Nintendo Switch - Happy Switchmas Everyone!

[liger05]

Was this here:

 

https://arcadegirl64.wordpress.com/2016/05/13/so-about-nx/

 

After speaking to seven different people this week, I can say with confidence that this is false. NX is not using x86 architecture like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The NX has special, custom-made chips and the overall design of the hardware is very modern. The chips are industry leading because they are very modern chips, but having modern chips doesn’t necessarily mean Nintendo is aiming to create the most powerful hardware on the market. Furthermore, any NX rumors on “Polaris chips” and “Polaris architecture” are all wacky. There’s a good reason why those rumors are wacky.

 

In terms of raw power, numerous sources tell me that NX is much closer to Xbox One than PlayStation 4. Even that might be stretching it a tiny bit. Anyone who is claiming that NX is “two times the power of PS4 GPU” is being misled by their sources. Based on what I’ve heard, I don’t believe the NX will compete directly with PS4 (Neo) / PS4K in raw power.

 

There will be plenty of debates over the NX’s specs because it’s not simple to directly compare two apples (with x86 architecture) to an orange (that doesn’t use x86 architecture). But everything that I’ve heard (so far) indicates that NX isn’t going to blow away any of the consoles on the market today…except for Wii U.

 

 

And this for neogaf:

 

I saw something interesting on Semi Accurate today. The details are unfortunately for subscribers only so I have no hard info to post. I've been reading Charlies' stuff for a long time, since before he created Semi Accurate, and he is usually pretty well-informed with his educated guesses on things before he publishes them.

 

The part that caught my attention is bolded below.

 

"It’s new console time again and SemiAccurate brings you news of Nintendo’s NX silicon. If you recall our past guesses were pretty spot on and this time should be the same. You might also recall we made some pretty surprising calls on the console silicon front too, and this one will probably make most of you pick your jaw off the floor."

 

http://semiaccurate.com/2016/05/12/g...-nintendos-nx/

 

Most people have speculated an AMD APU will be powering the NX, so my interest is piqued by the jaw dropping part. AMD x64 silicon isn't jaw dropping to me. What could the jaw dropping part be referring to?

 

There is a forum thread at Semi Accurate where people make some interesting guesses, one being that Charlie isn't referring the CPU/GPU, but rather some other chip in the NX.

 

http://semiaccurate.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9162

 

For those unfamiliar with Semi Accurate, some content is locked behind a paywall, which it turn prevents forums from discussing the content as well. The info will probably trickle out at some point, but until it does I shall be waiting, interest piqued.

 

EDIT:

Can the machine have similar specs to one of the consoles regarding numbers, but still be better because of efficiency?

 

Wow. Closer to XB1. So we could see a console struggle to do 1080p?

 

Looks like a Nintendo handheld will just be for me if this Turns out to be True.

[khilafah]

Knew it would be XB1 power at best.

 

If it really is then yeah no 1080p on some games. Not good enough by Nintendo.

[killthenet]

It's disappointing, but not too surprising. Kounan, you asked whether it could be the same specs wise but perform better because of efficiency, and that's definitely possible, Nintendo tend to be able to get the best out of their hardware.

 

I think this is all pointing towards it being a handheld experience first and foremost - at least in the way they're designing the architecture. And considering the success they've had in the handheld arena, it's probably a smart move.

 

I'm siding with dazzybee on this one and thinking it'll be a handheld that streams to the TV.

[liger05]

It's disappointing, but not too surprising. Kounan, you asked whether it could be the same specs wise but perform better because of efficiency, and that's definitely possible, Nintendo tend to be able to get the best out of their hardware.

 

I think this is all pointing towards it being a handheld experience first and foremost - at least in the way they're designing the architecture. And considering the success they've had in the handheld arena, it's probably a smart move.

 

I'm siding with dazzybee on this one and thinking it'll be a handheld that streams to the TV.

 

If it is true I would love to see what Nintendo expect to sell as I see an underpowered console once again flopping hard.

 

The Tegra handheld stuff sounds interesting and looks like a smart move and we could get a really powerful handheld.

Edited May 14, 2016 by liger05

[killthenet]

If it is true I would love to see what Nintendo expect to sell as I see an underpowered console once again flopping hard.

 

The Tegra handheld stuff sounds interesting and looks like a smart move and we could get a really powerful handheld.

 

 

That's why I'm thinking it will be primarily a handheld device, then they can spin their sales figures for the 'home console' to include the presumably much better 'handheld' sales figures. If they can make a device that attracts their handheld fans, that can also be classed as a home console then it will look like a win win to investors.

[Ashley]

It will be interesting if it is a handheld that streams to a TV as it will essentially be an inverted Wii U. A ∩ ᴉᴉM maybe.

[Pestneb]

Depends how reliable these "sources" are... tbh From Nintendo I would expect a PS4 beating CPU and again, a nicer GPU.

Ram wise I imagine it being inbetween X1 and PS4, with 8Gb but perhaps not quite as sweet a set up as in the PS4, but perhaps doing a few tricks like they did back on the GC to make the most out of that RAM. In terms of the most disappointing aspect, I imagine internal storage will be fairly weak, again allowing for external storage to be used.

 

Just out of curiosity, did the last Nintendo briefing specify number of "New" 3DS sales?

Edited May 16, 2016 by Pestneb
Automerged Doublepost

[Ashley]

Just out of curiosity, did the last Nintendo briefing specify number of "New" 3DS sales?

 

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/pdf/2016/160427e.pdf#page=15

[Pestneb]

sorry... am I mis reading that.. 8.1 Million??? I must be misreading that :| if not... that's pretty impressive... they've already sold almost as many new 3ds as they have Wii U :|

[killthenet]

Yeah 8.15m! Breaks down as 6.3m New 3DS XL sold and 1.85m standard New 3DS systems. Insane sales figures, I thought they'd sell like 2 million at most. It might well be worth Nintendo continuing to produce software for the 3DS even when the NX arrives, I can see it selling pretty well far into 2017 - especially with Pokemon releasing in September. The 3DS could well go on to sell 70m+ overall.

Edited May 15, 2016 by killthenet

[liger05]

Depends how reliable these "sources" are... tbh From Nintendo I would expect a PS4 beating CPU and again, a nicer GPU.

Ram wise I imagine it being inbetween X1 and PS4, with 8Gb but perhaps not quite as sweet a set up as in the PS4, but perhaps doing a few tricks like they did back on the GC to make the most out of that RAM. In terms of the most disappointing aspect, I imagine internal storage will be fairly weak, again allowing for external storage to be used.

 

Just out of curiosity, did the last Nintendo briefing specify number of "New" 3DS sales?

 

Depends how reliable these "sources" are... tbh From Nintendo I would expect a PS4 beating CPU and again, a nicer GPU.

Ram wise I imagine it being inbetween X1 and PS4, with 8Gb but perhaps not quite as sweet a set up as in the PS4, but perhaps doing a few tricks like they did back on the GC to make the most out of that RAM. In terms of the most disappointing aspect, I imagine internal storage will be fairly weak, again allowing for external storage to be used.

 

Just out of curiosity, did the last Nintendo briefing specify number of "New" 3DS sales?

 

Surely the console will have 500gb of internal storage minimum? Nintendo themselves accept there digital business is growing year on year so don't make the same mistake with a small hard-drive. Memory is cheap and expecting the consumer to buy external storage is just passing on the cost to us.

[killthenet]

Surely the console will have 500gb of internal storage minimum? Nintendo themselves accept there digital business is growing year on year so don't make the same mistake with a small hard-drive. Memory is cheap and expecting the consumer to buy external storage is just passing on the cost to us.

 

I think Nintendo prefer to use flash memory though, in their eyes at least standard hard drives are archaic. Obviously they underestimated the importance of digital with the Wii U by only providing 8gb and 32gb of space, so I'd expect them to offer much higher capacity units with the NX.

 

I think they'll offer 256gb flash memory built in, which they'll argue will be more than enough if players regularly rotate their games. There'll be some sort of Nintendo quirk when it comes to storage anyway.

[Pestneb]

Surely the console will have 500gb of internal storage minimum? Nintendo themselves accept there digital business is growing year on year so don't make the same mistake with a small hard-drive. Memory is cheap and expecting the consumer to buy external storage is just passing on the cost to us.

 

I agree... I still consider that a bit weak - but agreed, I would expect 500Gb as a minimum really. Having said that... I could see them going lower with cloud storage... although they haven't done much of that so far. Maybe backward compatibility will be on the cloud.....

[Ronnie]

sorry... am I mis reading that.. 8.1 Million??? I must be misreading that :| if not... that's pretty impressive... they've already sold almost as many new 3ds as they have Wii U :|

 

Crazy good number. Might even catch up to the Vita on its own. Nintendo sales figures are so strange, Wii U hardware sales are so poor but 3DS is great and things like Splatoon selling 5 million and MK8 8 million on an 11 mil install base is just crazy.

[Pestneb]

What if they are dropping out of the dedicated home console business altogether? Because if the console is weaker than the PS4... it just looks that way to me. So what if the NX IS the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U... a new 3ds is ~ £125 while the basic Wii U model is ~ £190. IF they release a beefier handheld for around £200 it could be a test to see what happens. Starts with the Wii U catalogue and virtual console... battery life doesn't seem to be an issue for most people these days so probably they wouldn't need to worry quite so much about that If it is just a handheld then I guess on the plus side it reduces my expensive hobbies list down... even if it is one of the more inexpensive ones on the list!!

 

My more optimistic hope is that the NX is a "New" Wii U. Although maybe dropping the Wii U title. Maybe stick with the NX name, but the Wii U is essentially the NX in all but name... an o/s update makes the Wii U NX 0, NX 1 is released at the same time in march with boosted GPU, CPU and RAM. Runs all Wii U games but better. Better online. Needed to run NX branded software. 2019 NX 2 will be released, 2021 NX 3 etc etc.NX portable will be a Wii U in portable form and will release 2018, with NX portable 2 being the NX 1 home console etc. Since people don't seem to give a damn about battery life these days (why people buy phones that don't hold their charge for at least over a week I don't know!) it should be a more feasible approach than it would have been a decade ago.

Edited May 16, 2016 by Pestneb

[liger05]

What if they are dropping out of the dedicated home console business altogether? Because if the console is weaker than the PS4... it just looks that way to me. So what if the NX IS the successor to both the 3DS and Wii U... a new 3ds is ~ £125 while the basic Wii U model is ~ £190. IF they release a beefier handheld for around £200 it could be a test to see what happens. Starts with the Wii U catalogue and virtual console... battery life doesn't seem to be an issue for most people these days so probably they wouldn't need to worry quite so much about that If it is just a handheld then I guess on the plus side it reduces my expensive hobbies list down... even if it is one of the more inexpensive ones on the list!!

 

We know they are not dropping out of the console space.

 

I think they have to get a better battery under the hood for the NX handheld. The 3DS was awful in standby mode. Standby should last for days.

[khilafah]

We know they are not dropping out of the console space.

 

I think they have to get a better battery under the hood for the NX handheld. The 3DS was awful in standby mode. Standby should last for days.

 

the days of a handheld lasting longer then 3 hours is long gone and if the rumours about the NX handheld using Tegra processor are true then yeah the battery isnt gonna be great.

 

standby is the problem that nintendo need to sort out though. Vita lasts for days on standby. 3DS on standby is a joke!

[Pestneb]

the days of a handheld lasting longer then 3 hours is long gone and if the rumours about the NX handheld using Tegra processor are true then yeah the battery isnt gonna be great.

 

standby is the problem that nintendo need to sort out though. Vita lasts for days on standby. 3DS on standby is a joke!

 

hmm... mine lasts days on standby :/ I've taken it out on the friday, forgot it was on standby over the weekend and it still has charge for monday...

[V. Amoleo]

Yeah my 3DS on standby lasts ages. Whereas my Vita is dire when in standby mode.

[Happenstance]

Yeah my 3DS on standby lasts ages. Whereas my Vita is dire when in standby mode.

 

Which Vita do you have? My Vita lasts stupidly long on standby mode, much longer than my 3DS.

[V. Amoleo]

Which Vita do you have? My Vita lasts stupidly long on standby mode, much longer than my 3DS.

 

That experience is based on an original model Vita. I haven't used my slim Vita enough to judge it's standby mode.

 

Let me just check, in case I'm being a noob, standby mode on the Vita is just pressing the power button once, right? So that when you press it again it starts where you left it. There's not a specific "standby mode" that I missed, is there?

[Happenstance]

That experience is based on an original model Vita. I haven't used my slim Vita enough to judge it's standby mode.

 

Let me just check, in case I'm being a noob, standby mode on the Vita is just pressing the power button once, right? So that when you press it again it starts where you left it. There's not a specific "standby mode" that I missed, is there?

 

Thats what I would consider standby yeah

[Julius]

Just to clear things up.

 

Tatsumi Kikishima: NX is not the successor to the Wii U or 3DS.

 

Sorry, did I say clear things up? What I meant to say was have an absolutely mind f***** Nintendo Monday/Tuesday still having absolutely zero idea what their next console may or may not be, and good luck to N's competitors who are trying to figure out what they're up to (all the successing)

 

Happy Monday guys -_-

Edited May 16, 2016 by Julius Caesar

[Kav]

Yeah, ok Nintendo, just like the DS wasn't the successor to the GBA!

Edited May 16, 2016 by Kav

[Ronnie]

Yeah my Vita standby is a joke. 3DS lasts 2-3 days easily, if not longer