Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@skywake: well I can see off TV play on tablets happening. Pikmin 3 does have a touchscreen control only mode after all. And just about every third party publisher has worked on mobile so optimizing control for the touchscreen should be difficult. Even then you'll likely be able to hook up the controller anyway.

Yea, this is the part I don't get, either. I'm a big Microsoft guy, for instance, and I know my Xbox One can stream to my PC but... uhm... why would I want to do that? I bought the Xbox One to play... uh... Xbox One games. I have my PC to play PC games.

Same would go for this. If I buy the "home" NX console, why would I want to stream to some other device? Didn't I just buy the console to play its games on IT?

Ugh. I don't know. Maybe I'm honestly getting too old for all this lol (I joke, of course)

That patent for SCD...what if the console it was attached to wasn't made by Nintendo. What if...it was made by ANYONE else...Nintendo go third party without making a lot of people in their hardware division unemployed and keep their hand held audience...ok, that was outside the box!

@GrailUK: NX is a handheld and Nintendo Ports HD version of the NX games to PC/PS4 and the handheld can act as a control on both! I thinking nintendo would make a killing if they did that.

I honestly think this was the Analyst overreaching a bit. I think that even if Nintendo wanted to Sony wouldn't allow it and frankly it doesn't make much sense with the PS4. But with PCs and tablets? It makes a whole lot of sense. And if you're wondering why you'd ever want to do that? Well consider the following....

• An Android based media box in a different room
• A Microsoft Surface in your back patio
• An iPad propped up on your pillow late at night

We've got used to the idea of services like Netflix, Youtube and Facebook being on every device. Why not games? For my Wii U I play just as many games on the GamePad off-TV as I do on my TV because it's just more convenient. With my PC I have an old laptop hooked up to the TV for Steam in-home streaming and, when it works, that's significantly better than sitting at my desk. This stuff is ready for prime time, all of these devices have Bluetooth and reasonably fast WiFi that we don't really take advantage of. So why not?

@Frostyboy: Oh I agree with you. I was just wildly speculating on the letters N and X lol

NX = New Xenoblade, codename for the mass production of real life skells

Hello everybody, I'm new here and I want to give my opinion of the NX (sorry for my bad english, I am not a native speaker so please understand)
I think the NX despite what Nintendo says will replace the Wii U. For the power, I am not sure but I may say just a little bit more powerful than the PS4. Not a lot but enough to make a difference.It will be provided without disk but an optional one will be available. The console will have a very fast internal hard drive but the capacity will be at max 500GB(I precise it is just my opinion). it will also have two flash memory with low capacity. the hard drive will be used to store games, save files and a part of the firmware. One of the flash drive will contain the other part of the firmware, the one loaded when the machine is turned on so that it will boot very fast.
the second flash drive will be use as backup for the save files and the firmware so that in case of data corruption, the console can restore the save files and the firmware(you will still have to download all your games again). it will be possible to connect multiple external hard drive (maybe, but at least one HDD I am sure) to extend the memory for the games(maybe proprietary). It will also be able to adjust the Read/Write speed according to the game playing or the action which is executed and developper will be able to indicate the speed but all games will be developped to run at the lowest at least. there will be at least two speed, a low mode and a high mode(there may be more). the NX being capable of multitasking, in the case you run a game while downloading another, the speed will be assigned differently to each of the task to optimize their overall performance. Now for the controller, I think it will be the evolution of the gamepad. it will have its own processor (which wasn't the case with the gamepad) and a screen. The late Iwata Satoru said in an interview that he wasn't satisfied because one of the thing he really wanted for the wii u hadn't been possible. I just guess here but I think it was the inability to use more than one gamepad for multiplayer . with the new controller, it will be possible to connect many of them to the console. But for them being a fully fonctional handheld, I hope so but I am not sure.

I took almost all those ideas after reading the patent nintendo filed last year. In it there was also mention of the NX being able to connect to another console which had an optical drive and being able to play the same game as this console.I think more of a wii u but the recent rumors points towards PS4 and X1. There is also the fact that sd card used on the console will contain update for the firmware but it may also contain games who knows. I decided to speak about it because I didn't see it in any big news. They only talked about the fact that it may have no optical disk drive.

what do you think about it ?

@Whitewatermoose: I don't understand how people think that a new home console less powerful than the PS4 is acceptable, 3 years after the PS4 launched. It's decent for the the coming 2/3 years, but when those consoles get replaced? Yeah, then it's the Wii U all over again. It needs to be substantially more powerful than the PS4, not just a tiny amount, but definitely something worth noting.

@Octane: than I think you are going to be disappointed. Nintendo ain't interested in power, and they don't need as much for their games. Not saying it should be weaker than xbone but don't expect a 4k gaming device.

I believe all these rumours and stuff about the NX acually being some sort of a hybrid console might turn out to be incorrect. I think it's going to be a standard console that might or should be more powerful than any other console put out so far. But that's just me.

My expectations can't get any lower than they already are, so I doubt I'll be disappointed. But for the sake of making a ''comeback'', that's what they need to do. Whether it's launching this year or next year, it needs to be able to compete for a while with whatever console Sony and Microsoft are launching in 3/4 years from now.

I don't mind another Wii U in terms of userbase, and if it's enough to keep Nintendo in the green, then there's absolutely no problem with that. However, since people are complaining that the U's userbase is too small, well, you won't fix that with another Wii U.

I'm more on the hybrid console camp with cartridges. Easy to take and go with the portable system. Yeah they're more expensive than discs, but they can hold more and are more durable. SD carts of course.

This 100%, man. ^

Don't expect another underpowered console like the PS4, Xbox One, or Wii U this time around from Nintendo: you can pretty much expect it to be very powerful if it is indeed launching in 2017. While I'm still keeping my expectations low, it's a possibility with the patents leaked that Nintendo is experimenting with having the portable dock in some way with the NX console to supercharge it. That doesn't sound too far-fetched.

Point is, if it isn't powerful or easy enough to port/develop games, gamers and third-parties won't be interested at all in playing on or developing for it, and then you would have another Wii U case again. It is the architecture of the consoles in the market that matters now more than anything else now for that same reason.

I don't know why people even want their next home console to even include a screen on the controllers. It'd be absolutely useless to have again as the Wii U GamePad clunky enough to use (it is underutilized by even Nintendo and that's a fact). Touch screens, free-form display controllers, etc. should all be for the portable.

I will say that people keep forgetting about Scrollder Triggers too. That patent looked very believable for both console and handheld and could forever change gaming. I've seen nothing mention AR functionality yet either (talking about what the analyst speculated recently).

Anyways, taking into account that the handheld releases this year and console next, hypothetically:

If the console has standard gaming controllers that are even more ergonomic and high quality than Xbox One controllers with Scrollder Triggers, you wouldn't need ZL/ZR any longer. Haptic feedback is easier to implement too nowadays and we already know Nintendo filed a patent for that waaay back for touch screens (perfect for handhelds), though it would be better to implement that for the triggers.

The handheld is where they could include the touch screen ergonomics provided by capacitative multitouch screens, haptic feedback, and the free form OLED display could be put to the test as it is much easier for Nintendo to experiment with in that regard. It'll certainly be interesting to see how it all pans out, to say the least.

For now, my expectations are just a unifed OS, a console at least on par with current-gen, and an ergonomic handheld that can interact with the home console terminal in some way, shape, or form. Das it.

@Smoo: Now that I think about it, this wouldn't even be necessary.

Just have the portable with the game cartridge inside of it dock with the terminal, and there you have your "card slot" of sorts. Sure, it means people would have to buy the portable for it, but they could also just make another optional add-on for those that don't want to get the portable or download games digitally.

Nintendo needs to be the first to embrace a more digital future or console gaming isn't gonna get any better. Goes with the idea I have in mind of how the system may work above. But I really don't think Nintendo should go with discs again. Discs are aging rapidly and too expensive compared to cards nowadays.

What I think the NX is.
Everyone is talking about The new Console, but is it really a console?
Maybe it's an update for the Wii U.
I think the Nintendo NX is an update for the Wii U that activates the 3D-function of the Wii U-gamepad, by someone who was playing Assasin's Creed is the 3D-function discovered. But I have seen pictures of the NX-gamepad, what could this be? If the NX is really an update, maybe it adds a more controller support, and then your able to connect up to four touchscreen-controllers! (I mean Wii U-gamepads, and/or NX-controllers). So the NX-controllers work with the updated Wii U, but I have read something about a deal of Nintendo and AMD, So maybe The NX-controller can play games without being connected to the Wii U. Another thing about the update, it could be that the updated wii u has his own NX-disc. I hope my theory about the Nintendo NX is right, cause I already bought a Wii U, XD!

I completely "get" what you are saying, and I know we live in a society where this kind of stuff is becoming more normal. But for me, this doesn't really hold water. I don't own an iPad or a Surface, nor do I want to. I have no desire to have one "propped" on my pillow at night. I don't want or need a tablet on my back patio.

I'm the kind of person who just wants things in their place, I guess. If I buy a home console it's because I want to hook it up to my TV and play the games on my TV - not my phone, not my PC, not my other console hooked up to the same TV.

I think I'm just of an older mindset. I never really caught on to all this stuff. I only got a "smart" phone last year, and to be honest, I don't even use the "smart" features a whole lot. I just kind of enjoy...uh...gaming, I guess lol. I don't need all the fancy interconnectedness. I just want to game.

If they're not going to kick the specs down the road significantly then I don't understand what the point is. If this is just for third party games then I wonder why on Earth anyone would care. This idea of a lower powered console with Nintendo exclusives? If that's the plan then they should just stick with the Wii U for a while longer.

@rallydefault
To be honest I'm kinda the same with phones. I only really use my fairly entry level phone for checking email and my twitter feed. There's really not that much that's worth doing on a screen that small. But tablets and little "micro console" style streaming boxes? Why not use them?

@skywake: Eh, I don't know. It's just me being me lol My fiancé came home with an iPad Mini over Christmas (her boss bought one for everyone at the office), and I gave it a spin for a couple days. Used it for a bit when I saw I could play Hearthstone on it, but then... it's pretty much just been sitting around unused for 3 weeks or so. Apps and all that stuff never really interested me. Like, on my phone, I'd download a bank app, but I found I preferred just using my computer to check my accounts. I'm not a big picture-taker or anything, so that whole sphere is lost on me.

I'm weird lol

What would a streaming box be?

The Wii U is competing with the PS4, the NX is competing with nothing except maybe mobile, Nintendo's next home console must compete with the PS5. If they release another system to compete with the PS4 they're going to fall short. By the time they gain any momentum the PS4 will be old news.