The highly anticipated new console from Nintendo was revealed on Thursday, promising once again, to shake up the markets with its combination of home and handheld gaming. Slated for its release in March of 2017, the Nintendo Switch proves itself to be a confounding beast, as many still grasp at the rumor mill about the console. Many hope that in the future months that the consoles price point will be revealed, through an accidental release by Tesco, a British company, suggests that it will be priced it at 349£ or about 400$ converted; though some speculate even lower before its release date. However to that end there are a few questions that bug me about the new system that haven’t been answered.
Games on launch
A good system launch needs a good lineup to help it take off, the PS4 and the Xbox One both had a solid line up with games like Dead Rising 3, Battlefield 4, and Call of Duty: Ghosts. All games that at the time promised to shift a ton of units rapidly and without fail. Yet the question remains what exactly is going to launch on this new system from Nintendo?
From the video it’s obvious that a new Mario platformer and kart racing game are on its way, as well as the newest from the Zelda franchise, “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and a new Splatoon, all solid sellers. One other thing to note was Bethesda’s “Skyrim” seemed to make an appearance, begging the question, What is Nintendo up to? “Skyrim Remaster”, the re-release of the game ,now on both PS4 and Xbox One with updated graphics and mod support, is set to release on October 28th, far beyond the 2017 release that Nintendo hopes to to set for its new system.
Additionally, Nintendo released a list of all developers that are working on games for the Switch and some stood out amongst the rest, including the developers of Dark Souls, From Software, Rocket League, 505 Games, and the story driven Telltale game studio all are working on games for this new system.
Nintendo making the Switch, so to speak, to more inclusive gaming, including these radically different companies to try and change its branding? We will just have to watch as we learn more from Nintendo… But more to the point can Nintendo’s new handheld console system handle the strain of games like Dark Souls and Skyrim?
Hardware
One thing that will certainly kill a console is the idea that its abilities to game are sub-par compared to others, regardless of whether or not it actually is. So to give Switch a fighting chance one ought to actually look at the hardware in the console and see how it compares to the PS4 and Xbox One.
From what Nintendo has informed us of, the Console will be powered by a custom Tegra graphics card from Nvidia, suggesting that its power may be greater than or even equal to the processing power of the Nvidia Shield. Nvidia's in-home streaming console is designed to be both a competitive console and competitive in-home streaming device. Though the Nvidia Shield has a mixed reception, the processing power of the system is undeniable and competes well with the Xbox One and PS4 consoles, suggesting that the Switch will be able to compete with the heavyweights.
Though power goes only so far, and many questions are asked of the battery life of said mobile console. When compared to its next closest relative, the Switch’s
processor and tablet-like design matches up nicely with Google’s Pixel C, powered by the current Tegra X1 processor. The system boasts the highest system record for Battery life when running high demanding tasks, such as gaming which is indicative of a high life life for the Switch.
Running on what we have, Nintendo has to ensure that this system’s launch runs smooth and is more successful which brings me to my final point.
Hype
Nintendo has suffered two blows to their console gaming with both the Nintendo Wii, and the Wii U systems. With the Wii, the gimmick of motion control became quickly tiresome and repetitive, especially when you keep trying to get the system to register your rapid movements. In the Wii U, it just suffered from large amounts of negative hype and the usage of a tablet screen as both a controller and gimmick that proved cumbersome to players. As seen above, the Wii U was the first of the three systems to launch, but is doing the worst as of 2015
Successfully overcoming these obstacles requires Nintendo to understand their mistakes and move it, which it appears that they have, to a certain extent. In their release video, there were four different ways to use the controller for the Switch, attached together with a controller like item, separated for something similar to a Wii remote and Nunchuck, attached to the gaming tablet screen itself, used individually for co-op gaming with others. In addition a Pro control was used as well, suggesting pro controller support on launch, all of which indicates that Nintendo has learned to an extent the error of their ways and is seeking to let us, the consumers, to pick how WE want to play.
Yet to that end I do have one major issue with the system: multiplayer support. In the video we see people playing games using half of the normal controls and using split screen on the tiny tablet devices. What we never did see was the ability to use, say two pro controllers, or even four controllers on a single device. Would everyone need to purchase a device for themselves similar to how the 3dS works for people to play larger scale multiplayer on the Switch. More details would be necessary for us to be certain, but I worry how this will play.
In the end the Switch system will certainly be change in the market and perhaps will give Nintendo the jump it needs in order to put it back on top of gaming. All I know is that I am excited for the new system and I’m looking forward to the new console.
