Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@darkfenrir Nintendo said they'd reveal more about the E3 schedule in April. I think it'll just be an events overview so like when the tournaments are, the form of the main event, whether Treehouse Live returns, etc.

@Grumblevolcano Ah got it! I didn't remember that to be honest.

Well, there's still... 14 more days or so for them to give more E3 schedule, still a long time away!

It’s crazy to think E3 is just around the corner... I wonder if we’ll get a franchise specific direct before then like we did last year with Pokémon

@Peek-a-boo
Ya sorry about that lol.

I wasn't meaning to speak for you, but for myself. Ya, I love playing games on the TV. It's my preferred way of gaming... When I'm actually home and in the mood. Which I'm more than willing to still be able to play on the TV, still be able to relax with a Pro Controller, still do all of that like before, just trade in a smidge of visuals in exchange for breaking the chains, so to speak. And in exchange for motion and all that stuff, which is being implemented in a heck of a lot of Switch games now.

Point being everyone values the highest visuals and performance. Obviously. But there's other things that matter, some of which actually outweigh it entirely. If it was the difference between a DS looking game and PS4 Pro... well ok then. Probably worth the tradeoff to alot less people. But when it's so close (some games literally have no difference at all, and the ones that do, it's no longer some giant SNES to N64 leap, it's just a smidge of resolution or smidge of framerate improvement)... It's hard to forfeit all the benefits of a hybrid motion version... just for that.

DKC Tropical Freeze is releasing soon, at 1080p... very few people seem to care. An upgrade over 720p on Wii U, yes, and I appreciate it, but how many people are raving over it, "yes! finally I can play upgraded from 720p to 1080p!" Hardly anyone cares. But I notice when it comes to PS4 games and the like, it's made to be the most important thing in the world.

But ya, when I was a teenager and did nothing all day, got high with my brother and played Metroid Prime for 10 hours straight... that's what I was referring to. If I was reliving those days, Switch wouldn't matter much. But I'm not.

@JaxonH I am just glad we understood what we were both (originally) trying to say.

At the tender age of ten going on eleven, my brother and I were happily sitting down in the living room playing on our GameCube for hours on end, especially in the wintertime. Those were the days...

@JaxonH Mostly since people like me have always prioritized the game itself being fantastic. It's why I still love Xenoblade 2 in handheld despite the undeniably bad resolution.

Different cultures I suppose.

It annoys me how good Xenoblade 2 COULD look on the Switch. Take docked screenshots at the 720p resolution and then look at the pictures on the tablet: it's drop dead gorgeous!

Oh well. Maybe if a Switch Pro releases we'll get a patch to increase Xenoblade 2's performance all-around.

I really oppose the idea of a "Switch Pro". The New 3DS was supposed to be a big game changer but ended up only supplying one exclusive and allowing SuMo to get away with a terrible framerate at parts

The only reason I'd be okay with a Switch incremental upgrade is just because I want a 1080p portable. Shouldn't need too much more power to accomplish that at a similar battery life, right? I know nothing of the specifics that go into doing something like that, though, so I could be asking too much.

How big of a chance do you guys think Mushihimesama is going to be released on Switch? I'm debating whether I should purchase on Steam or not..

The tegra X2 would be able to do it at the same power draw.

Technically the current GPU would be able to have a 1080p screen, but they would need to have lower frame rates and/or details.

I think it would be interesting if there was a portable only or home console only version of the Switch. It might split the player base like the New 3DS did(for a while any way), so I am sort of against that. If I'm paying 300 dollars for a console, i would like it to last more than 2 years without feeling outdated. I understand that's how technology works, but I still have a launch PS4 (and the controller that came with it, its in terrible condition but I'm so used to it I don't think I could ever get a new one) and I can still get every new game that comes out and not feel like I'm missing out.

My Switch just now started displaying my playtime for Super Mario Odyssey, and in the past 10 days I’ve played “40 hours or more”... whoops😜

Football manager touch shot straight to number 1 on UK eshop.

@Ralizah Some people on the Xenoblade subreddit think that the game got a very slight framerate/resolution boost in handheld mode. I think it's placebo, but take that as you will.

Xenoblade probably WOULD look good on the tablet had Monolith Soft decided to allow the game to run at its full potential in handheld mode, like SMO and BotW. We might not have gotten a consistent 720p resolution, but I'm willing to bet those drops to sub-PS Vita resolution wouldn't happen anymore.

@EvilLucario The one a month ago or so? Nah, people have demonstrated that the resolution still caves in busy areas on that same subreddit, from what I remember.

It's sort of like that DOOM update recently that added motion controls. People went on and on about resolution and framerate improvements, but the Digital Foundry analysis didn't find much to be different on the performance front.

@Pazzo-ZaFool I'd be OK with it if it was like the PS4 Pro and featured a "boost mode" that allowed games to run better.

Besides, the New 3DS also ran SNES VC games and was significantly snappier than the original model.

Yeah really disappointing that they never optimized the game for handheld mode at all.

The law of diminishing returns has been in full force since the dawn of the PS3 and 360. Ever since those consoles released, we see less and less returns over a longer and longer time span.

I mean, whatever PS5 and Xbox 3 end up being, I estimate it's not going to look more than 10% better over PS4 and X1. Aside from standardizing 4K 60fps (which will be the ultimate end game, beyond that it's a waste- the increased power necessary to do something like 8K would be completely not worth it for the marginal 3% return you would get as far as visual perception for the average player) there's really nothing beyond that they can do to make a noticeable difference. They can continue to increase details and all that stuff but, they could do that now anyways.

Which means we're rapidly approaching the limit, if you can envision it like a mathematical graph where the Y value continues to decrease at an increasing rate as it gets closer and closer to the limit. And that's a good thing I think. Once 4K 60 FPS is standardized I don't really need games to look better than that. Be honest I don't really need them to look better than 1080p 30fps, although anything above that is a nice bonus, for sure.

What I'm getting at is someday in the next 10 or 20 years, mobile technology will be capable of 80% of console technology. In 10 or 20 years we will be playing games on Switch-like devices running 1080p 60fps standardized across the board. With the same graphical grunt as the home consoles, just quarter resolution.

As time progresses mobile technology will continue to close the gap with consoles. Until eventually, every single console game will be able to be released on a portable console system without any downscaling at all. Just ran at a lower resolution. Switch was a major milestone, but that gap is going to get even smaller in the future. The compromise we have to make for a hybrid system is only going to decrease with time

@Ralizah
I haven't noticed any difference in Xenoblade, but I did notice a difference in DOOM. Just a smidge sharper really, but the biggest thing I noticed was the lack of severe drops like before. I mean it's not like it suddenly ran at a locked 720p but, it kind of undid the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. Nudged it up over some arbitrary threshold where, it no longer felt extremely subpar, and just kind of felt like it was on a slightly lower end of the spectrum for visuals.

Handheld mode looked like a 3DS game, it doesn't bother me particularly though improvements are always welcome.

@Ralizah Yeah that's why I said I think it was placebo.