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JPL

JPL

Posted
Posted
20 minutes ago, TehStu said:

Any sense of how they'll approach 3rd parties? Given it's architecture, I assume it's reasonable to suppose certain popular mobile games would translate to it. That may be a foot in the door, but not unless it has the fairly open mobile developer approach.

I really don't know. There are so many factors involved, it's impossible to predict how third party support will pan out. Personally I'm just going to treat it as a Nintendo player and anything past that is a bonus.

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Majora

Majora

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I just think it's a bit of a weird proposition that the main selling point is 'you can play the new Zelda at home and on the go' but then the handheld version is probably going to run worse than both the Switch and Wii U version because it's less powerful on its own than either. In fact it appears to be significantly less powerful than the docked switch. So the selling point suddenly becomes playing console games on the go but likely with worse frame rate and lower resolution than playing it at home, which doesn't really grab me.

 

To be fair I'll probably end up buying one, stick it under the TV and then never use it as a handheld anyway. But then I'm essentially paying for functionality I'll never use, and accepting really quite low specs for 2016 to allow that functionality I don't really need. 

 

I don't know. It's a nice idea, but it also feels like a have your cake and eat it solution where it can be two things at once but in terms of raw power, portability, battery life, it doesn't really excel at anything.

 

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scottcr

scottcr

Posted
Posted

folks complaining about hardly any games for the thing obviously don't own a 3DS - that thing is home to an embarrassingly vast library of riches, most of it 1st and 2nd party stuff - and MONSTER FUCKING HUNTER.

 

Now, imagine that kind of library - on a machine more powerful than the WiiU, that you can take anywhere with you... that FROM SOFTWARE ALREADY HAVE ALL 3 DARK SOULS GAMES RUNNING ONREG

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pulsemyne

pulsemyne

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11 minutes ago, Majora said:

I just think it's a bit of a weird proposition that the main selling point is 'you can play the new Zelda at home and on the go' but then the handheld version is probably going to run worse than both the Switch and Wii U version because it's less powerful on its own than either. In fact it appears to be significantly less powerful than the docked switch. So the selling point suddenly becomes playing console games on the go but likely with worse frame rate and lower resolution than playing it at home, which doesn't really grab me.

 

To be fair I'll probably end up buying one, stick it under the TV and then never use it as a handheld anyway. But then I'm essentially paying for functionality I'll never use, and accepting really quite low specs for 2016 to allow that functionality I don't really need. 

 

I don't know. It's a nice idea, but it also feels like a have your cake and eat it solution where it can be two things at once but in terms of raw power, portability, battery life, it doesn't really excel at anything.

 

The handheld specs for the clocks still indicate it's more powerful than a wiiu. Much better CPU and faster/more memory along with a better GPU (even when downclocked). Portable is probably equivalent to a slightly souped up wiiu while docked is a lot more powerful.

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MojoChin

MojoChin

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Also, saying the handheld version is gimped compared to the docked version is completely disingenuous, when the actual performance difference is approximately the same as the difference between 1080p and 720p. So same game, same performance, different resolution. Besides people seem to be ignoring a significant quote from the EG article:

 

Quote

But from a different perspective, this makes what we have seen even more impressive. Nintendo's hardware is all about an all-in-one console you can take anywhere while continuing to play the same games. We fully expect to see the kinds of fare displayed in the reveal trailer fully realised: Nintendo doing what it does best, basically. Even a 307.2MHz GPU based on Maxwell technology should be capable of out-performing Wii U - and certainly the Zelda: Breath of the Wild demo seen recently on the Jimmy Fallon show revealed a level of performance significantly smoother than that seen in last year's E3 code running on Wii U hardware. We should also remember that Nvidia has produced a bespoke software layer that should allow developers to get much, much more from the processor compared to what we've seen Tegra achieve in the Android-powered Shield console.

 

But that doesn't fit with the narrative, from some people, of "IT'S WORSE THAN THE WII U!!! OH NOES!!!"

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mushashi

mushashi

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Posted
1 hour ago, PeteBrant said:

It depends what you want from a Nintendo console. I just don't know how compelling the portable aspect is to the PS4/Xbone crowd; any more than, say, Vita is. I don't want to play  COD or battlefield on my Nintendo, I have a PS4 for that, I want to play Zelda and Mario games.

Nintendo are never ever going to compete in a me too world, and I am glad they don't even try to.

 

I think people are concerned with Switch not selling very many and this becoming another WiiU. And it may well turn out that way ; But is this a bad thing? Did it stop first part content? Microsoft and Sony are dealing in 7,8 ,9 year dev cycles. Nintendo, I think, are dealing in 4 year cycles. Does anyone think the Switch is a console for the next decade?

I think if you buy into Switch you buy into 3 things.

 

1. Excellent first party games, if with a slow release rate.

2. Limited third party support

3. A 5 year lifespan maximum.

 

 

 

The problem with this mildly defeatist attitude, is that as the trajectory of their home consoles has shown over the long term, not withstanding a certain outlier, this is not sustainable for ever, to the point they are now having to remove the separation of church and state, home and portable. They tapped out of the home console race when they decided to reuse the GameCube innards and package it with a motion controller as the USP, ever since then all their home console efforts have relied on the crutch of the USP. Eventually they'll run out of USPs that enough people care about when their hardware is always a special case that causes publishers and developers to have to work extra hard to support, the Wii U has already proven that Nintendo games on their own aren't enough of a pull anymore, no matter the apparent quality of them.

 

As to the prevailing view it is a replacement for the 3DS, I wouldn't be personally so confident as that being the case, seems too big and power hungry and expensive to effectively do that. They tried to price the 3DS at above $200, didn't fly, nothing's changed for the average portable consumer from what I can see. They'll be needing a shrunk down portable only version with better battery life and price to really appeal to the portable market.

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Opinionated Ham Scarecrow

Opinionated Ham Scarecrow

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, JPickford said:

It's a narrative if people are ignoring stuff that doesn't fit.   Despite it being right there in the article.

 

I've read the article, watched the Digital Foundry dissection. My concerns are valid to me and what I expect and want as a consumer. Sorry for not being all gushy with enthusiasm though.

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mushashi

mushashi

Posted
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23 hours ago, Pockets said:

I'm an idiot with no tech knowledge so ignore me, but I suspect this docked/undocked thing could lead to 60/30fps in a lot of games which is sort of good. If it's the easiest way to get your game to look the same with less power it might mean devs will aim for undocked spec games to look as good as they can at 30 and have them at 60 as the docked benefit resulting in nearly all games being 60 when docked. 

 

Just a thought, but as a 60fps obsessive who'd only play on a tv anyway, potentially a good result from a strange set up. 

 

Nintendo can do 60fps on pretty much any power of hardware, they already did so on GameCube/Wii/3DS and Wii U, the same as any other dev can choose to do so if willing to put in the extra effort. You just have to cut back on the potential visual fidelity, Wii U level graphics with no AA, job done on the Switch version. They could make Zelda run at 60fps if they wanted to prioritise temporal resolution over visuals, the one on the 3DS chose that path.

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MikeBeaver

MikeBeaver

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I'm impatiently waiting for the proper January reveal, then we will know for sure what it is and isn't capable of.

people are of course entitled to be unhappy about what i srumoured so far, and others are happy about it, it's an opinion, and like arseholes, everyone has one, you don't have to agree with them though.

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Majora

Majora

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Posted

I was going off the number of Gigaflops and Teraflops of various machines posted a few pages back and didn't read the Eurogamer article so if it appears that undocked it's similar to a Wii U then I stand corrected. I'm not trying to peddle any narrative, just trying to make sense of what these different modes mean.

 

I'll get it because it's a new Nintendo console but I still don't think it's a very exciting proposition. If you don't care about playing console games on the go then it's basically just an underpowered home console. Except you need to pay for the handheld functionality you don't want anyway.

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TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

TheSlugFormerlyKnownAsNap

Posted
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28 minutes ago, Gizamaluke said:

There's no anti Nintendo conspiratorial narrative ffs. People are perfectly entitled to have concerns over this.

Indeed. This thread is getting just as shit as the Xbox and Super Mario Run one where any word of criticism or doubt about design decisions is immediately shot down by fuming fanmen. Get a grip. It's a piece of metal, glass and plastic with a brand on it, not the Holy Virgin. And of course we're all going to buy it anyway.

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JPickford

JPickford

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, gizmo1990 said:

Well, if the rumoured specs are correct then at least we know the £199 price looks pretty solid.

 

Isn't this just about them clocking the GPU lower than expected?  Would that save them money?

 

I thought it was more about getting decent battery life (the undocked speed).   The docked speed is 2.5ish times that so performance will be near-enough identical at 1080p.

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rgraves

rgraves

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, Napole0n said:

Indeed. This thread is getting just as shit as the Xbox and Super Mario Run one where any word of criticism or doubt about design decisions is immediately shot down by fuming fanmen.

No Nap, you're absolutely stupid "sub-Wii U" bollocks was shot down - as it's was wrong. And simply repeating the same general theme while criticizing others (and trying to brand them blind) for pointing out it's wrong is a little odd mate.

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rgraves

rgraves

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Posted
3 minutes ago, RubberJohnny said:

It's sub Wii-U in handheld mode (but only needing to drive 720p)

It's not. The CPU power alone blitzes the Wii U. It's about more than just raw clock-speed.

 

It's not a handheld PS4 - if that comes as a shock to anyone, well, they were expecting a little too much. That's not Nintendo being shit, it's expectations being unrealistic.

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