Switch Discussion Thread

[Reprise]

Yeah, I think the most disappointing thing about the announcement is we still have questions. Quite important questions. I was expecting more of a press conference, with some game announcements and information on specs etc.

I have faith in Nintendo though. If their aim is to amalgamate handheld and home console experiences into one console and bring home console experiences to a portable device, then I fully expect them to do it properly. I think they've learned a lot of lessons over the last decade.

[BogusMeatFactory]

The combo is a bold move in the right direction that I feel only Nintendo could do. I am sure in the coming weeks we will learn a whole lot more

[winds]

Yeah I'm pretty excited for this console despite my skepticism on how involved 3rd party support will actually be. If all future information released from Nintendo on this console is positive, I think this will be my first day one buy console since... Ps2? I am excite .

Power wise I'm going to guess this console will fall somewhere between the Wii U and ps4/Xbox. It definitely won't be as powerful as the upcoming ps4 pros and Xbox Scorpios or whatever, based on battery longevity alone it wouldn't be able to handle that kind of power. Just remember it does have "industry leading chips" by Nintendo's own admission from some months back, lol.

Everything I've seen of the console thus far has me genuinely excited. I just hope it actually does get fair 3rd party support and not just remasters of last year's games. Like how the Wii U started, until 33rd party support was generally dropped altogether.

[HellHammer]

All the currently unanswered questions are making me anxious but how about a guessing game?

I have heard from several people things like "I'm so glad they aren't including the usual Nintendo 'gimics' like touchscreen and motion controls!"
Yet I'm not convinced this is the case.

I predict, even though they didn't reveal any info, that Nintendo Switch will include touch/gyro/motion controls (specifically I believe they intend to re-release WiiU/Wii/Virtual Console games, so this would be necessary). Im almost positive I see a camera lens in some of the promo pics of the system, but I haven't seen anything about a mic. Since the mic on WiiU and 3DS, and to an extend the DS, are all underutilized at best, im thinking this might be a feature that gets dropped. In fact, I can't really think of any WiiU title that utilizes the camera either now that I think about it..

[PartridgeSenpai]

All the currently unanswered questions are making me anxious but how about a guessing game?

I have heard from several people things like "I'm so glad they aren't including the usual Nintendo 'gimics' like touchscreen and motion controls!"
Yet I'm not convinced this is the case.

I predict, even though they didn't reveal any info, that Nintendo Switch will include touch/gyro/motion controls (specifically I believe they intend to re-release WiiU/Wii/Virtual Console games, so this would be necessary). Im almost positive I see a camera lens in some of the promo pics of the system, but I haven't seen anything about a mic. Since the mic on WiiU and 3DS, and to an extend the DS, are all underutilized at best, im thinking this might be a feature that gets dropped. In fact, I can't really think of any WiiU title that utilizes the camera either now that I think about it..

I think that, like how the 3DS has a lot of those features, they are not the main focus of the console, and the trailer was showcasing that. Yes, while it might have a camera (like any tablet, really) or a mic, or a gyro, or motion control capability, Nintendo really doesn't seem to be pushing those as key features of this new console. Like you said, I only think they're really going to utilize stuff like that to be able to re-sell you Wii, Wii U, etc. games on their eShop.

[ElkinFencer10]

Power wise I'm going to guess this console will fall somewhere between the Wii U and ps4/Xbox.

I may be overly optimistic here, but I'm going to guess that it's going to be very close to a launch Xbox One. Not the exact same, but close to it. It should be using Nvidia's Tegra X2 chip (or a derivative of it) with an advanced Pascal GPU architecture, and given how remarkably powerful for a chip of its size and power use the Maxwell-based Tegra X1 is, that should be able to give it a good bit of graphical power. It will, however, be probably two or three months until we know anything concrete about specs, so it's all speculation right now.

[marurun]

Too bad there's no way they could get access to an Apple mobile chipset. Apple has dominated the mobile charts on CPU power and on GPU performance and is proving to be the most powerful ARM licensor.

[isiolia]

I may be overly optimistic here, but I'm going to guess that it's going to be very close to a launch Xbox One. Not the exact same, but close to it. It should be using Nvidia's Tegra X2 chip (or a derivative of it) with an advanced Pascal GPU architecture, and given how remarkably powerful for a chip of its size and power use the Maxwell-based Tegra X1 is, that should be able to give it a good bit of graphical power. It will, however, be probably two or three months until we know anything concrete about specs, so it's all speculation right now.

I'd say it's optimistic, yeah. The GPU architecture is good, but the likely CUDA core count is low (as Arstechnica's speculation points out). The Tegra X2 has a good bit revealed already.

I don't doubt it'll handily outdo the Wii U, but probably not really match what the other home consoles had at launch, much less what the revised versions will be doing.

[Tanooki]

Not that optimistic my brother who works with one of the licensees already told me to expect it to be on the level of the current systems, not their planned 4K/VR upgraded selves though. Im sure if that was said, they as do others have many working kits, its a fair assumption what is possible at a basic level. Also it was noted that one should expect a Nintendo Direct sooner than later that turns the corner and does not highlight the system, but all the games planned for it that are developed and capable of being shown at that time.

I think then the questions will be quite a bit put to bed.

[RCBH928]

I simply was bringing up questions, only because my brain can't quite handle the idea that Nintendo is releasing a system almost, if not as, powerful as an xbox one and ps4 and have it be this thin portable.

You are right. If it was possible, other tablet manufacturers would have done it. Sony would have released their PS4 Slim a lot slimmer.

From the pictures I see the dock is thicker than the tablet itself, so I will stick to my theory that the console is the dock, and on-the-go will be either streaming or lower quality graphics kind of like how Youtube will offer the same video but different quality.