depends on how one looks at it. But it won't stop Nintendo from making great games that utilize the hardware to its potential, which is the most important thing
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Confirmed: The Nintendo Switch is powered by an Nvidia Tegra X1
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depends on how one looks at it. But it won't stop Nintendo from making great games that utilize the hardware to its potential, which is the most important thing
Polygonal_Sprite
Member
Sometimes I wonder if people really believe their special plastic boxes and "coding to the metal!" are so special?
Were they given reason to GG could absolutely port Horizon to Switch. Everything across the board from rendering resolution to geometric complexity to character model detail to textures resolutions to shadow map resolution to lod would all be downgraded yet it would run on Switch.
It's a strange thing to even think about.
Were they given reason to GG could absolutely port Horizon to Switch. Everything across the board from rendering resolution to geometric complexity to character model detail to textures resolutions to shadow map resolution to lod would all be downgraded yet it would run on Switch.
It's a strange thing to even think about.
lwilliams3
Member
In polygon counts, the system seems to be able to handle anything the Wii U can do even in handheld mode. Dock-mode should theorically be able to handle 2-2.5x the polygon load, but I don't believe we have seen any game that upped up the polygon counts for their game in that mode yet. Nintendo themselves are usually conservative on their polygon models. I wonder if Mario's model in SMO has even cross the 10k count (if it's even needed.)
I actually really do care a lot about power efficient electronics (and quiet ones to a lesser extent). That's the kind of cutting edge that seriously appeals to me.
(Much) Better hardware than what the 3DS was at its time. But it could have been better.
Nintendo's systems have always been quiet and power efficient, long before Wii.
Also, power efficiency and noise level may not be important to you, but they are to a large chunk of Nintendo's demographic.
While quiet systems and power efficiency have never been a priority to me, I have to admit, as soon as the heat kicks on in my house I can barely hear the TV anymore. So I do appreciate that. I immediately have to turn the TV up, I do keep the volume low but still, and the heat really isn't that loud at all.
I like that Nintendo considers such things.
civilstrife
Member
You seem to have completely misunderstood my post?
How could you possibly get from what I wrote that I think AAA 3rd party games are inferior in any way?
My assertion is that most new multiplatform AAA's simply won't be released on Switch, and that anyone buying a Switch should expect that going in.
Those that are released on Switch will inevitably be graphically inferior to other versions, but their portability will be a selling point.
You may want to re-read my post.
Grampa Simpson
Banned
AG Drive by ZORG on iOS.
https://appsto.re/gb/AfkdV.i
60 fps futuristic racer that looks very similar to Fast Racing Neo and Fast RMX. Playable on an Apple TV too. Runs at native resolution on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro.
I don't have any of the Fast games so how does AG Drive compare?
How many hours can you play it, and how much does an iPad pro cost?
I mean, I totally agree with you for a console, but energy efficiency is very important for a hybrid. Now, I wish they could have figured out some way for the dock to either give more power or provide a better cooling solution so that you could potentially upclock the hardware more in docked mode, but it is what it is.
I imagine if the dock did anything other than uplock the Switch's GPU enough to run games at around 1080p instead of 720p than even fewer third parties would bother with the switch than are now.
I wonder what approach will Nintendo take to the mid-generation upgrade this time. They had abandoned this idea on home consoles after the N64 disc drive, but kept doing it on handhelds (GBA SP, DSi, N3DS).
They could either actually release a "Pro Dock" in the future, one that has some processing power of it's own and would enhance games performance somehow, or they could just go for a "New Nintendo Switch" altogether with an upgraded version of the Tegra X1 (if it can be further optimized). I'm not sure which way would bring better results.
They could either actually release a "Pro Dock" in the future, one that has some processing power of it's own and would enhance games performance somehow, or they could just go for a "New Nintendo Switch" altogether with an upgraded version of the Tegra X1 (if it can be further optimized). I'm not sure which way would bring better results.
Mr. Pointy
Member
New Switch will happen. Once Nvidia shrinks the non-automotive version of Tegra down to 16nm (either Pascal or Volta), Nintendo will crank out a new model. Same time as a new Pokemon or Monster Hunter.
I don't think there will be a straight up SCD Dock. From what I can remember, the USB-C interface the Switch uses isn't fast enough for eGPU. But what I think could happen is Nintendo could launch a home console running on an ARM and Nvidia combo of whatever, with its own game and SD card slots and internal memory, that has a docking port for a Switch on the top.
And, this is just my idea here, what could happen is that if they're connected together, save files and digital games could be transferred back and forth seamlessly. The only inconvenience would be swapping the game card back and forth. But they would still both play the same games.
b00_thegh0st
Member
Power efficiency is an obsession we should all care for. Some consoles and gaming PCs consume far too much energy for the toys they basically are.
AG Drive by ZORG on iOS.
https://appsto.re/gb/AfkdV.i
60 fps futuristic racer that looks very similar to Fast Racing Neo and Fast RMX. Playable on an Apple TV too. Runs at native resolution on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro.
I don't have any of the Fast games so how does AG Drive compare?
That's not even at Vita level
I'm sure the IPhone 7 can do better than Vita but it wastes all the power for the stupidly high resolution, that's why i'm always doubtful when it comes to resolution bumps.
kitchenmotors
Banned
AG Drive by ZORG on iOS.
https://appsto.re/gb/AfkdV.i
60 fps futuristic racer that looks very similar to Fast Racing Neo and Fast RMX. Playable on an Apple TV too. Runs at native resolution on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro.
I don't have any of the Fast games so how does AG Drive compare?
This looks no where near comparable to Fast. And I doubt it's anywhere near as fun to play.
Similar to the Wii?
I never said it wasn't important. Rather, it's shouldn't be the number 1 priority when making a console, as that particular story was implying.
Exactly; making an overly efficient console can be a detriment, because at some point it can kind of defeat the purpose of having a console in the first place. But for a portable system, efficiency actually is the most important aspect.
VanMardigan
has calmed down a bit.
Stupidly high resolution? iPhone 7? Lol wrong phone buddy.
Dark souls 3 running on switch by GameSpot video
http://www.gamespot.com/videos/dark-souls-3-ringed-city-dlc-demon-prince-boss-gam/2300-6437751/
http://www.gamespot.com/videos/dark-souls-3-ringed-city-dlc-demon-prince-boss-gam/2300-6437751/
Lol that's a bit of a boo boo.
that's a mistake
Skittzo0413
Member
That was almost certainly a video editing error when I saw it last night but the fact that it's still there like 9 hours later and Gamespot hasn't really retracted/edited it makes me question if it really was an editing error.
I'm still gonna go with editing error.
whiskeysailor
Member
AG Drive by ZORG on iOS.
https://appsto.re/gb/AfkdV.i
60 fps futuristic racer that looks very similar to Fast Racing Neo and Fast RMX. Playable on an Apple TV too. Runs at native resolution on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro.
I don't have any of the Fast games so how does AG Drive compare?
I have both, Fast Racing looks WAY better, and plays A LOT better as well
Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Digital Foundry with their words on the matter (nothing new).
https://youtu.be/FZxJUwqENAo
https://youtu.be/FZxJUwqENAo
plagiarize
Banned
I can't help wondering if Square Enix's recent promise to release more games on the Shield TV is in any way related to it sharing architecture with the Switch. I know Nintendo are reportedly discouraging ports, and obviously just because the Shield TV can handle a game doesn't mean the Switch will be able to handle it in portable mode...
But when you see a game like Tomb Raider 2013 ported to the Shield TV (released just this month) you can't help but wonder if they wanted to get that engine running on this architecture for reasons beyond just supporting Nvidia's set top box.
That's where picking this architecture could well be mutually beneficial to both companies. More hardware running on an X1 perhaps means more games for both the main devices that contain one.
*Perhaps*.
But when you see a game like Tomb Raider 2013 ported to the Shield TV (released just this month) you can't help but wonder if they wanted to get that engine running on this architecture for reasons beyond just supporting Nvidia's set top box.
That's where picking this architecture could well be mutually beneficial to both companies. More hardware running on an X1 perhaps means more games for both the main devices that contain one.
*Perhaps*.
krizalidzero
Member
Did we even care the Genesis was less powerful than the SNES?
No.
It had different games and that was fine.
This is the same, the games look good enough, and you can go portable.
Take it from there. Numbers of cores and stuff like that won't make your games more enjoyable (necessarily).
We live in a world were shitty games get to sell millions of copies because of overblown marketing and advertising campaigns, and then they get hated and poorly reviewed (Watch Dogs comes to mind), and then real gems are buried and played by few, and sell less than 1 million copies in spite of great reviews, because of this weird current gaming culture that wants more teraflops and not better games.
I woud have loved for it to be a Tegra X2, but it's an X1 and that's totally fine for now.
Wii U games still look good to me, and the Switch looks even better... That's all I need.
No.
It had different games and that was fine.
This is the same, the games look good enough, and you can go portable.
Take it from there. Numbers of cores and stuff like that won't make your games more enjoyable (necessarily).
We live in a world were shitty games get to sell millions of copies because of overblown marketing and advertising campaigns, and then they get hated and poorly reviewed (Watch Dogs comes to mind), and then real gems are buried and played by few, and sell less than 1 million copies in spite of great reviews, because of this weird current gaming culture that wants more teraflops and not better games.
I woud have loved for it to be a Tegra X2, but it's an X1 and that's totally fine for now.
Wii U games still look good to me, and the Switch looks even better... That's all I need.
primasaurus
Member
Some sites are saying this is confirmed
Well it seems like the guy who did editing must be having switch in his mind or it may be something something else 😀
We know the news and rumors are on going from Laura Dale several months ago when she mentioned about dark souls ports. and we also know that From software also has official switch dev kits.
PdotMichael
Banned
Yeah, Gamespot got early access to the Switch version of Dark Souls 3 with DLC.
And they don't mention it.
It kinda wasn't though. Snes could display more colors and have suplemental gpus built int carts. Genesis cpu was almost 3x faster than the snes.
finalflame
Gold Member
AG Drive by ZORG on iOS.
https://appsto.re/gb/AfkdV.i
60 fps futuristic racer that looks very similar to Fast Racing Neo and Fast RMX. Playable on an Apple TV too. Runs at native resolution on a 12.9 inch iPad Pro.
I don't have any of the Fast games so how does AG Drive compare?
lol this looks like trash, are you serious?
Yeah we didn't, mostly because Genesis was, in fact, more powerful than Super Nintendo.
Snes couldn't handle Genesis resolution and had a slower cpu.
But I get what you mean and I agree with it.
It's not. I own both (well, I own Fast Racing Neo), AG Drive is pretty meh gameplay-wise.
LordOfChaos
Member
Probably posted, but Digital Foundry talking about the die shot
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...ssor-inside-switch-outed-as-standard-tegra-x1
Not at undocked clocks, if we're going Apples, to, uh, Apple. And the A10s CPUs are far away ahead, two Hurricane cores hold their own against four A72s, let alone four A57s. Switch does have twice the RAM still though.
Maaaan, I'd love to see an A10 in an Apple TV form factor with active cooling for as high a clock as it will go. That would be a nice little microconsole.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...ssor-inside-switch-outed-as-standard-tegra-x1
Not at undocked clocks, if we're going Apples, to, uh, Apple. And the A10s CPUs are far away ahead, two Hurricane cores hold their own against four A72s, let alone four A57s. Switch does have twice the RAM still though.
Maaaan, I'd love to see an A10 in an Apple TV form factor with active cooling for as high a clock as it will go. That would be a nice little microconsole.
The problem is that you'd still play this on it
It just wouldn't make financial sense to push the limits of that microconsole.
krizalidzero
Member
Xavier wont reach production stage until probably 2019. Its only expected to enter sampling stage around the start of 2018. Based on what they are touting for Xavier it should end up being pretty much a PS4 level chip.
Astral Dog
Member
None not in a year time at least
Not that that would solve the third party problem it would just break the base unless you are just interested in prettier graphics/higher resolution
holiday 2020 seems like the absolute earliest youd see that
Blackpuppy
Member
A couple of things on that list is debatable.
First, the sound RAM. Because the SNES uses a sample-based system, it needs extra ram to store all of them during gameplay (as a side note, this could create headaches for developers who needed to squeeze all those samples in their small cartridge sizes). Because the Genesis uses synthesized music, it only needs a smaller amount of RAM to fit the code.
Resolution: the higher resolution modes of the SNES were only good for static screens. Most games were played in the smaller resolution.
EDIT: they talk about how the SNES can do multiple backgrounds and a lot of colors but it can't do both. Every mode has their advantages and disadvantages - which makes the SNES versatile but not without a few caveats:
(Pasted from http://www.smwcentral.net/?p=viewthread&t=51999)
Mode 7 - Allows you to stretch, move, and rotate a image on layer 1. Note that you ONLY get layer 1 and the sprite layer in this mode, unless you mess around with the EXTBG in mode 7. This layer also has 256 colors.
Mode 6 and 5 - In Mode 5, you have one 16-color BG and one 4-color BG, and in Mode 6, you have only one 16-color BG, and its has offset-per-tile functionality. They also both activate true hires by default.
Mode 4 - In Mode 4, you have one 256-color BG and one 4-color BG. This too has offset-per-tile functionality.
Mode 3 - In Mode 3, you have one 256-color BG and one 16-color BG. I also believe you can do some fancy things with the direct color mode.
Mode 2 - In Mode 2, you have 2 BGs of 16 colors each. In this mode, the 'tile data' for BG3 actually encodes a (possible) replacement HOffset and/or VOffset value for each tile of BG1 and/or BG2.
Mode 1 - Nothing special about Mode 1, its the one your used to.
Mode 0 - In Mode 0, you have 4 BGs of 4 colors each.
" In the meantime, we've asked Nvidia and Nintendo for comment on Tech Insight's findings and will update with any response."
Why did they even bother
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
This is wrong. The weak CPU was unfortunate, admittedly, but overall the SNES was a good deal more powerful than the Genesis.
Reminds me of a book about gaming I once bought where I found the author thought the GameCube was less powerful than the PS2....I would not have bought the book if I had noticed the passage beforehand.
....Notice the huge increase in sound RAM? That was used in the (almost wholly separate) Sony sound system. Yes, it needed far more RAM for it and it caused headaches, but the self-enclosed system was worth it.
It was so separate, in fact, that early models have it as a module, a module that IIRC you can remove without any ill effects (other than no sound). Additionally, when the system locks up, generally the music will continue.
http://snesmusic.org/files/spc700.html
That poor ps4 pro
Blackpuppy
Member
That's what I just said... so I am a bit confused because you sound like you disagree with my assessment.
Anyway I don't want to start yet another SNES/Genesis arguement here. They are two different systems with their own strengths and weaknesses and people's passions run high when debating which is "better".
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