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Nintendo Switch will support VR in the future

They´re figuring it out right now.

So probably Switch 2 or 1.5 or whatever with a 1080p screen. Even that is basically too low (for me) but apparently enough if we go by the PSVR.

These things, they take time. So i don´t expect anything on the 720p Switch.
 

Buggy Loop

Member
720p screen and underpowered hardware.......Yea sure.

The Switch cannot even run a last gen game (Zelda) at 1080p. How the hell is that hardware supposed to run VR?

I'm not commenting on the screen resolution but..


Were early crossgen games on PS4 & Xbone the showcase of the console's limits when they released? That was it? It never went higher than that? Remember Battlefield 4 @ 900p ?

Zelda Botw is tailored made for WiiU. The jump from one architecture to another is not just in terms of FLOPs.
 

JordanN

Banned
How.


How, I say.

XYbNUY5.png

bF0EMTw.jpg
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I don't think the Joycons do positional tracking either so... they'll have to upgrade those too.

So a more expensive Switch with 'maybe' VR support in 2 years, and even then won't be up to PS4 snuff and be stuck with all the smartphone stuff.
 

Hoo-doo

Banned
I think this lines up with the SCD/GTX 1060 thread....

So they are not only going to launch a external GTX 1060 dock, but a high-end VR peripheral as well?

It's like some of you guys are on drugs. Nintendo wouldn't want to touch that market with a ten foot pole.
 

Majmun

Member
Metroid Prime in VR would make me so happy.

But I don't think Switch hardware could do it any favors...
 
If their solution involves using the tablet screen, sounds horrible!
Not only with it being a 720p, but strapping a tablet to your face?
I can't imagine it being comfortable to use.
That and the question of is the switch even capable of supporting VR well enough?

They are probably talking about the Switch 2, I wouldnt expect Nintendo to enter the VR market in the short term
 
This to me just confirms that the Switch will have faster iteration cycles with hardware refreshes happening faster than before. Maybe not yearly refreshs, but bi-yearly refreshs, with an eventual support cut off point for older models.
 
Agree that this will require a future hardware update. Switch VR?

That having been said, they actually have designed a beautiful conceptual model for how portable VR should work. With some evolution, the detachable, multipurpose controllers would be perfect for VR.

Nintendo is well positioned for VR when it really gets big in 2-3 years.
 

majik13

Member
Would be nice since it would be completely wireless. And I do think still they could update switch parts over time. In 2 years, new SCD dock, year later new Switch main unit. maybe new joycons as well with a new switch, or maybe they are a seperate upgrade, etc. But we will see.

Obviously a newer Switch HW would be marketed was VR capable.
 

Thraktor

Member
As an owner of an Oculus DK1, which is also a 6" 720p LCD, it's not really as bad as people make it out to be. Yeah, compared to €500+ dedicated VR headsets it's pretty pixelated, but as a cheap €50 accessory bundled with some minigames it would be a fun novelty item, and the joy-cons already seem pretty well suited for VR.

In reality, though, I'd prefer if Nintendo just continued on with their Khronos love-in and supported OpenVR headsets instead. I don't want to have to buy a separate VR headset for every platform any more than I want to buy a separate TV for each one, and a VR headset with a high-res display and foveated rendering support which could work both with PC and Nintendo games would be a near insta-buy for me.
 

Dystify

Member
I don't think Nintendo would shoehorn VR onto the current Switch. If they ever do VR it will need games for it too, and Nintendo is too busy with traditional Switch games right now. I don't expect VR for Switch until in a few years.
 
Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but the switch seems in like with current mobile VR solutions, no? I imagine the biggest issue, is if the Switch's screen is only 60hz. For simply VR games, the switches internals seem fine, and the inclusion of motion controllers could make for some great little VR games.

The resolution is way lower than any of the VR capable phones out there.
 
Uh, not with what we suspect the Switch has under the hood they won't, surely?

I mean, maybe phone level VR might be doable, but PSVR, Rift and Vive are already here and I don't think Switch has the guts to do what they do right now. And even if they can do phone level stuff, RE7 is here now, the bar of what is a worthwhile VR game just raised significantly.
 

jack....

Member
I spent a lot of time using the first Rift developer's kit which was 720p and I'm positive no one is going to want that in 2017.
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
People in this thread should also have a quick recap of what allows good VR to work:

- Camera or Lighthouse setup to track headset and hand peripherals. Peripherals would need to be designed for the camera to pick up on in 3d space (lights, covered in external sensors)
- 1080p screen at bare minimum, and even then Sony made a custom OLED with tighter pixels and of course faster refresh rate.
- External console that is on par with PS4 vanilla. GearVR overheats like a motherfucker, so having the console actually in the headset doesn't work for extended play unless you get crazy with fans and coolant.

So, in all earnest its going to require a whole new console from Nintendo for any of it to work. Not even sure a Switch revision would cut it since the cost of upgrading the Joycons, power of the unit, external camera, and then adding on a headset with good screen is just not something Nintendo would be willing or able to do.

TL;DR: Topic title is woefully inaccurate. Kimishima gave VR the usual lip service to wave off investor "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING THIS" questions.
 

Shin-Ra

Junior Member
I don't have much faith Nintendo's next console will be up to the minimum standards expected of VR at that time.
 

audio_delay

Neo Member
If the switch could support VR, I doubt it would use its own screen. I mean switch's usb-c port supports video-out, so you make more money releasing a HMD that hooks up to the switch.
 
People in this thread should also have a quick recap of what allows good VR to work:

- Camera or Lighthouse setup to track headset and hand peripherals. Peripherals would need to be designed for the camera to pick up on in 3d space (lights, covered in external sensors)
- 1080p screen at bare minimum, and even then Sony made a custom OLED with tighter pixels and of course faster refresh rate.
- External console that is on par with PS4 vanilla. GearVR overheats like a motherfucker, so having the console actually in the headset doesn't work for extended play unless you get crazy with fans and coolant.

So, in all earnest its going to require a whole new console from Nintendo for any of it to work. Not even sure a Switch revision would cut it since the cost of upgrading the Joycons, power of the unit, external camera, and then adding on a headset with good screen is just not something Nintendo would be willing or able to do.

TL;DR: Topic title is woefully inaccurate. Kimishima gave VR the usual lip service to wave off investor "WHY AREN'T YOU DOING THIS" questions.


... I'd change the topic title to "might" instead of "will" if I could. I wasn't trying to mislead anyone, it was a simple mistake. I even spoke about how it's not confirmed in the actual post. I didn't realise one word would cause this much grief :/
 
The resolution is way lower than any of the VR capable phones out there.

Yeah, 1080p VR is good enough, but it's hard to imagine how VR would look in 720p. I trust that if Nintendo really is serious about doing this, they won't do it until it's a good experience, so I'm curious how this will play out.
 
I'm sure they'll be keeping an eye on VR development and will be constantly evaluating if there's an opportunity for them, but there's absolutely no way they're going to be on the forefront of VR technology themselves. They're unwilling to compete directly with Sony and Microsoft in the home console market, so why would they want to compete with the multitude of companies currently investing heavily in VR?
 
will add VR to Switch once they figure out how users can play for hours without problems.
Maybe just buy themselves a psvr and save themselves some time.

While some people have issues with vr, I have never had problems and spent hours at a time. Hell I played resident evil 7 on the weekend for at least 5 hours with 0 problems.
 
Yeah, 1080p VR is good enough, but it's hard to imagine how VR would look in 720p. I trust that if Nintendo really is serious about doing this, they won't do it until it's a good experience, so I'm curious how this will play out.


I think this is so.ething they will toy with in the labs, like the vitality sensor, then never bring to market.
 

BuggyMike

Member
Now :

Speculation time!

When you'll slide the Switch in the VR helmet, there'll be a 2nd non opaque cheap LCD screen already in the headset. Both of them will work together to create Cascading display.

Nvidia created this before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XwaARRMbSA&feature=youtu.be

nvidia-cascaded-display-vs-normal-display-resolution.jpg


nvidia-additive-multiplicative-cascaded-displays-resolution.jpg


With their algorithms and the use of 2 cheap LCD displays, they can reach the illusion of having 4x the resolution.

giphy.gif


This is some cool tech.
 

Tain

Member
There is no way it wont when the joycons are basically checking all the ticks for VR control.

What positional tracking functionality do the joycons have? I don't see how something with that shape could possibly have tracking that passes the bar for VR controls.
 
Maybe just buy themselves a psvr and save themselves some time.

While some people have issues with vr, I have never had problems and spent hours at a time. Hell I played resident evil 7 on the weekend for at least 5 hours with 0 problems.

You don't have issue with VR doesn't mean other people also don't.
 
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