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[klier]

Out of morbid curiousity, I wonder if games for Switch will ever offer virtual controls? I would still use the joy-cons every day of the week of course but it would be interesting to see.

I'm sure there'll be some Indie games, or even special Nintendo made games, that highlight the touch controls and will be touch only.

And of course the touch could help with controls in games like Pikmin. Pikmin 3 has multiple types of control, so it would be nice to see that return to Switch.

 

[TSM]

If there are games that don't support every mode, I hope they have a plan to clearly distinguish which titles aren't universal. Even with obvious markers there will probably still be a lot of customer confusion.

 

[345triangle]

i am pretty picky about screens when it comes to colour reproduction, viewing angles, and so on, and i'll say the switch's was a pleasant surprise in my time with it. it's obviously not as good as something like an iphone 7 plus, and nowhere near as sharp as you'd expect from a modern phone or tablet, but it's a decent panel that doesn't get in the way of your games like the wii u's did.

still not convinced i'll want to play zelda on it, but i think it's the first time nintendo has shipped a screen of reasonable quality (for the time) since the game boy micro, or at least DS lite.

There's no remnants of Android on that UI as far as the ones shown are concerned.

And I doubt it was based on Android to begin with. Google would have said anything about it by now if so.

if it's based on android (which would not surprise me in the slightest), google absolutely wouldn't say anything about it, because it'd be a fork of the AOSP open-source variant. the kind of android that google is interested in promoting is the kind where manufacturers are forced to include google services, not the AOSP stuff that amazon and chinese OEMs use as a leg-up essentially to create their own operating systems. this was necessary for android to take over the world, but it's not something that really works to google's advantage today.

there would pretty much be no reason for nintendo not to use AOSP in a similar way, considering the hardware inside the switch and the company's lack of experience with this kind of thing. AOSP is basically the default codebase for anyone wanting to build a platform atop ARM hardware these days — it doesn't have to have anything to do with "android".

 

[shouamabane]

Looks nice. I wish I could play Mario Run on it. My phone sucks.

 

[Maxrunner]

Isnt this tech expensive? Why not talk about it?

 

[Skittzo0413]

Isnt this tech expensive? Why not talk about it?

We don't have confirmation that the touchscreen will actually have haptic feedback. Some sites are reporting it but the press release from Immersion never actually specified touchscreen. It's certainly possible but it's also possible this just refers to the HD rumble technology/software.

Besides that, a capacitive touchscreen is not expensive this day and age.

 

[Aleh]

I'm really happy we finally got a great screen from Nintendo. Add it to the awesome design/form factor of the handheld itself and you get a truly attractive thing to look at.
After the ugly mess the Wii U was, even more surprising

 

[jonno394]

I was hoping we'd get a Switch related Direct every week up until Launch, and that one of these would discuss things like UI and touch screen. There's still hope for this week....

 

[Dark Cloud]

I was hoping we'd get a Switch related Direct every week up until Launch, and that one of these would discuss things like UI and touch screen. There's still hope for this week....

I highly doubt it. It probably won't come until February and next Wednesday is February 1st.

 

[DavidDesu]

They really need to let developers port over their smartphone software. Some games would massively benefit from real controls, while others that utilise touch really well have all that functionality in handheld mode. Could have a huge library of different things on this device in a short space of time... yet you feel like Nintendo will probably shun all that free money and diversification for their product.

Great looking screen on this device, good to see they're all being supplied by the same manufacturer. It's as soon as you get different manufacturers involved you end up with a lottery where one is clearly better than the other, this should mean the exact same (high) quality across the board. Hopefully the company can keep up if demand ramps up and Nintendo don't need to outsource further.


The dilemma of handheld mode obviously not working when docked has made me think, why didn't Nintendo use their really good streaming tech from the Wii U and basically do the reverse for the Switch, allow you to wirelessly broadcast gameplay from the Switch in handheld mode to the dock without needing to be physically connected. This would allow the widest range of gameplay styles and causing less conflict amongst them. Design Mario Maker levels on the touch screen, then look up at your nice big TV to play through the levels! (I'm guessing battery life would likely be the biggest concern but otherwise it seems like a great idea to me).

 

[mantidor]

Perhaps virtual console games will offer virtual controls.

With the possibility to cash in with actual replicas of old controllers in the form of "retro joy-cons" I don't think this will happen.

Actually there was a joycon with a proper d-pad in some of the promotional material, if they keep the controllers simple (no HD rumble or IR) they could be sold for cheap.

 

[Cerium]

The dilemma of handheld mode obviously not working when docked has made me think, why didn't Nintendo use their really good streaming tech from the Wii U and basically do the reverse for the Switch, allow you to wirelessly broadcast gameplay from the Switch in handheld mode to the dock without needing to be physically connected. This would allow the widest range of gameplay styles and causing less conflict amongst them. Design Mario Maker levels on the touch screen, then look up at your nice big TV to play through the levels! (I'm guessing battery life would likely be the biggest concern but otherwise it seems like a great idea to me).

I asked myself this and came up with three big reasons:

1) No power boost from docked mode. Games would render at 720p at best.

2) The wireless communication would burn through the battery pretty quickly given that the handheld is doing all the work already.

3) This feature would probably increase costs.

 

[applesaucejaxon]

About time it gets shown in at least some form. I wanted to check out if anything had touch screen support at the event, but there it is.

As an aside, I got my invite from Nintendo for the Chicago event, but....
It's happening right on my 10 year wedding anniversary weekend. The wife told me to go anyway, but I think that's a trap. Especially since I'd be taking my son with me, not her.

Looks like I'll be waiting for launch day to finally play it.

 

[mocolostrocolos]

With the possibility to cash in with actual replicas of old controllers in the form of "retro joy-cons" I don't think this will happen.

Actually there was a joycon with a proper d-pad in some of the promotional material, if they keep the controllers simple (no HD rumble or IR) they could be sold for cheap.

It appeared in the patent papers.

 

[Jubenhimer]

The thing is the tabletop mode serves as the portable aspect of being a hybrid console in the scenario of motion controls games like Just Dance and 1 2 Switch. So you can still play on the TV and on the go, which is the selling point of the system.

If there is a possibility of a game that fully utilize the touch screen, then there should be a way to replicate it on the TV mode, either by traditional control methods or by other means.

Supposedly, the IR motion capture thingy can serve as a workaround, but I'm not sure how that's going to work. Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised to see Handheld or Tabletop only Switch games in the future. The only reason Nintendo is calling the Switch a home console is because they don't want the 3DS to die yet. They still want to milk it for another year or so. Once Nintendo finishes up their remaining 3DS games, then they'll commit 100% to the Switch, at which point, they'll start promoting more handheld mode only games, and stop marketing it as a "home console first" which is just more third pillar-esque PR speak from them.