I’ve basically been holding onto the hope I’ll be able to play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on co-op without a drastic drop in resolution and framerate once this new console comes out. Because that was not a level of performance appropriate for an exclusive game.
Most definitely. Zelda TotK is the late-in-lifetime masterpiece — we are ready for the next generation.
One problem Nintendo faces here is that last time they had Nvidia Tegra, a chip that didn’t really find any other use at scale so Nintendo could source it for pennies. AMD owns the console grade SoC market, and won’t be selling Ryzen 8000 series for cheap — maybe Nintendo could again source something from the previous generation to keep the BOM down?
I think the more severe issue here is that an architecture change would make the new device incompatible with the Switch. So they should preferably stay with something arm-based that can ideally mimic the original SOC closely.
Plus Nintendo usually has long partnerships with hardware partners. From GameCube to Wii U they used IBM’s PowerPC processors, and it was a long period of time. In 2016 Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang praised the partnership with Nintendo, expecting it to last “last two decades”. Nintendo also wants the next-gen transition to be as smooth as possible, retaining Switch’s massive user base. Therefore the company’s next console is likely having an ARM SOC made by Nvidia; anything else would be a suicide mission for them.
Yeah, agreed that this remains by far the most likely scenario. I guess Switch sales alone are enough for Nvidia to keep going with Tegra, despite finding little use elsewhere.
It’s just been a long time since the first news about T234 (Orin) & T239 came out (mid 2021), with a rumoured & cancelled chip based on Lovelace after that — most likely it was too expensive for Nintendo.
That cancellation left me wondering whether there could be other plans in play. It’s an old chip by now, but that too tracks with Nintendo.
Nintendo’s solution to backwards compatibility has been interesting but straightforward in the past. All they’ve done before, with a few exceptions, is slap the old processor in the new device to make it backwards compatible. I’m curious what they would do this time.
Very unlikely. Nintendo is going for the mass market and the bulk, power draw and cost of handheld PCs makes them unsuited for that. Nintendo has never been very successful going after the high-end market. They’ll no doubt use something like an upgraded Tegra again.
Nintendo has never been very successful going after the high-end market.
This is 100% correct and worth emphasizing, since I think a lot of people don’t understand Nintendo’s history with this.
They tried to aim for a more premium console with the N64 and the Gamecube, and the result was Sony ate their lunch. Then they came out with the Wii – widely derided for being underpowered and gimmicky – and it was a hugely popular financial success. Nintendo knows by now what works for them and what doesn’t.
They tried to aim for a more premium console with the N64 and the Gamecube, and the result was Sony ate their lunch.
To be fair, they shot themselves in the foot by not using CD-ROM and regular DVDs respectively. The Nintendo 64 was a very anticipated piece of hardware, but they took too long to release it and then many companies jumped ship due to said lack of CD-ROM, how long they took and cheaper licensing too most likely.
They never actually competed on equal terms thanks to Yamauchi’s stubbornness.
The upgraded mobile chip they use will likely be as powerful as our current Steam Decks but with better power draw, since they’re mobile architectures and not x64. That said, you couldn’t pay me to buy another Nintendo console at this point.
There is no indication of such a chip existing or even being possible currently. The Tegra revision rumored to be in the Switch 2 is a good deal less powerful than a Steam Deck.
Yeah. Rumored computational power, claimed to be coming from development units, puts it at a healthy fraction of the Steam Deck’s when docked, but a much smaller one when undocked. So, people shouldn’t get their hopes up about a Steam Deck+ coming from Nintendo.
Beat the steamdeck? Lol I’llbelievve it when I see it. I give them credit for rock solid IPs, but the switches hardware was already dated when it was first released. They don’t go for power with their hardware
Nintendo would never let anyone else access their hardware like that. They’re near fanatical about functionality and bulletproof UIs, integrating steam would only add the chances of something not flawlessly working 24/7 for all users.
If it has backwards compatibility then yes. If not then I guess it doesn’t really matter. I won’t have much interest if they don’t finally embrace backwards compatibility like everyone else.
Agree that this needs to happen. But given the brand power of Nintendo, they will just do whatever they want to screw over their fans and we will still be willing to pay.
There are games right now that could use a boost in performance. If they don’t have backwards compatibility it will be a huge disappointment, and I doubt I’ll be buying it anytime soon.
Can’t wait fot Nintendo’s next console that will be severely under powered and basically obsolete as soon as it is released. Used to love them but they have become so toxic and tone deaf.
Nintendo has had underpowered/old hardware compared to their competitors for almost my entire life, raw processing power isn’t really why most people buy Nintendo.
I think it’s because they want to appeal to a younger audience, too. They want a 10 or 12 yo to be able to play Pokemon and Mario, and it’s hard to get parents to buy a $500 console for a pre-teen. So they need to hit a lower price-point than PS or xbox
Their in house games also have a very… “Nintendo” feel.
Like, it’s obviously a Nintendo game. And I feel like that is their game plan.
Make a console that suites their IP. It doesn’t need to be flashy, it doesn’t need streaming 32k textures or whatever. It needs to do the Nintendo Thing™.
I wonder if that will change for the next gen, considering the 3rd party market picking up some big names (Skyrim, Fortnite, GTA). Maybe they will make a more capable system to monetize more on these possibilities
Nintendo does the Nintendo Thing very well, and their fans love them for it. There is a particular niche or the gaming market that is theirs, and theirs alone. If they start trying to please everybody, they may end up pleasing nobody.
Then again, I’m a PC gamer, so it may be I have no idea what I’m talking about.
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I’m probably not the target demo for Nintendo, but I won’t lie…the Switch feels very long in the tooth at this point.
Great concept, great delivery, but it’s showing its age and it’s time for an upgrade at the very least.
I’ve basically been holding onto the hope I’ll be able to play Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity on co-op without a drastic drop in resolution and framerate once this new console comes out. Because that was not a level of performance appropriate for an exclusive game.
Most definitely. Zelda TotK is the late-in-lifetime masterpiece — we are ready for the next generation.
One problem Nintendo faces here is that last time they had Nvidia Tegra, a chip that didn’t really find any other use at scale so Nintendo could source it for pennies. AMD owns the console grade SoC market, and won’t be selling Ryzen 8000 series for cheap — maybe Nintendo could again source something from the previous generation to keep the BOM down?
I think the more severe issue here is that an architecture change would make the new device incompatible with the Switch. So they should preferably stay with something arm-based that can ideally mimic the original SOC closely.
Plus Nintendo usually has long partnerships with hardware partners. From GameCube to Wii U they used IBM’s PowerPC processors, and it was a long period of time. In 2016 Nvidia’s CEO Jen-Hsun Huang praised the partnership with Nintendo, expecting it to last “last two decades”. Nintendo also wants the next-gen transition to be as smooth as possible, retaining Switch’s massive user base. Therefore the company’s next console is likely having an ARM SOC made by Nvidia; anything else would be a suicide mission for them.
Yeah, agreed that this remains by far the most likely scenario. I guess Switch sales alone are enough for Nvidia to keep going with Tegra, despite finding little use elsewhere.
It’s just been a long time since the first news about T234 (Orin) & T239 came out (mid 2021), with a rumoured & cancelled chip based on Lovelace after that — most likely it was too expensive for Nintendo.
That cancellation left me wondering whether there could be other plans in play. It’s an old chip by now, but that too tracks with Nintendo.
Nintendo’s solution to backwards compatibility has been interesting but straightforward in the past. All they’ve done before, with a few exceptions, is slap the old processor in the new device to make it backwards compatible. I’m curious what they would do this time.
I wonder if they’ll go with something that beats the Asus and steam deck handhelds.
Now that I’m thinking… If they used a Linux os base that could play steam and Nintendo.
Bringing a larger age group to it…
Very unlikely. Nintendo is going for the mass market and the bulk, power draw and cost of handheld PCs makes them unsuited for that. Nintendo has never been very successful going after the high-end market. They’ll no doubt use something like an upgraded Tegra again.
This is 100% correct and worth emphasizing, since I think a lot of people don’t understand Nintendo’s history with this.
They tried to aim for a more premium console with the N64 and the Gamecube, and the result was Sony ate their lunch. Then they came out with the Wii – widely derided for being underpowered and gimmicky – and it was a hugely popular financial success. Nintendo knows by now what works for them and what doesn’t.
To be fair, they shot themselves in the foot by not using CD-ROM and regular DVDs respectively. The Nintendo 64 was a very anticipated piece of hardware, but they took too long to release it and then many companies jumped ship due to said lack of CD-ROM, how long they took and cheaper licensing too most likely.
They never actually competed on equal terms thanks to Yamauchi’s stubbornness.
The upgraded mobile chip they use will likely be as powerful as our current Steam Decks but with better power draw, since they’re mobile architectures and not x64. That said, you couldn’t pay me to buy another Nintendo console at this point.
There is no indication of such a chip existing or even being possible currently. The Tegra revision rumored to be in the Switch 2 is a good deal less powerful than a Steam Deck.
Yeah. Rumored computational power, claimed to be coming from development units, puts it at a healthy fraction of the Steam Deck’s when docked, but a much smaller one when undocked. So, people shouldn’t get their hopes up about a Steam Deck+ coming from Nintendo.
Beat the steamdeck? Lol I’llbelievve it when I see it. I give them credit for rock solid IPs, but the switches hardware was already dated when it was first released. They don’t go for power with their hardware
Nintendo would never let anyone else access their hardware like that. They’re near fanatical about functionality and bulletproof UIs, integrating steam would only add the chances of something not flawlessly working 24/7 for all users.
If it has backwards compatibility then yes. If not then I guess it doesn’t really matter. I won’t have much interest if they don’t finally embrace backwards compatibility like everyone else.
And any form of game save backup that doesn’t require a subscription. Since their current offering blatantly anti-consumer.
Agree that this needs to happen. But given the brand power of Nintendo, they will just do whatever they want to screw over their fans and we will still be willing to pay.
There are games right now that could use a boost in performance. If they don’t have backwards compatibility it will be a huge disappointment, and I doubt I’ll be buying it anytime soon.
Can’t wait fot Nintendo’s next console that will be severely under powered and basically obsolete as soon as it is released. Used to love them but they have become so toxic and tone deaf.
Nintendo has had underpowered/old hardware compared to their competitors for almost my entire life, raw processing power isn’t really why most people buy Nintendo.
I think it’s because they want to appeal to a younger audience, too. They want a 10 or 12 yo to be able to play Pokemon and Mario, and it’s hard to get parents to buy a $500 console for a pre-teen. So they need to hit a lower price-point than PS or xbox
Their in house games also have a very… “Nintendo” feel.
Like, it’s obviously a Nintendo game. And I feel like that is their game plan.
Make a console that suites their IP. It doesn’t need to be flashy, it doesn’t need streaming 32k textures or whatever. It needs to do the Nintendo Thing™.
I wonder if that will change for the next gen, considering the 3rd party market picking up some big names (Skyrim, Fortnite, GTA). Maybe they will make a more capable system to monetize more on these possibilities
Nintendo does the Nintendo Thing very well, and their fans love them for it. There is a particular niche or the gaming market that is theirs, and theirs alone. If they start trying to please everybody, they may end up pleasing nobody.
Then again, I’m a PC gamer, so it may be I have no idea what I’m talking about.
I do like the way Nintendo reinvent the console on each gen. I do hope it’s fully backwards compatible at the very least
When Sony and Microsoft have more of an incremental approach, Nintendo operates more like a toy company.
If you’ve ever emulated switch on a modern machine with buttery smooth 1440 or 4K, you know the answer.