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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.
I didn't think the Wii was that bad, but i never did really like the motion controls and always opted for classic controller whenever possible. I never did get around to upgrading to the Wii U (though there are some games on it that i really want to play) but i have been enjoying my 3DS quite a bit.
So i'm pretty glad that motion controls don't seem to be a big feature of the Switch. However i am worried about the graphical quality. If their "unspecified custom Nvidia Tegra processor" can't easily handle ports from the PS4 and XBone (for the base models at the very least) Nintendo may end up in a tough spot.
They're trying to go for a "best of both worlds" approach, but with phone and tablet games eating into their market at one end and the PS4 and XBone capping it on the other end i'm not sure if we still live in an era where Nintendo can continue to survive on console exclusives alone.
But it _does_ look like a more interesting concept to me than the Wii and Wii U, so i'll try to keep my hopes up.
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More than your average 7" tablet? It'll be a tougher sell for me.
The brand just doesn't inspire the idea of good times with games anymore. Just more tired and uninspiring retreads of their old properties. Not to mention the constant problems they've had with third parties. The Wii was drowning in shovelware. The WiiU was too underpowered for anyone to care about it.
This thing is supposed to be powered by a custom NVidia chip. So I don't know. Is it enough to attract good devs? Who can say at this point?
Fortunately, looks like the controllers will function disconnected - but I'm just wondering how durable those controller slide rails will be.
One of the problems with the NDS series has been that the screen hinge often gets stressed and broken through normal use.
Here, the 'hinge' will be the connection between the controllers and the device you're connecting them to. Just looking at the grip style, I'd thing it would be a constant thing for players to tighten/angle their grip during play. I'd be interested in seeing the hardware reviews before buying to see if stress on those rails might flex the entire shell of the device over time.
On a similar note, I'm wondering if those slide rails also function as a controller charging mechanism, and how that might play into durability.
Still, looking very much forward to playing the upcoming Zelda game someday, just have to decide if it'll be on this thing, or buying a cheap used WiiU eventually.
Ryan Fenton
I like how Nintendo isn't even attempting to compete with the other two still. Totally different demographics, different use case, different technology.
It is a little depressing to see Nintendo release a console on a different cadence than the other two, and even two years later their hardware is less powerful. I guarantee this thing won't be running any 4k resolutions or VR framerates.
But that's not their target. They have always emphasized simpler games with unique gameplay. I think the trade off will be a bit easier to swallow this time, with the mobile-tablet form factor.
I'm concerned about those tiny-ass half-controllers though. Not sure how that'll play out with adult sized hands.
"I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
Really digging the design for it, based on what the trailer shows. What's interesting, however, seems to be the fact that all of the computing is done in the tablet portion, which is itself relatively small, even by tablet standards, suggesting that it'll have some serious constraints in terms of the horsepower they can cram in there. That's par for the course with the last few generations of Nintendo consoles, of course, but it may also be an indication that they're continuing to target the casual crowd that they've been losing to general purpose mobile devices for nearly 10 years now.
I really hope Nintendo knocks it out of the park, but I have to admit that I'm slightly pessimistic about their prospects. Had they launched this console back in 2012 instead of the Wii U, they'd be in much better position today. The Wii sold a lot of people on having a console in their home and a 2012 Switch launch would have allowed them to take that experience to more places. But today? Their Wii customers went to Android and iOS instead of the Wii U. People were willing to give up the TV to get more mobility and they've grown to love those smartphones and tablets, so Nintendo is going to have an uphill battle to win people back. They'll really need to sell the "it can do both mobile and TV" angle, but even that path may be risky, since Apple or Google could very easily get into that space with an updated Apple TV or Chromecast that can do far more.
And while I know there are concerns about the horsepower, if I'm being honest, even the Wii U was already past the point of being "good enough" for the vast majority of their customers, hardcore gamers notwithstanding (but then again, those gamers will only be satisfied with a custom PC, since even the PS4 Pro and Scorpio next year won't be capable of running at or above 120Hz or doing above 4K, both of which are things hardcore folks are already asking for). What'll be more interesting is whether or not it has enough horsepower to fill open world games with NPCs that are each driven by their own AI routine, for instance. I recall Ubisoft showing the difference between consoles for one of their Assassin's Creed games a few years back and it was startling how much of an effect it had on the look and feel of the game to have the number of independently thinking NPCs doubled or tripled, thanks to the additional horsepower.
All of which is to say, I may pick one up eventually (depending on the price, games, etc.), but the Wii U is already one of the lesser-used consoles in our house (it's basically just there to play first party Nintendo games), so I'm not holding out much hope that the Switch will succeed in a market that has moved on.
I am actually less concerned about horsepower than I am with ownership. To me, current generation graphics are good enough. Would Mario be any more fun if you can see each and every pore and pimple on his face?
My last Nintendo console was a Wii, which suffered a mishap. I lost all of my purchased games because Nintendo tied downloadables to the console instead of the account. I honestly gave the Wii U a pass just because of this.
If I buy a Switch and some downloadable games for it, and it is destroyed, will I have to re-purchase all of those games, or can they be transferred to a new console easily? I really want the sane standards set by Steam. I am not a favor of DRM, but since some publishers insist on it, at least Steam does it in a manner that is least obtrusive.
"-1 Troll" is the apparently the same as "-1 I disagree with you."
I was more concerned that the depicted dystopia was a hipster Idiocracy where the whole world is populated by cool kids driving around in antique VW vans with their cool friends and oh-so-nerdy-but-so-cute girls in artfully ripped jeans and converse that are just so interested in that cool video game that the hipster douche du jour is playing.
What is wrong with me? Why am I so bitter?