Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Pascal would be X2 because the X1 was Maxwell based. Which could mean one of three things. A significant performance boost with a similar power consumption. A moderate performance boost with a moderate power reduction. Or a significantly more power efficient and lower cost chip with similar performance. Whatever it is it's good news.

This is true. Just because a GPU can process 4x as much doesn't mean it'll look 4x as good. It doesn't even mean you'll get 4x as many FPS with the same settings. But short of getting the same game at the same settings and measuring the FPS on all of them? It's the most objective measure of "how powerful" something is we can get.

Me saying the NX will be something between 1.5x and 3x as powerful as the NX? That's entirely meaningless. Unless I also say that the XBOne is almost 4x more powerful than the Wii U. Or that the 3DS was 100x less powerful than the Wii U. Then you kinda get a bit of a picture of how powerful this thing will be.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/7/29/12320792/nintendo-subscript...

Nintendo's NX console got a whole lot less mysterious this week after a detailed report from Eurogamer — later corroborated by IGN and Kotaku — blew the lid off the concept. In short, it's said to be a tablet-style device powered by Nvidia mobile hardware; it has detachable controllers, and can be hooked up to a TV for living room play.

I have an idea that I don't expect Nintendo to use, but that I do think it should: offer a monthly paid subscription service. The Netflix of video games, if you will. I believe doing so could improve its situation in a number of key areas, solving some long-standing issues while making the company more accessible to more people.

What would such a subscription service involve? The most obvious component would be access to Nintendo's incomparable back catalog of games. Right now the company sells individual titles as $5–10 downloads on the Wii U and 3DS, releasing them one by one. This approach was progressive when it launched with the original Wii 10 years ago, but it's out of touch today.

The next component is a long shot, but it would help Nintendo sidestep some of its biggest problems. If the NX really is based on Nvidia mobile hardware, I'd love to see it include Nvidia's GeForce Now streaming service as part of the same subscription. GeForce Now lets you play games that are running on PCs somewhere in Nvidia's data centers and stream them to devices like the Shield tablet and Android TV. You can buy games individually, and there's also a library of titles available with a monthly fee.

GeForce Now needs a solid internet connection, of course, but it's worked well for me whenever I've used it, and it would guarantee a level of third-party support that Nintendo hasn't managed to achieve in decades. Since the games run on high-end PCs, the NX's likely power disadvantage would be less of an issue, too — Nintendo could keep the cost down on the system itself, yet still be able to claim that it plays advanced, complex titles like The Witcher III that it would otherwise have no hope of attracting to its platform. It's been hard to see who'd use GeForce Now as a primary method of playing games while it's been restricted to Nvidia devices, and services like OnLive and PlayStation Now have failed to set the world alight for various reasons. But smart integration into the NX could make the experience a lot more palatable to a mainstream audience, even if it shouldn't and couldn't be the primary way to play games.

Of course, I don't expect Nintendo to stop developing its flagship titles and charging $60 for them individually, nor should it — games like Mario Kart 8 were hugely successful even with the Wii U's small userbase. But Nintendo could boost subscription membership by developing smaller-scale games for the service — the kind of thing it puts on the 3DS eShop today. Sony's successful PlayStation Plus service, which gives subscribers a wildly varying selection of games each month, shows how people are willing to pay for a steady flow of content from a company they trust.

I agree that GeForce Now streaming would help offset the limitations of NX hardware (whatever its using) because games could be brought to NX, exclusive or not-exclusive, that would be impossible on the hardware itself. Like the article said, they run on high-end Nvidia servers with GeForce GPUs. From what I've read about GeForce Now, it's not perfect, but is better than PlayStation Now.

Obviously GeForce Now is not a replacement for the Supplemental Computing Device, but they could be similar in results, for those that do not wish to purchase extra hardware (if that's how SCD will be implemented).

@parallaxscroll
yeah... no...

@skywake

Really, why not even consider it ?

Speaking of the Pascal bit:

http://neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1254960&page=1

@BiasedSonyFan I should point out that being Pascal based doesn't necessarily mean Tegra X2. It could be a custom chip, which Nintendo is known for using, that is Pascal based and more power efficient but not anymore powerful than a Tegra X1.

@BiasedSonyFan why was this addressed to me?

@BiasedSonyFan ok, that was just a lot of text for my simple reply to another post lol.

Wrote a huge thing and it just disappeared.

@parallaxscroll
There's a reason I'm dismissive. OnLive, the previous attempt at this, launched in the US and the UK. NVidia's GeForce Now is available in the US, Canada and Europe. Playstation Now is available in the US and only fairly recently launched in the UK and Europe. With Japan being in closed beta.

I don't think having an NVidia GPU makes this idea any more likely. And besides, even if they did? As an Australian I highly doubt I'll have access to it. Even if I had decent internet which I don't from what I can tell none of these game streaming services are available here. I doubt Nintendo would be the ones to be the first to deliver it. So yeah. I don't see any reason for me to buy into that speculation.

@skywake

Alright, fair enough. Then at least I'd like to see the Supplemental Computing Device(s) implemented.

The Nintendo patent indicates that an SCD would contain one or more processors / processor modules, memory, audio/video drivers, game data data, one or more network interfaces. The SCD would have a physically wired connection to the console. One or more SCDs can be connected to a console locally to supplement performance in executing a game.

While I can't imagine NX being connected to a discrete large GeForce GTX type GPU, I could see 1-2 Tegra chips in an SCD. It could also be that the dock for connecting NX to an HDTV and power supply (or a separate dock) is one form of the SCD.

It would not be unheard of.

During the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, Nintendo and third party devs often used extra chips in NES / Famicom and SNES / Super Famicom cartridges to boost the processing power and memory of their games. Everything from NES Memory Management Chips (MMCs) to Konami's VRC series to Super NES DSPs, extra CPU accelerators, SuperFX / Super FX2. They all supplemented the NES / SNES hardware.

I really do think NX will utilize SCDs sooner or later.

@BiasedSonyFan Sony (and Microsoft as well) are not going to screw over their 40+ million userbase. Whatever comes to PS4 NEO is playable on the vanilla PS4 as well.

It depends on whether we'll get a PS5 or just new iterations of the PS4, but if the former is the case then I don't expect exclusive games on NEO at all. If there's a NEO 2.0 maybe, but not until that console is introduced and by that time the vanilla PS4 will have had its time. I don't see the problem.

@skywake Are you sure PS Now is a thing in Europe? Last time I checked it was still in closed beta.

I've been thinking and I'm interested to hear what everyone's thoughts are, but as is typical with Nintendo's new consoles/platforms, the NX is going to be something that needs to be picked up and actually used in order for the media (and maybe potential customers) to get a good understanding of the device itself which is a huge part of how they sell the idea to people.

The problem is they already missed E3, they look like they could miss Gamescom so that leaves the Tokyo Games Show to really sell the NX unless I've missed something. But most media won't be attending that event so I'm not too sure how Nintendo are going to get this in the hands of mainstream journalists and gamers.

@FragRed How difficult can a hand held you can play on the TV concept be to grasp? The main thing Nintendo have to manage is the negative spin from those wanting a dedicated home console. It will be vastly inferior to the Scorpio for example and they will disregard it's power for a mobile unit. The message I think will be easy, guy playing Zelda at home, stands up and walks outside or something still playing. Easy. (I am sure they can make it more imaginative than that lol) but what they cannot do is let the public perceive it is a home console first. (So maybe in my example it would be better starting outside!) Place your bets. In the reveal, how many times will Nintendo say 'Hybrid'. I reckon 0.

@GrailUK It's Nintendo's own fault for the negative spin the NX is receiving in part at least from those wanting a dedicated home console. First party support for the Wii U is pretty much none existence in many people's eyes this year and a lot of people, myself included, I think were hoping the reason was because a new home console was on the way.

Also Nintendo cannot escape the fact that this will be portrayed by the media as a hybrid or a handheld/home console regardless what message Nintendo themselves puts out. Its always talked about being a hybrid by the media and Nintendo hasn't said a word. And any marketing Nintendo do will show the docking station and the fact it's used for TV output and, likely, how the controller detaches from the tablet and reassembles to form one that can be used for the home TV experience as that is part of the experience.

@FragRed I hear ya Fraggle. If Nintendo can have a system with a Zelda game, Metroid game, 3D Mario game, Mario Kart, F-Zero, Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Splatoon basically they can churn out their IP in a more meaningful way than 'OMG The Wii U is dead, lets make a tennis game' and we actually get a stream of classics we know they are capable of (Zelda already looks like a win!) then I am not sure I am that bothered about third party titles. There is only so many hours in the day. Sure there are a couple I will be envious of. Basically, if Nintendo can create a solid library of games like they did on the Snes, then third party will be a bonus for me, not a system seller. Once you stop hankering after third party games (and lets face it, that was because Nintendo didn't want to go all in!) you don't need an uber PC

@GrailUK I have a PS4 and Xbox One and soon, partly for self employment reasons, a gaming PC so third party games on a Nintendo console is not a deal breaker as much as other people, but if it were possible to play some on the move then yeah I can see that being a selling point as long as they sell that message better than how Sony did with the Vita. But Nintendo's first party games is what I am most excited for, but concerned about.

That first year of the NX is going to be vital. They need a big launch lineup to entice people and the games all need to be of quality if first party. But then they need essentially at least 1 game per month thereafter otherwise a single month without anything will be viewed upon as a drought simply because of the lack of potential big third party games. And Nintendo cannot afford to have that as a message.

Also they need to spend BIG on marketing. None of the "let's spend almost nothing on TV and YouTube adverts etc" that they did with the Wii U and 3DS era, because that won't sell consoles.

@GrailUK I won't be personally bothered about the lack of 3rd party games because I already own an XB1 but I will be annoyed if the lack of 3rd party games makes the NX fail as we seem to be in an era where 3rd party games are more important than 1st party games.

@BiasedSonyFan Because they're the ''evil'' corporations? lol.

Microsoft (and everyone else for that matter) saw what happened when you force mandatory stuff in people's faces. Kinect, no used games etc., and look where they are now. They lost a huge chunk of the userbase they build last generation. We're at a point in gaming when everything that is possible on the PS4 NEO, for example, is also possible on the vanilla PS4 on a lower resolution, I don't see the difference. We already know that developers are required to include vanilla PS4 modes with their games, Sony is pretty strict about this. Sure, we'll get to a point when we have a game that runs like absolute garbage on the vanilla PS4 (who's going to be the first; EA? Ubisoft?); but I can guarantee that the PS4 NEO will get no exclusive games for the coming three years. Why would you even want to ignore that by then 50 million (and growing) userbase?

@BiasedSonyFan The Kinect was a $100 piece of junk if you didn't play Kinect Sports. There was no reason to make it mandatory and bump the price up to $499, $100 more than the PS4. Anyone with a sane mind would protest against that, this has nothing to do with ''core'' gamers.

If COD is NEO/Scorpio exclusive, then I think a lot of people will move over to PC