Personally I found the announcement underwhelming. Aside from the screen size, it felt like the changes should've been part of the console from day one. That being said, I still support Nintendo for offering a unique and, frankly, fun experience in gaming. The PS5 and Xbox being not much more than home PCs and hardly available to boot really take the wind out of gaming sails.
I finally just upgraded my desktop to play modern games again, after about two decades of just getting whatever new console is out.
It plays all current games on Xbox Game Pass at Ultra High settings, so I don't feel a big urge to get any new consoles.
And with the curved 3440x1440p 144hz monitor I'm starting to prefer gaming on the PC again (except Switch games, of course, currently playing Super Mario Golf and Game Maker Studio on there).
Granted it's more expensive, but it also gives me a beefy computer for development, if I ever come up with a game idea that's not some simple graphic puzzle game (I'm trying, my designer brain just really likes grids for some reason, and I have very limited art skills).
Except the Slim models had a new refresh of the CPU's so they were a lot more energy efficient and quiet. Hoping they do the same for the PS5, given that its size is mostly due to cooling requirements.
I upgraded my original Switch to the revamped model with the new SoC a couple of years ago. GameStop were offering a really great trade in which cost €50 for the new model. It basically boiled down to a €50 100% battery life boost, and new hardware of course which may have some useful other revisions.
Those original consoles are becoming more rare, you could have probably sold it for close to what you originally paid for it, exactly because of that older SoC!
As far as I know, not every original SOC switch has this exploit, just ones from the first year of production or so. There are tools to lookup your serial number and see if you have a valid model. My switch has the homebrew exploit, but none of my friends' switches do, and they're all the first switch model but mine was purchased a few months earlier than the others.
It is a big deal because the switch does not go to sleep when a USB-Ethernet adapter is plugged in. This hardware does not have a powered-on MTTF that would make many customers happy.
Not sleeping with a plugged in Ethernet adapter seems to be a problem with certain third-party adapters.
I'm using an old Wii ethernet adapter which works fine.
I thought so too. I've gone down the rabbit hole in the past. I've tried three different chips and the result is always the same. Sometimes it's spottier behavior but it always ends up staying on in the steady state.
> The 4K and DLSS rumours didn't come true, unfortunately
How do we know that? What is to say they won't announce that next week? Was there something specific about the 6th July being the date we would find out whether the rumours were true?
Why would they muddy their messaging by announcing half the features, and then later announcing another set of features? Think about how much marketing confusion that would lead to; most people wouldn't have any idea what the thing actually does.
They could be ashamed of the hardware difference: except for pro-sumers, having segmented hardware is a net loss for consumers owning the current hardware: they'd just have an inferior product.
It gets annoying after you've replaced them 6+ times in the space of a year. Personally I just gave up and avoid using joycons or live with the drift when I have to.
BTW: The joysticks in the JoyCons that seem to wear out quickly are at least very easy to fix yourself as the electronic switches are just screwed on and not soldered. I bought replacement sticks (including the electronic switch component) for as much as €2.50 and just followed The guide on ifixit: https://de.ifixit.com/Device/Joy-Con#
I did a whole lot of research on this topic — including replacing several defective sticks — last winter.
The strangest thing I learned is, virtually everyone uses the same thumbsticks. Sony and Microsoft etc. buy them all from a company called ALPS, whom I remember as mouse/trackpad manufacturers back in the nineties.
So why do Switches seem to have so much trouble with this, while Playstations don't? my guesses…
- Switches are just used a lot more (seems unlikely)
- Switches get exposed to more dirt and crap by being thrown in backpacks and bags a lot (maybe?)
- The clearance between the joycon and the stick mechanism isn't tight enough (doesn't hold up to scrutiny IMHO)
Anyway, I've found that dribbling a little rubbing alcohol on the ball of the thumbsticks and rocking a few orbits usually clears it up for a few months, and I still derive enough joy from these cons to give them a pass on it.
The joycon thumbsticks are nothing like the joysticks on the xbox/ps4 controllers. They may be the same manufacturer (which I'm skeptical), but they are clearly a different product line at the very least.
yes, probably different product lines (in fact definitely, the Xbox stick is threaded metal), but I dug into ALPS's inventory and they don't offer more than two or possibly three models in total.
I think it’s the height and resulting design differences. Switch sticks are half as thick compared to normal ones, and internal design don’t resemble classical 2-axis joysticks.
I returned one a couple of weeks ago and they sent it back fixed. I didn’t pay anything for this. All I had to do was put it in a box, attach a label, and take it to the post office.
I would go that far to call joy con a scam. Its amazing how broken they are, not only drift but BT connection is horrible - it stops working each time my leg comes in between.
Tried pure alcohol on all drifting ones without any effect whatsoever.
The indicated battery life remains the same though. OLED might be more power efficient, but if they pump up the brightness and increase the screen size it's pretty much negated.
OLED doesn't mean more power efficient by default across the board.
In fact, it can use up more power in white/light scenes to the point that it averages out to not really make a huge difference. If your average use include a lot of light/white content, you'd have even less battery life than what you'd get with LCD. Here's one test (a bit older but OLED hasn't changed much since then): https://www.anandtech.com/show/10697/the-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-...
I love the Ethernet port. Normally everybody follows Apple in the fight against number of built-in ports in general, and in particular it's very rare to have an Ethernet port on a mobile device which can be extremely limiting.
Seriously what's up with people touting the ethernet port when it's only added because of the dismally powered wifi chip.It had to be throttled so as not to interfere with the BT joycons.
So, rather than fix the issue they throw in wired so people won't complain?
At this point they need to make a home console and a handheld separately. I love my switch (2.0),but the wireless issues drive me insane. No way in hell will I reward them by buying this version.
Well, kind of. It's obviously a matter of personal taste but we've had GbE for two decades whereas even with 802.11ax you are lucky to get more than 500 Mbps. It's extremely useful not just for the Internet but mainly for local network communication. Why have a bottleneck when you can have much higher speeds?
More importantly, it sends a message to other vendors they shouldn't remove the Ethernet port too hastily. Apple won't listen, someone else might. Really, too many companies seem to reason "Apple removed it so can we." At least someone can point out: "Nintendo did it, too, and later regretted it."
No, but it's much nicer to hold, comes in a bunch of cute colours, has a 1GB internal memory (so you can actually save games without immediately buying one of the dumb memory cards) and uses a standard charger.
1GB is near useless for the Vita. I think Killzone had an 8GB day one patch or something? FFX/X-2 only had X on the cart so you needed to download X-2 anyways and it wouldn't fit in a gig. Plus a ton of games skipped retail releases outside Asia or just in general like Minecraft. My 1000 series came with a 4GB card in a bundle for the same price. I still upgraded it soon after because it got filled fast.
It’s arguably slimmer or arguably better because it didn’t have an OLED? I guess I was under the impression that other than lifetime and pricing, OLEDs were the best displays available right now in terms of quality, efficiency, and thickness.
Sorry, I was perhaps being a bit too clever with my comment. I meant, the only reason the Slim is only "arguably" better, as opposed to "clearly better", is because of the lack of OLED.
This is one thing I really don't get. It doesn't even support a USB dongle to do Bluetooth. I've heard it works with some of them, but not all of them.
I use my Switch only plugged into its dock routed through another device that allows me to use Bluetooth headphones. So it's not an issue for me. But I really can't understand how you can sell something as portable if you can't use it with Bluetooth headphones out of the box.
After years of rumors about hardware revamps, new SoC and DLSS support, this feels like a very underwhelming announcement. It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price.
>It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price.
It's not really that hard to believe if you look at a) how long console lifespans are b) what kind of hardware Nintendo usually puts in their home consoles.
The New 3DS was actually a huge hardware upgrade, relative to the original model.
I actually thought at the time that it was going to be a stealth new console, similar to how the Gameboy Color was originally just “gameboy games, now in color”, but after a couple of years GBC-only titles were the norm. That didn’t happen, of course.
1995 was a quarter of a century ago, the traditional console model is long gone, as are Nintendo's biggest rivals at the time, Sega.
Sony and Microsoft have greatly pushed the capabilities of consoles over the past 20 years. Nintendo for its part has been happy to stay out of the specs race and focus its console offerings around staples like Mario and Zelda.
Ahem, underperforming indie games. Most indie games can barely handle 30fps at 720p, which is pretty telling about Unity which probably runs more than 90% of them.
And there are also underperforming first-party games. BOTW had drops to 15 fps in some areas, and Link's Awakening had major performance issues.
Good thing we got WarioWare and whatever the current version of Wii Fit is called.
Nintendo is seriously out of touch with the market and they are still viewing themselves as a toymaker. I have no idea how their core fanbase doesn't get tired of rehashing the same 5 games for 4 decades.
I don't think it's underwhelming, and the whole "Switch Pro" didn't make much sense in the way Nintendo does their thing.
Nintendo Switch sells a lot in it's current form competing directly/indirectly with new gen consoles, and it's halfway through the Switch lifecycle, and Nintendo way - at least for handhelds - is to launch new versions, like themed ones, of the same hardware (even with minor tweaks - like New 3DS, 3DS XL, etc).
It works, why change it?
Because they can't get the lasted releases? They still get some, like Doom, but some would never run properly on this form factor, specially at this price point.
They sell entertainment, and they are pretty good at it. I'd even go through the length of saying Nintendo might position themselves more towards Disney then Sony Computer Entertainment, for sure they are between them and they're alone there.
It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price.
It should be quite inspiring for startups really. It's solid evidence that your customers will pay much more than you'd think when the product you're selling is a great fit for their needs.
The lesson is that you shouldn't cut prices based on your instincts. Test the market, and only discount when your sales data shows that you actually need to. If you can sell a product for a premium long past the point where you'd expect to need to start discounting then the only thing wrong was your expectation. Believe the market.
Those rumors never made any sense. Nintendo has no "specs masterrace"-spirit. Their focus always was elsewhere. And they always denied those rumors, never saying a thing even hinting in those direction. Complaining here is very misguided.
And there is also another point to consider. 2020 brought a huge drain of hardware-supply, we've seen it with the new xbox and PS5. Nintendo already had supply-problems in better times, now way would they risk bringing some new hotseller in the actual situation.
Basically everyone in IT aquipment procurement, PC gamers, automobile factories, and hardware designers: have you've missed the news?
Actually, some software companies (especially Electron-based software) have realised how grave the hardware shortages are now that they're optimising their software to run more efficiently at the expense of slowdown in feature-adding (which if it's a more normal event it will be ignored for development velocity).
I'm not as disappointed as others seem to be. It never made sense to me that they would upgrade the hardware much. The whole selling point of the console is that it can be handheld, despite having much less graphical power than the competition. If they take steps towards upgrading hardware at the cost of portability or battery life, then it's less appealing.
And on a minor note, the original kickstand is an absolute joke, it would be nice to try one that actually works.
Yeah, I agree with you. The rumors that have been going around didn't make much sense IMO. (Has Nintendo ever done a hardware upgrade that would have been as drastic? Genuinely asking).
Also yes, the original kickstand made me wonder if anyone at Nintendo had actually tried to use it more than once. It's by far my least favorite part of the Switch.
Nintendo did an upgraded 3ds called "New 3ds" that had a better chip and could run games the regular 3ds couldn't. The only prominent one being a port of the Wii game Xenoblade that they clearly couldn't get working on the regular 3ds.
Thanks for the list! I didn't knew about the 'New' 3DS.
Though, I would still argue a 4K upgrade is a little far fetched. Nintendo hardware has always been less powerful than that of its 'competitors', who only recently started pushing 4K. (whether or not Nintendo actually competes with Sony and Microsoft is a whole other discussion :P).
Nitpicky, but the New 3DS isnt more than 8 times faster than the Old 3DS: it has a quad core 800MHz processor instead of a dual core 268MHz processor. Even with perfectly scaled multi-threaded code, thats only a ~6x increase.
No idea how that happened, I guess I simply forget the dualcore cpu on the original model. But to one-up the nitpicky-ness one could argue that the "real" game performance still has a more than 8x increase, since both models seem to reserve one core for the OS.
> The only handheld generation where Nintendo didn't do this was the GBA, so it's very common.
Since we're talking things that affect portability/battery life in general: The GBA SP, aside from being their first foldable handheld, was the first with an internal light and a built-in rechargeable battery (instead of taking AA or AAA batteries).
That would be great IF the current hardware could handle the games. It can't - even indie games mostly can't sustain 30fps and rely heavily on resolution scaling which drives the resolution way underneath the internal screens 720p resolution.
Just try something like Apex Legends and you'll see how it pretty much looks like you're seeing through an oily film. Even the DLCs for the console darling, Breath of the Wild, can't sustain smooth 30fps gameplay.
People didn't expect better hardware to get 4K. People expected better hardware to make their games playable on internal 720p screen.
let me introduce you /r/nintendo lol. I do see your point. Mid-generation upgrades have been done before and they can work. I still don't think it's necessary. Ultimately developers have to target the old hardware still, so it's not like games will change drastically, and it causes confusion for consumers. That's just my opinion of course.
This 100%. I find myself not buying that much on Switch these days because it just runs so poorly. To the point where I question why I even have a Switch at all.
If Nintendo, the manufacturer of the console can't do it well for the console exclusive, then maybe... just maybe... might be that the hardware is at fault?
Switch is hardly competitive with modern phone chipsets with its old architecture.
Bringing back my old argument, the appeal of the console for many is striking a balance between portability and power. Yeah, there can be performance issues, but you can play Zelda/Witcher/Dark Souls/DOOM/Skyrim/etc on the go, and you can't get that anywhere else. Certainly things could be improved on the technical side, but the sales numbers indicate that enough people are happy with it.
It's not just triple-A ports that struggle on the Switch. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, which is a Nintendo Switch exclusive remaster of a Nintendo Wii game published by Nintendo themselves, runs somewhere between 540p and 720p when docked, and between 378p and 540p when playing handheld.
The original Switch was released four years ago. Think about how much hardware has improved in that time. They could drop in today's exact equivalent to what they put in back then (same cost, battery life, etc) and it would almost certainly be a big improvement
An upgrade like that implies hardware and software developing and testing, that cost a lot of money. Possibly more than the margin of benefits that could give them versus a simple new screen.
>If they take steps towards upgrading hardware at the cost of portability or battery life, then it's less appealing.
It would result in an opposite effect. New SoC, developed in 5nm process or 7nm process would consume way less energy, which would dramatically increase battery life.
The Switch controllers are so disappointing I doubt I'll ever buy another Nintendo product. Out of 4 Joycons and 3 Pro controllers, 1 pro controller is still fully functional.
They're ok for solo gaming, but anything multiplayer or especially cooperative is impossible.
If I'm playing Zelda or something, it's bearable because it's not too time sensitive and no one else is depending on me.
If I'm playing Smash Bros then I just can't hit any combos and if I'm playing Overcooked then we are all letting each other down because we're running past and into each other.
I have the same experience. If I knew, I wouldn't never bought it. And once I experienced it, everybody was like, oooh yeah, joy cons are broken, buy pro controller. I have 4 joy cons and all started to drift and thus unusable, 3-6 months after I bough them. Bought pro controller 6 months ago and so far it still works.
So bad yet so expensive. I am honestly amazed there is no drama around it, its THAT bad. People can obviously tolerate any kind of shit.
Same. I don't understand how it's still such a consistent problem for them, even years after the Switch first released. I've had better luck with 3rd party Joy Con-like controllers than the official product.
There are some games that are basically unplayable because the drift will unpredictably fuck things up. Like the new Super Mario Golf game, for example. I tried it with the old Joy Cons and the drift will randomly add curve to your shot and ruin the shot, and some of the challenges in Adventure mode in particular don't leave much room for error.
I hardly used them for a year, then I bought a new game and invited friends to play and now the buttons take multiple presses to register and the sticks drift.
Many people here saying the SoC has not been upgraded, but anyone has a definitive source for this ? Best information I could find was the estimated battery life is the same as the current Switch (higher than release-day model).
I just purchased my second switch recently and the only regret is the Lan port! It would have been nice to be there if I wanted to stream without having to buy an adapter to waste a port on.
I have internal statistics that 80% of Switch game instances are in handheld mode.
Docked-only features like DLSS are unnecessary.
Even with DLSS, the CPU heavily limits performance anyway.
Indies are making so much money on Switch that there is a guaranteed pipeline of titles, plus Nintendo 1st-party, to keep the system relevant for about another 3 years, until hopefully we see a Switch 2 with much more powerful CPU and GPU (with basic raytracing), still 720p handheld, with maybe a standalone dock with a DLSS chip for 4k docked.
PS1-PS4 and PC gamer here. I got into the Switch in Dec 2020 and I've been significantly impressed with the quality of the games and console. I had heard from many that the Switch is worth buying for "Breath of the Wild" alone and that was fair for me.
That game is still IMO far better than any AAA title I've played (including GTA V, Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk (!), AC Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla) on significantly more powerful consoles/PC and it runs nearly perfectly on the current Switch, both handheld and docked. What's even more shocking is how they manage to keep the game so engaging and beautiful looking whilst keeping the loading times so low. I can boot the console, load the game and be playing in probably <30 seconds compared to at least 4 minutes for top PS4 titles.
Who needs hyper-realistic graphics and 5 min load times (looking at you AC/RDR/GTA...) when you have less realistic but MORE beautiful graphics, attention-to-detail with truly addictive, deep and mastery-focused gameplay?
Which leads me to the new OLED Switch release: when a game like BOTW is so great, still so relevant today and runs so perfectly on the existing Switch models, I'd say the console didn't even need an update ... although I would personally have loved bluetooth audio.
Yes - I recently got a XSX and fast-switching is (sorry for the pun) game-changing. It's extremely similar to the DS-close-lid suspend experience, but you can also juggle multiple games at once.
Sure, and whilst I used them as main examples, it's not just about hardware and load times.
What's important to me at the end of the day is a great game, not technical metrics which aren't meaningless but less meaningful ... e.g. Donkey Kong Country on a SNES emulator is still a better, more enjoyable game than 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4 which fits into the same platforming category.
PS4 had plenty of chances to release a "great" critically acclaimed game given the hardware, even 4 years in yet they still didn't manage to beat BOTW according to gamers/critics. Looking at metacritic, the best PS4 games of all time (RDR2, GTAV) are at 97, which is the same as BOTW.
As for PS5/XSX. Do they even have any truly "great" games yet? All their best games are remakes/remasters which are limited to better graphics. Truly great games are exactly why Nintendo can afford to barely update their console 5 years after release.
The PS5 and the Xbox Series X don't support Bluetooth audio
either. I would love it if it was possible but all the low latency codecs are a mess, and 250ms of desync with SBC or AAC would have you hating Bluetooth audio.
And at least the Xbox supports plugging headphones in to the controllers, since the controller refresh in the middle of the Xbox One generation. This doesn't entirely solve the same problem but it gets close.
the only two improvements I wanted were joycons that don't suck ass (3/4 of my joycon thumbsticks are messed up, and I don't even play the console that much), and a newer, less terrible eShop, in that order. maybe some kind of form factor update, like the DS lite was compared to the original DS. I don't care about 4k output from "underpowered, by current console standards" hardware.
this announcement is only disappointing because while the Switch is obviously a hybrid handheld/TV console, Nintendo has a great history of making hardware updates to their handheld lines that make them better in various ways (not just performance!).
cool, I'll check them out. I'm a bit wary of buying third-party controllers for any system, but if it's Hori, and $30 cheaper than the official Nintendo ones...
I thought it was fair considering no change in SoC makes Software development easier. Wait till Switch 2 to make the big hardware leap. Average life time of console are 7 years. So Switch still has a few more years to go. Nintendo cares way more about the experience rather than spec, as they have been for the past 20 if not 30 years.
My biggest question is the OLED, is it pentile? Since the resolution is the same but with a larger 7" OLED, the pixel density are already lower, and if they are using the industry norm pentile matrix OLED, it would means the pixel density is even lower for certain colour.
I suppose better colour saturation and accuracy might make up for it. Although $349 is quite expensive. I guess since they cant make enough of it for demand they might as well price it higher.
I am wondering if Nvidia SoC will make it into Switch 2 again. Low Budget Low Margin chips aren't exactly their usual play. And sometimes I just wish Nintendo make their own Smartphones.
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[ 2.7 ms ] story [ 209 ms ] threadSomeone should tell Nintendo's marketing department.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mHq6Y7JSmg
7-inch instead of 6.2-inch, but still 1280x720.
https://www.nintendo.com/switch/tech-specs/
It plays all current games on Xbox Game Pass at Ultra High settings, so I don't feel a big urge to get any new consoles.
And with the curved 3440x1440p 144hz monitor I'm starting to prefer gaming on the PC again (except Switch games, of course, currently playing Super Mario Golf and Game Maker Studio on there).
Granted it's more expensive, but it also gives me a beefy computer for development, if I ever come up with a game idea that's not some simple graphic puzzle game (I'm trying, my designer brain just really likes grids for some reason, and I have very limited art skills).
Curious if they will do it again.
With that, if you already have a Switch, don't bother upgrading.
How do we know that? What is to say they won't announce that next week? Was there something specific about the 6th July being the date we would find out whether the rumours were true?
The strangest thing I learned is, virtually everyone uses the same thumbsticks. Sony and Microsoft etc. buy them all from a company called ALPS, whom I remember as mouse/trackpad manufacturers back in the nineties.
So why do Switches seem to have so much trouble with this, while Playstations don't? my guesses…
- Switches are just used a lot more (seems unlikely)
- Switches get exposed to more dirt and crap by being thrown in backpacks and bags a lot (maybe?)
- The clearance between the joycon and the stick mechanism isn't tight enough (doesn't hold up to scrutiny IMHO)
Anyway, I've found that dribbling a little rubbing alcohol on the ball of the thumbsticks and rocking a few orbits usually clears it up for a few months, and I still derive enough joy from these cons to give them a pass on it.
OEM replacement for Switch - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32840163595.html
yes, probably different product lines (in fact definitely, the Xbox stick is threaded metal), but I dug into ALPS's inventory and they don't offer more than two or possibly three models in total.
Tried pure alcohol on all drifting ones without any effect whatsoever.
They didn’t mention it but I assume the OLED would be more power efficient.
In fact, it can use up more power in white/light scenes to the point that it averages out to not really make a huge difference. If your average use include a lot of light/white content, you'd have even less battery life than what you'd get with LCD. Here's one test (a bit older but OLED hasn't changed much since then): https://www.anandtech.com/show/10697/the-lenovo-thinkpad-x1-...
So, rather than fix the issue they throw in wired so people won't complain?
At this point they need to make a home console and a handheld separately. I love my switch (2.0),but the wireless issues drive me insane. No way in hell will I reward them by buying this version.
OMG, we are in 2021. Ethernet ports should be on ones body already and people love that 2021 nintendo added one. Amazed.
More importantly, it sends a message to other vendors they shouldn't remove the Ethernet port too hastily. Apple won't listen, someone else might. Really, too many companies seem to reason "Apple removed it so can we." At least someone can point out: "Nintendo did it, too, and later regretted it."
I use my Switch only plugged into its dock routed through another device that allows me to use Bluetooth headphones. So it's not an issue for me. But I really can't understand how you can sell something as portable if you can't use it with Bluetooth headphones out of the box.
[0]: https://www.genkithings.com/products/genki-audio
It's not really that hard to believe if you look at a) how long console lifespans are b) what kind of hardware Nintendo usually puts in their home consoles.
Actually, not even. Pretty sure the new New 3DS had a beefier processor and added the 2nd joystick.
I actually thought at the time that it was going to be a stealth new console, similar to how the Gameboy Color was originally just “gameboy games, now in color”, but after a couple of years GBC-only titles were the norm. That didn’t happen, of course.
Sony and Microsoft have greatly pushed the capabilities of consoles over the past 20 years. Nintendo for its part has been happy to stay out of the specs race and focus its console offerings around staples like Mario and Zelda.
And there are also underperforming first-party games. BOTW had drops to 15 fps in some areas, and Link's Awakening had major performance issues.
Good thing we got WarioWare and whatever the current version of Wii Fit is called.
Nintendo is seriously out of touch with the market and they are still viewing themselves as a toymaker. I have no idea how their core fanbase doesn't get tired of rehashing the same 5 games for 4 decades.
They have been advertising to us since we were literal babies. Their corporate mascots have become familiar characters.
I personally find it extremely unethical Nintendo advertises to children. As an adult my brain still reacts to their corporate mascots.
Nintendo Switch sells a lot in it's current form competing directly/indirectly with new gen consoles, and it's halfway through the Switch lifecycle, and Nintendo way - at least for handhelds - is to launch new versions, like themed ones, of the same hardware (even with minor tweaks - like New 3DS, 3DS XL, etc).
It works, why change it?
Because they can't get the lasted releases? They still get some, like Doom, but some would never run properly on this form factor, specially at this price point.
They sell entertainment, and they are pretty good at it. I'd even go through the length of saying Nintendo might position themselves more towards Disney then Sony Computer Entertainment, for sure they are between them and they're alone there.
It should be quite inspiring for startups really. It's solid evidence that your customers will pay much more than you'd think when the product you're selling is a great fit for their needs.
The lesson is that you shouldn't cut prices based on your instincts. Test the market, and only discount when your sales data shows that you actually need to. If you can sell a product for a premium long past the point where you'd expect to need to start discounting then the only thing wrong was your expectation. Believe the market.
And there is also another point to consider. 2020 brought a huge drain of hardware-supply, we've seen it with the new xbox and PS5. Nintendo already had supply-problems in better times, now way would they risk bringing some new hotseller in the actual situation.
Nintendo denies all reports of new products until they're released; regardless of if the rumor is right or not.
Nintendo is best in class for using psychology tricks.
Edit- I'm not referring to 2021, I'm referring to 2000-2020.
Actually, some software companies (especially Electron-based software) have realised how grave the hardware shortages are now that they're optimising their software to run more efficiently at the expense of slowdown in feature-adding (which if it's a more normal event it will be ignored for development velocity).
And on a minor note, the original kickstand is an absolute joke, it would be nice to try one that actually works.
Also yes, the original kickstand made me wonder if anyone at Nintendo had actually tried to use it more than once. It's by far my least favorite part of the Switch.
The GB Color is also twice as fast and has more than double the RAM. (Although one can argue if it's an upgrade or a real "separate" console)
The New 3ds has been mentioned, which is more than 8 times faster and has double the ram.
The only handheld generation where Nintendo didn't do this was the GBA, so it's very common.
Though, I would still argue a 4K upgrade is a little far fetched. Nintendo hardware has always been less powerful than that of its 'competitors', who only recently started pushing 4K. (whether or not Nintendo actually competes with Sony and Microsoft is a whole other discussion :P).
Since we're talking things that affect portability/battery life in general: The GBA SP, aside from being their first foldable handheld, was the first with an internal light and a built-in rechargeable battery (instead of taking AA or AAA batteries).
Just try something like Apex Legends and you'll see how it pretty much looks like you're seeing through an oily film. Even the DLCs for the console darling, Breath of the Wild, can't sustain smooth 30fps gameplay.
People didn't expect better hardware to get 4K. People expected better hardware to make their games playable on internal 720p screen.
let me introduce you /r/nintendo lol. I do see your point. Mid-generation upgrades have been done before and they can work. I still don't think it's necessary. Ultimately developers have to target the old hardware still, so it's not like games will change drastically, and it causes confusion for consumers. That's just my opinion of course.
It's just a money grab selling underperforming AAA ports on switch.
Switch is hardly competitive with modern phone chipsets with its old architecture.
Of course that’s not an argument against improving Specs, but to do that they’d probably launch a new generation.
I pretty much only play Nintendo titles or small indie games and I have never experienced any framerate issues.
Heck, even slow strategy games like XCOM2 don't run well.
It's not even with the DLCs. Korok Forest, as beautiful as it is, is commonly known as "Frame Drop Forest".
It would result in an opposite effect. New SoC, developed in 5nm process or 7nm process would consume way less energy, which would dramatically increase battery life.
They're ok for solo gaming, but anything multiplayer or especially cooperative is impossible.
If controller's longevity is inherently problematic, how is it suitable for solo while not so for copperative?
So bad yet so expensive. I am honestly amazed there is no drama around it, its THAT bad. People can obviously tolerate any kind of shit.
But let's be honest, you don't buy Nintendo products for high quality gaming, you buy it because you always buy Zelda.
There are some games that are basically unplayable because the drift will unpredictably fuck things up. Like the new Super Mario Golf game, for example. I tried it with the old Joy Cons and the drift will randomly add curve to your shot and ruin the shot, and some of the challenges in Adventure mode in particular don't leave much room for error.
Did you really manage to break 2 Pro controllers? If so, how and in which way is it broken?
Not really doubting you, however those are beasts and, generally, renowned as the better controllers (compared to Xbox, PS4).
I have one (Xenoblade one) and it has around 500 hours of playtime on it - feels like new...
A lot of people are hoping for unannounced changes, but there doesn't seem to be any.
Everyone Else: Where do I preorder?
Docked-only features like DLSS are unnecessary.
Even with DLSS, the CPU heavily limits performance anyway.
Indies are making so much money on Switch that there is a guaranteed pipeline of titles, plus Nintendo 1st-party, to keep the system relevant for about another 3 years, until hopefully we see a Switch 2 with much more powerful CPU and GPU (with basic raytracing), still 720p handheld, with maybe a standalone dock with a DLSS chip for 4k docked.
That game is still IMO far better than any AAA title I've played (including GTA V, Red Dead 2, Cyberpunk (!), AC Origins/Odyssey/Valhalla) on significantly more powerful consoles/PC and it runs nearly perfectly on the current Switch, both handheld and docked. What's even more shocking is how they manage to keep the game so engaging and beautiful looking whilst keeping the loading times so low. I can boot the console, load the game and be playing in probably <30 seconds compared to at least 4 minutes for top PS4 titles.
Who needs hyper-realistic graphics and 5 min load times (looking at you AC/RDR/GTA...) when you have less realistic but MORE beautiful graphics, attention-to-detail with truly addictive, deep and mastery-focused gameplay?
Which leads me to the new OLED Switch release: when a game like BOTW is so great, still so relevant today and runs so perfectly on the existing Switch models, I'd say the console didn't even need an update ... although I would personally have loved bluetooth audio.
I no longer need to think about save points.
What's important to me at the end of the day is a great game, not technical metrics which aren't meaningless but less meaningful ... e.g. Donkey Kong Country on a SNES emulator is still a better, more enjoyable game than 2020's Crash Bandicoot 4 which fits into the same platforming category.
PS4 had plenty of chances to release a "great" critically acclaimed game given the hardware, even 4 years in yet they still didn't manage to beat BOTW according to gamers/critics. Looking at metacritic, the best PS4 games of all time (RDR2, GTAV) are at 97, which is the same as BOTW.
As for PS5/XSX. Do they even have any truly "great" games yet? All their best games are remakes/remasters which are limited to better graphics. Truly great games are exactly why Nintendo can afford to barely update their console 5 years after release.
this announcement is only disappointing because while the Switch is obviously a hybrid handheld/TV console, Nintendo has a great history of making hardware updates to their handheld lines that make them better in various ways (not just performance!).
My biggest question is the OLED, is it pentile? Since the resolution is the same but with a larger 7" OLED, the pixel density are already lower, and if they are using the industry norm pentile matrix OLED, it would means the pixel density is even lower for certain colour.
I suppose better colour saturation and accuracy might make up for it. Although $349 is quite expensive. I guess since they cant make enough of it for demand they might as well price it higher.
I am wondering if Nvidia SoC will make it into Switch 2 again. Low Budget Low Margin chips aren't exactly their usual play. And sometimes I just wish Nintendo make their own Smartphones.