@NicolausCamp The MSRP for DQH 1 & 2 in Japan is only about 900 yen more than the stand-alone DQH 2 on PS4. Heck, in Japan, DQH 2 is quite a bit more expensive than in NA.
@sqbboyPOLAND I saw that, and that's for rewritable flash storage (which has to have the tech and flash type to allow it), not the read-only storage the Switch carts use. They also have to make some profit on that flash storage from that site, so it's even less than what they list.
Also, the 3DS proved this article wrong long ago. It had cartridge capacities upwards of 4GB back in 2011, yet games that utilized that capacity were the same price as those that used much smaller capacities that were less than 1GB. Pretty much the only ones to stray from this were the aforementioned "Atlus" who typically increase the price on their games because.........they could. It has been 6 years since the 3DS released, so the pricing of 4GB carts for Switch is certainly going to cost much less than those 4GB carts used back then for 3DS. Just like any other type of storage, pricing goes down as time goes on. Heck, the carts used for Switch are now fully read-only, whereas 3DS, DS, etc have all had the ability to hold save data, meaning data could be written to them (even if it was a small section).
As it is, Zelda is certainly a bigger game than RiME, both in sheer content and data size, yet it's the same price across the board, both on Wii U (which uses discs) and Switch (which uses carts). Does a single cart cost more than a single disc? Sure, but we're talking possibly from pennies to upwards of maybe $1 for read-only memory. $10 more? No way. There is no reason to assume a game like RiME requires a price of $10 more than on other platforms just because it can be on carts.
@gatorboi352 As it is already, Shin'en mentioned before that they aren't utilizing the system closer to its potential. Not because this is a launch title, but because they are working with a Wii U port.
@CircuitWrangler3 BotW is in an odd situation where it was requested by the higher-ups late into development of the Wii U version, so the team was split, and a focus on the Switch couldn't be done because they needed to make sure the Wii U version ran well enough. This is unlike Fast RMX, where the version it was based on was finished long ago, so Shin'en could focus on taking advantage of the Switch hardware.
They did make a jump from 640x720 @ 60fps with some drops in single-player (more drops in 2-player, then locked 30fps in 4-player) to full 1080p @ 60fps (albeit the flaw in firmware that caused a drain on GPU resources to prevent consistent 1080p), no frame drops, adding visual effects the Wii U version lacked, etc. That a good 4.5x pixel calculations for a system that is much smaller than a Wii U.
@gatorboi352 Um, the fact that it's pulling visuals and capabilities a lot better than a Wii U can (which in of itself is stronger than a 360) AND is made by an indie dev (not an AAA dev) AND is a launch title for the system shows just how important and impressive it is.
And while the Switch is not as powerful as a PS4, you really can't fit a PS4 in the space the Switch occupies. This does not take into account that the space the Switch occupies also includes a screen across the entire front if it, and a battery that's digs into almost half of what remains if the screen were taken off. If there were to be some version with no screen, no battery, and was kept plugged into the wall like a typical home console, that thing would be extremely small, you might mistake it for a portable HDD.
@gatorboi352 Each card is mere pennies more than discs nowadays. It's not like the NES/SNES/N64 days.
And this is purely the dev doing this scheme, as it's not happening across the board with every 3rd-party game. You want to know why many folks who by Nintendo don't buy 3rd-party games? Because of tricks like this. Does anyone honestly think it was right for EA to release ME3 on Wii U, and then come out with the trilogy on other platforms for the same price?
As it is, people are being smart and not buying any version of this game because if they were to buy into it, it can lead to it happening more, possibly with other platforms.
@Mogster To be fair, this is a Switch launch title, a port from what many believe to be from the PS3 (which may explain performance issues), and it's packing two games in one for the same price as the PS4 version with just one game. Getting the game ready for launch seemed more of a priority than optimization.
As it is, even DF says not to read too much into it. I think if we want to find out how well the Switch can handle these sort of games, Fire Emblem Warriors may be the title to test it.
@IceClimbers Not a word on what additional platforms, but having the words "Play it first on PS4" during the reveal is a good enough indication that it's not fully exclusive to PS4.
FFXV uses SE's Luminous engine, which they would need to port over to Switch before they can "test" the potential of the Switch with the game. They did say it might run, but chances are slim to none when they have to add another step in the porting process, unlike games that use officially supported engines like UE4, and this is for one single game.
@wiggleronacid It likely will, but I can't recall if that Wii LAN adapter is USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. Either way, I wouldn't grab the "Switch" LAN adapter, not at that price.
Not sure if it was ever brought up, but it appears that the statement was stolen and misquoted. The director never actually said it wasn't in the works or there were no plans. The Express page was published Jan 23rd, whereas the Gamereactor page it was stolen from was published Jan 18th.
Translated by another fellow: "we asked Koshi Nakanishi, the director of the game, if he had the opportunity to test the machine and what his feelings were, since RE7 is not announced for her. We confirmed that 'as an industry member, I had the opportunity to try Nintendo Switch before the presentation.' 'I think it's a unique hardware and I'll explore its possibilities,' he added, leaving an open door to working with her in the future Nakanishi has declared himself a follower of the company. 'I've always been a fan of Nintendo,'"
It seems folks have it out for Nintendo, so they are doing what they can to make things look grim.
Nintendo has plenty of blame, but not for things like Mass Effect 3 on Wii U, where EA basically sabotaged it with the trilogy on other platforms for the same price.
"A problem is that when something like 1-2-Switch is $49.99, on top of all the potential extra costs"
Ok, I understand that game should have been a pack-in, but what is that last part meant to mean for a game like this, that doesn't actually need anything else other than what you'd get in the Switch unit?
The only folks who might have a problem with this are those with an 8GB Wii U SKU with no external HDD. I have a 750GB external that isn't nearly filled, so it wouldn't be a problem for me. But, that won't matter because I'll be getting this game as my first Switch title.
It likely won't be Maxwell for a number of reasons, last one being the most important.
1) Pascal is more powerful than Maxwell
2) Pascal is far more efficient in things like power consumption
3) Manufacturing Maxwell chips over Pascal now is likely to cost more in the end
While the GPU may be only about XB1 level, imo, I believe its rumored CPU already surpasses both XB1 and PS4, so even if the Switch can't visually match PS4 games, it can sure support running them with possibly some reduction in visuals. Things like reducing tessellation, shadow map resolution, etc can help with this.
@Nintenjoe64 The CPU is rumored to be stronger than the CPUs in the PS4/XB1, and is the kind of CPU used in phones (ARM CPUs, whereas Tegra is a SoC that has ARM CPU, Nvidia GPU, etc on it).
The only problem I had with the game was the load times. The game itself was great, and I don't particularly care much for the Lego games. I'd hazard a guess and say it's because this game wasn't so tied down to one particular license like many of the other Lego games have been.
If the rumor of game trade-ins from Wii U to Switch were to be true (either for full game or discount), then I'd probably "make the Switch".
Just to let everyone know that the $99 n3DS units do not come with a charger. I'm still contemplating on getting one to upgrade from my o3ds XL, but going from a larger screen to a smaller one is holding me back, plus I already did one upgrade this gen from o3ds to o3ds XL.
After hearing that Walmart will magically have stock each day at 5pm EST, I'm not sure if Nintendo is really behind this scarcity, or at least 100% of it.
@3MonthBeef Indeed. While the reason for making it black in the first place was due to a hardware limitation of the NES (they had to use the only background layer available for the big stuff, so it couldn't be used for the room layout), it made such an impression on people because of how different it made the fight, like "oh crap! Something big is coming!"
Now, looking at that brain boss screenshot, it looks rather underwhelming.
@JaxonH Correction, Wii U has 2GB of RAM total. 1GB for games. 1GB for the OS. You may ask, "why so much for the OS when functionally, it doesn't seem it would use so much? Why is another system, like the PS3, have much more functionality when running on just 512MB of RAM being shared between system and games?" To that, I'd say, "that's a good question."
Personally, I think it was origin-ally meant for more than Nintendo would have needed for an OS, and what we got was the back-up. So much emphasis on EA's unprecedented partnership back in 2011 could lead someone to think Origin was to be the Wii U's backbone. If that was the case, then why not allocate more to the games? Perhaps the design of the Wii U prevented that. It not only contains a tri-core PowerPC CPU, but also a dual-core ARM11, the latter specifically for OS operations. RAM may have been split in such a way as to prevent the tri-core CPU from accessing the other half of RAM.
@j-life From what I understand, the stock PS4 drive is rated at max 100MB/s, but average is closer to 50-60MB/s. I feel this is a reason (not the only one) for why the PS4/XB1 have 8GB of RAM. PS4 was initially going to have just 4GB.
@Pink_Floyd Well, it supports 128GB SDXC microSD from another report (but SDXC itself features a range even higher than that, and while a 3DS is stated to max at 32GB SDHC, yet you can format a greater sized SDXC as FAT32 to take advantage of the space, just not the speed).
While it's rumored to be 4GB (estimated 3.2GB for games), there's another rumor going around about internal storage. 32GB for it, but an interesting note is that the storage is rated as 400MB/s. This is SSD territory, but why only 32GB? My theory is that it's not as permanent storage, but temporary. Imagine the system having 4GB of RAM, but a cache of 20GB of that "storage" for when the game needs to swap stuff quickly? The cartridges used are likely faster than the PS4/XB1 default internal HDDs, but not by much, and certainly slower than an SSD.
As it is, with the rumored standard of 16GB cartridges (before anyone asks, it's a standard, not max), that internal storage is likely not going to hold many games if that was its intention, especially if rated at 400MB/s.
Ok, seriously. If this purposefully taken the wrong way to get hits? To me, it looks like it, because look at how many of us are commenting on how this sounds like flawed reporting.
Anyways, to me, it sounds like this "standard" is more of a minimum than a maximum. You can only go so far down before it's not worth going down any further. Like, per chip, it might be a few pennies less to go down to the next 2s complement (like from 16GB to 8 GB), but that doesn't take into account the entire process that's done to create these chips. It might actually cost more in the long run to have separate 8GB and 16GB runs than it would just doubling up on 16GB runs.
I honestly feel that there will be 16GB, 32GB, and even 64GB cards.
Regarding lack of ext HDD support, my thoughts dwell on the rumored 32GB of internal storage. It's not so much the storage size, but the fact that the rumor also described it as having a transfer rate of 400MB/s. That's SSD territory there, not flash storage like what is found in basically any other console/handheld. So why so fast yet so small? Maybe it has something to do with if the Switch uses USB-C and the rumor of the dock having a USB 3.0 port (capable of up to 640MB/s).
My theory is that a USB 3.0 ext HDD is supported, and that the internal storage on the device is for temporarily holding a game loaded from the dock. Launch a game from the ext HDD, and while it loads up the game, it's also copying the game itself to the internal storage, kind of like how the PS4 let's you start playing while it installs. Would take a minute or 2 in total (with which a notification could be displayed to say it's copying). Once copied, you can then take the game on the road.
An issue with this idea though is that it could wear down the internal storage. It's one thing to continually read from it, but it's another to continually write to it.
Personally, I'll miss it. I really wished it could play 3/DS games, using either the single screen to display the dual outputs ala DS emulation on Wii U, or have an optional separate screen attached to the top and folds in clamshell-style. Either way, I'd imagine the NS could emulate DS games, but 3DS games would need some thing akin to the PICA200 GPU, as the Tegra custom chip utilizes an ARM multi-core CPU that could theoretically handle the 3DS's CPU side. Homebrew thusfar for 3DS has revealed that unlike the DS that extends the GBA hardware, the 3DS mode utilizes no hardware from previous systems.
Doesn't GameXplain typically talks about any and all Nintendo rumors as they pop up? This latest case of the NX being revealed this week has been silent with them. Could that mean something?
I think these sort of events have invites that have NDAs attached to them. So to me, if they are silent, could it mean they got an invite and that it may actually happen soon?
Is it wrong that for a moment, the image made me imagine the NX handling close to that kind of visuals? Even though we know next to nothing about the NX?
Here's the thing, imo. This isn't just a jab at Nintendo, but to many 3rd-parties as well. VC has been a source for profit, though small, to all of them, and many titles are still being released on both Wii U and n3DS.
You can argue that if you rip your own games, then you have a right to use the rips, but let's be honest here. How much of a percentage of folks are doing that vs downloading from the internet?
@toxibunny Unfortunately, nothing outside of homebrew. Been working with StapleButter on blargSNES some time back, but nothing since then. MM2PTC could have been ported over to SmileBASIC, but that would have caused a copyright issue for distribution on SmileBoom's servers.
Very much a reason why many do the things they do. A lot though is because they want to see if they can. When I made Megaman 2 PTC, it was because I wanted to see whether it could be done, using a BASIC language. Turned out I could.
Maybe it's just me, but the story's plot seems off. If I remember correctly, Samus was not the best choice for the mission. She was called in to finish the mission because other teams who were ordered to do the extermination had disappeared.
As far as "why you no do Metroid, Nintendo" goes, they have their reasons. Their dev teams may be deep in other projects. They can't just drop other projects and make something Metroid-related. There is the NX releasing next March, and they must have games for it, to prevent another Wii U and/or 3DS situation from happening. However you feel about Federation Force, it is still a Metroid game, and many of the complaints regarding it are rather stupid, such as no playable Samus.
@dronesplitter
Well, it took him what.......8 years to make it? I believe the author began dabbling with the concept back in 2008.
I'm still under the belief that the NX isn't going to use a Tegra chip, due to no reflection from Nvidia over something potentially large, as they are a publicly traded company and need to tell investors what's going on. From what I understand, there nothing reported to them regarding embedded systems, since that is where consoles/handhelds would be filed under.
I still don't believe that the NX is using an Nvidia Tegra chip. Could it? Perhaps, but there's no proof. Just because Eurogamer says so and claims anonymous "credible sources" doesn't mean anything, especially when this has happened before, but with regard to the 3DS using a Tegra 2 chip. There are various things regarding the situation that just don't line up. For instance, Nintendo is one of the few that are dedicated to using semi-custom designs, and if I recall correctly, Nvidia doesn't do that.
Comments 911
Re: Here's Why Nintendo Switch Games Cost More Than Those For Other Consoles
@NicolausCamp The MSRP for DQH 1 & 2 in Japan is only about 900 yen more than the stand-alone DQH 2 on PS4. Heck, in Japan, DQH 2 is quite a bit more expensive than in NA.
Re: Here's Why Nintendo Switch Games Cost More Than Those For Other Consoles
@sqbboyPOLAND I saw that, and that's for rewritable flash storage (which has to have the tech and flash type to allow it), not the read-only storage the Switch carts use. They also have to make some profit on that flash storage from that site, so it's even less than what they list.
Re: Here's Why Nintendo Switch Games Cost More Than Those For Other Consoles
Did people forget the "Atlus tax" so easily?
Also, the 3DS proved this article wrong long ago. It had cartridge capacities upwards of 4GB back in 2011, yet games that utilized that capacity were the same price as those that used much smaller capacities that were less than 1GB. Pretty much the only ones to stray from this were the aforementioned "Atlus" who typically increase the price on their games because.........they could. It has been 6 years since the 3DS released, so the pricing of 4GB carts for Switch is certainly going to cost much less than those 4GB carts used back then for 3DS. Just like any other type of storage, pricing goes down as time goes on. Heck, the carts used for Switch are now fully read-only, whereas 3DS, DS, etc have all had the ability to hold save data, meaning data could be written to them (even if it was a small section).
As it is, Zelda is certainly a bigger game than RiME, both in sheer content and data size, yet it's the same price across the board, both on Wii U (which uses discs) and Switch (which uses carts). Does a single cart cost more than a single disc? Sure, but we're talking possibly from pennies to upwards of maybe $1 for read-only memory. $10 more? No way. There is no reason to assume a game like RiME requires a price of $10 more than on other platforms just because it can be on carts.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Highlights the Nintendo Switch Boost in FAST RMX
@gatorboi352 As it is already, Shin'en mentioned before that they aren't utilizing the system closer to its potential. Not because this is a launch title, but because they are working with a Wii U port.
And please. Don't pull that NDF crap.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Highlights the Nintendo Switch Boost in FAST RMX
@CircuitWrangler3 BotW is in an odd situation where it was requested by the higher-ups late into development of the Wii U version, so the team was split, and a focus on the Switch couldn't be done because they needed to make sure the Wii U version ran well enough. This is unlike Fast RMX, where the version it was based on was finished long ago, so Shin'en could focus on taking advantage of the Switch hardware.
They did make a jump from 640x720 @ 60fps with some drops in single-player (more drops in 2-player, then locked 30fps in 4-player) to full 1080p @ 60fps (albeit the flaw in firmware that caused a drain on GPU resources to prevent consistent 1080p), no frame drops, adding visual effects the Wii U version lacked, etc. That a good 4.5x pixel calculations for a system that is much smaller than a Wii U.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Highlights the Nintendo Switch Boost in FAST RMX
@gatorboi352 Um, the fact that it's pulling visuals and capabilities a lot better than a Wii U can (which in of itself is stronger than a 360) AND is made by an indie dev (not an AAA dev) AND is a launch title for the system shows just how important and impressive it is.
And while the Switch is not as powerful as a PS4, you really can't fit a PS4 in the space the Switch occupies. This does not take into account that the space the Switch occupies also includes a screen across the entire front if it, and a battery that's digs into almost half of what remains if the screen were taken off. If there were to be some version with no screen, no battery, and was kept plugged into the wall like a typical home console, that thing would be extremely small, you might mistake it for a portable HDD.
Re: Nintendo Switch Owners Will Have To Wait Longer And Pay More For RiME
@gatorboi352 Each card is mere pennies more than discs nowadays. It's not like the NES/SNES/N64 days.
And this is purely the dev doing this scheme, as it's not happening across the board with every 3rd-party game. You want to know why many folks who by Nintendo don't buy 3rd-party games? Because of tricks like this. Does anyone honestly think it was right for EA to release ME3 on Wii U, and then come out with the trilogy on other platforms for the same price?
As it is, people are being smart and not buying any version of this game because if they were to buy into it, it can lead to it happening more, possibly with other platforms.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Pits Nintendo Switch vs. PS4 in Dragon Quest Heroes II Comparison
@Mogster To be fair, this is a Switch launch title, a port from what many believe to be from the PS3 (which may explain performance issues), and it's packing two games in one for the same price as the PS4 version with just one game. Getting the game ready for launch seemed more of a priority than optimization.
As it is, even DF says not to read too much into it. I think if we want to find out how well the Switch can handle these sort of games, Fire Emblem Warriors may be the title to test it.
Re: It's Time to Claim Your Nintendo Account User ID for Nintendo Switch
December 1st is when I reserved my User ID (not the same as Nickname). Dunno why this is now only getting reported....
Re: There Are Currently 'No Plans' For Final Fantasy XV On Nintendo Switch
@IceClimbers Not a word on what additional platforms, but having the words "Play it first on PS4" during the reveal is a good enough indication that it's not fully exclusive to PS4.
Re: There Are Currently 'No Plans' For Final Fantasy XV On Nintendo Switch
FFXV uses SE's Luminous engine, which they would need to port over to Switch before they can "test" the potential of the Switch with the game. They did say it might run, but chances are slim to none when they have to add another step in the porting process, unlike games that use officially supported engines like UE4, and this is for one single game.
Re: ARM Confirms That The Nintendo Switch's Chipset Is Very Close To Tegra X1 Spec
So, will Damien update the page to reflect that it's not confirmed?
Re: Hori Range of Nintendo Switch Accessories, Including LAN Adapter, Arrives on Amazon UK
@wiggleronacid It likely will, but I can't recall if that Wii LAN adapter is USB 1.1 or USB 2.0. Either way, I wouldn't grab the "Switch" LAN adapter, not at that price.
Re: Capcom Has No Plans To Infect The Nintendo Switch With Resident Evil "At The Moment"
Not sure if it was ever brought up, but it appears that the statement was stolen and misquoted. The director never actually said it wasn't in the works or there were no plans. The Express page was published Jan 23rd, whereas the Gamereactor page it was stolen from was published Jan 18th.
https://www.gamereactor.es/noticias/362543/El+creador+de+Resident+Evil+7+valora+Nintendo+Switch/
Translated by another fellow: "we asked Koshi Nakanishi, the director of the game, if he had the opportunity to test the machine and what his feelings were, since RE7 is not announced for her. We confirmed that 'as an industry member, I had the opportunity to try Nintendo Switch before the presentation.' 'I think it's a unique hardware and I'll explore its possibilities,' he added, leaving an open door to working with her in the future Nakanishi has declared himself a follower of the company. 'I've always been a fan of Nintendo,'"
It seems folks have it out for Nintendo, so they are doing what they can to make things look grim.
Re: ​Soapbox: It's Nintendo's Job To Make Switch A Success, Not EA's, Ubisoft's Or Capcom's
Nintendo has plenty of blame, but not for things like Mass Effect 3 on Wii U, where EA basically sabotaged it with the trilogy on other platforms for the same price.
Re: Editorial: Pricing Blunders Have Distorted The Narrative Around Nintendo Switch
"A problem is that when something like 1-2-Switch is $49.99, on top of all the potential extra costs"
Ok, I understand that game should have been a pack-in, but what is that last part meant to mean for a game like this, that doesn't actually need anything else other than what you'd get in the Switch unit?
Re: Super Bomberman R's Price Still Has Yet to Be Finalized
I'm waiting for Amazon to assign it with the Prime discount (as most other games have the 20% off on pre-orders for Prime members).
Re: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Will Require a 3GB Install on Wii U
The only folks who might have a problem with this are those with an 8GB Wii U SKU with no external HDD. I have a 750GB external that isn't nearly filled, so it wouldn't be a problem for me. But, that won't matter because I'll be getting this game as my first Switch title.
Re: Super Mario McDonald's UK Happy Meal Toys Revealed, Evidently Much to Mario's Relief
I know exactly what Mario is doing.
Re: Art: Xenoblade Chronicles Demake - Going Back to the 16-bit Era
Nice, but that stuff on the left is taking up way too much space.
Re: Video: Watch Us Compare Super Mario Run's "Battery Saving" Graphics Options
@KirbyTheVampire If you aren't running the video in HD, then you'll likely miss it, as non-HD YT videos are limited to 30fps I think.
Re: The Nintendo Switch Power Debate is Back - Report Suggests It Won't Quite Match PS4
It likely won't be Maxwell for a number of reasons, last one being the most important.
1) Pascal is more powerful than Maxwell
2) Pascal is far more efficient in things like power consumption
3) Manufacturing Maxwell chips over Pascal now is likely to cost more in the end
While the GPU may be only about XB1 level, imo, I believe its rumored CPU already surpasses both XB1 and PS4, so even if the Switch can't visually match PS4 games, it can sure support running them with possibly some reduction in visuals. Things like reducing tessellation, shadow map resolution, etc can help with this.
Re: Talking Point: The Nintendo Switch Pitch - A Jack of All Trades
@Nintenjoe64 The CPU is rumored to be stronger than the CPUs in the PS4/XB1, and is the kind of CPU used in phones (ARM CPUs, whereas Tegra is a SoC that has ARM CPU, Nvidia GPU, etc on it).
Re: Rumour: Koei Tecmo Pitched a Star Fox Game, But it Was Rejected
Falco: "I'll take the sky any day."
Re: Lego City Undercover Is Coming To Nintendo Switch And Other Platforms Next Year
The only problem I had with the game was the load times. The game itself was great, and I don't particularly care much for the Lego games. I'd hazard a guess and say it's because this game wasn't so tied down to one particular license like many of the other Lego games have been.
If the rumor of game trade-ins from Wii U to Switch were to be true (either for full game or discount), then I'd probably "make the Switch".
Re: Guide: The Best Nintendo Black Friday 2016 Deals in the US
Just to let everyone know that the $99 n3DS units do not come with a charger. I'm still contemplating on getting one to upgrade from my o3ds XL, but going from a larger screen to a smaller one is holding me back, plus I already did one upgrade this gen from o3ds to o3ds XL.
Re: Famicom Mini Leads The Way In Japanese Charts, Leg Warmers May Be Next for a Big Comeback
After hearing that Walmart will magically have stock each day at 5pm EST, I'm not sure if Nintendo is really behind this scarcity, or at least 100% of it.
Re: Gallery: Check Out Blaster Master Zero, The Inti Creates Revival of a Classic
@3MonthBeef Indeed. While the reason for making it black in the first place was due to a hardware limitation of the NES (they had to use the only background layer available for the big stuff, so it couldn't be used for the room layout), it made such an impression on people because of how different it made the fight, like "oh crap! Something big is coming!"
Now, looking at that brain boss screenshot, it looks rather underwhelming.
Re: Nintendo Switch to Reportedly Include 4GB of RAM
@JaxonH Correction, Wii U has 2GB of RAM total. 1GB for games. 1GB for the OS. You may ask, "why so much for the OS when functionally, it doesn't seem it would use so much? Why is another system, like the PS3, have much more functionality when running on just 512MB of RAM being shared between system and games?" To that, I'd say, "that's a good question."
Personally, I think it was origin-ally meant for more than Nintendo would have needed for an OS, and what we got was the back-up. So much emphasis on EA's unprecedented partnership back in 2011 could lead someone to think Origin was to be the Wii U's backbone. If that was the case, then why not allocate more to the games? Perhaps the design of the Wii U prevented that. It not only contains a tri-core PowerPC CPU, but also a dual-core ARM11, the latter specifically for OS operations. RAM may have been split in such a way as to prevent the tri-core CPU from accessing the other half of RAM.
Re: Nintendo Switch to Reportedly Include 4GB of RAM
@j-life From what I understand, the stock PS4 drive is rated at max 100MB/s, but average is closer to 50-60MB/s. I feel this is a reason (not the only one) for why the PS4/XB1 have 8GB of RAM. PS4 was initially going to have just 4GB.
Re: Nintendo Switch to Reportedly Include 4GB of RAM
@Pink_Floyd Well, it supports 128GB SDXC microSD from another report (but SDXC itself features a range even higher than that, and while a 3DS is stated to max at 32GB SDHC, yet you can format a greater sized SDXC as FAT32 to take advantage of the space, just not the speed).
Re: Nintendo Switch to Reportedly Include 4GB of RAM
While it's rumored to be 4GB (estimated 3.2GB for games), there's another rumor going around about internal storage. 32GB for it, but an interesting note is that the storage is rated as 400MB/s. This is SSD territory, but why only 32GB? My theory is that it's not as permanent storage, but temporary. Imagine the system having 4GB of RAM, but a cache of 20GB of that "storage" for when the game needs to swap stuff quickly? The cartridges used are likely faster than the PS4/XB1 default internal HDDs, but not by much, and certainly slower than an SSD.
As it is, with the rumored standard of 16GB cartridges (before anyone asks, it's a standard, not max), that internal storage is likely not going to hold many games if that was its intention, especially if rated at 400MB/s.
Re: Rumour: Nintendo Switch Game Cards Limited To 16GB Size
Ok, seriously. If this purposefully taken the wrong way to get hits? To me, it looks like it, because look at how many of us are commenting on how this sounds like flawed reporting.
Anyways, to me, it sounds like this "standard" is more of a minimum than a maximum. You can only go so far down before it's not worth going down any further. Like, per chip, it might be a few pennies less to go down to the next 2s complement (like from 16GB to 8 GB), but that doesn't take into account the entire process that's done to create these chips. It might actually cost more in the long run to have separate 8GB and 16GB runs than it would just doubling up on 16GB runs.
I honestly feel that there will be 16GB, 32GB, and even 64GB cards.
Re: Nintendo Switch to Reportedly Use USB-C for Charging, But Dock May Not Support External Hard Drives
Regarding lack of ext HDD support, my thoughts dwell on the rumored 32GB of internal storage. It's not so much the storage size, but the fact that the rumor also described it as having a transfer rate of 400MB/s. That's SSD territory there, not flash storage like what is found in basically any other console/handheld. So why so fast yet so small? Maybe it has something to do with if the Switch uses USB-C and the rumor of the dock having a USB 3.0 port (capable of up to 640MB/s).
My theory is that a USB 3.0 ext HDD is supported, and that the internal storage on the device is for temporarily holding a game loaded from the dock. Launch a game from the ext HDD, and while it loads up the game, it's also copying the game itself to the internal storage, kind of like how the PS4 let's you start playing while it installs. Would take a minute or 2 in total (with which a notification could be displayed to say it's copying). Once copied, you can then take the game on the road.
An issue with this idea though is that it could wear down the internal storage. It's one thing to continually read from it, but it's another to continually write to it.
Re: Nintendo's Share Value Continues Its Painful Slide After Reports Predicting Upcoming Financial Loss
This always happens after the reveal of new hardware. Even the PS4 caused Sony this kind of damage after reveal.
Re: Poll: Nintendo Switch Delivers Single Screen Gaming - Will You Miss the Dual Screen Concept?
Personally, I'll miss it. I really wished it could play 3/DS games, using either the single screen to display the dual outputs ala DS emulation on Wii U, or have an optional separate screen attached to the top and folds in clamshell-style. Either way, I'd imagine the NS could emulate DS games, but 3DS games would need some thing akin to the PICA200 GPU, as the Tegra custom chip utilizes an ARM multi-core CPU that could theoretically handle the 3DS's CPU side. Homebrew thusfar for 3DS has revealed that unlike the DS that extends the GBA hardware, the 3DS mode utilizes no hardware from previous systems.
Re: Timing of NX Reveal Remains Up for Debate, as Insight Emerges On Super Mario Run Development
Doesn't GameXplain typically talks about any and all Nintendo rumors as they pop up? This latest case of the NX being revealed this week has been silent with them. Could that mean something?
I think these sort of events have invites that have NDAs attached to them. So to me, if they are silent, could it mean they got an invite and that it may actually happen soon?
Re: Splatoon Producer Reflects on the Game's Popularity
Is it wrong that for a moment, the image made me imagine the NX handling close to that kind of visuals? Even though we know next to nothing about the NX?
Re: Random: Stranger Things Star Was In Smash Bros. Wii U Commercial
@A01 "Star Wars" misread +1 for me.
Re: Feature: Future Nindie Hits for the eShop - October to December
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Though they aren't related, I do wonder what happened to the later expansions for Shovel Knight that were promised.
Re: Xbox One NES Emulator Passes Certification, Could Hit Console In The Next Few Days
Here's the thing, imo. This isn't just a jab at Nintendo, but to many 3rd-parties as well. VC has been a source for profit, though small, to all of them, and many titles are still being released on both Wii U and n3DS.
You can argue that if you rip your own games, then you have a right to use the rips, but let's be honest here. How much of a percentage of folks are doing that vs downloading from the internet?
Re: The Xbox One Might Be Getting A NES Emulator
@ClockworkMario It depends on the country. In the US, afaik, you can only backup your copies for archival purposes.
As far as the emulator is concerned, Nintendo may be able to take action on something about it, like its name.
Re: NES Classic Edition Will Feature a Brand New Emulator Developed by NERD
https://youtu.be/IRsPheErBj8
Re: Weirdness: Homebrew Programmer Emulates a Macintosh Plus on 3DS
@toxibunny Unfortunately, nothing outside of homebrew. Been working with StapleButter on blargSNES some time back, but nothing since then. MM2PTC could have been ported over to SmileBASIC, but that would have caused a copyright issue for distribution on SmileBoom's servers.
Re: Weirdness: Homebrew Programmer Emulates a Macintosh Plus on 3DS
"Because they can..."
Very much a reason why many do the things they do. A lot though is because they want to see if they can. When I made Megaman 2 PTC, it was because I wanted to see whether it could be done, using a BASIC language. Turned out I could.
Re: Forget The NES Classic Edition Mini, Here's The Analogue Nt Mini
@DarthNocturnal That's exactly what I was thinking.
Re: Updated Nintendo Patent For Modular, Customisable Control Options Gives Another Spin on NX Reports
When folks tell me I'm all thumbs, I'll just laugh at them while I use 3 analog sticks + 1 D-Pad on my NX. Who's laughing now?
Re: Celebrate 30 Years of Metroid With The Fan-Made "AM2R"
Maybe it's just me, but the story's plot seems off. If I remember correctly, Samus was not the best choice for the mission. She was called in to finish the mission because other teams who were ordered to do the extermination had disappeared.
As far as "why you no do Metroid, Nintendo" goes, they have their reasons. Their dev teams may be deep in other projects. They can't just drop other projects and make something Metroid-related. There is the NX releasing next March, and they must have games for it, to prevent another Wii U and/or 3DS situation from happening. However you feel about Federation Force, it is still a Metroid game, and many of the complaints regarding it are rather stupid, such as no playable Samus.
@dronesplitter
Well, it took him what.......8 years to make it? I believe the author began dabbling with the concept back in 2008.
Re: Report Points to Nintendo NX Manufacturing Ramping Up in Q4 2016
I'm still under the belief that the NX isn't going to use a Tegra chip, due to no reflection from Nvidia over something potentially large, as they are a publicly traded company and need to tell investors what's going on. From what I understand, there nothing reported to them regarding embedded systems, since that is where consoles/handhelds would be filed under.
Re: Video: Digital Foundry Explores the Potential for GameCube and Wii Emulation on Nintendo NX
I still don't believe that the NX is using an Nvidia Tegra chip. Could it? Perhaps, but there's no proof. Just because Eurogamer says so and claims anonymous "credible sources" doesn't mean anything, especially when this has happened before, but with regard to the 3DS using a Tegra 2 chip. There are various things regarding the situation that just don't line up. For instance, Nintendo is one of the few that are dedicated to using semi-custom designs, and if I recall correctly, Nvidia doesn't do that.