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Nintendo Switch

nintendo.co.jp

211–220 of 431 posts

Re: Nintendo Switch

#211
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've never been close to bankruptcy, but at times it's only been because of the gameboy/DS line.

"If it wasn't for the popular things they sell, they'd be out of business!"

You're right, but there have been times where their handheld domination has looked shakey, which makes their whole future look shakey.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#212
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As years go by the less I'm convinced that the platform with the fastest hardware is the best. With consoles, on the technical front, I want constant fluid framerates and predictability. For instance, I fail to see how PS4 Witcher 3 could be better than Witcher 3 on XBox one by any standard I care about when gaming (and I'm a professional graphics programmer). That said, yes, it seems Sony is winning this generation…

The PS4 has more powerful hardware than the XBox One. If they are running the same game (The Witcher 3), logic tells us that it will be easier to get fluid framerates with the more powerful console. And that is what you care about, no? Now I don't know about The Witcher per-se but there have been a good number of multi-platform releases where performance and fluidity were compromised on XBox One. And it doesn't just…

Witcher 3 on PS4 has slightly better graphics and insane texture pop in and some frame drops. I'd take "inferior" xOne version any time of the day.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#213
post #88
post #7

Kudos to Nintendo for supporting Vulkan and OpenGL. Nitendo do a lot of wrong stuff in regards to how they handle fan made games for instance, but adopting open, cross platform graphics APIs while their major rivals are stuck in the backwards thinking lock-in mentality, is a good decision.

All due to Nvidia's influence. Hopefully this will make the hardware more compelling to 3rd party studios.

I work at a major games publisher and literally all we care about is DirectX for PC/X1 ports, and the weird graphics library we use for PS4. I don't know of any game released by us in last 10 years which even had an OpenGL backend. From what I gathered from our graphics devs, their reaction to vulkan was "meh, it's nice but we already have PC covered with DirectX which we have to write for X1 anyway, and it's not like PS4 is going to support it, so what's the point?"

Re: Nintendo Switch

#214
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nintendo's never been on the verge of bankruptcy. That's a ridiculous myth that's always tossed around by news sites to get more clicks. Nintendo is a surprisingly tiny company with billions in cash in the bank. As others have mentioned, they don't have backup cash cows like the other conglomerates so their short-term profits do vary wildly depending on the success of each platform, but the premise of one generation…

They've never been close to bankruptcy, but at times it's only been because of the gameboy/DS line.

The giant pile of savings probably helps more than the DS. http://nintendotoday.com/nintendo-not-doomed/

Re: Nintendo Switch

#216

A good plot twist: Nintendo just sells these left & right Switch controllers you stick to the Switch screen BUT tries to get other smartphone manufacturers to integrate connectors to the left & right Switch controllers PLUS builds there own mobile phones. This is still the biggest bummer when playing games on phones—no physical buttons. At the end of the day, Nintendo must get into the smartphone market and if it's j…

And then being Android everyone would just steal their games since they would be available on Pirate Bay and startups everywhere would be trying to "disrupt" the games industry by making Nintendo JoyCon knockoffs. At which point Chinese manufacturers would be selling them on Alibaba for $2 each. Somehow I don't think this would be good for Nintendo.

DRM?

Re: Nintendo Switch

#217

That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!) smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches, as well as multiple levels of play while on the go. It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in total at the register) and has an incredibly diverse range of titles to be excited about this calendar year. It man…

I do want to point out that it matches current consoles in the US, but is actually going to be significantly more expensive than anything on the market in many countries. Where I am, for example, if they release at exactly the US price -- which they won't, prices always get inflated -- a Switch will cost more than a PS4 that comes packed with Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Dishonored 2, three hit games. On top of this, I thi…

That might be a strategy of theirs. Hit the early adopters hard with a high price, then reduce the cost fast for the masses.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#218
post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah I'm curious to hear a defense of the 'PSX, architectural successor of the SNES' argument myself.

He is completely wrong and must be confusing PS1 with the unreleased add-on, which would make more sense. The Nintendo Playstation is not much more than an SNES with a CD-ROM drive and some extra memory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug-CyGXMabg He is probably too young to have grown up with a PS1. I believe reading at the time that Sony poured close to $1bn into developing the PS1 hardware. This made sense-- the S…

I think the argument is still worth hearing, even if it's off your lawn. I mean, I also think it can't possibly be right but it can probably be sorted out without getting into a 'you were too young' pee-fest.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding the iPad, do kids/parents see that as a gaming device? You can't get real games on one of those.

>do kids/parents see that as a gaming device? It's a "make my kids shut up in the car or in a restaurant" device.

unfortunate truth ..

Re: Nintendo Switch

#220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My youngest stepson (10) just got one for Christmas (secondhand iPad mini 2). He's mostly gaming on it, and he loves it. Bear in mind he has access to an xbox one, too. He doesn't see the iPad as inferior; he certainly did the hudl that he sold in order to part fund the iPad purchase.

Sample size of one and do you really see the xbox one and the ipad mini as equally good game machines?

Yes. It's not all about specs.

Gaming in the living room? Xbox wins. Gaming in the bedroom? iPad wins. Gaming on a trip to visit Grandma? iPad wins. Gaming on holiday? iPad wins. Want to play low budget or free casual games? iPad wins.

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