
Nintendo Switch - electic
https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/index.html
======
ericzawo
That[1] was masterful marketing of an upcoming videogame console on all
fronts. From the beginning it emphasises mobility with a (hopefully good!)
smartphone app to manage online/local wifi matches, as well as multiple levels
of play while on the go. It's reasonably priced (matches current generation in
total at the register) and has an incredibly diverse range of titles to be
excited about this calendar year. It managed to loop "The Americas" in with a
Reggie appearance that worked well, and upsold Skyrim and Fifa, two gigantic
American games with international appeal. They also talked up Dragon Quest X,
which is an MMORPG, launching on Switch, as well as Dragon Quest XI, which
until tonight was a PS4 exclusive.

Essentially, they placed value squarely in the face of everything your
PC/enthusiast-level gaming rig won't ever replace. The ability to pick up and
play elsewhere. Like the Wii, it's not even trying to compete with the current
crop of consoles. It's value proposition will be placed somewhere a bit
obtusely, between your mobile phone and everything else you leave at home.
Yes, this obviously functions as a home console as well, but I can't help but
suspect Nintendo absolutely meant to go for what makes handhelds great. If any
company can do it, they can. So what if it cannibalises their current 3DS
offerings? Pokemon seems to be going strong with its fanbase.

The whole presentation, from the demonstration of the hardware to especially
the finishing trademark "One more thing!" with Zelda making a predictable but
nonetheless amazing launch date. It's a strategy that worked wonders for the
Wii, remember, so why not?

Nintendo absolutely killed it, and I'll be keeping a really close eye on this
thing. But the marketing and presentation was honestly textbook.

[1]
[https://youtu.be/uuC4YLLkqME?t=33m20s](https://youtu.be/uuC4YLLkqME?t=33m20s)

~~~
agd
'Nintendo absolutely killed it'

I'm afraid I have to disagree. Here's why:

\- price: much more expensive than most people were expecting (£280 vs for
example, £200 for a PS4 with a game)

\- battery life: potentially only 2.5 hours? Really not good enough for a
handheld.

\- storage: only 32gb, will run out very quickly

\- online offering weak vs ps4/xbox as only NES/SNES games and you only get
them for a month

\- very few titles on launch and key titles (e.g. Skyrim) delayed until much
later in the year

Battery life and price are the real killers for me. I can see Nintendo
slashing the price soon, just like they had to with the 3DS.

Edit: It seems like many others weren't impressed either. e.g.
[http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-
preca...](http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-01-13-nintendos-precarious-
reveal-runs-risk-of-switching-off-fans)

~~~
Mithaldu
> battery life: potentially only 2.5 hours? Really not good enough for a
> handheld.

Whoah, can you source that? If that number is even remotely true the thing is
completely useless as a handheld due to requiring 2-3 extra batteries for any
longish trip.

~~~
grenoire
From the presentation. They mentioned it was 2.5 to 6, but expect worst case
with battery life. You can plug a USB-C to charge it with a power bank from
what I gather.

~~~
rickyc091
Yep, the Nintendo 3DS came with a 1750 mAh battery and that lasted for 3-5
hours. Get a small power bank or a 10,000 mAh one and you're set for the whole
day. I don't think battery is too much of a problem.

~~~
setr
Y'know, the correct solution would be that it came with one

~~~
patates
I personally really like not being forced to pay extra for a big battery when
I buy a new device. I already have enough batteries I carry around.

On the other hand, I think it could be a nice touch to give the customer an
option to buy a case/battery combo, designed by the same manufacturer.

~~~
notheguyouthink
Yup, agreed. I have a big powerbank i use for everything at home and i see no
reason to increase the bulk of the Switch itself to include a bigger battery.

Likewise if it wasn't built in but came with the product, i'd be wanting a
lower priced product not including the external battery.

------
primigenus
This is the first Nintendo platform from the "next generation" of developers
at Nintendo that studied under Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto. During the
presentation, the heads of software development (Yoshiaki Koizumi and Shinya
Takahashi) introduced the hardware, and the head of hardware development for
Switch (Kouichi Kawamoto) introduced the launch title 1 2 Switch. Staples of
such presentations like Miyamoto, Reggie Fils-Aimé and Eiji Aonuma were
notably absent (though they did appear in a short video at the end of the
presentation).

They didn't mention this at all, but I think it was a brilliant way to
demonstrate that the next generation of Nintendo is as integrated and
collaborative as ever, and let the games and the hardware speak for
themselves. It also demonstrates the efficiency of the teams now that both the
portable and home console teams are working together in one building at the
new head office in Kyoto. A great subtle touch to an otherwise quite clear,
explicit conference, and reminds me of how similar Nintendo and Apple are.

~~~
misingnoglic
IGN brought this up too in their aftermath video - this presentation showed a
lot of people we've just never met before. And the games (like the mario one)
had something NEW to them which was exciting, and it's exciting that
nintendo's letting the new generation try it out.

------
dcw303
I had to laugh when during the livestream they were going through each of the
innovations of their past systems, and the only thing they could mention about
the Gamecube was that it had a handle :)

But overall I think they continue to show real innovation in gaming. They're
the only company who puts so much effort into maximizing their software with
the uniqueness of their hardware.

~~~
kibwen
Haven't watched the presentation yet, but I believe the GCN might have been
the first console to come standard with "analog" shoulder buttons (dutifully
demonstrated by its use in Mario Sunshine to control the spraying power of the
backpack).

EDIT: Oh also, the Wavebird controller was the first wireless first-party
controller.

~~~
thomasfortes
Sega Dreamcast had analog triggers and came before gamecube.

~~~
ajmurmann
The Saturn 3D pad also had analog triggers. Not sure if anything actually used
then though.

------
shmerl
Kudos to Nintendo for supporting Vulkan and OpenGL. Nitendo do a lot of wrong
stuff in regards to how they handle fan made games for instance, but adopting
open, cross platform graphics APIs while their major rivals are stuck in the
backwards thinking lock-in mentality, is a good decision.

~~~
Scuds
All due to Nvidia's influence. Hopefully this will make the hardware more
compelling to 3rd party studios.

~~~
gambiting
I work at a major games publisher and literally all we care about is DirectX
for PC/X1 ports, and the weird graphics library we use for PS4. I don't know
of any game released by us in last 10 years which even had an OpenGL backend.
From what I gathered from our graphics devs, their reaction to vulkan was
"meh, it's nice but we already have PC covered with DirectX which we have to
write for X1 anyway, and it's not like PS4 is going to support it, so what's
the point?"

~~~
shmerl
That's a pretty bad reaction, and also highlights the absence of good cross
platform development in your studio, because of lack of common tools. You
should release your games for Linux for a change.

But this also highlights, that pragmatic value of cross platform tools is
apparent when they are really cross platform. I.e. the wider is their
availability, the higher is their value. OpenGL didn't quite reach that,
because of opposition from lock-in minded companies. So this is a welcome
change in Nintendo's approach, because it advances Vulkan as a cross platform
API.

------
lefstathiou
In line at the NYC store. I'm #2. There are a few people hanging out looking
into store which is holding an event with a bunch of kids. Fewer people
overall than I expected but there are 9 hours to go.

~~~
pimlottc
I'm confused, what's happening in 9 (or 8, now) hours? I haven't watched the
entire video yet but the release date isn't until March 3, yes?

~~~
mratzloff
They're demoing the system.

~~~
ekianjo
Wow, queuing just to try it, not even to buy it? That's extreme.

~~~
ianai
There's a ton of love out there for Nintendo.

~~~
ekianjo
less and less however. kids play a lot on phones these days.

------
syntaxing
I'm hoping someone can chime in to this, but putting the American market
aside, is it just me or is this extremely marketable to the Asian market? Most
of my Asian or Asian American friends exclusively play games on their phones.
They play a wide selection of MMORPG to RTS games on their phones daily.
Asians value games that are more repetitive (like EXP farming or turn based
games, such as FF) and have great character development. I expect they will be
receptive to a hybrid portable gaming system (not sure what to call this). [1]

Secondly, I'm surprised with how many people here find that the Nintendo
Switch overpriced. We're all comparing the pricing to consoles that are sold
at a loss (such as the PS4, they're essentially subsidized by the gaming
industry). I bought a 3DS at about $200. For $100 more you get a tablet and
console in one. I'm willing to bet like the 3DS, you'll be able to use this as
a ad-hoc tablet for browsing the web as well and use it to play movies. I
would jump on this if I had more time to game.

[1] Completely based on my opinion and might be subjected to cognitive bias
and dissonance

~~~
tomw2005
> I would jump on this if I had more time to game.

I'm getting it as I hope having a portable console will give me more time to
game. It'll fit in my suitcase and plug into nearly all hotel TVs. That is
pretty awesome.

~~~
syntaxing
Agreed! Especially if it can play movies. I hope they make some sort portable
display dongle.

------
daeken
I haven't worked in game console hacking since the Wii days, but I'm getting a
Switch day one to do just that. I can't wait to be able to use this as a
hackable game tablet _and_ be able to throw it on the dock to play emulated
games on the TV.

I really haven't seen anything like this before. I'm super excited to break
it.

Edit: For those interested in working on this or following along, I created a
Discord server for collaboration. Invite link:
[https://discord.gg/hSMpnuG](https://discord.gg/hSMpnuG)

~~~
joshschreuder
I'm excited about this too, esoecially after the recent boom in /r/3dshacks
and /r/vitahacks

Hopefully it won't take long for a jailbreak to emerge.

------
thinkloop
How come Nintendo keeps having to completely reinvent itself every couple of
years? They go from being on the verge of bankruptcy to a hit then back again.
It seems like one tiny misstep and they're done. Microsoft is still spending
accrued value from the 90's after tons of mistakes, why doesn't Nintendo have
an easier life?

~~~
aikinai
Nintendo's never been on the verge of bankruptcy. That's a ridiculous myth
that's always tossed around by news sites to get more clicks. Nintendo is a
surprisingly tiny company with billions in cash in the bank.

As others have mentioned, they don't have backup cash cows like the other
conglomerates so their short-term profits do vary wildly depending on the
success of each platform, but the premise of one generation being a matter of
life or death is a false.

~~~
flukus
They've never been close to bankruptcy, but at times it's only been because of
the gameboy/DS line.

~~~
rhizome
"If it wasn't for the popular things they sell, they'd be out of business!"

~~~
flukus
You're right, but there have been times where their handheld domination has
looked shakey, which makes their whole future look shakey.

~~~
rhizome
What handheld has come anywhere closer than smelling the GameBoy family's
farts?

------
iagooar
Wow, I wonder where all this skepticism and negativity come from.

The Nintendo Switch has me so excited, I can't wait for the launch day!

Finally, I'll be able to have one piece of hardware for playing at home and on
the go. If you don't see the awesomeness of playing Skyrim on your commute
then probably are not in the right target group.

I like the Switch because it looks so versatile. You can play at home, on the
go, alone, with friends, sitting down, standing up... There is going to be so
many new experiences once the console is out.

~~~
Aaargh20318
> Finally, I'll be able to have one piece of hardware for playing at home and
> on the go.

Until you're done playing both games, and then what ?

~~~
lennelpennel
If it is like the Wii U older titles will also work. Games like splatoon,
mario u (we love playing this as a family)and all older titles (via emulation)
should be available.

~~~
deelowe
Why would you assume that wii u titles would work? The switch only takes
cartridges, virtual console titles are already tied to the console and don't
even carry between wiiu systems, and the switch uses an nvidia tegra (arm)
architecture where as the wiiu uses powerpc and an AMD graphics chip.

Not even the wiiu controllers will work with the switch.

------
trimbo
As pointed out by many gamers on Twitter: Switch officially ends the era of
consoles with free online services[1].

[1] - [http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/13/14261018/nintendo-
switch-p...](http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/13/14261018/nintendo-switch-paid-
online-subscription-service-membership)

~~~
blakeyrat
Define "online services". Xbox Live still lets you do quite a few things for
free. (Although I gladly admit the free capabilities suck compared to the Gold
capabilities.)

------
joeframbach
The page loads these two images:

[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/exper...](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/experience_img01.jpg)

[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/exper...](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/experience_img02.jpg)

and these two:

[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/prese...](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/presentation_img01.jpg)

[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/prese...](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/assets/img/event/top/presentation_img02.jpg)

Any idea why?

~~~
Buge
The images are the same (same hash).

------
Bokagha
The one question that still hasn't been answered is will purchased eShop
titles from the Wii U carry over to the Switch?

Wii purchased titles could be transferred and played on the Wii U, but the Wii
U had the "Wii Mode" to handle that and Wii disks.

Right now it seems, sadly, backward compatibility is something that is dying
off with this generation.

~~~
Aaargh20318
Wii U eShop titles are linked to the console, not to the user's account.
Ignoring the fact that the Switch runs on completely different hardware, you
can't even transfer your purchases games to a new console if yours breaks.
Your only option is to ask Nintendo nicely to link them to your new console
and hope they will.

------
webkike
Looks incredibly interesting. If Nintendo opens this platform to indie
developers it could become hugely successful

~~~
PetitPrince
According to their twitter feed[1], Nicalis is at least publishing two titles
for the Switch, including the Binding of Isaac (they did release a previous
version on the 3DS though).

Yacht Club Games [2] is also porting their retro-platformer Shovel Knight
along with all its extension to the Switch. They also have a previous
experience with Nintendo with a release of their game on 3DS and Wii U.

So at least 2 indie developpers I like are working on the Switch.

[1]: [https://twitter.com/nicalis](https://twitter.com/nicalis) [2]:
[http://yachtclubgames.com/2017/01/switch-
up/](http://yachtclubgames.com/2017/01/switch-up/)

------
greenspot
A good plot twist:

Nintendo just sells these left & right Switch controllers you stick to the
Switch screen BUT tries to get other smartphone manufacturers to integrate
connectors to the left & right Switch controllers PLUS builds there own mobile
phones. This is still the biggest bummer when playing games on phones—no
physical buttons.

At the end of the day, Nintendo must get into the smartphone market and if
it's just as a modded Android distribution or heck, just a pure Android with
their own game app store (like Steam). They would have the killer properties
to gain significant traction and enough users who would install a new app
store just to play Mario (but they gave this opportunity away to Apple...).

~~~
threeseed
And then being Android everyone would just steal their games since they would
be available on Pirate Bay and startups everywhere would be trying to
"disrupt" the games industry by making Nintendo JoyCon knockoffs. At which
point Chinese manufacturers would be selling them on Alibaba for $2 each.

Somehow I don't think this would be good for Nintendo.

~~~
greenspot
DRM?

~~~
dkersten
DRM only means that the pirates, with their fancy DRM-removed cracked copies,
have a more pleasant experience than the legitimate users who have to put up
with whatever fuckology the DRM forces on them.

------
minimaxir
Current concern on the gaming forums is the lack of high-profile launch games,
with Splatoon 2 and Mario not being present at that time. Can Zelda alone sell
systems? (probably yes)

~~~
tmuir
They don't call them Zelda Boxes for nothing. I'll admit I'm biased, but I see
nearly every Zelda game as easily in the top 3, if not the killer app of each
Nintendo system.

Legend of Zelda - NES

Link to the Past - SNES

Links Awakening - Gameboy

Ocarina of Time - N64

Wind Waker - Gamecube

Twilight Princess - Wii

Skyward Sword - Wii

Heck, even the promise of how perfectly the WiiU's controller could have been
for a Zelda game, was enough for me to buy the system.

I guess that makes me a fanboy. As long as Nintendo keeps making Zelda games,
I'll keep buying the necessary hardware.

~~~
dkersten
_They don 't call them Zelda Boxes for nothing. I'll admit I'm biased, but I
see nearly every Zelda game as easily in the top 3, if not the killer app of
each Nintendo system._

Maybe so, but there's no way[1] I would by a console just because I want to
play a single game. It takes at least half a dozen exclusives that interest me
(announced, they don't all have to be released yet) for me to consider buying
another console.

[1] Not actually true: I'm considering buying a PS3 so that I can play Demon
Souls. But a second hand PS3 is very cheap, so its not really the same thing
IMHO.

~~~
insin
Monster Hunter has become a console seller for me after playing it for the
first time on the Wii, so it looks like I'll be getting a Switch too.

(Cost of the console / number of hours played on Monster Hunter alone) always
justifies it.

------
partycoder
The Wii U didn't sell a lot. The 3DS did sell a lot.

The Wii U has a higher price than the 3DS, and that is revenue Nintendo needs.

So how to create something as successful as the 3DS, with but as valuable as
the Wii U... this seems to be their answer.

Then, "software sells hardware" is Nintendo's motto. They do not license their
intellectual property, all games are exclusively released on Nintendo
consoles.

Now, it has always been challenging for game studios other than Nintendo to
profit a lot by releasing on a Nintendo system. Mostly because specs are
always lower than the current generation of competitor consoles.

------
lightedman
I already paid for the game and now I have to pay again for multiplayer, when
the prior two generations were pretty much free MP (when it even worked, that
is.)

Why, Nintendo?

~~~
actuator
Well, seems like they are following the industry in this. You need Xbox Live
Gold to play multiplayer on Xbox.

~~~
joshschreuder
Same with Playstation multiplayer as of this gen (PS4).

The obvious answer would be that multiplayer servers cost money to run.

~~~
lightedman
A more obvious answer would be "Bring back the ability to host our own servers
in-game, the hardware is obviously powerful enough."

------
johnhenry
First off, I'm super excited by this. However, is it just me or is it a little
disturbing to see Mario and his crew greatly out of proportion with the other
"humans" in the world of Mario Odyssey
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ti9rFafwTw&t=65m49s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ti9rFafwTw&t=65m49s))?

~~~
Kiro
I found the whole "Mario in the real world" disturbing overall. A bit
nightmarish.

~~~
grblovrflowerrr
Then definitely do not watch the 1993 Hollywood Super Mario Bros. movie, which
is Mario in the real world complimented with really weird and distributing
makeup/prosthetics:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMZKYnLg5c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMZKYnLg5c)

------
LargeCompanies
The Nintendo Wii was innovative and fun .. even the Wii U was a bit innovative
and fun (ever play Mario Chase with friends .. worth buying Wii U for).
Though... Switch does anyone see anything innovative besides a GameCube like
system that is also portable?

~~~
kibwen
The Wii U gets deserved flak for its paucity of titles, but there were some
unbelievable gems sprinkled in there. The Nintendo Land pack-in game is an
utter blast as a party game. And Mario Maker is probably the first "players
build the levels" game whose interface doesn't feel arcane and esoteric, it
really is a triumph of friendly UX.

~~~
snorremd
Aaah yes. Nintendo Land is the ultimate party game. As far as my Nintendo Wii
U purchase goes, I think all the hours of fun me and my friends had with
Nintendo Land was worth the asking price alone. Then of course Mario Kart and
Super Smash added some extra competitive and skill based fun for when we tired
of Nintendo Land. And for some co-operative fun we had a blast with Rayman
Legend, perhaps the best Rayman game to date!

I really have no regrets from buying the Wii U. It was such a good couch
console!

------
jorgemf
Wow! I believe Nintendo can make this a great experience for mobile gaming. It
looks so good. I really like how you can engage your friends to play together.

------
pryelluw
I wonder what their plans for the 3DS will be given how the Switch is also
portable.

~~~
frik
As the dimensions of Switch is only a bit larger than the New 3DS XL, the XL
is their best selling model and 3DS is already 6 years old and too slow even
for direct Wii game ports without downscaling the textures, though it's still
selling well - so the 3DS production will probably end in 2017/18.

~~~
pryelluw
So they are pretty much becoming a one console company. This is a huge gamble
given how successful the portables have been.

~~~
chalupa-man
I think something had to change eventually. When the 3DS was announced, iPads
weren't on the market (so tablets were still a very niche thing) and
smartphones were still quite new. In the 7 years since, they've become
omnipresent, and it didn't take long for them to become massively more
powerful and capable than the 3DS while also being much more portable. I think
Nintendo were justifiably worried that if they stayed on their current path,
the next handheld wouldn't survive 7 years, just being utterly demolished by
phones and tablets. At the same time, the Wii U was a relative failure, and it
looked unlikely that they'd ever recapture the audience that made the Wii a
phenomenon -- for related reasons, the Wii was an affordable novelty smash
with people who weren't big game fans, and that market has all their needs
satisfied by their phones and tablets now. So it makes total sense for them to
fuse the handheld and console worlds together and focus all their efforts on
one platform.

To my disappointment, personally. I wish it were a home console rather than a
handheld for reasons that are entirely based on my own needs and tastes (I'll
never take it outside so it adds cost for no benefit, the need for portability
means games can never really make great use of the motion controls, a lot of
multiplayer seems based on the joycons which look absurdly small for adult man
hands).

------
electic
Nintendo Switch Product Pages:

JP:
[https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/presentation.html](https://www.nintendo.co.jp/switch/presentation.html)

USA: [http://www.nintendo.com/switch/](http://www.nintendo.com/switch/)

Each of these pages has videos from the presentation.

------
djhworld
I've pre ordered it, but £280 is quite a large pill to swallow, especially
when the US is getting it for $300.

Not sure if that's inflation or brexit or what, but damn.

Will see what happens in the next few weeks before deciding whether to cancel
or not.

~~~
smackay
If £280 is the retail price then it's £233 before VAT (20%) is added. At the
current exchange rate that's $283 (US).

------
didibus
I'm excited for the switch. I hope the Joy-Cons are comfortable. If it is, I
have to admit it looks like a very versatile controller. Only downside is how
expensive they are. The accessories really cost too much.

It was interesting to see how all previous Nintendo consoles made controller
improvements. Reminded me why Nintendo won so many generations. It seems
they're trying the same with the Switch.

Arms looks pretty cool. I'm looking forward to more games that smartly use the
controller's features.

------
jsz0
Even for a portable system I think Nintendo might have set the bar too low on
graphics this time. Most of these games just don't look very good to the point
of being visually distracting. It's almost an uncanny valley sort of thing
where the graphics are _just_ sort of good enough that the bad parts stick out
like a sore thumb. It's most noticeable in the Mario game. Not sure that real
world environments + weak graphics hardware was a good choice.

------
pmuk
Just pre-ordered on Amazon UK for £279.99. Interestingly Tesco, a large
retailer, are running an Adwords campaign advertising it at £499.99

------
alphonsegaston
Did anyone else think this looked like prep for taking over the low-end VR
space, given all the emphasis on motion tracking? It seems like all they'd
have to do is release a headset like Sony is doing with the PS4 and you'd have
a good portable VR setup. Probably with a better library than Samsung gear
too.

~~~
H4CK3RM4N
Splat ion 2 appears to be showing dual-wielding gyroscopic aiming. The joy-
cons are already full vr/at constrollers, and I cloud see Nintendo moving to
AR instead of VR

------
darrennix
Watching the graphics quality of the Zelda demo, I can't help but think: If
only this weren't on Nintendo. The graphics look equivalent to Elder Scrolls:
Morrowind (2002). As with so many Nintendo demos; I find myself wishing they
were a cross-platform game studio rather than a lagging hardware company.

~~~
kibwen
Art direction makes up for it. By now, photorealism in games is becoming
bland. Given a screenshot of most any random modern AAA game, without the HUD,
I don't know if I could distinguish them. I won't argue that more graphical
fidelity isn't better, but we've reached a saturation point where graphical
fidelity alone won't sell your game.

~~~
zackthehuman
I couldn't agree more. Over the years I have become less and less interested
in games as they have become more and more realistic graphically.

The games I still enjoy playing have poor low resolution graphics, but they're
challenging and fun.

This is one of the things I respect so much about Nintendo; they haven't given
in to pressure to make everything realistic. They keep their focus on the game
play and allow players to use their imagination when it comes to graphics.

~~~
__david__
There's still plenty of room for artistic style in graphically "realistic"
games. Dishonored and the recent Deus Ex games (particularly the Human
Revolution) are pretty good examples of both good graphical definition and a
very strong sense of style. Going back a little further there were the
Bioshock games, which also just ooze style (as well as being top tier in the
realistic graphics dept for their time).

------
csours
OT: There is a popular program/interstitial in Japan called Pythagoras
Switch[0]. I wonder if the name is a partial reference to that.

0:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0B1hgP1tlE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0B1hgP1tlE)

~~~
enzanki_ars
Loved that show while I was in Japan, but I doubt there is a reference here.

------
iplaw
Since the initial reveal, I have been utterly underwhelmed by this product. I
fail to see a viable market or a satisfactory use case for such an oddly
designed and artificially limited gaming device, and am confident that it will
be yet another failure in a long line of Nintendo failures.

No touch screen? Not a single camera for AR content and/or social
communication? The controllers look miniscule in the actor's tiny hands. The
dock HAD to cover the screen of the device? I foresee the controller sliding
and locking mechanism wearing down over time, leading to sloppy
interconnection between the controllers and the device.

I could go on with the horrible design choices, but I cannot think of a single
redeeming quality. It looks like the market is 6-12 year olds.

~~~
soneca
_" I could go on with the horrible design choices"_

You can create hundreds of _speculatively_ horrible design choices, but not
one of them would mean a thing until you try the product and check if they
apply right?

~~~
iQuercus
It's easy to analyze in a frictionless vacuum.

------
rubyn00bie
I admire Nintendo's effort but I think they need to make a phone to really
compete and they need something graphically powerful. That is to say, they
need to raise prices at launch of a new device to ensure the hardware has
enough of a shelf life. Spending $300 on a portable for gaming after spending
twice that on a phone capable of gaming seems like a hard sell to the mass
market/casual gamer.

Will this really be able to stand up against iPhones and Android devices in a
year or two? I sadly don't think so... the maxwell X1 it's shipping with will
be under power as soon as a device is released and woefully as soon as other
device manufacturers start shipping X2 (I think that's the name) Pascal or
whatever new PowerVR chipset debuts soon based devices.

I think a lot of the tech going into VR like motion controls and low latency
displays will destroy some of Nintendo's technical advantage they're as no
longer the only game in town with it.

Finally, while making the SDK better by using open standards I think most devs
would prefer a larger market; which, both iOS and Android provide.

I've been a Nintendo fan in a big way for 25 years and want to be wrong but I
worry if they don't go big in another decade they'll be in the same place as
Sega. I bought a Wii U solely for Smash Bros and will buy a Switch when it's
(Smash Bros) ported but I don't think most folks are quite so obsessed or
willing to invest that much for one game.

Glad to eat my words in a few months, hopefully I do.

Edit: updated with reference to another GPU manufacturer. For my point it's
not the exact SOC that matters it's the speed of iteration/capabilities on the
near horizon.

Edit 2: Here's a year old benchmark showing how the maxwell X1 stacks up:

[http://wccftech.com/snapdragon-820-benchmarks/](http://wccftech.com/snapdragon-820-benchmarks/)

Edit 3: added "casual gamer" after mass market for clarity.

~~~
jzwinck
Power doesn't matter. Phones get slower with each passing year as more bloat
is added OTA. Consoles get faster as new games exploit more and more of the
power available at launch. The experience has almost always been better on
consoles, and not the most powerful ones.

If it were about power we would wax nostalgic about the NeoGeo, TurboGrafx 16,
and Atari Jaguar.

~~~
ekianjo
The Neo Geo is still popular for all famous arcade games like King of
Fighters. And people still play them for competition. You can't really say the
same thing for the Super Famicom and the like.

Plus "power does not matter" does not make sense. It worked for Nintendo
before. The SUper Famicom was the most powerful console at the time and it
sold better than the Megadrive. The N64 did not beat the playstation but it
was more powerful 3D-wise but they made the wrong choice to go with cartridges
then. Nevertheless the N64 sold well and had very good games too.

The started dropping the ball with the Gamecube in terms of Raw Power - it was
not better than the Xbox or the PS2 or at least not significantly to make any
difference. And guess what, this is when Iwata was leading the design of the
console. He is at the root of "we don't care about graphics, old-gen is the
best". It did not work well. Even the Wii was not so much of a success- they
sold a lot of hardware but very few games per system. Most consumers bought it
for Wii Sports and left it at that and most units collected dust soon within a
year of purchase.

~~~
Al-Khwarizmi
The reason for Neo Geo being more popular than SNES in competitions is
probably that the Neo Geo catalog was almost all competitive simultaneous
2-player games (as they doubled as arcade games), while in the SNES most
iconic games are single-player. For SNES games with the simultaneous
multiplayer mode (e.g. Super Mario Kart) championships are also healthy.

In my opinion SNES and Neo Geo were, each in its style, the best consoles of
all time, and in general they have aged really well, as can also be seen by
the persisting popularity of their games in 2017. I think this is probably
because they were the pinnacle of 2D gaming. Of course 3D bought amazing
possibilities to gaming, but for example the precious artfulness and attention
to detail in Last Blade II (IMO a much better game than the overrated KoFs, by
the way) is something I am still yet to see in a modern fighting game. On the
other hand, when I play an early 3D game like many PSX releases, I just see
things that can be done much better now, which makes the game look more dated.

~~~
tinus_hn
The Neo-Geo is truly a way to bring games you would find in an arcade home
while the SNES has long single player games which don't work in an arcade
setting. So it's not that surprising the Neo-Geo games are more suitable for
competition than most SNES games.

------
karmakaze
The big question is how many people are willing to carry another device to
play games vs using their phone with a good controller case. Are phone
controllers at least standardized yet?

------
didibus
Would be awesome if I could use the Switch to also stream my PS4 and my Steam
games to it. Don't it will, but that'd be cool.

------
hackerews
What are some of the reasons why Nintendo Switch isn't just phone + app +
chromecast-like device + bluetooth controllers?

~~~
Bahamut
Who would buy that? Screen is too small to be of great utility for gaming,
cellphones have awful battery life for gaming, controllers wouldn't be as nice
to bind to such a device while sticking it in a pocket, and it directly brings
it into competition with Apple and Android phone vendors.

I love gaming as much as anyone else, but that makes a lot less sense than
what Nintendo is currently doing. The Switch isn't a pocket-sized console, and
doesn't pretend to be. It is big and powerful enough to drive a TV-based
experience, while being portable enough for trips/public transit.

~~~
glandium
> cellphones have awful battery life for gaming

The video says the switch, depending on conditions has a battery life between
2.5 and 6.5 hours. That doesn't sound particularly better than a cellphone.

~~~
zardeh
Unplug your phone and play (or record) videos for a few hours. See where the
battery is.

~~~
glandium
I do that regularly. And that's why I'm saying that the announced 2.5-6.5
hours doesn't seem like much difference with a cellphone.

------
dfar1
I will buy this if it has sports games.. and I don't mean Wii Sports like
games... I mean... EA, 2k and so on.

~~~
ihuman
EA was there and announced a FIFA game, so I'm assuming their other sports
games are coming as well.

~~~
dfar1
Sweet. I saw a 2k17/18 on another site. So that gets my hopes up. I'm a casual
gamer, and this seems to be a good in between full console vs mobile gaming.

------
teddyh
The gaming community’s receptions to the Switch seems to be somewhat
sceptical:

[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=382](http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=382)

[https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2016/10/26/youth-
adjacent](https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2016/10/26/youth-adjacent)

~~~
panic
To be clear, these cartoons are from 2016 and aren't based on yesterday's
presentation.

------
Grue3
Looks clunky as hell. How big is that thing? I notice that the video doesn't
show actual humans playing it.

------
I_am_neo
That controller gives me RSI just looking at the controller..... no thanks

------
awqrre
Will 6 people play it on all 6 demo Sundays (in 6 cities)?

------
illuminati1911
Overpriced, low battery life compared to iPad and only good game announced was
2011 released Skyrim.

If Nintendo wants to stay in game business they need to get serious. This
press info was much worse than I expected it to be.

------
LeicaLatte
The pricing is on the level of Apple for some reason.

------
Zelmor
No info released on battery, RAM and GPU? Fishy.

~~~
mathw
They never do that. Specs are not Nintendo's thing. They're more interested in
how much fun you can have with it.

------
badevguru
So on launch we have the choice of Zelda... or the milking the cow game...
really...

~~~
DanBC
No titles at launch is common for Nintendo. SNES had F-Zero or Super Mario
World. n64 had pilotwings or super mario 64. Gamecube had Luigi's Mansion,
Wave Race something or other, and Super Monkey Ball.

Admittedly, Wii had a bunch of launch games.

------
teamhappy
Oh for fuck's sake Nintendo. Just put all the NES and SNES games on a little
ARM box, sell if for 100 bucks and watch the money pour in.

// ThatPlayer: Of course not, but they could make deals for the popular ones,
etc.

~~~
intopieces
[https://github.com/jasarien/Provenance](https://github.com/jasarien/Provenance)
An AppleTV 4 can be had for ~$150 with controller.

~~~
teamhappy
A Raspberry Pi might do it as well (at least for the likes of us.)

I'm just worried about Nintendo. They had some money troubles a couple of
years (?) ago and I'm not sure this thing is going to fix it.

