Topic: Is The Switch 2 Worth It???

It's worth even more

I don't think you can rely on a healthy amount of third party multi-platform titles as it seems commercially they have sold very poorly, below the publishers worst expectations. So it feels like we will get less of such games going forward and those we do get will be less optimised in order to reduce their development costs. I think at the beginning the publishers had good faith and put the effort in but I just can't see that happening in the future if sales continue to be low. It feels like this will continue to be a console mainly about first party games pretty much. The only third party games that might sell well are exclusives for the Switch 2. That's what it is looking like in the sales figures and I don't think that is surprising based on Switch, wii u etc. I was picking up wii u third party multi-platform titles for £2.99 years ago brand new for titles that I think had a full retail price of £40. They were generally weak titles compared to ps3 and 360 but significantly under-priced those versions so I bought them. Yes the wii u hardware sales were low and that is a significant cause of the situation but even on wii which was a huge success I got many third party titles very cheaply. However again that was technically a very weak console so such conversions were disappointing technically.

My point is I don't think you can rely on third party multi-platform games coming to Switch 2. These could well dry up or end up being technically very weak. I don't think you can consider the Switch 2 if you are relying on third party multi-platform titles to come to the platform in the coming years. I feel many will be cancelled. I thought there was talk of a Red Dead Redemption 2 coming to Switch 2 but now its just a version of the original Red Dead Redemption that is 15 years old and playable on old consoles like the Xbox 360 etc. Easy to port and even emulate nowadays. Surely they wouldn't have to spend much money at all on such a conversion to Switch 2. Probably an afternoon's work with existing assets and code and no need to optimise as well beneath the capabilities of Switch 2.

This is useful for me, it seems I have made a choice

Regardless what one says it's your Money and how you spend it. But if you a portable DLSS experience capable hardware Switch2 is the way forward. Sure it's cost more but then you compare that to other portable devices they cost more and are bigger and have weight to prove it. Also you can for the most part with Nintendo game updates compatibility are able to play Switch1 games on Switch2 and if you transfer system your saves moves to the new system aka ACNH. Price is but one factor there are other portable consoles costing more but you paying for those extras as well. Also if you are a Nintendo game player why loose out on your options to get better frame and higher game play??? No one said a better hardware was going to cheap by any stretch of the imagination here.

I personally think the Steam Deck is stronger hardware than Switch 2 and capable of more and here in the UK when there is a sale which you get maybe 2 or 3 times a year the original Steam Deck sells for £280. In CPU performance the Steam Deck is an easy 4.5x stronger whether docked portable as the Switch 2 has a passmark cpu score of around 2000 and the Steam Deck is 9000. Then you have memory where the Steam Deck is 16GB and the Switch 2 is 12GB. After that it gets more complicated as the Switch 2 has 2 states docked and portable performance. The Steam Deck is about 88GB/s memory bandwidth (quad channel memory), the Switch 2 is about 67GB/s portable and 102GB/s docked. The Steam Deck is about 1.6/1.7 Teraflops in GPU performance, the Switch 2 is about 2.2 Teraflop docked and likely sub 1 Teraflop in portable mode. Yes it can peak to around 1.2 Teraflop in portable mode but when you see the comparison between docked and portable mode and you calculate the battery runtime on a sub 20Wh battery with a mainly 10Nm fabricated SOC you know its running at sub 1 Teraflop, I would estimate around 700-900 Gflops. The Switch 2 native resolution can be as low as 640x360p before being upscaled by DLSS. Here the Switch 2 is far superior to the Steam Deck in AI upscaling. The Switch 2 can render at lower resolutions and produce good quality higher resolution images on the portable screen.

The Switch 2 is basically offering PS4 performance portably but the Steam Deck is far more powerful than that. The Steam Deck can run more complicated and demanding game engines but because it renders many games natively struggles with the same visual fidelity however in recent times there has been more effort to match Switch 2 upscaling so we are seeing improvements in upscaling and frame generation. Even the Steam Deck LCD screen is a huge improvement in many areas, its far more responsive, is smoother and delivers a great experience and the OLED version goes well beyond that. The thing that stands out to me on Switch 2 is input lag when you combine the slow display panel with the added input lag of DLSS games can feel a bit jerky and slow to respond. It's not a great experience on the portable screen in my opinion for some games. Skyrim is a good example of this, they have put no effort in to reduce DLSS input lag and you end up with a inferior experience to many other formats. Even the notorious worst version of Skyrim on PS3 never had that level of input lag, it had choppy frame rates the further you got into the game but at least at the beginning it was playable.

Many of the Switch 2 problems in portable mode are due to the poor panel and using a dated fabrication process for the main SOC which means they cannot afford to overdrive the LCD panel to improve many issues. It feels like the next revision of the Switch 2 console will improve many of these issues, i.e. maybe a OLED panel and a SOC on a better fabrication process.

Cyberpunk now on Steam Deck has been improved for better visual fidelity and higher frame rates using FSR4 etc and lets not forget its the full game, there are no fixed platform optimisations here, the Steam Deck is running the full PC game. It's running it at up to 90fps (OLED screen is 90Hz).

It has Wario World.

Yes.

I am thinking the Steam home console is going to make the Switch 2 not worth it for those who want value attached to the TV. If you never pull the switch 2 out of the dock and don't really need Nintendo IP, it's probably now not worth it just because Steam is a better market than Nintendo.com

But again, it really depends on how much of a need you have to play a handful of well crafted games.

Steam is such an outlier in capitalism. It's the only company on Earth that hasn't pushed the gas pedal all the way down on greed (yet), and that provides huge discounts on PC. Now if the Gabe cube acts as a quality device, I would consider making that the console of choice for controller based games just because I know it will be 40-70 on Switch 2 while it's on sale on steam for 20. It happens all the time.

@BonzoBanana
It's worth remembering that most people don't care and can't even notice most of this stuff unless you make them play on consoles side-by-side, which nearly quite literally never happens,

For me, from the beginning of all this nonsense, I've really enjoyed the handheld visuals on my Switch 2, and it's primarily how I play. I was initially tepid about the increased size, but after actually owning it and using it, I like it. It's bright and supports higher frame rate possibilities. I haven't noticed a lick of this input lag people keep talking about, and I play a ton of twitchy action games and platformers. I didn't know it was a "bad" screen until I started seeing stuff on the internet about it. I would wager, pretty confidently, that most people (even "gamers" lol) fall into that same bucket with me.

Nobody is gonna debate that having access to Steam isn't awesome - the selection of games and sales on there are amazing, and I have a solid gaming PC to take advantage of that. But when it comes to practical handheld gaming that may take you beyond the confines of your living room, in my opinion, you can't beat the simplicity, the form factor, and the 1st-party exclusives the Switch offers.

That's what they can't demostrate...cry to the wind would ya.

This is the end of the day...accessiblity and people can enjoy and not have to buy a niche product to shout into the wind.

This is what they sorely forgot and Steam is a niche product can they demonstrate 15+ millions sales figure and 1billions games sales on a single console? No they can't but whine they must.

It’s worth it if you like games.
It not worth it if you don’t like games.

If you don't want to play handheld or play Nintendo games, why would you buy a Switch 2? I would argue you should go buy a PS5 for the polished console experience but with higher power. I suppose steam console will also be an option (and xbox is as well), but I assume PS5 will remain the go-to choice in this scenario.

Looking at the insane Capcom sales on steam right now... some are 10-50 cents cheaper on Steam than on Switch although others are the same. Steam has more games than Switch does, but it's pretty common that the best sale prices are very close to the same on both devices. It's mainly just first party Nintendo games that don't play the sale game.

@Misima the GabeCube is going to expensive tho. I think it was Digital Foundry who met with them and asked about the price and if it's be console priced like 500 bucks and they acted shocked to be asked the question. I think it specs out as a little weaker than the PS5 base unit. If both those things are not true I'm getting one. Like if it was a little stronger than the PS5 pro and around 700 hundred I'd be down. But I bet it'll be closer to a 1000 and not as strong as a series x or ps5

What people game on what console is their choice. People here are making false equivalence that does neither console any services. People game on Switch2 and that is their choice people need to stop thinking they make the choice for what platform they game on. Also whoms selling more console? Switch2 at 15+ vs Steam 5 mils?

@Dang_69 Everything is going to be expensive. I actually wouldn't be surprised if the switch 2 gets more expensive soon. Even if the system is expensive, it doesn't take many games to cover the price difference between a Switch and a hypothetical 600or 700 dollar Gabe cube. Sales just happen way more often and to an extreme on Steam.

Simply put right now the games are subsidizing the cost of Nintendo and Sony systems. But that's not the case for Steam so the games will be cheaper and the system will be more expensive.

@FishyS I wouldn't buy a PS5 at any price because I dislike the controller and the company and the price. But again, that's fine for whatever people want themselves. But I imagine that steam games have more value than PS5 as well.

@Misima
Every console manufacturer is gonna have to get creative with their pricing structure in the months ahead due to the insane price increases coming down the line on RAM and solid state memory.

Will be interesting to see what Nintendo and Sony choose to do, in particular. So far, I support Nintendo's approach: make the accessories, amiibo, and even the games 10-20 bucks more in order to keep the actual console price stable. It's getting people in the door in the first place that is most important, after all.

I don't know much about this new Steam console or whatever, but yea, it's definitely not a great time to be a console manufacturer looking to source components.

Going from NS1 to NS2 feels like you're getting a NextGen 'sequel' to NS1, which is fine, I'm cool with that this time around, and that's exactly what most Nintendo fans wanted. But I don't understand the people saying it's like the equivilant to going from an NES to an SNES.

Going from the NES to SNES in 1991 was like entering an entirely whole new world of gaming. it was mind blowing and ground breaking. Visuals were a massive substantial leap for their time, the sheer amount of colors that could be displayed at once on screen made Genesis games color pallettes look like a joke, the 16-bit audio and distinct unique orchestrated-styled sound chip separated itself from the competition(as did Genesis, NES & C64 etc), The controller design was wildly different, with shoulder buttons, a unique diamond 4-button face layout, neither of which existed prior, and the shades of purple & grey's were a massive departure compared to the color scheme and overall design and aesthetics of NES.

The game cartridges were rectangular and completely different in style, including the SNES boxes themselves along with their bottom plastic dust covers, and whatever else.

Going from the NES, to Genesis, to SNES, to Saturn, to PS1, to N64, to Dreamcast, to GameCube, DSLite, Wii & 3DS all felt incredibly diverse, boasted tons of character and were wildly different from one another. It's not like that anymore. Although NS2's Dual Mouse-HD Rumble 2-Gyro controls are something kind of new, and we now have HD Rumble 2, but it's not quite on par with what the haptics in the DualSense are capable of. Also, ever since CD Audio debuted back in the early to mid 90's, video game consoles no longer had their own unique distinct sound.

Controllers these days either mimick XBOX360 or the DualShock, there's no more motion sensor bar/reference for pint point relaible pointer motion aiming, physical video game media typically look like bland vaccant throwaways and graphics just never really impress me anymore simply because we've come so far. Switch 2 will obviously be the last substantial or noticeable leap in power from the big N. But we've seen similar-ish results from the PS4 Pro years ago, and now we're getting nearly a generation beyond that with PS5.

But as everybody knows, Nintendo has so much artistic merit, and this includes HAL and Retro Studious. Prime 4 being one of the recent greatest examples, and even Kirby Air Riders.

And what's so exciting about future VR/MR tech is that it can even emulate a size adjustable flatscreen OLED screen, but it can apply stereoscopic 3D or forced/automatic S3D, or just 2D, aside from offering top down VR, 3rd person VR, SideScrolling VR etc. The technology can do anything, and every genre you can think of better, and it will in the future as the tech continues to get better and better, until it's perfected and without a single barrier.

If Nintendo mimicked Valves upcoming Steam frame, but got rid of the stand alone tech-junk inside, it would cut the cost down dramatically, and possibly reduce the weight and size even further. If I could use that thing, with it's 6GHZ dongle for wireless connectivity for NS2, and play titles like Metroid Prime 4: Beyond in first person VR, I'd be over the moon.

I want a Super Hybrid. A Switch 3 that gives us > TV, Handheld, Table Top, VR, MR and forced Stereoscopic 3D for every flat game with an MR size adjustable Micro-OLED 1080p-4K screen in your living space. Steam Frame and Samsung's new headset supposedly will automatically apply S3D if you want it to every Steam game you throw at it. Probably won't be as good as the real deal with games being designed with S3D in mind, but it's probably better than nothing. With a Super Hybrid, everybody wins and nobodies left out or forced to play a certain way they don't want to play. Play the same game on a TV, or handheld, or play it in VR etc. Options options.

If I could play Prime 4, with even 2K per eye @60fps in VR , with a Micro-OLED display, Pancake Lenses, while offering the light and small form factor of the upcoming Dream Air which is 140 grams light, with 6ghz wireless connectivity to NS2, and with ring-less VR controllers that completely surpass the Wii remote plus & Nunchuck, i could never go back to playing it on a TV. And we're not even talking 4K per eye at 90-120fps. That would require a super beast 5090 at this point.

Maybe the PS6's AI upscaling future-tech wizardy can pull of some crazy results in tandem with a PSVR3 if it ever see's the light of day.

@Misima yeah but if it's weaker than the PS5 and way more expensive what's the point? Yeah the sales are better but still

People shouldn't buy consoles based on how fast it is, RAM capacity, and all that stuff, people should choose their game console based on the games they want to play. Every console has their exclusives and also multi platform titles, but at the end of the day its about what games you want to play and which console has those games.

Me, I'm a Mario and Zelda fan so I choose Nintendo Switch, because that's where those games are.

Personally I think the Steam Deck is pointless, games on Steam are made to be played on Laptop/PC, you can use Mouse, Keyboard or Gamepad. You could get the same portability using a Tablet and a wireless gamepad.