Nintendo Switch - Happy Switchmas Everyone!

[liger05]

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/08/report-nx-to-feature-ps4-style-split-d-pad-and-share-button/

 

Following our report last week regarding the Nintendo NX featuring advanced vibration technology and motion sensing in it’s new Wii Remote replacement controllers, Let’s Play Video Games has learned some additional information regarding the current version of the NX development hardware.

According to anonymous sources that have contacted Let’s Play Video Games following the previous report, we have learned that not only does the current NX development hardware feature a split D-Pad, unlike the solid pads Nintendo typically uses, but that the system also features a share button similar to that on the PS4.

The share button, denoted by a small icon of a camera, will apparently allow the upload of still images and video directly to Miiverse, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. It will also be possible to save images or video to external memory devices for easier transfer to PC.

While the reasoning behind switching to a split D-Pad is currently unclear, the above header image was drawn by a source familiar with the current NX development kit and matches a description of the dev kit layout given by a second source who has provided reliable leaks regarding Nintendo products in the past.

So, are you hopeful for the chance to upload gameplay footage from NX to YouTube, or are you fearful of all the footage you upload being Content ID matched or taken straight back down by Nintendo’s legal teams?

[Ashley]

Oh man the drawing in that link!

 

It does raise a point though - will Nintendo let up on their whole copyright program or make it coherent and user-friendly (i.e. not a set defined list of games, not limited to regions but regions not in that are still given take down notices etc etc)?

[Clownferret]

It would definitely be a backwards step in gaming for motion controls to be phased out. Yes they don't work in all types of games and yes not everybody likes using them, but on some games styles they were revolutionary.

Why not give us the choice?

[Ashley]

It would definitely be a backwards step in gaming for motion controls to be phased out. Yes they don't work in all types of games and yes not everybody likes using them, but on some games styles they were revolutionary.

Why not give us the choice?

 

I think ultimately people would be happy with it being optional, but then from a design POV how likely is that going to be? Working around two completely optional input methods? Obviously it happens (games for mobiles ported to consoles for example), but we only need to look back at the headache that was Star Fox Zero!

 

And completely optional, not just used in only small sections (like Other M).

[Goron_3]

I wonder if the d-pad will be the standard input instead of an analogue stick OR if the face buttons will be arranged as they are on the PS4/Wii U Pro Controller, but with a split d-pad instead of a A/B/X/Y?

[RedShell]

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/08/report-nx-to-feature-ps4-style-split-d-pad-and-share-button/

Following our report last week regarding the Nintendo NX featuring advanced vibration technology and motion sensing in it’s new Wii Remote replacement controllers, Let’s Play Video Games has learned some additional information regarding the current version of the NX development hardware.

According to anonymous sources that have contacted Let’s Play Video Games following the previous report, we have learned that not only does the current NX development hardware feature a split D-Pad, unlike the solid pads Nintendo typically uses, but that the system also features a share button similar to that on the PS4.

The share button, denoted by a small icon of a camera, will apparently allow the upload of still images and video directly to Miiverse, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. It will also be possible to save images or video to external memory devices for easier transfer to PC.

While the reasoning behind switching to a split D-Pad is currently unclear, the above header image was drawn by a source familiar with the current NX development kit and matches a description of the dev kit layout given by a second source who has provided reliable leaks regarding Nintendo products in the past.

So, are you hopeful for the chance to upload gameplay footage from NX to YouTube, or are you fearful of all the footage you upload being Content ID matched or taken straight back down by Nintendo’s legal teams?

Would be great if this is the case, as a share button is something I'd love to see on NX. It's by far my favourite feature of the PS4, and although I have a capture device anyway, it's so much more convenient having that functionality built in to the console itself.

 

As for a split D-Pad, I suppose it'd be so it can easily be used as the face buttons for the other detachable controller when held sideways.

[Sheikah]

Well, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, but that just comes across as inflexible to me. I mean, how hard is it to point at something in a first person game like Metroid Prime? Instead, you'd rather hold down the R button and clumsily move the reticle with a control stick? I can't comprehend playing a game like that with "Standard" controls. Not after I've already played it with the Wii Remote.

 

There's just no way you can compare pointing with your arm to the accuracy of using a stick (yeah, a mouse is more accurate still, but there's still a gulf between the two you mentioned). It's really weird for you to call it clumsy when it's actually far more accurate. Try pointing the Wii remote at the screen and keep your hand as still as you can; watch the on-screen hand waggle all over the place.

 

They might work for Metroid Prime but for most FPS games with a competitive element there's no way I would consider them.

[Happenstance]

Typical Nintendo, stealing innovation from Sony

[Serebii]

A Miiverse button should have been on the Wii U from the beginning so I'm fine with this.

 

Split d-pad, god no.

[Ashley]

Maybe a 'joint' d-pad will be an optional controller add-on

[S.C.G]

I sure as hell don't want a compromised D-Pad for the sake of it being used a makeshift face buttons when used in sideways orientation upon seperation of the controllers.

 

Plus the D-pad placement for when using the device as a whole is all wrong, you'd want it to be in line as much as possible with the face buttons on the other side, not diagonally alligned, unless it's going to be GameCube sized again in which case you'd need another bespoke seperate controller.

 

Come on Nintendo... these rumours are doing more harm than good at this point surely?

[Goron_3]

The more I think about this, the more it makes sense. A split d-pad would act as A/B/X/Y..a regular d-pad wouldn't work for that purpose.

 

This also means that each controller would have, at a minimum, an analogue stick and four face buttons (with potential for a shoulder button too).

 

This already gives game designers much more to work with than the Wiimote.

[nekunando]

As for a split D-Pad, I suppose it'd be so it can easily be used as the face buttons for the other detachable controller when held sideways.

 

I was just about to make the same point. That obviously makes sense in this case but to use it as an actual D-Pad for something like a 2D platformer sounds horrible

 

As for the general button placement, it again makes sense for 2 detachable controllers but I actually like the position of the right analogue stick on Wii U and a recent attempt at playing a couple of XBOX 360 titles only highlight just how unnatural it feels in that assymentric configuration.

[Ronnie]

The Share button sounds good and the split D-pad sounds like it's necessary for the detachable controllers to function similarly.

 

Typical Nintendo, stealing innovation from Sony

 

Good job not having this blatant bait deleted, how did you manage that? One rule for....

[Rummy]

Did the leaks mention what kind of hard drive/storage the NX will be using?

 

Nope. This is a big worry. A handheld device can't even have huge storage can it? Does a tablet have bigger than 256g? With modern games approaching 50g it feels like it could be a huge problem. The dock could have a big hard drive and some decent transferring tools, but it doesn't seem elegent.

 

Could huge games run off an sd card?

 

Why not? Isn't storage tech constantly advancing? Aren't certain types of flash memory relatively fast(why it was probably used previously, and why SSDs etc came about). It's just ensuring it's good and appropriate tech. As for the 50gb etc - if they're sticking with carts/flash style then you won't have to worry as it's its own media(tho tbh I think games will be smaller than this). These are the sort of areas we're all so gray on though - and why we probably need more information.

 

128gb usb stick is ~£30 on eBuyer. atm I don't know if that translates to anything at all relevant but we've still got months for that to reduce and bulk buys to consider on the storage front.

 

Who defines whether any technological jump is a big enough difference? You? Let's be real - if you had the choice between spending money on something that's 720p or 1080p, are you telling me you won't choose 1080?

 

I specifically have always bought 1080p Display/TVs for exactly this reason. I will never go HD Ready/720p. It's silly to limit my capabilities of future technology, imo. The irony is - this is coming from someone who grew up on Nintendo and resultantly is almost absolutely not a graphics nerd(tho I got turned slightly when acquiring a HDTV after owning a 360 for a while).

 

http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/08/report-nx-to-feature-ps4-style-split-d-pad-and-share-button/

 

Following our report last week regarding the Nintendo NX featuring advanced vibration technology and motion sensing in it’s new Wii Remote replacement controllers, Let’s Play Video Games has learned some additional information regarding the current version of the NX development hardware.

According to anonymous sources that have contacted Let’s Play Video Games following the previous report, we have learned that not only does the current NX development hardware feature a split D-Pad, unlike the solid pads Nintendo typically uses, but that the system also features a share button similar to that on the PS4.

The share button, denoted by a small icon of a camera, will apparently allow the upload of still images and video directly to Miiverse, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube. It will also be possible to save images or video to external memory devices for easier transfer to PC.

While the reasoning behind switching to a split D-Pad is currently unclear, the above header image was drawn by a source familiar with the current NX development kit and matches a description of the dev kit layout given by a second source who has provided reliable leaks regarding Nintendo products in the past.

So, are you hopeful for the chance to upload gameplay footage from NX to YouTube, or are you fearful of all the footage you upload being Content ID matched or taken straight back down by Nintendo’s legal teams?

 

Boyyyy you best not be shitting me with rumours like that! That's the kind of thing Nintendo definitely need to be doing with this to keep a relevance to certain aspects of the market. If they are then I feel it bodes well for other online features as well.

[killthenet]

The presence of a share button on NX is a good sign that the OS will be much more advanced than it was on the Wii U, so hopefully it extends to having the same features as Xbox Live and PSN. The split D-pad makes sense I guess, but i'd prefer if Nintendo just stuck with their standard design. I've been playing through a game that just uses the Wii remote and have had no trouble using the D-pad as separate buttons so it would suffice as a second controller as it is, but I can see why they would want to try and make the experience the same on both controllers.

[Happenstance]

Good job not having this blatant bait deleted, how did you manage that? One rule for....

 

Thats because they know I'm only joking.

[Ronnie]

Thats because they know I'm only joking.

 

Yeah, of course you were

[Happenstance]

Think what you like but I honestly was joking and the fact that it wasnt deleted most likely means that mods/admins realised that as well.

[RedShell]

I was just about to make the same point. That obviously makes sense in this case but to use it as an actual D-Pad for something like a 2D platformer sounds horrible

Having spent quite a bit of time with the PS3/4 pads now, they're actually pretty good.

Yeah, the original Nintendo D-Pad design is better and I obviously prefer it, but it's not as big a deal as it seems.

 

Would be very weird to see Nintendo drop the traditional style though, we shall see... eventually.

[Ashley]

For what it's worth I believed he was joking because he has made jokes about inane arguments and point scoring before but does not go into many threads accusing Nintendo of stealing from Sony (i.e. it didn't read as a serious grievance).

 

However if you believed it was a serious mocking of Nintendo and proof of anti-Nintendo bias you claim then you should have gotten in touch as I asked you to do some time ago to prove/evidence this belief and you have yet to.

 

If you had genuinely gotten in touch saying you believe this post was bias or baiting I would have probably said "I didn't see that myself but I shall remove it" and spoken to HS and made it clear if he's going to joke at least throw in an upside down smiley or something.

 

we shall see... eventually.

 

The official slogan for the NX.

[S.C.G]

The Share button sounds good and the split D-pad sounds like it's necessary for the detachable controllers to function similarly.

 

Would you actually be happy using a split D-Pad when playing single-player platformers though?

 

This is assuming that the D-Pad does turn out to be similar to the - very crude - drawing of the layout which would mean that they would not only not look like a D-Pad but probably not function very well as either a D-Pad or standalone buttons as a result.

 

I'm thinking worst-case scenario here in that this compromised D-Pad wouldn't even be as good as the one on the Dual Shock 4 - which isn't even my favourtie D-Pad as it is - and would be a really poor substitute for what we already have on the Wii U gamepad or Pro Controller.

 

Unless it emerges that Nintendo have made their own take on a transforming D-Pad then I can't see it working.

 

Having spent quite a bit of time with the PS3/4 pads now, they're actually pretty good.

Yeah, the original Nintendo D-Pad design is better and I obviously prefer it, but it's not as big a deal as it seems.

 

Would be very weird to see Nintendo drop the traditional style though, we shall see... eventually.

 

Surely it will be a big deal if it turns out to be one big compromise?

 

I really hope it doesn't though... man, I hate playing the waiting game for so long.

[Happenstance]

If you had genuinely gotten in touch saying you believe this post was bias or baiting I would have probably said "I didn't see that myself but I shall remove it" and spoken to HS and made it clear if he's going to joke at least throw in an upside down smiley or something.

 

[Ronnie]

For what it's worth I believed he was joking because he has made jokes about inane arguments and point scoring before but does not go into many threads accusing Nintendo of stealing from Sony (i.e. it didn't read as a serious grievance).

 

However if you believed it was a serious mocking of Nintendo and proof of anti-Nintendo bias you claim then you should have gotten in touch as I asked you to do some time ago to prove/evidence this belief and you have yet to.

 

If you had genuinely gotten in touch saying you believe this post was bias or baiting I would have probably said "I didn't see that myself but I shall remove it" and spoken to HS and made it clear if he's going to joke at least throw in an upside down smiley or something.

 

 

 

The official slogan for the NX.

 

I bring up the pro-Playstation, anti-Nintendo bias all the time in posts, if you want me to private message you every time it happens, then sure, I will.

 

And for the record, I reported his bait a little while ago, so I did call attention to it. Given his abuse towards me the other day, "shit stain" I believe it was, how you can let his comment on the last page pass I just can't understand. Had I made a similar "joking" post on the PS4 thread it would have been deleted (like my one moaning about the lack of UI customisation) and I would have probably gotten a warning. All I ask is for a bit of fair and equal treatment, that's all.

[Glen-i]

There's just no way you can compare pointing with your arm to the accuracy of using a stick (yeah, a mouse is more accurate still, but there's still a gulf between the two you mentioned). It's really weird for you to call it clumsy when it's actually far more accurate. Try pointing the Wii remote at the screen and keep your hand as still as you can; watch the on-screen hand waggle all over the place.

 

They might work for Metroid Prime but for most FPS games with a competitive element there's no way I would consider them.

 

I can keep it pretty damn still. But try and get me to aim at something with a stick and I'll go past it about 4 times before hitting the mark.

 

So put in a sensitivity option. Turn it down, less waggle. Problem solved.

That reminds me of Resident Evil 4. (Another game that's more fun with motion controls) That game had some of the smartest usage for the pointing feature.

 

So there's this gun called the Red-9 that has some pretty bad recoil, if you bought it in the original game, it was tricky to aim with, but if you bought a stock for it, it got easier to aim with.

But why would you bother with the stock when you point at everything?

Well, the clever bit is that the Red-9 had a higher pointer sensitivity than other weapons, so buying a stock lowers the sensitivity, thus making it easier to aim. Very clever.