The Nintendo Switch Thread

[Marcello]

I don't like this idea. Under-powered console, but an expensive handheld with a presumably shitty battery.

[KHCast]

53 minutes ago, JaidynReiman said:

This isn't a console-handheld hybrid, though. Its just a pure handheld. I don't know why people keep saying hybrid, nothing about this is a hybrid. Hell, its hardly even a portable given the description, its a Nintendo-branded tablet. And tablets and phones can ALREADY be played on a TV anyway. There's nothing special about this.

 

The only thing that WOULD make it special is if its a very high-powered tablet (more powerful than the Wii U at least). That would admittedly be impressive. But its not likely to be the case and even if it was, it wouldn't be all that viable on the go anyway.

Well according to the rumor, you can detach controllers from it and plug it in your tv and play it like a console....so seems like a mix of both handheld and console if you ask me. Seriously why is it so hard to see why people are making that assumption/comparison?

[Salamander]

Speaking as a handheld-only gamer, I have no complaints about this whatsoever.

But... for the console gamers, could it not be possible that the "base unit" / "dock station" used to connect it to your TV is also this extra processing power unit that boosts it up to more respectable levels?

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

15 minutes ago, FFWF said:

Speaking as a handheld-only gamer, I have no complaints about this whatsoever.

But... for the console gamers, could it not be possible that the "base unit" / "dock station" used to connect it to your TV is also this extra processing power unit that boosts it up to more respectable levels?

actually, Nintendo did submit a patent for supplemental computing units that would do exactly that

[Cyrus]

I'm not much up to speed on this this thing, but were those leaked details about it being a handheld true? How about that patent for the oval shaped controller?

[Hyp3hat]

50 minutes ago, Auto said:

I'm not much up to speed on this this thing, but were those leaked details about it being a handheld true? How about that patent for the oval shaped controller?

The oval controller was a definite fake.

[azoo]

NeoGAF user KAL2006 gives his prediction based on this info:

Quote

Okay here is my prediction based on this rumour

Name
Nintendo Go

Media
Cartridges 

Power 
×1.5x better than Wii U in docked mode

System Features

Handheld Mode 
System is basically a small 7" tablet with a 540p capacitive touchscreen. Can be used as a iPad. Can add attachments on each side of the unit for traditional controls. System also has camera and gyro for AR features

Console Mode
There is a docking station that has a HDMI passthrough and charges. Once the system is on this docking station system overclocks for higher resolution graphics it allows this to happen as system does not have to worry about battery life in this mode. The 2 control attachments can be attached together to form a regular controller. The docking station also has wireless video streaming for instances you want to use the 2 screen features for some games like the Wii U.

Price
$250 (NVIDIA Shield is currently $200)

I'm willing to bet that (given any of this is true), he's right on the money.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

10 minutes ago, Azoo said:

NeoGAF user KAL2006 gives his prediction based on this info:

I'm willing to bet that (given any of this is true), he's right on the money.

if its true at all, which it may not be

[JaidynReiman]

4 hours ago, FFWF said:

Speaking as a handheld-only gamer, I have no complaints about this whatsoever.

But... for the console gamers, could it not be possible that the "base unit" / "dock station" used to connect it to your TV is also this extra processing power unit that boosts it up to more respectable levels?

This would mean that the "dock station" is the NX home console, which isn't the same thing that this article is trying to imply.

[Dejimon11]

So um Digital Foundry made a video talking about more info of the NX

Man the more I hear about this the more nervous I get

[Milo]

Bleh, I'm not too hot on the idea if this is true. Then again, the NX was said to neither be a direct successor to the 3DS or the Wii U, so that's something to take into consideration.

That said, the NX has been said to be only slightly powerful than the Wii U, and Zelda: BOTW has been slated to release on both platforms. In which case, I just hope it means the Wii U will continue to be supported with ports of NX games.

[Tails spin]

6 minutes ago, Gabe said:

I just hope it means the Wii U will continue to be supported with ports of NX games.

I hope not cuz then what would be the point of releasing the NX. Sure the Wii U can live on as the home of shovelware but leave the new games for NX

[Milo]

15 minutes ago, Tails spin said:

I hope not cuz then what would be the point of releasing the NX. Sure the Wii U can live on as the home of shovelware but leave the new games for NX

Well, the NX has obviously been stated to have an entirely different hook, in both its design as well as its approach. So releasing NX games on the Wii U wouldn't be entirely redundant. I'm also not exactly calling for every NX game to be released for the Wii U. Pretty sure some will even be designed specifically for the NX's use, so ports wouldn't even be possible. It would be nice for some major games still came to the Wii U though IMO.

Last, Nintendo has made a point of claiming not to drop support (speaking in terms of game releases here) of their old products when they prepare to launch new products, only for them to have consistently drop their support of old products like they caught a bad case of malaria. It's a major reason that led to the drought of major games for the Wii after 2010, with the same thing happening again for the Wii U after 2014. They could really stand to avoid falling into the same song-and-dance again IMO if they're serious about doing a smooth transition from one product / console generation to another in their future. The Last of Us was able to be released shortly before the PS4's release and it was able to do fine for itself before the PS4 remaster. Same case with the PS3/360 release of GTA V.

[Toa Axis]

2 hours ago, Dejimon11 said:

So um Digital Foundry made a video talking about more info of the NX

Man the more I hear about this the more nervous I get

Great video. DF once again putting in work.

While I have to admit my slight disappointment at the system's power output, I still feel as if there's a decent niche to be carved out with it. There really hasn't been anything like this in the market (that I can think of, at least that's been pulled off successfully), and I would be lying if I said that the prospect of being able to take Breath of the Wild on the go isn't enticing. 

What I find interesting about the reports is that the X1 they're using is being overclocked. And honestly, I can't think of any real reason for the latter unless they're:

A.) Using their own custom variant of the X1

B.) Using it as a stand-in for the X2 as DF hypothesized

I feel like the X2 would be the best bet here, you're getting much greater performance at a lower power consumption, the latter of which Nintendo heavily emphasizes in their products. The only question is, if it will end up being the X2, what will be their choice of memory? For something that'll probably be exceeding XB1 performance, at least on paper, you'll need some RAM that provides decent memory bandwidth. 

This is all very intriguing.

[JaidynReiman]

1 hour ago, Gabe said:

Bleh, I'm not too hot on the idea if this is true. Then again, the NX was said to neither be a direct successor to the 3DS or the Wii U, so that's something to take into consideration.

That said, the NX has been said to be only slightly powerful than the Wii U, and Zelda: BOTW has been slated to release on both platforms. In which case, I just hope it means the Wii U will continue to be supported with ports of NX games.

The NX's power in comparison to the Wii U has never been stated at all.

 

Rumors do not count, especially due to how widely varied they have been. Some say its extremely powerful, others say its less powerful than PS4/Xbone. We can't judge rumors, and Nintendo has never said a peep about the NX's specs.

[Chili Dawg]

Handheld Nintendo plus console Nintendo games library across just one system. That'd be a beautiful thing.

Two Wii Us duct taped together tier console?  Less beautiful. 

(assuming, for the sake of discussion, that any of this is true)

[Salamander]

So here's a mockup that apparently originates with Pittree on NeoGAF:

What I find convincing about the lower-right, vertically-oriented example is that if the minicontrollers could also be attached to the top and bottom of the horizontal tablet unit as well as the sides, we could retain a pseudo-double-screen arrangement (which is otherwise lost with a horizontal orientation).  The potential flexibility for games of all kinds would be enormous.

[Marcello]

The button placement isn't good. I think the buttons would have to be more diagonal to be comfortable. Like the Gamepad. Using the D-Pad on the 3DS on the other hand isn't comfortable at all.

P.S. God damn is that controller tiny xD

[Salamander]

...Now you mention it, while this is just a fan-made mockup then given how size was handled with the eventual 3DS XL and the dual-size release of the New 3DS (...outside America), I would strongly anticipate the production of both a standard-size NX and an "NXL."

[Patticus]

Some random guy named Dave, from Youtube, has decided to sort all this out for us, and makes some surprisingly good (and obvious) points for a random guy named Dave.

Summary:
● He basically calls shenanigans on the whole report as he doesn't think that this is the big secret Nintendo is hiding, because the concept has been done before.
● The handheld device may be part of a larger concept, but it's probably not the main feature.
● He goes on to claim that Eurogamer has got it wrong before, e.g. before the 3DS release they claimed (from their multiple sources) that it too would use a Tegra.
● If the hand-held concept report did turn out to be true, and that was all the NX was, it could flop big time; particularly in the western market as it would never replace gaming for the phone and tablets users. I disagree with this last assessment, as the 3DS, despite its USP already being a hard sell for consumers and its "big thing" at launch being Pilotwings, has gone on to sell more than 50m units worldwide. Hardly a flippity flop.

[Candescence]

I honestly still don't believe this will be a single device. I'm convinced that there will likely be a full-on console that is cross-compatible with the handheld, and that the NX2 will have the handheld exceed that in terms of horsepower while the console is closer to Neo/Scorpio/whatever next gen consoles Sony and MS put out. There's just some things about the Eurogamer rumor that seem way too off for me.

That being said, if Nintendo did get an extremely good deal on a Tegra X2 or a custom mobile GPU similar to it according to certain rumors (apparently Nvidia was desperate for a 'console win' and thus Nintendo managed to get an extremely good deal out of them), then the handheld might actually be capable of rivalling the Xbone and PS4. But we'll have to see.

[JaidynReiman]

4 hours ago, Patticus said:

Some random guy named Dave, from Youtube, has decided to sort all this out for us, and makes some surprisingly good (and obvious) points for a random guy named Dave.

Summary:
● He basically calls shenanigans on the whole report as he doesn't think that this is the big secret Nintendo is hiding, because the concept has been done before.
● The handheld device may be part of a larger concept, but it's probably not the main feature.
● He goes on to claim that Eurogamer has got it wrong before, e.g. before the 3DS release they claimed (from their multiple sources) that it too would use a Tegra.
● If the hand-held concept report did turn out to be true, and that was all the NX was, it could flop big time; particularly in the western market as it would never replace gaming for the phone and tablets users. I disagree with this last assessment, as the 3DS, despite its USP already being a hard sell for consumers and its "big thing" at launch being Pilotwings, has gone on to sell more than 50m units worldwide. Hardly a flippity flop.

SuperMetalDave isn't "just" a random guy. He did get some legit leaks in the past. Accordingly, the "list of 2016 3DS games" was leaked by him. This was at least partially correct, though some of the games on the list are coming out a tad bit later than they were on this list. Several of the unannounced games were correct (Disney Art Academy, Disney's Magical World 2), and we know "Niji" was in fact the real code name for Pokemon Sun and Moon.

There were other "codename" games, but we can't confirm if any of them match up to actual known games.

 

From what I've heard he also got some things wrong as well, but the list of 2016 3DS games was a pretty big one he got right.

 

I also heard about the comment on the 3DS as well. I really do agree, if the Eurogamer thing is correct, I don't think its the "only" device Nintendo is producing. Its probably multiple devices that run on the same architecture and each game can easily be ported to the other devices, so no more separate games between handheld and home console (at least in Nintendo's case).

[Candescence]

NateDrake over at Direct-Feed Gaming says that he's very confident that the NX will have a Pascal Tegra chip.

Basically, this means the NX will have a custom Pascal-based Tegra chip or a Tegra X2, either of which would be considerably better than the Maxwell-based Tegra X1 in terms of power, heat and power efficiency. The actual power is to be seen Nvidia hasn't actually announced the specs of the X2 yet so we lack solid reference for that, but there is a chance that this thing could rival the Xbone even on the go.

But in any case, a Pascal-based Nvidia GPU in the NX would easily eclipse the Vita and be a monumental leap from the 3DS.

[Marcello]

SuperMetalDave does a lot of videos. They're all speculation, though.

Side not, but I was disappointed when hearing about this, but here I am now, actually getting excited. It seems like this could be a pretty cool machine. Damn me.

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

The thing people are underestimating about the NX's launch is definitely the likely strength of the launch title line-up. nearly 90% of Nintendo's Console and handheld developers are working on games for the NX right now, and that's without mentioning a number of carried over wii-u projects like Retro's next title. That combined with solid Japanese support, and a decent bit of western support from friendly studios like WB Games(Injustice 2 perhaps), and Ubisoft, means this could be an extremely robust lineup and they may be able to avoid software droughts this time around