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I wonder what the launch lineup will be outside of Zelda: BotW
"Nintendo Switch is powered by the performance of the custom Tegra processor." - http://www.guru3d.com/news-story/nintendo-to-release-switch-a-handheld-console-power-by-nvidia.html
This makes me happy after the power they stuffed into the Shield K1.
I think this makes it a certainty that the Switch/NX/whatever it is will be poorly developed for -atleast at launch time. The hardware is capable enough, but ARM typically (IMHO) is just missing something from the familiar experience of a desktop or console. While that was refreshing at first, I find myself wishing for that missing and familiar "it quality" from the other types of system.
That is not all though; Ive been reading about the NX for about a year and a half now (sporadically Ill admit, but Im as curious as any other Nintendo fan) and havent seen any indication of the headlione featuers like the tablet or detachable sides of the gamepad. This in and of itself isnt damning, but the speed of ARM development kind of is. There are improvements being made in ARM SoC seemingly on a daily basis. I havent looked into the specs for this particular SOC but I will bet it is younger than the idea for the NX/Switch. In my mind this says that there was years of development that went into a different console/games and then Nintendo dumped that project and ported their games over to this newer/younger SOC. This doesnt neccesarily mean doom for the NX/Switch as a console, but I think it might be the reason for pushing back BotW and perhaps other games might be playing catchup as well.
The upside is that we may see a potentially larger ppol of developers for an ARM based platform? Just spitballing folks
the list was similar for the WiiU and plummeted off due to poor sales,
Rather than comparing it against the AMD/x86 consoles/PCs, it might be better seen as a higher end mobile gaming device. As others have said, the K1 tablet has a fair bit of punch behind it and I got one myself earlier this year. I'm impressed what you can get out of it. Don't try to compare it to x86 architecture but look at the results. The biggest concern I have is I read somewhere it uses a new nvidia API. Would this put developers off that they have to learn yet another interface? How much could they leverage off existing mobile platform programming experience?
Personally I'd love to see 3DS compatibility in some form. As much as I like the 3DS games I have, I feel that system sorely needs a resolution refresh even if just upsampled for older games.
On this being make or break for Nintendo, I think at worst if it flops they would get out of the hardware side and can still continue as a software only company.
"The dock is not the main console unit of Nintendo Switch": Nintendo confirmed to IGN that "the main unit of Nintendo Switch is the unit that has the LCD screen." The dock's main functions are TV output and power/charging, Nintendo said, which suggests the dock won't actually have much in the way of additional hardware to enable higher-fidelity play on an HDTV.
The Switch can't play physical 3DS or Wii U games: This Destructoid translation of a Japanese Famitsu story confirms that the Switch will not play physical games from Nintendo's most recent consoles. We're not holding our breath that downloadable 3DS or Wii U titles will be supported, either, due to the internal architecture changes to the system's processor. Older, downloadable Virtual Console titles aren't out of the question, though.
Switch comes with two Joy-Con controllers (left and right) to snap onto that LCD screen, according to that Famitsu translation. Nintendo wouldn't comment on whether the TV dock or Joy-Con "grip" handles come in the standard package, which strongly suggests that there could be lower-priced bundles that don't include these "optional" accessories.
Skyrim and NBA 2K are not actually confirmed for the system: Despite being the only third-party titles to feature heavily in the Switch trailer, Bethesda and 2K Games both told Polygon they couldn't confirm whether either title was actually in development for the Switch. That's especially odd, since developers like Ubisoft and Square Enix have already announced their intentions to make specific games for the system.
Switch will support Unreal Engine 4: This isn't a huge surprise, since Epic Games was listed as a partner in yesterday's trailer, but it's still nice to get direct confirmation via tweet. While we're at it, the system has Unity game engine support as well (much like pretty much every other device with a microprocessor).
Switch will support Nintendo Amiibo figures: Nintendo tells IGN that your figures will be recognized by compatible games on the new console.
That price would make the decision difficult to make actually, but you also bring up a fair point about the peripherals. Remember when these decisions were simple? Snes or Sega?