Android would be a pointless power ceiling loss and expose them to Oracle's lawyers (who are currently suing Google over Android and the API) and the GPL. I'm gonna assume it's a FreeBSD variant just like the Wii U and the PS3/4.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Nintendo Switch Dev Kit Stats Leaked? Cortex A57, 4GB RAM, 32GB Storage, Multi-Touch.
- Thread starter Robert at Zeboyd Games
- Start date
- Status
Android would be a pointless power ceiling loss and expose them to Oracle's lawyers (who are currently suing Google over Android and the API) and the GPL. I'm gonna assume it's a FreeBSD variant just like the Wii U and the PS3/4.
Eolz
Member
They'll have a custom OS as usual, which would make the most sense. Having an Android branch would be awful both in terms of perfs and piracy.
I expect the rewritable part of the gamecard storage to disappear (which should cut down the manufacturing costs) because saves will be stored in the internal memory of the console, which is the most logical thing to do in a home console where different people with different accounts use it, so that every user gets to access, copy, delete etc only their saves.
Cloud saves may appear at a certain point, and i'm pretty sure it will be for backup (for example if you plan to buy another console or trade in yours for a Switch Pro/Switch 2), but it won't be the only way you can store your saves.
You can upload your screens to different hosts by using the browser in game, which is probably something that needs more RAM compared to a button that makes a screenshot and stores it in the internal memory.
You mean they didn't use them on consoles before the Switch, right?
This depends on what kind of encoding scheme you use. If it's All-I encoding then you can get by with a minimal buffer (and will get better visual quality at the expense of larger file sizes), however for P/B-frames you'll need to keep an I-frame in memory to calculate deltas against.
With a hard-drive based system like PS4 you may want to accumulate a larger buffer before writing to disk because of the poor random write performance, although obviously that wouldn't be an issue for Switch.
I agree (probably wasn't being clear enough in my post). I see a Steam-like scenario where all saves are kept on system memory but also synchronised to the cloud.
Pokemaniac
Member
Android isn't happening. Google has that OS locked down super tight right now. They'd either have to cede a ton of control to Google or risk getting blackballed by manufacturers. They're much better off writing their own like usual.
Bingo. I love opengl but no variant of it before vulkan should really be compared to certain other apis especially low level ones devs have access to not in that respect. Epesiecally not the current modern crop especially vulkan, dx12 and the variant sony made for themselves on PS4 the results have spoken compared to any generation before this one.
Nintendo now has a more robust platform to build from, pathetic that it took this long though.
Well this was quite a turn of events, Nintendo never really bothered using APIs for low-level coding?
I thought they did but I can only think of third parties on Nintendo systems like Factor-5 and the work they pulled off on the GameCube with the Star Wars Rogue Squadron games.
Well anyway, as I said before. At least with Vulkan it would help third parties moreso with optimising code across multiple platforms that support Vulkan: Android, Switch, PC etc.
Claiming opengl or variants are is such an api is false claim when we have seen it performance over how long vs platform actually live up to that claim yes I will make that distinction. I was also making the distinction that comparing low level apis of the past to anything of the last 4 years alone is quite disingenous alone especially if we are talking multi core interactions and draw calls improvements they have brung in. Nintendo has not worked with this level of complexity in their entire history certainly not with a mobile component.
I love factor 5 but they exploited anything they worked with. This doesn't take away from rebel strike which I pimp out all the time but that was their expertise not an awesome api with awesome developer. Their work was gc based and that lacked hlsl or anything like it for the tev which would've helped developers. This is where my point is hitting. Nintendo now has these tools, just imagine if factor 5 on gc had equal tools they do now or anyone on WiiU who made decent looking titles.
Moving up not only entice 3rd parties but it allows nintendo platforms to flex what a developer feel is best for their titles.
Schnozberry
Member
Nintendo wouldn't want to pay google a cut of every switch sold either. Their own flavor of Unix/Linux makes the most sense.
Schnozberry
Member
In regards to the API, I hope Nvidia was able to exert some influence on Nintendo opening up the hardware. They offer some impressive optimization for DX11, exposing more hardware than the DX run time normally offers, and I see no reason why they couldn't offer some of the same level of low level access with Vulkan on the switch. The added benefit of Vulkan CPU optimization will pay dividends on lower end hardware as well.
Oh wow, at least then the quality of games from Nintendo could be a bigger leap than what we had from Wii to Wii U.
I guess that also means Zelda BotW for Switch will probably not get a huge upgrade in visuals since it's a cross-gen title but, with the feeling that the Switch version will be pushed front and centre to sell Switch consoles maybe not.
Edit 2: misqoute.
lwilliams3
Member
I don't believe he said that.
As for the API, this sounds like a really big stepping stone for Nintendo to get more support.
He didn't. People keep misquoting a second-hand quote.
https://mobile.twitter.com/tomphillipsEG/status/743138601836306432?ref_src=twsrc^tfw
TwilightPrincess
Member
You are right. He didn't say that. He only said something like it would be the same experience. He didn't say anything about graphics.
@lcgeek: i know you will get asked that alot, sorry if i am a pain in the ass. You wouldn't have anything new to share about the cpu? Do you still believe it will be on par or stronger than the jaguar cores in PS4?
I mean, let's not act like Nintendo has the most secure OS out there.
I'm honestly surprised Nintendo hasn't approached Microsoft, Sony or literally any other security company yet to work on their OS' security considering it took less than a month to crack their past systems after launch.
Android has a serious problem with piracy, hacking, etc but Nintendo using an OS just as crackable barely makes any difference.
Cuningas de Häme
Member
If they are going Android, I won't be buying Switch.
Luckily that is only a small possibility.
Luckily that is only a small possibility.
If you're not using the Android runtime then there's no need to bring the Android baggage into the picture in the first place. It's gonna be FreeBSD.
What Nintendo platform is not easy to pirate on?
blu
Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
True. I was thinking essentially of MJPEG, but any delta-frame format would need a full-frame queue.
Nintendo always had their own APIs that gave optimal performance low-level access just like Sony or now Apple with Metal, and Microsoft increasingly with DirectX 12. All of these platform providers in addition also support versions of OpenGL, which inherently is much slower on the CPU, so any game or application focused on performance would use the low-level APIs.
killatopak
Member
okay is there a tl;dr here?
Can somebody compare the switch via dbz power levels?
Can somebody compare the switch via dbz power levels?
Switch is Mr Popo.
Nostremitus
Member
Come on now, it's not secretly the most powerful console...
You can still have other apps use the Android runtime. Android for a long time has supported natively compiled apps that can dig down into the system with just as optimal performance as other devices. The problem at that point tends to be compatibility. You would avoid that problem with a single device such as Switch.
Nintendo could easily support the standard Android APK for things like Netflix, Hulu, etc. for their non-game apps. And something entirely different for games.
Thanks. Well it's good that they got there now, i wonder by how much this widens the gap with the Wii U.
Switch: Goku SSJ Ultimate
Xbox One: Super Perfect Cell
PS4: Gohan SSJ2
PS4 Pro: Majin Buu
Xbox Scorpio: Super Buu
PC high end: Vegeth SSJ
Ouya: Yamcha.
Both h.264 and (afaik) HEVC support All-I encoding. It's offered on some cameras as a higher quality option for video recording, but you could also conceivably use it in a case like this where you want to minimise the performance impact from recording and Youtube/Twitch will re-encode anyway.
That said, I'd imagine they will use some variant of Nvidia's NVENC block, which does support P/B-frame encoding for h.264 (although no B-frames for HEVC). The current Pascal NVENC block might be a tad overkill, though, I don't think Nintendo has much need for 8K HEVC encoding.
/dead ^^
Their ass.
lwilliams3
Member
Well, the A57s in the original X1s should already be up to par or better than those Jaguars clock-to-clock, so it will just depend on the clockspeed.
ShadowFox08
Member
Nah that's Wii u
TwilightPrincess
Member
Are they? I know there are some benchmarks but how will that work in real gaming situations. And PS4 has 8 cores. I fear 4×a57 will never get near the Jaguars.
A year ago or so there was a rumor floating around that the Switch OS would be Android based.
I think there was even a big thread about that here on gaf
What does this mean?
Ah. With everyone talking about it, I figured there was some new leak that was released. I have no idea if the NS will use Android, but I hope it doesn't.
I don't know shit about DBZ lately but apparently Vegeta is the strongest SSJ
All I can remember from that show is that someone's name is carrot.
There were other rumours (maybe sourced reports) that Nintendo was being very cautious about the way they revealed Switch/NX to devs because they didn't want people assuming it ran Android, IIRC.
I think you're giving too weight to this Android OS rumor, i mean it can also be that Switch OS will be based on ANdroid, but that doesn't mean it'll be able to play google play apps or stuff like that, Android just like Linux can be customized as anyone want, so even if it'll be Android based it'll still be a Nintendo closed OS...Whatever they'll use, Linux, Android etc, i just hope they'll manage to keep it as light as possible, so that menus navigation and booting won't be that long, but i also hope they'll add something more compared to 3DS/WiiU OS, Switch has to have a better integrated Miiverse and Party Chat
Vegeth is Goku and Vegeta's fusion.
LordOfChaos
Member
http://ark.intel.com/products/85475/Intel-Atom-x7-Z8700-Processor-2M-Cache-up-to-2_40-GHz
Granted I'm comparing accross architectures so only as a rough ballpark, but going off the GPU sheet here, with each EU being 8 shaders in AMD/Nvidia talk this GPU is around 150Gflops at max turbo...51 at base.
So yeah, not close. Intel is also more, ah, floppy per unit performance than the others, similar to AMD vs Nvidia.
Grampa Simpson
Banned
Shhhh. You and I know this, but not everyone understands what a Linux based operating system is.
UnemployedVillain
Member
And there were numerous rumors reported that ended up not being true...
- Status