Nintendo Reportedly Plans Smaller and Cheaper Switch For This Year (engadget.com)

According to a report from Nikkei, Nintendo is developing a smaller and cheaper version of the Switch focused on portability, and without some of the features in the original console. "A rumor in October suggested Nintendo was developing a new Switch, but instead of improving on the existing model, it's just as likely the company is looking for ways to streamline the system," notes Engadget. From the report: As Ars Technica speculates, the console's plastic dock could be the first thing to go. It's available separately for $90, and there are also cheaper ways to get your Switch to output to a TV (it's relying on a USB-C connection, after all). Nintendo could conceivably move towards a smaller and cheaper screen, and potentially even make the controller a physical part of the console, instead of the removable Joy-Cons. It also wouldn't be out of character for Nintendo to break existing functionality with a console revamp -- the 2DS was a cheaper spin on the 3DS that was still very playable without 3D.

Comments

Re:Servicing batteries

[squiggleslash]

They don't have to plan it. It's going to be obsolete in 2-4 years with no planning whatsoever. That's just how fast the market moves.

I think if you look at the vast majority of people who play video games, nobody is throwing out games because they're four years old. "Obsolete" doesn't mean "Can't run the latest stuff", it means "Is no longer useful".

My Wii and XBox 360 both see occasional use and work just fine. What the GP is complaining about is the notion that you'll have to throw out existing hardware in 2 years because it'll stop working properly. The fact it might not be able to run some of the latest games does not excuse that. It doesn't justify it. It's horrible, it's wrong, and it's not standard practice in the computer industry as a whole. The only reason people threw away their 360s after two years was because of the RRoD. Not because it was obsolete by 2010.