Nintendo Switch/NX Discussion

Discussion in 'Video Games and Technology' started by Gaastra, Mar 17, 2015.

  1. Mark

    Mark Just here for the toys

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    Well 60 is better than the 90 they were charging for the original dock. Which was discontinued I think? Or at least not readily available.
     
  2. CyberBlade507

    CyberBlade507 Well-Known Member

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    Pretty sure the original dock was discontinued, yeah. I picked up a second one for (relatively) cheap not long before I stopped seeing them on store shelves.

    Although the price difference may or may not be a good thing depending on what's included and what you're looking for. The original extra docks included a charger and HDMI cable at $90. If the new $60 includes all that, then that's definitely great. But if it only includes the dock itself and you're looking to have another setup for a second TV, then you'll still need to buy at minimum a charger as well. And possibly an HDMI cable if you don't have a spare one lying around.
     
  3. AnonymousDwell

    AnonymousDwell Well-Known Member

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    The dock being purchasable is definitely a nice option.

    Also this didn't occur to me, but I saw someone note that the color scheme of this OLED version and its dock are kind of similar to Metroid Dread's color scheme (both for Samus and E.M.M.I.) And that made me realize, both release on October 8th, too. So that's kind of cool. I wonder if they'll have a Metroid Dread Switch bundle.
     
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  4. OmegaScourge

    OmegaScourge Custom Made TFW2005 Supporter

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    Also the SwitchOLED works with the old dock and the SwitchOG works with the new dock.

    Also doesn't come with AC cable, HDMI cable, or box/package.
     
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2021
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  5. OmegaScourge

    OmegaScourge Custom Made TFW2005 Supporter

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    I just noticed the new dock's internal area. They pretty much just swapped out the usb port for the ethernet port. So the only USB ports for the new dock is the two outter ones.
     
  6. AnonymousDwell

    AnonymousDwell Well-Known Member

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    "Unspeakable horrors" in an adorable cartoonish font as happy music plays. :lol 
     
  7. Roger Semerad

    Roger Semerad Well-Known Member

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    I'm overall very happy with this refresh. The rumors that there might be a pro upgrade always worried me. If more power was available, I'm sure developers would target the higher spec as the primary version. Leading to the performance on the original hardware an afterthought, with even more problems keeping a stable framerate. Now we don't have a split market and can just focus on what the Switch is, and likely will continue to be until the next console. Hopefully there will be a few more games custom designed for the Switch and less ports, or at least more ports of ps4/x-box 1 era or even PS3/X-box 360 era games. Current gen ports just won't be pretty, I hope they don't try.

    I've got an OG Switch model with the poor battery life. For that reason alone I always considered buying the refresh chipset version. The reason I held off was that I was waiting to see if Nintendo was going to do anything more significant with the Switch down the road. Now that the OLED version is coming out, and I don't think it's likely that another refresh will replace it, that's the version I'll pick up. Not on release day though. I'm a 80% docked, 20% handheld player, so I'm not in a rush. I do have some worry about OLED screen burn in, but if that does happen I'll still have the OG version standing by to be my portable version. The one thing I don't like is that the Joycons are getting no improvements. Joycon drift is a real problem that is my only negative experience with the Switch hardware itself.

    One potentially interesting thing about the refresh is the dock. I was watching Digital Foundry's response video and they pointed out that the dock appears to have a new vent located on the back that would allow for better cooling. There's some chance that Nintendo would use that to allow overclocking the chipset to allow for some better performance. It's not likely that Nintendo would do that, but it could. The DF people noted that Nintendo has let companies in the past lightly overclock the hardware during the DS days, so there is some precedent for it. More likely they don't though. The Switch already runs hot in docked mode and the vent may just be for added long term stability. Even if Nintendo doesn't use it, if the vent does improve cooling it could be used to more reliably overclock it ourselves using homebrew. That's probably the best outcome for improving the hardware there is. Developers still have to make their game run well with the base specs, and the more tech savvy can overclock it to run a little better.
     
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  8. Ramberk Magnus

    Ramberk Magnus Well-Known Member

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    I completely agree with your thoughts. I think some of us got overly excited about the idea of a "4K upgrade" without really thinking about what that would do to the Switch's customer base and to developer's focus. It would totally cause fragmentation and frankly, there's no benefit there except to upset customers who don't want to do a Switch hardware update just yet. I much, much prefer a "hard update" after five or six years from the initial launch of the machine.

    If you look at Nintendo's record, you can see that they're moving along with steady refreshes of the hardware without causing any problems to the game ecosystem. 2017 was initial hardware, 2019 got the lite version and 2021 is the OLED edition. 2023 should hopefully be the target date for a Switch 2 that is completely backwards compatible with the original Switch. I'm already setting aside $10 every two weeks just to be ready for that launch! :D 

    I also saw the Digital Foundry video and I think they were going too much into "wishful thinking" territory. The new cooling vent was put there to increase air flow and improve the stability of the hardware. Nintendo plays it safe and is more interested in making sure they don't have to do repairs or face angry customers. Overclocking is for hobby enthusiasts. The Big N has no incentive to provide any gimmicky speed bumps to the CPU when it's regularly selling out and restocking of its hardware. Sales have not slowed down!
     
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  9. Mark

    Mark Just here for the toys

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    Exactly. 4k would be a major disruption to the whole system. It's not something that happens in a midcycle refresh.
     
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  10. Autoboticon

    Autoboticon In like a Bot, out like a Con

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    Especially after a year of great Switch sales for people getting into games or getting second switches at home for the family.
     
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  11. TheLastBlade

    TheLastBlade Well-Known Member

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    Lol, I keep seeing people on other sites get butthurt over either the switch pro not happening or the revision not being what they expected. Next time don’t believe “leakers” so easily.
     
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  12. Gaastra

    Gaastra Well-Known Member

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    So the rumor is new switch may NOT be the pro and just a classic "another ds" system filler! Studios are even getting dev kits with more stuff in it.

    Are you guys ready to buy another switch later if true?

    "they just found a way to charge higher price for the same system with just a few tweets."

    Lol. And it will sell great!

    Welcome back to the ds days!




     
  13. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    I will never understand why people are mad at someone if they just had different expectations. It's like with Star Wars. I mean, they can say, they don't like the new movies, just like I don't like the prequels, but you can't be mad at them for not giving you what you expected if they never said they would.

    I like the new white Switch, btw. I would rather buy that, then the old one. And just for the white and round corners. OLED is nice, but I don't plan to play much in handheld mode anyway. I would be much happier if they released a version that ditches the handheld mode :lol 
     
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  14. Ramberk Magnus

    Ramberk Magnus Well-Known Member

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    It’s just another example of fans letting their wishful thinking get the better of them. We were all expecting new Switch hardware because of the speculative news reports but Nintendo never hinted at what they were going to do. It was all inside the fandom’s head. You cannot blame Nintendo for under delivering on something they never promised.

    In fact, if I were a game publisher I would take Nintendo’s example of keeping my mouth shut until I had concrete info to hand out. The moment you give out hints or leaks is the moment fans will build unrealistic expectations and come after you when you don’t meet them.
     
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  15. Murasame

    Murasame 村雨

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    Underdelivering is also pretty much subjective. It's only underdelivery if you expected more. From what Nintendo promised, which they didn't to anything, they did pretty much deliver. Especially when you think about for how much money Nintendo Switches sell, it's cool to have a cheaper option with this new release for 350 and not feed the scalpers while also getting a better screen and a nice white color scheme.
     
  16. Venixion

    Venixion Its always the middle of the night in Moonside

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    The Switch's memory sucks, and gets filled up too fast. Even with a dumb SD card. Will we lose all our progress if we buy a bigger one?
     
  17. bignick1693

    bignick1693 Maximal

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    I wasn’t looking for 4K. But I wish it would have a small performance boost for 1080p. Like everything runs at 1080p 60 FPS. I also would have like to see HDR support.
     
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  18. Uniclonus

    Uniclonus Well-Known Member

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    I may be wrong on this but I think save data is stored on the console itself rather than the SD card. Moot point though if you've got a Switch Online membership as you can do the Cloud Save thing.

    But yeah, you can easily shift data from an existing SD card to a new one. A quick double check of the Nintendo site says it's loading up the old card on a PC, copying the files to the PC and then copying again to the new card.
     
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  19. Zebulon

    Zebulon Well-Known Member

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    The Switch OS also has an internal method of communicating with another Switch and transferring a profile, saves and all, from one to another using your wifi network.
     
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  20. Scowly Prowl

    Scowly Prowl Still calculating variables...

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    Having owned an OG PS Vita, with the OLED screen, and then seeing the later generation Vitas with their LCD screens, I can attest that mobile gamers will definitely appreciate the improved image and colour depth of the OLED. For a $50 bump, over the regular Switch, I would recommend the OLED version for anyone who wants/plans to take the Switch to game off the dock on a regular basis. I put thousands of hours into my Vita playing those games, and the screen made it incredibly worthwhile.

    The Switch was never really going to get HD in handheld mode. There's a few sites out there that compare 720p at "arm's length" with the screen size, and compares it to Retina display in terms of pixel density. Unless you have awesome young eyes, you really aren't going to notice a huge difference. I haven't been able to play a game on the Switch, though, and compare it to the version on a Retina screen to compare.

    I've revised my opinions about 60 vs 30 vs 24 fps gaming. It's smoother, and that counts for something. But most games, am I ripping around that I would appreciate that? Sure, Hades, SSBU, I probably would. But BOTW? It's fine.

    I am of two minds with 4K gaming. I mean, it looks awesome... but am I really needing to Link's nose hairs? Are many Switch AAA releases really going to benefit from 4K? I think Nintendo is banking on that not being a priority for some. It's probably gaming experience/play value, rather than cutting edge production values.

    Thinking a bit more about it, if I wanted to go OLED with the Switch, I'd be tempted get one and transfer the data, and then sell my used one to cover some of the cost.
     
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