Nintendo Switch (previously NX)

It would also weigh like 12 lbs and the battery would last 1-2 hours

Nija_sl said:

It won't be near PS4 graphics. The Xbone isn't even near PS4 graphics.

Please stop giving these idiots money for their horrible consoles.

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PS4 graphics aren't even near PC graphics. Please stop giving Sony money for their horrible console.

Amzin_sl said:

It would also weigh like 12 lbs and the battery would last 1-2 hours

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GameGear spiritual successor

We already had this discussion in the E3 thread, and probably another thread. It's not that Nintendo CAN'T succeed sticking with their own hardware, it's just that consumers (us) and arguably Nintendo themselves would benefit MORE from them abandoning their own hardware sooner rather than later and publishing their software across the spectrum. Can you imagine a Mario Maker spinoff for phones? Being able to have Zelda on the PS4? Having real Mario platformers on the PC? They're basically guaranteed to sell stupid big numbers no matter where they publish their games and the only thing holding them back is themselves.

There was debate about whether they'd actually make more money since they tend to be profitable with their hardware, and would take a cut of their sales out for wherever they were being sold, but the expanded market sharehasto be worth it. Look at Pokemon GO. People love Nintendo IPs, and the first one to get released and a more wide-spread ecosystem becomes one of the biggest apps in history. There's other factors too but the fact that it's Pokemon is the crux of it all.

According to this
Nintendo NX: The pros and cons of a transforming portable | Games industry news | MCV

The NX is going to be cheaper than people expect, which pretty much means its going to be one of the lower scale Tegra X1 builds.

With a $199 price point, I'd expect a 720p screen and maybe 500-600 gflops performance. PS4 is around 1 tflops, wii u is around 350 gflops, PS4 Neo is expected to be 2 tflops and scorpio around 6 tflops (NVidia 1080 is ~9 tflops).
They could go up to $249 maybe and up the specs a little but either way it sounds like the "gimmick" is gonna be a handheld that docks, it doesn't sound like performance is a factor though which pretty much means its going to be a first party games only console again.

Basically a 3DS 2.0 with no 3D, detachable controls, and lets you output to your TV.

Nija_sl said:

Same thing when it comes to mobile games compared against a 3ds.

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Still don't agree with this at all. I bought a 3DS because there's a whole bunch of games (mostly Atlus' stuff, none of the first party stuff interests me at all) which will never be on any other device. Phones still aren't remotely in the same league as hardware actually meant to play games on, even hardware as pathetic as what's in the 3DS. Without an analog stick, dpad, and real buttons you just can't do anything well, not even turn-based JRPGs as SE has shown repeatedly with its mobile ports of FF. The market is flooded with cash-grab gatcha games that all hope to be the next one that lures in the whales who spend thousands of dollars on that shit. I played Puzzles and Dragons, and still play stuff like Brave Exvius, but none of that is at all comparable to any of the games I have on my 3DS, especially not something like Zero Escape. Yes, they're profitable for the companies involved, especially games like PAD and Pokemon Go, but from my point of view as a consumer? Fuck all that.

That said, Nintendo needs to get the fuck out of the hardware market. It would have been so much better if every great 3DS game had been on the Vita instead. It's not like Nintendo's gimmicks (3D/two screens) added any real value to any of them.

Celestein_sl said:

Based on the rumor it's the same chip family, well, same chip instruction family(GB/DS/3DS) are all ARM, so is the Tegra.

I don't see any reason they couldn't have backwards compatibility down the line, if not at launch.

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I could be wrong, but AFAIK this isn't correct. While the CPU on both the 3DS and the Tegra are ARM11s, the GPU is not - it's a PICA200 in the 3DS. And the only reason the 3DS can play DS games is because they threw in an ARM9 chip the DS ran off of in the 3DS as well.

It's theoretically possible you could do game-by-game recompilation, like the XBone does for 360 games, but I'd be very surprised if you could just plug in 3DS cartridges into the NX and have them work. Again, I would love to know for sure.

There's some things not lining up for me on this thing. If it has two controllers, doesn't that mean the thing is pretty much three pieces? Isn't that a bit vulnerable to be carrying around? If they said it was a portable unit that had a docking station with two controllers on it, that would make sense to me. But having this thing in three pieces when it's a portable? That's not adding up for me. In order for that to even conceivably work it would have to sit in some kind of case when you're walking around with it.

Then there's the question of what's powering the controllers when separated. You could argue that they're rechargeable, but fuck, that would mean this thing has three batteries (unless the controllers are wired, but lets hope not).

Add to that, if there a bookend controllers on it, it's probably a pretty big system. Like, Wii U controller big. Hopefully I'm wrong.

As for it using Tegra X1 or X2, at this point Nintendo has made it quite clear that they're out of the specs race. If it uses that, then it will be a beastly portable that has a modern feature set (and probably Vulkan API), and can connect to my TV when I'm at home. That's cool. It's all this other weirdness that I'm suspect about.

Honestly, the idea of making a system that is both a portable and a console isn't really a bad one. For one thing, it means Nintendo's output will be on one system. Wanna play Pokemon at home? Go for it. Wanna play it on the go? That's fine too. It makes sense when you realize that they're out of the spec business. The 3DS sold like 60 million units, and the Wii U sold a few million. Putting your user base on to one system that you'll be able to put all of your games on instead of being split up isn't a bad way for them to go. You avoid droughts that Nintendo systems have suffered with since the Gamecube.

This patent just got issued to Nintendo, they submitted it awhile ago:

Nintendo's Supplemental Computing Devices patent almost granted, issue fee paid - NeoGAF

Basically, this thing could be the dock that the NX connects to for HDMI output that beefs it up from ~720p on the handheld to 1080p on TV.

Also, the NX could be using the Tegra X2 which is being revealed next month at Hot Chips. Reasoning behind this is the supposed NX dev kits are using actively cooled X1 chips now, which is obviously not feasible for a handheld device - which means the dev kits are overclocked to simulate a better GPU that's in production now.

Man0warr_sl said:

Also, the NX could be using the Tegra X2 which is being revealed next month at Hot Chips. Reasoning behind this is the supposed NX dev kits are using actively cooled X1 chips now, which is obviously not feasible for a handheld device - which means the dev kits are overclocked to simulate a better GPU that's in production now.

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Except that all the rumors have this as being a sub-$300 device, and there is no evidence the X2 could cost that little. There's also no reason why Nvidia would burn some of their top lines on mass producing a chip they make dick on, rather than just selling Nintendo the excess X1 capacity they planned on using in Shields.

The far more likely (and depressing) scenario is the NX simply overclocks when in its base for better frame rate/resolution/effects, and still won't be even in the same zip code (much less ballpark) as the XBone. The active cooling is just in there because the X1s in the NX will be produced on a better process and/or the base has a fan.

Now, a year down the line, will we see a real desktop NX, built with X2, and then a year or two after that will we see the New NX handheld running on X2, repeat? That's a far more interesting line of questioning.

Wombat_sl said:

Except that all the rumors have this as being a sub-$300 device, and there is no evidence the X2 could cost that little. There's also no reason why Nvidia would burn some of their top lines on mass producing a chip they make dick on, rather than just selling Nintendo the excess X1 capacity they planned on using in Shields.

The far more likely (and depressing) scenario is the NX simply overclocks when in its base for better frame rate/resolution/effects, and still won't be even in the same zip code (much less ballpark) as the XBone. The active cooling is just in there because the X1s in the NX will be produced on a better process and/or the base has a fan.

Now, a year down the line, will we see a real desktop NX, built with X2, and then a year or two after that will we see the New NX handheld running on X2, repeat? That's a far more interesting line of questioning.

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Not saying they are, but one reason they might is to re-enter the console market. Both Sony and MS dropped them, so having their new chip powering Nintendo's new thing might be a reason to give them a deal on it.

It is exxxxxtremely unlikely the NX will launch with a Tegra X2. The X2 incorporates the Pascal GPU architecture which is extremely complex and power intensive. The Tegra X2 has not yet been taped out (final design specs) and it would be insane for a console that is supposed to launch in 6 months to still be waiting on their core CPU/GPU to be finalized - its generally a cycle of 6-12 months for a product to go from final design to enough mfg'd for launch, so the design would have to be finalized by now. Plus Nintendo is infamous for using older tech to minimize costs. While they could move to an X2 in 2018, The NX is almost certainly going to launch with a Tegra X1 if thats the chipset they decided on. The X1 released in late 2015 and is more than enough power for a $199 handheld device.

The shitty thing is that there are virtually no devices actually using the X1 - just nvidia shield really. Even the K1 (lower perf) is only used by google's nexus 9, and the acer chromebook. I wouldn't be surprised if Nvidia is giving them the X1 for barely above cost, since nvidia is failing hard in the mobile/tablet market. Apple phones use their own A9 ARM CPU, while most android phones use either an ARM or a qualcomm snapdragon. Even the 3DS uses an ARM CPU. I wonder if the switch to an nvidia Tegra is going to fuck Nintendo up in terms of power or battery life.

Speculate away about the NX. Currently supposed to be released around March 2017, rumor is reveal in Sept 2016.

More solid rumor is that its a handheld that can dock/attach to TV (HDMI) and uses detachable controllers and NVidia chipsets - either Tegra X1, a hybrid, or upcoming X2
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-07-26-nx-is-a-portable-console-with-detachable-controllers
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...e-and-wii-titles-to-virtual-console-in-theory



I hope Nintendo can pull something amazing off, but my expectations are a shitty Ouyo like super weak console that lets Nintendo do whatever Nintendo wants to do, and only pretty much runs Nintendo first party games.

Power wise an X1 is still a huge improvement. The 3DS is ~1.5 gflops power. The Wii U was clocked at 172 or so. A PS4 is around 1 tflops, an xbox one is around 800 gflops, scorpio is rumored at 6 tflops and PS4 Neo is 2 tflops. A 1080 GPU is around 8 tflops for comparison.

The X1 is expected to be in the 500-600 gflops range, so way way way more powerful than previous Nintendo consoles but way underpowered compared to 2017 PS4/Xbox One/PC or even mobile phones. But ya never know, maybe Nvidia gives them a big power boost via custom chips.

I don't see the NX changing Nintendo's inevitable path: making video games for other consoles and mobile/tablet, and getting out of the hardware business. I can't see that many people outside the core Nintendo fan base buying ANOTHER portable device just to play Nintendo games.

If its as rumors say i dont see it getting alot of 3P support and being yet another nintendo system i pass on. Especially if visually speaking its inferior to every other console, has yet another gimmick, AND no solid 3P support.

This looks dumb as shit. Yay Gimmick failures.

Nintendo should just become a 3rd party Developer and slowly die like Sega. The world would be a better place.

I forgot I had a Wii U until I saw Xenosaga Chronicles on Amazon... was like welp. Guess I have a reason to use the system now.