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[ZeroX03]

Yes, but this is a console.

I think this pretty clearly shows it's a handheld marketed as a console!

 

[18-Volt]

So Switch is a good bet. Cause a handheld with decent battery life and a coherent price would hardly happen with PS4 specs in it. I'd say that a portable Wii U is pretty damn decent for portable gaming.

To play what? Captain Toad 2D: Textile Edition? Mario Party 12? Another 2D Donkey Kong? Etrian Odyssey 3 Untold?

Nintendo could make the most powerful console and third parties still wouldn't support it. That ship has sailed.

Then Nintendo should brace themselves for worst ending possible. This is a company whose one out of every 3 game is a crappy Mario spinoff. They can even hit 10 million mark without even a little third party presence.

 

[JaseC]

Yes, but this is a console.

I think you'll find he was being facetious.

 

[takriel]

"So we have this neat idea with the Switch, and a potent newish processor with the Tegra X1. But, we being Nintendo, of course need to somehow piss off gamers. So, what do we do?"

...

 

[DooMAGE]

good enough as a portable console

 

[Vic]

Shit, you know this means? Nintendo is now TWO generations behind. :/

In raw power, especially with the GPU? It is behind. The architecture is more in-line to the other consoles than the Wii U though.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Seems like a PSP situation where they could up the clock speed via firmware in future updates once they better understand the power draw.

Also, for those saying it's good enough for a portable... This thing isn't exactly portable in size. No more pocketing your gaming system.

 

[Jaagen]

A part of me is dissappointed, another part doesn't care. As long the console has a great library with constant stream of releases, I'm happy. I also hope this bodes well for battery life.

 

[Ladekabel]

Yes, but this is a console.

Because they said that in a PR statement?

 

[guit3457]

Not happening. The chip won't be any cheaper than the X1 just by lowering clock speeds drastically. It's $250-350.

Your meltdown is pathetic. Stop.

 

[Empyrean Heaven]

2006:


2011:


2016:


When are people going to learn.

It didn't help them any in 2011. Nintendo made some awesome Wii U games, sure, but did anyone else?

 

[foxbeldin]

Just to understand even more, what ballpark for Gflops are we talking about? Both undocked and docked.

Lol Nintendo.

(That would be 153 GPU GFlops in portable mode)

.

 

[Darkstorne]

This is the MAXIMUM to expect from Switch when DOCKED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O68aWmnCpIM

Here's the thing, if they launch this at $200 or lower, and we view it as a portable gaming device that can be docked rather than a home console that can be portable, I don't think this is disappointing. It's more powerful than the Vita, right? Future Pokemon games will be running on a handheld that is more powerful than the Vita, AND can be docked for gaming in full HD on my TV? For $200? I'm seriously hyped for that!

I get why people are upset though if they were hoping for a current-gen third party capable home console. But Nintendo have never been that guy. You don't buy Nintendo consoles for third party games, you buy them for first party and they rarely ever disappoint. They even made their Wii U titles look gorgeous!

 

[Piers]

I know its a tech thread, but isn't the quality of the games the most important part? We haven't seen anything but Jimmy and Reggie playing Zelda for a few minutes.

Third party support typically necessitates hardware power that's up to standards.
Lest console developers end up scaring some of them away.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

To you and all the other people who write this fake fact:

Almost nobody expected PS4/XB1 power levels in Switch.

There is a wide range of possibilities between Wii U and Xbone. Most people expected Switch to match the Nvidia Shield TV while docked. Which it doesn't. By a lot. That's why the disappointment.

So cut out the reductionist posts.

LOL. I don't remember pointing a finger to no one. You should calm down.

Almost nobody is a bit "reductionist" though.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

It is as a home console. I called it, they fucked up the minute they called it a home console. If it was a clear handheld that can connect to your TV, it would be seen as a powerful handheld.

What? It is a powerful handheld that can connect to your tv. It's just also a console.

 

[Hermii]

Lol Nintendo.

(That would be 153 GPU GFlops in portable mode)

Thats like 3 man years of customization per flop.

Damn it Nintendo!

 

[Jofamo]

...
everyone in here has seen Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, right?

And what I'm hearing here is that we'll be playing with the same performance as a Wii U while portable, and up to 2.5x as powerful when docked.

And people are disappointed? Because of the numbers?

You understand that it's the games that matter in the end right?

 

[Vic]

The 920M is Kepler based, and of course console optimization beats DX11. Really though, it will be less than that.

Oh, I thought the 920M was based on Maxwell.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Maybe they wanted to keep costs down and have this release at $199. I remain skeptical though, I'm sure they want to release on big profit, so I'm sure it'll be $299. So I guess Breath of the Wild really wont look that much better on this thing. Maybe docked I guess.

I might look into one if they do Metroid on it, but that franchise seems to have died to Nintendo.

 

[jmga]

The Wii U doesn't have 352. It has 176. (Yes, I know lots of places on the internet say 352, they are wrong)

Are you sure?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-wii-u-graphics-power-finally-revealed

320 stream processors at 550mhz provide indeed 353 gflops.

We also have games like Smash Bros running at native 1080p and 60fps, I really doubt a 176 GFLOPs GPU is able to achieve that.

 

[dark10x]

Seems like a PSP situation where they could up the clock speed via firmware in future updates once they better understand the power draw.

Or New 3DS which only takes advantage of the speed boost when running specific games. A homebrew enabled N3DS can at least run regular games much faster.

 

[MacTag]

Yes, I saw the base frequency is speculated to be 200 MHz. Edited the number.

Still crazy considering this is a much larger device, 5 years later, for a higher price, and "made" by nVidia.

Vita's GPU runs 111 MHz base mode, 222 MHz overclocked, 41 MHz downclocked.

 

[FunkyPajamas]

2006:


2011:


2016:


When are people going to learn.

By people do you mean Nintendo, right?

Seriously though, I don't mind the specs, as when Nintendo games are good, it's despite poly count/framerate/etc. What I want is a low price point; I skipped the Wii U because of its price but I miss having a Nintendo console (specially with how Zelda: BotW looks).

I'll still wait to see what the library looks like in the second year. I've been burned by the Nintendo drought too many times and would rather wait until there's enough games that interest me to justify buying the console.

 

[MuchoMalo]

If anyone is surprised, that's on them

Even Eurogamer is surprised. You people need to stop this crap. You just like acting like annoying know-it-alls and would have said the same fucking bullshit if it were GBA-level.

 

[bonej]

In 3 years there will be a new revision. Maximum

 

[notaskwid]

And some people were expecting a FFXV port.

 

[beril]

Vita is a 222mhz GPU... so 28Gflops.
GPU difference in term of flops is 5.5 times when undocked. That is without accouting the fact that Maxwell architecture shits all over Vita's 2008 Power VR GPU architecture.
Vita CPU is 333mhz. Not only Switch's CPU's clockspeed is 3 times higher but it's architecture is twice faster.

It's 166Mhz unless you overclock it with hacks

 

[Screamapillar]

Put this into context of performance leaps versus Nintendo's current machines. 3DS is almost six years old and runs a PICA 200.

Wii U is over four years old and some third parties had trouble getting PS3 games to port over with a decent fps, at launch.

We're getting a system significantly more powerful than Wii U, with modern architecture capable of running down-scaled current-gen games, and it's all possible not even plugged in, running on a battery.

Honestly, what were people expecting/ what are people really complaining about?

No, you're not getting a portable Xbox One for $249. lol. Please come back to earth.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

This is part of the problem. That might be fine for you but for longevity it doesnt help Nintendo. Palm and BB had what some called the best mobile OS and best email software respectively. Low sales eventually lead to both leaving the hardware business. Anything that might impact sales for a Nintendo console shouldnt be taken lightly. Especially if they want this to be seen as a home console.

Pretty much. Personally, I hadn't imagined the Switch as comparable to Xbox One for a while, once it was realised just what the 'hybrid' concept actually meant (prior to that, I had admittedly overestimated by quite some degree). What I had sorta hoped was that it wouldn't be too far behind, so that if they wanted to, larger devs could at least release ports of games onto the system that would be acceptable to consumers, without coming across as 'last gen' versions. While it's true that devs will accommodate hardware limits if they feel the sales potential will justify it - hence their success in handheld gaming in general - getting over that initial hurdle is important, and third party titles play a part in that, especially in the console space.

 

[Sapiens]

People who got their hopes up for a beast don't know Nintendo. They've really only beasted their hardware a couple times.

Game&Watch - hand stitched circuits on top of an old cracker
GB - old ass Z80
NES - old ass ricoh
SNES - old ass ricoh
GBC - what's up with these pallets? Game gear looked nicer.
N64 - wow
GCN - YES, holy shit
GBA - not bad
Wii - jesus no
WiiU - fuck no

End of the day, they have a lot of money, so as per Worthington's Law, more money = greater than - so whatever.

I'm still working through my original Gameboy nintendo backlog (kirby pinball), so I am used to garbage ass old school graphics.

Day 1.

 

[akileese]

They should have marketed it as a handheld, not a hybrid. It doesn't even come close to what a hybrid theoretically should be.

I mean, 80 percent of the reveal video was the console being moved around and played on the go. It seemed quite obvious they were marketing it as a handheld that could be docked and not a home console that can be portable.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Even Eurogamer is surprised. You people need to stop this crap. You just like acting like annoying know-it-alls and would have said the same fucking bullshit if it were GBA-level.

Calm down, buddy.

 

[KingSnake]

Keep in mind that an SCD in the future will be able to upgrade this thing's power when docked. Not great for now, but even so.

Key here is price. If this is under $200, it could be huge.

Oh, come on. You still hope for an SCD when they gimped Switch even when docked?

 

[Prithee Be Careful]

Nah, it can still use the same engine. It's still better suited for modern engines than last-gen ones. Physics will be an issue though.

I wonder how it will translate in BotW physics sandbox approach.

 

[Kissenkopf]

I never expected it to be Xbox One level..Even when docked, the entire console fits inside the tablet so that was never happening.

But I did expect it to be atleast half of Xbox One when docked and then perhaps half of that while portable. Right now this isn't even 1/3 of Xbox One when docked.

Still it's better than Wii U when docked and I guess that's what it's all about. This can never be a primary console of anyone who is even remotely serious about gaming.

Serious about gaming means what? Having the best graphics possible on the screen? Then everybody who is serious about ganing would play on the PC.
You can be serious about ganing while playing always on your old Game Boy or your Smartphone...

Sorry to sound like a dick today but this is one of the worst threads Gaf had in a long time. Always if there is ANYTHING people dont like about a game, console, publisher or else gaming related they sound like fucking Donald Trump.

 

[GhostTrick]

What? It is a powerful handheld that can connect to your tv. It's just also a console.

Nintendo decided to call it a home console. That's a PR mistake IMO.

 

[Aostia]

Just to understand even more, what ballpark for Gflops are we talking about? Both undocked and docked.

developing multiplatforms games keeping also in mind the portable mode would be a pain in the ass ALMOST as developing them for Wii U, from a third party perspective
the more modern architecture could make some modern middleware engine being more campatible, that's all.

 

[Guymelef]

Weaker than Shield TV?

Nvidia are experts selling crap to console companies (remember PS3 GPU...)

 

[sir_bumble_bee]

I think this pretty clearly shows it's a handheld marketed as a console!

Which equals questionable marketing from Nintendo. Imagine if Sony marketed a TV-out feature on the PSP right out the gate in 2004 and called it a home console. That, to me, is what Nintendo may be trying to do with the Switch

 

[Coffee Dog]

It's almost as if attempting to both be a home console and a portable is a giant boondoggle that requires massive compromises to both types of device.

The thing is huge, requiring it to be carried around in a bag like a laptop or tablet, the battery isn't great, and the increased performance that you get at the cost of those handheld concessions is still far behind modern consoles.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Sooo...
"CPU: NX>>>>>XBO>PS4"

"Quad core cortex A57 @ 1GHz"

Are, um, we talking about that...Because statement 2 rings statement 1 very, very wrong.

 

[Vashetti]

Jesus... I plan to play this on handheld mode because it will my traveling device, looks like no RdR 2 or next GTA for it +/

If you honestly expected either, then you're frankly delusional.

 

[nekkid]

If they position this as replacement for the DS, not a home console, (but with the ability to play big screen if required), then the power is plenty and it'll probably do well.

 

[Oblivion]

In raw power, especially with the GPU? It is behind. The architecture is more in-line to the other consoles than the Wii U though.

Hopefully.

 

[MAX PAYMENT]

Nintendo decided to call it a home console. That's a PR mistake IMO.

I disagree. The announcement video pretty clearly shows how small the device is and emphasized it's use off the dock.

 

[ZeroX03]

Nintendo decided to call it a home console. That's a PR mistake IMO.

Which equals questionable marketing from Nintendo

Potentially. That'll remain to be seen. They've got a device that's very hybrid, and I suspect their marketing will match the trends in each region (West = console focus, Japan = handheld focus). My gut feeling is it could be a very smart idea by playing to each region's tastes and I think their marketing for the Switch has been strong so far, but I certainly could be wrong.

 

[The Maverick]

Remember when fans were throwing around words like Polaris? Life is funny.

 

[cw_sasuke]

Suddenly those 5-8hour battery life claims sounds way more realistic.

 

[BitStyle]

Expect $350 and 3 hours of battery life. Battery life is going to be dependent on the size of the battery first and foremost. Bigger battery means more money.

They try and sell this shit at $350 and they have another WiiU on their hands