• 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.

Behold Nintendo Switch (March 2017, Hybrid w/ Dock, Detachable Controllers, Nvidia)

Status
Not open for further replies.
A cynic might think its the same scenario as GTAV was, and after they maximise their sales with the 'vanilla' edition on PS4 and XB1, they release the 'GOTY' enhanced edition with PS4Pro / PC / Scorpio improvements in a year and get a bunch of double dippers.

what a cynic this guy would be... :]
 

Famassu

Member
I still can't understand this comment about one year of work to port to PC... Aren't PS4 and One the same architecture as PCs? does it perhaps mean they would just put one lonely trainee on the port?
They'd do more than just make FFXV run on a PC. They'd try to make it as much of a technical showcase on PC as they can instead of just FFXV: The 60(+)fps 4K Edition.
 

Malus

Member
Was this something confirmed back in April?



I was trying to look for Kimishimas quote and ran into this. Not sure if this was from an interview or just a report Nikkei was making. Of course things can change, but if this were true....hmm

Laura said that and retracted it when Nintendo confirmed they wouldn't say anything more until next year. Maybe plans changed recently, I dunno. She said it just this past week though.
 
They haven't said they won't do it yet, so they might still. Why don't you believe it, though? Why would they refuse to make even a generic port to PC? It'll definitely give them extra income, so pride would be the only possible reason that makes any kind of sense.

pride has little to do in a business that involves as much money and time as the mess that was this game's development...
 

oti

Banned
Because there are people like you who don't like to play with it split. But whether you've got a piece of plastic connecting them in the middle or not, the button inputs work the same.

Are you telling me that buttons are buttons whether they are in a shell or not? Well, duh?
 

_Ryo_

Member
Do you all think that the Switch will have a different UI when playing on portable than it does while playing on TV/Monitor? I've been thinking about how some games UI just wont work without a large screen.

Also it would be neat if extraa were hidden in each version. For example hou find a secret treasure in an RPG while in portable mode that isn't visible in console mode.
 
Ah, never saw that quote, thanks. It does sound a bit like a BS reason though, where they just don't see a good ROI for a PC port.

No idea how this translates to Switch, but I guess we'll see before too long if they see a good ROI for that.



But as we just established on the last page, Final Fantasy games have sold quite well on Nintendo handhelds. I would be shocked if a port to Switch didn't make enough money to cover porting costs.

Well according to Nicowav that teased devil third exclusive, tphd, botw details among other things, said during a stream recently he has heard that Resident evil 7 and Final Fantasy 15 will be ported on Nintendo Switch. We will see.
 

oti

Banned
This will smoke both the PS4 Pro & Scorpio in popularity.

Let+s+not+lose+our+heads+though+_35bdc57f01a91a8fd79661a75adfeb98.jpg
 
Laura said that and retracted it when Nintendo confirmed they wouldn't say anything more until next year. Maybe plans changed recently, I dunno. She said it just this past week though.
Yeah. The statement I quoted was from Nikkei back in April. Things probably changed and they could have decided it's better to wait until after the holidays for the full blowout.
 

wrowa

Member
A hypothetical FFVIIR port would likely be targeted at the Japanese market that currently (well, for the last two generations, honestly) lacks a strong hardware for this sort of game. Traditional home consoles have been struggling there for a while and even though the PS4 is currently on an upswing due to the release of the PS4 Slim, it still hasn't really reached a good level yet.

If the hybrid approach becomes successful in Japan, then I definitely can see Square Enix putting more effort into porting their PS4 games to Switch as well. (Whether this would also apply to FFVIIR is another matter; it might be too much effort to downport it to the Switch at the current point in development, especially since it's still a mystery whether the concept will actually appeal to Japanese gamers or not).
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
I have such a negative view of FF these days I couldn't care one way or another if Square brought them over to Switch, however easy or difficult might be.

I would lose my shit if Atlus ported over Persona though. I was going to get a PS4 for it, but honestly it's the only game for it that I really want to play and I do have a PS3, so I'm just going to save my money. But hot damn P5 on Switch would be crazy town.

I feel like it's a possibility, if unlikely. Vita is probably a no go for a port due to hardware limitations and Sony doesn't seem like they're going down that handheld road again, but Atlus did really well with both P3P and P4G. So I can't imagine they'll just abandon that mobile Persona space. Though it might take a couple years between now and then though.
 
I think Nintendo should go all out to get FFVII Remake, Destiny 2, and RE2 remake on Switch. But I'm not sure if can run Destiny 2. Remake 2 will be there.

But I'm not sure about FF7. I hope it is on everything. It deserves to be. But I don't know how the licensing works since Sony partnered with Square back in the day.
 
I think Nintendo should go all out to get FFVII Remake, Destiny 2, and RE2 remake on Switch. But I'm not sure if can run Destiny 2. Remake 2 will be there.

But I'm not sure about FF7. I hope it is on everything. It deserves to be. But I don't know how the licensing works since Sony partnered with Square back in the day.

it said "first on PS4". Then it should be multiplat. being on switch is a different matter.
I believe it will be, but we'll see.
 
Oh man a Persona 5 Switch edition would be amazing. It's one of the few games that is going to force me to buy a PS4. If Atlus brings it to the Switch then I don't need a PS4 really.

See I get excited about the third party Japanese games more than western, not because they're less likely I just like Japanese games way more than western games.
 
So I apologize for the long post. Not trying to get banned. But a usual home console launches with 15-25 games. Realistically it made sense to me to break it down this way:

Activision: (2-3) Modern warfare remake, skylanders, Overwatch
EA: (2) Fifa, Garden Warfare 2
2k: (1-2) Nba, ….Grand theft auto V, Bioshock collection, or Borderlands collection?!
Square: (2) Dragon quest builders, World of Final fantasy
Namco: (1) Digimon.
Ubisoft:(2) Just Dance, (R6S, South park, or For Honor)
Capcom:(1) Dead Rising HD port. SFV:CE , RE, and Monster Hunter coming later.
Sega (1) Hatsune Miku. Sonic holiday 2017
Bethesda: (1) Skyrim. Maybe that rumored Fallout New Orleans is timed exclusive for Switch?!
Tecmo: (1) Nights of Azure
Codemasters: (1) Dirt Rally
Atlus: (1) Persona 5? On ps3, so why not.
Spike Chunsoft: (1) Danganronpa something
From software: (1) Dark souls 3 port
Warner: (1) Lego port or Batman collection port

Nintendo: (2) Zelda and MK8 at launch. Splatoon and Smash to follow after.

I still expect a few download titles only like Rocket League, Fast. Racing Neo. I still expect access to a modified version of Google play store. Autodesk is a developer!?

Of course we will get a zombie game of some sort at launch. Of course there will be some form of action game at launch, Rpgs, sports, shooters, and family games as well.
 
Oh man a Persona 5 Switch edition would be amazing. It's one of the few games that is going to force me to buy a PS4. If Atlus brings it to the Switch then I don't need a PS4 really.

See I get excited about the third party Japanese games more than western, not because they're less likely I just like Japanese games way more than western games.

I'm the same way. Not only will games on the Switch be played on the go, but they'll also be on carts as well.
 
But I'm not sure about FF7. I hope it is on everything. It deserves to be. But I don't know how the licensing works since Sony partnered with Square back in the day.

For what its worth, the trailer for the FF7 remake said "Play it first on Playstation 4" instead of "Only for Playstation 4". I could see it at least getting a PC release, like how the original game did.
 
If FFVIIR happens to get ported over to Switch, it'll be more huge on that platform than it will be on the PS4, as lots of Japanese gamers will most likely ignore the PS4 version like they will with the PS4 version of Dragon Quest XI.
 

Jumpman23

Member
Because downporting any game is still a huge investment of time and money regardless of UE4. Especially with a huge game like this.

I amazes me that a lot of people always seem to act like creating a port for a brand new platform is just a matter of pressing a button.

"Press button to port game to Nintendo Switch"

I don't think it's an amount of money Square/Enix wouldn't want to throw at the Switch if it takes off. It is all about return on the investment. If they can recoup the cash or have it offset by publisher assistance of the title, this could quite easily happen. Not press a button easy, but you get the point.
 

Steiner

Banned
If FFVIIR happens to get ported over to Switch, it'll be more huge on that platform than it will be on the PS4, as lots of Japanese gamers will most likely ignore the PS4 version like they will with Dragon Quest XI.

This. FFVIIR makes so much sense on the Switch once you take the Japanese market into account. Handhelds and mobile reign supreme in the East. The era of consoles has passed.
 
This. FFVIIR makes so much sense on the Switch once you take the Japanese market into account. Handhelds and module reign supreme in the East. The era of consoles has passed.

It will be an interesting test in the west. If a Switch can handheld Xbone ports reasonably well, will we see a massive shift from Microsoft and Sony going forward? The Surface Xbox next time perhaps.
 

LordKano

Member
I have no knowledge of this person but judging by that track record why isn't he.

His track record includes :
- Saying that the Wii U will get three third-party exclusive games, including Devil's Third, back in june 2014, and that they will get announced before the end of the year. They were never announced.

- Same again, with a supposed New IP from a third-party who was supposed to be exclusive to the Wii U, back in 2014. It never existed.

- His "leak" about TPHD was only an extremely vague hint about a remaster about a gamecube game supposed to release in 2015. He never mentionned Twilight Princess and he was wrong on the release date. It most likely was only a guess that was partly right.

- He works (or has worked) for gameblog, an unfamous site filled with fake rumors.

I have nothing against this guy, he seems like a cool dude and I follow him on twitter, but he shouldn't be taken too seriously.
 
This. FFVIIR makes so much sense on the Switch once you take the Japanese market into account. Handhelds and mobile reign supreme in the East. The era of consoles has passed.

What's funny is that Square stated they wanted to support the PS4 enough to keep home console (big budget) games alive in Japan.
 
It will be an interesting test in the west. If a Switch can handheld Xbone ports reasonably well, will we see a massive shift from Microsoft and Sony going forward? The Surface Xbox next time perhaps.

Personally, I don't see Microsoft or Sony making any big moves based on the Switch succeeding. Microsoft has Xbox One streaming and Play Anywhere titles. Sony has remote-play and PS Now. Those solutions aren't exactly comparable to what the Switch can do, but I think they're close enough that both parties won't want to invest in Switch-like hardware.
 

Famassu

Member
pride has little to do in a business that involves as much money and time as the mess that was this game's development...
FFXV's development itself isn't horribly messy, when it has been actually worked on a decently sized team its development has progressed at a pretty normal rate for the kind of project it is. SQEX altogether were having problems during last generation that kept getting FFVsXIII/XV's development pushed back and that's the main reason it has taken this long. Not FFXV itself not taking form when it has been worked on, but simply the project not moving forward due to other games taking precedence and those games having problems that pushed back FFXV's development. FFXV's biggest sin is that it was announced about 7 years too early (at the very least). FFVsXIII/XV simply wasn't worked on by any kind of decently sized team for years after its announcement.

Versus XIII was always going to be the game they focus on after they got FFXIII & XIV out of the way and since the development of those two was prolonged and XIV was a total disaster that required a development resource & time hogging total reboot, they didn't get all that much done of Versus until years after its announcement. By the time they got around to actually being able to focus on the game's development, PS4 & X1 were just around the corner and they decided to move the game from PS3 to these then-soonish-coming platforms that would help them reach a lot more of their vision of the game than PS3 would. All in all they've developed this PS4-level version in (less than) 4 years which isn't that long for the kind of massive open-worldish game it is with the kind of production values it has.

It probably has more to do with how big of a mess development on FFXV and their Luminous engine has been overall, and how many iterations it's likely gone through.

Or it could just be an exaggeration, yeah.




Why? It's on probably the most scalable game engine there is, which is being supported by Switch.
Just because some engine is being supported by a platform & "most scalable game engine" doesn't mean every game can be ported to it (I mean, technically you probably could but with how many compromises and even then is performance good enough?). There's only so much that resolution, other IQ, asset & effect downgrades can do for a game like FFVII Remake that will undoubtedly push PS4 level hardware a lot.

We have no idea how powerful Switch is so making arguments that it should be easy to port games like FFXV & FFVII Remake to it is completely ridiculous at this point. From what I've understood, seamless open world games in particular are really demanding on the hardware so a portable system isn't necessarily going to have the uumph to run the open world with all kinds of physics, more or less complex AI of monsters & animals & NPCs, large scale real-time playable cinematic scenes, intricate animations, respectable draw distances etc. that are more or less integral to the experience and not just eye-candy that can be stripped away, no matter if they make FFXV look like a PS2 game.
 

Gleethor

Member
I don't think a variable pricing strategy with software is dependent on asset quality, but rather on scope. Captain Toad was a gorgeous looking Wii U game but that was only $40, as was Kirby and The Rainbow Curse. Wooly World and Tropical Freeze were $50. So I don't doubt that there will be a number of sub-$60 first party games.
 
FFVIIR would take a tremendous effort to port to Switch. It's not at all a safe bet in terms of investment and the industry is more risk-averse than ever.

And the same rhetoric goes for a lot of other developers currently.
I think XV would be considerably harder since they'd need to port the funky engine which took a long time to optimize on PS4.
7 Remake depends on how the Switch sells, if Sony pays more for longer/permanent exclusivity, and how the DQXI port turns out (sales+performance)
That being said, I think KH3 is a more likely candidate since the fanbase is more in tuned with Nintendo audiences (handhelds have gotten most KH games for over a decade) and the art style likely scales better
 

Thraktor

Member
This has likely been covered somewhere in the last 90 or so pages, but just in case it hasn't, I just noticed something while watching through the trailer:

switch_mini_shoulder_buttons.jpg


(Some CSI-level "zoom and enhance" has been applied to make it easier to make out)

I know people have been speculating about possible hidden shoulder buttons on the joy-cons which can be used for multiplayer games, and I noticed two grey blobs in the screenshot above which may just be those shoulder buttons. They seem to be in just about the right places to be hit with the tips of your index fingers when held in the manner shown in the video.
 
This has likely been covered somewhere in the last 90 or so pages, but just in case it hasn't, I just noticed something while watching through the trailer:

switch_mini_shoulder_buttons.jpg


(Some CSI-level "zoom and enhance" has been applied to make it easier to make out)

I know people have been speculating about possible hidden shoulder buttons on the joy-cons which can be used for multiplayer games, and I noticed two grey blobs in the screenshot above which may just be those shoulder buttons. They seem to be in just about the right places to be hit with the tips of your index fingers when held in the manner shown in the video.
Yeah, I think it's possible... though it could just be the connectors to the Switch.
Would be nice to add functionality and make MK8 more playable. Could even just be ZL/ZR shaped buttons (like on the New 3DS). Likely don't need analog triggers or much more than that
Here are screenshots taken from the Citra emulator. The Citra emulator upscaled 3DS game and adds some filtering.

https://citra-emu.org/screenshots

VHqFV5Z.jpg


HkPZmvU.jpg


LH47RYb.jpg


3DS level graphics and assets are pretty bomb.
Yeah, 3DS can handle nice visuals but they're tarnished by the resolution. The Switch will have a massive bump in that category so hopefully games will look fairly nice on it but focusing on more stylized games would do them well especially if they implement hardware upgrades like the Pro in the future where the games run at a higher resolution.
 
This has likely been covered somewhere in the last 90 or so pages, but just in case it hasn't, I just noticed something while watching through the trailer:

switch_mini_shoulder_buttons.jpg


(Some CSI-level "zoom and enhance" has been applied to make it easier to make out)

I know people have been speculating about possible hidden shoulder buttons on the joy-cons which can be used for multiplayer games, and I noticed two grey blobs in the screenshot above which may just be those shoulder buttons. They seem to be in just about the right places to be hit with the tips of your index fingers when held in the manner shown in the video.

If they were actually playing Mario Kart, there would have to be some kind of shoulder button option to be drifting properly. Unless the game was set to an 'auto' mode. In the videos they do make a point of wrapping their fingers around the front of the controller. It could be to hide the connection/locking points, or it may be buttons. I'm in the button crowd.

Or... to be even crazier, what if the bits that the controllers used to lock into the screen pull double duty as the shoulder buttons! If they had a little groove on either side to lock in, along with a bar on the controller to lock that in place as well, it doesn't seem unreasonable.
 

Thraktor

Member
Yeah, I think it's possible... though it could just be the connectors to the Switch.
Would be nice to add functionality and make MK8 more playable. Could even just be ZL/ZR shaped buttons (like on the New 3DS). Likely don't need analog triggers or much more than that

Yeah, they could just be the parts that slide onto the rails on the side of the Switch. It's interesting to consider, though, given that everyone in the trailer holds the joy-cons as if they've got shoulder buttons on them.
 

Soundslike

Neo Member
Would love ports, but perhaps mostly to convince others to buy the system. What I would most want is pure class nintendo games. If you think about it, there are a whole generation that probably havent played a nintendo game. They are in for a treat.
 

TheMoon

Member
Why woudnt it be in the dock?

Why couldn't it be in the dock? If the dock has the HDMI port, it could easily also contain an ethernet port. Plus, the Wii U had an ethernet adapter, showing a history of ethernet ports not directly built into the system.

It would be very easy to do this in the dock.

How?

Console in the dock, online. Pull it out, lose internet connection, reconnect with wifi from console unit. You really wanna lose the connection every time you take the console off the dock if you just want to take the game to the next level (= bathroom)?

Or is there magical programming sauce that can maintain the connection while switching (heh) from wired to wireless on a different device?
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
I'd recommend reading this post from the Nvidia thread. It does a good job summarizing the discussion we've been having there.


Bottom line is a stock TX1 properly optimized should perform a lot better than the GFlops number indicates, and Nvidia has stated that the Switch uses a custom SoC based on the worlds "top performing" Nvidia chips- which suggests (along with several other rumors) that the Switch will use a more modern Pascal based Tegra chip, which should perform quite a bit more efficiently (more processing power per watt).

So the Switch will likely be a lot closer to XB1 levels in real world performance than it is to the Wii U. It could even be closer to XB1 than the XB1 is to the PS4. So ports should not be a technical problem, more of an audience/demographics problem.

I'll admit I have not been keeping up on every last bit of news or every last leak and analysis regarding the Tegra chip that's gonna be in the Switch. I'll read the post at that link later. I was really just going off what I initially heard about the Tegra when it was first rumored to be running in NX.

Based on that I agree that it's probably gonna be closer to Xbox One than to a last-gen console (theoretical performance was what? 1TFLOP?), but I'm still not optimistic that's not gonna be enough for modern big AAA games. Some developers may feel they have to make too many compromises. Again, I guess I'll have to read up more but that's my current feeling.

Wtf am I readin. Did you say the same thing about Wii COD when it came to PS3/360?

Did you not see DQXI and Project Sonic are coming to Switch along with what you call "current gen" systems.

We don't know what form DQXI is going to take, more like the PS4 version or 3DS version? UE4 compatibility is a good sign but let's wait and see. And are you talking about the Wii versions of COD3 and 4? The ones that basically looked like PS2 games? Lastly, have we seen any in-engine footage of Project Sonic?

I'm not gonna 100% believe in this scenario until I actually see something like a console COD or Titanfall running on the Switch.
 

Kilrogg

paid requisite penance
Yeah, they could just be the parts that slide onto the rails on the side of the Switch. It's interesting to consider, though, given that everyone in the trailer holds the joy-cons as if they've got shoulder buttons on them.

When you think about it, it really does look like the Joy-Cons are full-fledged SNES controllers, functionally speaking: each JC has got one analog stick, 4 face buttons, one "start" button (either + or -) and 1 "select" button (the mystery round and square buttons), and, as you pointed it, what looks like L and R triggers.

Let's just hope they're more comfortable to hold than they look.
 

butman

Member
Seeing this scene again i was thinking this situation will never happen at least you have Superman sight.

nin_switch_plane.jpg


This is what this guy is really viewing.

croppedimage1201631_skyrim2222.jpg


tumblr_lybgvqgeHA1qaev2y.gif
 
When you think about it, it really does look like the Joy-Cons are full-fledged SNES controllers, functionally speaking: each JC has got one analog stick, 4 face buttons, one "start" button (either + or -) and 1 "select" button (the mystery round and square buttons), and, as you pointed it, what looks like L and R triggers.

Let's just hope they're more comfortable to hold than they look.

The Gameboy Advance SP was rather tiny, but it wasn't godawful to hold. And I've played on one of the Micros, which are a little awkward but unless you have Original X-Box hands I think you'll be fine. I figure you won't likely be doing marathon sessions with the tiny controllers. You'd likely be doing a race or playing vs. a friend and then swapping out with someone else at a party.
 

NFreak

Member
Yeah, I think it's possible... though it could just be the connectors to the Switch.
Would be nice to add functionality and make MK8 more playable. Could even just be ZL/ZR shaped buttons (like on the New 3DS). Likely don't need analog triggers or much more than that

I don't think those would be the connectors to the switch. If anything it might be a locking mechanism. It looks like there's a 4 pin electrical connection between the joycons and the grip at least and it seem like they're right in the middle. Not positive though. Just something I noticed when watching the trailer again.

WCW8537.jpg
 

Pancake Mix

Copied someone else's pancake recipe
I think the backwards compatibility dream is pretty dead guys.

It's obviously not a resistive touch screen either.
 

KtSlime

Member
I think the major argument against FFXV is that they recently came out and said it would take a year to port it to PC, which likely means just as much time (and money) to port it to Switch. So it might sell decently, but it might not sell enough to have porting make sense.

Ya never know though!

EDIT:

Wait, FFVIIR? Yeah that should make it onto Switch barring any contract shenanigans with Sony since it's a UE4 game and should be a straightforward port.

They will probably port FFXV to everything they can to make up for lack of sales. Even if PS4 gets a huge push from the release of XV, and has a huge attach rate, XV is still going to have one of the lowest sales of a main FF in recent history simply by virtue of the PS4 install base in Japan. After the holiday season, I expect them to get into full gear salvaging XV. If it is possible to run on Switch, it will be there.
 

emb

Member
Seeing this scene again i was thinking this situation will never happen at least you have Superman sight.
I thought the same thing when people were gathering around to play multiplayer.

It's a realization that kinda hurts the point of the ad, but won't bother me in practice probably. Most situations where I go somewhere and plan to play Switch, I'd either be playing in handheld mode or on someone's TV.
 

ramparter

Banned
Short of the hypothetical FFVII remake port being a visual/functional catastrophe, why wouldn't one of the most highly anticipated games, one of gaming's mythical unicorns for years now, sell well on the Switch? Offer a bundle with the Smash Cloud amiibo and watch it print moolah.
You overestimate the power of FFVII, its 20 years old game. You also overestimate the power of a system seller. No console ever sold greatly because of a single game.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom