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A critical take on the Nintendo Switch

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Qazimod

Qazimod

Posted
Posted

I don't own a Switch and I've been out of the Nintendo loop for a few years now (unless you count the SNES Mini), but I have played the thing and for the most part it seems fine. I'm not a fan of generalised praise or criticism of an entire platform, because a large part of a platform's success comes from developers making decent games. That said, it's worth considering how many games are suited to portability. When Sony announced the PSP (and, to an extent, the Vita), one of the main criticisms levelled at it (besides underpowered hardware) was that the home console experiences didn't take into consideration the needs of the mobile gamer - that people would rather spend two minutes on a Mario Bros level than 15 in Uncharted or whatever. It's something I don't really see brought up by Switch fans because that has the dock and so it's a home console and portable depending on what suits the Switch owner's argument at the time. (There is also the issue of Sony handhelds delivering watered-down home console experiences compared to Switch's 1:1, but my point was more to highlight the contrasting attitudes to portable play, rather than bring up the performance debate again.) Then again, that won't stop some people trying to develop cinematic epics designed only with long-winded sessions in mind (and it won't stop gamers trying to play those cinematic epics on the move...) :) 

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Smitty

Smitty

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24 minutes ago, rgraves said:

 

And a good one at catching people that haven't actually played it....

 

Oooh good one Columbo. Why is that at all relevant? If i'd played and finished the game you'd still be in here trying to undermine my opinion because you're one of the forum's most notorious Nintendo fanboys of all time.

 

I can see the evidence of the game graphics from photos and videos.

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pulsemyne

pulsemyne

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1 hour ago, Smitty said:

This notion that the graphical quality of BOTW is limited inherently by its art style is patent nonsense. If it was on a console with more power it could look substantially better in everyway, without doing any harm its art style.

 

As it is, its style is in part down to the limitations of the hardware. I love the style but I've always thought its such a shame that it has such featureless textures, for instance.

Cross platform game. WiiU has less than a third the memory to run a game (1 gig compared to 3.2 for switch) so Textures were obviously done to suit it rather than the switch.

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Dimahoo

Dimahoo

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I've have been utterly cynical about nine-ten-do over the past few years but i'll say it again... the switch is amazing.

The perfect portable. Decent portable size screen, plays well, looks amazing and decent games.

CONSISTENTLY decent games. Apart from the lack of Waverace. And Fzero.

 

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PaB

PaB

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If I didnt have a Wii U , I would be all over Switch. As it is, I do, so there are really only two games. Mario Oddessy and Arms, that Switch would give me access to that I don't already have. I need more before I take the jump. Much more.

 

But as a bit of kit, I think its great.

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Opinionated Ham Scarecrow

Opinionated Ham Scarecrow

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5 minutes ago, Naieve said:

Be a Nin-ten-do, not a Nin-ten-don't

 

Real talk though, is there a device on the market with more power that's a comparable size and price? I know my ipad is apparently much more powerful but it cost six hundred quid. Are there Samsung tablets or something out there that blow the switch away?

 

Nvidia Shield.

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Nespresso

Nespresso

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1 hour ago, Hitcher said:

Mine's been sat there doing nothing since I got bored of Mario. Did try Tiny Metal but that's a really poor port. Hopefully Yoshi will get me playing it again.

You'll most likely have to wait 'till 2019 then. 

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Smitty

Smitty

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33 minutes ago, pulsemyne said:

Cross platform game. WiiU has less than a third the memory to run a game (1 gig compared to 3.2 for switch) so Textures were obviously done to suit it rather than the switch.

 

I know the WiiU has lower specs. The point is that in improving the graphics and performance between the two platforms that nothing has been lost from the visual style. The game just looks better. So arguing that the game couldn't or wouldn't look better is wrong.

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rgraves

rgraves

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1 hour ago, Smitty said:

 

Oooh good one Columbo. Why is that at all relevant? If i'd played and finished the game you'd still be in here trying to undermine my opinion because you're one of the forum's most notorious Nintendo fanboys of all time.

 

I can see the evidence of the game graphics from photos and videos.

 

It was an off-hand jokey comment, keep your knickers on. Nice to see you jumped straight into the frenzied fanboy labeling stuff regardless of if I've actually said anything at all on the topic either way though, classy.

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Stanley

Stanley

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1 minute ago, Smitty said:

Anyway, it seems to me like the two big issues with the Switch are the upcoming release schedule and the cost of the games.

The games cost the same as other platforms generally although they tend to hold their value better. Digital is a bit on the pricey side, sales a bit stingy etc.

 

The release schedule is fine btw, although their E3 presentation did focus on Smash too much.

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Stanley

Stanley

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1 hour ago, Smitty said:

I can see the evidence of the game graphics from photos and videos.

Breath of The Wild is like jazz man, you gotta experience it for yourself. Screenshots and videos do not convey the feeling you get playing it.

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Smitty

Smitty

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3 minutes ago, Stanley said:

Breath of The Wild is like jazz man, you gotta experience it for yourself. Screenshots and videos do not convey the feeling you get playing it.

 

Sure, but i'm not talking about how it feels.

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pulsemyne

pulsemyne

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19 minutes ago, Naieve said:

Be a Nin-ten-do, not a Nin-ten-don't

 

Real talk though, is there a device on the market with more power that's a comparable size and price? I know my ipad is apparently much more powerful but it cost six hundred quid. Are there Samsung tablets or something out there that blow the switch away?

Very tricky to accurately answer. A lot of the high end phones possess fast CPU's and GPU's that may or may not be better. The Tegra X1 is a really, really good chip for it's power requirement. Also the switch doesn't have a bulky and resource heavy OS in the way. Nvidia and Nintendo apparently made a very good API given developers easy access to a lot of the systems power. It's why the switch is able to do things so well despite drawing around 6 to 7 watts undocked and around 15 to 16 ish when docked. It's very efficient it it's power usage. 

Phones CPU's and GPU's need to be very careful with their thermals and so throttle back pretty aggressively. Switch also does but can maintain a very consistent performance thanks to it's active cooling. It also only has to push out 720p as well unlike phones and ipads which run at a higher res.  

So it's really swings and roundabouts. Nintendo got pretty much the best chip they could to power such a device. If Nvidia decide to die shrink the chip so more then we could see improvements to battery life and possibly performance (although Nintendo would probably want to keep performance as it is for now).

 There are other Nvidia mobile chips currently in production but they seem more focused on the car market. Whether they could be re-purposed for a switch two is debatable.   

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metallicfrodo

metallicfrodo

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1 hour ago, Stanley said:

Yeah but I think it's obvious what I meant especially following what I'd originally said. 

 

You highlighted a passage that was word for word what you said and asked where you had said that. You didn’t claim he misinterpreted what you meant.

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Stanley

Stanley

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4 minutes ago, metallicfrodo said:

 

You highlighted a passage that was word for word what you said and asked where you had said that. You didn’t claim he misinterpreted what you meant.

Reaching. Read what I originally said. The only way you could interpret that to mean I'm saying the game couldn't look better is if you're looking for an argument. 

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metallicfrodo

metallicfrodo

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8 minutes ago, Stanley said:

Reaching. Read what I originally said. The only way you could interpret that to mean I'm saying the game couldn't look better is if you're looking for an argument. 

 

I’m not saying you are. I just can’t fathom why you would claim you didn’t same something you demonstrably did, it was even a clarification to an earlier point.

 

If you think it’s been taken the wrong way then clarify, don’t claim (twice) that you didn’t say it.

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