The Nintendo Switch

[UN Spacy]

[Mommar]

Sold.

Especially given how much time I spend with my Mom away from home now. At least I can still setup and play games easier.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Mommar

[chyll2]

I was skeptical at first but it looks like something that would work and fun.

[jvmacross]

Not a gamer, but I thought everything was moving to VR? This thing looks like another Nintendo novelty.

[UN Spacy]

Looks like their third party support will be MUCH larger than before.

https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/20/nintendo-wants-all-third-party-games-on-the-nintendo-switch/

[jenius]

No.

[SuperSenpai]

With all these wireless components, battery life's going to be an issue. Hopefully they will be replaceable and not sealed in.

[Sandman]

Some interesting ideas but still a wait and see. Been burned buying nintendo at launch too many times especially with the wii u. I can't stand those commercial/ads mainly due to how the actors try to look natural while playing the system which looks ridiculous. The girl with the apartment with the bob hair is especially bad.

[Mommar]

Gonna wait until Sony copies it, sells it at a massive loss so people think the tech is cheap and pretend like they invented it.

[jenius]

I don't think anyone will bother copying this. They should have just made a cell phone pivot.

Edit - so true on the girl in the apartment, funny. Might be a hit with school kids who can play together on lunch breaks.

Edited October 20, 2016 by jenius

[Duymon]

It definitely looks interesting. Like they combined the Nintendo DS with the WIIu Controller but added portability options to it as well.

I won't be biting though. I'm more of a PC gamer and just bought a new Alienware Laptop last month O_o

As for Sony... everytime they make something awesome they screw it up by going that one-step further with their proprietary bullshit.

I swear the PS Vita woulda been a much bigger thing had Sony not been Sony and made their proprietary memstick bullcrap.

Edited October 20, 2016 by Duymon

[dizman]

E-Sports !

It's a pretty interesting concept, I'm not a big Nintendo guy so I'm content with waiting to see how it pans out. With all the on the go versatility this will have to be 4G capable unless you have a wireless hotspot with you at all times. Don't get so hopeful for third party support though, they said the same thing for the WiiU as well but accomplished nothing.

[mikeszekely]

I'm in. While I've barely used my Wii or Wii U, I've had A TON of play on on Nintendo's handhelds right up to the 3DS, and I still love Nintendo's 2st party games. I see the Switch as a handheld that can be played as a console more than a console meant to compete with the PS4 or Xbox One.

[no3Ljm]

I liek the concept. I like the video. But IMHO, the Nintendo Switch is just a iPad/tablet with a remote controller. Too bad the Switch doesn't have a video playback feature for kids on the go.

Funny that they didn't feature a lot of kids on this console. They're all teenagers and adults. And you have to go to a Basketball court to play Basketball video game with friends.

[TangledThorns]

No interest. Nintendo should get out of the hardware biz like SEGA did and make money off their games/software.

[Mommar]

No interest. Nintendo should get out of the hardware biz like SEGA did and make money off their games/software.

They're swimming in money so that'll never happen. Also, they shouldn't. Sega went from bad to worse with that situation.

[jenius]

It wasn't dropping out of hardware that made Sega go bad to worse. Nintendo is just having a hard time because they want to be the family computer, not the young man's gaming rig. So they keep having to reinvent the hardware to make it more appealing to non gamers. The problem is, someone else did that... Apple. The longer it takes Nintendo to realize that what they're trying to make is the smart phones we already have, the worse off they'll be.

Edited October 21, 2016 by jenius

[JB0]

See, I think this is a good idea. I've been saying for years they needed to start focusing on portables.

The DS unfortunately made it difficult for the home system to be a portable with video output, but breaking compatibility lets them do what they should've done instead of the Wii U, and probably should've done instead of the Wii if I'm being honest.

Though... building the GameBoy Player into the GameCube would've moved a lot of 'Cubes, so maybe that is where they should've started converging... anyways... point is that their portables make mad bank and their home consoles clog shelves. All anyone really wanted was a way to play their portable games on the TV, and now they have that.

If the system core is a reasonable tablet, then it becomes a compelling device on that angle.

It is Nintendo, so I assume otherwise, but on the other hand nVidia has a hand in this, so maybe... Hope springs eternal and all that nonsense.

(The system is almost certainly a modification of the cancelled Shield 2 tablet, but that tells us nothing.)

All in all, I like the TurboExpress feel. This is a system that is powerful enough for the home, but weak enough for a trip.

[azrael]

I probably won't get it but mostly since I'm gaming less and less these days.

-I hope it's a tablet as that would open up a bunch of other control options.

-It runs on an Nvidia Tegra processor so this should be good, graphics-wise.

-I like the idea of it being a portable gaming system that will work as a living-room game system.

-It probably best that it's aimed at mobile market. More game-centric device than smartphones and tablets with better controls.

When I see more on the specs, I might think differently.

[Phobos]

Looks very gimmicky. I'm sure it appeals to lots of people, just not me. I'll stick to PC for all my gaming needs. Except for RDR2... Bastards

[Mommar]

It pretty much has to be a tablet. They can't run their own smartphone apps on the thing otherwise.

[Ghadrack]

Third party developer support looks good for Nintendo finally, hopefully they learned a lesson. I'm convninced we've hit or passed "peak graphics" where the cost to produce games has created such a high barrier to the console market that we're going to keep getting really pretty, crappy games with a few exceptions, while lots of game developers will focus on the shallow, crap mobile market. If Nintendo can get great game developers to make really good, solid games and help with cost control by limiting the insane graphics arms race, I'm in.

Final Fantasy 15 might look like a playable HD anime, but if the gameplay is a drag or the story is blah, who cares. Super Mario or Pokemon Switch might look like any other Nintendo Game, but if it's actually fun, I'll play it a hell of a lot longer.

[danth]

So obviously Nintendo really wants to get out of the console market. They know what side their bread is buttered on, and that's handhelds. They dominate the handheld market, and would really like to wean us all off of consoles and just get us to use handhelds. The Wii U was basically a console with a handheld attachment they wanted gamers to get used to. Now the Switch is a console that's really a handheld with a dock and TV out. It's all part of their plan to exit the console market and get us to come with them.

I totally don't know if any of the above is true but it's a fun hypothesis.

[Dio]

I will purchase one on launch day, no doubt. The portability is exactly what I need these days, and I would also expect better 3rd party support since the system isn't as focused around a gimmicky interface (e.g. dual screens or motion controllers).

[spanner]

a friend of mine who is a massive Nintendo nerd she is super excited about this!

Edited October 26, 2016 by spanner

[JB0]

So obviously Nintendo really wants to get out of the console market. They know what side their bread is buttered on, and that's handhelds. They dominate the handheld market, and would really like to wean us all off of consoles and just get us to use handhelds. The Wii U was basically a console with a handheld attachment they wanted gamers to get used to. Now the Switch is a console that's really a handheld with a dock and TV out. It's all part of their plan to exit the console market and get us to come with them.

I totally don't know if any of the above is true but it's a fun hypothesis.

It is a reasonable hypothesis.

They have seen the western market wants larger hardware(note we got the New 3DS XL, but not the "regular size" New 3DS),

they've long done better in the portable space than the tethered space,

and to be honest hardware is at the point where a large portable device can turn in enough performance to be a reasonable console(the same premise behind the nVidia Shield and the Ouya).

There is no real POINT to Nintendo releasing another "real" console, unless they decide they want to start punching in the half-grand AAA space where MS and Sony fight. And to be frank, I don't see why they would WANT to.

If the DS hadn't been, well, dual-screen, they would've done this years ago. Let's be honest, all we've really wanted from Nintendo for some time is a way to play DS games on a TV. And now we have it. TurboExpressin' it up with hardware that is good enough for a console, but weak enough for battery power.

[Mommar]

Let's be honest, all we've really wanted from Nintendo for some time is a way to play DS games on a TV. And now we have it. TurboExpressin' it up with hardware that is good enough for a console, but weak enough for battery power

Might want to rephrase that to "I'll be honest, all I've really wanted from Nintendo..." Because I don't want that, and "we've" already had that chance with the WiiU and everybody made fun of it (even though it was a great console.)

[UN Spacy]

Nintendo's next news update for the Switch will be in January.

Pricing, games, info, etc.

https://twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/791455799302246400

[JB0]

Might want to rephrase that to "I'll be honest, all I've really wanted from Nintendo..." Because I don't want that, and "we've" already had that chance with the WiiU and everybody made fun of it (even though it was a great console.)

The Wii U had two problems. One was it couldn't play DS games, the other was Nintendo crippled it.

Mandating that games had to be playable on the gamepad alone meant that dual-screen gameplay was ... problematic.

[Mommar]

The Wii U had two problems. One was it couldn't play DS games, the other was Nintendo crippled it.

Mandating that games had to be playable on the gamepad alone meant that dual-screen gameplay was ... problematic.

I didn't want to play DS games on it so I don't see that as a problem. Which removes "problem" number two, which was actually a massively convenient feature when the TV wasn't available or when I didn't feel like turning on the TV/receiver for checking dlc or downloading games. All you've done is tried to rephrase your "well all wanted DS..." comment which is still just "I wanted DS..."

[danth]

Let's be honest, all we've really wanted from Nintendo for some time is a way to play DS games on a TV.

I never thought about it before, but yes, this describes me.

[Sandman]

Yeah same for me. All the rpg and strategy games are on the ds. I hate playing those games on the small handheld screen.

[JB0]

I didn't want to play DS games on it so I don't see that as a problem. Which removes "problem" number two, which was actually a massively convenient feature when the TV wasn't available or when I didn't feel like turning on the TV/receiver for checking dlc or downloading games. All you've done is tried to rephrase your "well all wanted DS..." comment which is still just "I wanted DS..."

Okay, let me rephrase.

Problem number one is that the Wii U would've seen MUCH wider adoption if it was a DS Player IN ADDITION to being a Super Wii. Effectively, the existing DS games would move systems, and once people had the thing as a DS on their TV, why NOT buy a few actual Wii U games?

I find problem number 2 to be, well, exactly as I stated. No game could make good use of the controller display because they all had to be able to operate without the controller display so the Wii U could behave like a portable system without actually BEING portable.

If the second screen is destined to mirror the TV, cool. Mirror the TV for all it is worth. But don't talk about how many neat things that second screen will allow games to do while banning games from doing those same neat things.

The Switch solves this second problem in a much cleaner manner, by being a self-contained portable that also has AV output. It is a solution that should be familiar to anyone who remembers Sega's Nomad.

There were a lot of neat ideas in the Wii U, but Nintendo failed to follow any of them through to completion, cutting each idea short when it started to interfere with some other idea. The end result is a portable system that isn't portable, and a DS that doesn't play DS games. It has the feel of a platform that was designed by committee, where everyone's pet feature was given equal priority.

[Sildani]

Read on Engadget that the Switch will have a 6.3 inch multitouch screen of 720p resolution. God, I hope not, I want 1080p in the worst way.

[Mommar]

Read on Engadget that the Switch will have a 6.3 inch multitouch screen of 720p resolution. God, I hope not, I want 1080p in the worst way.

You really won't notice the difference in resolution at that size, but you'll notice the battery life difference tremendously.

Edited October 30, 2016 by Mommar