Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Farmboy74 Nintendo best not wait till after Christmas to reveal the NX!

@Octane I think the X2 was rumoured to be which would be amazing to see in the NX. Certainly would grab headlines.

@FragRed It's not a huge jump, don't expect anything mind blowing, at least it depends on how you look at it. Definitely more powerful than the Wii U, but still less than XOne and PS4. Somewhere in between the Wii U and XOne I'd say. But we've heard that a million times by now. On a lower res handheld screen, that means that it could technically run current gen games, maybe at a lower framerate as well; but that's just on the ''handheld'' side. Assuming they don't go for a 1080p screen.. You never know.. On a big TV screen though? Don't expect it to match the current gen systems at all. Very good for a handheld, but still behind the current gen of home consoles.

@Octane I thought the X1 was meant to be between the Wii U and Xbox One in power and the X2 was rumoured to be just under Xbox One.

@FragRed, I think that they're running out of time and opputunities for a reveal this year. Between the PS4 slim, Neo, PSVR and Xbox One S and Scorpio, I can't see how Nintendo are going to get their message across with all the fuss that the revisions and new systems are going to cause.

For NX to be a success Nintendo needs to get across what it is and who they are aiming at. They also need to advertise it heavily especially in the UK since they way they advertised the WII U was abysmal.

@Farmboy74 Agreed, communication is key, but if you think that means waiting in the vain hope of everyone else going away then you need to grow a pair if you want to go in to industry lol. Other companies announcing does not in any way send mixed messages about your own announcements! Nintendo were to blame for the poor reception of Wii U, not other companies announcing stuff.

@GrailUK yeah and ive said before and ill say it again, i hope nintendo have at least a little faith in their system. you dont get buy just from hiding from everyone. one day nintendo is gonna have to man up and show this thing.

@WebHead I just don't imagine execs are in a board room all cowering underneath the desk lol.

@FragRed Well, don't quote me on that. It's what I've gathered by reading some other people's rough calculations. It's still somewhere in between the Wii U and XOne. Definitely doesn't match the current gen from the looks of it, but it's only a handheld after all.

@Octane I hope for Nintendo's sake this thing is really that amazing because without power behind it when linked to a TV, all I see is another device that will struggle to attract much excitement after reveal.

@FragRed Well good luck trying to fit a PS4 in a handheld for a decent price. That's not going to happen. I've said it many times; a hybrid system will have the disadvantages of both. There's a reason why we buy dedicated gaming devices to get our gaming fix. There's also a reason why we have dedicated gaming devices for home console experience and handheld experience. I don't see how one can do both effectively. At least it could end up as a decent handheld; not sure about the home experience compared to the competition though.

@Octane I agree and never assumed it would be PS4 in power but it's entirely Nintendo's problem that a huge amount of people want just that, regardless of how doable it is for a cheap price. This whole thing seems to me Nintendo half assing it, not really knowing what they are trying to achieve and whom they are targeting.

@FragRed That's why I'm not a huge fan of Nintendo's approach with the NX. We'll see how it turns out, but I'm not holding my hopes up.

Just to stir the pot; DMP is actually shipping SoCs based on the M3000 series in 2017.

http://pc.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/1014610.html

I still don't understand why everyone keeps measuring this against the PS4 and XBOne. I would've thought the Tegra rumour would have squashed this type of thinking a while ago. Because if you ask me it's obvious at this point that Nintendo isn't trying to be just another current-gen system. They're something different. So I don't think the existence of a new PS4/XBOne impacts them at all. Their schedule or their bottom line. I also don't think that the lack of horsepower really matters in the end either.

If you ask me? The Wii U was Nintendo's last home console and the NX is their first portable system that doesn't need a companion. So people need to stop treating it like a home console. We need to start thinking of it as the first of many portables that can push out those sort of visuals. If things keep going as they are? Not long from now this will be the new norm.

@skywake The reason why people compare the NX rumors to consoles is because they are the only other dedicated gaming systems, and with the "Console Mode" I think those comparisons are actually valid, since Nintendo is going to have a half assed home console within the handheld system.

@DefHalan
Sure but I don't think it's going to behave like that as a product on the shelves. It'll be more of a "home console" than portables have traditionally been. But it'll still be an entirely different product. I don't think its success or failure will have much to do with what the PS4 or XBOne are doing.

If NX is Tegra x2 and pascal-based, we are really talking about high-end hardware. It would blow smartphones out of the water graphics-wise. Would it beat NEO/Scorpio? No, but it was never ever supposed to do that. At most it would always be ps4-power, maybe slightly more.

I think Nintendo is aiming for the secondary console niche. It will probably be cheap enough to be that. And as a secondary cheaper console, who cares if it has has much power as the competition?

The real competition is smartphones, not MS/Sony. You need to convince people they need another device to lug around.

And yet again if you are so concerned with power then you should stop being a cheap-ass and buy a frakking Gaming PC.

@skywake I agree, the NX will fail (or succeed) on its own, just like the Wii U.

@skywake TBH, I'm not the one calling it a home console. If this is a replacement for the Wii U too, then people have every reason to compare this to the other dedicated gaming hardware. After all; if it's actually on par with the XOne or PS4, that means that it should be able to run the same games, and yes that is a big deal.

I don't care about playing Animal Crossing in 4K 60fps; but there were clearly games that struggled on the Wii U; Xenoblade Chronicles for example (and it looks like Zelda can use a little horsepower too); there are still plenty of games that struggle on the current gen consoles. I'm not power-hungry and I don't need a $1000 gaming console, but if the NX can actually run current gen games smoothly; if other developers will actually develop new games for this system; then I think that's something worth striving for.

@Octane
And again we don't have that much of an idea how powerful this thing is. But I'm thinking more in terms of the form of the thing than anything else. Because that's what consumers will see on the shelf. They'll see a product and library of games. They won't see or care how many GFLOPS it has. It's true that we don't know the form either. I just can't see Nintendo failing to market a portable device as something different

In terms of raw performance? It is going to be more like a third home console. No doubt about that. If it's the Tegra X2 then I'd argue 800GFLOPS is a fair guesstimate. Which relatively speaking would mean it's as close to Scorpio as the Vita was to the Wii U. And also as close to the PS4 as the Gamecube was to the original XBox. Even compared to Scorpio it'd be, relatively speaking, the closest a portable system has ever been to the highest end console. So it's fair to compare it on that respect.

..... I just don't think that consumers will see that on the box