Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@StuTwo If that happens, only one console will benefit and that's the Switch. People would notice to get the definitive Xbox/Playstation experience you'd need to buy a new console every 2 years as a result of petty arguments and just go for Switch instead which'll have a lifespan of longer than 2 years.

@Octane Maybe.

Announcing a "PS4 Pro Slim" at a reduced price probably makes more sense and is probably more realistic.

There are, however, solid reasons for Sony to produce a more powerful PS4 - regardless of how many you'd expect it to sell. Being able to say "our console is the most powerful on the market" gives you a huge marketing advantage. It can end up selling in quantities so small that it's basically a concept product but there is still a point to it.

Whether they call it a PS5 or not is kind of irrelevant. Sony's next console will almost certainly be based on an x86 processor and have full backwards compatibility. It'll be aiming at the same audience as the XBox One X.

@Octane That's what it looked like on the website, unfortunately. I'm just gonna try to get one from the store without one.

@StuTwo I agree with the last paragraph. I just don't think it will be part of the ''PS4 family''. The PS4 is outselling the Xbox One, and the One X won't change that. Meanwhile PS4 Pro sales only make up 25% of the total PS4 sales. Meaning that given the option, the majority of consumers will prefer a cheaper option over a more powerful system. I just don't see how another PS4 can change this, it'll only generate bad press I think, like Grumblevolcano said. On top of that, the One X will be $500, so don't expect it to do any better than the PS4 Pro did (less than 25% of the Xbox One sales).

And while they can't call their system the most powerful anymore, I think that if they focus on software they'll be fine. Or call it the best selling console [this generation]. Because the majority of gamers clearly don't care about power, at least not enough to buy a Pro instead of a vanilla PS4.

@KirbyTheVampire NA is weird when it comes to pre-orders. Anyway, good luck, but I think you'll fine though.

I don't think that that's just restricted to older generations either. I know that, for myself, when I last purchased a TV (when 4K TV's were too expensive to really factor in my decision) - I set myself a budget and looked at a number of things (brand, resolution, power consumption, # of HDMI/media ports, screen size, colour palate, innovations etc) then just whittled down my shortlist until I settled on the TV that represented the 'best bang for my buck' based on my wants and needs...

I can't say for sure - if it came to a choice between an extra couple of HDMI ports and an additional 10" - or 4K - I don't know what I'd choose...I'd certainly have to mull it over! ...4K looks nice and all, but it wouldn't offer enough of an improvement (when on a limited budget) to take absolute priority in my decision making process...

Now, the more the price gap closes between HD and 4K, the more it'd factor - for anyone, I'm sure - but it's nothing like the previous, relatively straightforward choice between an old bulky SD TV and a nice, thin, modern HD flatscreen...

EDIT: On the other point (PS5) - I'd like to see some sort of announcement along those lines at PSX or something ..I know that Sony have a pretty comfortable lead - but I just worry that, by standing still, the 'PlayStation' brand could risk stagnating...positive momentum elsewhere will hopefully spring them in to action - after a relatively uninspiring E3 (in quite a fickle industry) they should just be pressing home their advantage a bit more I think..

@Grumblevolcano I do think Sony kind of screwed themselves with the Pro. It wasn't a meaningful enough upgrade to really do much for the brand, and left the court wide open for XBox to do what they did. They could do a tit for tat upgrade cycle, but I agree with you that it wouldn't it well with the install base to get into "remember last year's better model? LAME! Try this year's better model, it's the real one!"....with 32x/Saturn/DC vibes all over again. I think Sony will hold off until they're ready with an actual 5.

Nintendo's not immune either. 3DS/3DSXL/N3DSXL had an upgrade path every few years as well, and I fully expect Switch will do the same.

@Octane isn't it funny for Sony to be in a position to say "it's not about power, it's about the games!" like Reggie's looping refrain throughout WiiU, considering how they flogged power the first half of the gen? Which is funny considering their greatest seller ever, PS2, was never about power (couldn't touch GCN or XBX, it was about the games...)

@Octane I can agree with that.

I don't expect Microsoft's business with the XBox One to catch up appreciably with the PS4 due to the One X. They're well behind and will continue to fall further behind in terms of % share of the market. I do, however, expect them to pick up a lot of the more valuable higher end consumers in the console space - the consumers who spend far more each year on games - and I expect Sony will react in some way. They have to.

A price cut for the existing PS4 Pro is obvious and easy but it leaves that console in a bit of a mid market no-mans land.

One thing that perhaps shouldn't be ruled out is Sony taking the "One S" route with the PS4 Pro. That is making a "slim" PS4 Pro that has some additional power available to close some of the gap with the One X (but not making a big deal about it).

These are uncharted waters.

@NEStalgia I don't think the companies care, they just stick with whatever they have and can say about their system. The PS4 happened to be a little more powerful than the Xbox One, so they used that in their marketing. It's the best selling console too, so why not use that? And yeah, like you said, the PS2 didn't sell 150 million units on power alone. I'm sure their marketing team will be fine, I don't expect them with their hands in their hair running around the office not knowing what to do.

@StuTwo I feel that those people would rather buy a PC instead. A decision that's made even easier since every Microsoft game is also on their PC store. We'll see though.

@NEStalgia The 3DS is an interesting case as whether a bigger screen is an upgrade or not depends on who you ask. You can even see this on this site, plenty of people were disappointed when Nintendo discontinued the smaller New 3DS because they liked it more than the XL model. Hence there are 2 ways of looking at it, either the 3DS XL and New 3DS line were upgrades or only the New 3DS line was an upgrade.

If Switch gets a new model in the next few years I think it'll be a smaller, handheld only model for those who don't care about TV gaming (i.e. if you have the original Switch model there's no reason to buy the new one for yourself).

@StuTwo
Yea, that's a good point. The crowd that the One X will attract will certainly be smaller, but there's a good chance those people have a bit more money to throw around if they're willing to pay that much for the hardware. They would certainly be the "high-end enthusiasts," as seems to be the term of the week lol And those people are way more loose with their cash. So even if they don't sell a ton of X's, maybe the ones they do will have incredibly high attach rates and such. Who knows.

It is interesting, though: will those high-end people just opt for a PC instead if they don't already have one? I don't know. I game on my PC more than my consoles. But I will say this: sometimes it is NICE to just flop down on the couch and play a game rather than sit at my computer. No, I don't have a desk job, so that doesn't factor into computer fatigue like a lot of people have, but I will admit that sometimes gaming on my PC feels a little too "active" or tense. Just your body posture and such are more rigid when you're at a desk, and your hands and arms are doing a lot more motion with the mouse and board. That's great sometimes, but sometimes you just want to chill and kick your feet up with a console. It's totally an individual choice on the way you prefer to play your games.

@Grumblevolcano I think the sales reflect that overall, most people saw the XL as an upgrade. I'm thinking it's the Nintendo loyalists that are more prone to want the smaller version . I have both, of curse, and have used both, but I admit it's mostly the XLs that got the most use. The small original was used more for those rare occasions I wanted a pocket device. The screen sure looked sharper on the little one though! N3DS however was a "PS4 Pro" of the 3DS line.

I agree though, the next Switch model is the side-grade to a smaller companion unit (I do NOT want to think of Lego City fonts on a tiny screen...) But "New Switch" will almost certainly be a thing, just like Pro and 1X. (I don't think they'll use the New name this time....oh geeze I hope not... )

@rallydefault The way I see it - if a console like the One X is a BMW then PC gaming is a kit car. It might be faster but most people either lack the technical skills or the willingness to deal with the hassles it brings (even if the performance might actually be cheaper or less constrained overall).

The high attach rates are something that's important to note. We talk about the PS2 selling 150 million+ consoles but not every one of those console sales was of equal value. The first 20 million consumers paid more for their consoles and spent far more on games. When a console has to be less than £100 for a consumer to buy it then how many £50 games is that consumer really going to buy?

When you think about it you become very aware of just how vulnerable and tight the business models that underpin market actually are behind some of the astonishing sales figures that we hear.

I think moving from PS4/XBox One to the true next generation will be a very hard sell all around. Which is part of the reason why I think that the PS4 will be around (and prominent) for long enough to become the best selling home console ever.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/07/splatoon_2s_next_spl... I was wondering if buy this game, so welcome news. Now only, Must remember this.

That's not really the point. The image can only look as good as the bitrate and codec will allow. Netflix is giving you a <20Mbps stream so overall it's not going to be better than a standard, higher bitrate 1080p BluRay. It might be better for specific kinds of content but it's also going to be worse in others. That's how the maths works.

And in any case your internet speed doesn't really make much of a difference above a certain point. Once you're above the recommended speeds the only improvement you will see is with buffering/reliability. If I'm on HD Netflix with a 10Mbps connection and you're on HD Netflix with 100Mbps? When the HD kicks in on my stream we'll be watching literally the same thing. It's the same deal with UHD content.

Note that I'm not saying 4K is pointless. I'm just saying that 4K Netflix is only really 4K for marketing reasons. It could have just as easily been running at 1080p with a higher bitrate. Technically it would have given you very, very similar results even if you viewed it on a 1080p set. 4K sets being in the wild does not mean we're actually consuming "4K content"

@Octane PS4 Pro is 25% of PS4 sales?

Last I checked they said 1 in 5 was a PS4 Pro. Thats 20%

Fun to see this debate though XD

1 in 4, 1 in 5. Close enough. My point still stands.

@BLP_Software ^^^^^^

Perhaps he meant PS4 Pro sold %25 as much as regular PS4s sold separately. That means 1 part PS4 pro, 4 parts PS4, total of 5 parts, 20% of combined sales.

In on topic news, Splatoon 2 seems to be doing decent here in the UK.

I'm kind of hoping a Switch upgrade will also improve performance on the tablet. If it winds up being a dock that adds more brawn to the TV performance, I'll probably just skip it.

A PSTV-esque unit for $200 seems like an inevitability.