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The Nintendo Switch Thread


Brad

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Expected.

8 minutes ago, Conando Claus said:

I'm not surprised if it turns out to be weaker than the competition. People can hem and haw all day about it being suicide, but anyone that's been paying attention can see trying to shove in a 3rd PC Lite is hardly an intelligent business manuever on Nintendo's part. They'd have a LOT more to lose on an expensive flop. See: Saturn and Dreamcast when Sony came along and Gamecube when Microsoft did.

Pretty much. Nintendo is far gone when it comes to competing in terms of power with Microsoft and Sony. It's not likely for them to win over that share of the market where their competitors are well-established, so it makes more sense to carve out their niche and expand their brands in other ways (switch, moblie games, theme parks) 

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27 minutes ago, Blacklightning said:

So does that technically mean the Switch is four Gamecubes stitched together? =V

B L A S T  P R O C E S S I N G

I always thought the graphics on Nintendo systems always looked great, regardless of whether it was lower than the competing consoles. I think they'll be fine.

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39 minutes ago, Flamerstreak said:

So, just wondering, how badly do you guys think this will affect the Switch here? If it means anything bad, that is.

I don't think it will affect it all that much. The problem with the Wii U was its disagreeable architecture when it came to development for instance. Switch uses modernized architecture rather than the tired old type that went out of style with the PS3.  As for the typical consumer, no one but the hardest of the hard core (if you can even call them that), are going to throw a fit over a handheld not being as powerful as PS4. Then again, I doubt those types were going to buy it regardless.

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Just now, Conando Claus said:

I don't think it will affect it all that much. The problem with the Wii U was its disagreeable architecture when it came to 3rd parties for instance. As for the typical consumer, no one but the hardest of the hard core (if you can even call them that), are going to throw a fit over a handheld not being as powerful as PS4. Then again, I doubt those types were going to buy it regardless.

Interesting. Well, the Switch is bound to get many third party series, some which were exclusive to handhelds like the 3DS, and we all know that there were many third party games on there, or at least that is what it seems. I could be wrong. But overall, I'd say that is another plus for the Switch, is it not?

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The fact that it uses architecture devs actually want to use is a huge plus over their last attempt with the Wii U, yes. Prolonged support will all wind down to how well the Switch ends up selling, though. As it's now both the handheld and console things could be fine, though. I mean, it'll be the only way for people to get the new Pokemon for instance.

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8 minutes ago, Conando Claus said:

The fact that it uses architecture devs actually want to use is a huge plus over their last attempt with the Wii U, yes. Prolonged support will all wind down to how well the Switch ends up selling, though. As it's now both the handheld and console things could be fine, though. I mean, it'll be the only way for people to get the new Pokemon for instance.

Indeed. Hopefully, the Switch will sell well, and I can see that happening, personally speaking.

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Main line Pokemon games appearing on it alone will assure the system some measure of success; add in fan favorites like Mario Kart and Zelda and you've got a pretty nice combination going for sales. Without separate handheld and console divisions diluting their markets, Nintendo stands to reap some great rewards if they handle the system well enough. With any luck, third parties will feel more comfortable coming on-board too, with the friendlier system architecture, and the consolidation of Nintendo's two hardware markets seeing many more third parties who usually only do handheld games intermingling with Nintendo in a more home systemy environment. Diluting the pond of Nintendo products should, I hope, eradicate to some degree the old develop/publisher fear that online Nintendo games sell on Nintendo systems, thereby fostering a reestablishment of ties between Nintendo and third parties who tend to stick to Sony and MS' platforms.

Could be exactly what they need.

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Yeah, everybody is looking at the power thing wrong, it's in the wii-u/Ps3 range when handheld which is ridiculous, and is far more powerful when docked, that combined with being highly compatible with almost all main game engines(Vulcan, formerly Opengl is now supporting them), and people don't get that most modern game engines are designed to be scalable, I mean Unreal works on phones for goodness sakes. The concentration of Nintendo games, and the possibility of easy porting. I still think we'll get plenty of Third party support, especially at launch. Also the Jimmy Fallon reveal was great, and spread it out well

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The numbers also don't tell the whole story, the number of SMs and the overall chip configuration could mean that the undocked performance could be several times that of the Wii U rather than being much closer. Remember that the device itself is actively cooled even in handheld mode, and just two SMs wouldn't make sense with that.

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Wait, so it basically true that the console is less powerful when it's undocked? I hope that there's some false information because that honestly would be super disappointing. The only reason why I'm sold on the system is due to the portability. If my game playing experience is going to be different if I'm not or am playing this system docked, I feel that would defeat some purpose of it being portable. Hopefully devs can optimized their games well for the switch to the point of being barely or none noticeable downgrades on the portable mode.

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It's not entirely surprising that it would be weaker undocked. Any mobile device is weaker when unplugged, you just can't run the hardware at full blast without running the battery dry in an hour otherwise.

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10 minutes ago, I'm Dan said:

Wait, so it basically true that the console is less powerful when it's undocked? I hope that there's some false information because that honestly would be super disappointing. The only reason why I'm sold on the system is due to the portability. If my game playing experience is going to be different if I'm not or am playing this system docked, I feel that would defeat some purpose of it being portable. Hopefully devs can optimized their games well for the switch to the point of being barely or none noticeable downgrades on the portable mode.

It's not any different than a cell-phone or gaming laptop. 

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Just so long as running the unit away from its power source doesn't actually put you on an hour-long timer. The thing is being advertised as a portable console, so battery longevity should definitely be a thing here - at least 3-4 hours - hence the reduced power of the thing away from the power dock.

I expect to see a new, better battery released later on, as happened with the Wii U.

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Assuming the report is true, I don't think Nintendo's PR is doing the device any favors by promoting it as a console as of late if it has these specification(s), personally speaking. A device with Wii U-level power sounds amazing for a new handheld; for what Nintendo themselves are on record for touting "first and foremost" as a new "home gaming system", not so much.

On a different note, I think $199 would be the ideal price, at least for just the device itself, maybe $249 with a pack-in game. Anything higher and Nintendo would be making it a tough sell IMO.

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Yeah, I'd think they'd do better to promote more of a "glass half full" approach. "This is the best Game Boy ever and you can play on TV" sounds a lot better than "We had to downgrade the specs for this console to make it portable.""

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4 hours ago, I'm Dan said:

Wait, so it basically true that the console is less powerful when it's undocked?

This was going to be the case no matter what, just for battery/power usage reasons. The target threshold for a mobile device is usually 5-10 watts of power, meanwhile a console is allowed up to around 75 watts of power.

But one part of the equation that needs to be accounted for is the resolution difference here. Let's think about it logically and realistically from a technical standpoint. In docked mode it runs at 1080p@60, and in portable mode it runs at 720p@60 (the built-in screen is 720pso it would be pointless and a waste of resources to run the game full throttle and then merely downscale the resolution).

People take 1080p@60 for granted these days, but really- 720p@60 is a great accomplishment for a handheld device, and this is actually a pretty reasonable power drop to accommodate for how much less intensive 720p is for games than 1080p is. The full (docked) specs, as the patents go over, literally are just to mainly facilitate the push to 1080p resolutions.

Let's put this another way. 1280x720 is 921,600 pixels, and 1920x1080 is 2,073,600, or more than double the resolution. A lot of people trivialize the hardware power necessary to make this jump- the GPU running at 40% of its performance in portable mode (compared to docked mode )is pretty much on par with that difference in power- "more than double".

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For whatever reason Nintendo believes advertising it as handheld to Western consumers would lower its desirability. Not quite sure what gave them the idea on that.

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3 hours ago, Gabe said:

Assuming the report is true, I don't think Nintendo's PR is doing the device any favors by promoting it as a console as of late if it has these specification(s), personally speaking. A device with Wii U-level power sounds amazing for a new handheld; for what Nintendo themselves are on record for touting "first and foremost" as a new "home gaming system", not so much.

On a different note, I think $199 would be the ideal price, at least for just the device itself, maybe $249 with a pack-in game. Anything higher and Nintendo would be making it a tough sell IMO.

Yeah, Nintendo's PR has not been helping (it usually doesn't). It definitely has people talking but if it's primarily marketed as a home system people will end up having higher expectations about its power. I mean, people will do that anyway because they don't usually have realistic expectations when it comes to Nintendo, but you know.

And yeah, $199 would be ideal. I don't think that Nintendo would do that though, because they never go for the loss-leading-profit strategy. They're too conservative. 

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8 hours ago, Blacklightning said:

So does that technically mean the Switch is four Gamecubes stitched together? =V

Nah, eight Gamecubes!

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I'm pretty sure that the main reason Nintendo isn't advertising the Switch as a handheld is because they don't want to undercut the 3DS market.

Bear in mind that this is the Nintendo who insisted that NX would be a third pillar to the Wii U and 3DS; consider that, even after the reveal of what certainly looked like a new handheld, they just did their best month's business on the 3DS ever.  There are still plenty of third-party games, especially localisations, coming out for the 3DS in 2017, games which will sell - but the moment Nintendo announces that the Switch is the 3DS replacement then 3DS sales are going to plummet.  Savvy fans, along with developers and publishers, will know the truth - the rumour of the Sun/Moon third version on Switch is testament to that - but until the reservoir of unreleased 3DS games starts to dry up, Nintendo can't pitch the Switch as a handheld successor to the general public.  I expect that things will look different in 2018.

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Yeah, it's a lot like the DS situation really where they didn't want to undercut the GBA sales. Let's hope it works out like the DS in the long run.

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The "third pillar" thing is a Get Out Of Jail Free card - a sign that poor performance for the new way of doing things will result in a reversion to the status quo, but good performance will make Switch's hybrid style the new modus operandi for Nintendo going forward.

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