Nintendo Switch Tech Speculation discussion

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Considering the lower resolution and 4GB limitation, they will probably use lower detail assets too, so that will save a lot of space.
Is it scaled down from 1080p, or scaled up from 720p.
Either way I guess due to limited space would have to compromise on asset quality for tv display.

Portable home console scaling down.
Handheld that can display on tv, scales up.

Really depends where your coming from I guess.
If rumoured specs are true, it's the handheld option Imo.
 
For everyone saying Switch won't have those issues is admitting that the Switch will never get third party games.

It probably wont get the full ticket of AAA Western Published games. But the limitations of media size and internal storage are not deal breakers for most gams. Shadow of Mordor is a 40GB game on my PC, but fit on a dual layer DVD for the X360, so its certainly possible for game file sizes to be significantly reduced. Internal storage is offset by the use of SD cards. I'm not defending 32GB, it should be at least 128GB because of the reduced cost of flash memory, but its a solvable problem. Looking at the compromises made for cross gen games on the 360 is probably a good indication of what we are looking at for Switch. The notion that because a game is 40GB on the Xbone/PS4 means that it cant possible work with only 16GB is simply not true, we have seen multiple examples. And like I said in my previous post, all the sports games still released on 360/PS3 this year, no reason why they couldn't bring them to Switch next year.

Nintendo is aware that they need to better support their platform on their own, its the reason we are seeing a unified platform with Switch. If you combine the Wii U and 3DS libraries, you have a very large library of games, and that the idea with Switch. In the past five years the first party titles have been split between two platforms, but the combined number of titles is significant.
 
And like I said in my previous post, all the sports games still released on 360/PS3 this year, no reason why they couldn't bring them to Switch next year.
Typically the sports games are just rehashes of the old ones on the older consoles, rather than proper ports of the latest, greatest version. What are the non-sports releases for PS360 looking like? I really don't think there's anything to be had there regards ports for Switch. I don't think it's needed either as down ports will definitely be possible. It's just a matter of whether its economical.
 
Typically the sports games are just rehashes of the old ones on the older consoles, rather than proper ports of the latest, greatest version. What are the non-sports releases for PS360 looking like? I really don't think there's anything to be had there regards ports for Switch. I don't think it's needed either as down ports will definitely be possible. It's just a matter of whether its economical.
There was a point until very recently that was even happening to the PC.
So I wouldn't be very inclined to use sports games as an example as they know that there's so much money in them they don't mind putting out very crippled versions.
 
It probably wont get the full ticket of AAA Western Published games. But the limitations of media size and internal storage are not deal breakers for most gams. Shadow of Mordor is a 40GB game on my PC, but fit on a dual layer DVD for the X360S, so its certainly possible for game file sizes to be significantly reduced. Internal storage is offset by the use of SD cards. I'm not defending 32GB, it should be at least 128GB because of the reduced cost of flash memory, but its a solvable problem. Looking at the compromises made for cross gen games on the 360 is probably a good indication of what we are looking at for Switch. The notion that because a game is 40GB on the Xbone/PS4 means that it cant possible work with only 16GB is simply not true, we have seen multiple examples. And like I said in my previous post, all the sports games still released on 360/PS3 this year, no reason why they couldn't bring them to Switch next year.

Nintendo is aware that they need to better support their platform on their own, its the reason we are seeing a unified platform with Switch. If you combine the Wii U and 3DS libraries, you have a very large library of games, and that the idea with Switch. In the past five years the first party titles have been split between two platforms, but the combined number of titles is significant.

Shadow of mordor is a cross-gen game. Most games released nowadays aren't. Most (AAA but not only) games can't be released on Switch due to a combination of underspecced hardware, lack of bluray and lack of HDD.

Those 3 problems taken together are not economically solvable from a publisher point of view (for the AAA console games).
 
Not correct. How do you handle the Day-0 patches that range from 5 to 20 GB or the 30GB+ DLC addons?

How did the Xbox 360 E 4GB - launched in June 2013 - handle patches?

Perhaps the major reason why there are these huge patches is because this last gen the console makers (and PC before them) allow them to exist, and devs/publishers became more relaxed with QA, favoring more convenient release dates instead of how finished the games are.
And boy, do we know that trend in the PC space. Some games only become barely playable several weeks or months after their release. See the example of Mortal Kombat X. Took the devs over a year (or rather the imminent release of Injustice 2) to fix the game, ridiculous.


Another thing worth mentioning is that the game cartridges will probably just use regular writable NAND memory, so patching the new data to the cartridge itself doesn't sound like such a problem either.
As for DLCs, if you want them you have to put a SD card in there.
 
Shadow of mordor is a cross-gen game. Most games released nowadays aren't. Most (AAA but not only) games can't be released on Switch due to a combination of underspecced hardware, lack of bluray and lack of HDD.

Those 3 problems taken together are not economically solvable from a publisher point of view (for the AAA console games).

Rumors from Emily so far state that developers shouldn't have much trouble porting their games to the Switch. I suspect there's a lot about the system we still don't know, though. I really think it's going to come down to how well engines scale. I'd bet that most UE4 games wouldn't have much trouble. Unity might since Unity is... Well... Unity.
 
Typically the sports games are just rehashes of the old ones on the older consoles, rather than proper ports of the latest, greatest version. What are the non-sports releases for PS360 looking like? I really don't think there's anything to be had there regards ports for Switch. I don't think it's needed either as down ports will definitely be possible. It's just a matter of whether its economical.

My point stands, and I cant tell if your even arguing against my claim that Sports games are a prime example where the lower specs of the Switch wouldn't be the determining factor for those games skipping the platform. Switch very well may be able to use the current gen versions of Madden and Fifa, but worst case scenario is the previous generation games engines are still a viable option if it makes for less work on the developer. Basically sports games will be there for Switch as long as Nintendo is able to get Switch off to a strong start, and games like Zelda BoTW lead me to believe this will be the case. I personally believe sports games are more important than many other offerings from western third parties. Playing sports games on the go makes more sense than playing Assassins Creed or Mass Effect 4. Playing a game of Madden or Fifa on your lunch break could be very popular, because these games favor shorter play sessions.

So all in all I don't disagree that Switch will be missing many Western third party games. The limitations, while always solvable, will outweigh the cost associated with making it work for such limited sales potential.
 
Sports based in stadiums is probably the easiest to port across performance ranges. Ultimately though, porting is based on economics, if the Nintendo is able to sell a ton of switches there won't be a ton of worrying about porting downward.

Because the smart play, financial wise, isn't to port downward, its to port upward. The switch is likely to be the base sku for game development going forward in a circumstance where switch represent a significant userbase.
 
Basically sports games will be there for Switch as long as Nintendo is able to get Switch off to a strong start.
But those sports games aren't the 'proper' ones, so interest is likely reduced. "Oooo, I can get a Switch and play FIFA 17 on it and use my Ultimate Team from my PS4 play. Oh, it's the last gen, skanky version - not worth my time," sort of thing. But for those who don't care, yes, there'd at least be some sports titles on Switch.
 
The lack of a Blu-Ray drive and HDD do not necessarily mean that Switch can't run big games.

Why are modern games so big? It's all about the assets: Textures, world data, videos, maybe sound take up a lot of space.

What can Switch do about it? Use better compression!

Internal flash memory (and probably cartridge memory) has much lower latency and higher throughput than a HDD or Blu-Ray drive. That opens up a lot of possibilities. Maybe add some hardware decompression support in the Tegra and you're good to go.

Apart from that I've been wondering whether Switch will support some sort of mass storage either in the handheld itself or the base.

Nintendo being Nintendo I don't think they will use standard SD cards, if it's memory cards. If Switch supports memory cards, there will be special Switch memory cards with very average specs but at least a 100% premium over comparable SD cards.
 
What can Switch do about it? Use better compression!
Higher compression == lower quality assets.

There's no free lunch.

PS4 and XB1 already have compression hardware for real time decompression of data read from the HDD. AKA the Amiga Blitter, or Data Move Engines, or Secret Sauce(tm). Both for lossy jpg, and lossless LZ.
 
Higher compression == lower quality assets.

There's no free lunch.

PS4 and XB1 already have compression hardware for real time decompression of data read from the HDD. AKA the Amiga Blitter, or Data Move Engines, or Secret Sauce(tm). Both for lossy jpg, and lossless LZ.

I don't think anyone is expecting complete parity with the Xbox One and PS4 here, so lower quality assets are an acceptable compromise I think.
 
Most (AAA but not only) games can't be released on Switch due to a combination of underspecced hardware, lack of bluray and lack of HDD.

Those 3 problems taken together are not economically solvable from a publisher point of view (for the AAA console games).

Economically solvable is a key point here, that some apologists of the idea
of big western publishers supporting the Switch with AAA games fail to properly apreciate. You sure can make a game somehow run on ps360 if the economical interest is there, but its VERY unlikely that this will be the case on switch for several reason.
 
But those sports games aren't the 'proper' ones, so interest is likely reduced. "Oooo, I can get a Switch and play FIFA 17 on it and use my Ultimate Team from my PS4 play. Oh, it's the last gen, skanky version - not worth my time," sort of thing. But for those who don't care, yes, there'd at least be some sports titles on Switch.

Well there are obviously plenty of people ok with not playing the "proper" versions since they have been buying them year after year on the 360/PS3. Many millions of copies have been sold on those older console post PS4/Xbone launch. Also, lets be real here, Sports games haven't really evolved much in quite some time. Madden plays like Madden, and has for over a decade. Sure, there are improvements, but mostly cosmetic. The overall gameplay experience hasn't changed much. Its a far stretch of going from the original PlayStation to the PlayStation 2, or even the difference between PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3. The experience has improved in a far more incremental way.

So how will you be playing your non skanky version during your lunch break? During your flight heading out for vacation? Your ignoring the Switches obvious selling point and advantage. Don't get me wrong, I am not of the opinion that there are numerous people who will buy a Switch solely with the purpose of playing Madden or Fifa on the go, but the idea is that if there are enough consumers who bought a Switch to play Zelda, Mario and Splatoon, there could be enough of them interested in purchasing a Madden or Fifa game for their new hybrid console. Switch is in a very similar place as Wii with respect to third parties, third parties didn't make Wii the 2nd most successful console of all time, Nintendo did. Games like Wii Sport, New Super Mario Bros, and Mario Kart Wii. Even though gamers weren't buying a Wii for Madden and Fifa, they arrived on the console just the same.

I believe that many of these third party titles, especially sports titles, have a better chance of doing well on Switch thanks to it being mobile. There are lots of multi device consumers out there, but does anyone ever buy Madden or Fifa for both the Xbox One and the PS4? Nope, of course not. With the Switch, having a second version isn't out of the question. If I was really into Madden or Fifa, I might want a version to play on my lunch breaks and such.
 
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