If you consider the NES to be the progenitor device for all of video gaming as we know it today, today's VR headsets are the same. IMHO since the excitement of bringing in that first NES nothing has matched that feeling other than trying out an HTC Vive for the first time.

By all measures the NES is considered primitive compared to what we have today. Pixelated 2D blocks and yet it was the greatest thing at the time. Current VR is the same. It will be seen as primitive in a decade or less, but it is the progenitor device(s) for what is to come. It's good enough to play and have a lot of fun but it has screen door effect, it's bulky and inconvenient. But just wait and see how it evolves and I see it being as big of game changer as the NES was. While we have fond memories of the NES, today's kids will have it of something like PS VR.

In that vain I think Nintendo is pretty much over. All they can do is milk the nostalgia factor anymore. VR is the new NES.

 

[ConsoleLover]

Nintendo are essentially dead on the hardware side. With mobile phones today being very powerful, who would want a dedicated handheld gaming hardware? You could do your casual gaming on mobile, no need for specific handheld device. On the other hand they can't and don't want to compete with Sony and M$ on the hardcore gaming front, so they are essentially dead with hardware.

Their only hope is to continue making mobile games that take off big like the pokemon go and keep making money that way.

 

[Phynaz]

"Hardcore gaming" LOL!

 

[beginner99]

Thank you for that chart. 4K is such a huge buzzword and most people who buy into it are clueless that it makes no difference unless you sit very close to it. Less than about 2.5 times the height of the display.

However I disagree about VR. Current gen VR is not practical I agree, but when they address the resolution and bulk of the headsets it will change the world. If you consider the NES to be the progenitor device for all of video gaming as we know it today, today's VR headsets are the same. IMHO since the excitement of bringing in that first NES nothing has matched that feeling other than trying out an HTC Vive for the first time.

By all measures the NES is considered primitive compared to what we have today. Pixelated 2D blocks and yet it was the greatest thing at the time. Current VR is the same. It will be seen as primitive in a decade or less, but it is the progenitor device(s) for what is to come. It's good enough to play and have a lot of fun but it has screen door effect, it's bulky and inconvenient. But just wait and see how it evolves and I see it being as big of game changer as the NES was. While we have fond memories of the NES, today's kids will have it of something like PS VR.

In that vain I think Nintendo is pretty much over. All they can do is milk the nostalgia factor anymore. VR is the new NES.

Maybe it's just my naive hope we will not all walk around with headsets over our face and live in a complete dream world, on purpose.

Yeah it will revolutionize some games and porn. I also see some applications in research / engineering / design. But it will never be as huge as say smartphones.
Why not? It's not practical. By definition you need some headset which insulates you from outside world. That will for a long time be perceived as geeky or say uncool even more so usage in public (Is he watching porn?). negative peer-pressure. Yes, that can be overcome but we are talking decades then.

 

[antihelten]

But it will never be as huge as say smartphones.

Saying something won't be as popular as smartphones is a bit unfair though.

PC video gaming as a whole is already much less popular than smartphones for instance. So by that standard your entire critique might just as well be leveled against discrete GPUs.

 

[sxr7171]

Maybe it's just my naive hope we will not all walk around with headsets over our face and live in a complete dream world, on purpose.

Yeah it will revolutionize some games and porn. I also see some applications in research / engineering / design. But it will never be as huge as say smartphones.
Why not? It's not practical. By definition you need some headset which insulates you from outside world. That will for a long time be perceived as geeky or say uncool even more so usage in public (Is he watching porn?). negative peer-pressure. Yes, that can be overcome but we are talking decades then.

Nobody is saying it will be done in public. After a long day at work and you ate dinner you have 2-3 hours to entertain yourself. You're going to want the headset over 2D TV or gaming once these get small and light.

As for people doing socially inappropriate things with technology the younger generation already has no sense of etiquette with electronics. They use them everywhere. Nice restaurants, while driving, at the doctor's office, while walking around. People in some Asian countries already live in a dream world. They work, get out and drink and play video games all of their non working hours.

But this isn't a sociological forum. Even current technology has damaged the social landscape to a large degree. A "friend" now is a picture on a webpage that words keep coming out of.

If you play video games it is done to escape. Once people try VR they will see 2D gaming is a poor escape in comparison. Also since some people think multiplayer gaming is a "social" activity, multiplayer VR would then be a lot more "social".

Also I'm sure your imagination is not so poor as to not expect headsets that rival the size and weight of eyeglasses. How many people say they'll walk around uncorrected because oh, they hate wearing those glasses on their face?

If you haven't tried a Vive, you really should because then we can really talk VR. Both as it stands and the obvious potential involved. 2D screens for escape entertainment is on the way out.

As a side note, I used to wear big over the ear headphones in public years before it became commonplace. Now you see it everywhere. It took only 5 years or so. Of course now I don't anymore.

 

[RussianSensation]

New Rumours:

Marketing

• "Interact with your game on the go." phrase seen on a poster.
• Strong co-branding effort with a Mario launch title on many posters.
• Console is currently set to launch with least 4 titles on deck.
• Stores should be receiving demo units around February.
• Base price point seems to be sitting at $299.99

Bundle

• The NX is currently set to have a bundle option.
• The contents of this bundle is currently unknown.
• Bundle price is currently sitting at $399.99

Packaging

• The packaging for the NX will be slightly larger than the Wii U's packaging.
• The packaging is relatively clean and simple and is similar to the Wii U in terms of package design.
• The color scheme for the packaging is white and blue (compared to the Wii U's blue and black).
• The packaging still says "NX" however there is still no indication if this is a placeholder or the final name.
• The areas of the packaging that would usually depict the hardware were blurred and redacted by Nintendo in attempt to keep it hidden.

Features and Specs

• Games will be on cartridges
• 4k streaming has been mentioned. - What this likely means is playback of content such as Netflix, etc. Not gameplay.
• 1080p and 60fps are being used by the marketing teams in relation to gameplay on to the console portion. I've heard unconfirmed rumblings of 900p for the infamous hybrid part of the device.

 

[railven]

I just need a little more info to satisfy my own predictions.

Now if the base model includes the portable and "console" portion, that ties really close to my $200 for the handheld + $100 for the console prediction. I'd assume they'd want to sell em together at the start to get word of mouth of both units.

Bundled unit might include a game and a controller which would raise it up by $100, probably a memory card or some other "filler"

This is basically what I've predicted:

• 1080p and 60fps are being used by the marketing teams in relation to gameplay on to the console portion. I've heard unconfirmed rumblings of 900p for the infamous hybrid part of the device.

However, I still predict the handheld settings will have lower IQ and possibly lower FPS. And as Square Enix has recently demonstrated, it is actually very doable and the results are rather impressive:

 

[sxr7171]

Expensive

 

[Sweepr]

 

[railven]

Already a better name than the Wii/Wii U.

 

[lolipopman]

I dont know how much you folks care about the hardware as I didnt read the full thread.

And I'm definitely not posting it on the POS guru3D forums that perma'd me after one use of proxy.

But I found this very interesting: https://gfxbench.com/custom.jsp?benchmark=gfx40&D=NVIDIA vcm31t186ref&id=RR-gK8O4SfiylkCGt90PfQ

An unknown Nvidia device popped outta nowhere, presumably using the Parker chip. It says it has Bluetooth and gyro and whatnot so it is most likely an NX prototype or the next Shield.

The performance looks fantastic, better than the iPad Pro and a colossal improvement over the Shield TV.

If this info runs on a battery then I'm more than just impressed, this is holy crap material.

Edit: this is absolutely the Tegra (Pascal).

6 hexa-core cores on this sample. While the Tegra X2 is confirmed to have 2 Denver cores and 4 A57 cores.

 

[nurturedhate]

Already a better name than the Wii/Wii U.

Agreed but it's still a terrible name.

 

[Red Hawk]

Nintendo are essentially dead on the hardware side. With mobile phones today being very powerful, who would want a dedicated handheld gaming hardware? You could do your casual gaming on mobile, no need for specific handheld device. On the other hand they can't and don't want to compete with Sony and M$ on the hardcore gaming front, so they are essentially dead with hardware.

Their only hope is to continue making mobile games that take off big like the pokemon go and keep making money that way.

Because physical controls, because forward facing speakers, because dual screen setup, because a market that isn't toxic to full game experiences and poisoned with pervasive microtransactions. And because it's still nice to have "core" games on the go, so you can play them on a bus or plane, at a hotel, on break at work, or even just lounging in bed at home.

That's why you might want a dedicated gaming handheld. My phone is much more powerful than my New 3DS, and I have picked up a couple games for it. Knights of the Old Republic and Deus Ex: The Fall. I've barely touched them, though. Meanwhile, I've clocked many more hours on my 3DS in games like Zelda, Fire Emblem, and Pokemon. Only Nintendo provides that kind of experience since the PSVita died, and I don't want to see that go away.

 

[sxr7171]

So basically a very small niche market of older dudes looking for nostalgic experiences.

 

[Red Hawk]

So basically a very small niche market of older dudes looking for nostalgic experiences.

Core handheld gaming is a fairly niche market, sure. But the same can be said about high-end graphics cards, about strategy games, and about, for the foreseeable future, VR. Does that mean there's no point to it, that it should just go away and die off? Of course not.

My point was that the proper handheld gaming Nintendo offers is still a much better experience than playing games on a phone. And it may be niche, but not a very small niche, if the 3DS' sales numbers are anything to go by.

 

[Snarf Snarf]

What really sets it apart from phone gaming is the battery life you get, plus the local WiFi multiplayer gaming you can do. Just recently took a trip to Vegas with a bunch of friends and we spent the entire trip playing LAN Mario Kart and Mario Party to pass the time. Mobile phones can't do that, nor do they have the battery life to make a long distance trip without having to plug in.

I get that this is a technology enthusiast forum but a lot of you guys tend to ignore the sheer amount of fun that Nintendo first party titles are. As long as it keeps the core features the 3DS has with the same game diversity, upgraded graphics and controls it's going to do well. Almost everyone I know owns a 3DS, they do phone gaming too, but nothing beats a dedicated experience done right.

 

[sxr7171]

Core handheld gaming is a fairly niche market, sure. But the same can be said about high-end graphics cards, about strategy games, and about, for the foreseeable future, VR. Does that mean there's no point to it, that it should just go away and die off? Of course not.

My point was that the proper handheld gaming Nintendo offers is still a much better experience than playing games on a phone. And it may be niche, but not a very small niche, if the 3DS' sales numbers are anything to go by.

Niche business is not for Nintendo. They need mass market volume for their mass market pricing. All those other niches are expensive.

There is room for only one handheld and it might as well be Nintendo since they are the best at it. But that price for a handheld in 2016. Wow just wow.

The 3DS came out before every 3 year old kid got a smartphone. And trust me parents don't give a crap how good whatever it is shuts their kids up. It either does the job or it doesn't.

I honesty see more adults playing Nintendo stuff anymore. They failed to appeal to today's kids. Maybe Mario is still popular but that's it. A whole generation of kids cares not a damn about Zelda or Metroid and possibly even Mario.

 

[sxr7171]

What really sets it apart from phone gaming is the battery life you get, plus the local WiFi multiplayer gaming you can do. Just recently took a trip to Vegas with a bunch of friends and we spent the entire trip playing LAN Mario Kart and Mario Party to pass the time. Mobile phones can't do that, nor do they have the battery life to make a long distance trip without having to plug in.

I get that this is a technology enthusiast forum but a lot of you guys tend to ignore the sheer amount of fun that Nintendo first party titles are. As long as it keeps the core features the 3DS has with the same game diversity, upgraded graphics and controls it's going to do well. Almost everyone I know owns a 3DS, they do phone gaming too, but nothing beats a dedicated experience done right.

At $400 this will only be for adults with a job. I think Mario stuff is fun as heck. But honestly I can think of more fun things to do in Vegas than play Nintendo.

I see you meant the ride there. Would you do it again at $400 a person?

 

[nurturedhate]

Niche business is not for Nintendo. They need mass market volume for their mass market pricing. All those other niches are expensive.

There is room for only one handheld and it might as well be Nintendo since they are the best at it. But that price for a handheld in 2016. Wow just wow.

The 3DS came out before every 3 year old kid got a smartphone. And trust me parents don't give a crap how good whatever it is shuts their kids up. It either does the job or it doesn't.

I honesty see more adults playing Nintendo stuff anymore. They failed to appeal to today's kids. Maybe Mario is still popular but that's it. A whole generation of kids cares not a damn about Zelda or Metroid and possibly even Mario.

Maybe my kids and their friends are the outliers but Mario and Nintendo still reign supreme among kids under 10 around here. Parents walk into a store, see Mario and other random game, parents know Mario is OK for their kids. There's no thinking involved when it comes to appropriate content and that goes with the vast majority of games from Nintendo.

 

[sxr7171]

Maybe my kids and their friends are the outliers but Mario and Nintendo still reign supreme among kids under 10 around here. Parents walk into a store, see Mario and other random game, parents know Mario is OK for their kids. There's no thinking involved when it comes to appropriate content and that goes with the vast majority of games from Nintendo.

At $400 they'll have to do with angry birds.

 

[Snarf Snarf]

At $400 this will only be for adults with a job. I think Mario stuff is fun as heck. But honestly I can think of more fun things to do in Vegas than play Nintendo.

I see you meant the ride there. Would you do it again at $400 a person?

Haha yeah I meant the ride there. Mario Kart makes an excellent drinking game.

That depends on what kind of graphic upgrade you get at $400 to be honest. I could probably stretch to $299 for a next gen hand held. We have every current gen console in the house and the WiiU and PS4 get waaaaay more play time than the Xbone does. None of them really get close to the time I spend on PC though. $400 for a free time/waiting time burner is a bit steep to ask if it doesn't give me happy endings after gaming.

 

[sxr7171]

Yeah I agree. It's too much money. And you know how they milk you for accessories. That's why I already feel the $400 bundle is actually the better deal.

The WiiU was great for playing the 3D Mario and after that it never got used. I'd have to say with games and controllers etc. I spent over $600 if not more. It's just way too much money for too little. I'd rather keep the money for the ridiculous cost of GPUs these days.

Graphically I wonder if it can match even an Xbone. It's too much money for too little upgrade. Especially when their titles are not graphically demanding. If anything they got worse for WiiU. It used to be they had production standards. They would anti alias their first party games. With the WiiU even in Sports it was a jaggy fest. I mean it was horribly bad. Like no standards bad. And we both know Wii sports U is not graphically demanding.

Also I remember the WiiU game pad which died in 90 minutes. I'm left wondering if it can beat an iPhone 7 in battery life.

I don't think we're dealing with the same Nintendo. I think that Nintendo died a while back. Also the nerve of them to release a system and no Zelda game. Then they killed it early instead of sticking behind it. This would be the first Nintendo system with no Zelda. Ridiculous.

 

[jpiniero]

Sounds like it will be close to the XBone. It's a big graphical upgrade over the 3DS. I agree that $299/$399 is definitely too much.

I don't think we're dealing with the same Nintendo. I think that Nintendo died a while back. Also the nerve of them to release a system and no Zelda game. Then they killed it early instead of sticking behind it. This would be the first Nintendo system with no Zelda. Ridiculous.

Er, Breath of the Wild is a launch title.

 

[sxr7171]

I mean the WiiU. I feel burned by that.

What kind of Nintendo system has no Zelda?