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Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

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rallydefault

@Octane
Yea, I definitely learned my lesson about buying into machines. I think a lot of that hinges on me really using my PC a lot, though. I probably would be much happier with the PS4/Xbox One (or both, possibly) if I didn't game on my PC, because I wouldn't already have access to most of these games with more options and better graphics. So, I can see somebody like you who doesn't really use a PC to game being quite happy with a PS4 because those games are "new" to you and look pretty good on the console. But for a PC gamer, it's kind of like... "wow, that looks like garbage" lol AND we get more options in terms of controllers to use and such.

But I think on the whole system refresh timeline, we're just going to have to disagree. I know my perspective trends very negative, but I see the Scorpio and Neo exclusives rearing their ugly heads MUCH sooner than 3 years from now. Much sooner. I won't say more than that, but it's honestly what I think. And when that happens... yea, I'll be pretty well and done with Sony/Microsoft consoles for a while.

As for the NX, I'll wait and see what games it's going to launch with. Then I'll make my decision, per your advice.

rallydefault

IceClimbers

Nah, I don't see the vanilla XB1/PS4 being cut off from new games until around 2019/2020, which is when the Scorpio 2 and Neo 2 or whatever should launch. Even then there will still be quite a few games supported by the vanilla XB1/PS4.

My view is that the Scorpio/Neo aren't "mid-gen upgrades", they're just new hardware. I think the concept of a "console generation" is no more, and that those days are over. The rigidly defined console generation as we know them describes a period of new hardware releases that effectively hits the reset button and requires the platform holders to rebuild their ecosystems again and again.

Now the idea is that all your stuff will carry over to future hardware - backwards compatibility from here on out - as well as forwards compatibility with at least the successor hardware (in some cases 2 or more successors). This would bring the console industry to modern tech standards.

Eventually older models will be cut off from new games, but that won't be a strict cut off decided by Sony and Microsoft - that's up to the developers. Games like FIFA and Madden may very well still be supported by the XB1/PS4 despite the Scorpio 2/Neo 2 being out. Hell, I could very well see Just Dance 2027 launch in 2026 when the Scorpio 4/Neo 4 are out still be playable on the XB1/PS4 you bought in 2013.

This would be very healthy for the industry as a whole, and Sony and Microsoft won't have to keep rebuilding their ecosystems.

As for what this means for Nintendo? Well, since this would essentially make the Xbox and PlayStation ecosystems set in stone, having some powerhouse console that gets all those gamers to switch is pretty much an impossibility. From Nintendo's current market position, they're forced to rebuild their ecosystem with NX, and would have to get those gamers to buy into their ecosystem in addition to the Xbox or PlayStation ecosystem.

[Edited by IceClimbers]

3DS Friend Code: 2363-5630-0794

IceClimbers

@BiasedSonyFan People in poorer countries would. There's a reason why FIFA continued to release on PS2 even after the PS4 launched.

In Just Dance's case, the graphics don't actually matter, so it being supported by the XB1/PS4 even after Scorpio 4/Neo 4 are out makes sense simply because they could run it.

3DS Friend Code: 2363-5630-0794

skywake

dtjive wrote:

But the problem with a hybrid device is that it needs to satisfy both home console and handheld gamers. Not everyone will want both. Some may prefer handheld gaming, some many prefer home console/big screen gaming. As such the success of the NX is contingent that it can deliver both a good handheld and home console experience.

Why does this have to mean it's directly competing with the XBOne and PS4 by running all the same titles? Really, Nintendo have never done that in the home console space. People will cite the Gamecube as a time when Nintendo did do that but they really didn't. Because of vast architectural differences the Gamecube was in the last generation of exclusive libraries.

You can argue that they should till the cows come home. But if it's based on the Tegra it's pretty clear that they don't care about that much. If they wanted to compete on spec they could have easily chased that idea. Pushed the NX out as just another one of the three that happens to have Mario on it. But right or wrong they have no interest in that. And I'm not sure I disagree. A cheaper product that can still run content like this?

Untitled

Who cares if EA rolls their eyes at the spec sheet! And frankly, I think the market is better if we have more options rather than less. Call me old fashioned, I like the idea of having a choice. I liked it when console wars were about whether Mario was better than Sonic. Because even as a tech-junkie, I'm sick of the argument about how many FPS one box runs the same game at vs another.

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

Therad

BiasedSonyFan wrote:

@rallydefault

"Sony/Microsoft talked such big games about these things being powerful enough to do what they wanted, and then they hit their fans with these $399-$499 mid-gen "refreshes" that, let's face it, are most definitely going to become mandatory for the newest games in two years, tops. It's gonna happen, just wait and see."

This is exactly what I was saying earlier.

The PS2 was considered to be a powerful machine when it was launched, even among PCs. So was the PS3. Both the PS2 and the PS3 had custom console hardware that used low-level APIs. Even when PCs with better specifications were released, the PS2 and PS3 could still compete graphically for years because of the advantages they had as consoles (e.g. not as expensive, custom hardware, low-level APIs for programming), so they didn't need upgrades. The PS4, however, basically uses underpowered and off-the-shelf PC hardware that developers already knew how to program. That helped developers to skip the traditional console programming learning curve, but as a result they've already maxed out the PS4's hardware. The PS4 NEO also uses underpowered hardware, so the same problem will likely happen a couple of years after it's launched. Together, the PS4 and the PS4 NEO cost almost $1000 USD. A PC at that price could be bought at one time and have much longer longevity. If gamers don't care for Sony exclusives, then there's no reason to buy Sony consoles.

If Nintendo doesn't screw up selling their consoles, then they could regain a share of the console market, after all. It just depends on how successful (sales-wise) the console upgrades will be as well as the NX's own sales success. Some gamers are probably going to catch on to Sony's scheme and switch to PCs.

I can agree with you that ps3 was very technically competent, but I don't agree with your assessment of the ps2. It might have been on par with mid-range PCs, but it wasn't the power horse you seem to remember it by.

Gen 7 of the consoles are an anomaly among the generations. The power twins were quite formidable when they showed up, but they also bled money for years. At the same time as their parent companies also showed a decline in sales. If I were to guess, the gaming divisions had lots of pressure on them to be profitable. Except for Nintendo which apparently printed their own money at the time. Sony and MS want to mitigate this in the future, and they are doing it by future proofing their consoles, if they don't have to reinstall their install base every fifth year, they become much more resilient against bad times.

And you are wrong about the cost of PS4/Neo. They are much more costly than $1000 if you factor in things such as inflated prices on games and paying for online.

Therad

Therad

BiasedSonyFan wrote:

@Therad

The PS2 had some impressive tech when it was released. The PS2's Emotion Engine was no slouch; I think some developers said that they still haven't maxed it out.

It wasn't that impressive, PC gaming was in full swing at the moment and beat it readily. Also if no one maxed it out, does it make it impressive or cumbersome to use?

Ps2 main draw was never graphics. It was the price point paired with a DVD player.

Therad

DefHalan

@BiasedSonyFan Can't you find articles saying the same thing about PS4 and XB1?

People keep saying the Xbox One doesn't have Backwards Compatibility.
I don't think they know what Backwards Compatibility means...

skywake

@BiasedSonyFan
The fact that the PS2 used a didn't use x86 wasn't an advantage. Consoles developed in that era were all hard to develop for because they used lower powered and cheaper chips. The fact that it took a while to get the most out of older console architectures was a bad thing. The fact that the XBox was just a PC? That made things super easy for them, it was a HUGE advantage.

I mean just for one measure. The same year the PS2 launched? The cheapest "ok for gaming" pre-built PC I can find had 64MB of RAM and 16MB of VRAM on a TNT2. Also a 10GB HDD, CD-ROM and a 500Mhz Celeron. The PS2 had 32MB of RAM total with a 300Mhz MIPS CPU. No storage but a DVD-ROM. Surprisingly similar prices though I don't know how much more of a margin there was on the PS2 in Australia.

I'm struggling to do a raw performance comparison but still. The PS2 was sitting at around 6GFLOPs in total. The XBox came out about three years later with a 20GFLOPs. That's quite a leap. I'm not sure they could have made that much of a leap if the PS2 was as ahead as you claim.

.... also, why are we even talking about this?

[Edited by skywake]

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

skywake

@BiasedSonyFan
As I said, there was a reason why they used weird architectures back in the day. It was because x86 wasn't cheap enough or efficient enough to be used in consoles. Which was still an issue when the XBox launched. But it did have its advantages which the XBox did use. These days? There's no cost or efficiency issues with x86. You can buy thumbdrive sized PCs for $100AU or something similarly stupid. So why not?

Anyways, why are we even discussing this? Do you even have a point other than just general nostalgia for the days when consoles were hard to develop for? As if somehow when multi-platform games didn't really exist to the degree they do now it was better. Ok, if you think that? I'm not sure I agree. But in some kind of obscure way I guess it's maybe possibly applies to the NX in some respects. The NX will be the PS2 to the PS4's XBox....

.... maybe

....

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

christo71186

[Edited by gcunit]

christo71186

Therad

skywake wrote:

@BiasedSonyFan
The fact that the PS2 used a didn't use x86 wasn't an advantage. Consoles developed in that era were all hard to develop for because they used lower powered and cheaper chips. The fact that it took a while to get the most out of older console architectures was a bad thing. The fact that the XBox was just a PC? That made things super easy for them, it was a HUGE advantage.

I mean just for one measure. The same year the PS2 launched? The cheapest "ok for gaming" pre-built PC I can find had 64MB of RAM and 16MB of VRAM on a TNT2. Also a 10GB HDD, CD-ROM and a 500Mhz Celeron. The PS2 had 32MB of RAM total with a 300Mhz MIPS CPU. No storage but a DVD-ROM. Surprisingly similar prices though I don't know how much more of a margin there was on the PS2 in Australia.

I'm struggling to do a raw performance comparison but still. The PS2 was sitting at around 6GFLOPs in total. The XBox came out about three years later with a 20GFLOPs. That's quite a leap. I'm not sure they could have made that much of a leap if the PS2 was as ahead as you claim.

.... also, why are we even talking about this?

and that PC could do 800x600 in resolution while the ps2 was stuck with SD TV resolutions.

@BiasedSonyFan I read those articles, they were quite painful to read. He somehow thinks it is a good thing to have a bus at 90% which is the equivalent to rush hour traffic. When you need to compute something you need it asap to not slow down. There is a reason every CPU today have multiple levels of caches. If I would venture a guess, the vdu cores were mostly used for particle effects.

Therad

GrailUK

@christo71186 Well that is staggering! I have read trains of thought before but this must be a hype train of thought lol.

I never drive faster than I can see. Besides, it's all in the reflexes.

Switch FC: SW-0287-5760-4611

skywake

Therad wrote:

and that PC could do 800x600 in resolution while the ps2 was stuck with SD TV resolutions.

True. But I'm not sure 800x600 or even 1024x768 is much to brag about when you're playing at 10fps.

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

Farmboy74

@christo71186, that is some list of ideas. If the NX is hybrid console I hope they use a 3D screen again. I would also like to see a new Ice Climbers and F Zero games

Farmboy74

Therad

skywake wrote:

Therad wrote:

and that PC could do 800x600 in resolution while the ps2 was stuck with SD TV resolutions.

True. But I'm not sure 800x600 or even 1024x768 is much to brag about when you're playing at 10fps.

I definitely had more than 10fps with tnt2.

Therad

skywake

Therad wrote:

skywake wrote:

Therad wrote:

and that PC could do 800x600 in resolution while the ps2 was stuck with SD TV resolutions.

True. But I'm not sure 800x600 or even 1024x768 is much to brag about when you're playing at 10fps.

I definitely had more than 10fps with tnt2.

Well obviously it would depend on the game, settings and so on. But I think it's fair to say that PC gamers these days have it pretty good. Mid-range machines can run the newest games at max settings and get 60fps at 1080p. It was a bit different in the early 2000s

Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions

christo71186

There is no attach files. Can admins add attach file to this website?

christo71186

christo71186

Also, should I try starting a company to make things like what I listed happen?

christo71186

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