The Nintendo Switch Thread

[Spooky Mulder]

9 hours ago, Indigo Rush said:

I put together a proof-of concept on how a game like Zelda could work on the NX controller, assuming this button-less thing is real.

In short... it could be done, but a majority of the things could be done better on a traditional controller, sans the scroll wheel (which I think is a good idea and should be standard from now on, but I digress)

Oh, and because I forgot, pressing on the left analog stick puts up the shield. Again, un-intuitive. But it's what we have to work with.

It all goes to show that the controller has something going for it, but I'm not sure it's much.

 

 

Or this, wow (courtesy of @Azoo)

For the first time, I'm suddenly very okay with this potential design. I actually might love it...

[Conando]

It's fake, confirmed by the person who made the fake themselves. Return to your business of not knowing a thing about NX (goddamnit, Nintendo. Shit like this happens because nothing has been said about it).

 

[KHCast]

Lesson of the day: when it comes to Nintendo leaks, never trust them lol. 

[Conando]

Yeah, I would think people would be at least a little more skeptical about them now especially since the big Star Fox delay one was bunk. Really, the only leak I remember being spot on was the Smash Bros. one (bet that guy got fired).

[KHCast]

That ONE Smash Bros one to be specific. Almost all the smash bros leaks that looked credible ended up being fake(Rayman, the Gematsu one, and there were a couple others)

[Marcello]

Thank God it's fake. Now I just hope Game Informer is wrong about the no face buttons thing.

[Ming Ming Hatsune]

Everything that I know is a lieeee!

[Marcello]

The guy put a lot of effort into that second leak. The first one I originally thought was definitely fake, but the second one had me believing it was real.

[JaidynReiman]

#AnythingCanBeFaked

I am surprised by one thing; that the second "leak" was completely unrelated to the first. I figured these were both by the same person.

 

Don't believe any NX rumors until Nintendo officially announces it at E3.

[Milo]

Not exactly surprised it turned out to be a elaborate hoax (Rayman in Smash fake was the point of no return for leaks in general for me), but I'm extremely relieved more than anything else. For me, confidence in Nintendo learning from their mistakes was at an all-time low--the faked NX controllers really did seem like something Nintendo would try and pass off as their next consumer product, which I felt just added to its credibility. Count me among those happy that it turned out to be someone utilizing their image editing skills for kicks (read: send Neogaf into a frenzy).

[JaidynReiman]

1 hour ago, Gabe said:

Not exactly surprised it turned out to be a elaborate hoax (Rayman in Smash fake was the point of no return for leaks in general for me), but I'm extremely relieved more than anything else. For me, confidence in Nintendo learning from their mistakes was at an all-time low--the faked NX controllers really did seem like something Nintendo would try and pass off as their next consumer product, which I felt just added to its credibility. Count me among those happy that it turned out to be someone utilizing their image editing skills for kicks (read: send Neogaf into a frenzy).

...and then on top of that, someone else decided to actually MAKE it with 3D printing, which certainly didn't help.

[Salamander]

This has definitely set the bar for hardware "leaks."  What is it going to take in future for hardware leaks to be at all believable, knowing that fakes on this level can be produced?  A video of the hardware actually playing games, perhaps - but even that doesn't seem impossible to fake any more with what we've seen in the past few days.

[Chili Dawg]

Everything is fake until I can feel it in my hands.

 

And even then, how do I know what's real?

[Marcello]

Hey guys, what if the revelation that these are fake is actually a ruse by Nintendo?

[The Deleter]

And here's the second leak's reveal video:

 

[Conando]

I highly doubt it's a ruse, controllers never end up being as barebones as their patents. These recreations were ripped straight from the patent papers.

[JaidynReiman]

21 hours ago, Marcello said:

Hey guys, what if the revelation that these are fake is actually a ruse by Nintendo?

They're not. Now you're just grasping. (Or joking at grasping, hard to tell on the internet.)

[azoo]

Alright kids, enough with the fakes. Are you guys ready for real leaks?

Quoting 10k on NeoGAF (who's been verified to have legitimate sources via GAF staff):

Quote

Ok, this is my first time posting any kind of rumor, leak, or insider information, whatever you want to call it. While I believe the info to be true, things can always change at the last minute and then I look like an asshole who lied. I have more than one source and this post will basically contain things I've heard, conversations I've had with people in the know (other insiders, devs, writers, etc). To make this easier, I think I'll do a tiered rumor ranking, where a T1 (Tier 1) means one source told me this, T2 means two, T3 means three, and T4 means at least four sources or more told me or others the same thing. So T4 rumors have multiple sources and are likely more credible than a T1, but that doesn’t necessarily mean a T1 is false. The bolded parts will be the rumor, the text after it will be additional info mixed with some of my opinion, and the sources thoughts.

Also, while I was writing this short essay I asked my new sources about the May 9th NX reveal date, they said they'd look into it.

Remember, I'm no journalist or english major

T4 Rumors
The NX will be more powerful than the PS4. "By a noticeable amount". From the CPU, to GPU, to RAM. Sources don't know the clock speeds, or memory type or amount of memory. But if the CPU is 15-30% stronger than PS4 as alluded to by LCGeek, than the GPU would need to match that bump in order to not bottleneck (Nintendo hates their bottlenecks).

The Wii U Remasters. 100% confirmed Smash Bros 4 will come to NX, no word on if you can play with Wii U players.

Zelda is 100% confirmed and not really big news

Now here is where things get interesting. One source said 100% for sure Mario Maker was coming to NX. Another source said 50%. Why 50%? Well, they can confirm it's in development, Nintendo is struggling to transfer over player data and doesn't want all courses to be lost. Hell, courses are being mysteriously deleted on Wii U already lol.

The fourth remaster is Splatoon. This one was given 50% chance from two sources and 99% from one source lol. The reasons again are, Nintendo is struggling to transfer all player data and make it cross-compatible with Wii U players as well. It is in development though. They should have all he DLC included.

So, Zelda and Smash for sure, Mario Maker and Splatoon maybe. If Nintendo can't get it working they may scrap it.

Smash is rumored for launch along with Zelda (day or window wasn’t specified). Not sure on Mario Maker or Splatoon. 

What's interesting about this is Splatoon and Mario Maker heavily use touch controls and motion controls. While I certainly expect the NX controller to use gyroscope and accelerometers (since even the DS4, Wii U gamepad, Wii remotes and 3DS use it) this may indicate that there will be a screen in the NX controller. None of my sources indicated troubled development of splatoon and mario maker were controls related, so either it has a screen controller or the second screen support hinted at by the reddit leaker in the OP was right and there will be some kind of optional screen controller or smartglass like features.

T2 Rumors
NDA's are tight as hell. This one is obvious. But I just wanted to add to it. While fellow posters like Rosti have indicated how heavy they are, my own sources and people I don't even know have warned me privately to watch what I post here (this was all within the last couple of hours lol). One source said they know more Nintendo hardware people than software people, yet the only leaks they've been able to get is on the software side. Not a peep from the hardware guys. 

I even had people asking what the contents of my post were going to be, if names, job positions, marketing budgets (lol) were going to be posted. A lot of people got very worried, including my sources, the fear of Nintendo is real. They are cracking down. The fake leaks aren't helping either.

As someone who just started snooping for NX info and asking questions out of general curiosity for being a fan, I wasn't expecting this much info over the last two weeks or so. But, now that I am, I want to gain my sources respect and so I didn't want divulge their identity or even reveal their gender. I hope this post has gained their trust, and know that their ID's are safe and sound with me.

T1 Rumors
NX SDK's are out there right now and my sources can confirm dev's have them, so don't worry too much about when you hear stuff like nobody has a dev kit yet. 

The NX is easy to port to. This is big because Nintendo consoles have usually been hard to develop or and only mastered by Nintendo's internal teams. Apparently, some dev's are having no trouble porting current gen games over. It's a quick process and dev's seem to be happy about it.

The NX architecture is under NDA but is highly speculated to be x86. I disagreed with them on this but they made some excellent points about how porting from ARM to x86 (handheld to console) and x86 to x86 (current PS4 and XB1 games to NX) is very easy, while it's a bit more tricky to go from x86 to ARM (console to handheld). It certainly matches what the reddit leaker posted. 
Based off my high school programming skills and some research, it seems like x86 to ARM does require more work, x86 is 64-bit and ARM is 32-bit. But any decent compiler supports 64-bit math on ARM. The dev's mainly recompile the code into ARM, and then the integer values get changed, and fix any errors that come up, recompile again, see if it works, rinse and repeat. It's not as important or inefficient as people think, especially for larger devs. Besides, ARM is heavily supported and the more worked on architecture. So don't get too focused on if it's x86 or ARM. In the end, as long as it's not shitty PowerPC (Nintendo, please, no) it'll be fine. It won't be the reason Nintendo won't get third party ports, if anything, NX sales will.

One thing that contradicts x86, and this is an indirect source, but a coder who works specifically for Nintendo laughed off GAF's focus on x86 and how we know nothing. Please don’t go looking for them, DetectiveGAF, let them keep their job. So, that, combined with ARM likely being in the handheld, makes me believe the NX will use ARM. But like I said, at the end of the day it doesn't really matter.

Nobody knows anything about the handheld. At least, not any of my sources or their sources. Not even sure if NX refers to the handheld as well or if that has a different codename. It's speculated that it will still get some exclusive games, but won't get many console games downported (referring to the shared games library) while the console could theoretically play them all (maybe lending support to x86 and ARM inside the NX, having the handheld guts inside, but that sounds very expensive and I doubt it). The console seems to be the main focus of Nintendo right now and the New 3DS, along with the 2016 lineup of 3DS, has afforded them that luxury.

I hope you enjoy this post and it provides lots of healthy discussion. I told you it wasn't major news, but you got hyped anyways. It's my first time doing this and it was fun, and sorry if it took awhile but verification and clarity were important to me.

Remember, grain of salt.

Come at me, Nintendo.

Tl;DR 
-NX is more powerful than PS4 (holy shit)
-Splatoon and Mario Maker ports are in development (though might not get released)
-Smash and Zelda ports are also things but this isn't new information
-NDAs are tight
-Architecture is also under NDA
-Handheld isn't the main focus if there is one

Also backed up by insider Emily Rogers:

All of this also falls directly in line with rumors stated by Trev, the person who leaked information about Zelda being an NX title, as well as a holiday 2016 release and mentioning Pokemon Sun / Moon right before it's official announcement (the dead ringer proof it was true).

Also speaking of, Nintendo's FY 2015 Fiscal Year Earnings Release/News conference on April 27. Around somewhere between there and the next week or two from there, we may be hearing about the NX and/or getting a reveal before E3 and not during it.

Get ready.

[TCB]

More powerful than the PS4? Jeezus

So those Mario Maker courses vanishing has a bit of a story behind them huh. 

[Radiant Hero Ike]

YOOOOOOOOOO

Real or fake, I'm excited as HECK (pardon my language) for E3 now. Or even the fiscal thing since they give us a little info for stuff.

[JaidynReiman]

Why is anybody surprised about NX being more powerful than PS4? Frankly, it damn well HAS to be, otherwise its dead upon release. It has to be SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful, otherwise its dead upon release. That's all there is too it. If its just AS powerful as PS4/X-Box One, there's no way it'd target that hardcore market and get people to buy the system when they already have one just as powerful.

Then there's the fact that in a few years PS4/Xbone will have their sequel systems, which would kill anything to do with the NX. The NX has to be able to compete with the PS4/Xbone's SEQUEL systems as well.

 

Either way, how the hell can we know any of these are real leaks? I just can't buy it so easily. I'd not be shocked about an up-ported Smash Wii U, though, probably with several new characters as well. But I just can't so easily believe in rumors.

[Dejimon11]

44 minutes ago, JaidynReiman said:

Why is anybody surprised about NX being more powerful than PS4? Frankly, it damn well HAS to be, otherwise its dead upon release. It has to be SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful, otherwise its dead upon release. That's all there is too it. If its just AS powerful as PS4/X-Box One, there's no way it'd target that hardcore market and get people to buy the system when they already have one just as powerful.

Then there's the fact that in a few years PS4/Xbone will have their sequel systems, which would kill anything to do with the NX. The NX has to be able to compete with the PS4/Xbone's SEQUEL systems as well.

 

Either way, how the hell can we know any of these are real leaks? I just can't buy it so easily. I'd not be shocked about an up-ported Smash Wii U, though, probably with several new characters as well. But I just can't so easily believe in rumors.

The thing is how long will it be until the PS4/Xbox one successors will come out? Both systems are two years into it's life cycle and with the rumor with the PS4K I think we will be waiting for a while. 

[KHCast]

1 hour ago, JaidynReiman said:

Why is anybody surprised about NX being more powerful than PS4? Frankly, it damn well HAS to be, otherwise its dead upon release. It has to be SIGNIFICANTLY more powerful, otherwise its dead upon release. That's all there is too it. If its just AS powerful as PS4/X-Box One, there's no way it'd target that hardcore market and get people to buy the system when they already have one just as powerful.

Then there's the fact that in a few years PS4/Xbone will have their sequel systems, which would kill anything to do with the NX. The NX has to be able to compete with the PS4/Xbone's SEQUEL systems as well.

 

Either way, how the hell can we know any of these are real leaks? I just can't buy it so easily. I'd not be shocked about an up-ported Smash Wii U, though, probably with several new characters as well. But I just can't so easily believe in rumors.

I don't think even if the NX is more powerful, it will make tons of people that own the competing systems switch to it. Most of those people ride on brand loyalty, or are interested in the exclusives those systems have. A lot if people still think of Nintendo negatively after the Wii U, so that alone will make it difficult for Nintendo to sway consumers. They have to really support their platform this time around early on, and not just rely on power.

[JaidynReiman]

37 minutes ago, KHCast said:

I don't think even if the NX is more powerful, it will make tons of people that own the competing systems switch to it. Most of those people ride on brand loyalty, or are interested in the exclusives those systems have. A lot if people still think of Nintendo negatively after the Wii U, so that alone will make it difficult for Nintendo to sway consumers. They have to really support their platform this time around early on, and not just rely on power.

Of course that's true, that's by far the most important thing, but it also has to be powerful enough to be supported in the long run as well, and for devs to be able to more easily create multiplatform games.

 

58 minutes ago, Dejimon11 said:

The thing is how long will it be until the PS4/Xbox one successors will come out? Both systems are two years into it's life cycle and with the rumor with the PS4K I think we will be waiting for a while. 

The PS4K rumor is EXACTLY the kind of thing I'm talking about. PS4 is already outdated, so they're considering making a 4.5, or there's at least a rumor that they will do so. If the NX is only JUST as powerful as the PS4, its already outdated. It has an uphill battle already, but it also needs to be competitive and to get the same games the other consoles are getting. Nintendo needs third-parties, and tons of them, so they can focus on making great first-party games and don't have to rush everything out.

Unfortunately, the other factor here is that assuming the console IS releasing this year, that's already going to hurt it severely. There's no way they can get enough games out in time for a 2016 launch. I damn well hope those rumors are wrong, because the NX cannot have a soft launch. And just up porting Wii U games isn't going to cut it, Nintendo needs to get its Wii U owners to buy the console as well. Porting the best Wii U games to NX is mostly for people who don't already have a Wii U, but Wii U owners are likely the ones to first jump on getting the NX early on since they stuck with Nintendo.

 

Frankly, I don't think we need a Splatoon NX. I think they should just jump to Splatoon 2 two years out from the first with an expanded single player and local player, perhaps with the ability to play with up to four players locally online. And maybe playable Octolings, new game modes and the like. For Splatoon, there's not nearly as much content in the game to justify a simple port of the first.

Smash NX, however, would work because making a brand new game is extremely intensive and would take years. The easiest and likely best thing they can do is port Wii U/3DS to NX, add a few more fan favorite characters (maybe the top first-party characters on the ballot), bring back Ice Climbers/Wolf and add a few new stages.

Another thing I see likely happening is Hyrule Warriors 2 next year on NX, naturally filling out more characters from existing games, but this time greatly expanding Legend Mode with new paths and a full sequel storyline, and adding additional characters to the main story (like they do in main Warriors games). But I would love to see a different Warriors crossover on NX first, assuming it launches this year. That'd be an easy thing to do for a decent early NX launch title, maybe Fire Emblem.

[Tornado]

3 hours ago, KHCast said:

I don't think even if the NX is more powerful, it will make tons of people that own the competing systems switch to it.

No, but it will be the first Nintendo system in 20 years that developers/publishers won't have to devote time into making "a Nintendo version", which counts for an awful lot if the system is initially met with consumer apathy.