What does it matter what the hardware looks like? I'm more interested in what it can do. What kind of horsepower (I doubt we'll get any specs, but maybe a tech demo for us to slobber over), and the user interface. I remember seeing a patent from Nintendo involving a clickable scrollwheel (like on a mouse?) as a shoulder button that would be an intriguing prospect. I bet that would work great for scrolling through weapons/items. Or for menu navigation. In fact, it would probably be perfect for something like Xenoblade where you could simultaneously move your character with the left thumb, move the camera with the right thumb, and select an attack with the scroll-wheel using an index finger.
I think it's funny that several arguments used against portablizing are shown as neat things the Switch can do. Playing multiplayer on a tiny screen is now the best thing ever, especially with controllers sure to make your hands cramp.
Mobile means that it's going to be some sort of mobile cpu and gpu, so there's absolutely no way it's going to be competitive with the home gaming market. Mobile phone processors seem to continually be getting better thread performance with each iteration, so that means that they won't be competative with the higher-end of the mobile gaming market after a short while either. Those controllers look like they'd cramp my hands to Heck. Nintendo needs third party support, making underpowered consoles isn't a good way to do that. If they really want to continue trying to have as little third party support as possible, they should go and ask SEGA for some advice.
It really depends on whether or not they are using the new Pascal architecture nVidia chip for the Switch. I doubt the console is under-powered as all Heck. From what I've been reading it's almost comparable to the Xbox One in terms of power, which isn't terrible when you think about how it's mostly a tablet. Skyrim being showed off in the reveal trailer gives me a lot of hope for 3rd party support this time around, they showed the revamped Skyrim as well, not old Skyrim. Being Nintendo, I expect first party material to utilize the most of of the console, but I think we're going to see a pretty good round of third-party titles on the Switch.
Nvidia has confirmed that the Switch is using a custom Tegra processor. As for third parties, so far, it sounds like they're actually on board. Consider that Nintendo always dominates the handheld market, and this machine will be capable of a full console experience on-the-go. Developers who don't normally delve into portable gaming now have an entry point without taking focus away from console development.
Yes I saw it was Tegra, but being that it will be a custom chip, who knows what'll be under the hood. Tegra X1 was based off the Maxwell architecture, anything Pascal based would be beautiful. I doubt they're still using Maxwell in 2017. Either way I am very excited hear more news. Speculating is all that can be done at the moment
I was speaking more to DNT with his "some kind of mobile CPU and GPU", specifying that we at least know it's some sort of Tegra-based system.
But the Xbox one is still lagging WAY behind PC's in terms of performance. If the switch is coming out in 2017 with comparable power to a console that was released 3 years ago, I'd call it pretty underpowered. Especially with the PS4 pro looming on the horizon. Even being pascal based, there are certain things that need to be done as a tradeoff simply because it's a mobile system. It's non-optional. Considering that the newest batch of consoles is going to be modified desktop cards that are pascal based, the switch is already off to a bad start. Even if you don't consider the gpu, and you compare just the CPU's to each other, the likelihood that the switch isn't going to hold a match to even the AMD chip in the PS4. Again, making a mobile cpu means that you have to trade off between power efficiency and processing power, which is something that the console market doesn't really have to deal with. But at the end of the day, if it is tegra, developers are still going to have to port their work to ARM. Currently all of the consoles are x86, so porting between PC, PS4 and Xbone are almost as easy as switching build targets.
Sure, but the reality is that if the bulk of the market cared about absolute performance they'd never have bought any of the 8th gen consoles. Especially on the nintendo front, I'd say power is the least of anyone's concern. Nintendo has a huge following of people who are there for the games, and Nintendo have a great track record of games running great and looking nice. I'm not worried about performance at all. But both the PS4 Pro and Xbox Scorpio are using AMD GPUs, not Nvidia pascal. If you're going to predict the future, you may as well get the stuff that's already confirmed right. On the CPU front, Xbone, PS4, and PS4 pro all use mobile CPU designs (scorpio probably will be Zen, but we don't know for sure). More specifically, they use AMD Jaguar cores, which was an underperforming design in 2013. Generation 1 Nvidia Denver, on the other hand, was competitive with the Apple cyclone parts, putting it comfortably at the forefront of performance for it's class. Gen 2 is faster still, one has to assume, and likely clocked a fair bit higher too thanks to the process node. I would expect Switch to comfortably slaughter both xbone and ps4/pro on per-thread CPU performance. Obviously it won't be an 8 core, so total throughput will be lower, but it's hardly gonna be anemic. There's no if, it's a Tegra - Nvidia confirmed it. If porting were so simple as switching build targets, there'd be no such thing as a garbage port, and yet it happens all the time. However, with that said, porting between architectures, especially in modern engines, is really not a big deal, especially with good dev tools, and it sounds like Nvidia is in charge of the dev tools, so it's likely they'll be stellar - the shield dev tools are very well regarded, and the Switch is literally just an Nvidia Shield by Nintendo, likely with less android. Ultimately, the main incentive to port is money, and it's looking like a lot of people are gonna buy this thing. I mean, I might, and I haven't bought a console since 2006*. *purchased a console that was new, unbroken, and current, that is. I bought plenty of classic flax and such since then.
Switch comes out in just over a month, what are your thoughts? I think Nintendo will find a way to make it worse than it needs to be. I'm more likely to get a Switch than a PS4 or XB1, but I'm also rocking a nearly 4 year old desktop, 360, and Wii U (Windwaker HD is the only game I have for it).
