Nintendo NX/Switch Revealed

[Draz]

I'm most interested about the cartridge. If it's going to be flash where the game has to be loaded to ram, or will it be like older systems. Will it be possible to add custom chips to enhance the system, like the FX chip.

Battery life for me is not much of a concern, since the portability just means that I can use it around the house.

I also worry about the heat it produces. One thing that I love about the Wii U is the ability to play an extremely powerful portable that doesn't even get hot.

I hope the screen is 1080p.

The graphical wow factor started diminishing for me after the Sega Dreamcast, getting worse with every new generation. So as long as the graphics is around the PS4 level, it won't affect the sales that much.

Elaborate?

[jstern]

Elaborate?

If you go back to the Atari era, systems were extremely limited. You have a Nintendo with a 32 color pallet and like 4 sound channels, limited memory. You can imagine things being better, watching better hardware at the arcades, but the NES is the norm, it's what you're used to, and you love the games, especially if you're a kid. Then you have the Super Nintendo, with a 32,768, and 256 on screen color. Just on colors alone, that's a pretty big jump. The games look much better, with 8 sound channels, and there's a lot of more gameplay elements that you couldn't do in the previous eras. Then comes the Playstaion, with over 16,000,000 color pallet, and CD quality sound. (Though to me the Playstaion felt like a step backward with the shitty pixelated polygon graphics) Then comes the Dreamcast with the much more advanced polygon graphics. At this point it has the 16,000,000 colors, CD quality sound, so in that sense it kind of reached a peek, in that future consoles are not going to have that dramatic push forward from a NES to SNES. (The Dreamcast also had that dramatic push in terms of polygon graphics) Then come the 360 and the PS3, both much better than the Dreamcast, it has a wow factor, but it's less than previous era. Then 8 freaking years later, if you think back to the launch of the PS4, with its 16,000,000 color pallet, and comparison with same games that also came out for the PS3 and 360, most people were like, meh, it'll get better. With the side by side comparisons playing virtually the same. The graphical improvement is there, but not dramatic. The gameplay for say GTA V on the 360 and XBOX one are pretty much identical. Though it's better, the wow factor for the average person is not going to be the same. If you take lets say a mom, she's going to see a significant difference between an NES and a SNES, but you can probably full her to think that your Wii is your PS4.

[Jameerthefear]

I'm most interested about the cartridge. If it's going to be flash where the game has to be loaded to ram, or will it be like older systems. Will it be possible to add custom chips to enhance the system, like the FX chip.

Battery life for me is not much of a concern, since the portability just means that I can use it around the house.

I also worry about the heat it produces. One thing that I love about the Wii U is the ability to play an extremely powerful portable that doesn't even get hot.

I hope the screen is 1080p.

The graphical wow factor started diminishing for me after the Sega Dreamcast, getting worse with every new generation. So as long as the graphics is around the PS4 level, it won't affect the sales that much.

How are they even making cartridges without loosing a shitload of money?

[plowking]

First Nintendo console I've wanted in a while. Well, since SNES.

I hope it gets the games Sony and Microsoft get though, since I don't enjoy PC gaming. Much rather sit back and relax on the couch than be stuck at a desk.

[jstern]

How are they even making cartridges without loosing a shitload of money?

Moore's law. Capacity doubles every year and a half or so, while disc technology has stagnated, due to the emergence of things like Netflix and USB flash drive.

[Annyong!]

Does this mean they will end the DS and make it so the Switch is both their in home and portable device?

Ultimately it still has 1 fatal flaw: Nintendo, as great as Mario Kart and Smash Bros is, just doesn't make good adult orientated games.

[Jameerthefear]

Moore's law. Capacity doubles every year and a half or so, while disc technology has stagnated, due to the emergence of things like Netflix and USB flash drive.

that still doesn't really explain it. obviously they made it work somehow but cartridges are way more expensive than discs

[jstern]

that still doesn't really explain it. obviously they made it work somehow but cartridges are way more expensive than discs

From what I've heard a Blu Ray cost about $2 to press, and Nintendo 3DS game cost about $2.50 to press. I don't understand why you would think it would be so expensive, it's not out of this world technology. Just because Nintendo 64 games were more expensive than CD games back in 1996 doesn't mean that a cartridge game is going to be more expensive in 2016. Game Boy Color games were much cheaper than Playstation games. They weren't using enough memory on the cart to make it as expensive. The same with the 3DS, only that in 2016 a Game Boy Color equivalent rom is closer to the amount a Bluray can hold.

Does this mean they will end the DS and make it so the Switch is both their in home and portable device?

Ultimately it still has 1 fatal flaw: Nintendo, as great as Mario Kart and Smash Bros is, just doesn't make good adult orientated games.

This seems like an argument that people like to repeat because they've heard it so many times. But does Nintendo make games for 3 year old's? No, they make really creative games that are challenging and have a lot of gameplay. Probably the game publisher with the best rated games. So they used their famous IPs that were created during the Nintendo era, where you had to draw characters. I bought Yoshi's Island DS almost ten years ago, and now it's when I kind off started playing, and I'm surprised how good and difficult it is to get 100%. The Gameplay is just really, really good. And I thought, due to the hand drawn characters there are a lot of bad asses who will never see the uniqueness of this game and many other games. And I thought that the solution would be to do a character and music hack on these games. Instead of Yoshi, make the main character some hard core bad ass that throws grenades, at Doom 3 monster type enemies. Make the music darker. It will have the exact same gameplay and levels, but now these bad ass adults can play it.

[Draz]

ISH not tryna play Supersmash? Mario Party? Mario Kart?

SQUAAAD

[Jameerthefear]

From what I've heard a Blu Ray cost about $2 to press, and Nintendo 3DS game cost about $2.50 to press. I don't understand why you would think it would be so expensive, it's not out of this world technology. Just because Nintendo 64 games were more expensive than CD games back in 1996 doesn't mean that a cartridge game is going to be more expensive in 2016. Game Boy Color games were much cheaper than Playstation games. They weren't using enough memory on the cart to make it as expensive. The same with the 3DS, only that in 2016 a Game Boy Color equivalent rom is closer to the amount a Bluray can hold.



This seems like an argument that people like to repeat because they've heard it so many times. But does Nintendo make games for 3 year old's? No, they make really creative games that are challenging and have a lot of gameplay. Probably the game publisher with the best rated games. So they used their famous IPs that were created during the Nintendo era, where you had to draw characters. I bought Yoshi's Island DS almost ten years ago, and now it's when I kind off started playing, and I'm surprised how good and difficult it is to get 100%. The Gameplay is just really, really good. And I thought, due to the hand drawn characters there are a lot of bad asses who will never see the uniqueness of this game and many other games. And I thought that the solution would be to do a character and music hack on these games. Instead of Yoshi, make the main character some hard core bad ass that throws grenades, at Doom 3 monster type enemies. Make the music darker. It will have the exact same gameplay and levels, but now these bad ass adults can play it.

The biggest 3DS game is like 3GB total. Now, Nintendo's game are small as hell, but what about 3rd party companies? You're going to need a bigger cartridge, remember that blu ray discs probably cost like a few pennies for Nintendo. You lose a lot of money there. I'm curious how they made it work.

[bigkingsfan]

Does this mean they will end the DS and make it so the Switch is both their in home and portable device?

Of course not, the 3ds has over 60 millions console sold worldwide. It would be foolish.

[bladefd]

The biggest 3DS game is like 3GB total. Now, Nintendo's game are small as hell, but what about 3rd party companies? You're going to need a bigger cartridge, remember that blu ray discs probably cost like a few pennies for Nintendo. You lose a lot of money there. I'm curious how they made it work.

You can have solidstate cartridges or it could even use USB.. You can get it in for inside $3 per 4gb cartridge if nintendo buys it in bulk. Although, I'm not sure if that is what Nintendo is planning or if they are doing classic cartridges

[Jameerthefear]

You can have solidstate cartridges or it could even use USB.. You can get it in for inside $3 per 4gb cartridge if nintendo buys it in bulk. Although, I'm not sure if that is what Nintendo is planning or if they are doing classic cartridges

yes, but as i said before that's a shit ton of money lost

[jstern]

The biggest 3DS game is like 3GB total. Now, Nintendo's game are small as hell, but what about 3rd party companies? You're going to need a bigger cartridge, remember that blu ray discs probably cost like a few pennies for Nintendo. You lose a lot of money there. I'm curious how they made it work.

That's a fair point. I don't know if those lower amount was due to the lower resolution, or because it was more expensive to make the games bigger.

A 3ds cart cost around $2.50, a Blu Ray $2. A Nintendo 64 cart costs $15 in 1996, which would be a lot more today. So even if a switch game did go up to 32gb with today's chips, which are larger capacity than the 3DS, it probably won't be more than $5. We'll just have to wait and find out more information.

[bladefd]

yes, but as i said before that's a shit ton of money lost

Not really, buddy. Each game costs $60 to purchase for a consumer. Jstern said 3ds games cost $2.50 a pop and blurays cost $2. If those numbers are correct then $3 per cartridge is in the right ballpark..

Microsoft and Sony do it with blu-rays that cost around $2 per disc so I don't see how $3 per 4gb solidstate or usb-flashdrive style cartridge is too much... You can even double that to 8gb cartridge costing $6 per cartridge and it would be fine considering the games are $60 each! You do realize they make KILLER profits from the $60 per game? You probably already know that these companies take a loss on the actual console but make it back from all the games they sell.

They don't lose money, they simply lose a bit of the profit. Instead of pocketing $30 or w/e it is per game (throwing a number out there), they might pocket $27. Not really a loss if you get a return on the investment with more buyers. Remember, the Wii was a success overall so if this NX/Switch is a success too then the investment on cartridges is worth it.