Topic: Some smartphones match the power of the Switch (and that's a good thing)

@MFD
"Someone who looks for a PS4/Xbox One wants other things out of their machine than someone who looks for a 3DS does. The Switch is more 3DS than it is PS4/Xbox One."

For me, i prefer smaller machines, lighter, not bulky like PS4 / Xbox 1. I also have PS2 Slim , Wii & Wii U that have to be attached on TV, will have PS4 Slim later during year 2018, but Portability from Switch wins my heart. For me, game from Consoles or Handheld are same, i got same experiences and same fun despite of different media. I'm also play some Arcade machine games such as Dance Dance Revolution X2, Para Para Paradise 2nd Mix, MaiMai Murasaki + as Complementary my gaming time, not just only Consoles and Handhelds.

I'm not talking about architecture. I'm talking about how in 5-10 years the things we need a full sized box for will start to be possible in smaller form factors. Big enough flash drives, big enough cartridges if we're still using physical media. Enough horsepower with a small enough power consumption. If you hadn't noticed the XBOne X actually uses something that PC users would call a low end CPU because you simply don't need an i7 for gaming. If you look at PC gamers they're not putting mechanical hdds in their builds because nand flash has become cheap enough.

At some point making a console portable won't be a compromise.

@skywake Sure, it won't be a compromise, but that doesn't mean you can cram everything in a smaller size. And even if, then it's all the easier to have a powered-up box.

Handheld isn't the be all-end all. It's bad enough that the Switch portrays to be both, when it's really a handheld.

It literally does. By definition that's what it would mean to have a portable machine with no compromises. It'd be a smaller machine that still manages to "cram everything in"

@skywake Regardless, more space for more components means you can put in more, such as more memory.

Memory isn't the best example as that's something that doesn't take up a whole lot of physical space. Some mobile phones can find the room for 8GB RAM and a 512GB Micro SD card is the size of your fingernail, so even today it's price that's the limitation

Pretty much the same goes for almost everything else inside a console like the PS4 or XB1 but there's one exception where money couldn't buy you an acceptable mobile equivalent, and that's the GPU. Because of the difference in what's an acceptable power draw, there's a major disparity between what you can get on a desktop class unit versus a mobile one, and while that's reducing with time I don't think it'll go away entirely.

We may eventually reach the point though where, if a mobile GPU can give you 4K@60fps on nearly every game, few people will see the point in having consoles with desktop-class GPUs. That'll probably happen in the next five to ten years.

Not really. The physical size of a traditional console is mostly dictated by three components. The optical drive, the hdd and cooling. The rest doesn't actually take up much physical space. For the optical drive and hdd well flash is better in every way but cost so when they are cheap enough to do the job that'll change. Most high end PC builds already forgo mechanical storage in favor of ssds.

So it's just cooling then. And as I said earlier even high end gear is consuming less power these days. And I can assure you that consoles aren't pushing the bleeding edge spec anymore. It really is just a matter of time.

This is true. The reason that a smaller chip means the console will be smaller has nothing to do with the chip taking up space. It's because a smaller chip produce less heat, which means the cooling can be smaller.

Unbelievably, civ vi has just appeared in the iOS App Store! iPad only unsurprisingly. Came out of no where. Just downloading, first 60 moves free. My switch will be getting a bit of a rest at least

Wonder if it will come to the Switch in the new year.

On the one hand, strategy games are often the least demanding, on the other hand, it's a 2016 release, which is just amazing. I would absolutely not be surprised if the 2020 release of Call of Duty came to some mobile plattform.

I don't play RTS games, but don't they require a lot of CPU power?

If you want to play Call of Duty on a mobile platform, you already can. You'll just need a Windows tablet with an i5 or i7 processor. Sure, the graphics will be at the lowest settings, it'll be practically unplayable without using a mouse or a controller, and the battery will go flat in two or three hours, but it's possible.

Given that there are iPads and Android tablets of comparable graphical performance, I'd think it only a matter of time before they're getting ports of it too

I think defining platforms "mobile" is going to become increasingly meaningless. 2020 feels like it would be a little bit too soon but at the same time, in theory, Microsoft could release an XBOne portable by then. As in literally the same or better specs than the original XBOne in a form factor not unlike the Switch. They probably won't because it would mean abandoning optical media but even so. It would be technically possible.

I'd be equal parts surprised and not surprised if you end up being right

Civ is quite demanding on the CPU, especially in later ages. But it isn't continuously demanding, it is only when the comps take their turn.

And we will all be digital only, it is a matter of time. Publishers are pushing for it. If you want something nice to show on the shelf, they happily sell a 200 buck special edition with a download code.

And I don't think everyone will go the handheld route. It will always be more expensive to make an handheld. But don't count on the next gen being a big shift in graphics.