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Nintendo Switch

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Re: Nintendo Switch

#411

Post by theandrewbailey »

shmerl wrote: post #186
izacus wrote: post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they really have to? The console APIs on both PS3 and PS4 (and Xbox 360 / Xbox One) were very similar to Vulcan already.

It doesn't make it any easier. They (AMD) need to do double work (implementing another driver). And someone has to pay for it. It's an expense and time wasting which can be avoided if they'd have used Vulkan.

I'm skeptical that AMD would implement the API and driver for a console. That's sounds like platform work, and I think that would make it the console manufacturer's job. AMD might say "here's the chip's specs and we support API X and Y for it", and if Sony or MS don't like it, they can change it themselves.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#412

Post by Rooster61 »

overcast wrote: post #376
brogrammernot wrote: post #363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flown from LA to Boston, New York several times over the last year and I don't recall a single USB or power cord outlet. On every international flight I've taken, there has been USB power but zero power outlets in coach.

You're definitely not looking hard enough then. Like I said, they are typically hiding somewhere under the seats. There is NO WAY a super common flight like LA to NY does not have power.

Mind sourcing that? I have also have not had this experience.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#413

Post by jamesgeck0 »

op00to wrote: post #332
nicky0 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot the best Zelda game of all - Majora's Mask - N64.

That game made me want to pull my hair out - the time limitations made it stressful, and I eventually just gave up.

While stressful, the time limitation wasn't exactly demanding. The song of half-time was available fairly early on. Two hours was plenty of time to do just about anything in the game.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#414

Post by shmerl »

theandrewbailey wrote: post #411
shmerl wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't make it any easier. They (AMD) need to do double work (implementing another driver). And someone has to pay for it. It's an expense and time wasting which can be avoided if they'd have used Vulkan.

I'm skeptical that AMD would implement the API and driver for a console. That's sounds like platform work, and I think that would make it the console manufacturer's job. AMD might say "here's the chip's specs and we support API X and Y for it", and if Sony or MS don't like it, they can change it themselves.

> I'm skeptical that AMD would implement the API and driver for a console. That's sounds like platform work, and I think that would make it the console manufacturer's job.

AMD make GPUs for both Xbox and PlayStation. It's very probable, that they are writing drivers for them, as well as supporting APIs implementatinos. They follow requirements from Sony and MS naturally, but they do the heavy lifting.

And if you are right, and someone like AMD don't do anything besides providing the documentation, Nintendo are actually being smart there. Instead of wasting time and money on reinventing the wheel, they use existing high quality driver and API implementation from Nvidia. It's a win win for everyone.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#415

Post by rhizome »

flukus wrote: post #211
rhizome wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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.

What handheld has come anywhere closer than smelling the GameBoy family's farts?

Re: Nintendo Switch

#416

Post by ericzawo »

deelowe wrote: post #359
mathw wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it does come with two. Sure they not two dual-analogues, but you can play two-player Mario Kart with the pair of Joy-Cons (urgh, naming) that come with the system.

Those things do not look comfortable at all. I'll wait until the reviews come out, but it looks like I'd start cramping after 10 minutes with those.

I don't really know about that. Take a look at how mushed your hand gets just to type out a message with your thumbs on your phone.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#417

Post by freehunter »

Rooster61 wrote: post #412
overcast wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're definitely not looking hard enough then. Like I said, they are typically hiding somewhere under the seats. There is NO WAY a super common flight like LA to NY does not have power.

Mind sourcing that? I have also have not had this experience.

I'm on a plane at least once a month with Delta and American Airlines and even small regional jets tend to have USB plugs or power outlets. It may be hidden under the seat or in the arm rest, but what they're saying is true. Most if not all airplanes have power available.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#418

Post by gambiting »

overcast wrote: post #354
gambiting wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've flown hundreds of times in my life and never been on a plane which had power or usb sockets. Airbus 320/Boeing 737 don't tend to be equipped with them.

Sorry, but that's just impossible, really. Any sufficiently long flight, especially international, ALWAYS has power connectors and/or USB slots. Admittedly the power plug is often hard to find, hidden under the seat or armrest, but the USB slots are usually right below the heads up screen for movies. Unless you're flying extremely short distances only, power is basically included in all flights at this point. This ap…

Ok,let's have a game. Take any European flight with Ryanair, Easyjet or Jet2.com. If you find yourself on a plane with USB or power outlets,I will happily refund your flight in entirety. Like I said,I have flown hundreds of times(20-30 times a year for about 5 years), only with those airlines, all flights were about 2-3 hours long, and not a single one of them had USB/power sockets.

Re: Nintendo Switch

#419

Post by blkhp19 »

vinkelhake wrote: post #374
JackOverflow wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The battery life is bad, but I'm not that surprised by it. Current phone/tablets achieve a lot of their battery longevity by throttling performance, this is something that is not really acceptable when your device is a games console first. I can only imagine that if an iPad mini had to run a program as intensive as the upcoming Zelda appears to be that its battery life would also suffer.

The Switch GPU does clock down to 307MHz when undocked. In docked mode, it can run at 768MHz, about 2.5x faster. CPU and memory speeds are unaffected. The built in screen is fairly low resolution so there are potentially fewer pixels to push when the Switch is undocked. It remains to be seen exactly how quality/performance will be affected by undocking.

Source?

Re: Nintendo Switch

#420

Post by chalupa-man »

towelrod wrote: post #313
chalupa-man wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> They weren't buying it for portability, like Japanese customers usually did; they were buying it because it was the cheapest way to play videogames That's not true, they are buying a 3ds so they can play Pokemon. Without Pokemon every kid I know would rather have an iphone/ipad than a 3ds. (I'm talking about Pokemon Omega Ruby style games, not Pokemon Go).

They've sold 63.3 million 3DS units (counting the 2DS) and 14.7 million copies of Pokemon X & Y, the bestselling Pokemon game on the platform. So while it's undoubtedly a very popular game I don't think you can rank it above cost as the reason so many people were buying handhelds to use at home.
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