Nintendo Switch Announced

Nintendo finally announced their new console, the Nintendo Switch. It is a home console/portable hybrid which plays games in the form of cartridges. It also has detachable controls which can be held in both hands separately or combined.  In the video, you can see that Skyrim is being played on the device, which is interesting.  There isn't much else known at the moment.

My feeling on the console are a bit mixed. One thing that struck me after watching the trailer, is that they did not seem to target specifically to kids and family for this console.  The Wii/U always had trailers which showed a family in a colorful room with unrealistic amounts of enjoyment. lol. The trailer for the Switch was more toned down and appears to target more of an adult audience, so I'm glad they finally did something for that matter.  Detachable, small parts, isn't really something for kids anyway.

In a way, I feel like this is the console that the Wii U SHOULD have been.  Wii U had the home console/kind-of portability thing going, but it felt poorly executed.  I doubt the Switch will be as graphic intensive as the Xbox and PS consoles, especially with the 4k capable versions coming. And Nintendo has struggled with connecting players over the internet.  I'm curious to see how it will match up.

First let me say I love the concept, but it's not like I can't continue playing the same games on my PS4 and take it on the road with my Vita because I've done it (so nothing ground breaking). However, you are correct, it did seem to target more adults than children. The problem with that statement being the games are still more "kiddie" games in my mind. They have to do more to turn away from the kids games and enter the M+ market if they want older players like myself to see them differently. I had the original Nintendo for Christ sake, I'm not against them, but I grew older--and away from their market and now want to play mature games. I know they may have a few mature games, but they never really got away from the kids stuff in my eyes.

I'm really worried about the durability of a system like this. Small kickstand, left and right detachable controllers, and possible short battery life. Another big one is they showed a game cartridge which just likes physical game discs annoy me. However for a mobile platform aren't we at a day and age were it would be nice to save multiple games locally to the console and play them anywhere instead of lugging around a small container of cartridges you can lose? Either way it seem to fit a specific audience, me not being one of them. That being said I'm still interested in what hardware they will be running as its been confirmed Nintendo partnered with NVIDIA to make this happen. I'm also wondering where the price tag will land compared to our future Microsoft and Sony consoles.

I thought it looked awesome. I'll definitely pick this up to play at work. It'll be a great console to use during long conference calls.

S7 K1ll3rKlown wrote:First let me say I love the concept, but it's not like I can't continue playing the same games on my PS4 and take it on the road with my Vita because I've done it (so nothing ground breaking). However, you are correct, it did seem to target more adults than children. The problem with that statement being the games are still more "kiddie" games in my mind. They have to do more to turn away from the kids games and enter the M+ market if they want older players like myself to see them differently. I had the original Nintendo for Christ sake, I'm not against them, but I grew older--and away from their market and now want to play mature games. I know they may have a few mature games, but they never really got away from the kids stuff in my eyes.

Although I'm glad that they appear to be targeting more of an adult audience with this system, I don't expect Nintendo to do anything M rated frequently, if not, ever.  And I don't think they should, nor would I want them to. It would be like Rockstar releasing an E rated game.  Nintendo should let the other studios handle making the M rated games for their console.

It looked pretty awesome ...if I was a teenager. Games are on Micro SD cards only has 720p . Graphics are going to be pretty weak and battery life problem solved by lugging around a external battery pack old school Gameboy style. The games look cool and if I traveled a ton or was 12 to 17 I would buy it. Nintendo just need to make games for the US market

Cartridges have benefits. Less likely to be scratched and damaged, don't produce sound, store a lot more memory than what they used to, could potentially have faster load times and better battery life than using disks. The 720p resolution isn't great though. Hopefully it's just a thing when going mobile, and translates better when in home console mode. I kind of doubt it though.

Xpert2010 wrote:Cartridges have benefits. Less likely to be scratched and damaged, don't produce sound, store a lot more memory than what they used to, could potentially have faster load times and better battery life than using disks. The 720p resolution isn't great though. Hopefully it's just a thing when going mobile, and translates better when in home console mode. I kind of doubt it though.

I was thinking the same, that it would be cool if the dock has additional graphics power for the TV vs tablet forms.