Nintendo Switch – New Video Game System [video] • Hacker News Board

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

#501

Post by 2muchcoffeeman » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 6:14 AM UTC

ceronman wrote: post #134

mratzloff wrote: post #52

If there's a "switch" here, it's Nintendo finally taking feedback from customers and third parties seriously. Console with graphical power that rivals Xbox One and PS4. Check. Industry-standard architecture and tooling (Unity), allowing third parties to flood in. Check. Blends their successful portable division with their console division (this has been a common refrain for awhile now). Check. They already addressed…

I honestly don't care too much if the graphical power is not up to PS4 or XBox One. Probably doesn't because of the mobile capabilities. If there are great games it doesn't really matter if they are hyper realistic. We saw that with the Wii.

Unfortunately developers care. I loved the Wii, but with very few serious games for it, I stopped playing it.

It's too bad, FPSes on the Wii with the motion controllers were so natural even with the tiny lag.

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

#502

Post by thedudemabry » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 6:16 AM UTC

joshschreuder wrote: post #442

drawkbox wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Don't know if you own a 3DS, but personally I never used AR again beyond the 5 minutes after unboxing and I got one pretty soon after launch. Is it used in titles in any meaningful way?

This is totally not a meaningful use, but one that surprised me when I stumbled across it:

Bravely Default, the Square-Enix RPG, had an intro where a fairy crawled out of my carpet and flitted around. I don't remember any more AR in that game, but it was kind of a neat gimmick that I hadn't seen since unboxing the handheld.

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

#503

Post by amaranth » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 6:39 AM UTC

ndesaulniers wrote: post #484

deelowe wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specs haven't been released, but nvidia has a press release claiming it is powered by a custom tegra processor: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2016/10/20/nintendo-switch/ It's probably safe to assume it will be a customized version the latest or an upcoming model. I believe this puts the system in the PS4/Xbone ballpark.

Good find. I doubt an ARM64 based Tegra can compete just yet with an x86_64 chip, even if made by AMD.

The x86-64 chip in question is AMD's Jaguar design which was meant to be used in tablets. The only reason the consoles had more power than you'd get in a tablet at launch is because they had 8 cores at high clock speeds while an actual tablet using Jaguar would presumably only have 2. It's been a few years and the ARM64 designs are pretty impressive so if this is a quad core part or better it should be competitive.

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

#504

Post by thedudemabry » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 6:51 AM UTC

qwertyuiop924 wrote: post #338

mcphage wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They might not "focus" on it (whatever that means-- it has the feature, it works, what more "focus" do you need?), I suppose. To me, it means many first party titles are designed around using it. For instance on Nintendo consoles: the main Mario series games, Mario Kart series, Smash Bros series, Mario Party series, Mario Sports series, Nintendo Land, Splatoon, etc, etc, are all designed with multiplayer in mind. I…

Indeed it is: Games like Halo heavily de-emphasize it, and games like Titanfall and Overwatch and such don't even have it anymore: Once upon a time, if an MP-only game didn't have Local Multiplayer on console, it would have been laughed out of the room.

One possible benefit of the hybrid handheld/docked model is that each player maintains their own system and screen, independent of whether or not they have control of the television or are even in the same room as their opponent.

I don't know how much Nintendo is going to implement with regards to their online services, but if they do this right, they would have the killer family gaming machine ecosystem.

They could: * Implement sensible parental controls. Each user potentially having their own handheld system would make this significantly easier and more robust. * Implement a friendly family content sharing model. I'm not necessarily begging for free family sharing a-la-Steam, but a discounted license per additional family user would be a smart move, compared to their current 3DS strategy. * Implement something along the lines of PS4's amazing SharePlay feature, where you can invite a friend to watch you play, voice chat, and even hand the controller virtually over to them so they can help you through tricky sections. Here again, the hybrid model would make it so cool to cheer on my kid from a hotel room across the country on a business trip.

I don't know if the NS will live up to its teaser video, but everything I've seen makes me excited to imagine possibilities, rather than the raw polygon-pushing and logic-crunching. This in stark contrast to the comparatively gimmicky Wii and Wii U.

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

#505

Post by rubber_duck » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 7:13 AM UTC

kbenson wrote: post #479

rubber_duck wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You say that like it's supposed to imply it's worse for some reason. It does because of thermals.

Don't integrated units produce less heat? Do you mind expanding on this so I know what you are referring to?

They produce less heat because they are an inferior versions of a standalone GPU. It's harder to extract heat from two chips in the same space (CPU and GPU) than two separate chips, also you're limited in chip space for transistor count. (I'm assuming inferior refers to compute performance and integrated means integrated on to the same chip btw., if that's not what you meant then ignore my comment).

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

#506

Post by 4minute » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 7:45 AM UTC

Everyone is worried about graphics. Nintendo systems have never been about graphics. It's all about the games. They are combined two of the best selling consoles EVER. The 3D is the second highest selling console ever. The wii is fifth. The Switch brings both of them together. You can experience the awesome Nintendo literally anywhere at anytime. You can't get that with any other console. Now they are bring in major titles and giving us multiple good controllers for when they are needed. That's fucking awesome. I was about to buy the PS4 Pro edition, but fuck that I'm waiting for this. I'm hoping they still alway 3DS controllers to connect to the console so I can play with my 3DS friends with the portable device and the dock.

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

#507

Post by container » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 8:34 AM UTC

shuntress wrote: post #192

6stringmerc wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than Mario Kart my go-to would be N64's Goldeneye. That thing was a masterpiece in so many ways.

I also played a ton of goldeneye when I was around 10 years old, so I get where you are coming from and it pains me to be the bearer of bad news but that game is ... so bad. That doesn't mean it wasn't fun. It doesn't invalidate the good times we had. But there is so much about that game (from the controller itself, to the control layout, to the gameplay) that just does not hold up. N64 Goldeneye is a clunky, hard to…

Please don't forget that Goldeneye had several controller layouts. Personally, I thought the default one was terrible, and I always used "1.2 Solitaire" which was copied from another N64 Title, Turok. In 1.2, the stick is used to look, which felt much more natural for an FPS. And while in "aim mode", it allowed finetuning the aim very quickly too.

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

#508

Post by oevi » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 8:35 AM UTC

Splines wrote: post #487

FullMtlAlcoholc wrote: post #385

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with being a living room hub? Since cutting the cord, my PS4 has been the ideal set top box and is the only device attached to my TV. Blu Ray Player (that I never use), check. Plex client, check. DLNA client, check. Digital Optical Out, check. Netflix, Amazon Video check. Gaming machine, yup. It completely removes the need for a HTPC.

Game consoles don't ship with TV remotes, and the remotes that you can buy are overly complicated affairs. The WAF of using a controller to control video playback is low. We have a Roku 3 and it's far simpler to use than our 360 or PS4. Plus it's never "off". Side benefit is that I can remote play the PS4 when someone is using the Roku ;-). The Switch could plausibly fill this gap, but I guarantee that those little c…

My girlfriend instinctively used the TV remote to control the video playback on the PS4, and to my surprise it worked. It's a Sony TV and I can even control the PS home menu.

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

#509

Post by fwn » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 8:40 AM UTC

lucaspiller wrote: post #229

Direct link to the YouTube video. It doesn't load with uBlock Origin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5uik5fgIaI

I don't think it has anything to do with uBlock Origin.

EasyPrivacy apparently breaks some Youtube embeds and only fixed it partially. In the end, it's almost never the content blocker but the lists you choose to enable.

edit: but thank you for the link!

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

#510

Post by fsloth » Fri, Oct 21, 2016, 9:03 AM UTC

mcphage wrote: post #331

fsloth wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least several Xbox one titles seem to have local multiplayer. Skylanders is a good example.

How many of them are Microsoft published, and how many of them are cross-platform?

Sorry, no idea. I don't really see what the difference is from user perspective either way (as long as the feature is compatible with the underlying hardware).

My experience is that of a bystander with fairly high standards none the less. My kids seem to love Skylanders, Disney Infinity and Plants vs Zombies Garden warfare local multiplayer on Xbox one and what I observe works great.