Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Heavyarms55 in fairness the idea of third party games on PS/Xbox plus Nintendo first party games would be ducking wonderful.

@Heavyarms55 I mean if Nintendo were technically comparable to PlayStation/Xbox or as aggressive in securing stuff like third party console exclusives or making sure multiplats land on their platform day and date that would be amazing in conjunction with their first party lineup.

Nintendo being as competitive in terms of their consoles as Sony or Microsoft is honestly a great idea that will do a better job of completely getting them away from the perception that they shouldn't be taken as seriously by people who aren't already acquianted with their ecosystem. Especially when it comes to specific third parties like Bethesda, Square Enix, Capcom and obviously EA.

While it would be awesome if a Nintendo console could have all/most of the major third party games and the Nintendo 1st party titles, I'm glad there's something unique in the console space. I think the days of one company putting out a dedicated handheld and console are gone, and for people like myself and many who like to have dedicated gaming on the go, the Switch is perfect.

What I'm hoping and seems most likely tbh, is Nintendo continuing making Switch esque consoles for the foreseeable future and having their mobile division be their secondary thing.

@Heavyarms55

I think it's less about wanting another PlayStation or Xbox and more about folks wanting enough power out of the Switch to cater to AAA third party publishers. Ports of older games are enough for me, but some folks want to play the latest and "greatest" on Switch along with all the great first party games. Unfortunately, even a 1080p handheld / 4k docked Switch wouldn't be enough for those publishers to care any more (or any less) than they already do.

The Switch's identity as an indie, first party, and port machine is all but cemented.

@Magician People need to understand that a Switch with power comparable to PS5 and XboxX, if it's even possible with current tech, would probably be over 1000 dollars. Probably more.

@Magician It's not even that. I could personally care less of if the power came from a Switch or a traditional home console, but Nintendo actually making the effort to be technologically on par with the competition again is something I think would really benefit them not just in terms of the games they can make or see come to their platform, but also just help in aiding the general public perception around the company. Even if I don't buy multiplats on Switch, it's still pretty sad seeing Nintendo almost always receiving a consolation prize and never being able to make it day and date with other systems in terms of the big name AAA games.

@TheFrenchiestFry

Unfortunately Nintendo isn't in the business of selling hardware at a loss. No doubt Sony and MS are eating a $50 to $100 loss per console sold. All towards the goal of getting gamers into their ecosystem (Ultimate Game Pass, PS+ and PS Now). If hardware can't be sold as pure profit then Nintendo won't sell it.

https://gonintendo.com/stories/368832-nintendo-six-months-ear... in novembre 5th we finally gonna know if Animal Crossing New Horizons is the best selling/highest selling Switch game and if Switch continues to sell well with no sight of slowing down.

@Magician Eh, Nintendo's sold at a loss before. Both Wii U and 3DS were sold at a loss when they first entered the market. They aren't as against it as their executives would have you believe.

@link3710

True, the Wii U was sold at a loss, as Iwata admitted. But the 3DS wasn't initially sold at a loss. 3DS profit margins were decimated when Nintendo dropped the msrp from $250 to $170 six months after launch because 3DS sales stalled out. Then Nintendo lost the glassless 3D tech lawsuit and had to pay out a percentage for each 3DS sold, which was the driving force behind the introduction of the 2DS.

Regarding the Switch being "Out of date" as it were....I cant help but agree and disagree.

Sure compared to the older competition it cant keep up.

But it cant keep up because of its battery being a permanent factor. A mobile chipset is beholden to battery life and power consumption far more than a home console.

Until battery technology evolves, and its unlikely given how stagnant it is, then mobile chipsets can only get more efficient up to a point.

Further to that, if we take what the Switch was when it came out, what it was using technologically, its actually not as "Out of date" as we think. It just seems that way because of the direct comparison to a power supply hungry box.

For instance, the Nintendo Switch utilises Vulkan APIs, which werent released until almost exactly one year before the system was.

The Tegra X1 inside the system released exactly two years before the Switch. The revision in the newer models exists FOR the Switch. Now for a system using a chipset older than this is unheard of, and the other systems typically go for either stuff releasing at the time of the systems release, or near enough. Though you can make an argument that whats inside the Xbox One and PS4 is pretty poor for the time it came out too.

I imagine due to mobile chipsets being for phones and....phones, and the Tegra line basically being unused by other companies once Google dropped it, it seems likely Nvidia didnt really want to push forward, with the X2 being used primarily for cars and servers so they gave Nintendo their next best and most suitable thing: The Tegra X1.

Also worth remembering Nvidia probably didnt want to work on another console after the PS3 happened.

After the sales success though, the Tegra X1, a 2015 chip, got a 2019 revision making it smaller, cheaper to make, cooler, and giving it compatability with newer, lower power RAM without sacrificing anything at all, and even the potential to run at higher clock speeds.

And based on job listings it seems likely Nintendo is first in line for a Tegra chip using Tensor cores in the CPU, to take advantage of DLSS 2.0, for low cost to performance AI based image upscaling on a per frame basis.

Nvidia now has a reason to develop something very capable, especially by mobile standards, power efficient, with fancy software embedded within like DLSS, newer versions of Vulkan, and whatever APIs Nvidia and Nintendo create, like NVN currently.

Until batteries get better, the Switch systems will always appear outdated, but in reality under the hood they are very modern. It's just raw performance doesnt match up to something plugged into a wall.

@Haruki_NLI

I assume Nintendo and NVIDIA will go with a modified Tegra Xavier for the Switch successor. By coincidence the model number for the Xavier is NX, the same project name for the Switch before it launched. Rumors suggested the Switch successor would use a Volta GPU, the Xavier is Volta-based. The power consumption would only slighty increase in favor of significant performance gains, going from 25 GB/s of memory bandwidth to 50+ GB/s.

Although that would still be less than a base PS4's 140 GB/s, but for a portable console...pretty good.

https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2020/01/rumoured_switch_pro...

Woo, DKC2!

@Cynas I just saw that. I prefer 2 over the original so I'm happy. With Nintendo's recent decisions in the business it never seemed they would actually listen to their fans for once. Whatever the case I'm glad it happened. Don't care too much for the other games though.

@Slowdive fire emblem is why I got the super famicom NSO. Can’t understand a word of it but it’s fun nonetheless

I made this post 2 weeks ago, ha.

Ah, finally DKC2. Certainly took long enough. Maybe by this time next year we’ll have the third...

Nah, I can’t be snarky. I’m very happy to see DKC2.

@Blooper987
There’s English translations of all the FE games. I have them all on my 3DS, in English (aside from GC, Wii and Switch entries, so 13 out of 16). Genealogy of the Holy War and Thracia 776 have particularly great new translations.

I'm actually finally letting my sub expire in two days. Love dkc2 but I also played it recently and that's the best of the bunch.

Damn it, I want Fire Emblem on our NSO. It would have been really cool if Nintendo had taken the opportunity to translate the NES/SNES entries for us.

Sooooo looks like NSO has officially given up on adding new systems. Guess we won't see GameBoy games again til next system at the earliest