Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

Just seen a lot of videos on the Switch specs, saying 4GB (3-3.2GBs) of RAM isn't enough, and nor is the possible expandable storage, and that its over already.

I mean...alright? I thought we didn't know how the system has been worked by Nvidia to run things efficiently or how the carts work as part of the hardware/how data is sent to the chips, and whether it goes via RAM for stuff like textures.

If anything the Switch might be the perfect platform for MH: The handheld Japan will love and the affordable home console for the West. That is a big if at this point, Nintendo needs to sell it first before Capcom commits to it, of course.

Very set? Where have you got that from? So they referred to it as a new home console on the official website, but that is all I've seen. Whereas the reveal trailer very much sold it as a hybrid. Playing in the field. Playing on the plane. Playing in the car. Playing at the ball court. Portable got more screen time than home console.

Given how well MH has done on 3DS, a Switch MH is a virtual certainty in my book, provided Switch doesn't bomb (which I don't think it will as a lot of people are ready for an HD Nintendo portable).

One thing that may be of interest to this thread is that the NES Classic comes with a My Nintendo points card. Sure the actual rewards in My Nintendo are complete garbage but at least it seems they're bringing back rewarding you for buying physical products.

Go to 2:05 in the video.

I feel like Capcom is gonna stick with the 3DS for MH, the most we'll get is probably an HD port like with 3U.

@BLP_Software No offence, but why are you wasting time on those videos? They're just loaded speculation.

The 3DS sold 60 million. Switch has 16 times more RAM than 3DS, if 4gb is true.

I just watched a video on Youtube about this from some random guy who sounded like he had a cold, rambling on and on about how Nintendo is "doing a Wii U AGAIN" and how they haven't learned their lesson and "the Switch is already dead" blahblahblah. Video had multiple tens of thousands of views, if not into the hundred.

And I sat back in my chair. And I thought.

And I mourned the death of reason that has been enabled by social media idiocy and panic.

They already started marketing it as a portable... the majority of the Switch trailer is people using it as a portable. I wouldn't say it's "just an extra".

Exactly. As a home console it has the added benefit of taking it with you. As a handheld, it has a downside of being clunky.

I know I'd start with the home console story and show nothing but portable after too. Nintendo is going to nail this one.

@gcunit I'm amazed the 3DS does what it does. That's the kind of skill that I admire in gaming as a developer.

@rallydefault I do believe we may have seen the same video. Yes, I also scrolled down to the comments and yuuuup. But here's the thing. That's a possible 10s of thousands of people being swayed by speculation to not buy it. The loudest people have the impact, squeaky wheel gets the oil. That's the sad part.

Here's my thing. I have enough knowledge of game development to be able to say its not that clear cut. 4GB of RAM. Okay, what RAM? What access speed? How do the carts affect this? Is it a guideline max storage? How have Nvidia utilised libraries to make things work more efficiently? How has Nvidia built the chipsets to interact with the carts? Al of these things aren't mentioned and we don't know, and they can have a pretty damn substantial effect on performance and possibilities.

@BiasedSonyFan Well good news. Despite university giving guidelines that "Created levels must run on the PCs in these rooms" where the marking is done, I strive to ensure it runs well on lesser hardware. Also doesn't help they don't tell you the exact specs of those PCs. I'm willing to do that. No one else I know is, and they don't teach optimisation for platforms, probably due to the heavy Sony/PC push they have. So I teach myself. Again, I just wont tell them that.

But I'm just one developer. And just one consumer. As long as it can run games I want to play and its not PS3 levels of "Well that's different" to develop for, I'll be fine. I don't care about the super nitty gritty outside of getting an idea of how much I /can/ do.

Remember this 'projector for uneven surfaces' patent article: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/09/nintendo_patents_an_... ?

Well, I can't shake the comments Kimishima has made from my mind - the suggestion that there's important stuff we're yet to discover about Switch. And I was reading the indie developers article from today and one geezer mentioned the importance of Switch's screen performance in outdoor conditions, and I immediately thought of this projection patent. How effective self-marketing would it be if people could throw down their Switch, separate the Joy-cons, and project Mario Kart etc. onto any surface at a moment's notice. Want to set up a Tekken tournament during lunch hour at school? Switch.

It's pretty far fetched to think the projection system would be built in to Switch (and yes, I know there's no sign of it in the reveal trailer, but prototype...), but Nintendo have given us no-glasses 3D, so this sounds like the sort of thing they'd pursue next and it would really grab people's attention. Maybe as a peripheral that Switch streams to.

DIY public projection of gaming sessions - The perfect Nintendo way to counter the VR movement.

@IceClimbers Capcom is Capcom. They are where the money is. The thing is that a console version of a 3DS game requires a lot of work. More than the 3DS game, and their returns would be less. If they decide on doing a MH for the Switch (which will eventually happen), then it's only a matter of porting the game to the PS4, instead of building one from the ground up. It'll be interesting to see what they will do; cause I'm sure the PS4's userbase is big enough to warrant a port. Might as well release a Xbox version then.

@BLP_Software
Yea - it's discouraging to think that any guy with a microphone (not even a video camera) can set up shop on social media, come up with a sensationalist title, and get thousands of views without knowing what he's talking about.

@Octane: @erv: Just about every corporate company does what is best for its profits; how is Capcom any different? Just sayin'.

@gcunit: It would be insane to set up a projector game anywhere you want, but I just can't see a projector fitting inside a Switch, unless it was an add-on. If it was an add-on, you could make it fit like a joy-con and still be as big as you want, since the Switch would always be laying on the floor or coffee table in this scenario.

I feel like they're balancing both, actually. (Editing this to be more accurate) In the trailer, the Switch made it from a living room to the park, to the airport, to a plane, to a car, to a hotel room, back to a car, to a basket ball court, back to a living room, to a party, to a dressing room, and finally to a stadium hooked up to large TVs. It kept going back and forth between traditional home locations on TV mode and traditional on-the-go locations.

But then, on their website, it says "meet our next home gaming system." If you ask me, they're leaning towards the home aspect extra hard to make up for the fact that it looks like a handheld. It's all a fine balance that they've pulled off pretty well so far, because Nintendo doesn't want you to think they're focusing too hard on only one aspect.

@Nicolai
Yea, the trailer struck me as pretty even between home gaming and portable, with perhaps a slight lean toward the portable just in terms of seconds given to each mode.

I think most people come away saying "portable" because, honestly, the portable situations are more memorable from the trailer. And probably lots of Xbox/PS diehards haven't owned a portable since they were little (if they're old enough to have even been around for the Gameboy family), so anything along those lines is going to make them scream PORTABLE!!!!! and not want to listen to what the company is actually saying.

@Nicolai My point exactly. They're not bound by any contract and when a PS4/Xbox port is just a mere port away, I think that Capcom will definitely take that option into consideration.

According to one of Laura Kate Dale's sources, The Switch will launch on March 17th in PAL territories. The Japan launch may be a few days earlier, but the plan is to launch in all major territories in the same week.

I never said the game couldn't expand its audience in the west. I said that Monster Hunter existing on the PS4 and XBOne probably isn't going to impact the Switch much. Because they're not going to abandon the idea of a portable Monster Hunter in Japan, the game will do fine there. And in the West? They can't lose an audience to the PS4 when that audience barely exists in the first place. For all we know a push for the game on the PS4 and XBOne will give the game greater exposure. The game going multi-platform might well expand the audience for the game on Nintendo's platforms.

Was just thinking that given that this system has the guts similar to the Nvidia Shield that maybe it is taking a similar route to the shield in terms of third party gaming? Maybe it isn't aiming to secure all the latest third party titles (although I'm sure it will still have some), but is primarily trying to go after remasters of the best third party games that were on the previous gen. Would that be crazy?

Personally, I haven't played many titles outside of the Nintendo library- simply do not have enough time (or money) to make it worthwhile investing in two consoles. So a lot of third party games from last gen would be brand new to me. But I guess also the chance of playing these games again but on the go could appeal to a lot of people as well.

It obviously wouldn't be as good a strategy as going after all the latest games, but it would certainly help having a steady stream of games coming to the Switch. But do you think consumers would go for it?

Hypothetical question:

Which of these three would you imagine would sell best?

a) A Nintendo Switch
b) A Sony Switch
c) A Sony Switch cellphone (i.e. identical hardware externally, but with cellphone capability included)

I just keep looking at the Switch thinking 'It's a slightly chunky (but acceptably so) phablet, so it better be able to make/receive calls', and if Switch does well, I can't imagine Sony won't copy it but stick cellphone capability in within a year or two.