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Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

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Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#492

I must be very out of touch with the gaming habits of millenials. The intro movie itself seemed like some nerdy wish-fulfillment. Who acts like this? Where can I meet some stunning gaming hottie like the one in the airport? Will the Switch make my life this fantastic?

To be fair, this is what all commercials do. Trying to sell you the perfect life.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. I think it's a massive lack of imagination on the part of manufacturers that has led to mediocre deployments. I think your comment reflects a sentiment that I agree with which is that HMD based systems today do not give the same degree of awe that happened when the NES came out - or even the playstation. I'd rather see Nintendo invest heavily ($5BN+) in an AR VRD and infrastructure that changes the landsc…

Sounds pretty risky, even if they solved the technical side of it there is by no means a proven market.

Right, well that's the the whole point of being a leader - it's risky. Sometimes you fail.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#494
post #2

I'm quite excited by this. The video was a bit lengthy but it demonstrated the concept quite well. Glimpses of Mario, what appeared to be Skyrim, too - more third party support this time perhaps? I'm most interested to see the price and the spec of the machine. Xbox One and PS4 seem to have become more homogenised in terms of architecture than the last generation of consoles (PS3 was especially weird), if the Switch…

Its not running x86 like the PS4 and XBone that's for sure. Its apparently running a Tegra chip[1]. Exact specs... well we can only guess at this point. So its more similar to an Android tablet than the other consoles. So the hardware is more standard but its still not the same standard as the other boxes. That could hurt 3rd party adoption. [1] https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/10/20/nintendo-switch/

>So the hardware is more standard but its still not the same standard as the other boxes. That could hurt 3rd party adoption.

If Nintendo is smart, they will find a way to let console devs leverage the power of Nvidia's libraries like GameWorks which may actually be a huge boon to 3rd party adoption. But that all depends on what kind of OS and stack they choose to go with, and whether they consider developer effort an issue. If it's going to fit a different use-case with mobile and docked performance profiles, it may be difficult to port games to it with AMD hardware anyways.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#495
post #27

It is so reassuring to see Nintendo create a modern gaming machine that doesn't try to be a living room hub or an iPad competitor. Going entirely by the video alone, every single design decision has been made with a clear focus on gaming. The simple docking action for transitioning it to the TV, the versatility and portability of the controllers, the reasonable size, etc all combine to make this (again, judging entir…

The Nintendo Shop on the Wii U is reasonable, actually. It's fairly easy to use, discoverability is decent. It's pretty basic but it's (in my opinion) their best attempt yet. Assuming they build on what they've learn from that, I'd hope the store for this system will be even better. My most-wanted feature for the shop is for them to stop forcing me to buy the 'classics' on every bloody Nintendo system I buy! I must o…

I've heard you can't transfer games from console to console - no word on backwards compatibility yet but I must have some eShop titles from ages ago.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#496
post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>There is a lot of speculation in the community that when docked, additional video processing will be available in the hardware within the dock. Doubt it. Not a trivial problem to solve technically and console pricing is inflexible - they need to sell this thing for under $400, and Nintendo hates subsidizing hardware.

USB C connector Alternate Mode can be used to carry PCIe signals (without Thunderbolt). Switching GPUs is a well solved problem for nVidia, they call it Optimus. By now this is a technically solved problem, no problems.

I don't think with the nVidia blog posts and the pictures of the dock that they're hiding a more powerful GPU in the dock. If it were I'd expect a larger dock to provide more cooling to the docked GPU and some mention of 2 GPUs or GPU switching in the nVidia blog post about the Switch.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#497
post #210

Maybe not a popular opinion right now... but I'm so glad there's at least one brand out there that isn't jumping the 'VR'/'AR' - bandwagon. I've tried to get into VR with the oculus and the VIVE, but no, it's just not for me. Happy to see Nintendo do what they do best: come up with a great formfactor, but let games be games.

A big part of the 3DS launch was AR [1][2]. They actually used it in unique ways. They haven't yet gone to head based VR/AR but device level like mobile was part of the 3DS pitch/features. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43uSXA9qUe8 [2] http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/ar-cards

They might have made a big deal of it at launch but there's barely any gameplay there and I personally didn't use the AR for more than 10 minutes after I first got the 3DS.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#498
post #463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Compatibility with Nintendo's older wireless controllers Well, it looks like it uses bluetooth. If it uses a standard bluetooth stack, they might let other BT controllers (such as the PS4, Wii U Pro and Xbone) work with the system. I really have a lot of high hopes for this, but I don't wanna get super excited without knowing any of the specs.

> other BT controllers (such as the PS4, Wii U Pro and Xbone) The Xbone controllers use some proprietary Wi-Fi-based protocol, don't they? Not Bluetooth.

They released a new controller with the XBox One S that was released mid-year that uses Bluetooth finally.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#499
No touch controls or motion controls in sight! I think they'd ultimately be incompatible with this anyway.

You can't have good local portable multiplayer if one player always has their fingers on the screen, blocking the other's view.

Motion would be very haphazard, due to all the usage styles. Where would the motion sensors go? If it's part of the tablet, you can't play while docked to your TV. If it's part of the joycons, you'd probably have to remove them to play some games, which would be again annoying if it's docked. If the pro controller has motion controls as well, some games requiring both joycons wouldn't bother using it. You'd have to have at least 4 sets of motion controls across the parts for it to work ubiquitously.

All in all, it makes a lot of sense that we might not see those 2 clunky features returning, which is great.

But all the bits (dock, tablet, 2 joycons, joycon mounting stump, pro controller) is a bit too clap-trap for me. I had used Wii Fit for a while on someone else's Wii and liked it, so I got a Wii U version. The addition of the touchscreen plus wiimotes in the Wii U made it a mess of always picking up and putting down things, which was super annoying. Having fewer input schemes, and using them well, would be preferable, in my opinion.

Re: Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video]

#500
post #386
post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very unlikely that this has performance that competes with Sony and Microsoft. This is an integrated GPU on a battery-powered device with limited thermal regulation. The PS4 and Xbox One are always plugged in to AC and have plenty of space for a proper cooling system. That's OK, this time the console actually takes advantage of weaker performance to offer a better form-factor. Whether that tradeoff satisfies consumer…

There is a lot of speculation in the community that when docked, additional video processing will be available in the hardware within the dock. When undocked, they can scale down resolution and frame rate for the smaller screen.

It could be that the chip itself is throttled when in handheld mode, and the dock provides additional power and cooling, as an alternative take on that option.
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