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Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

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Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#91

Post by coldpie »

ashark wrote: post #75
VeejayRampay wrote: post #70

If someone can answer that question for me: Why has Nintendo shifted towards producing underpowered consoles? I used to play the Super Nes when I was a kid, and it was the most powerful console of its generation. The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. I hear people say "But the gameplay is what matters", which I agree wit…

> The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. The N64 was underpowered?

Definitely not. The N64 outperformed the PSX, but it was far harder to program for and cartridges were far more expensive than discs. That's where Nintendo's lack of 3rd party support began. The Gamecube and Xbox were about on par with each other, and both outperformed the PS2. But the PS2 had a huge lead time and strong 3rd party momentum from the PSX. The Wii was the shift where Nintendo began to fall behind on horsepower, instead focusing on broad market appeal, lower price points, and less intimidating input methods. The Wii U and Switch are continuing that trend, trying to chase the Wii dragon, but so far not succeeding.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#92

Post by odiroot »

izacus wrote: post #9

Hmm, the battery life is kinda disappointing. I'm not interested in Switch as a TV console (PS4 does that significantly better and has better games for when I have time to give them) and it seems it's going to struggle as a 3DS replacement when it can't even live through a rather average flight :/ I do still hope the best 3DS franchises will make it to the Switch and I might pick it up after price drops under the pri…

I'm in the opposite camp. I'm a happy owner of Wii U and would probably skip the Switch.

I don't like the compromises (mostly performance) made just to make it portable. That's the use case that doesn't interest me in the slightest.

I would just prefer a beefy modern console that plays fun Nintendo-ecosystem games.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#93

Post by lanna »

ashark wrote: post #75
VeejayRampay wrote: post #70

If someone can answer that question for me: Why has Nintendo shifted towards producing underpowered consoles? I used to play the Super Nes when I was a kid, and it was the most powerful console of its generation. The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. I hear people say "But the gameplay is what matters", which I agree wit…

> The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. The N64 was underpowered?

a common criticism of the n64 was that it used cartridges while other consoles of the same era had adopted cd-roms offering much higher capacity. that lead to some games being shorter and/or simplified on the n64 compared to their equivalents on other platforms.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#94

Post by prodmerc »

ihuman wrote: post #66
jamespo wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

said nobody ever

People have been saying for a while that Nintendo should pull a Sega and go third-party. Just because they're saying it, that doesn't mean its the right move.

Well, they should do something besides sinking money into iterations of the Wii U, which had the same "has potential" reviews when it came out, then faded into obscurity.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#95

Post by 83457 »

emehrkay wrote: post #84
ashark wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. The N64 was underpowered?

At the time the Playstation pushed more polygons per frame. I remember this debate because Nintendo said that they allowed for larger seamless polygons and said that it produced a better image on the screen.

Weren't N64 games over all higher resolution than PS1? I remember PS1 being just a jagged mess compared to N64

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#96

Post by Retr0spectrum »

monocasa wrote: post #83
roflchoppa wrote: post #76

Can't wait to see the home brew being made for this. Especially how the exploit will be fed into the system.

It'll probably be a WebKit vulnerability like most initial console exploits these days.

I'm also intrigued to see what mitigations will be involved. Perhaps the browser will run inside a VM?

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#97

Post by pryelluw »

I see the Switch as a replacement for the DS, which Nintendo was successful with. The fact that it works connected to a TV is a benefit but not a main feature. Nintendo is competing against the iPad and Android tablets that kids get for Christmas and their birthday. Not against the ps4 or Xbox. This is where I see Nintendo having a chance. Parents can buy their kids a tablet that is also a game console. Which is brilliant.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#99

Post by timlod »

coldpie wrote: post #2

This is a good review. Nice pictures, and some real-world usage scenarios, especially concerning battery life. I really wanted to like the Switch, but the addition of and focus on motion controls during their January press conference really killed it for me. Alternate input methods for games have failed, but Nintendo keeps pursuing this. My worry about the fact that the console supports motion controls is that games…

The Switch is supposed to have excellent hardware.

Also, the majority of people at preview events (greatly) praised the motion controls of the upcoming game ARMS. HD Rumble also is reported to be amazing.

I for one am excited to play with what may be the first really great motion controls.

Re: Nintendo Switch review: pure potential

#100

Post by nilkn »

VeejayRampay wrote: post #70

If someone can answer that question for me: Why has Nintendo shifted towards producing underpowered consoles? I used to play the Super Nes when I was a kid, and it was the most powerful console of its generation. The N64, the GameCube, the Wii and subsequent offerings were all underpowered in terms of graphical abilities and raw power after that. I hear people say "But the gameplay is what matters", which I agree wit…

I actually thought the Switch was more or less breaking that trend. It doesn't seem underpowered when considered for what it is (a tablet).
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