Topic: Can someone explain why Nintendo would go 4k in the Switch midpoint?

Now I'm not saying it is or isn't happening, it just doesn't make much sense to me, now a switch that can run their games at 60fps at 1080p that makes sense, but a full on 4k switch? unless i'm misunderstanding the core inside the supposed switch pro is supposed to work. I mean we all know how nintendo rumors go but could someone explain how the core works too? it just feels like they would be screwing original switch owners over because why would they develop games for a console that can barely play games at 60fps at 1080p and a console that can run at 4k? it would take a huge amount of development to make games for both consoles, we know how long it took for doom and doom eternal to get their ports. just doesn't add up for me

@TheNumbr24 I mean, its really just wishful thinking at this point.

@TheNumbr24 I think 4k needs 40Mbps internet.that's more money I will need to spend for my internet too.

@Ninfan 4k natively? but its native so it is doing the 4k on its own. unless you mean 4k cloud like with hitman 3

@Snatcher it really is.

@Slowdive thank you i've been wondering what the heck it is. a lot of people keep screeching that its native 4k like the ps5, but no, that's not nintendo

@Slowdive yeah people seem to think that better graphics=better game. if that were true that botw wouldn't have gotten game of the year. sure better and or realistic graphics are nice but don't really add much. its like with animation and how people are using interpolation to "remaster" it, but it ends up just being a janky crappy bad feeling mess. If you want to watch a video on why Better framerate doesn't equal better quality, you should watch a video on interpolation by a youtuber called Noodle. Here's a link to that video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KRb_qV9P4g. He does swear a bit so be aware

@TheNumbr24 Digital Foundry(youtube channel) has talked about DLSS, which is the upscaling method the new nvidia or tegra chip can do- that's the new chip that the new switch revision is supposedly getting (already ordered for production?).

A few other points; Switch games don't look great on larger 4k TVs, and like Slowdive said, 4k TVs are becoming the norm. But a big driver of the push to 4k is Japan. Japan puts a lot of pride in their TV tech industry. They've already created 8k. NHK (japan broadcasting) has already started broadcasting some 4k & 8k content. Japan's public is farther ahead in 4k adoption. And, Nintedo is a Japanese company. A lot of people in the US will be buying new TVs in the next 4 years, furthering the 4k adoption rate, and if they don't make this move with DLSS upscaling, the Switch will end up looking really, really old in the next four years, especially compared to Playstation and Xbox.

NHK Launched 4K and 8K Channels
https://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/english/publica/bt/76/1.html

side note: I think they've already created 14k? And have found real scientific applications, but I'm not sure its going to come to home tv market. If you think this sounds crazy, I will agree. And I'll also say, they are pushing video/display tech even further. True story, japan has made a camera that can record video at a million frames per second, seriously, which also has scientific applications. Not sure that's tech that's wanted for home use, but it exists. I mention that to illustrate just how serious they are about advancing video/display technology. If anyone want's me to explain the scientific applications of this stuff, I can answer that. just ask.(crap, maybe I'm thinking of 1 trillion frams per second. search youtube for "1 trillion frams per second video". lol.)

Even though a majority of console gamers are still gaming in 1080p (even those unfortunate PS5 early adopters), Nintendo's internal metrics must be telling them that there's enough demand. That offering a device that provides gaming upscaled to 4k would be somehow profitable. 4k TVs are becoming more affordable afterall.

@WoomyNNYes At 14k, it doesn't really matter does it? 8k is probably the farthest anything will matter.

I'm not saying the next hardware will have a 4k screen, but one day hopefully Nintendo will release a portable Switch-like device with a 4k screen. I already love playing Breath of the Wild in VR on the Switch's 720p screen, and get kinda giddy thinking about it with a better resolution.

The apparent ease with which Nintendo enabled VR-mode for BotW tells me that they are going to do more stuff with VR in the future.

I think there's also an element of Nintendo learning from their Wii experience here, where maybe they could have gone with a Wii HD earlier than than the Wii U came out ... https://nintendotoday.com/miyamoto-on-hd-wii/

@WoomyNNYes I didn't realise Japan was ahead on 4K TV adoption. I'd assumed they'd be behind the US and Europe as they have physically smaller homes, and 4K TVs scale from big to giant. Which I thought was also another reason the Switch outsold Playstation so much in Japan (apart from being a big handheld market as well). If the Japanese market is adopting 4K fast, then Nintendo would definitely want to capitalise on that!

@ok1 For home tv tech, yeah, 14k seems like overkill. But it may also mean a phone with 4k display, granted, I don't think it's needed.

However, recording 14k is where the value seems to be. I saw a news report demonstrating how using 14k video/cameras with satellites (weather imaging, disaster assessment, or general drone footage, microscope, security cameras, when you take a photo, or record video, higher resolution = seeing WAY in to see more detail if you want to zoom in. Which means more can be imaged with with a single camera. You can no zoom in with a satellite image and identfity people on a much wider scale (that's maybe not so good). Or it means higher resolution weather satellite data, which equals more accurate weather info to feed forecasts/weather prediction. It also means seeing way more detail if you record cellular level processes, which is very useful - science is still discovering a lot at tinier scale processes.

@WoomyNNYes A camera with that resolution would be great for my experiments of magnetic domains switching in a thin film oxide!

@Lugazz Exactly. I think they saw so much better with 8k, and realized higher resolution could yield bigger breakthroughs at microscopic/cellular levels. I think it already is. (that might be a massive understatement, I'm just a layperson.)

@TSR3 There could be a lot of truth to your statement. I honestly don't know what Japan's 4k TV adoption rate is like compared to other countries. I personally wasn't in a rush for 4k. I mainly wanted HDR, but the big screen tv needed replacing, and 4k was where quality was at at time, and I wanted to try and future-proof.

edit: As far as I have known, the US trails UK & EU with TV tech, but I haven't paid close attention in years.

How would 4k upscaling impact games like Monster Hunter Rise that doesn't even hit 1080p when docked on the standard Switch?

Would that suddenly render in 4k, and what about framerate. Without a boost to at least 60fps what's the point in aiming for UHD?

If the next Switch model offers a 4K output mode, that's at least of benefit to 4K users even if the software internally still renders at 1080p or lower.

My expectations are that most existing software will run in 1080p output to 4K under a compatibility mode without a dedicated update, but may benefit from improved performance so that dynamic resolution/framerate generally stays higher.
Software that then supports 4K output may use this for cleaner UI whilst the internal resolution may still be below 4K or even 1080p.
But for less demanding games, like indie games with 2D art styles, native 4K will probably be possible.

I'd also hope that it has an option to run integer scaling options for 4K screens, for a cleaner image without bilinear or bicubic filtering.
1080p can be scaled 2x, and 720p can be scaled 3x.
I doubt Nintendo would do this though.

Because they can.