Topic: The Nintendo Switch Rumor and Speculation Thread

@Magician
To be fair "no new hardware this fiscal year" really doesn't say anything. I mean it's technically possible for them to have an announce-release gap that short, the Switch itself was announced in late October to release in early March. And the Switch OLED was announced in July to release in October. In theory they could announce as late as December and release in March

However, October through to around mid December is a pretty busy period you want to get retailers/consumers prepared for. It's almost getting too late at this point to announce something as significant as new hardware for it to release in that window (and especially to not also have leaked). Then from mid December through Feb is basically a dead period where you don't really want to be releasing stuff. And in terms of impact you're going to get the least amount of engagement if you announce something around Dec-Feb. At this point, March is still possible sure.... but it would be pretty much the earliest I would even theoretically think they could release new hardware

Even before it was said I think we could've pretty confidently said not this fiscal year

@skywake Well we know BotW 2 is launching Spring 2023 so that leaves April - June with March now out of the question. They could do an announce in January and release in April for example.

@Grumblevolcano Did they say BOTW2 this financial year? Spring 2023 would include April and May...

@MarioBrickLayer No, just Spring 2023. Before the "no new hardware this financial year", I thought they may have done BotW 2 + new hardware for March 2023 but now it looks like release in April - June 2023 (dependent on the definition, Spring can include most of June).

Do we know if this is a Furukawa quote yet, or just Nikkei analysis?

@TSR3

I know what you're going to say. If it didn't come from Furukawa's lips it's nothing more than conjecture. Which...fair enough. However, I think it would be nice if the Switch successor discussions were quiet for another six months. We all know they'll come back around again as we crawl towards BotW 2's release.

There is also a real good chance BOTW2 doesn’t actually come out as a cross platform game like the first one and the next console from Nintendo isn’t until late next year, or I think more likely, 2024. But i am often wrong with anything like this.

@Magician Not quite what I was going to say. If it is a Furukawa quote then it's interesting in it's own right. Literally from the horses mouth, so to speak. If it's Nikkei conjecture, then I'd be interested what they based their analysis on. I guess we'll have to wait for more translations.
I doubt if the Switch successor discussions will be quiet for another six months. There'll be more leaks that will excite people to speculate.

Or what we get is what I've been saying we'd be getting since before this thread was created. That there are no "cross-platform" games because the next hardware revision is still part of the same platform. Generally. I mean if you have that much more power they'd want to allow the higher spec to open the platform up to games that can't run on the OG Switch. But generally, one platform

And if that's the case they're not really tied down to having a killer app on day 1 quite so much. The killer app on day 1 will be "hey, this game runs in portable mode better than it used to docked" and "oh look, this game runs at 1080/60 instead of 720/30 now". That kind of thing....

..... and I know everyone is kinda expecting there to be some kind of gimmick and maybe there does end up being one. And maybe I've got my particular mindset on this question of Switch successor in a way that makes me not see that. Maybe I'm being an optimist thinking that Nintendo will finally care about how purchases carry between platforms, for example. But in my head the best thing to do is to just continue with the Switch idea as it is but just update it. Then play around with fun ideas in software

Also as an aside, people think of Nintendo as being in competition with Microsoft and Sony. I think that landscape has pretty much disappeared or is in the process of disappearing. I think Nintendo has to look as much at Meta and Valve as they do Sony and Microsoft. So the question you have to ask is what Nintendo has to offer in that landscape? .... and I think the answer is simplicity, polish and strong IP.

Simplicity? You want to play a game? no tinkering or messing around, turn the thing on and go. You brought a game before? You still have that game. Does this game work with this hardware? Yes. How do you do this when transitioning to a new platform? Well, we know how NOT to do it....

Polish? You start up the game and get going. Do you have to worry about the motion control or pointer getting all confused about where it is? How well does the game perform? When you're playing the game do you spend every five seconds thinking "I should've brought this on that other platform"? How do you achieve this? Stable, solid, reliable hardware. Also actually care about the general console experience, the speed of things like menus. The Switch does this pretty well..... a bit more horsepower would help

And strong IP well.... they're already the kings of that, especially against their new competition

Actually thinking about that last rant I made just here. You know what "gimmick" was never properly explored that would be kinda nice to revisit? Asymmetric multiplayer. Obviously the Wii U gave it a bit of a spin and it still lives on, to some extent, in things like the Jackbox-like games and things like Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. But even so, there's a huge untapped potential there I think

If Nintendo was to roll the dice on some sort of gimmick again with new hardware? That's what I'd like to see them explore. And I think you could potentially do it by doing something along the lines of putting some light hardware in the dock. I'm talking mini-console, streaming-dongle tier hardware. Just enough that it can have a controller connect to it, hold some executables and maybe do some Vita-tier visuals. But also have a direct wireless connection to the portable that can push a low-latency video stream or whatever else it needs to

Almost surely not happening and, as fun as I think it could be, also going to confuse the hell out of people. So a bit of a non-starter idea. But...... the sort of "gimmick" I'd like to see them explore IF they were to explore some kind of gimmick which I don't think they should

& all those games where 1 person plays the killer, with however many playing the potential victims, @skywake .... There's quite a few of those around

Worth correcting this. The officially translated transcript of this interview is now out. It doesn't actually say this. This is the section in question:

Q: How is Nintendo faring with semiconductor procurement?

A: With cooperation from various business partners, we're on track for improvement from the latter half of this summer. But in terms of our sales forecast of 21 million units for the fiscal year through March 2023, we only have a clear production outlook for this year. Beyond that, things are uncertain.

I can't say specifically what is in short supply. Nintendo will continue to sell three [Switch] models: the standard model; the Switch Lite with reduced price, size and features; and the OLED model. We'll work out the best strategy as we go along. We're doing our best to procure high-quality products at an appropriate price with an eye toward the next few years.

This is the most likely Fact people are overlooking and reading their own opinions. To the more News would be if he stated and was translated properly NO New Nintendo that would be a watershed news and the rebuke would be almost immediately from software developers and gamers alike.

@SwitchForce
Read my post above, the official translation says nothing even remotely close to the original wording that was spread

ive always thought it would be cool if the next model would allow you to play the game on the TV, but you’d still have the console in your hands. so they'd have to let you upload software to both the console and the dock, i suppose, and communicate through Wi-Fi.

…that way they can bring the DS games library to NSO as well, because you'd have two screens
imagine having all those DS games to play. and you wouldnt have to detach the joy-cons either.
…and the console could turn into an actual sheikah slate for zelda.

Called the WiiU.....

I just think others are using it for clickbait and using bad translation to say something it doesn't say. The fact they got Dev units and Nvidia leaks clearly shows something is coming and it's not a standard OLED version that will be part of the release to keep or even grow more of their market shares again.

I don't know where to post this. It's a reflection about Switch and the image quality of a Switch game that is a port of a Wii U game (like many). Mario Kart is over 8 years old! It's a technical issue and I'm focusing on current hardware (Switch Lite). I have a Switch Lite since it launched. Since the "Wave 1" was released for Mario Kart 8 DX but not Mario Kart 8, I realised that Mario Kart 8 DX looks too blurry on Switch Lite to the point that I don't know which way to go in the new circuits until I learn them by heart, that's the Tour circuits for me. I also get coins and bananas mixed up, on any track. It's not just Mario Kart 8 but this is the game I'm comparing because I also have it on Wii U. On Wii U, the game looks better than on Switch Lite in spite of the resolution being the same (720p). It's not my sight or the resolution because I played Mario Kart 7 on New 3DS (small model) and it looks fine and crisp. So, my conclusion is that, for some reason, games look too blurry on Switch Lite, even when they are 720p, that is the native screen resolution. Is it the Switch Lite screen? Does anyone notice that games look blurry on Switch Lite? Do they look blurry on the regular Switch (handheld mode)?

Hi Mr @Banjo- who has apparently blocked me

@skywake Whoa what happened?