Hardware Poll: What do you think of the Switch?

[Flame]

Nintendo actually wasted their time on this shitswitch rather than working on the NX? Nintendo, im disappointed...

I know the feel when Nintendo was working on the Dolphin and we got the Gamecube instead or the Nitro and we got DS instead same again with Revolution but Wii.


Nintendo always tricks us.

 

[Obveron]

Do not want. Don't mix mobile with home console, the compromises means it's good for neither.

 

[Foxi4]

Switch is basically the Shield 2. Sure, Nvidia has plans for other device releases, but they're clearly banking on Nintendo for their first mainstream foray into the console market. Shield in all its forms has been well-received, but it's still stayed mostly a niche product. It's a mutually beneficial partnership, so I'd be very surprised if Nvidia charged Nintendo full price.


A mouse is ideal for those things. Touchscreens are a distant second, right up there with trackballs and laptop nipple-mice. Again, nobody wants to play competitive online games or games that emphasize timing like Dark Souls on a touchscreen. It's fine for casual F2P drop-puzzle games, but people don't buy consoles for those. Clearly Nintendo realized the same thing.


Regardless it has to be able to be portable, so motion controls are ruled out from the get-go because you need a separate device that tracks them. Two if you want really accurate tracking (IE Vive).

The only possible reason why Nvidia would even consider the possibility of selling the chips cheaply is to f*ck with AMD which currently owns the console landscape - it's a guaranteed way to sell at least 10 million units of a chip that will be obsolete next year *and* get some sloppy seconds from the console market from which they were ousted, but it was never their primary revenue generator to begin with.

As for mouse versus touchscreen, what you're forgetting about is that touchscreens have 5-10 touchpoints while a mouse has one pointer, plus touchscreens can be used in any circumstances while a mouse requires a flat surface, like a desk. *Nobody* is going to use a mouse on the go, no matter how precise it is, which is why touchscreens creeped their way into ultra-mobile laptops/tablet hybrids and they're not going anywhere. A mouse may be ideal *on PC*, but we're discussing the matter in context of portable consoles, so your point is moot because a mouse is not a viable alternative.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

Ey b0ss

... What it gonna cost?...

 

[Ethevion]

It's definitely an interesting concept, but I need more info before judging it.

 

[gnmmarechal]

News straight from the horse's mouth - the dock only charges the system and transfers the image to the TV, it doesn't do anything beyond that - shame. The Switch also features Amiibo support which was not presented in the video.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2016/10/...nintendo-switch-clarifies-additional-features

Huh. I expected something like the Surface Book's dock with a dGPU.

Sent from my cave of despair where I collect souls

 

[Qtis]

A couple of things make this tempting, mostly first party games. Many others will make me wait a couple of years as the spec is overall uncertain. Also being burned with the Wii U and its nonexistent support outside Nintendo still left a bad taste I'm my mouth.

On the go gaming is nice, but the size is looking quite big so I could just as well use my laptop to play games (Skyrim and co already there).

 

[Deleted member 331788]

must admit, this is another good innovation

You do know it's just an overpriced tablet ...that you can dock!
It's nothing new...it just Nintendo going down the mobile route, like many other companies tried ...like several years ago.
Expect games like Super Mario Run to be released on it!

 

[Deleted User]

I know the feel when Nintendo was working on the Dolphin and we got the Gamecube instead or the Nitro and we got DS instead same again with Revolution but Wii.


Nintendo always tricks us.

Yeah, Nintendo always lies , now the NX will suck

 

[KingVamp]

lol This will be like one the strongest things in the portable market and we don't even have a price.

 

[xile6]

So, just started to look over the Nintendo switch photos and video again.
a few questions.

How are the controllers powered?
I know there wireless and you can un clip them and use them for multiplayer. but how are they powered and charged.

Hopefully the battery will last at lest 3 hrs.

From the video and photos it shows :
there is L R 1 and 2, which is a good thing.
Top loading game cart. (looks more like a vita game then a 3ds one).
Headphone jack up top. (wonder if it will suppose wireless headphone for in home use)
Power button is on top Left
There seems to be some vents on top of the system. I bet this is for a fan. I wonder how loud it will be.
I dont see a memory card slot anywhere. (I sure hope there will be expandable memory. Hopefully its just hidden somewhere, and hope it uses SD cards.)
Has build in wifi and system link. (hopefully you dont need to use a wifi hotspot)
Looks like there is a car dock. (On the part where they are playing mario kart in the car they slide it into a mount that holds it to the seat)


Thats about all i got from the video. It shall be a great system. I just hope preorders open up and i get grab one.
I dont want this damn wii shortage.
Also hope for some good launch game. If they have a zelda bundle im all over it.

 

[Sakitoshi]

I really like that you posted this, cause i didn't remember the name. LOL. Yeah, this Project Discovery was the prototype for the Nintendo Switch. Early in 2014 there were some rumours about AMD having designed a custom SoC for a big console vendor for mobile. We all assumed this would have been the 3DS successor. It seems Nintendo did want the Switch to come with AMD hardware initially(AMD has supplied the gpu for Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U), but Nvidia (who are so angry that they had no recent console victories) must have priced Tegra quite aggresively and offered tons of incentives (like the creation of an ecosystem of libraries for the console, instead of Nintendo having to write them themselves) to replace AMD.

To be honest, Tegra as a chip is a flop. It is strong on paper, but there is a reason not a lot of 3rd party manufacturers use it for Android devices. In the real world it runs too hot, it never reaches its full potential, and sometimes has inconsistent performance. And it is too expensive. Hence, Nvidia themselves are the main vendor for Tegra devices, and they are not exactly a huge success in the market.

AMD might have no history in the ARM space, but they have tiny x86 cores that could be used for tablets, bigger x86 cores for the home console, are more experienced with HBM RAM. And they have no history of screwing console partners, like Nvidia. Microsoft worked with Nvidia, not anymore... Sony, the same. Everyone gets burned by them. It is Nintendo's turn... You can bet the farm on the fact that AMD SoCs will be in Xbox Two/PS5... If Nintendo ever produces a Switch successor, i am willing to bet it won't have Nvidia inside. Let's wait and see.

Anyway, Nintendo is a greedy company, they don't care about their hardware, as long as it is cheap both to acquire and to develop for. So they picked Nvidia, but this has the downside that Nvidia has no x86 SoCs, so they can't make a home console. AMD could make the best hybrid console systems, two separate consoles, one with small x86 for the portable and one with big x86 for the home version. They could run the same games, the home console could have been competitive with the PS4Pro for the same price, and the portable could have smashed the Vita for a similar price and be its own segment. They could have one system to write games for and run them on 2 consoles with just different levels of detail. Only downside that AMD most probably wouldn't offer them libraries, Nintendo programmers would need to write them.

So we get this failure, which will be the laughing stock of the industry, exactly like the Wii U was. You think this hasn't been made before? PSP and PS Vita don't ring a bell? PS Vita is a similar handheld that came out a few years ago, has a tablet SoC and is a bit smaller than the Switch, and can output to the TV, with the minus that the controllers aren't detachable. And it was cheaper than what the Switch is going to cost, and had a vastly cheaper library of games. Switch is dead on the water, trust me. Don't preorder it, you will get burned.

I'm glad you explained all that because I didn't wanted to if someone asked.

Yeah, the theory is basically that Nvidia went running to Nintendo offering their chips for cheap to knock AMD out and win the race. Nintendo seeing that Nvidia chips do what they need and for that price, bought instantly even though AMD had a previous development on that area (check the date of that video, is from beginnings of 2014).

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

Rumors say that Nintendo will support the 3DS until 2018, and the Wii U has been dead since launch

The Wii U has been dead for most gamers, but for Developers and hackers, like me, it's actually still a great console, with great hardware. Imagine Windows/DOSBox, or Linux on this thing!

 

[naughty_cat]

I for one believe that once Nintendo stops worrying about their next console getting a PC emulator, and actually start working on something truly innovative.... that's when we'd really start to see something as cool and fun as the classic wii... When the Wii U was first announced, I felt it they tried to push games that featured co-op by utilizing a different view of the game through the controller screen, which was never really incorporated in most of the games that came out later, at least 3rd party games... Added to the fact that the controller in fact utilized the styles a lot (like what they did with the NDS)... I felt that they got way more involved with making their console UN-emulatable than actually being involved with something that would please the actual paying customers... But that's just how I feel about it.... Some may not agree, though I'd like to remind those of how Final Fantasy VII was supposed to come out on N64 (Square even got to a point where they managed to develop a working tech demo on N64 for FFVII), and it was because of Nintendo's adamant resolution on fighting piracy by using cartridges instead of CD's that Nintendo lost the Final Fantasy series for good to the Playstation consoles....

 

[Xzi]

The only possible reason why Nvidia would even consider the possibility of selling the chips cheaply is to f*ck with AMD which currently owns the console landscape - it's a guaranteed way to sell at least 10 million units of a chip that will be obsolete next year *and* get some sloppy seconds from the console market from which they were ousted, but it was never their primary revenue generator to begin with.

Exactly, I think Nintendo was using AMD hardware up until Switch as well, so Nvidia probably gave them some incentive to change teams.

As for mouse versus touchscreen, what you're forgetting about is that touchscreens have 5-10 touchpoints while a mouse has one pointer, plus touchscreens can be used in any circumstances while a mouse requires a flat surface, like a desk. *Nobody* is going to use a mouse on the go, no matter how precise it is, which is why touchscreens creeped their way into ultra-mobile laptops/tablet hybrids and they're not going anywhere. A mouse may be ideal *on PC*, but we're discussing the matter in context of portable consoles, so your point is moot because a mouse is not a viable alternative.

If we're specifically talking mobile, then a controller is going to be superior to a touchscreen every time. It's not as accurate for strategy games, but in every other instance having multiple different buttons each with a different function matters way more. You also remove the problem of covering up the screen while playing. You can only use one or the other at any given moment, so it's a matter of deciding what type of gameplay you want to push. Shallow cow-clickers or proper gaming like it has been on consoles since the NES. People aren't interested in distractions like touchscreens on their gaming console. It's why PS4/XB1 are selling and WiiU isn't.

 

[Conn0r]

I hope it has a capacitive touch screen so fun touch mobile-like homebrew or apps will be possible.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

@Foxi4 Guess i was right . So what do you think?

 

[dimmidice]

@Foxi4 Guess i was right . So what do you think?

What were you right about?

 

[baselhamad]

be careful guys, i think this version of Nintendo Switch is just Protype version, we still didn't see the Product version, i think the product version will be great than the protype version.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

What were you right about?

Me and @Foxi4 had an argument a while back over the size of the then formerly NX, I had said it would be a tablet in size but he had thought it would be smaller. It was really just an argument over battery life and seeing as how this machine has active cooling I'd say its OK at best (3-4 hours?)

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

be careful guys, i think this version of Nintendo Switch is just Protype version, we still didn't see the Product version, i think the product version will be great than the protype version.

We'll just have to see, i doubt this is the final design. Remember when the wii u had two circle pads instead of joysticks?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Do not want. Don't mix mobile with home console, the compromises means it's good for neither.

Except its running a tegra chip thats either based on the X1 or Parker, with parker being the more likely option, this means it will have a minimum of two ultra fast Denver2 cores and 6 stock arm cores which will provide really fast speed even though it runs simple code. The gpu will be based on pascal which already puts it in terms of architecture ahead of polaris which is being used in the pro.