More Nintendo Switch Rumours Emerge Online

Considering the Wii U did away with friend codes, that point was pretty much a given

Not a whole lot of surprises, though the memory storage concerns me.

Wii U also technically had voice chat, but it wasn't implemented on a system wide basis. This really doesn't confirm a system level voice chat system or party chat. Not yet at least.

One thing that strikes me about this "Laura was asked if there was the possibility of Red Dead Redemption 2 or Overwatch coming to the Switch. Regarding Red Dead, she stated that there's almost no way it's going to happen due to Rockstar's relationship with Nintendo" What relationship? Also Rockstar have made games for Nintendo before. ALSO Take2 Own Rockstar and are listed in the 3rd party support. If Take2 say jump. Rockstar has to say how high? I think with what she has listed is like a dartboard effect. Sure, you may miss sometimes but eventually you will hit something.

Let me just sprinkle a bit of that salt on these rumours.

@MitchVogel, since you're awake,
Nintendo of America has opened pre-registering for the Android version of Super Mario Run
Edit: Here's the link
https://mobile.twitter.com/NintendoAmerica/status/814370535014400000

I would like to see SD card support for 256GB and hopefully 64GB on board storage.
Can't see RDR 2 as it seems that Sony are going to market this heavily for PS4 and I also cannot see Mass Effect Andromeda coming either.
Hope I'm wrong on both but not hopefull.

@Moms-Meowth Nintendo destroyed Rockstar North back in the N64 days over ridiculous demands over Body Harvest, which led to the company going bankrupt.

They then went on to create GTA3 on PS2 and have avoided Nintendo as much as possible since then. Nintendo aren't well loved in Scottish programming circles.

Nintendo need third parties, not the other way round.

@Shugo The patents and the FCC filing came after her reports. They added to her credibility.

The 3 GameCube game point was originally from the "Geno" leak, so it's odd to see LKD just say the whole rumor is fake

@MetaRyan Ha, already saw that, it'll pop up on the front page in a bit. I made sure to sign up! Did you?

@MitchVogel

I wonder if seeing retail games are on cartridge (possibly these cartridges having their own internal rewritable memory for save files), could Nintendo be planning a blank cartridge just to increase memory for downloadable games?

Just a theory, but it could be a solution.

@MetaRyan That point comes from Eurogamer originally though, not Geno.

@Sanicranfast But they still went onto making GTA Chinatown Wars, Earthworm Jim 3D, Monster Truck Madness 64, Smuggler's Run: Warzones, Bully: Scholarship Edition, Manhunt 2, Rockstar Games presents Table Tennis, Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!, Austin Powers: Welcome to My Underground Lair!, Evel Knievel, Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, Max Payne, Grand Theft Auto Advance, So the relationship can't be that much soured to continue to make for Nintendo systems across the board. Only one they left out was the U.

@MitchVogel Yep.

@IceClimbers Did they mention 3 at launch, or was it just that GameCube games were coming? I tend to get rumors mixed up since there's so many of them.

@MrGawain Either way, I feel like one of the hurdles to this system's whole concept is memory limitations, the kind of storage you need to hold a library of console games just isn't affordable in flash format yet. I put a 2TB hard drive in my PS4 and even that is close to full, I'd say modern games take 10-50 GB of space on average. Unless Switch heavily scales down game sizes, you won't be able to have many retail releases stored internally.

@MetaRyan Yup. They said Super Mario Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion, and Super Smash Bros Melee would be the first three.

"When asked about Mass Effect Andromeda, she brought up the point that Mass Effect 3 sold horrendously on Wii U and that there are no plans to release the title."

Shock horror that it sold poorly when it was a late port while the competition received the superior Trilogy compilation.

@IceClimbers Oh. Well, that's another nail in the coffin for the Geno leak. Thanks for clarifying that for me.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE And that Trilogy compilation had already dropped in price too.

If the rumor's true, then a 3-hour battery life would be terrible. Not surprising to me, though.

3 hours battery life is terrible for a portable system and the onboard memory is bad too if true.

@shaneoh @YouSeemFRAZZLED Not quite as Super Mario Run brought back the concept of friend codes.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE The SSD space is 32 GB as lsited in the rumour. The Memory is rumoured to be 4GB.

You need to learn the difference between SSD and memory.

So, with the docks being sold 6 months after release, does that mean that the Switch will be sold without one at release?
Also, it will come in handy having multiple docks so that you can use your Switch in different rooms without unplugging it time and again.

@Shugo you're trolling. Are you the guy trying too hard on Twitter who keeps spamming Emily Rogers?

Please link to the proof that LKD and Rogers' major 'guesses' were known prior to reveal (read: they weren't).

Look, once all the major stuff like Pokemon comes true, maybe you'll reconsider.

Ugh, that guy OBE1 is a total melt. Can't stand him shouting all the time!

Only 15 more days (2 weeks) to official Switch details guys, exciting!

@dizzy_boy
No, the idea is that it will be sold with a dock at release, but if you want aditional docks for your other TVs you're be able to get them six months anterior release.

3 hours battery life is spectacularly bad, that being said, what does "Everything at maximum" mean?

I assume maximum screen brightness and WiFi on, but what else?

Wahey! More rumours! I'm sure OBE1 said the Switch was actually going to be called the Focus at one point.

3 hours battery and only 32gb storage is pretty bad. Also pissed it seems to be getting Gamecube games. That's what Wii U should've gotten! Instead we got Wii games that are ALREADY backwards compatible.

Storage is again pretty laughable. Wonder if an hd storage would make any sense. In the past I was only interested in physical copies. Due to availability issues of certain games (pushmo, ace attorney etc) and vc games I began to reluctantly embrace digital as an alternative. And storage has finally become an issue for me.

@MysticX Brightness, volume, probably wifi, graphically intensive game, rumble features (if any) etc

@MysticX @Pahvi There has been some speculation that since most of the leakers are supposedly devs with Switch devkit/prototypes, the 3 hour claim is based on if the GPU isn't downclocked and graphics settings aren't reduced, along with what others have said about screen brightness and WiFi. Also, as the prototypes in question aren't final, the chips the 3-hour battery life is based on could be overclocked X1s, while the retail version would have the more efficient custom Tegra chip.

I love the idea of cheap docks so you can hook one up to all the TVs in your home, or somewhere else! I've done the same thing with PSTV units so I can remote play and it's like having a PS4 wherever I want one.

Storage sounds like it will be a huge problem again though.

3h at everything at maximum seems quite decent honestly

could easily strech to 4 or even 5h

@Moms-Meowth Exactly. Also I'm quite sure I read that Rockstar worked on a GTA V port for Wii U, but cancelled it after having seen its poor sales.

@the8thark Thanks but I know the difference. And it's rumoured to be 4GB of RAM. You need to not presume people don't know the difference.

Hm... Grey is not also my favorite color. I should wait until Nintendo confirm there are another bundles with White or Blue color. 3DS can be so colorful, Switch should has also.
No more Friend Code ? And something new offered by DeNA ? Hm... somewhat like Online gaming features...

On the bright side if this is true, at least it has some on board storage, and Nintendo games do tend to have a much smaller file size than you would expect.

32 GB internal storage huh. If expandable to 128 GB via MicroSD then the cheapest I found is a gigastone branded one for $30 w/o shipping thrown in. I can do 30 bucks.

Well, I'm not very excited about this, to be honest. I'll wait and see.

@Moms-Meowth they made a really good GTA game on DS, China town wars, and I'm assuming that sold pretty well

@Shugo Regarding Pokemon, if Pokemon doesn't come to the Switch, on what platform will they release the next installment? Android or iOS? What other handheld devices are left? The Switch is Nintendo's new handheld.

@MitchVogel You and me, both. I may actually start buying physical copies of games now, if only to save space for VC games.

"When asked about Mass Effect Andromeda, she brought up the point that Mass Effect 3 sold horrendously on Wii U and that there are no plans to release the title."

Thanks to stupid EA that is. Lets release just ME3 on Wii U and lets unveil a few weeks later the whole trilogy for the other consoles.

Folks are worried about the storage but I think we'll be fine with microsd expansion. Nintendo wont have large 40+GB game installs like XBO/PS4 and the cartridges will likely handle some storage as well.

most commas in this article should be semicolons

@Kolzig
Thank you. I actually bought ME3 for the Wii U.

@arrmixer
Yes I bought it as well, it really works great. It annoys me so much that EA did such a intentionally crappy job supporting Wii U. Also the Need for Speed game is really working great on Wii U. Just that also came months and months later on Wii U than other platforms so sales were crap because everyone bought it on other platforms already.

Wii U failed in the eyes of 3rd party because 3rd party failed the consumers.

32 GB storage space.... what is this, 2010???

A few weeks back, LKD said she wasn't going to release anymore Switch info before the reveal, however, it seems she just can't shut her mouth or live without the attention because that's twice she's "leaked" info this week, (Reddit AMA & OBE1).

Why even bother to make a promise that you won't leak, when you 'know' you have prior engagements coming up where you will leak.

I doubt she'll be able to contain herself for the next 2 weeks, so expect all the details of the Jan 12 reveal to be blurted out an hour before it airs.

This is going to keep happening too, Nintendo Directs, future announcements. I don't know, i 'like' surprises, shame the wider internet doesn't seem to.

This comment is based on the assumption that these rumours are true. Who knows until January.

First: I don't care about onboard storage. It supports SD and 128 would be reasonable. I can go 100% download, sort my games onto SD cards by genre, and this will be no different from cartridges except for efficiency. This is what I did with Wii-U. Once I hooked up that 1TB external I never had to clean out the fridge. I like this setup, save on storage, which makes the system a little cheaper and gives more space for internals, then let the consumer choose the storage option that works for them.

Second: Three hours of battery life at max settings is rough. I wonder how much wiggle room there is to adjust that. I only need about 3 hours on the go, but what is excessive docking going to do to the battery life, and what happens when that initual 3 hours fades over time? I'm really hoping the actual specs hit 6 hours minimum, but we shall see. It seems unlikely.

@Shugo 20 new Pokemon? When did she say that? And honestly, I feel like the new monsters in Sun/Moon were few and far between. There were also several leaks from sources accurate in other areas describing new Pokemon/Alola forms which never came to fruition. This may be the game they are introduced, as they would also need enough fresh content to attract the average Sun/Moon user to this new system. Even as a long-term Pokemon fan, this all sounds pretty fiesable whether Laura said it or not. Don't forget how much Game Freak changed up the formula in the latest entries.

@whodatninja that's 32 built-in, tack on 128 of an SDXC card and you're good-ish. Unless they meant the CARTRIDGES have 32g storage, which is a crapton compared to the 3DS.

And 3 hours is about what you get from an O3DS on max brightness, in 3D mode, with Wi-Fi on and a CPP, or as I like to call it, "trying to co-op Monster Hunter at a StreetPass meetup". Replacing the proprietary plug with a USB means external chargers and any cafe or your workplace being stopover points to fill up - a common thing for anyone gaming on an Android phone. Not a problem at all.

@Shugo "Despite the fact that Pokemon Stars likely doesn't even exist (especially after that recent Masuda interview)"
"Without a doubt, Nintendo Switch is the future, but we will have to wait until it goes out on the market and study how it can benefit from Pokemon. When people have it, we will have too see and deeply study how to use it so we can think how the next entries of Pokemon are going to be and how the saga can benefit from the new console."

Sounds to me like they want to create a Pokemon game for it, and since they rarely have anything to do with the spin-offs, it's likely he is saying they'll put a mainline game on there. While this is conjecture at this point, I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that Stars doesn't exist, although I can see where one might believe that. However, Eurogamer's earlier reports on Switch were fairly accurate and they may be right on Stars, too.

On to the contents of this article. As long as Nintendo can keep a lineup that equals 3DS and Wii U for Switch, it'll sell well enough for the revised 2.0 hardware that'll satisfy more "core" gamers. On top of that, I'd like to know the best battery life it gets, and even 3 hours isn't horrible considering it's much more powerful than 3DS, which launched with a life of 3-5 hours.

@Anti-Matter I think the DeNA partnership makes a proper account system more likely. At least, I hope that there isn't an online sign-in requirement as in portable mode that's going to be difficult given the presumed lack of 4G. But an overhauled account system, yes please!

I remember reading somewhere that Pokkén CAN support two gamepads, but two Wii U's have to be linked together--really hoping there's some sort of connection to Switch to increase performance.

One thing that does suck: memory. Did anyone ever try the digital version of Xenoblade Chronicles X? 20gb; if you use the disc and DLC, 10gb. On top of the fact you never get the full storage space, i.e. 32gb is ~30gb with system files, we're going to need a bigger (external hard drive) boat.

You guys that are complaining and saying how battery life is "a huge issue" need to come to almost 2017. Portable power is a non-issue today. I have a TINY portable juicer that when I have a low battery on anything (iPhone, laptop, kindle, etc) I can plug them into that and it fully fast charges it. I can do that for my laptop up to six times.

I'm willing to bet I'll be able to do the same thing with the Switch.

Besides power won't matter when it's docked.. which I'm sure the vast majority of us will play it as. I'm never anywhere where I have time to sit for a full three hours and play a console/hand held until it's battery is fully drained.

And again.. if I ever am... a 15 dollars fast charger that I got on Amazon made it a non-issue.

You can't have a 720p and or 1080p hand held device and expect a LARGE battery time. That's just silly.

Now storage.. I wonder about. Doesn't concern me.. just makes me wonder how they'll do it. At this point they should just allow the 1tb SD cards. Don't put limitations on card size.

@Shugo They can't play the waiting game. They're not third party and I'm sure Nintendo has some influence over the Pokemon franchise.

That being said, people often say things like that and it turns out that the opposite is true. After all, they aren't just going to say; ''Oh, and by the way, we're currently developing a Pokemon game for the Switch.'' They're just giving a basic PR answer that doesn't confirm or deny anything. Probably the only thing they say currently.

3 hours battery life? Does that mean it's more powerful than we might have been led to believe, so uses more juice? Or just that the battery is very small? Leaks aren't really telling us anything.

Nvidia is at CES probably with the Shield 2. Throw us a bone, Nivida and make us confident that your Nintendo collaboration is going to be solid.

I think the most interesting point is that they basically confirmed that you will be, to some extent and probably depending on the game, be able to set your own graphics settings to conserve battery life.

@Shugo "Unless he's straight-up lying, that means Game Freak has nothing in the works for Switch right now."

I wouldn't say they have nothing in the works right now, and straight up lying isn't out of the question. As a business major, I've learned that lying to your constituents isn't out of the question and considered necessary in some cases. Of course, that isn't to say everything Eurogamer reports is gospel, but I'd like to think they've heard from what they feel are reliable sources. Then again, we'll all just have to wait and see...

What kind of relationship do Nintendo and Rockstar have? This makes it sound like they have a very poor relationship.....but I can't think of why that would be.

Anyone know?

@Dizzard no I can't think why either. Didn't they release GTA Chinatown Wars for DS? Can't be all that bad.

@Shugo I firmly believe this is standard PR speak. A lot of comments from devs regarding Switch have been vague/similar/lies - they're clearly being told to keep quiet.

I will be shocked if 'Stars' or S/Ms 'yellow' equivalent doesn't appear by the end of 2017 on Switch. The rumour is that it was being developed alongside S/M. The reveal vid clearly had HD models in there, too at one point.

The guesses only appear safe after the fact.

"The entry bundle for the switch will have 32GB of onboard storage, Micro SD card support will extend to 128 GB."

This and the 3 hour portable battery life make it sound very unappealing. Hope Mary Kate Ashley Olsen is wrong about her "leaks."

I hope the "premium" bundle is more than double the entry 32gb space if that's a thing. Then again, they could face another fiasco with the basic/premium bundle of the wii u.

That battery worries me...

People you need to get past the 32GB storage. Flash storage is expensive and will only be used for saves and downloads. Majority of gamers still buy games on physical media as its often cheaper and they like collecting.

The fact it has USB ports on the docks and rumoured SD card slots means lots of options for storage! And its cheaper and you can decide on how much storage you want/need.

I'm excited about the record-button. Lets hope it lets us record and/or stream to Twitch without many restrictions and is not limited to 2 minute Miiverse clips or something like that.

@Dizzard Not 100% sure, but i think it has something to do with the poor sales and restrictions of the DS GTA game Chinatown Wars.

I also remember an add in one of the (GTA in-game) radio stations about Lab Rat Kart Racing, obviously making fun of Mario Kart.

@Pahvi It's been rumored that it's possible for games to be run in dock mode on the go, based on speculation that the large vents on the Switch mean variable speed fans with decent cooling without the dock. Just speculation though and a huge assumption.

@MitchVogel Not only concerning, it will be detrimental to the system's success. I own a 1TB XB1 and my hard drive was 50% full after 8 months.

(Looks at calendar) Is it 1/12/17 yet?

The memory is on the low side, but everything else is ok.

These rumors makes sense considering this is Nintendo we're talking about. Voice chat could just mean what it always means with Nintendo; as in technically there, but no one being "allowed" to use it.
Even the trash storage size makes sense because Nintendo wouldn't be Nintendo if they didn't cheap out (and proceed to overprice the console, though at least this time there MIGHT be a chance that the Switch might not be considered overpriced of they can release it for $200).

I'll reserve final judgement until January 12th. Though if any of this is true in any sense, they aren't necessarily deal breakers.

Storage? I am fine with that amount. I would only be concerned if I didn't plan on buying physical media at all. I won't have to worry about space in storing the cartridges. Saved files and DLC shouldn't be a too bad. The only downside is VC games for GC, which I suspect will be pretty decent sized downloads.

"IR pointer allows for touch-screen functionalities while docked"

Do these people even know what they're talking about?

It hasn't even been confirmed yet that the screen on Switch supports touch input, and what you can do well with IR aiming is hardly the same as can be done well with a touch screen, as the Wii and DS proved time and time again.

Maybe they're just using the wrong terminology, and it all sort of makes sense. Will be interesting to see, come the full unveiling.

Does Nintendo not remember how games that were ported to N64 had to be cut down to fit on a cartridge instead of disc like Playstation had?

Record button?! Does this mean no more capture cards...? Man I really want this to be real...

@CTMike Actually, the 3D Pokemon models were always very detailed. Gamefreak did this so that they wouldn't have to continually remake the same models every time they moved to new systems. The 3DS screen resolution is what makes them look bad. If you were to play Sun snd Moon on a computer, the models would like they did in the trailer you're talking about.

That said, I wouldn't go jumping to conclusions based on anything Game Freak says. They're still focusing on raking in everything they can for Sun and Moon, so they wouldn't tell us even if they WERE making a Pokemon STARS. They're also known for spewing absolute bs in their interviews, so you definitely need to take what they say with a heavy swig of salt.

Laura Dale & OBE have also stated that the Digital Foundry & Eurogamer report was based on an old dev kit & current ones are more powerful, as well as stating the new Assassin's Creed will be coming to the Switch simultaneously with the PS4 & XB1. It will be the same exact game (though graphics may be scaled down).

The 3hr battery life information is dubious... what do they mean 3hr battery life at "full settings"? Do they mean full console mode settings? If that's what they mean, it could last 8hrs+ in portable. Should be interesting to see. Either way, with a 50,000mAh portable battery pack costing £10 online it's not a huge problem anymore.

@ginkgobiloba Flash carts i.E storage carts now can hold more than disks so that shouldn't be an issue

Nintendo really needs to up their game when it comes to connecting friends online. Friends lists should always be visible from the main screen or the overlay and I should be able to join them in said game if they have an open session. It also wouldn't hurt for the New 3DS to get a UI update too.

I've been saying this since the release of the Wii U.

More rumors? More from this Laura-person?

Well, this is irritating. I really don't get why everything she says is able to send the Nintendo community into uproar like this. Surely people know that she's literally just saying anything and everything she can and hoping it sticks, right? I'm not an expert, so I can't say if the information she's providing will be true or not. But "don't expect a delay for Nintendo Switch" is nothing. Nintendo already gave us a release date in March so that's not even a valid point. And really? "Pro Controller will need to be purchased separately"? Heck, I could have told you that. Does this mean I have the inside scoop or that she's literally making making guesses anyone can make? She certainly doesn't deserve an entire article for just popping on a youtubers stream.

"The entry bundle for the switch will have 32GB of onboard storage, Micro SD card support will extend to 128 GB"

If this turns out to be true, that's very bad!

I don't get why some of you guys in the comments get so worked up over rumors like these. It seems that you either believe everything these people say or you completely disagree. There's no middle ground, but there should be. If you don't believe them, just wait for official information and ignore these articles, or politely state your opinion without getting so hostile. On the other hand, if you believe them, you can still just say your opinion nicely, but don't preach their leaks like they are confirmed facts.

I really don't care about rumors anymore, but people here get so worked up about them that I just wanted to rant. These seem true, at least, but they are admittedly pretty safe rumors.

And yes, I went on this verbose rant while my profile picture is of Pikachu licking ketchup. (Pokémon) Go figure.

Oh its not January 12th yet!? I'll gripe after I hear confirmed intel.

I've got my salt and am waiting for January...

Good thing I'm getting a job next month...

@Moms-Meowth Yeah like Uniracers/Unirally! No really look it up as Rockstar (DMA Design) and Nintendo worked together to make that game!

Also, who remembers Uniracers/Unirally? That was a sick game!

I have little to no doubt about Rockstar's relationship with Nintendo, given they "pulled a Rayman Legends" with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars on DS by porting it on PSP despite the DS, contrary to the Wii U, was selling like hotcakes at the time (which is also the reason a GTA game even came to the DS in the first place). I wouldn't mind a GTA game, or, heck, even a Rockstar game period, coming to a home Nintendo console, given the last Rockstar game to ever come to a home Ninty system was the Grand Theft Auto III prototype - Body Harvest - on Nintendo 64 back in the day.

As for the other leaks, well, good to know the JoyCon is that versatile. We're going to get Wii games, Wii U games, just about everything Nintendo on the go, and as for dual-screen games, well, the 3DS is still available so there shouldn't be many problems on that front. A 3DS and a Switch in the same bag might well mean Nintendo's entire library of IPs on the go, which is by no means a small accomplishment. I like a lot where this is going, honestly.

@Nintendoer Lol, the only really verbose part of your rant was the word "verbose", though I completely understand your point. There is no reason for people to get so argumentative over unconfirmed rumours.

@Moms-Meowth You're absolutely correct, flash carts can contain more information than Blu-rays now & due to the nature of flash memory, games can be condensed into a smaller file size on flash... meaning a game which would be 4GB on Blu-ray could be 2-3GB on cart.

@Wexter DMA at the time got sued by Pixar for that if i remember rightly

@Moms-Meowth I think so. Real shame as the game was really awesome and should have gotten a sequel. Oh well.

more fake leaks to sate the appetite of the information hungry.

Nintendo is dropping the ball again. 32GB for the Wii U was such a terrible move, when PS3 had like a minimum of 20GB like 6 years ago, and many were selling with 250 and 500GB at the time the WiiU came out.

Also, the 3DS was quickly abandoned by my son because of its battery life. I needed to keep it recharged for him every day. If the Switch really wants to compete, it should allow for at least 6 hours of continuous play.

@Yorumi Don't forget about the Wii U gamepad. they even sold a Nintendo made battery that doubled its life!

Let's not forget Mass Effect probably sold poorly because we had to pay full price for a previously released game. PROBABLY... I'm not a rocket surgeon or anything...

@Yorumi By the way, what is ds4?

Is Mass Effect 3 selling poorly on Wii U really a shocker? One of the main attractions of that game is you can transfer your game save data from the previous installment to the next. Something you obviously couldn't do with just having ME3 all by itself on the Wii U.

I got Mass Effect Trilogy, all three games collectively, for $2.99 from a previous PS Flash Sale. Why would I ever pay $59.99 for just Mass Effect 3 on Wii U?

Let's just hope these rumors aren't true because they aren't painting a pretty picture here.

@readyletsgo "Ugh, that guy OBE1 is a total melt". Why you hatin' kid?

@Nintendoer Thank you! A person with respect,common sense and optimism finally!

@Yorumi @DanteSolablood @OneBagTravel @Henmii @AlexSora89 Let me just say this to you all and you can quote me on this too. But, Nintendo does portables good! Its not if it will do this or they don't do this right , no. Nintendo will make it near flawless and for any flaws it will have, i know they will have something to compensate i.e. 3 hour, non-removable battery(at max settings i may add)= Nintendo portable power banks.

Well, January 12th can't come soon enough.

@Yorumi Right! I appreciate the fact that you look at the facts and don't jump into conclusions

@Yorumi Personally i only see three hours maybe if, its on an insane level of brightness, it has a power save mode like 3ds and its on, its running a triple A title and its doing another function at the same time. After that they let it sit and record the charge life. But, thats if the whole 3 hour stuff is true, which i highly doubt.

"Nintendo does portables right"!

3 hours is pretty bad BUT it did say "on maximum performance" so at the very least you can turn some things off (Wireless, etc.) to improve it if true. Plus with trains, buses, restaurants and more offering USB charge points, you could easily run it off one of those (Heck, the guy on the plane in the reveal trailer was doing as such.) not to mention that Charging Banks are becoming more and more common among phone users, so there's that to consider. Worse case scenario if this is a cost cutting measure, then they could always do what they did with the Wii U gamepad and release a better battery later on. Though honestly I'd probably only use the handheld part of it if there's a successor to Streetpass.

3 Gamecube VC games sounds about right especially if its the rumored 3, but what about the other older systems? Will the Wii U/3DS VC catalogues be ported over on day one and combined into 1 or is this another restart? And please PLEASE just let us redownload our previously purchased games on the offgo (No transferring, just log into your Switch and it knows what you previously brought) even if there's a small charge per game...

I'm interested in the record function since I posted MK and Smash vids on Youtube via the upload feature. If this is expanded, I'll be happy.

I'm okay with the memory size as long as I don't have to install poop like with the ps4/x1

@YouSeemFRAZZLED I don't think the 3ds did however, so consider this an premature "end of the road" for all the speculation behind Switch and FC's

By "extended to 128" they actually mean it will be able to handle much larger cards, probably even 2TB sdxc's

I wouldn't be worried about the battery. They say it is only 3 hours on maximun settings - and we don't know jack about what maximun settings is. Maybe it lasts that when the system is overclocking ( a dev-only thing) and normally, runs about 5.

At the end of the day, the only sure thing is to wait for January 12th instead of being all gloom and doom.

@Yorumi Correct again and on that note i'd rather just wait and see what January 12 will bring us! All i know is the Switch is going to be dropped on the world like a megaton bomb and Obe1 is one of the best guys to watch if your a Nintendo fan.

@00Wyvern Haha, not sure why you added me top the reply when I was pretty much saying the same as you! The whole "3hr battery life on max settings" rubbish is just Dale trying to save face. She originally said 3hrs months ago... then stated new dev kits were sent out with 5-8hrs battery life (probably on the newer chip). Using the "max settings" garbage just means she wants to make ALL her rumours seem more accurate when they get reviewed post-launch.

The battery life thing is not that big of a concern. I mean, if your on a 6 hour plane ride and want to play 6 hours of BoTW straight, then you might be SOL. However, I think in most instances, you are gonna be playing a game about an hour here or a half hour there. So by the time you get home or get where you need to be, you can just charge it again.

@Luna_110 You could also be hype while you wait, right?

@UmbreonsPapa I believe that the 3hour battery life is inaccurate and if its true, its only on max settings. Look at the 3ds with its very useful power saving option. All i know is "Nintendo does portable good"!

@UmbreonsPapa I think most planes have USB charging facilities now don't they? Either way, I usually carry a couple of battery packs for Pokémon Go anyway... should be the same here (even though I believe the battery will be closer to 5-8, as Laura stated in a different rumour).

@00Wyvern
I am hyped, which is the reason of why instead of looking at the glass half empty (oh, 3 hours! that's terrible!) I try to look at it half full, thinking there must be an explanation.

And being hyped doesn't mean you can't exercise caution and decide to wait for official confirmation on certain topics like this one. Believing blindly in rumors, whether good or bad is never a good idea.

Nintendo may control the portable scene, but uncertainty is inherent to all things, specially a new console launch. Samsung is one of the big names in cell phones, and they botched the Note 7. While their reputation is a point in their favor, it isn't a 100% guarantee.

Smart player will turn OFF Online features when they're playing OFFLINE, Reduce the brightness into right setting, play the Switch properly, Always recharge the Switch when the battery below than 25%, set the sound volume not too high (Take care of our ears), Put the Switch on the dock after play. By doing so, your Switch can be played with battery life more than 3 hours.

@Sanicranfast I think that was a different company though. Also I will add it's highly petty to hold grudges over something that happened over 20 years ago

Rumors are now labeled 'News' on NL's main page and no longer 'Rumors'. lol

Two of my most unfavorite people on the internet talking together about Switch 'leaks'? Surprise. If any of this is true I will not be creditting them. Anyone could take a stab at these predictions this close to reveal.

@bezerker99 They can be fun to discuss as long as people don't take them as fact or treat them too seriously. At least NL actually states they ARE rumours. Some YouTube channels quote these rumours as fact.

@Angelic_Lapras_King
For Gamecube VC, I really need Paper Mario The Thousand Years Door. Gosh, even used condition on Ebay, they are still damn expensive (More than $50).

@DanteSolablood This article is labeled 'rumours' and 'nintendo switch' at the top of the page but on the main site it claims to be 'news' (whereas previously they were labeled as 'rumours'). No big deal, just a weird observation of mine.

@Luna_110 I see yah, i see yah. Speaking of hype, you should (if you haven't already) subscribed to Obe1's channel. He's got the hype, accurate information and he's not bias in his videos.

@DanteSolablood
Ah... poor people who take it seriously on Youtube. I'm sure they will lick their spit if the Rumors are not come true.

Maybe if you had a bunch of things running and everything cranked up to max, the battery life would only be 3 hours, but I think in most cases it'll probably be 4-6.

Why the dissapointing onboard storage again????

Barely anything would fit for suck kind of games on the switch :/

Also I might add RDR2 on Switch is mainly Take Two's decision not Rockstar's

@00Wyvern
Thanks for the recommendation, but I don't follow youtubers. They are too noisy and too exagerated for my tastes.
I prefer to read NL and comment in the forums.

@DanteSolablood I just KNEW I should have patented my own idea on what that little button on the left JoyCon was.
I already said it could be a record button at the beginning of this month. No rumor back then was mentioning it, they just stuck with the whole "share button" thing...

@Anti-Matter Its a first party game with no porting issues whatsoever, it'll be on there eventually. Just a case of how fast/slow Nintendo release GC VC games....

@00Wyvern You should put a disclaimer on that OBE1 recommendation just in case people don't like loudmouthed, over-exaggerated, moving fakers.

And his channel IS entirely fake, as in: it all being an act. He's not like that at all in real life, and the fact that he thinks he needs to act like an idiot to convey his news to viewers is just mind-boggling.

Proof of this are a couple of videos from "The Commonwealth Realm", a channel that mostly does Zelda videos, but recently, they've been focusing on the Switch. OBE1 has been a guest speaker on there, as well as some other famous YouTubers, except the difference is that they all sound exactly the same as on their actual channel, whereas with OBE1 it's a difference of night and day. No shouting, no overacting, just normal behavior and tone of voice. I wish he would do all his videos like that.

The way he presents himself now only makes me want to chop his arms off and put a sock in his mouth. It's an extremely annoying gimmick that he doesn't need, but he's been doing it for so long now that he can't change it anymore, meaning that he's stuck with it and will only attract people that actually like ridiculous behavior like that.

A MUCH better option for people that actually want to get a good explanation about all these rumors, and them being likely or not, is Spawn Wave. He is also quite well versed in hardware related topics, so he knows what he's talking about when it comes to specs of all kinds of hardware.

I also find it dubious she just claims Geno's info is fake despite the fact there is a lot of info in that rumor that seems pretty plausible

@Luna_110 I don't think you should put all YouTubers on the same heap: there are quite a few Nintendo-related YouTubers that speak and present themselves in a VERY calm and relaxed manner and are actually quite pleasant to listen to, so if you'd ever want to reconsider your stance, then maybe you should give these a try before condemning them all.

Here are some examples:
Spawn Wave
SuperMetalDave64
Studio Q
Commonwealth Realm
Rule of 2 Review

I don't care much for the rumors, but man, I get more and more excited every time I see anything related to the Switch or BotW, because the Jan 12th/13th event is so nigh!!

I hope it's gonna be good.. :3

These rumour fries could use some salt.

@ThanosReXXX I respect your opinions on him but, i think you're being a little too judgmental. His hype enthusiasm is what makes him unique from other news channels. Instead of just sitting there and relaying news he actually makes the whole lecture exciting even though he is exaggerating. Its actually what made him well-known to this day and its just an incredible amount of energy which goes into each of his videos to the point you actually become interested in what news he has to say.

@ThanosReXXX Sort of like a crazed sports fan but, without all the bias news and profanity you'd expect from a sports fan.

Battery Life
Exactly what I expected. 3 hours on full power/brightness. I know because GPD Win gets about that- it's just the limits of current technology without blowing out the price. No complaints, but I do want to see extended batteries for sale like they did for Wii U. I have no problem paying extra for it... just give me the option is all I ask

Storage
I would have preferred to see a 128gb model and a 256gb model (maybe there still will be a higher storage model as indicated in previous rumors). But I know from Wii U and 3DS that there is no limit to the amount of storage you can put in, regardless of what's "officially supported". I was planning to pop in a 512gb SD, but if it's a microSD slot, I guess 256gb will have to do. At least until the larger ones release in the future. Given installs probably won't be mandatory like PS4/X1, 256gb can go a long ways. A very long ways. Digital-only gamers may need to keep multiple microSD cards though. Can't see 256gb lasting the entire generation for the digital-only crowd.

Overall Thoughts
About what I was expecting. The IR pointer to imitate touch (and surely double as a Wiimote for Wii VC) as well as be used for games like Pikmin 4 is great news. GameCube VC day one? That's even better news. I'm liking what I'm hearing so far.

@MitchVogel
"Not a whole lot of surprises, though the memory storage concerns me"

So, even if it says 128gb "officially" you can use any size as long as it's formatted correctly. This was true for Wii U (I have a 512gb SD) and 3DS (I have a 256gb microSD).

I was planning on normal SD, but micro will limit us to 256gb (at least until the inevitable 512gb which should release next year). Had it been normal SD, it would have been 512gb day one with 1TB coming next year.

I think for a portable device, 256gb won't be ideal, but it should make do until the 512gb release. And if PS4/X1 can get by on 500gb with mandatory installs, surely Switch can get by as a smaller portable device without mandatory installs.

I would have preferred normal SD because 512gb with a jump to 1TB next year would have been sufficient, but given that installs shouldn't be mandatory, I think 256gb will be enough. Especially once those 512gb microSD release in a year or so.

edit
Another scenario that hadn't crossed my mind, is that the dock allows connection of an external HDD, so that when connected you have unlimited storage. And you just copy what you want (up to the limits of microSD, which is 256gb at the moment) to the portable device itself for play on the go. But as soon as you connect it to your dock again, you have access to the hard drive.

This is purely speculation but, it wouldn't surprise me. And I think it would be a great idea.

@Moshugan "Cats and dogs living together! Tigrex chasing cars , Koopas running the government and Power-ups falling from the sky!" Yes, THIS WILL BE HUGE!

@00Wyvern Haha, I just hope BotW is a March release. I'm waiting for that more eagerly than the Switch.

@Moms-Meowth

I think he's referring to this when he mentions Rockstar's "relationship" with Nintendo.

https://youtu.be/v9GpCCZ6NAE?t=827

32gb default storage and 128gb with an SD card....even if you buy larger SD card and the switch supports it they're going to be expensive. This just seems really bad.

Having just read the full Genos document, man, talk about dreams come true if even a third of it was real. I'll assume it's fake because it probably is, but it's just the perfect Nintendo wishlist for me.

@JaxonH The battery is rumoured to be "unremovable", which is like many tablets, but still is disappointing. Perhaps we'll have to make do with an external power pack, one that clips into the usb c port but incorporates some kind of stand for on-the-go play, sort of going along the whole of the base of the tablet.

External HDD would be excellent. I think the idea was raised and then dismissed by the usual rumourmongers. Guess we'll find out soon. Transferring content for portable mode would have to be an easy thing. There seem to be a few issues that could be remedied. Hoping Nintendo makes the right decisions.

@Sakura
Eh, that would suck. I mean, honest truth is I never play on the go unless it's at work on my break. And I don't take 3 hour breaks, so it will be enough for me regardless. Even if it wasn't, it's not all that difficult to keep a charger at work (I keep a 3DS charger hooked up at my desk)

I just like having more battery life in case. And the truth is I know I will never need it (I never really needed the extra battery life from the Wii U gamepad extended battery) but I liked having it all the same. There's just something that feels good about knowing that you have 5-6 hours if you needed it.

128GB sdcard support means 2TB support.
64-2048GB all falls under SDXC, and should make no difference to any device.
128GB is just what they tested with.

and "only" 3 GC VC games?
that's 3 more than i expected.

@00Wyvern Thanks, and right back at you. I just wanted to add my two cents, not trying to convert anyone...

The thing is, now that I know it is all an act (also because of the Commonwealth Realm videos), it makes it VERY hard for me to get past being annoyed about his erratic behavior and his all but continuously waving arms. Even all the wide open mouthed thumbnails of his videos already disturb me enormously, to an extent that I just couldn't sit through any of his videos in its entirety. I've even gone as far as to add a YouTube channel blocker to my browser to not even have to see those idiotic pictures. while I'm browsing YouTube...

I like my news to be relayed in a matter of fact way, and in a manner that is easy to listen to and to look at. A bit of comedy on the side or some measure of quirkiness is more than fine by me, like for example mr. Alex Olney over here at NLife is doing so very well-proportioned in my opinion, but too much of anything is NEVER a good thing.

And he's just not like that, as I already stated before. If you're not the resident comedian amongst your family and friends, then you also shouldn't try to be one online, because that makes you a fake. That's not harsh, that's the plain truth, far as I am concerned.

OBE1 is an extreme, the examples I listed in comment #169 are more or less on the other side of the spectrum, but there are also some guys in between that in my opinion are considerably more palatable, like Nin10doUltra, PlayerEssence and so on.

And on a personal note: in general, I'm more into YouTubers that DON'T feel the need to be the center of attention or having their faces plastered front and center ALL the time. Let the news or the game footage do the talking, and just narrate along.

Oh well, maybe I'm just your typical old, angry neighbor, but watching characters like him makes me both physically and mentally tired...

@readyletsgo

The funny thing is, he never used to be like that, i remember watching some of his vids the time Pikmin 3 came out and he was quite calm (bordering on boring lol), i didn't watch any of his vids for years until i checked one out a couple of months back and couldn't believe how different he was, he's clearly putting on the overly-enthusiastic act, which is fine i guess, seems to have helped him become more successful but it's all too much for me, i just can't listen to all that shouting ! haha

@Toadie That's a trend with many youtubers. Maybe I'm old, but I really dislike that.

I hate how LKD is put on some pedestal now because he blew someone who had an October dev kit. I'm really hoping his information is outdated and will be proven wrong. The way he goes around excoriating other leakers and acting high and mighty is obnoxious. Like Emily Rogers, I look forward to finding out he was only half right. Of course, the way they leak always leaves them with an easy out so they can never be wrong.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE This. How can EA expect to release a not very optimized port to Wii U and then within a week release a trilogy for the same price on competing consoles? If you owned any other console at the time the Wii U version was not the one to buy. Hopefully EA can grow up and try to have the "unprecedented" relationship with Nintendo they once talked about. There are so many reasons that EA games failed on Wii U, but I don't have time to go into them all now.

@00Wyvern,

But this is portable and homeconsole in one, a new scenario for Nintendo. I hope they do it right.

@RadioShadow

Delicious.

Errrrr ............. the Switch event is only a few more days away and people on here are bothered about a few rumours.....let's just wait and see.

I don't believe Laura Kate dale,when she said that Eurogamer is 100% correct.I have 3 reasons for this.1st.It has been also rumored that there are 2 Dev kits that have been sent,1 in June and other in November.The later won was said to be more powerful specs.2nd I belive in what 3RD party Developers are saying about Switch,and developer Bethesda said it would not develop on a nintendo device if it was sub par specs,and ithe C.e.o said hes played it and was best demo at E3,plus kowns the Specs himself.That goes for All who are developing on it.3rd Nivida has stated that it's highly custom chip ect with new API new Architecture new tool's ect.Nivida would not wast 100s of man hours on just putting an old chip into Switch an updating it's software.Sorry that's crap.If it's that custumized then it's nether Maxwell or Pascal.

Who is Laura Dale?
Most of the Switch rumours have been true but a couple of weeks or so all will be revealed...

@Kolzig Ant that the TRUTH.And it was 8 mouths late and was sold at full price.So E.A and of course RockStar are talking absolute Crap

@Nico07 You have my vote.Truth hurts.And I hope RockStar listen to.E.A can sod off.

I think its lame, that games take 50 gigs and another 30 gb just for day 1 patch. For me 32 gb is OK.

@JaxonH Yes, more battery life would be good because an hour here, an hour there and the juice has run out. That might be a problem for some who can't charge on the go, though perhaps easily remedied with an external powerbank.

I think my real reservations are that compromises will have to have been made in many areas and that Nintendo needs to make them less visible, either by providing solutions or making other aspects so awesome that the flaws are easily overlooked. There's the potential to blow everyone away. Fingers crossed. I think it's possible.

@Nico07
EA is American company so they know s..it.

@Nico07 The issue with the Wii U was that Nintendo decided to make it run on an extremely low power profile & locked the speed. While on paper the Wii U looked more powerful than the PS2/360 it simply could not perform as well. Multiple, multiple developers are on record stating how difficult it was to get things working at all on the Wii U with the devs behind Metro Last Light openly calling the Wii U's processor "horrifically slow".

That's the problem with looking at numbers & assuming the one with the highest number will be the best. Heck, Samsung phones always have the best numbers but they run like poop because their software is bloated & sub-par (and I speak as a current Samsung user myself).

Has anybody ever thought about cloud storage? Could that even work? If so Nintendo could charge for it and it would solve the problem of games that take up a lot of space. The memory on board and SD cards could be used for games you want to take on the go or want permanently on the system.

The record button on the left joy con is very intriguing and exciting. Could they possible go the ONLIVE route and have streamings and recordings that you can watch and comment on in real time? Basically a suped up and live version of the Mario kart channel. Would be so dope.

Voice chat is hopefully system wide as I want it for Splatoon and other competitive online games. Nintendo could make it for friends only on system wide and games like Call of Duty could use their own. DeNA could definitely make it happen.

@Sanicranfast Wow i didn't know that. I made a comment to another site about the relationship between Nintendo and Rockstar asking a person who said that Rockstar don't trust Nintendo , to give us a link that will support his opnion and he didn't answer me ofc. It seems i heard something about Body harvest back then but i reall couldn't recall what was it. Thank you for bringing back this forgotten info

@DanteSolablood Yet we have other examples like Crysis 3 that was ready to ship, it played great, yet EA told Crytek to not ship it because they siad it wouldnt sell.

@Sanicranfast there have been rockstar games on Nintendo consoles after the N64 days.

@yomanation Mines just an opinion like everyone else though it helps to have backup when called out on certain things

@Sanicranfast That was when the team was known as DMA. Before they was bought out by Gremlin and then further down the line Take2. You know they used the bases of body Harvest (sandbox) style in GTA3. Back o subject though. I doubt any of the DMA staff are with the Current Rockstar. Though quote me if I'm wrong. I could well be lol.

@DarkKirby Thanks Kirby. I did watch the video and it's interesting really. Kinda shows a side to Shiggy i never knew. I know Nintendo like control in the games being made on their systems but wasn't sure Shiggy had that much of a say and how much some say he was a pain to work with.

''The right Joy-Con has an IR pointer akin to the Wiimote, this will allow touch-screen functionalities while docked''

Genious idea

@Shugo

I completely agree. The fact they are both females also greatly improves the load of garbage accepted and published by internet nerds. It's pathetic really.

Jebus! Of course Mass Effect 3 and Watch Dogs didn't sell well on Wii U, since everyone already owned them on other systems lightyears prior to their Wii U release. How the heck is that so hard to comprehend?

@SLIGEACH_EIRE You mixed them up and got it wrong in your post though. Since you know the difference can you place use the terms correctly in your future posts here thanks.

@the8thark It's how I refer to how much space is on the system. It is memory, just a different kind of memory. Sure it could cause confusion but most know what I mean. Just like it supposedly supports Micro SD MEMORY cards up to 128 GB.

@Henmii typical from Nintendo. while the PS4 and Xbox one are offering 1TB.. So an other way to be f..ked by Nintendo giving very little storage! So we people are forced to by an external SD card or maybe HDD. And they still will dare to as at least € 399 or € 299 at release

@djtwenty9 Yeah, but only one of them developed by Rockstar North, formerly DMA Design. Only GTA Chinatown Wars on DS had some input from Rockstar North (which was mainly developed by Rockstar Leeds)

This is all speculation?

@Nico07 I've looked it up & that's not quite accurate. Crytek had the game running but didn't have a publishing license so it was never "ready to ship". It appears to have been the troubles between EA & Nintendo at the time that sunk Crysis 3, not sales.

Crytek CEO Cevate Yerli: "We did have Crysis 3 running on the Wii U," Yerli said. "We were very close to launching it. But there was a lack of business support between Nintendo and EA on that. Since we as a company couldn’t launch on the Wii U ourselves--we don’t have a publishing license--Crysis 3 on Wii U had to die."

Edit: Just to add, Crysis 3 may have been running on the Wii U, but it likely wouldn't have looked as good as it's PS2/360 counterparts. Battlefield 3 & 4 for example could not have come to the Wii U without being extensibly rebuilt. As per DICE technical Director "[Frostbite 3] has never been running on WiiU," Andersson tweeted. "We did some tests with not too promising results with [Frostbite 2] & chose not to go down that path.. The Wii U could barely support Frostbite 2, both Battlefield 3 & 4 ran on Frostbite 3. Due to Nintendo's decision to run the Wii U on low power & lock the CPU speed, the Wii U was simply not as capable as the other two systems not natter what the numbers on say on paper.

@DanteSolablood According to Yearli it ran "beautifully".
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/06/cryengine_3_runs_beautifully_on_wii_u

EA themselves would have likely been the publisher. But they already had a soured opinion of the Wii U from their less than ambitious efforts at launch. Within six months EA was done with Wii U. An example of a developer publishing under EA with better results than 360 or PS3 was the final effort of Criterion for NFS Most Wanted. It launched in March after the Wii U launch and had advanced features over 360 and PS3. But again it took time and this wasnearly six months after other consoles, so general sales were not great.

@DanteSolablood Frostbite is an engine that wasnt optimized for Wii U. I had read another article that it could scale to mobile even. The REAL problem was EA never gave a great effort to develop for Wii U to begin with. FIFA used a quick port of the previous years engine instead of bothering to adapt the current engine. EA knew the 360 and 360 were their cash cows that they already had put years into and that Nintendo wouldnt return the same profits. So knowing this they made the decision that made the best business sense to them. If initial sales were great at launch things could have been different, but for the consumer why would they buy an inferior overpriced port on Wii U if they had any other console? EA put minimal effort into development and used that as a gauge for if consumers would latch onto the new console. The Nintendo EA relationship on Wii U was doomed from the beginning.

On the other hand the Switch is rumored to be easier to develop for like Xbox One and PS4, so things may be easier to port and go differently this time around.

@Nico07 The issue is that it's really easy to blame developers for everything, but behind the scenes it was pretty much universal disappointment in the Wii U from developers stating it was horrifically slow, to others stating they pretty much had to rebuild games from scratch for it. Initially there was talk of UnrealEngine 4 for the Wii U, but in practice it could only run a limited version of UnrealEngine 3.

While it's true that EA pulled out due to the size of the market (exactly the same reason they pulled out of the PS Vita), just saying "EA never put the effort it" is just a perversion of the truth. And again, when a console starts losing money, what is a business to do?

Just to add, even games like ZombiU which received critical acclaim & was made specifically for the Wii U undersold & did not make it's money back.

@JaxonH Unless the Switch is priced at the 200-250 range, then having to buy a 128GB card (adding 45-50bucks to the mix) going to prove too expensive. I got by on my WiiU with 32GB because my son quickly dismissed as its main gaming console and also cos' we always favor physical releases. But we are looking to cut some clutter as my daughter is growing interested in video gaming.

Even with 64Gb on-board memory could have sufficed for the first 6 months, easing the need to buy a card right of the bat.

Also, I think that yes, you can hook up an external HD to the dock.

@Nico07 Businesses are looking to make money not relying on good faith or whatever. What would you do: spent 10 milion in a game to have a 20 million return profit, or investing another 6 million on the same game for a 4-8 million profit? Game companies don't do charity as Wii U owners tend to forget.

@maceng My point is the Wii U is more powerful than DanteSolablood would have you believe. Ubisoft is a good example of a company that put time into developing for the Wii U and had games like Watch_Dogs perform better than PS3/360. I can almost guarantee that their efforts haven't paid off. The Wii U hasn't performed for many reasons, many of which I have read of on sites like NintendoLife for the past four years. But the few I would like to mention now are first that a console will have a difficult time taking off without third party support. Nintendo could have made this process easier for developers by moving away from PowerPC (used on PS3 and 360 as well) and gone onto the x86 64 architecture like PS4 and XOne. The Wii U also runs on 34 watts of power, half of even what the Xbox 360 Slim uses. It's GPU is more powerful than PS3 and 360 but it's processor is underclocked which requires optimization to make games run well or better than PS3/360 counterparts. Because of this developers had to put extra effort to translate games to the Wii U. EA in particular, perhaps the largest US games publisher had just four games published on Wii U.

FIFA13 used a ported FIFA12 360/PS3 engine, while EA had gone onto a new engine for those consoles.

Mass Effect 3 released on Wii U one week before EA released the more complete trilogy at the same price on competing consoles.

Madden NFL13, was a good port, but had no Infinity engine. So it had canned animations instead of real collision physics.

Criterion's Need For Speed Most Wanted. I've given this game praise in the past and I can't thank the developers enough for releasing this game. It was hurt though by coming out in March after the game released on other consoles in October of the year prior. It showed what a game optimized for the Wii U could do over the PS3/360.

But again this comes back to your point. EA had already created engines for the past generation of consoles and even though graphically the Wii U was more powerful than the PS3/360, it was kind of a late mid-generation refresh, with new higher powered tech coming within another year. Nintendo must have known that releasing the Wii U had to be done prior to the new Sony and Microsoft consoles and blindly assumed that this graphical dominance would attract the view of third party devs. But being it was a PowerPC architecture it would require extensive work to optimize games that the new generation would not require. Their PowerPC work on PS3/360 was years in development on those consoles and a new Nintendo console would soon be eclipsed by more powerful hardware. Despite this companies like Ubisoft would hold true to supporting the console while EA would continue to alienate their Nintendo fan base with lies at times. It wasn't until more recently that EA came out and just said that they didn't think the Wii U would be a good return for them, which is what a business needs. Instead at the time we were told that the Wii U simply wasn't as powerful as 360/PS3, which is something Criterion's EA published NFS Most Wanted would go to prove wrong.

@subpopz
That's a lazy argument to make. No matter what she says you could easily say "well that's obvious". It could have been 5 hour battery life, 128gb model, IR in both Joycons and no GC until after the launch window, and I bet you still would've said the exact same thing, "well that's obvious, she's just guessing to gain notariety"

I don't think you realize the mathematics of the situation. You try guessing the exact right amount of storage on board- you've probably got a 25% chance of getting it right. Now guess the battery life... another 25% chance of guessing right. Now guess whether it's SD or microSD... 50% chance. Now guess whether the battery is removable or not , another 50% chance. Now guess if it's even going to have a virtual console service at launch- 50%. And assuming you guessed right you then need to guess what platform they're going to debut with and exactly how many games. I'd give that about a 5% chance.

Do the math and the odds of getting all that information correct is astronomically low. No, it's not "obvious". Storage could have just as easily been 64gb, or 128gb. Battery life could have been 4hrs on max, or 5hrs on max. Virtual Console may not have debuted until a few months after release. And they just as easily could've said nothing of GameCube games, and even if they did they could've just as easily said one game is coming, or two.

It sure is easy to claim "it was all just a lucky guess of the obvious". If it's so easy to guess right and guess right every single time, let's see you do it. Guess the exact specifications and details, the exact amount of battery life, the exact amount of onboard storage, the exact number of games coming to virtual console and the exact platform, and when. And let's see you consistently do that time and again over the years.

You don't get notoriety from guessing. Anyone can guess once and happen to be right. But when you're guessing 5, 10, 15 different details and getting all of them correct, and you're doing it repeatedly... then it doesn't matter how "obvious" you think it was. Statistics clearly state that will never happen by chance.

@maceng
Well from what I hear, it will be priced at $250. But yes, storage will be an added expense. Granted, as a Vita owner who had to shell out $80 for a 32gb card at launch (edit because it only came with 1gb storage built in), and a few years later $85 for an imported 64gb card (that's considered a low price) I never really complain when I'm given the option to use non-proprietary storage via microSD, SD or external HDD.

But ya, I was thinking 64gb-128 would be standard. And the fact it's microSD also cuts the max capacity in half (microSD only goes as high as 256gb as opposed to 512gb with normal SD). Hopefully though, they'll sell a premium model as rumored with more storage (128gb model perhaps?). Either way, as long as HDD can be connected to the dock it's not an issue really. Especially once 512gb microSD drop (which should happen within the first year of Switch's release).

@Nico07 Actually, you claimed I stated the Wii U was underpowered... but I didn't. I said it was less capable. The reasons I gave were again exactly the same as the ones you yourself gave in the same paragraph, running on a lower power profile & being underclocked (and unlike the PS3/360, clockspeed could not be altered via firmware). As for "Watchdogs perform better on Wii U than PS3/360", thats either mistake or a lie... almost any comparison shows the Wii U to lack the same level of anti-aliasing and have significantly more framerate drops. Just one example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO1j1o972QQ

If we cut the crap and just look at the basics, what was the Wii U actually asking developers to do? Put more work in to get less return. Poor Ubisoft made a substantial loss on ZombiU and then gets even more crap for opening Rayman Legends to the other consoles.

To quote Digital Foundry on Watch Dogs for the Wii U: "Remarkably, a 20fps refresh is often the standard for inner-city driving, making it exceptionally sluggish to control. The Wii U also takes the record for the lowest frame-rate dip during our stress test finale, with a sustained sub-20fps frame-rate once we take a rocket launcher to a pile-up of police cars (whereas PS3's nadir is 20fps). This one test isn't indicative the general run of play, but it serves to highlight just how much the Wii U's processor is bottlenecked when faced with too many AI and physics-based simulations."

@subpopz
Sure, it may be a given that it uses Bluetooth, but what is she supposed to do? Say, "now I would confirm it uses Bluetooth but since it's obvious I'm not going to confirm it"...????

So just skip confirming anything people think is obvious??? Somethings might be safe guesses but a confirmation is a confirmation. Being obvious doesn't make it any less true.

And sure people can guess they were going to sell pro controller separately, but could they guess that no model is going to include one??? And again what is she supposed to do, not confirm it because you deem it obvious? Obvious or not it still needs to be confirmed. If she got information that confirms it then it needs to be shared.

When you look at YouTubers, you might look at 5 or 6 different videos from 5 or 6 different people. And most of them get 95% wrong and two lucky guesses right. But you only remember what was correct. You forget that the guy you heard that thing from... got everything else wrong. And then in your mind you tell yourself, "well everybody was saying that". That may be, but they were also saying a load of BS that wasn't correct. Something she is not doing.

The fact is she actually does have inside information. While everyone else does not and they simply speculate. Which is why YouTube rumors are 95% wrong (sure there's 5% correct info out there just from luck) but with her the majority of her leaks are true. And the reason for that is because it's not a guess. I can promise you she is not just making things up and pretending that she has inside information. She's been doing this long enough with a very impressive record, and enough people can confirm that she has sources. No YouTuber out there has a record even close to hers... and there's a reason for that.

@Nico07 Ah, memories!! NFS Most Wanted was such a great game (along with ZombiU, don't care who says otherwise).

Still, why cater to a difficult-to-program console, when all you have to do is continue to do games for the established consoles, Xbox and PS3, with a combined user base close to the 100 million?

Either the developers were stupid (didn't know how to fully get the most power from the Wii U), lazy or too greedy. I'll take the third option any day, since the first also places the blame on Nintendo for not showing them a better way.

In any case, I think that Nintendo is keeping something under wraps (or I haven't been paying too much attention), and that is: compatibility with Android tools (and IOS' tools) so many tablet games can come to the Switch is needed to. Think about it: a tablet, with physical controls, powerful enough and with Nintendo exclusives. This is how you embrace your enemies!!

@maceng I never said ZombiU was bad, just stated that Ubisoft made a considerable loss on it. How profitable a game is & how good it is are often VERY different things.

@DanteSolablood My comment had nothing to do with what you said. (I didn't even read your comment regarding ZombiU, by the way).

@DanteSolablood Now that I read it, have to wholeheartedly agree with you: poor Ubisoft. Makes ZombiU, an unique game for the WiiU and one of the very few, third party games to fully embrace the gamepad, and then gets the flak for releasing Legends to other platforms, in order to recoup some of the cost.

@subpopz
OK let's be clear. I use the term "confirm" loosely. Obviously any time you are dealing with leaks nothing is 100%

But I say confirm to make it perfectly clear these are not just hap nilly guesses. These are grounded in inside sources and legitimate information.

Now, sometimes a source intentionally misleads a reporter. Sometimes they intended well but were misinformed. Other times they were correct, but things changed before release.

That said, this is not a guess. It's a leak grounded in legitimate sourcing and investigation. Not spin the bottle and guess an answer

@subpopz
But that's not what you said. You said it was a guess.

There's a big difference between a guess (educated or otherwise) and a leak based in fact gathered from legitimate sources.

Just because neither provide 100% confirmation does not mean they are even remotely similar.

Guess
I think the Switch is going to have this feature. The only evidence I can provide is my own intuition and personal hunch.

Source-based Leak
I am reporting that Person A, my source who has a dev kit, claims the system has this feature.

Neither is 100%. But one is a stab in the dark, while the other is grounded in factual reporting and research.

@subpopz
People are capable of researching... The extent of which mostly involves google.

But very few actually have sources within the industry capable of providing insider information, particularly when it comes to Nintendo who holds their cards very tight to their chest. And even more so when it comes to their brand-new console launches.

But regardless of whether you think she's guessing, The bottom line is how often she's right. I wouldn't care if she was calling Miss Cleo to get her information... as long as she's right amd consistent then who cares.

Like having a weatherman that always guesses, and yet somehow is right 80% of the time. I wouldn't care if he was drawing straws... as long as I knew it when he tells me something there is a very good possibility it's correct.

All sounds pretty good the storage could do with being higher n the battery life could also do with being afew hours longer but if the system sells then the 3rd parties will come not all will but alot will be putting games on the system.

@JaxonH I don't doubt Laura Kate Dale has some sources, but I also think some of her information is also made up of fairly ambiguous prognostication. Both can be true.

However, I take all rumours and leaks with a grain of salt for now as information is always changing & even Dale has stated previous information has changed (for example the 3hr max battery life becoming 5-8hrs, now 3hrs on "max settings"). Interestingly OBE1 was actually taken to task by Dale for claiming she confirmed all 12 of his predictions on Twitter... she replied to this saying that wasn't true & like a true man of principle, OBE1 deleted the Tweet and pretended it didn't happen.

@johnodaz The 3hr battery life on "max settings" could be 3hrs if running on 1080p in portable mode & may possibly be much longer if used in a more manageable 720p. Of course the only evidence I have of this are the rumours from last week which may be completely wrong. But again, we've heard both a 5-8hrs & a 3hrs on max setting from the same source. So who knows!

@Shugo I didnt even bother to read the list after i saw it was from LKD

I thought it was common knowledge that Mass Effect Andromeda wasn't coming to the Switch, as Bioware's Michael Gamble stated there are no plans. And then when you take into account Bethesda's Prey and what Pete Hines said, i think its save to say game's like these RDR2, Prey, Andromeda etc will not be on the Switch for obvious reasons.

So is Emily Rogers an actual girl or another guy playing pretend?

32gb is very very bad. ( If true)

@Sanicranfast they did do a game for the cube... ( I have it somewhere) but the title escapes me.

@OzHuski @Danrenfroe2016 Sadly people are so used to the idea of having 250-500GB Drives that they forget why they even need them in the first place.

Unless you plan on doing great deal of digital downloads or DLCs then you really only need 32GB.

But alas, people will see that small storage space and completely forget that they don't need more unless they really need more.

Like how the Xbox 360 was. Base model (not the arcade) back then only had a 60GB drive. Which was more then enough for updates and a few handfulls of DLCs.

As for the 3hr Battery life with everything at maxim, that sound about what the 'New" 3DS XL does now with everything at maxim. So its not all that bad, also as long as the USB-C rumor is true then a Power bank will be something you might want.

@gatorboi352 Thats really only because you have no choice but to install your games on to the hard drive. Remember you don't NEED to do that with the switch, as the games are on a game card.

@MitchVogel If you take a look at the sizes of many Wii U games, they are insanely tiny. But I agree, it needs to be bigger, but due to the portable portion, flash is a requirement, but that also adds a benefit to buying physical games due to being flash carts and not needing to be installed.

I discredit her for not realizing Mass Effect 3 sold poorly because EA designed it to tank, just like all their other Wii U games.

@That-crazy-guy I think 32GB is and was to small even for the wii U. I think min should be 128GB.

Nintendo needs to not put up barriers in front of a game sale. Buying a game should be a no brainer and VERY EASY!

@00Wyvern
The potential is definitely there. Hopefully nothing will go to waste.

@AlexSora89 They built up so much hype last year that the only literal way the Switch could now fail is if Nintendo came out and said it wouldn't have any games at launch and the console will cost + $399.99 USD. In other words, the storm Nintendo has created for the Switch is far too massive in scope to be badly weakened now, even by themselves!

@00Wyvern
That, and the console itself has to sell based on its own merits, of course. Hype alone isn't everything, as Mighty No. 9 painfully taught us.

Old thread, but I hope the Bluetooth allows for use with Bluetooth headphones/earbuds, and if it's smart, allowing for output to multiple pairs.

@Shugo A bit late but 'game leaks'. Those same leaks revealed a lot of true information. Literally the exact same sources described a few concepts which never showed up in the actuaactual game. Must have been some truth to them.

@Shugo Nope, because those same sources revealed many new monsters and Alolan forms which were present in the final game.

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1244221

@Shugo http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1244221