It won't serve as a true iPad competitor, however: The Switch lacks apps like Netflix at launch, and does not even feature a web browser. It's possible such functions could be added down the road via software updates.
So by implication, this is all that is needed to be an iPad competitor?
That's what people think they're getting when they buy a $50 Kindle, and then it ends up in a drawer collecting dust after a week.
That's a strange implication to make.
Just because Netflix or a browser are needed in an iPad competitor, does not even remotely mean that it is the sum total of everything needed to be so.
Yeah but that's what AI implied with the sentence?
Picked up a Switch today along with Zelda. Loving it, nicest hardware from Nintendo ever. Very, very clever and flexible design. Might not be the most powerful console, but at least it's unique and will have all the AAA Nintendo IPs.
Zelda is getting 10/10 reviews from websites that hate Nintendo.
Throw in the towel and focus on software Nintendo. They should be the Candy Crush of our times. All their games should be on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Mac, PC, PS3 and Xbox.
God No.
This is like Apple making android devices.
All I've done so far is climb trees and pick apples and I LOVE IT. It feels like zelda. It sounds like zelda. It's GORGEOUS. I can't wait to see Mario or Splatoon 2 or XenoBlade or a game in two years looks like.
Switch is a great, great design. Took my son to the doctor today and we played two-player co-op with SnipperClips in the waiting room (propped it up on the built-in stand, took off each side to give us a controller each). On an iPad a game like this isn't made because you can't expect two people to have controllers and even if you did, people don't usually lug two around (controls require at least 4 buttons and an analog stick), but the Switch is super compact and always has two controllers on board. Plus, my wife and son are playing the game at home right now on the big screen with no airplay lag or awkward HDMI wire, just dock and play.
They are for different purposes and some games are prefect for iPad where touch is ideal and you want a larger screen. Switch does have a multitouch screen but is on the small side as a tablet.
I'd wager Netflix will come soon enough as will a bunch of other apps, but Nintendo is right to focus on getting the dedicated gaming nature of it more solid first.
The only hardware downside is that the attached controllers are pretty dinky making them a bit fiddly. Some people will feel they need the Pro Controller (which pairs nicely on a Mac or PC incidentally). Everything else is solid, slick and well-designed, in my opinion anyway.
All I've done so far is climb trees and pick apples and I LOVE IT. It feels like zelda. It sounds like zelda. It's GORGEOUS. I can't wait to see Mario or Splatoon 2 or XenoBlade or a game in two years looks like.
Did you see how they started with an 8-bit world that looked and felt like the original NES' The Legend of Zelda?
Underpowered games console that can't run its AAA launch title at a solid 30fps with regular drops to 20fps, not to mention the left controller dropping connection randomly. Hold off for firmware updates an a price cut, our local game store still had 40+ units in stock, no one seemed interested. On the plus side, if you have a Wii U now is the time to sell it, the Zelda release has pushed up 2nd hand pricing, plus the game runs better on the Wii U.
I can't find the Nintendo Switch anywhere. I wonder how long it'll be before I can buy it. Even the simplistic NES Classic is still only available at 3x the MSRP form unscrupulous sellers.
It shouldn't be long. Gamestop is getting more stock in on Sunday. They had some available online this afternoon, but they didn't last long. You will just have to keep checking the tracking sites. Here is one:
Underpowered games console that can't run its AAA launch title at a solid 30fps with regular drops to 20fps, not to mention the left controller dropping connection randomly. Hold off for firmware updates an a price cut, our local game store still had 40+ units in stock, no one seemed interested. On the plus side, if you have a Wii U now is the time to sell it, the Zelda release has pushed up 2nd hand pricing, plus the game runs better on the Wii U.
I feel it depends on how you look at the Switch. As a portable gaming system, it's not underpowered. As a home console, it obviously doesn't come close to an Xbox One or a PS4 Pro. I'm sure all those sold. All the major retailers said the Switch is sold out with more stock arriving soon. I haven't had the issue with the left controller dropping connection. I did however notice the frame rate drops playing Zelda. That actually is pretty bad a game that has ok graphics have frame rate issues. I am pleased though with the Switch. I just wish there were more titles at launch. The game actually does't run any better on the Wii U. Both are suffering frame rate drops.
I feel it depends on how you look at the Switch. As a portable gaming system, it's not underpowered. As a home console, it obviously doesn't come close to an Xbox One or a PS4 Pro.
The performance is around half of an original PS4. It uses the Tegra chip that NVidia uses in the Shield. Here is the Shield running Borderlands 2:
It hovers around 30FPS. The PS4 is running one of the Borderlands games here and dropping to 40FPS but got closer to 60FPS after an update:
It should roughly be:
Nintendo Switch baseline XBox One 1.5x faster PS4 2x faster PS4 Pro 4x faster (they just added a second GPU with clock boost) XBox One Scorpio 6x faster (not available yet)
There's not going to be many exclusives for the latter two because there's too many users on the original consoles. The faster ones are mainly for 4K and VR, they aren't to replace the lower consoles, the prices are almost double. I'd say the Switch holds up ok relative to the original consoles. Whatever the XBO/PS4 run at 60FPS, the Switch will manage the same title at 30FPS. For titles that run at 1080p 30FPS on the consoles, the Switch will manage those at 720p the same way that the XBO runs games at 900p vs 1080p on PS4 and the same way developers had titles on both PS3 and PS4.
Every game will be optimized for the platform so they can cut draw distances, effects to hit the desired FPS. The alternative is they would have made a box slightly faster than the PS4 but not as fast as a PS4 Pro and it wouldn't be portable.
I am pleased though with the Switch. I just wish there were more titles at launch. The game actually does't run any better on the Wii U. Both are suffering frame rate drops.
The Wii U version runs at a lower resolution (720p vs 900p, Switch runs at 720p undocked). The Wii U is about 1/3-1/2 the performance of the Switch.
Launch titles are always a problem with new consoles because the hardware sells slowly and developers would be taking a risk having a major launch with a small audience. They always cut backwards compatibility too, which is where mobile devices have done better as every upgrade runs a growing software library.
Nintendo hasn't done a good job with 3rd party developers over recent years and they might have held back hardware from them to avoid leaks. They are looking to change this. Some developers are waiting to see how the hardware sells. If they manage a few million units in a short enough space of time, it would be enough for 3rd parties to commit to it. They would have done better to have their virtual console available at launch.
This is likely to be the last platform design for Nintendo, they can just bump the spec every 2-3 years and they don't have to worry about it affecting the price and this will sort out the availability of the games over time as they won't have to keep cutting backwards compatibility.
I agree that Nintendo should stop making hardware and just sell software. While there is nothing particularly wrong with the Switch, there is nothing particularly compelling about it either, except for the fact that it runs all the Nintendo exclusives. If Sony or Microsoft had released it they would have been laughed out of the presentation room. It is underpowered compared to modern consoles and lacks storage. Modern AAA titles won't run on it for that reason, which will leave the device mostly with Nintendo-games only that are tailored for Switch... much like the Wii U actually. I have yet to meet a Nintendo player that did not agree to the proposition that if the Mario, Zelda, and Supersmash Bros. games were available on the Sony or Microsoft platforms that they would rather play them on those consoles with their superior controllers and graphics.
Picked up a Switch today along with Zelda. Loving it, nicest hardware from Nintendo ever. Very, very clever and flexible design. Might not be the most powerful console, but at least it's unique and will have all the AAA Nintendo IPs.
I've heard of severe frame drop happening both when docked and used portably, which is worrying since the game was designed for the WiiU. Have you noticed that?
"The Tegra X1 SoC is the same eight-core, 64-bit capable SoC launched at CES 2015, complete with a 256 CUDA core Maxwell-based GPU.
Compared to the Xbox 360, the Shield is twice as fast with a significantly reduced TDP. Thanks to all this power, the device can run high-powered titles that have been especially ported to Android to run on the Shield, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Gearbox claims this title can run at 30 FPS on the Shield."
There's enough performance in the X1 for higher-end games. It just needs good software optimization. MGS V is a high quality game and runs on a PS3, as does GTA V, Uncharted 3 etc. Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments was on the PS3 too and that looks ok:
Syberia 3 should arrive late April, that's been announced for the Switch, although that version might be released later:
Comments
I'd wager Netflix will come soon enough as will a bunch of other apps, but Nintendo is right to focus on getting the dedicated gaming nature of it more solid first.
The only hardware downside is that the attached controllers are pretty dinky making them a bit fiddly. Some people will feel they need the Pro Controller (which pairs nicely on a Mac or PC incidentally). Everything else is solid, slick and well-designed, in my opinion anyway.
I'm really bad at the whole 3D world game play so I'd love to play it as 8-bit and 2D.
http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/nintendoswitch/
http://heavy.com/games/2017/03/breath-of-the-wild-performance-switch-vs-wii-u-digital-foundry/
It hovers around 30FPS. The PS4 is running one of the Borderlands games here and dropping to 40FPS but got closer to 60FPS after an update:
It should roughly be:
Nintendo Switch baseline
XBox One 1.5x faster
PS4 2x faster
PS4 Pro 4x faster (they just added a second GPU with clock boost)
XBox One Scorpio 6x faster (not available yet)
There's not going to be many exclusives for the latter two because there's too many users on the original consoles. The faster ones are mainly for 4K and VR, they aren't to replace the lower consoles, the prices are almost double. I'd say the Switch holds up ok relative to the original consoles. Whatever the XBO/PS4 run at 60FPS, the Switch will manage the same title at 30FPS. For titles that run at 1080p 30FPS on the consoles, the Switch will manage those at 720p the same way that the XBO runs games at 900p vs 1080p on PS4 and the same way developers had titles on both PS3 and PS4.
http://www.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/PS4_vs._Xbox_One_Native_Resolutions_and_Framerates
The Switch should be close to the lowest end MBP:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-Pro-450.181778.0.html
Every game will be optimized for the platform so they can cut draw distances, effects to hit the desired FPS. The alternative is they would have made a box slightly faster than the PS4 but not as fast as a PS4 Pro and it wouldn't be portable.
The Wii U version runs at a lower resolution (720p vs 900p, Switch runs at 720p undocked). The Wii U is about 1/3-1/2 the performance of the Switch.
Launch titles are always a problem with new consoles because the hardware sells slowly and developers would be taking a risk having a major launch with a small audience. They always cut backwards compatibility too, which is where mobile devices have done better as every upgrade runs a growing software library.
Nintendo hasn't done a good job with 3rd party developers over recent years and they might have held back hardware from them to avoid leaks. They are looking to change this. Some developers are waiting to see how the hardware sells. If they manage a few million units in a short enough space of time, it would be enough for 3rd parties to commit to it. They would have done better to have their virtual console available at launch.
This is likely to be the last platform design for Nintendo, they can just bump the spec every 2-3 years and they don't have to worry about it affecting the price and this will sort out the availability of the games over time as they won't have to keep cutting backwards compatibility.
http://www.techspot.com/news/59945-nvidia-announces-shield-tegra-x1-android-tv-box.html
"The Tegra X1 SoC is the same eight-core, 64-bit capable SoC launched at CES 2015, complete with a 256 CUDA core Maxwell-based GPU.
There's enough performance in the X1 for higher-end games. It just needs good software optimization. MGS V is a high quality game and runs on a PS3, as does GTA V, Uncharted 3 etc. Sherlock Holmes Crimes and Punishments was on the PS3 too and that looks ok:
Syberia 3 should arrive late April, that's been announced for the Switch, although that version might be released later: