DragonSworne
Banned
You have high hopes for the battery life.
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Digital Foundry: Nintendo Switch CPU and GPU clock speeds revealed
- Thread starter Vashetti
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You have high hopes for the battery life.
shadow2810
Member
Too weak for a laptop, too big to be a phone. Sounds familiar?
VistraNorrez
Member
It's amazing people ignore this. People aren't paying attention to the words, they are looking at the marketing. A huge chunk of this push is on the fact that people are taking it on the go. They can play on their TV and anywhere else. That's the whole point. The thing is called Swich because it it functions 2 different ways. I'm pretty sure the average person understands a laptop is not comparable to a desktop. And your average casual gamer doesn't care about power. Now whether or not Nintendo can convince those people this thing is worth buying, only time will tell. I do imagine people being able to play Pokemon on their TV and on the train could be a huge draw.
Chubzdoomer
Banned
Yep, that sums me up perfectly.
Also Nvidia vs AMD gflops.
GhostTrick
Banned
They do though. They describe it in their PR as their next "home gaming system".
http://www.nintendo.com/switch/
They could've said "gaming system" or "new system". They carefully choosed "home" gaming system.
For Nintendo, Switch is a tethered device you can take anywhere.
That's a huge marketing failure if they keep banking on that.
bluecapsule
Member
Honestly, who's even buying Nintendo these days for cutting edge graphics? You buy it because it's going to be the only place to play Nintendo first party games. I have a PC for shiny graphics and third party titles. Nintendo has always been the ideal "companion" console.
The low clock speeds is disappointing I guess, but it's not going to stop me from getting it.
The low clock speeds is disappointing I guess, but it's not going to stop me from getting it.
Well, rumors go between 4-6 and 6-8 hours.
I agree that their lack of diversification could be seen as a greater risk. But really, they're consolidating their marketing, R&D, software development, and overall player-base into one platform, then also producing mobile games as a fall back.
If anything, this is a fairly conservative business plan that is in line with how they planned for the DS and the Wii.
In fact, with the inclusion of mobile games, it's arguably the least aggressive we have ever seen Nintendo try to be as far as risk is concerned.
This is how I feel too.
Looking back on my 52-games 1-year challenge log from this year, ~1/2 of the games I played this year were for the Wii U, while another ~1/3 were for older hardware and playable on the Wii U VC.
Could the games look better? Yes, but you could say this about any generation. The important point to me is that it didn't negatively affect my enjoyment.
So I'm excited for: an *improvement* over the previous Nintendo hardware; for a larger software pool to choose from (by consolidating handheld & console titles); and the portability this systems provides.
Broken Hope
Member
Only Nintendo fans can be pleased that their console is underpowered and not a 'clone' of the other 2.
Could someone please tell me how Nintendo having a console identical in specs to the PS4 with a different controller would somehow be worse?
You all say you buy the console regardless of specs for Nintendo games, so why would having a clone console be bad?
Could someone please tell me how Nintendo having a console identical in specs to the PS4 with a different controller would somehow be worse?
You all say you buy the console regardless of specs for Nintendo games, so why would having a clone console be bad?
I don't think consumers are gonna see it like that. It would just be a higher price with weaker performance.
I'm defo still in, the thought of a portable at WiiU levels of performance is pretty cool to me. Price will be a massive factor in it's worldwide sales though I think. If it's priced right I think it will sell gangbusters. I have a ps4pro & xb1 for big console hitters & nintendo for my portable needs is perfect, then if I wanna stick on the tv I can do. I think this January event is pretty pivotal.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
Gee, it's almost as if they'll tailor the marketing to specific playstyles that are popular in a given region. The whole point of the trailer was, "Hey, this thing can do both."
Americans like TVs? We'll get marketing centered around that.
Japan like portable play? They'll get marketing centered around that.
EventHorizon
Member
If I'm not mistaken the Switch even in docked mode doesn't match the minimum specs of Battlefield 1 for a PC. Undocked it isn't even close. Getting the Switch to run Battlefield 1 would not be "easy to convert". It would require a major redesign of the game.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
Maybe perhaps it couldn't function as a hybrid then, you know, like the Switch?
Papacheeks
Banned
Because the Game Cube happened, and they know the portable audience is more important to them.
Psycho_Mantis
Banned
RIP third party support. Crazy how Nintendo never seem to learn.
Broken Hope
Member
Devs aren't going to spend the time to downgrade their games that will sell like shit anyway.
Hah! Guess this is why I don't own a tablet either...
fast_taker
Member
that reminds me of "Genesis does what Nintendon't"
even my lumia does what Nintendon't lol
even my lumia does what Nintendon't lol
Hatty
Member
Because that's boring
Papacheeks
Banned
Guess you missed Ghost tricks post while back?
The actual link to the switch on Nintendo's site says Home gaming console.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=226857972&postcount=2127
I figured that the Switch's specs would be weaksauce ever since we heard word that it was going to have "industry-leading chips" in it. That kind of statement implies powerful specs without actually saying anything to that degree, and it's the kind of weasel words that you'd use if you know your hardware is weak compared to what people are using.
However, the hardware was always going to be the worst of both worlds, terrible specs for a home console, and not portable enough and not enough battery life for a handheld. Worse, the unit itself doesn't address any other stakeholder's needs other than Nintendo itself. There was never any way of getting around that, and that's why a device like this has never gone to mass market. It remains to be seen if there's going to be an audience that will accept this compromise. I still expect it to be expensive, and I don't think that it will resonate with the greater market.
As a product, the Switch is not that bad on paper. Nintendo can't and doesn't want to compete directly so they designed something that occupies a novel niche that hasn't really been touched. Moreover, it allows Nintendo to consolidate their main development teams to a single platform, and somewhat avoid getting cannabalized by the market's move away from traditional handhelds.
However, the hardware was always going to be the worst of both worlds, terrible specs for a home console, and not portable enough and not enough battery life for a handheld. Worse, the unit itself doesn't address any other stakeholder's needs other than Nintendo itself. There was never any way of getting around that, and that's why a device like this has never gone to mass market. It remains to be seen if there's going to be an audience that will accept this compromise. I still expect it to be expensive, and I don't think that it will resonate with the greater market.
It would sell poorly and require you to pay more money for access to same library of first party titles. So they might as well reduce the price of admission to the lowest price possible.
Serenitynow
Member
Wait, why is undocked less powerful than Wii U? Digital Foundary says
Broken Hope
Member
Yeah the GC failed because it matched specs with the other 2?
Nothing to do with the fact it looked like a purple lunchbox, had low capacity discs and couldn't play DVD films.
Someone said earlier than the Smach is like 4-5x more powerful.
GhostTrick
Banned
Switch is real. Smach Z claimed specs put it at 800gflops with a AMD GCN GPU. All of this in a fanless design... this isn't happening. If you're backing it, you'll get nothing or something with far different specs. You're not craming a 35W TDP SoC in such a tiny case without a decent sized fan.
Learn voodoo magic and put an Xbox One/PS4 specced machine inside a handheld ?
Kssio_Aug
Member
Not worse for the sake of higher hardware specs, theorically that could never be worse indeed. It just doesn't mean it's gonna be better either (see GC and N64, also see Wii). If they're lowering specs and lowering the price, I'm all for it.
ArchedThunder
Banned
It's not weaker, those saying it is don't know what they're talking about.
Papacheeks
Banned
And at $325 for base unit that makes Switch look like ass. Games are going to have to bring it for Nintendo.
If they have the games specs wont really matter.
But then the Wii also happened and showed that they really don't need to compete with the other two manufacturers to be successful.
Because that puts the systems GFLOPS underneath the wiiU's if it has 256 CUDA Cores.
Which I'm continuing to believe it does not.
Papacheeks
Banned
Broken Hope
Member
The GC and N64 failing and the Wii winning had almost nothing to do with specs.
Why do people think it does?
GhostTrick
Banned
At 325 dollars, you'll get these amazing specs:
0gflops invisible GPU, 0p transparent screen, crystal unibody case made of fairy dust.
They have two working prototypes and they've been upfront about it:
One outside the case, which is the real specced one, so 800Gflops. It's not fitting in the case yet and it's streaming to a dummy case.
One inside the case, which is based on the cheap Atom Baytrail SoC.
That's a friendly advice, if you want to burn 325 dollars, do it in a YouTube video. At least, you'll get enough view to break even or even double your money.
If major companies such as Microsoft or Apple can't cram a 35W SoC without a fan, a small spanish company running on limited funds wont do it.
Chances are, it could have even more than just the handheld + console stream of first party software. Those streams (3DS and Wii U) were based on far less efficient development environments (if rumors are true).
Switch should be the easiest platform Nintendo has ever worked with.
Colonel Mustard
Banned
I didn't miss anything. How is linking the Switch's NA website indicative of foreign marketing? Hell, when NCL tweeted about the Switch reveal video back in October, they didn't specify 'home console' they used some sort of generic descriptor like "gaming device".
Don't get me wrong, the extra juice would be a plus. My only point is that I already have the other two for more power, so for me it is not a huge issue. I am just happy that it is still going to be a jump over the Wii U, so games can still look great. Plus, the added benefit of not missing out on a library of handheld games is also pretty enticing, as is being able to play them on my TV. I just see it as being powerful enough for what it is and don't have a problem with it.
Panajev2001a
GAF's Pleasant Genius
It sounds a little low... even compared to PS3...
AtomicShroom
Member
I'd like to point all you guys out to that one thread were I called it that the Switch would be no more powerful than a Wii U and was literally assaulted by nay-sayers.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=222824819&highlight=#post222824819
And the that one thread where I reposted the above and was again assaulted by the Nintendo Defense Force:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=226624119&postcount=688
So where are you now, OrbitalBeard, Mariolee, Doctre81, KingSnake, Seik, bomblord1, Art, EDarkness, etc..??
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=222824819&highlight=#post222824819
And the that one thread where I reposted the above and was again assaulted by the Nintendo Defense Force:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=226624119&postcount=688
So where are you now, OrbitalBeard, Mariolee, Doctre81, KingSnake, Seik, bomblord1, Art, EDarkness, etc..??
butman
Member
Wii U ports.
rekt
facetheslayer92
Member
Yea, I found it really fucking bizarre when they spouted their "home console first" nonsense a few months ago. I hope people on GAF didn't believe them at face value, oh wait.
1. The 150 number isn't confirmed (I don't think the 176 gflops for wiiu was either).
2. Old AMD architecture vs modern Nvidia architecture.
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