Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#281

Post by xnx » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:54 PM UTC

rpdillon wrote: post #205

nerdjon wrote: post #109

Happy to see that Nintendo is treating the switch more like how they traditionally handled their mobile platforms instead of their consoles. Iterating instead of throwing out everything with each new version. There is a part of me that is going to miss the, do weird shit and see what works, Nintendo that brought us some really fun ideas. But a stable Nintendo just being able to continue putting out great games has it…

> The only real issue the Switch had was being able to keep up with some of the games put on it with FPS but it still had beautiful games (like Tears of the Kingdom) A bit of an aside, but... Tears of the Kingdom looks just awful to me. My kids played Breath of the Wild and when they got Tears of the Kingdom I walked in and was astonished at the graphic quality. I think I had just finished Doom 2016 at the time and I…

> My kids played Breath of the Wild and when they got Tears of the Kingdom I walked in and was astonished at the graphic quality.

You must have good eyes! I've played through both and would be hard-pressed to tell a scene from BotW from TotK at a glance.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#282

Post by andy_ppp » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:54 PM UTC

bbx wrote: post #278

The joycons seem to attach as easily as a MagSafe connector… but I hope they don't detach as easily! I wonder if the handheld ergonomics were battle-tested to prevent accidental joycon detachment while gaming.

I doubt they attach like that I think it’s just for the video… looking again there are holes at the top and bottom of the joycons presumably for some kind of locking mechanism to fit into.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#283

Post by bg0 » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:54 PM UTC

Has anyone played any games besides Zelda / Mario Kart that actually felt complete and worth the money. I love love love the switch but getting really demoralized by the lack of titles I can play with friends; especially online.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#284

Post by mcphage » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

bsimpson wrote: post #180

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it’s still a little shocking to see a company lean so far into the theme of “we made incremental improvements to this thing we released 8 years ago.” It's certainly more 'shocking' to see Nintendo do it than, say, Microsoft or Sony. But Nintendo hasn't always introduced huge new changes with a console bump — NES->SNES wasn't particularly revolutionary, and there were certainly no gimmicks there. I think it's a…

The Super Nintendo had totally new controllers and was top-loading. The UX was substantially different than the original Nintendo's VCR-style design.

They did release a top-loading NES as well, although it came out after the SNES.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#285

Post by everdrive » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

bhouston wrote: post #143

Arg, they make the screen look absolutely huge with that large front glass panel during most of the video and I was thinking to myself, nice! But then at the end they actually show how large the bezels are underneath the glass and it is quite disappointing. Someday we'll have modern smartphone like mini-bezels (a few mm at most) in our handheld gaming consoles, but I guess not yet.

I’ll never understand why people hate bezels so much. They have no bearing on the screen size, but merely offer a basis for comparison when you’re looking at the screen.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#286

Post by layer8 » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

jeffbee wrote: post #14

I like the image halfway down the announcement page that shows not only will your Switch 2 have larger controllers, but your hands will also be larger. Cool benefit, at the right price.

I think that’s an optical illusion, the hands are just higher up.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#287

Post by mingus88 » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

wat10000 wrote: post #251

3pt14159 wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've found more incredible improvements in AI than in consumer electronics these days. I'm still daily surprised at just how good ChatGPT is at understanding my pretty complex queries.

Maybe that will be the next big thing in games. Finally deliver on the promise of living, breathing worlds, instead of breaking the illusion when the character scripts start to repeat and you realize “your choices matter” means you can pick from one of three different endings.

I think this is it. Once a console can run an LLM you will see open world games with immersion that we’ve never seen before

Procedurally generated worlds are one thing but imagine exploring an endless world where you can talk to every NPC and never have the same conversation twice

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#288

Post by jerojero » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

The_Colonel wrote: post #189

systems wrote: post #137

So I can only guess the reason why they didn't mention how much more powerful NS2 is compared to NS1, is because it is not that much more powerful? I would guess only 30 to 50% more powerful

No, it's because Nintendo prides itself to be about games, not about performance.

I think they've done something smart here by partnering with NVIDIA and given the success of the switch 1 they've probably built a good relationship.

So, although you're right, NVIDIA might be giving them a good performance/efficiency bespoke chip.

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#289

Post by VikingCoder » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

Let me just say what I'm seeing here... Folks can correct me, or add their own observations

* Screen is bigger

* Seems like it has a new texture

* USB-C port (on the bottom?)

* Another USB-C port (on the top?)

* Headphone jack

* Pull-out stand, supports multiple positions

* Bigger controllers

* New coloring on the controllers

* The built-in top buttons on the hold-it-sideways configuration appear to be nicer

* The controllers have a custom port to connect, and a little magnet-looking thing next to it

* The controllers seem like they can slide on tables like a mouse

* The controllers snap into the screen, rather than sliding down to lock

* Dock looks similar to the old one

* Controllers can slide into a pro grip, like before

* Physical Switch games slide in like they used to

Anything else?

Re: Nintendo announces the Switch 2 [video]

#290

Post by bsimpson » Thu, Jan 16, 2025, 2:55 PM UTC

jjice wrote: post #242

bsimpson wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Wiimotes were a clear influence on the Joy-Cons. Nintendo still uses motion controls; they just made them portable and more resilient with gyros instead of IR.

Right, but it's not the main focus in the majority of games. In many games that do offer gyro support, it's usually able to be toggled off. It's not like the Wii where the core of the controllers was pointing them and swinging them around.

I don't remember motion controls being a majority of Wii games either.

A lot of them were played with a Nunchuk to emulate a classic controller (or attached to the actual Classic Controller or Rock Band instruments to play cross platform games).

The motion control that comes to mind beyond Wii Sports were circling the Wiimote to collect things in Mario.