Dan Maher, gaming expert and presenter, has spoken to the BBC’s News Beat about the recently unveiled Nintendo Switch platform. Maher has praised Nintendo for producing something different from both Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4 systems. He even goes as far to say that Nintendo ‘has pretty much clinched it’ with the Nintendo Switch. Here’s his thoughts about Nintendo’s next generation platform.
“When Xbox or Sony announce new consoles, what you’re expecting is more of the same – but more powerful.”
“Nintendo tend to deal with the technology and the hardware itself, what they can do to innovate and make gaming more accessible and more lifestyle friendly.”
“They are unifying their two strands, they’ve been a very strong handheld player and a moderately successful console player in recent years, so to bring those two together it’s a bit of an all or nothing gamble really.”
“I think they’ve pretty much clinched it.”
“We knew the next Zelda game, Breath Of The Wild, was going to be an NX game and it sounds like it’s going to be there for launch,” he says.
“The idea of playing this game on the go is music to my ears because I just haven’t got time to play games of that magnitude at home any more.”
“Traditionally third party support for Nintendo devices has been quite poor and people buy purely because of Nintendo’s own games,” Dan says.
“Because of this fusion between the home and the handheld hardware they’re really regrouping a lot of those people who drifted off,” says Dan.
“All the major players are coming back and I think we’re going to see some big titles coming out for the Switch.”
Eh? This guy clearly hasn’t thought of whether or not this thing has any strength as a handheld or a console.
If this couldn’t be played on a TV, would anybody want a 9.5″ inch long portable system with a 2.5-3 hour battery life? Probably not.
And has a console, this thing could have been either much stronger, cheaper, or both.
of course we don’t know how strong (powerful spec wise I assume you mean) or how expensive it is.
We can ballpark it though because it’s based on known chips and we know it’s battery life. In general, if this were just a console it would have room for more cooling and instead of investing in one huge battery, two smaller ones(for the JoyCons) and three bluetooth chips, They could have invested in an SoC with more GPU cores while making the enclosure smaller.
We literally don’t know it’s battery life. We know the rumored battery life of the dev kit.
And why the heck would a devkit need a huge battery? The final product will probably have a better battery.
The Pixel C, which is a larger device using a similar chip got 5 hours of battery life when the GPU is being pushed and 75% of the inside was taken up by a battery. This has half as much space for a battery so that puts it at 2.5 hours. 3 hours is an improvement.
Pixel C is very thin, Switch looks much thicker – meaning it can fit a thicker battery.
Yea, but then it would just be another PS4 or Xbox. Your missing the whole point.. Imagine all the handheld games that never come to consoles that all of a sudden can be played on the big screen. Monster Hunter 5, Pokemon, Fire Emblem, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest, etc. etc… This thing is going to sell 10 million in it’s first year on the market.
They don’t need to merge the systems to have mobile games come to their home console. Using the same OS and ISA, two systems can be made to play the same games but with the handheld running stuff with some effects shut off, lower resolution, and lower quality textures and models compared to a dedicated console. Alternately, some developers can develop the game for the handheld and the console will run it at higher resolution with local multiplayer modes turned on stuff. Combining the systems unnecessarily borks aspects of both a home console and handed in order give people this console of compromise.
You can’t act like handheld that is over 3″ longer than the larger version of the 3DS appeals to a larger market than a system people can fit in most people’s pockets. The whole reason that the sold two difference versions if the 3DS is because there us no one size that fits all when it comes to pocket and hand size. It’s size is literally the first thing anyone would complain about.
And the example you mention below about playing a console game in your bed is something you can do with the Wii U gamepad, except a second generation version of the Gamepad would have much longer battery life than the Switch can.
And you’re speculating far more than I am. Yea, it can play PS4 games but not at the same quality and thats not much of an achievement. But why would running Skyrim mean it can run any PS4 game on the market? Skyrim is like 6 years old and came out on the PS3 and Xbox 360. Yea, they showed the remaster but a remaster isn’t the equivalent of a game made specifically for PS4 and Xbox One level hardware.
How do you know the Switch can’t play PS4 titles at the same qaulity? I believe it can and will. That Skyrim footage looked pretty good. And yes, Skyrim enhanced edition is amoung the best looking games on the PS4. The fact that it’s a five year old game means nothing since it has enhanced graphics. There are videos of it all over the internet. It looks equal to the Witcher 3, maybe even a little better. I think the Switch is at least as powerful as a PS4. Nintendo would be foolish to develop a new console that couldnt run current third party software on par with the other consoles. Of course it can, they proved it in the reveal trailer.
And the fact that the tablet device is 3 inches longer than a 3ds means literally nothing to me. The 3ds is not that large to begin with, and your only talking about an inch and a half more on each side. Thats nothing to get upset about, especially if the device is light. And you know the regular 3ds stopped selling in the U.S. because everyone opted for the larger 3DSXL.. Most of the time consumers want the larger product. Just look at how much bigger phones are getting on a regular basis. It’s sales thats driving the phones to an increase in size. You act like Nintendo just willy nilly through a console together without any thought or research behind it. I assure you they didn’t. Watching the video over, the size looked great to me. I like the large screen, especially when playing games like BoTW and the new Mario.
And your point about the Wii U gamepad in bed. Well actually It wouldn’t work unfortunately. Everytime I tried it lost signal. You could only take the Wii U about ten feet away from the console before it lost signal at my house. I guess I could have moved the system to my room but it belonged in the living room. And the Switch is way more appealing than the Wii U to me. Not even for the portability really, just the fact that at heart its a classic home console with a normal controller.
While we don’t know for sure how it compares to the PS4 yet, it’s supposedly powered by a custom Nvidia Tegra chip. For a mobile device, that is pretty powerful, but it will likely not be on the level of the PS4. Again, we don’t know for sure how strong it is though. What I do know is that if it can run games better than a PS4 in addition to the fact that you can literally take in anywhere and play it, don’t expect it to be cheap. Lol.
A more powerful Wii U with better specs, cartridges, and a smaller gamepad with more features is not another PS4.
And it’s not bad to just be a console. A console that can focus on being a console can excel at being a console out of the box, without any bandages. The Switch Pro controller and the controller attachments are bandages to hide the flaws of what will definitely come in the box.
If somebody played a home console and said “You know, I wish I could play this on the go.”, they would have the option of getting a dedicated handheld and they’ll know that it’ll be compact enough for them to fit in their pocket, it won’t have small detachable controls they can lose and act as weak points when the device is dropped, and it’ll have clamshell that protects the screen(s).
Console gamers and handheld gamers have different expectations and aren’t the same people. Think of whether or not this will appeal to someone who literally travels all the time and only has time to play games during bus rides and stuff like that. Does this huge device that they may have to charge before lunch look better than the 3DS? No.
Is the person who only plays games at home and leaves the Switch docked the whole time particularly crazy about the fact that they had to pay for bells and whistles they’re not going to use, and had to pay extra to use a controller they find comfortable? No.
Your missing another huge point here. Nobody really even liked the 3ds at first. It sold like shit. When great software finally started rolling in the system started selling. The Wii U never had a constant stream of great software. Now that Nintendo only has to focus on one piece of hardware, they will literally be able to develop TWICE as much software as they could with the Wii U and 3DS.
This is great news for a Nintendo fan. This means that the Switch will have a constant stream of games at a steady pace. Just like the 3DS people will buy the system if they see a regualr stream of great content. Your too caught up in negativity. Your looking at everything through dark grey lenses.
I really hope you’re right about everything. Switch being as strong or close to the PS4, and Nintendo’s portable division developing games for it as will the console division. That really would be amazing.
Unfortunately Nintendo has spent the last decade letting people down. So I expect it not to be as strong, and not to get portable titles. I’ve just learned to set the bar really, really low to mitigate my disappointment when they fall short.
That said, I want you to be right, it would make switch a real game-changer.
“If somebody played a home console and said “You know, I wish I could play this on the go.”, they would have the option of getting a dedicated handheld”
Umm… You really don’t have much of a choice, you know. One thing I know that comes to mind is the PS Vita, but everyone knows what’s happening with that. Sony’s consoles are what get all the big games. There are certainly a number of “console like” games on it, but it’s still just not supported in the way the PS4 is. And then there’s the 3DS. Which has its fair share of great games too but is seriously held back by its hardware. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out for the Switch in terms of third party support just yet, and looking at Nintendo’s history, of course people would think it isn’t going to get the big third party games again. But if it all turns out well, the Switch is seriously going to be an amazing device. It’s not a handheld. It’s a console that can literally be your handheld if you want it to. While we don’t know it’s exact power yet, it is obviously much more powerful than the 3DS. I hope all those developers that’s been making games for Nintendo’s handhelds and being too afraid to come over to the consoles are finally convinced with this. (Looking at YOU Game Freak. Lol.)
That sounds very speculative since there have been multiple guesses on what chip will be in it, not to mention whatever may or may not have been developed for the device specifically that is unique to this console. But, as said by the person quoted for this post, then you just have a console and nothing to differentiate it from the other companies. Now, one could say the IP is enough, but I am not sure that is true. I mean, it would be enough for me but you have to then consider whether enough people will buy a device they already have for Mario and Zelda… they likely think that this isn’t the case.
They obviously are sacrificing some power, but how much and how much compared to what they “wanted” remains to be seen
What sounds particularly speculative? We know the power usage and performance of the X1 which is used in the dev kits. We know the claimed performance increase and power usage of the X2 according to Nvidia’s CEO. It would be 50% higher clocked but, with increased memory bandwidth, overall performance could be double compared to the X1 but at the same power usage. The X2 is the Nvidia’s current pinnacle of mobile SoCs so anything in the Switch won’t use less power. They could have also put some eDRAM or eSRAM on chip which would have increased performance but it wouldn’t have lowered power usage. So since we’re dealing with a chip to very similar power usage traits to the X1, we can use devices that use the X1 as reference for battery life.
I disagree that a dedicated console would have nothing to differentiate itself from other consoles. Nintendo’s last two consoles were able to do just that.
As a console, the Switch is more similar to the Xbox One and PS4 than the Wii U is, and the PS4 is more powerful and $50 more expensive or the same price.
As a portable, the Switch is more similar to the Vita than the 3DS is, and the Vita is more portable and $50-100 cheaper.
You have to consider that not everybody is both a console and handheld gamer, so attempts to make a home console portable won’t have any added appeal to the console crowd.
What is speculative is the dev kit leak was a rumor. The same types of rumors that told us that a chip would be developed for the then “NX” specifically as opposed to an existing chip. We also don’t know to what noticeable degree the power of the Switch is less than the PS4 and when I look at the Vita, it doesn’t look that much more portable than the switch, especially when compared to a 3DS XL, which we see the Switch was recently compared to with size.
And so as my comment on a Nintendo console differentiating itself, those last two consoles the Wii & Wii U had gimmicks that did so, but were underpowered. What I was saying was that if they just put the most powerful home console out they could at a reasonable price and just had “pro style” controllers and that was it, the only thing that would make it different would be the exclusive IPs. Is that enough to compete? Which is the question I proposed, and while the Wii did (though not under that hypothetical circumstance) the Wii U is a bottom feeder.
The last thing is, and this is a big one, is that hand held does not have to mean playing “on the go” or even outside the home. Many people, kids especially, are now accustomed to playing games without a television but still being in their homes. My wife prefers it and my kids definitely do. That feature of the Wii U is great, but flawed because you can’t go very far with it. Now, not only is that problem solved, you can now take it in the car and wherever else.
I respectfully think that your logic is flawed, even though you have done a fair job guessing at the power/battery life of the system. I just don’t think your conclusion is accurate
I think we have an idea how powerful the Switch is. Most people missed the real reason Nintendo showed off Skyrim SE. It wasn’t to hype you for the release of Skyrim, (although it did), it was to show everyone that the Switch was powerful enough to run the latest PS4 title. If the Switch can run Skyrim SE with no problems, it can run any PS4 game on the market. Thats what Nintendo was trying to portray.
Very well stated. At its most basic, that was the idea and it makes a lot of sense. “Don’t worry, we can run all the games you want to play”
And since it is portable, the price will be higher than some might like, but not more than most will pay for.
Hell yes people would still want this system if it didn’t play on a TV. Your talking about a Nintendo handheld device with a brand new Zelda and 3D Mario game, with console quality graphics. The real question would be is there anyone who wouldn’t want it? And to say the battery is 2.5 hours is pure speculation on your part. And I have a feeling you will be able to charge the device in your vehicle.
Agreed on not having time to play huge games like Zelda anymore. The fact I can play any game in between my lectures for example is just amazing tbh
Personally, I never saw the appeal of playing on the go, or anywhere outside, other than on long car/plane/train rides. When I play a game, especially if it’s one like Zelda with such detail to the story and all those things, I want to fully immerse myself into it, instead of having to be constantly aware of my surroundings and playing in short bursts with frequent breaks inbetween. I’ve had many different handheld consoles in my life, but probably about 99% of the total time I’ve spent playing on them, I’ve done so indoors.
But of course, that’s just me. In no way am I saying that playing on the go is absolutely devoid of fun for everyone, I am very well aware that people have different preferences, which is totally alright as is. :)
That being said, the comfort of portability of handhelds certainly can come in handy at home too, playing while laying in bed being one of the prime examples, hah.
I’m in complete agreement here. I never take my 3ds with me when I go out. And I don’t have the interest in playing on buses, waiting in lines, or any other populated area. But even so, the funny thing is I still buy every Nintendo handheld device at launch. The idea of lying in bed at night playing the latest Nintendo game is too much for me to pass up.
So what does the Switch offer you that the Wii U doesn’t?
Software. In the last two years I have only bought 3 Wii U games. Thats unacceptable. Nintendo obviously cannot support two devices at one time. Merging everything into one console was a great idea. Now they will be able to release a steady stream of content.
But also the Switch is just far more appealing. Maybe because of the increase in power, the lack of a second screen..
We still don’t know about the software my friend. But we all hope it will have software! Nintendo do needs to announce some shit, or let developers do so. It’s stupid to leave Switch hanging like this. :/
And in most houses, the Wii U gamepad doesn’t reach far enough. You are relegated to being about 20-25 feet away at most.
I can respect you game in one spot. I happen to be one of those restless types, and I like the mobility. Console gaming anywhere sounds like a fucking dream to me!
Not trying to rush the next 5 months of my life, but I’m ready for March 2017!
“People only play Nintendo games on Nintendo console’s” is a stereotype that needs to die… It’s not entirely true as people make it seem
It is true that people mainly buy Nintendo consoles only for the exclusives. Because you really don’t have a choice to play the big third party games. You had to get something else to play them.
Nintendo doesn’t release their games anywhere else… why do you think people buy Nintendo consoles
I like this kind of talk.
I think it’s too soon to make comments regarding the Switch. We still don’t know anything about it…except that it is not physically backwards compatible with the 3DS and Wii U.
Well it’s based on existing technology so there are things we can try to put together. I was able to figure out it’s max battery life a few hours before one of the leakers reported it, because I used the Pixel C for reference.
I was also able to figure out that it is 9.45″ wide with JoyCons attached because we know the screen is 6.2″.
It’s a custom Tegra chip. We don’t know any specifications for the final product.
Yea, but we know what it can’t be. It’s not going to be twice as many CUDA cores or more power efficient than their current non-custom SoC. If they could make a Tegra chip with more cores in the same power or the same amount of cores using less power, then they would have done that already. Furthermore, we have benchmarks of the X1 at 1GHz with active cooling in a non-battery powered device and at 850Mhz with passive cooling on a battery powered device. We also know how the X2 is supposed to perform relative to the X1 which would allow us to ballpark results. Sure, they can add on-chip memory to improve bandwidth and performance more but that wouldn’t necessarily make it use significantly less power.
It’s not like we have nothing to go on and it’s not like Nvidia re-inventing the wheel for Nintendo. They’re simply making modifications to their existing designs. For example, it could be an X2 with blocks they don’t intend to use taken out, and instead of having a 128-bit memory bus, they could have a 64-bit bus with some on-chip RAM instead.
Don’t care what anyone says about the ns. I’m getting it no matter what.
The Switch seems nice to own, I know once this console debuts Microsoft and Sony sure will clone.
Not necessarily. Nobody has any idea what market this thing is made for or it will sell well. I’m doubting MS or Sony have any interest in copying this.
You doubt Sony doesnt want to copy but I remeber Wii in 06 now thats add on from sony was sloppy
You think Sony is going to try to follow up the PS4 with handheld that’s significantly less powerful than the PS4 or PS4 Pro? This is in no way similar to copying a controller and they would not have done that if the Wii wasn’t hugely successful. There’s no guarantee the Switch will be successful..
Yea, Microsoft making a tablet? Crazy…..they would probably call it “surface” and give it Xbox controller support. HA it would probably even Play Xbox games…..crazy. …..oh wait that is always a thing years ago.
The xbox is rather corny if it wasnt for Nintendo there would be no Sony
Sony would have been around, they might not have made video game consoles though.
Hehehehehehheh
Once the Switch comes out, I’ll give out a lovely shout. Now hurry up and clean Gobi before he makes a pout. And clean his snout ewww what a crouch.
If they make the great decisions I’m hoping they will I’d say they definitely have.
I cant believe I have to continue with these rhymes but no one elses images are prettier than mines.
Switches need stitches!
But seriously, the switch rules.
People buying simply because it’s Nintendo. It’s as stupid as people voting Trump/Hillary because they are Republican/Democrat & the voter is Republican/Democrat. In other words, if both of these candidates were either Hitler or Stalin with one claiming to be republican & one claiming to be democrat, they’d still vote for them because “They are my party! I don’t care what anyone says! I’m voting for them!” Yeah. That worked out so fucking well for Germany & Russia back in the day! Hopefully, neither of these two are as bad as the media would have us believe or as bad as the impressions of them are. Otherwise, we’re fucked.
My point is, don’t buy the console simply because it’s “Nintendo.” Then again, some people are just sadly way too fucking easy to please. Or as I like to call those people: sheep!