Nintendo Switch Technical discussion [SOC = Tegra X1]
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It’s a good game. Accessible to kids and adults alike, offers local and online multiplayer, while still being skill based, so players at all levels get rewarded for skill building, while still allowing weaker players to retaliate a bit.The sales of Mario Kart alone are insane. This has got to be more than the best selling PS4 exclusive and the best selling Xbox One exclusive combined.
Just.. how.. ??
You know...fun!
Frenetic Pony
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Nintendo first party > Sony first party >> Microsoft first party.
Doesn't necessarily sell consoles a ton. The best selling, highest rated games of the mid to late nineties were almost all N64 titles; and Sony still sold more consoles.
That being said I can see... Nintendo Super Switch (I want that name) as being a great seller in its own right. The chance to play Cyberpunk, Fifa, and GTAO all on a handheld console will be really appealing to most people. Also we'll probably see BotW2 as a crossplatform (Switch/Super) launch title just like with one. Sounds good to me, better than a PS5 honestly.
Edit- After a long investigation it looks like Xavier, Nvidia's latest SOC, has about a 60%+ CPU lead(max tdp though) on the PS4, along with a neural net accelerator and the latest mobile storage I'd assume that's enough for the Super Switch (ok maybe SS isn't the best acronym) to be around the same position to the PS5/XSX as the Switch is the PS4/XBO. Nvidia would need to replace the GPU for Nintendo of course, Volta isn't useful for gaming. But a new SOC built on Ampere/8nm/lpddr5 is about due anyway.
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Deleted member 2197
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New Nintendo Switch FCC Filings Seemingly Confirm New Model With SoC and RAM Changes Alongside a CPU Board Change
August 27, 2020
August 27, 2020
https://wccftech.com/new-nintendo-switch-soc-memory-board/
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Deleted member 11852
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Sure, everything you've said it true. But fundamentally it's the same game I bought 20 years ago and 15 years ago.
Rootax
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Like a lot of games I guess.
But it's like Mario Kart Wii U with all the dlcs. I had already MK and ZBOTW on Wii U, I don't considere we've seen a new mk and a new zelda since.
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I am so disappointed with the lack of new IP out of Nintendo over the last 30 years. They just can't seem to let go. Even when they come up with a new game concept it's 50/50 going to have some character IP that's 40+ years old behind it.
FFS Nintendo, come up with something new. Talk about flogging a dead IP horse.
Rootax
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I agree, but it's not a specific Nintendo problem. And I'm not sure they have the ressources to make new stuff, while at the same time working on all the classics. They kind of innovated with BOTW, yes It was the zelda ip, but I really enjoyed it, without the feeling of playing something I already played before.
And at the same time, I miss some IP, like F Zero, 1080 Snowboarding, and Wave Race. Give me Wave Race on a home console, full RT effect on water
Eh, heard of Splatoon? ARMS? Ring Fit Adventure? Not only do they come up with new IP, they’re (multi-) million sellers! And they do stuff like LABO as well, so they are definitely not afraid to try new things, or to push on with originally not very succesful IP such as Xenoblade, taking it into the mainstream.
I think it is mostly a matter of perspective. If you’re just looking for Mario, all you’ll see is Mario.
And as has been pointed out, it is not as if Forza 57, God of War 36, or Gears 96, or Halo God-knows-how-many aren’t a reality. MCU has released how many superhero movies now? Mainstream likes the same experience over and over and over.
On the subject of an upcoming Switch revision, the most likely is a trivial variation of what they already use. Huawei being kicked out of TSMC and Apple moving iPhone SoC production to 5nm opens up a lot of capacity at 7nm, and Samsung is desperately looking for foundry business to help fund their process development. So from a foundry point of view it’s a good time to move on in litography for Nintendo, but it is also difficult to see just what shape that would take for a mid-life refresh of the Switch.
Nvidia has nothing on the shelf that is suitable, and it’s questionable if Nintendo would want to commission a completely new SoC design unless we’re talking about creating a next generation platform. Will be interesting to see of course, but....
Nvidia has nothing on the shelf that is suitable, and it’s questionable if Nintendo would want to commission a completely new SoC design unless we’re talking about creating a next generation platform. Will be interesting to see of course, but....
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Deleted member 13524
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I'm pretty tired of the Mario / Kart formulas myself, but Nintendo IPs are the polar opposite of dead horses and treating them as such would be an objectively bad business decision.
Of course there are, but they don’t have celebrity status. Does it matter though? Nintendos seemingly unique identity comes from them being a games company, and nothing else. They are not trying to achieve personal computing world domination like Microsoft, or promote other branches of their business like Sony.
They sell gaming. It’s all they do, and it is reflected in their products and policies. I don’t see that changing for the foreseeable future, regardless of staff. If in the future the console business dies, they will still provide gaming entertainment and delight wherever people want it.
My theory about Nintendo's "success" is that they get the kids in their formative years and simply imprinted on their minds with the positive novel experience. The sad thing is that adults still buy these games desperately trying to recreate that dopamine rush they experienced as kids.
If you got into games at an older age the label programming is simply not that deep.
P.S. Glad I escaped Nintendo's MKUltra program
I work in an independent video game store. I see adults every day who had a Wii as their first console, or more recently, a Switch. Or even a DS. We have this one customer who will only buy DS puzzle games. Like the hidden object and match 3 type stuff that's free on cell phones. I introduced her to Professor Layton and I think I changed her life. Another one who only buys gameshow and board games for Wii. These are regular customers who come in every week and, while I wouldn't say they spent the most, they consistently drop $5-10 a week on games and they probably play more hours of video games per week than I do. I'm not sure I can remember a customer who purposely bought an Xbox or Playstation as their first console as an adult. Maybe some that played their kids, and then got one for themselves, but not a "I just wanted something so I got this" out of nowhere purchase.My theory about Nintendo's "success" is that they get the kids in their formative years and simply imprinted on their minds with the positive novel experience. The sad thing is that adults still buy these games desperately trying to recreate that dopamine rush they experienced as kids.
If you got into games at an older age the label programming is simply not that deep.
P.S. Glad I escaped Nintendo's MKUltra program
Nintendo isn't just getting them early, they are hitting the full spectrum of gamers. The ones they don't have are the shooty-shoot shoot crowd who play COD, but honestly, there's a fair amount of inroads being made there with Fortnite and the soon to release Apex.
The main problem is, you don't want to totally fragment your console developing with a mid-life refresh. Turing/Ampere would be the perfect fit for a Next-Gen Switch, 1080p upscaled via DLSS to 4k. The quality is good enough and only gets better. Nvidia would be extremely happy, if many devs include it in their engines for switch, the step to include it on PC would be small. So i'm sure nvidia would make Nintendo a good offer to push DLSS. But devs having to develop on a X1 and on Turing/Ampere? Close to the metal developing on so different architectures for one plattform would be a pain in the ass. Xbox One X and PS4 Pro might have a lot more power than the original consoles, but the architecture is the same. Therefore i don't know how Nintendo could push for 4K without breaking compatibility.
Except Nintendo has shown no interest in playing the graphics game and Nvidia has gotten out of developing mobile solutions so now any work for Nintendo would be just that, an SoC with a single customer and little hope of finding another. This will be an expensive job and I just don't see the business justification for it, right now with an SoC that can barely sustain 1080p docked and frequently drops to 540p or less undocked for 3rd party 3D titles is absolutely printing money. A mild refresh that could sustain 720p while mobile and more frequently reach 1080p docked with 4K support for UI elements would be fine for their needs in a 3DS/New 3DS (or DS/DSi) style mid-life refresh. An additional benefit of this strategy is it makes supporting your existing Switch base much easier as the differences between the two will be a minor rendering feature here or there, in prior mid-life refreshes Nintendo has prioritised leaving no customer behind over encouraging upgrades with titles that only work on the new hardware even when they arguably should have (Xenoblade on 3DS).