Nintendo Switch: Thread 09

[briareos_kerensky]

Can't wait for NeonIgnition to report about Era users arguing how wrong Digital Foundry is and that surely the Switch 2 will run 4K natively with 8K DLSS!

[Neon Ignition]

Finally things seem much more subdued over there after the last burn.

Thing is, Steam Deck has defused a lot of speculation about Switch 2. Nintendo is never going to deliver something far and above Deck because they value their margins too highly. I'm sure Switch 2 will be technically capable of 4K via DLSS but I'm doubtful we'll see much of it delivered largely because all the benchmarks of achieving it are done so with resolutely current gen titles. By the time Switch 2 arrives we'l be firmly in the PS5/XSX era for software development, essentially placing Nintendo exactly where it stands now in terms of the Switch running PS4/XBO ports. Basically, perfectly decent for its purpose but the people who care most about the Pro/NS2 years of hype will continue to be disappointed

[Brad]

I wish Nintendo would stop making hardware and just make games. I would buy some of those games.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I wish Nintendo would stop faffing around and make console hardware properly.

Corrected.

[nonny]

Yeah I want Nintendo to get back to making decent hardware SNES style... I do enjoy the switch personally but really only for its handheld usage which is why I've picked up a cheap Lite model.

I just found the TV experience on switch lacking because I've become a bit of a snob being spoiled with 4K120 and the like.

I don't really care if Nintendo brought out a 4K capable machine but if they could up the power by making a dedicated TV console I'd be up for it.

[Brad]

My WiiU gamepad (like many/all) used to disconnect from the main unit, they never fixed this. Switch drifting joy cons that they'll also never fix. I just don't trust them with hardware anymore. It's not just Nintendo, I wish all xbox and playstation games came out on pc as well. Nintendo are easy pickings because their games still rock but their hardware sucks.

[wakka]

Going to go ahead and disagree with you guys (well, except the bit Brad said about reliability). I love that they bring something different to the table. It makes gaming more interesting. The PS5 and XSX are literally the exact same thing as each other in different shaped boxes.

I'd rather have them making their own hardware that has its own flavour than get a higher resolution and framerate out of Zelda, personally.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Bringing "something different" to the table isn't an excuse for half-baked gimmicks and compromised sub-par hardware that Nintendo consistently come with these days, no matter how good the games are.

I've said it before, I'll say it again and I'll keep on saying it: A true Nintendo equivalent to modern PS and XBOX hardware would easily be competitive if they would only bloody do it properly and not half-arse it with corner-cutting and compromise like they always do. They have the means to be able to do it and, decades deep into the industry, they should be doing it. It just isn't true to pretend otherwise.

[dataDave]

If they can sell a billion full-price, never-discounted, sometimes re-released games on sub-standard hardware every five years then that's obviously what they're going to keep on doing.

It's been 20 years since they gave a crap about cutting-edge hardware and F-Zero. I don't blame them really, because I fail to believe a huge immobile £500 Nintendo box with an RTX3070 equivalent inside, all for the sake of a resolution and framerate bump, would break 8M sold.

[wakka]

I don't know why we need another PS and Xbox. We've already got two and they're literally exactly the same as each other. A third console which is exactly the same again would add nothing for me. At least the Switch has some points of differentiation, which I'm grateful for.

I don't even think Nintendo's art style needs much more power to be honest. Mario Odyssey 2 on the Switch 2 will probably just look broadly the same but with a higher resolution.

That's my perspective as a player, anyway. From a commercial perspective, I reckon they'd have gotten absolutely creamed if they just tried to make PSBoxes. I don't reckon they'd have got anywhere near the sales the Switch commands.

[dataDave]

I do think they have a problem with their userbase 'growing out' of their hardware. They could be doing more to keep teens onboard through to adulthood, instead of losing them to the competition. Maybe a more premium hardware option (like the old GBA SP) and a few more IPs would help out with that.

The problem is that when young 'uns move over to COD/BF/Fortnite they stop buying other games entirely.

[Neon Ignition]

Hot Take - If the Switch had never been handheld capable and was exactly the same power wise but just as a dedicated console it's software line up would be much more heavily derided

(Also putting aside it would have bombed and therefore had less released for it)

[Nu-Eclipse]

Somehow MS and Sony (with far less history in the industry) are consistently able to sell millions of immobile RTX3070 boxes but Nintendo somehow wouldn't be able to??

LOL. Do me a favour.

If they did it properly and showed the entire industry, gamers and devs alike, that they were serious about it this time instead of relying on half-baked gimmicks, they would easily be competitive.

[nonny]

I don't want them to compete at a power level with the other boys and I also don't want them to move away from doing "something different" with regards to the switc being both a handheld and TV capable machine.

I just feel there is definite room to improve here in docked mode or specifically building something that performs better on TV.

We've already seen a switch that doesn't switch in the lite model. I think now I'd like to see either a dock that has extra juice for TV mode or just a dedicated TV console outright.

[dataDave]

Somehow MS and Sony (with far less history in the industry) are consistently able to sell millions of immobile RTX3070 boxes but Nintendo somehow wouldn't be able to??

RTX2070 boxes, more like with barely any profit margin (if not sold at a loss).

A £500 RTX3070 box is not going to sell another 30M units of Mario Kart 8. That's all they care about because they concentrate on being as profitable a business as possible.

I'm sure they have a team of analysts that work on what's going to be a good idea or not, as opposed to just winging it by reading what people think on forums.