Hardware Switch, NVidia and Mid Range Gaming

[LightyKD]

As much as I'm not a fan of the Switch, maybe, just maybe a combination of Switch and Shield might end up creating a new market. When OUYA was around, I used to argue a lot, in favor of a "mid range" gaming market. The idea would be that PS4, XB1 and PC would be the high range guys while Nintendo and some popular yet powerful enough Android console would make a mid range, cost friendly category for consumers and developers. OUYA flaked out too soon before that dream could be realized but with Switch and Shield both being around the same power, this could work.

Shield already offers some AAA games that are ported to Android. Granted most of those games are last gen but they exist. With two devices at a similar power level on the market, developers will have more of a reason to make games for the mid range. Think about this. When it was just Wii U, PS4 and XB1, you had two consoles running on the same architecture as PC and a third that was viewed as the throw away. Why develop for the "throw away"? Now that we might have a two and two (consoles only) with PS4 and XB1 running one type of architecture and Switch and Shield running on the other, we can now have more choices for the consumer. Hell, maybe we will see households with some combination of a Switch and PS4 or a Shield and XB1.

I'm not on the Switch hype train but it looks like Nvidia could appear to end up as the real winner in this situation. Between the Switch event next month and the reveal of the next Shield TV at CES (also in January), the next 45 days should prove to be interesting.

 

[foob]

I'm not on the Switch hype train but it looks like Nvidia could appear to end up as the real winner in this situation.

One read of the contract between these two would tell us so, sooo, soooooo, soooooooo much.

* hard-nosed bargaining for component pricing goes without saying.
* probably some exclusivity for Nintendo to use Nvidia tech.
* probably a lot to limit Nvidia competing with Nintendo.
* probably a lot of 'performance-based' renumeration for Nvidia if Nintendo reaches sales goals in defined periods.

And so on and so on.
Leaks of the contract would be far more valuable to me than any leak of hardware specs!

 

[Xzi]

Consoles are already the low-range of this generation. That's why you can get a PS4 for $250 now. Mid-range will be "4K" consoles, and PC will remain on top. More powerful = more money, as usual.

Don't expect Switch will only run specific games. It'll be close enough in power to XB1 to get all of the most-wanted ports from the other two consoles.

 

[LightyKD]

Consoles are already the low-range of this generation. That's why you can get a PS4 for $250 now. Mid-range will be "4K" consoles, and PC will remain on top. More powerful = more money, as usual.

Don't expect Switch will only run specific games. It'll be close enough in power to XB1 to get all of the most-wanted ports from the other two consoles.

We still have a week to go. Something tells me that Nvidia is holding the specs to the new Shield TV until after the Switch reveal. They had a press event last night at CES but gave no spec info outside the buzzwords of 4K HDR. As far as Switch being close to XB1. I wouldn't be surprised if it's like something similar to my PC. I could see Switch games running at a low res but with high textures to get close to XB1 in overall look.

 

[Xzi]

We still have a week to go. Something tells me that Nvidia is holding the specs to the new Shield TV until after the Switch reveal. They had a press event last night at CES but gave no spec info outside the buzzwords of 4K HDR. As far as Switch being close to XB1. I wouldn't be surprised if it's like something similar to my PC. I could see Switch games running at a low res but with high textures to get close to XB1 in overall look.

The new Shield TV seems to just be a refresh on the old one, with the same Tegra X1 inside. IMO Nvidia is doing this to differentiate it from Switch. Where Shield TV is more just a streaming/media box, and Switch is more gaming-focused. I doubt we'll see Shield TV's local/internet game streaming on Switch, either.

 

[LightyKD]

The new Shield TV seems to just be a refresh on the old one, with the same Tegra X1 inside. IMO Nvidia is doing this to differentiate it from Switch. Where Shield TV is more just a streaming/media box, and Switch is more gaming-focused. I doubt we'll see Shield TV's local/internet game streaming on Switch, either.

Does the original shield support HDR? That was something Nvidia kept going on and on about last night.

 

[Xzi]

Does the original shield support HDR? That was something Nvidia kept going on and on about last night.

Yeah it does. 4K HDR video output. Only reason I think they'd highlight this is because people missed it the first time around. 4K HDR for $200 in a time when MS and Sony weren't even considering 4K consoles yet.

 

[vincentx77]

Here's the problem. A "mid range" product isn't very appealing when it's being sold at a the same price as the full blown product (maybe more in case of the 1st gen PS4 and Xbox One). Only as a handheld does the Switch become interesting at all. $200 for an Android TV Box is stupid. I don't care what it has in it. It's AAA games don't run that well in Android and most people can play them cheaper on whatever laptop or computer they have in the house. You can get a Chinese 4k Android TV box for $50 or less that do everything but Netflix, and chances are, if you have a 4k TV, it has a Netflix app built into it already.

 

[Xzi]

You can get a lot of cheap Chinese junk for $50, doesn't mean you should. I bought the first Shield TV for $150 some years ago and I have no regrets. I've traded in plenty of consoles I didn't find useful over the years, but Shield TV has some unique capabilities such as gamestream from your PC. It also boots from sleep in like half a second, and has had no problem operating in near 100% humidity. XB1 and PS4 are a massive waste of money by comparison if you've already got a capable gaming PC.

 

[Molina]

That's why you can get a PS4 for $250 now. Mid-range will be "4K" consoles, and PC will remain on top. More powerful = more money, as usual.

The thing is, where I live (Reunion Island), they plan to sell the Switch for around 425-450 euros. We re paying around 15-20 more euros for console compare to France. So it better be a good "mid range" gaming.

I planned to buy a ps4 since they are kinda cheap, but since all the game I wanted will come sooner or later on pc...

I bought the first Shield TV for $150 some years ago and I have no regrets.

Are they that good? I mean, I have the shield tablet, so except for streaming, does the shield TV have something new?

 

[Xzi]

Are they that good? I mean, I have the shield tablet, so except for streaming, does the shield TV something?

I'd say you only need one Shield device really, although it seems there may be more native titles getting ports to Shield TV specifically going forward if that's something that interests you.

 

[KingVamp]

Since Nvidia is making the Switch, I wonder if it will have 4K HDR video streaming.

They either don't have a stronger/newer chip to show yet, or they figured that the Shield TV doesn't need one. They didn't update the tablet line either.