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Minecraft Switch details: 60fps, 13x bigger worlds than WiiU, WiiU world transfers

Cerium

Member
More details 4/24/17:

New details from today's stream:

Docking the game improves render distance. I'm assuming this means it doesn't boost resolution. They said "off the top of their head" it renders 7 chunks undocked, and 12 docked.

So for comparison:

On PS4 and Xbox One, the render distance is 18 chunks
On Switch Docked, the render distance is 12 chunks
On PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U, the render distance is 10 chunks
On Switch Undocked, the render distance is 7 chunks
On PS Vita, the render distance is 5 chunks
I popped into my PC world and took some screens comparing 5, 7, 10, 12, and 16 chunk render distance. At least in the old version I was using 16 is where it maxed out, though I'm sure when playing VR modded version I've at least had it in the 20s before.

So the Microsoft stream just wrapped. They fucked up so we didn't get direct feed, they just showed us off screen on the handheld.

Here's what was discussed:

Wii U to Switch world transfers is something they are working on but not at launch (cool)
Switch has been very easy to work with

60fps

Medium World Size (whatever that means.)

When it releases it will be on par on the January update and will be quickly caught up to the other versions after release.
Switch (medium on PS4) is about 3072 x 3072.

Vita / Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii U are 864 x 864.

PS4 / Xbox One are 5120 x 5120 (large).
So world sizes are roughly 13x as big as WiiU but not quite as big as PS4.

For reference:

Vita version is quite choppy, probably runs at an average of 20-25 fps. It's playable but not ideal.
 
I wonder how much this sells over the lifetime of the device. With the momentum the Switch has right now, this the perfect familiar sort of game that will be picked up by a lot of new users.
 

OmegaFax

Member
They didn't say anything about docked/undocked resolution? I know it's just blocks here but the Vita version was a bit of an eyesore with its limited draw distances and sub-native resolution.
 

Ridley327

Member
Surprised that they did a kind of "in-between" version here. It's a shame it's not as big as they get on PS4 and XB1, but it's still massively bigger than what you could do on Wii U.
 
I know absolutely nothing about Minecraft but tempted to dive in on Switch to see what the fuss is about.

Any good explanation videos?
 

Mr Swine

Banned
Surprised that they did a kind of "in-between" version here. It's a shame it's not as big as they get on PS4 and XB1, but it's still massively bigger than what you could do on Wii U.

I'm happy that it's a lot bigger than the Wii U/Vita and last gen Minecraft. I'm glad that they just didn't port over the Wii U version and called it a day
 

13ruce

Banned
I wonder how much this sells over the lifetime of the device. With the momentum the Switch has right now, this the perfect familiar sort of game that will be picked up by a lot of new users.

A couple of millions of sales atleast for sure, kinda hope they release a Zelda skin pack down the line. Makes sense after BotW's huge succes.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Dang, and I haven't even unsealed my Wii U copy yet.

Hmm. Guess I'll give it a go on the Wii U first and see what I think of it before committing to it a second time.
 

Peltz

Member
I've still never played Minecraft. I may change that with the Switch version of the game. Seems like a perfect handheld experience.
 

Junk3t

Neo Member
A couple of millions of sales atleast for sure, kinda hope they release a Zelda skin pack down the line. Makes sense after BotW's huge succes.

I would look forward to a Zelda "mash-up" pack myself with a zelda world including skins. Maybe with the physical version of Minecraft Switch.
 

NOLA_Gaffer

Banned
Any word on touch-screen functionality? I know that was a big sticking point with a lot of people in the Wii U version for some reason.
 

patientx

Member
Own the game on PC , got a couple questions for console owners :

The same game sans the resolution on PC ?
Can we play single player survival ?
Can we save single player worlds ?
Can we enter seeds to create worlds ?
 
I've still never played Minecraft. I may change that with the Switch version of the game. Seems like a perfect handheld experience.

I've had Minecraft on Mac, PS3, Xbox 360, iOS, Android.

My daughter's just grew up with it as they started off by watching Minecraft Dad YouTube videos (then Captain Sparkles, DanTDM and wayy too many others).

They've never taken to the console versions. I've setup our own home server, installed countless mods at various times and they play on the big Minecraft servers (Mineplex, Arkham, HyPixel, etc). Since I've never gotten them to take an interest on the console versions, is there something I'm missing or is it really that console versions are a pale imitation of the experience on PC's?
 
Give it an hour ot two to click, preferably with a friend building stuff together and you'll fall in love! Think of it as a unlimited crate of Legos!
For me, couch co-op with the Wii U version was very key. I'd tried the PC version before, but going in not knowing what I was doing in Survival was intimidating, and Creative of course has zero challenge so got boring fast enough as essentially a voxel modeling tool.

With multiplayer I was able to watch my friend do useful things while I was still able to dick around gathering materials and building pointless structures. Once I got into it I was ready to play Survival on my own... and still make big pointless structures, but with enough challenge that they felt like earned accomplishments.
So it's >12 bigger than tablets versions.
Pocket Edition now has infinite worlds too, but I guess older versions (and now as an option explicitly called Old) they were 256x256, so yeah, Switch is 12x Old in two dimensions.
 

marc^o^

Nintendo's Pro Bono PR Firm
For me, couch co-op with the Wii U version was very key. I'd tried the PC version before, but going in not knowing what I was doing in Survival was intimidating, and Creative of course has zero challenge so got boring fast enough as essentially a voxel modeling tool.

With multiplayer I was able to watch my friend do useful things while I was still able to dick around gathering materials and building pointless structures. Once I got into it I was ready to play Survival on my own... and still make big pointless structures, but with enough challenge that they felt like earned accomplishments.

Pocket Edition now has infinite worlds too, but I guess older versions (and now as an option explicitly called Old) they were 256x256, so yeah, Switch is 12x Old in two dimensions.
I see. I'll be smarter next time I'll see my nephew (he's a big Minecraft fan, I just saw youtube videos years ago).
 
Since I've never gotten them to take an interest on the console versions, is there something I'm missing or is it really that console versions are a pale imitation of the experience on PC's?
Unless you want split-screen co-op, somewhat easier gamepad play, or in this version's case the ability to easily work on the same map in both portable/home modes, I'm not sure there'd really be a reason to go with the console versions over the Real Thing.
 
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