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Nintendo Unveils 'Switch', Its New Gaming Console and Tablet Hybrid (engadget.com)
And finally, we know what's Nintendo's next gaming console will look like. The company today released a "preview trailer" of the Nintendo Switch, or "Project NX" as we liked to call it before today. Engadget adds: 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. In the trailer, a gamer plugs in what looks to be an SD Card-style cartridge, meaning games are likely to be distributed both digitally and physically. It's powered by an unspecified custom Nvidia Tegra processor.Nintendo said it intends to launch the Switch in March of 2017.
The photo gallery makes it look like a clever modular design, curious how it will work in reality.
This announcement means Nintendo has officially left the console market and is now competing with ipads.
This device appears to be nothing but a 7" tablet with a little plastic charging/video-out docking port that can use external wireless controllers.
This might be the next thing in portable gaming systems, but there is no way this will be 'console' class. It is basically a PS-vita with a dock.
Personally if I was going to carry around a 7" tablet device, I would just carry a real tablet that can do so much more.
-- Given enough time and money, Microsoft will eventualy invent UNIX.
This seems more "portable" than "console", and from the video it seems there's not much in the way of peripherals to deal with legacy games.
Buuuuut, that would be a *huge* seller for me. If they come up with something that could replace not only my 3DS but any previous consoles, that's gold (and certainly something the competition seems to fail on). I wonder if the dock is going to allow peripherals, say like an optical drive and/or adaptors for old-style controllers.
> Nintendo can continue to survive
Nintendo will have no problem "surviving". Their profits are always high. Worldwide, Nintendo has like five thousand employees. It's difficult to compare that to the video game divisions of other corporations, but Nintendo runs pretty damned lean. Nintendo historically makes money when you buy their console, whereas everyone else loses money when you buy their console, and only goes into profitability when you have purchased several of their games.
> can't easily handle ports from the PS4 and XBone
It looks to be about as powerful as a Wii-U, if not more. I could be wrong- their video makes no claims except showing Wii-U games ported to the Switch. The big problem is this: ports fucking suck for Nintendo. When Nintendo has offered superior graphics in some case, the port doesn't use them. When Nintendo has offered different inputs, the ports ignore them. When Nintendo has offered different outputs, the ports ignore them. This is a BIG deal for them, because it basically means that ports are garbage. A game built for the Xbone will come over to PC with no optimization, shitty framerate, and bad controls. That same game will go over to the PS4 pretty damned well- maybe even better. But the Wii-U version will lack online features in many cases (even though Nintendo offers those), not use the motion controls, not use the tablet addition on the Wii-U, and instead just sit there with worse framerate, details, or levels. Because the port is just like a goddamned recompile and ship, apparently. If you have an Xbone and a Wii-U, you aren't playing ANY of those games on the Wii-U. You play Nintendo games on the Nintendo console- mostly.
There's ultimately no way for a portable to match the full consoles in power, right? So this is pretty clearly a departure from the Xbone / PS4 market, which they were only arguably sorta in to begin with.
The Wii-U was their best model before IMO. With more inputs and outputs than anything else, and the ability to just put most games straight on the pad and play portably anywhere in TV range, the console offered family friendliness and general coolness. Meanwhile, it was backward compatible with all Wii games and controllers. This thing looks cool, but I doubt it will work with everything. One of the screens shows it apparently using a Wii-U controller, but I can't be sure.
Will it be huge? Maybe, probably not. But it doesn't need to be huge for Nintendo to be profitable. That's always been the case. Nintendo will be fine with any manner of success. They have plenty of cash reserves if they bomb, but I doubt they'll bomb.
Dog wants to go outside? No need to stop playing with your virtual animals! International travel? You can stay immersed in the same game world the whole time! Hip millennial friends invite you to come socialise? Don't forget to bring the screen!
But seriously, the ad is stunning for its honesty. Normally, video game ads go to pains to avoid reminding you of what it feels like to see another human staring blankly at a screen, but this ad was basically one example after another. Always the 3rd-person, with almost no focus on the 1st-person experience... amazing.
Hey mate, spare a sig?
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No. Just, please, no.
There is one thing and one thing alone that this console needs: Good games (from both Nintendo and 3rd party devs)
I'd much rather play an amazing game in pixel art than a boring game in stunning 4k. Focus on games.
Half of the stuff you listed can be accomplished with a $50 Roku. Or for a few dollars more, get a blueray player with streaming functionality. Why add all that extra overhead to a gaming console? Focus on games.
DVR Functionality? Seriously? Anyone still on cable can get their DVR through the cable company. If you're streaming Netflix, HBOGo, etc. (per your own demands) it's already DVR'ed. Do we really need Nintendo to bend over backwards to save you $5 a month on your cable bill. Focus on games.
Any extra bells and whistles you add will take away from the core functionality: games (and the requisite cooperation with outside developers to make games)
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