Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Octane Right? Haha! But nah if that was true we'd never see the end of the annoying posts. People seem to think console and game development happens in months.

@EvilLucario Very true, but then Nintendo did also want to keep it affordable. I'm sure Sony can do quite a bit by throwing their, apparently bulging if we keep all those deals in mind, wallets into the fray.

I see a lot of people already argue that the Switch is a hard fit for one's pocket, and that you require a backpack to best move it around. But then, how much thicker/bigger can you make it, without sacrificing comfortability of use? And how will they make something dock-like?

Well, if a YouTuber says it...it must be true! _{not gonna lie though, I'd probably buy a hybrid PS4P - but only to compliment (rather than replace) my Switch!}

@UmniKnight Yeah, I believe Nintendo is selling Switch units at a profit. Sony can very well sell a hybrid at a loss, just like they did with pretty much everything past the PS3. Again though, battery and specs need to be balanced well.

All theoretical of course, but yeah Sony would probably be much more competitive in terms of specs/selling at a loss. Though I would also expect it to be $500 and still sold at a minor loss

@EvilLucario What do you think would happen with the Switch, should such a device be a reality? I think it'll become Wii-U 2.0, since Sony can easily get whatever they want in deals and exclusives.

Nintendo 'started form zero' with their hybrid concept. Sony aren't going to replace the PS4 home consoles. So how would the two co exist?

I suppose similar to how the 3DS and Switch do? Assuming it played all PS4 games, it would just broaden their market if anything. Want a strong home console? PS4 pro. Want just a PS4 without the frills? Ps4 Slim. Wanna take your games on the go too? PS4Go!

Hang on, are we talking about the same YouTube channel? This is the person who had all these insights into the NX from "sources" which turned out to be totally inaccurate.

Also if Sony had a new piece of hardware to showcase, especially something along the lines of a Switch hybrid, it would have been leaked by now. Neither Sonr or Microsoft can keep their consoles hidden from the public and media.

@UmniKnight Well, beyond just specs and etc, we also need to consider features to make it more lucrative. The big one is controllers. It would definitely have DualShock support, but how would you tackle other means of control? Just slap controllers to the side? Detachable controllers like Joy-Cons? (Though with the PS Move that isn't unlikely)

Sony would most likely have multimedia features like web browser, Netflix, and etc right off the bat so it can help emulate that "tablet" feeling.

Now with all that said, remember that history tends to repeat itself if no one learns from it.
1) Back in 2011, before the 3DS price drop, EVERYONE thought the Vita was going to kill the 3DS, and Nintendo was at a legitimate risk of losing their grip on the handheld market. Both were priced at $250 and the Vita was a much more lucrative piece of hardware with a really promising line-up of games (like Uncharted and other Sony exclusives like Killzone and Resistance). The problem was after launch, where Sony just focused their efforts on the PS3 and PS4 while the Vita floundered since they couldn't support both platforms at once.
2) And speaking of supporting two platforms, that means Sony will also stretch themselves thin in terms of supporting, or they will have to make a choice. Will their PS4 games run on this hybrid at stupidly low specs, or how else would they consider doing it? How would third-parties react, if their biggest and ambitious games can't be supported on hybrid hardware? Will third-parties make the choice to support a platform like this, just like choosing for the Switch? And what about the consumers? Do they really want something like a PShybrid? Deals can only do so much; if in a year or two no one wants it, support can evaporate like it did for the Wii U. Nintendo themselves ran into this problem with the Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo had to merge both platforms so they can consistently deliver on one platform. Sony can potentially have more manpower to support both platforms, but as past experiences with both the PSP and Vita shown, they haven't.

Also, we are in a much different landscape with a different, more aggressive Nintendo with better marketing and really killer games coming out for the first few years that almost no other console can compare (save for the PS2 and SNES). Not everything is the same, so I fully expect things in the future to not go as what we expect.

That doesn't mean Nintendo or Sony should be complacent about their situations, but I do see some interesting things should this hybrid thing actually be real.

@EvilLucario If anything, Sony would be the one getting complacent, what with how little resistance they've gotten from Xbox and Wii-U. But they've responded to the Switch (if the rumours of deals hold true) by making deals and securing games.

Your part about support is very interesting indeed. From that perspective, the 3DS has to inevitably roll in with the Switch (and the merging of divisions, etc also proves this). All in all, I've recently red about Sony doubling down on VR, which puts a big ? at this, since it'll probably take a ton of resources away from that.

With all that, I'll be on my way with my big bag of salt.

Yeahhhh considering the source, I treat it more like a thought experiment. I'd be very surprised if it was accurate in any way.

Well there's nothing stopping them from releasing a PSP 2 or Vita 2 that has a simple charging cradle with HDMI output.

In anticipation of tomorrow's Nindies Showcase, Nintendo have released a video showing some of the Nindie titles coming between now and the first few months of 2018.

SPOILER ALERT: There are four games within this video that have previously been unannounced for the Switch.

HOLLOW KNIGHT!!

Shame I already own it on Steam, but DAMN is that such a good game. Where is it Nintendo?!?!?

Im so sick of nindies
Nindies are the 3rd party for Switch.

Nine Parchments! Crossing my fingers for a release date.

Edit: And Wargroove, I liked advance wars, but I'll take fantasy setting over modern any day.

I've posted about it before but right now a Sony "Playstation Switch" is probably a non-starter for a few big reasons.

The biggest are actually probably in the marketing and positioning of such a device. Casual consumers don't follow the market very closely. To advertise and promote a "Playstation Switch" you have to lead on its portability and accept that it's weaker in specs and performance than a home console. Those attributes become associated with the Playstation brand...

...But Sony has built the success of the PS4 around the laser focused idea that Playstation stands for being the most powerful console. They'll have to rethink this in the face of the XBox One X but they can't abandon their position to vainly chase after Nintendo's market.

In large part the Vita failed because Sony couldn't position it at the same time as positioning the PS4. Sony are marketing gods but there are limits to what can be achieved - even for them.

Then there are the technological limitations. How much more powerful can you go in a handheld? Can you really make a handheld that's noticeably more powerful than the Switch in 2017?

All of this is before we even get to the games. A "Playstation Switch" would need its own ecosystem of games. Can/will Sony draw the majority of their resources away from creating games optimised for home play to create the types of games that lend themselves to shorter play sessions and a different audience (but which are sufficiently "big" that they couldn't show up on the existing Vita)? If they do the biggest winners would be Microsoft and if they don't they'd end up with a console that couldn't hope to compete with the Switch library.

And even then - if Sony could overcome all of these issues - there's an elephant in the room - the Switch itself has a strong beach-head. In the video games industry competing against an competitor with an established user base for a console of comparable power has been repeatedly shown to be very difficult.

There'll be at least 10 million+ Switch owners in the world before the earliest possible moment that Sony could launch their own equivalent. They'd be launching against a console with a growing library of games (and more development based on the sales to date) - launching a new premium console against one that would be just starting to see manufacturing cost reductions.

It's a mountain to climb on just about every level and - even worse - climbing it only strengthens Nintendo's position because it doubles the incentive for big publishers to create handheld scale-able versions of their games that could be easily ported to Switch.

My guess - if Sony are planning new hardware - is that they're planning to announce a PS4 Pro+ that ups the ante on the XBox One X and spoils its launch. It just makes so much more sense.

@StuTwo I believe they already confirmed that when they release their next hardware, it will be the PS5, so a Pro+ is unlikely. I don't see the point either, because I don't think the One X will be a huge success. The Pro only accounts for 20% of the total PS4 sales, so the One X at $499 will probably do even worse. Without any true exclusives, the hefty price tag, I wonder how big the actual audience is for this system...

@Octane Apparently, it did have the greatest amount of pre-orders of any Xbox system to date, so that's something.