@Schizor88 Based on the leak specs from NVidia's public API, the console will be about 10-20% more powerful than the Steam Deck. Which, yeah, would be strong enough to hit PS5 level graphics (approximately) with DLSS, assuming there're dedicated cores for lightning (also leaked), in addition to the cores for DLSS. Based on the stats, it's expected the effective graphics output would be definitely above the XBSS at least, which is no small feat.
The stars kind of lined up on this one in Nintendo's favor. Right around the time they likely started developing it, ray tracing had just finished the drop from non-real time to super high-end PC only to possible with dedicated cores at way lower power draw, DLSS hit the scene, on-board memory and RAM costs dropped drastically, ARM laptops + AI chips meant ARM had started rapidly catching up with X86-64, and they had both the sales numbers and a relationship with NVIDIA to design a chip to take advantage of these things for them instead of using off the shelf parts as they always had pre-switch. I think when we actually get our hands on it there'll be some notable flaws that hold it back from being mistaken for a PS5, but it'll still be an incredibly impressive piece of tech.
@Schizor88 The specs don't match, the effective output comes close. DLSS is a modern upscaling technique using dedicated CPU cores that allows weaker computers to put out graphics that comes close to dedicated gaming computers. There's some loss of visual fidelity over a native image, but generally it's close enough you won't notice unless you take screenshots and compare.
Anyways, that's just the GPU. I still expect the CPU and RAM to both lag behind the XBSX/PS5, as well as loading / bus speeds. But it's probably enough to impress 98% of consumers which is all it needs to be.
@vyseofhr Actually if a game is designed right it should be significantly more power efficient than the OG Switch. DLSS + 480p native rendering is way less of a power draw than rendering at native 720p in handheld mode.
Even docked mode shouldn't be significantly higher since it'll still be internally rendering at 1080p. And the chipset used uses a smaller transistor size, which also reduces power draw relative to performance.
@dew12333 Other than featuring a magic school, what does it even have in common with Hogwarts Legacy? The genre, graphics, and presentation are completely different.
Yeah, I'm wondering if they're doing this because that way, if they get rejected by the patent office and someone else does try to patent these things down the line somehow, they've established precedence. Most of these (especially the loading screen one) seem phrased in a way designed to get rejected.
The chances of the Switch not getting the record are pretty slim. Looking at sales momentum, I'd wager it'll be somewhere between late 2024 and mid 2025.
Probably after the next console drop, but I see it easily hitting 140 mil before the switch 2 is announced. Theres no way it won't sell another 10 mil before it's retired.
It's funny that Baten Kaitos isn't on the list as it's first party developed. Not often a game like that is third party published. Actually... I dunno when that's happened at all before?
@Quarbit Ha. We all know that people will just be transitioned into even lower income jobs, or become homeless. There's not suddenly going to become a new need for employees as a result of this. The money will just keep getting siphoned out of the system once the people who have money no longer need to pay people to make more money.
45% higher? Well if that continues (big if), Pikmin 4 will break 3 million copies. I really am hoping for a Forgotten Land level break into 5+ million for the series (then maybe Pikmin might become a more regular franchise... maybe...) but it seems unlikely.
@Ara I mean, since Pikmin 1 the series has always had rewind time features, so I doubt it. Pikmin 1 let you go back to the start of any day, Pikmin 2 added the ability to let you restart any floor of a dungeon as well.
You can always just... choose not to use the feature like in previous titles. I didn't in my latest Pikmin 1 playthrough
Admittedly, I did end up using it Pikmin 2 when I wiped every single pikmin I had in the second cave section whoops. But it wasn't worth it to me to play through the entire tutorial again when I had just barely gotten out of it.
@Joeynator3000 According to the article, "Much like Pikmin 2, these caverns are multi-layered, providing an element of dungeon exploration that we missed in the Wii U title." I'm pretty sure that's a yes.
@theModestMouse ...What are you talking about. Literally every gyro motion game (as in something designed to use motion solely not motion + stick) has a button to recenter that you have to use constantly. It's not a permanent drift, it's that the remote loses track of where the tv is as you use it.
@Wheatly The new Pokemon this year is ScVi DLC, just like how there was no new Pokemon the year SwSh DLC came out. It's the replacement for their third version releases.
I do think we'll have a remake main title available near launch this time, like Let's Go but not scrambled together at the last moment. BDSP was hugely disappointing but sold well, so I'd wager we'll get a similar BW remake near the next system's launch by ILCA again.
@tobsesta99 Wario sounds different because he's got a different VA in japan that somehow made it into the western directs. But no, Mario's voice has definitely not changed VAs and that has nothing to do with Twitter users.
@Clammy I highly doubt the file types of models made that long ago would be compatible with modern game engines. And even after updating them, they'd need to be completely rerigged and animated, so I doubt it's as easy as that.
@Corvus96 Wow, old comment I had no idea what you were referring to. Off the top of my head (and sticking to games I actually played)? These ones were all disappointments when I got them
NES: Urban Champion, Ice Climber, DK Jr Math, Metroid, Kid Icarus
SNES: Mario is Missing
N64: Hey You Pikachu, Yoshi's Story
GCN: DK Barrel Blast, Geist
Wii: Mario Party 8, Metroid Other M
Wii U: Amiibo Festival, Star Fox Zero
GB: Baseball, F-1 Race
GBA: DK King of Swing, WarioLand 4, T
Yoshi's Topsy Turvy
DS: Yoshi's Touch and Go, Super Princess Peach
3DS: Paper Mario Sticker Star, Yoshi's New Island
@OFFICIALMichi Pre-pandemic, I'd only caught a single legendary Pokemon because there's literally not enough players in my area, I only got a couple while traveling during events. I aim for 5km a day, but that's not going to help with in-person only raids. There's just no way for many players to actually get the 5+ people together needed to take one on.
I don't mind the 5 per day restriction, but doubling the cost AND making a bunch of in-person only raids is ridiculous. I actually started to really enjoy the game finally and started going out way more during the pandemic, why shoot it in the foot?
@RupeeClock But a 16 GB cartridge is actually in GiB, so it's really only 14.9 GB. So either 16GB or 17GB definitely won't fit on it. Typically SD Card sizes are GiB and file sizes are GB so I don't see it fitting (unless, as others suggested, voice files are cut for other languages and downloaded separately)
Well it still won't fit on a 16GB card since those only hold 14.9 GB... wonder if there'll be a large mandatory patch or if they're going for 32GB cards?
@rastamadeus But most likely the number of people who even participate in PvP is tiny compared to the number of people who use remote. Like... I always assumed PvP was mainly a dead feature? I don't know anyone who cares about it. But I live in an area where only one other person shows up at raids, we can't take down p much anything by ourselves.
I dunno, I don't mind the 5 raid limit (that's whatever, who does that many in a day), but there's no need to double the cost of each raid too.
@-wc- That's rich. Nintendo's never had consistent quality game output. Name any system, all the way back to the arcade / NES days and there are several stinkers in there that people don't wanna talk about. I don't see why you'd idealize their output in the first place tbh.
@Vil When was that exactly? Unless you're talking about the NES or NSMB (Which... everyone complains about), there's always been large gaps between Mario platformers.
@Lizuka Well the original price of the 3 games was $180. They then rereleased them for $60, at basically no development cost to them. I don't see how this is different than people complaining that a game was released as a $20 players choice, then later ported at more than $20.
@Lizuka It's $40, not $60, and as far as I've seen so far, they've redone the music, textures, lighting and models for everything in the game, on top of implementing pretty much any control scheme you could want. Not exactly a lazy port.
@scoot They expire after a year, I wouldn't call that quick. But more to the point, most people only bought one if there's two games already out or with release dates they want, rather than buy it and hold onto it in hopes something will come out. Like... that's the point of them? I dunno anyone who gambled on them.
I really would kill for Viewtiful Joe 3 or a collection of the first 3 games... Too bad it'll never happen. Kinda crazy we haven't gotten an indie successor yet.
@Sisilly_G Check the photos. They're all photos of the box. Not a single photo in that set shows the person actually having the console, just the box for it.
Anyways, I'm going with real, cause this design is too meh for an elaborate mockup to make sense.
Comments 2,206
Re: Nintendo Direct September 2023: Time, Where To Watch, Our Predictions
Seriously? Not going to make a Tears of the Kingdom DLC announcement prediction? I mean it's more likely to be at TGA again, but still.
What I'm really hoping we might see is a Pikmin 4 DLC announcement, the timing would be perfect.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Showed 'Switch 2' Demos To Developers At Gamescom
@Schizor88 Based on the leak specs from NVidia's public API, the console will be about 10-20% more powerful than the Steam Deck. Which, yeah, would be strong enough to hit PS5 level graphics (approximately) with DLSS, assuming there're dedicated cores for lightning (also leaked), in addition to the cores for DLSS. Based on the stats, it's expected the effective graphics output would be definitely above the XBSS at least, which is no small feat.
The stars kind of lined up on this one in Nintendo's favor. Right around the time they likely started developing it, ray tracing had just finished the drop from non-real time to super high-end PC only to possible with dedicated cores at way lower power draw, DLSS hit the scene, on-board memory and RAM costs dropped drastically, ARM laptops + AI chips meant ARM had started rapidly catching up with X86-64, and they had both the sales numbers and a relationship with NVIDIA to design a chip to take advantage of these things for them instead of using off the shelf parts as they always had pre-switch. I think when we actually get our hands on it there'll be some notable flaws that hold it back from being mistaken for a PS5, but it'll still be an incredibly impressive piece of tech.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Showed 'Switch 2' Demos To Developers At Gamescom
@Schizor88 The specs don't match, the effective output comes close. DLSS is a modern upscaling technique using dedicated CPU cores that allows weaker computers to put out graphics that comes close to dedicated gaming computers. There's some loss of visual fidelity over a native image, but generally it's close enough you won't notice unless you take screenshots and compare.
Anyways, that's just the GPU. I still expect the CPU and RAM to both lag behind the XBSX/PS5, as well as loading / bus speeds. But it's probably enough to impress 98% of consumers which is all it needs to be.
Re: Nintendo Reportedly Showed 'Switch 2' Demos To Developers At Gamescom
@vyseofhr Actually if a game is designed right it should be significantly more power efficient than the OG Switch. DLSS + 480p native rendering is way less of a power draw than rendering at native 720p in handheld mode.
Even docked mode shouldn't be significantly higher since it'll still be internally rendering at 1080p. And the chipset used uses a smaller transistor size, which also reduces power draw relative to performance.
Re: Retro Game Challenge 1 & 2 Are Getting Switch Ports In Japan
I loved the first one, to bad we'll never get this.
Re: Spellcaster University Will Let You Live Out Your Wizard Fantasies On Switch In 2024
@dew12333 Other than featuring a magic school, what does it even have in common with Hogwarts Legacy? The genre, graphics, and presentation are completely different.
Re: Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot 'The 23rd World Tournament' DLC Update Now Available
Dang... no one ever references this arc, like ever. Not that it's bad or anything, it's just that weird arc where he's an adult but it's not yet DBZ.
Re: Memory Pak: Making Contact With The "Ungoogleable" Game I Couldn't Quite Remember
Man I love Contact, had to click just cause I saw the prof in the thumbnail.
Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Loading Sequence Patent Filed By Nintendo
Yeah, I'm wondering if they're doing this because that way, if they get rejected by the patent office and someone else does try to patent these things down the line somehow, they've established precedence. Most of these (especially the loading screen one) seem phrased in a way designed to get rejected.
Re: Poll: Do You Think Switch Can Catch PS2's Total Sales Before 'Switch 2' Arrives?
The chances of the Switch not getting the record are pretty slim. Looking at sales momentum, I'd wager it'll be somewhere between late 2024 and mid 2025.
Probably after the next console drop, but I see it easily hitting 140 mil before the switch 2 is announced. Theres no way it won't sell another 10 mil before it's retired.
Re: Nintendo Reconfirms Release Dates And Windows For Upcoming Switch Games
It's funny that Baten Kaitos isn't on the list as it's first party developed. Not often a game like that is third party published. Actually... I dunno when that's happened at all before?
Re: Kickstarter Is Cracking Down On AI And Promoting Human Creativity
@Quarbit Ha. We all know that people will just be transitioned into even lower income jobs, or become homeless. There's not suddenly going to become a new need for employees as a result of this. The money will just keep getting siphoned out of the system once the people who have money no longer need to pay people to make more money.
Re: UK Charts: Pikmin 4 Storms To The Top, Beating The Sims 4 And Zelda
45% higher? Well if that continues (big if), Pikmin 4 will break 3 million copies. I really am hoping for a Forgotten Land level break into 5+ million for the series (then maybe Pikmin might become a more regular franchise... maybe...) but it seems unlikely.
Re: Poll: Which Dormant Nintendo Franchise Would You Most Like To See Return?
Kid Icarus followed by Elite Beat Agents are the top two.
I'd love DKC back but it also hasn't been that long.
Re: Monolith Soft Profits Almost Doubled In Fiscal Year Ending March 2023
@N8tiveT3ch You do realize that Monolith Soft is also fully owned by Nintendo right?
Re: Japan's Switch Sales In June Were Reportedly A Record High For The Console
@Kiliomp I doubt even the PS5 and XBSX will be able to play Elder Scrolls VI... It'll probably debut on PS6
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (July 1st)
Pikmin 2. That's all. I never managed to get a copy on GCN or Wii (not for lack of trying), but my gosh I do think I'm enjoying it more than 3.
4's demo tho, hoo boy.
Re: Pikmin 4 Will Let You Erase Your Mistakes With A Handy New Rewind Mechanic
@Ara I mean, since Pikmin 1 the series has always had rewind time features, so I doubt it. Pikmin 1 let you go back to the start of any day, Pikmin 2 added the ability to let you restart any floor of a dungeon as well.
You can always just... choose not to use the feature like in previous titles. I didn't in my latest Pikmin 1 playthrough
Admittedly, I did end up using it Pikmin 2 when I wiped every single pikmin I had in the second cave section whoops. But it wasn't worth it to me to play through the entire tutorial again when I had just barely gotten out of it.
Re: Hands On: Pikmin 4 Promises Heaps Of Gorgeous Exploration For Fans And Newbies Alike
@Joeynator3000 According to the article, "Much like Pikmin 2, these caverns are multi-layered, providing an element of dungeon exploration that we missed in the Wii U title." I'm pretty sure that's a yes.
Re: Feature: The One Thing Wii Did Much Better Than Switch
@theModestMouse ...What are you talking about. Literally every gyro motion game (as in something designed to use motion solely not motion + stick) has a button to recenter that you have to use constantly. It's not a permanent drift, it's that the remote loses track of where the tv is as you use it.
Re: Nintendo Infographic Showcases The Games Featured In June's Direct
@Wheatly The new Pokemon this year is ScVi DLC, just like how there was no new Pokemon the year SwSh DLC came out. It's the replacement for their third version releases.
I do think we'll have a remake main title available near launch this time, like Let's Go but not scrambled together at the last moment. BDSP was hugely disappointing but sold well, so I'd wager we'll get a similar BW remake near the next system's launch by ILCA again.
Re: Random: People Are Convinced Charles Martinet Isn't In Super Mario Bros. Wonder
@tobsesta99 Wario sounds different because he's got a different VA in japan that somehow made it into the western directs. But no, Mario's voice has definitely not changed VAs and that has nothing to do with Twitter users.
Re: Random: The Super Mario RPG Switch Remake Clarifies A Couple Of Cameos
@Clammy I highly doubt the file types of models made that long ago would be compatible with modern game engines. And even after updating them, they'd need to be completely rerigged and animated, so I doubt it's as easy as that.
Re: Pikmin 4 Download Cards Appear In Japan Showing Split Screen, New Treasures And More
@Jhena It just dropped as a standalone trailer, no direct.
Re: Where To Pre-Order Pikmin 4 On Switch - Best Deals And Cheapest Prices
@Corvus96 Wow, old comment I had no idea what you were referring to. Off the top of my head (and sticking to games I actually played)? These ones were all disappointments when I got them
NES: Urban Champion, Ice Climber, DK Jr Math, Metroid, Kid Icarus
SNES: Mario is Missing
N64: Hey You Pikachu, Yoshi's Story
GCN: DK Barrel Blast, Geist
Wii: Mario Party 8, Metroid Other M
Wii U: Amiibo Festival, Star Fox Zero
GB: Baseball, F-1 Race
GBA: DK King of Swing, WarioLand 4, T
Yoshi's Topsy Turvy
DS: Yoshi's Touch and Go, Super Princess Peach
3DS: Paper Mario Sticker Star, Yoshi's New Island
Re: Pikmin 4 Will 'Rise To The Occasion' In Brand New Trailer
Blugh this is really disappointing. The characters having unique personalities is one of the draws of Pikmin, now we'll have a cardboard cutout...
Re: Poll: Will There Be A June 2023 Nintendo Direct?
The next direct will probably be March 2024 or so.
Re: Pokémon HOME Getting Scarlet And Violet Support In Update Next Week
Gonna wait a couple hours until the post another retraction.
Re: Pokémon GO Game Director Responds To 'Hear Us Niantic' Social Media Backlash
@OFFICIALMichi Pre-pandemic, I'd only caught a single legendary Pokemon because there's literally not enough players in my area, I only got a couple while traveling during events. I aim for 5km a day, but that's not going to help with in-person only raids. There's just no way for many players to actually get the 5+ people together needed to take one on.
I don't mind the 5 per day restriction, but doubling the cost AND making a bunch of in-person only raids is ridiculous. I actually started to really enjoy the game finally and started going out way more during the pandemic, why shoot it in the foot?
Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom File Size Seemingly Revealed For Switch
@RupeeClock But a 16 GB cartridge is actually in GiB, so it's really only 14.9 GB. So either 16GB or 17GB definitely won't fit on it. Typically SD Card sizes are GiB and file sizes are GB so I don't see it fitting (unless, as others suggested, voice files are cut for other languages and downloaded separately)
Re: Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom File Size Seemingly Revealed For Switch
Well it still won't fit on a 16GB card since those only hold 14.9 GB... wonder if there'll be a large mandatory patch or if they're going for 32GB cards?
Re: 'Hear Us Niantic' Trends On Social Media In Response To Pokémon GO Remote Raids Update
@rastamadeus But most likely the number of people who even participate in PvP is tiny compared to the number of people who use remote. Like... I always assumed PvP was mainly a dead feature? I don't know anyone who cares about it. But I live in an area where only one other person shows up at raids, we can't take down p much anything by ourselves.
I dunno, I don't mind the 5 raid limit (that's whatever, who does that many in a day), but there's no need to double the cost of each raid too.
Re: Pikmin 4 Switch Pre-Orders Are Now Live - Here Are The Best Prices
@-wc- That's rich. Nintendo's never had consistent quality game output. Name any system, all the way back to the arcade / NES days and there are several stinkers in there that people don't wanna talk about. I don't see why you'd idealize their output in the first place tbh.
Re: Random: It's Okay Everyone, Kirby Doesn't Digest His Enemies
Kirby being a wormhole makes sadly a lot of sense with the existing lore
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Duel - Mega Man X2
One of the worst-looking Japanese Megaman box arts of the era... NA is no looker, but at least it's a better feel than JP.
Re: Nintendo Highlights Classic Super Mario Games In New Switch Online Graphic
@Vil When was that exactly? Unless you're talking about the NES or NSMB (Which... everyone complains about), there's always been large gaps between Mario platformers.
Re: Random: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Players Reach Outer Space By Making Sandwiches
Honestly, pretty cool.
Re: Pokémon Scarlet & Violet Get Pokémon HOME Support In "Early 2023"
There's maintenance and a new Home version happening on Thursday... Wonder if that's when.
Re: Looks Like Pokémon Trading Already Works On Switch Online's GB & GBA Emulator
@CharlieGirl Why wouldn't they? If Pokemon whatever worked with them on 3DS, I don't see why it's unlikely Pokémkon home will this gen. It'll be a one way transfer, but w/e
Re: Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Octopath Traveler II
@contractcooker I will say it felt like the writing improved as it went along (I found most of the chapter 4 stuff decent) but... yeah.
Re: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Retro Collection Just Shadow Dropped On The Switch eShop
Well... one of those two games might be worth playing.
Re: Metroid Prime Remastered Confirmed For Switch, Launching Digitally Today
@Lizuka Well the original price of the 3 games was $180. They then rereleased them for $60, at basically no development cost to them. I don't see how this is different than people complaining that a game was released as a $20 players choice, then later ported at more than $20.
Re: Metroid Prime Remastered Confirmed For Switch, Launching Digitally Today
@Lizuka It's $40, not $60, and as far as I've seen so far, they've redone the music, textures, lighting and models for everything in the game, on top of implementing pretty much any control scheme you could want. Not exactly a lazy port.
Re: Zelda: A Link To The Past's Code Has Been Reverse-Engineered And Unofficially Enhanced
@Tempestryke ...Yes it does? And if you want evidence, just look at the video in the article that shows how they were reduced.
Re: Zelda: A Link To The Past's Code Has Been Reverse-Engineered And Unofficially Enhanced
@Serpenterror I dunno, faster load times and two item slots both sound like fantastic improvements to me.
Re: Nintendo Switch Online Game Vouchers Might Be Returning To North America
@scoot They expire after a year, I wouldn't call that quick. But more to the point, most people only bought one if there's two games already out or with release dates they want, rather than buy it and hold onto it in hopes something will come out. Like... that's the point of them? I dunno anyone who gambled on them.
Re: Poll: Box Art Brawl: Viewtiful Joe
I really would kill for Viewtiful Joe 3 or a collection of the first 3 games... Too bad it'll never happen. Kinda crazy we haven't gotten an indie successor yet.
Re: Bayonetta 3 Version 1.2.0 Is Now Live, Here Are The Full Patch Notes
@larryisaman Because the game has multiple control schemes supported by default? What you use for punch isn't necessarily the same as the next person.
Re: Rumour: Leaked Images Of A Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom Switch OLED Model Appear Online
@Sisilly_G Check the photos. They're all photos of the box. Not a single photo in that set shows the person actually having the console, just the box for it.
Anyways, I'm going with real, cause this design is too meh for an elaborate mockup to make sense.
Re: Best Of 2022: Budget Line Box Art - Is It 'Fine' Or A Sin Against All That Is Good And Pure?
The GCN Players Choice doesn't bother me... Most others do though