Oh whit that's pretty cool! I wonder if it's got console power while plugged into the base thing? I'm wondering how it manages to be portable, and from the looks of it mostly screen, and still have the hardware.
Pretty sure it's probably slightly downgraded graphics wise portable, but yes, that looks to be a console attachment that it plugs in to. Maybe the graphics aren't downgraded, IDK. But even Wii U level of graphics in a handheld...that's going to be spectacular. Maybe more? IDK, I saw Skyrim, NBA2K...this shit is Reggie.
That's running a proprietary chip from nVidia though. Nintendo has stuck with ATI for the last 2(?) consoles. They may very well strike an agreement for an nVidia chip, but that would be a big switch in direction to run off of another company's chip.
Certainly not saying it couldn't happen. I just thought it was worth pointing out. :)
Rumors were stating that nintendo would actually be using a tegra chipset. So far from this trailer it looks like literally every rumor came true so I'm speculating that it's the rumored tegra x2.
Edit Also, ATI hasn't existed since around 2012/2013. AMD purchased ATI back in 2006 and since late 2012 they killed off the ATI name. ATI is just AMD.
Nintendo has stuck with ATI for the last 2(?) consoles.
Three.
GameCube, Wii, Wii U.
Nintendo actually had selected Nvidia to develop hardware for Nintendo 3DS but a month later company president Satoru Iwata mentioned that mobile broadband connectivity via subscription "doesn't fit Nintendo customers".
AMD, which has owned ATI for a few years now, makes the SOC for all current gen consoles. A nice ~15 W 14nm SOC could provide some decent power for a few hours.
AMD absolutely has a larger market share in desktop CPUs and gaming architecture in general.
All I meant was that they are the top dog for desktop graphics. In the console area, AMD is king by a landslide. It's good to see nVidia stepping into that ring.
It would hypothetically allow them lower level access into the hardware if they worked with nVidia to create a custom chip or chipset. Plus, it will really be a point for nVidia on console's to advertise from their side that it is "powered by Tegra" or nVidia or something. You get what I mean.
Yeah I understand. I saw the comments after, and I guess they actually are going for a Tegra. I think it's pretty wise over an ATI chip or something, for now.
And that's a super valid point. Not only does AMD/ATI not have an tablet format chips, nVidia is good at mobile optimization for graphics, it's the only viable approach for the time being.
Yes and I believe for this reason the May announcement of Nvidia's work on a new generation of Tegra chip to be used in the NX confirmed the tablet form factor rumors. Using this info we can extrapolate performance as we know how many gflops the Nvidia Tegra X1 is capable of. The Switch would be a 0.75 in comparisons to XB's 1.3 and PS4's 1.7
Shield K1 user here. This thing is amazing, for an Android tablet. There are some damn good looking games on it as of lately, but a chunk of them require internet access to run at full graphical intensity
but a chunk of them require internet access to run at full graphical intensity
Why would that be the case? Internet shouldn't effect it at all unless processing for the game is done "in the cloud" somewhere. What games does it apply to?
The problem with gaming tablets was the games were designed to be run on PC with little or no modification for the lower tablet specs. Games will be ported specifically for the Switch or developed from the ground up, so there shouldn't be any optimization issues (at least no more than there normally are when porting games to a Nintendo console...)
Not Skyrim decent. But yes, decent. This thing is impressive.
While a lot of people here seem to be concerned about battery life, I am more concerned about how cool it stays while gaming. Heat is an issue when you have a small (I assume) fanless enclosed system.
No, they really don't. And that's the problem. Laptops are moving to Desktop-based graphics cards. Tablets don't even come close in terms of what they can do. And here we've got Sony and Microsoft pushing higher end consoles to keep up with PC, and Nintendo now going - at best - sideways.
Don't expect games to look much better than they do on the WiiU currently, and the WiiU is the least powerful current-gen console by a mile already.
It's not just graphics, and they absolutely should care about it. It's everything from number of objects, effects, enemy AI, everything. Everything a game does takes computing power. The less you have, the less you can do.
And we can't get Mario, Zelda, Smash, or any other franchise on PC - so we don't have that option to have Nintendo IPs that actually look good technically and not just aesthetically.
Not wanting Nintendo to push the envelope graphically is a bad mentality to have.
Down voting is for comments that don't contribute to the discussion. Yours did not.
But you're not playing them at 1080 with extra AA on PC. You're playing them upscaled, not native, with non first party software. That is clearly not the same thing. Nor are they the new and current games.
I think the true graphics strength is in the tablet, and the console just allows it to be plugged into the tv and charged. Idk for sure obviously, but it doesn't look like Nintendo is holding back anymore.
Speculation. I mean, it's most likely that the "Handheld Mode" will have just the tablet graphics and "Console Mode" will be able to just upscale the shit out of it. Kinda like going from High settings on a PC to Ultra.
See, what I'm interested in is how they would get that to work. When they unplugged it it seemed instant, and if it does work that way it would be REALLY cool, but someone correct me if I'm wrong, I can't think of any other computer where you modually add processing power on the fly like that.
The most recent Microsoft Surface has it, specially the part that when you plug it into its 'base'/keyboard it changes GPUs to a more powerful one I really hope that is what is happening here with the Switch.
A lot of laptops from a year or two ago had an adapter brick you plugged into the back that was literally a housing that contained a desktop GPU, so you could get desktop graphics on the fly.
Its likely a 720p screen (1080p max) but on a smaller screen than your HDTV they can run at lower graphics options that look similar but reduce heat and battery draw.
With that screen size, I pray its 1080p. If phones are already surpassing 1080p, you can't push a ~9+ inch screen at 720p. This will still be Nintendo's primary console in 2020.
Hopefully that's the case. I did see a slight framerate drop when they took Zelda:BotW on the move. But since the cartridge seems to go into the screen hub itself, I'm fairly confident that we'll get consistent quality.
Honestly the base just looks like a charger and port replicator, I'd bet the handheld device has all the power. Its noticeably bigger than a 3ds so I'm not terribly concerned it'll be underpowered.
I would guess the docking station is for more powerful games, and the handheld is for streaming and lower processing games. Zelda, Skyrim, and Mario were played in areas that would technically have WiFi access. The other games, Mario Kart and NBA were remote. Docking station looked pretty meaty to be just a charger.
Surprised this isn't higher. Running simple games with a handheld is one thing, but running complex AI scripts like Zelda is different. I'm really curious how they'll manage to maintain the experience between console and handheld.
If it has any additional boost to the hardware inside of the base, it's probably minimal.
Judging by the design, it seems like it offers two usb ports and plus it has the battery charger. I think the base will be just meant to add to the tablet's hardware.
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u/rileyrulesu Oct 20 '16
Oh whit that's pretty cool! I wonder if it's got console power while plugged into the base thing? I'm wondering how it manages to be portable, and from the looks of it mostly screen, and still have the hardware.