Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

I just got an email from Nintendo that stated -
[quote]"Watch live and you could win a Nintendo Classic Mini - 4pm, 6th October"[/QUOTE]
My heart skipped a beat and I thought "Yay!!!! Finally the NX reveal"

Then I opened the email and it's a show about the NES Mini. How deep do you think my heart sank?

Phhhhhh...

I agree, I am not fond of the whole portable leak. I hope they have different form factors, I.e a stationary console.

As I currently see it here are a few possibilities.....

NX is a portable with a "dumb" dock:
What most of the NX thoughts until today just assumed. Also something that I've more-or-less thought the NX was pretty much since the start. Minus a few weeks when the Zelda:BotW bit confused everyone. I think this is the most likely scenario

NX is a portable with a "smart" dock:
This gets a bit tricky. I think it's fair to say that this would be similar to the above scenario for the end user experience. Basically what they'd do is have something like a higher powered GPU in the base. But at that point you're adding cost and complexity. Neither are good things. Especially if you want to streamline development and make friends with third parties

NX is a standard piece of hardware with different SKUs:
Not to far from what you get with Android and iOS devices. Someone builds an app for Android? It can run on your phone, tablet or TV. Because the base its all built on is essentially the same. This way there could be a portable NX and a home console NX. They'd be different pieces of hardware with slightly different specs. But they'd be similar enough that games built for one could run on the other. I actually quite like this idea even if I have no idea which SKU I'd get.....

NX is a home console with a VMU style portable toy:
This would definitely be technically possible. No doubt about that. But there are issues with it on both extremes. If the portable component is well under-powered? Then it becomes just a gimmick. Nobody will care. What you're selling at that point is a glorified Pokemon pedometer. If it's a decent portable? Then at that point why sell it in the box at all. Again, what's the point? Congratulations, you've basically invented a 3DS/Wii U bundle.

NX is a home console, the portable component is on iOS/Android:
Well maybe. But at that point what you're talking about is every console on the market already. This is already a thing. If this is the big gimmick? The leaks wouldn't be talking about a portable component. It doesn't add up.

@Nintenbomba128 That said, I wouldn't be surprised if 3D World ended up with a 3DS port. Nintendo seems to be brutally pulling the best of the Wii U's library away from the Wii U.

[quote]I just got an email from Nintendo that stated -

Your heart oughta kick your eyes since it said "NES Mini" on the subject line

I really hope it is option 3. It would also bridge the difference of Western and Eastern markets.

Overall I wonder why no one has tried basic and pro models from the start. PCs have been doing it for many years, and just having for example a basic and a pro sku would still have been easier to develop for than PC.

Lowering resolution wouldn't lower much for the power requirement, meaning the portable would have to be almost as powerful as the Home Console, or Developers would have to, in a way, create two different games. One to run off the Home Console, the other to run off the Portable.

@MarcelRguez The PS4 situation is different, since the lower spec machine is where developers want to make their products. It is unlikely that a portable will come with that much power for a while, then the Home Console would need to be more powerful, and you are then looking at a $700 machine, which I don't think Nintendo would be interested in.

So again, we are still looking at a low-powered Handheld device, meaning we won't be getting big 3rd party support (the Call of Duties, Battlefields, Destiny type games) and there won't be much improvement when playing it on the TV

October 21st will mark the 5 year anniversary of the 1st Nintendo direct, when the late, great Iwata-San blessed us all with this unique medium to deliver Nintendo news, and announcing MK7 for the 1st time.

@MarcelRguez I disagree, if Nintendo made a system similar to Xbox and Playstation, I think they would get support, because it would be so cheap to support that companies wouldn't have a downside. My point is that it doesn't make much sense for the TV mode of the NX to have more power. It increases costs, developer investment and time, and won't deliver the type of experience consumers expect.

@MarcelRguez In theory it sounds nice but in practice, I don't think there is much benefit. It increases cost for both consumers and developers but does add noticeable benefits. The PS4 Pro/Scorpio will require basically two different versions of a game to be made and tested. There will be the version that runs on the normal platform and a version for the enhanced platform. They can be packaged together and use the same content but it will just add more cost to developers and make it harder for indies.

With these things, there is a lot of talk about how easy it will be for developers, how it will be a push of a button... but the reality of it is companies pass it off to the developers to test and implement these features. That is why there aren't many indie games that have lots of graphical settings on PC, those companies just don't have the resources to develop for multiple SKUs like that. PC gamers like to break into games to unlock frame rates, but that normally breaks a part of the game or causes some other issue. These are why i would rather not have this feature and why I don't think the Pro or Scorpio will be worth it, unless they change the way console generations work, like a lot of people speculate.

@DefHalan It doesn't really work like that. It's not as if the developers have to make several games or anything like that. Games are made on PC and they are constantly tweaking setting during development; you know, that's what happens during development. They just implement those features into PC games, so that people can increase the settings to fit their PC capabilities. Indie games don't always come with different settings, because there's often not a whole lot that can be changed. The games are a lot simpler and most PCs can run them anyway. There's no need for a higher resolution when 1080p is more than enough for a simple 8 or 16-bit style game. It's really not a lot of work at all, almost nothing. There's no reason to worry about that.

@Octane It takes a lot of work for developers to make sure those settings don't break the game. I don't think asking console developers to have to do that is a good idea.

@DefHalan Those settings can't break the game.. We're talking about higher resolutions, better textures, improved shadows and lighting. Those aren't going to make your game crash.

@Octane except when they do (first example pulled from google) https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/481115363...

EDIT: Plus my argument wasn't even about These types of graphic settings in a game. My argument was focused on making developers test on multiple device in order to release on one. Developers would have to make sure the game preforms correctly on the Portable's Specs and the TV Mode Specs, even without an upgrade feature.

@BiasedSonyFan they don't need to beat Microsoft and Sony in power to get 3rd Party games. If games are cheap and easy to port, they will get support. By minimizing the amount of work required by 3rd Parties, those 3rd parties will have an easier time getting profit with their ports. The power and price of said system could be near equivalent to the XB1 and PS4, and still have unique software from Nintendo and other companies. I don't even think having a different controller would less them up if the specs line up closer with the other machines on the market. Easier development and porting will help Nintendo a lot

@DefHalan I think the lack of a lot of Japanese third party games on Xbox One is proof enough that no matter how easy it is to port to, if those games don't sell, they won't get support. Western 3rd party games on Nintendo platforms have the exact same issue.

@IceClimbers 3rd Party games don't sell well on Nintendo systems because Nintendo hasn't provided a console near equal to its competitors. It has never been easy to port games over to Nintendo systems. Without 3rd Party support, I don't think Nintendo can survive. Until we see what the NX is then I don't see it doing that much better than the Wii U without 3rd party support.

@DefHalan Japanese 3rd party games do sell well on Nintendo platforms, and the NX will have plenty of that.