Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I don't really care about the Xbox One X personally. I'd rather get myself a One S before getting the X. Too expensive when I can basically get 90% of half the price. However, Microsoft's first party offering doesn't really interest me. Sunset Overdrive and... er... Cuphead are maybe the only two games I'm interested in, but I can play the latter on my laptop. I use my PS4 for any other multiplat games. I don't own a PC since I need a laptop for school/work, so I don't see the point in owning two ''PCs''.

@Spoony_Tech Nintendo owns Monolith and Retro, they never owned Rare. Monolith and Retro are as much Nintendo studios as EAD 1 till 6 (or whatever it is these days) are. So yeah, 100% guaranteed this is for Switch (unless it's a 3DS game...).

@Spoony_Tech Retro studios are first party, they even state that they are owned by Nintendo on the website plus there is a giant Nintendo logo at the bottom of every page. Monolith Soft is a subsidiary of Nintendo so again are first party. Just like Naughty Dog are first party for Sony as they are owned by the company.

@Octane lol that would be a bummer. But since it says 'ambitious new project' i'm not too concerned.

Artwork looks great! Especially the one on the bottem with this overview of a city.

@JaxonH Now, Jaxon, I remember you saying you don't like fiddling with PC's, but "games that I am interested in, and would really appreciate experiencing it in the best visual fidelity possible" doesn't count without a damn good gaming PC....

I don't think they will release a GPU add-on. If they do, they will effectively split their install base. And how does an addon to the dock enable wireless VR? The only real way to create wireless VR would be to have the processing happen in the VR-helmet. Low-latency is crucial if you want to have a pleasant VR experience, much more than pixel count.

@NEStalgia Xbone's UI is a bloated nightmare like the PS4's, and it's lacking in the one area that really matters (the games). Also: bulky, generic design; terrible controller layout; and, personally, I prefer trophies to achievements.

@Therad I'd agree with one minor caveat.

I don't think "dock only" games are an impossibility. It could easily be the case that a big hit game comes along that Switch can run at 720p docked but not without far more serious compromises in handheld. If the install base is big enough and the game is big enough a publisher might well decide to go for it...

I don't see Nintendo making a "docked only" game any time soon though - additional super powered dock or not.

I never said dock only is an impossibility, it is the add-on and wireless VR I don't think will happen.

But I do think it is highly unlikely that a game will be docked only though. If a dev can make a game run in docked mode, they should be able to make it run undocked. The difference between the two modes isn't that much.

@Nincompoop @StuTwo @Therad The thing that makes me think that we might be getting some kind of GPU expansion in the future is that there's a USB 3.0, super-fast HMDI port and quite a lot of unused space in the back of the Dock...just a guess, obviously, but it seems to me that the Switch Dock was designed in such a way to at least give themselves the option for expansion in the future.

It'd have a lot of benefits too - a bit like the N64's Expansion Pak...if they could up the docked output to something akin to the PS4/X1, it could encourage more third-parties to port their 'current gen' games over...and it'd mean that we wouldn't have to upgrade our whole console to a new 'Switch 2' either - just buy a GPU add-on, saving us money. To me, it'd be an attractive and worthwhile investment.

I can totally see Nintendo's first-party games all being made with hybrid-gaming in mind - ensuring that there's a strong core of 'anywhere, anytime' games on the platform...but also adding a 'Switch Expansion Pak' to encourage more third-party AAA's to the platform. They already allow handheld-only games - so I see no reason why they wouldn't also allow docked-only game in the future - so long as they keep hyrbid-gaming at its core...and they can easily achieve this by developing the bulk of the hybrid games themselves - first-party Nintendo games are always the best sellers on any given system, so as long as they continue to develop true-hybrid games, the Switch won't lose its identity...it'd just be there to give third-party developers the flexibility (and additional power) they crave.

@Ralizah It's not just the bloated UI that's the problem. The Xbox One has one of the worst digital shops I've seen. It's terrible. There's no real way of categorising what you are looking for. It all just seems to be one big mess. At least the PS4 has some kind of way of doing this. The Switch is new so I can't really complain about the shop just yet, but they will soon need to start looking to address this issue.

@NaviAndMii Handheld only games exist only because they're entirely reliant on the touchscreen. I REALLY hope we don't get any dock-only games, as that would set a very bad precedent for future Switch titles.

@Ralizah I disagree - it'd just add extra flexibility to an already super-flexible console. I can see Nintendo developing exclusively hybrid games - and they'll be the best sellers, so the Switch will be hybrid at its core. A GPU expansion would just be there to make it easier for third-parties to bring their bigger AAA games to the system as well...

It'd just be an option - but an option that I think would be very attractive to a lot of people...would I spend an extra, say, £100 on an Expansion Pak that'd boost docked performance and attract, potentially, the likes of Overwatch, DOOM, Fallout 4 etc to the system as docked-only, third-party, home gaming options? Hell yeah I would! ..and I'd still have Breath of the Wild, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe etc for 'anytime, anywhere' gaming - I'd be all for it, personally.

@NaviAndMii Making the Switch into a console where half the library can only be played on a TV is a terrible idea. "Anytime, anywhere, with anyone. " Dock-only games run completely counter to the central concept of the Switch.

@Ralizah Not really - the central concept of the Switch is that it's a home console that you can take with you on the go...allowing touchscreen, handheld only, hybrid and home only games would open the Switch up even further - and help to bring even greater diversity to the console.

Say Overwatch came, docked (w/ Expansion Pak) only - that wouldn't mean that I couldn't take my Switch with me on the go - it'd just mean that I couldn't play Overwatch on the go....no big deal, I can't play touchscreen games docked either. It's no different. ..but I'd have a console that I could play the best handheld games on, the best touchscreen games on, the best home console games on and some hybrid games that I can play any which way I choose - It'd be, in my eyes, even better...

So long as they made it clear that you'd need an Expansion Pak to play those 'docked only' games (like they did with Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong etc in the N64 days), I don't think there'd be any confusion. In fact, I think people would be delighted to see the scope of the Switch opened up yet further...I know I would.

@NaviAndMii I'd much rather see developers go to the effort of making their games work in handheld mode. Allowing them the easy route of docked-only with a power boost would discourage that. And obviously docked-only is a much bigger hit to convenience than handheld-only. It'd greatly decrease the chance of me buying the game, I can tell you that much.

If there were docked only games, Nintendo would've been better off releasing a home console with specs around PS4 Pro and another 3DS type handheld. The special thing about Switch is its hybrid nature, take that away with docked only games and the system is rendered pointless.

@Zyrac See, my argument would be this - at the moment, a lot of the larger 'AAA' games seem to be off the table - too little power, too many compromises...if a Switch owner wants to play those games, they'll need to buy a PS4/X1. If Nintendo release an Expansion Pak, those game could come to the Switch (docked only) - the Switch owner no longer has to buy a whole new £250 console to play those games - just a, say, £100 Expansion Pak instead...a far more attractive proposition. Plus, from Nintendo's point of view, the more third-parties they can get on board, the more Sony & Microsoft would have to rely on their exclusives...which they'll never win vs. Nintendo.

Of course, if (to use the same example) Overwatch could play docked and undocked, all the better - it'd probably sell better too - but an Expansion Pak allowing those games that flat-out can't run on the vanilla Switch to still come over, I think would be great...and so long as Nintendo's first-party titles are built with hybrid-gaming in mind, I don't think the Switch would lose its identity - Nintendo games will outsell all others, so the perception will always be that the core games are hybrid - but with an option to boost and expand if you wish too...

@StuTwo I would say it's best for Nintendo to stay in the middle, use both modes equally.

@Therad @NaviAndMii @StuTwo PS4/PS4 Pro or 3DS/New 3DS. It will happen to Switch down the road: all Nintendo needs to do is release an add-on GPU for the dock or release a new dock with Nvidia GPU built-in. This reduces the need for current Switch owner to buy the handheld unit: makes it cheaper! Maybe just like the New 3DS, Nintendo will only make one game (Xenoblade 3D) that required docked-mode.

By using an external GPU, Switch will be powerful enough to drive a VR headset. Next version of Vive and Rift will be wireless. In fact all the new VR units coming out from now on will be wireless. You already can make the Vive wireless with an add-on device, latency is less than 2ms. Next year, PSVR and current VR headsets will look silly with all the connected wires.

Before Switch was unveiled last year, factory workers in China were leaking news about the Switch's dock having a cube-shape processing unit. I think they saw some of the prototypes Nintendo were testing with external GPU. Sooner or later Nintendo will release an upgraded Switch, personally I rather have an external GPU add-on for the Switch than having to buy a New Switch with upgraded mobile GPU. The GPU for the dock is desktop class Nvidia chip, it's what Switch needs... for portable, the current GPU is more than enough.

@Grumblevolcano And so is it if you do handheld only, save of course for the quirky touch-screen games.