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By Matt Kim
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Nintendo NX Revealed as the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo's portable and home console hybrid is real and powered by Nvidia.
News
by
Mike Williams,
10/20/2016.
Today, Nintendo finally revealed the Nintendo NX to the world under its new moniker: The Nintendo Switch. The system is, as rumor suggested a portable and home console hybrid, allowing Nintendo to focus its considerable expertise with both sides of the divide on a single console.
Over the course of the three minute video, Nintendo showed off a system that lined up perfectly with the rumors. The console is a portable that slides into a dock when you're at home.
The controllers on either side of the system - called JoyCon R and L - are detachable, attaching to a controller shell for playing at home, or even splitting for multiplayer when you're out and about. Being able to move between home play, portable mode, and multiplayer seems to be the primary point of the Switch; take your home console gaming with you. Later in the video there was also a Pro controller for the new console.
The games - card-based according to the trailer - shown were existing titles, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and a version of Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, or enhanced ports or sequels, like Mario Kart and Splatoon. The exception is the all-new Mario title.
In a seperate announcement, Nvidia confirmed that the Nintendo Switch is powered by Tegra technology.
"Nintendo Switch is powered by the performance of the custom Tegra processor. The high-efficiency scalable processor includes an NVIDIA GPU based on the same architecture as the world’s top-performing GeForce gaming graphics cards," said Nvidia in the announcement.
"We’ve optimized the full suite of hardware and software for gaming and mobile use cases. This includes custom operating system integration with the GPU to increase both performance and efficiency," the company added.
It's worth noting that the a big problem with previous Tegra-powered devices is the battery life. The Nvidia Shield Tablet K1, which the switch vaguely takes after, had a 6-7 hour battery life. Hopefully, Nvidia and Nintendo have worked to improve that.
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Comments 56
Here's hoping there is real 3rd party support. Not just a couple launch offerings or "safe" ports from other platforms.
Sad about analog stick placement on the pro controller. I prefer the Playstation / Wii Classic Controller set up to the Xbox one.
King Boo was in the trailer, and you could hold 2 items (neither of which in MK8).
There was also a new map in Splatoon, plus hairstyles for Inklings.
That'll be $100k, Mr. Kimishima
The success of this hinges completely on the question whether 3rd parties will now embrace ARM/Tegra or if they won't ... and right now I don't see much that would make me believe that they will.
I'm also suspicious that the Nintendo Switch's graphics aren't going to be that much better than what the Wii U already provides given the reliance on a Tegra chipset (which is known for producing a lot of heat and which isn't very friendly on batteries). That tablet screen also looks really small - smaller than the 12" Surface screen I'm typing this on, and probably more like an iPad's screen. The included stand also doesn't look very stable, and anyone who's ever owned a Surface will tell you that even its stand (which is very well-designed) only works well on very flat surfaces.
There's also the question of backwards compatability. Are the Joy-Navs motion controllers? Does the system support Wiimotes in any way? If not, a good chunk of the previous Nintendo library from 2006-2016 won't work on the Switch - even platform games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii have a shake mechanic.
There are also more practical questions, like "How does the Switch navigate going between WiFi networks?" and "What happens if you start online, move to a place without Wi-Fi, and try to continue your game?" The 3DS and the Vita have both shown that this doesn't work so well in execution, and what winds up happening is that you're either fiddling with Wi-Fi or sighing and putting your device in airplane mode.
All of this isn't a deal-breaker, but the reality is, this thing's going to need specialized software, which means it's going to receive fewer ports from other systems and have the same huge reliance on Nintendo and its development partners, many of whom aren't going to be excited to stop developing cheaper handheld games for the 3DS to try to focus on more expensive titles for the Switch.
1. I'm a tiny-handed woman for whom a 3DS XL is marginally too wide and heavy but I'll be shocked if ham-fisted Americans everywhere aren't already complaining about the baby controllers even though they look to be optional.
2. Why are people in technology commercials always ignoring their dogs in favor of technology? Not pictured: the women and children screaming as an unattended 200lb dog chases them across the park. But they're also always extreme extroverts who do things like talk to strangers in coffee shops. "You have a Nintendo Switch too?? Let's compare... Ugh hold on, oh my god, I have to take my fucking dog out AGAIN. UGHGGGHHHH. I HATE MY OWN DOG BUT LOVE STRANGERS."
3. Definitely envisioned that portable screen sliding off the tray table during turbulence, landing in an unreachable crevice between seats, and being totally inaccessible for the duration of that poor man's 14 hour trans-Pacific flight. (May be based on personal stylus experience.)
4. LOL at the idea of people playing on those baby screens in a tournament setting. LMAO.
5. SPLATOON.
@-jayban2 I bet a game developer could easily do a pack-in of whatever controller they want on the side, like a cost effective steel battalion. Which is pretty cool I think.Edited October 2016 by manny_c44
For example, Metroid Prime 3 for the Wii, and for the Wii U, Splatoon. Gyro controls for Splatoon were precise and the better way to play.
I really hope we still have gyro controls.
Especially with it using Tegra, which almost implies ARM, I don't expect it to get a lot of support outside of Nintendo first- and second-party.... but then, that's par for the course with everything since the N64 that wasn't the Wii, so whatever. I don't buy Nintendo systems for third-party stuff.
My primary concern lies in the aforementioned battery life issues, and particularly in backwards compatibility.
BC is important to me. BC that involves re-buying digital versions of games I already own on disc doesn't count. I can see how the base unit and TV dock could be used to do WiiU games when you're at home, though they don't ever show it outputting to TV without being in the dock. No info on whether it will support WiiMotes for Wii BC. As a person that plays a lot of video games and doesn't just throw my old systems and games in the trash when new systems come out, reducing the clutter under and around my entertainment center matters. It probably won't be a deal-breaker, but it will definitely be a point of disappointment and frustration if they haven't planned that sort of thing out.
Then again, it's not like Microsoft or Sony are doing any better of a job. C'est la vie.
How about the fact that handheld gaming is still a reality if you just look at the 3DS lifetime sales. Sure, not anything close to DS sales, but lets be real, nothing ever was.
Open questions:
•We don't see the UI at all. Are the Miis coming back? I hope so.
•Streetpass? Again, I hope so. It was the 3DS stealth innovation.
•How's the retro aspect of this system going to work? Will it get VC? Will it be backwards compatible with 3DS or DS? It has a cartridge slot and all.
•Will it be compatible with Wii Remotes or the Wii U Pro controller? It's all just Bluetooth after all. Be nice if it would save you from buying another controller...
•Is the screen a touch screen?
•The dock is big enough that there has to be more than just charging and throwing-to-the-TV functionality on it. Does it beef up the processing? Increase the resolution?
I mean, there's a lot of open questions. But conceptually it's rad, and design-wise they nailed it. That you can stand it up and break off the controllers and have portable multiplayer gameplay with friends right next to you with only a single unit is incredible.
Pretty excited about the games we saw in just that small trailer. Hoping the rest of the new stuff knocks it out of the park!
This is everything I've ever wanted in a piece of Nintendo hardware. I'm ashamed to admit that I skipped the Wii U generation, but I'm back on board 100% for this.
All aboard the hype train!
I'm guessing it'll have fantastic first-party games. Whether its third-party support will be more like a Nintendo console or a Nintendo handheld remains to be seen; obviously I'm hoping for the latter.
Meantime, I'm keeping an eye out for a Wii U price drop. I like grabbing moribund consoles on the cheap, from the Dreamcast I got for $100 in the summer of '01 to the PSTV I picked up a few months ago for $40.
I'm very excited that Nintendo can devote all of their developers to one console instead of splitting them between handheld and console.
The thing I like the most about the trailer is how it looks to recreate that old local-multiplayer vibe which constitutes the fondest memories of my youth. Making that sort of experience available in a portable is pure genius, and Splatoon looks a killer app in that format.
I doubt there are remotely as many devs who are that intimately experienced with the ARM/Tegra architecture of the Switch. Will it be more convenient for devs to deal with Switch's ARM/Tegra approach, than it was to deal with the WiiU's specs and PPC? I don't know, ony time will tell, but generally speaking, being the odd one out, the one causing extra costs and hassle during the development, is not beneficial.
I'm very curious to see what the final specs for the switch look like, because like I said, my K1 tablet is not the latest in their Tegra tech, but the issues it has with heat and battery life (when in heavy use) are quite severe, so I wonder if (and then how) they managed to move beyond that.
Of course, the pressing matter then is the “if it sells in numbers large enough” part. The jury is still out on that matter and Nintendo might still screw it up. Personally, I at least expect the Switch to have some success in Japan and for the Japanese publishers that still support the 3DS and Vita to migrate to it, but only time will tell for sure.Edited 2 times. Last edited October 2016 by docexe
" Personally, I at least expect the Switch to have some success in Japan and for the Japanese publishers that still support the 3DS and Vita to migrate to it, but only time will tell for sure."
Yes, well, honestly, I don't. The whole point about the 3DS is a) the still sizeable installbase and b) the cheap cost of production. If you compare the Vita and 3DS, the point is obvious immediately. From what we can tell sofar, 3DS-production values, won't probably fly on the Switch, hence, the MAIN competitive advantage of the 3DS, being able to produce for cheaply, and thus with minimal risk and a good chance for sizeable profit, is gone, just like that.
Not to mention, that apparently, Nintendo is not quite ready to abandon the 3DS yet, so that will cause some confusion on all sides, and some devs will stick to the 3DS for some times, thus limiting their output for the Switch, if there is any at all.
Just look at Atlus, they made 1 game for the WiiU, and even that was a cooperaiton with Nintendo, while they made about a dozen for the 3DS, not counting all the games they published by other devs. If you look at the PS3/4, you can see that it basically amounts to Persona ... 4/5 and Arena there. So obviously, for them installbase is a secondary concern, it's all about the production.
A game like Persona 5 just HAS to perform well for them, because if it doesn't it might cause them substantial trouble, as it would any small company making a big investment that did not pan out. After Cathrine it's easy to see, why they were very reluctant to make any more forays into HD productions (and Cathrine most certainly was not on the same level as Persona 5). It's also no coincidence that they chose Persona for this "gamble", because that is as solid a performer as they have in that regard, and DESPITE all of that caution, they still settled on a cross-gen project, bringing the game to PS3 and PS4.
I hope I am wrong, but I just can't see them jumping on the Switch, doing something like SMTV for it ... at least not right away. Having SMTV though, while not bing around here, would certainly help the systems' image as well as it's sales in Japan. Nintendo needs to be able to offer enough of an enticing argument itself, at least initially.
THey need to do the opposite of what Sony did with the Vita, they have to back the Switch all the way, shoring up trust in the device, by having faith themselves. That is going to be critical, and they need to be able to communicate that they have faith, that they are backing it 100%. Knowing Nintendo, that in itself might unfortunately be quite the pitfall for them ^^
Still, it’s probably important to remember that the 3DS was not a hit out of the gate and Nintendo went to pains in order to ensure its success. Of course, they also had a lot riding on it at the time given portable gaming is their primary moneymaking. If they feel similarly about the Switch, they will probably take severe measures as well, but only time will tell what their exact strategy will be.
Regarding heat: there's a pretty good feature at Ars Technica that notes that the Switch has a fan but theorizes that it'll switch to a less power-hungry mode when it's not docked (and suggests that while the dock will output in 1080p, the screen on the Switch may only display 720p). This seems like a pretty good set of educated guesses to me. It would be pretty weird for Nintendo to stop caring about its portable systems' power consumption now.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Unreal_Engine_games#Unreal_Engine_4
If we're talking multiplatform releases, any game on that list is a possibility. (Well, not Gears 4, but *many* of the games on the list, anyway.) Some, like DQ11, have already been confirmed.
Unity too, of course.
That's no guarantee that games built in those engines will be ported, of course; there are a lot of reasons why a dev would choose not to, from tech specs to installed userbase.
But look how many games are still seeing simultaneous release on PS4 and Vita, even though the Vita is ARM-based, less powerful, and doesn't exactly have a huge userbase. Whatever happens with the Switch, I'd be very surprised if it underperformed the Vita.