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StarTopic Future Nintendo Hardware & Technology Speculation & Discussion |ST| (Read the staff posts before commenting!)

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ILikeFeet said:
It's most likely for future proofing, like when they made the Pokémon high poly during the 3ds days. There could be an update to 60fps or they could just enhance fidelity. But having more motion data is always preferable regardless
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Remember that 4chan leak regarding the Pokemon SV enhancement updates next year, it could probably use this.
 
ertaboy356b said:
Remember that 4chan leak regarding the Pokemon SV enhancement updates next year, it could probably use this.
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Winter 2023 isn't "next year". I'd wait until we hear something official about its date being set before we jump to something absurd like "March 18th 2024 is technically Winter 2023".
 
NateDrake said:
There was benefit to the E3 2017 reveal and reboot announcement: it humbled Nintendo. It was an embarrassing circumstance & now they want to be certain the game will make the release date they assign it when it's shown. This could lead to a more limited marketing cycle ala Metroid Dread.


The Prime 1 Remaster was deep into development when they got Prime 4. No reason to cancel it.
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Quick question Nate, is your prediction that MP4 releases this fiscal year, or could it be the first half of calendar 2024?
 
ziggyrivers said:
Devil’s advocate: what if the “next gen patch” for Scarlet/Violet was actually GameFreak reworking their animations to 60fps to future proof them?
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those are two different things though. and GF doesn't do all the animations, Creatures do them and they would have been made fore 60fps from the start

which begs the question, why do they "need" to be made at a set resolution. typically, you key animations in your DCC of choice and the game engine does the tweening itself based on your frame rate. if your animation is hardcoded to set frame rates, it's because of stylistic reasons, which I don't believe Creatures has done because of the very reason they even do the pokemon: to have a reusable library.

hardcoding the animation rate might have been a thing with the 3DS games, but I doubt they need reworking since they moved to switch with the Let's Go games. or else they're further behind than I thought
 
Concernt said:
It is more likely the universe is flat than the earth is flat. For instance, we can mathematically prove the earth's roundness, but NOT the universe's, unless we discount dark matter and black holes.
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CMB is a pretty good tool for figuring out the shape of the universe. And most estimates have it being close to flat (or at least very very very close to being curved which still makes it unfathomably large.)
 
karmitt said:
.


I would love to believe Nintendo thinks Metroid Prime 4 is worthy of being a cross-generation highlight in lieu of Zelda.

I’m only expecting a Switch (1) game for now tho.
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Yeah, I honestly think it can go either way, perhaps it's a timing thing more so than something they planned initially.

But with how good the Prime trilogy remaster looked and ran it had me thinking of how great MP4 might run and feel at 4k60.
 
ItWasMeantToBe19 said:
A game created by Dyack+a pedophile is never getting touched by Nintendo.

(the writer was arrested for making child pornography)
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They placed Eternal Darkness as a sticker in Smash Ultimate. I'd call that a "touch". They own the IP and if they perceive value there they'll absolutely leverage it in the future.
 
So in 2024, how do you feel if the only new Switch 1 games published by Nintendo are Metroid Prime 4, Pokémon games, and a couple of remasters/remakes while the Switch 2 gets new IPs and new entries that are also published by Nintendo.
 
andreeeee456 said:
So in 2024, how do you feel if the only new Switch 1 games published by Nintendo are Metroid Prime 4, Pokémon games, and a couple of remasters/remakes while the Switch 2 gets new IPs and new entries that are also published by Nintendo.
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Nintendo Switch is impressive. But three whole generations of Pokémon impressive? No. I think Scarlet and Violet are the cross gen titles for Pokémon, but that they'll get years of support across updates, new battle Series and new raids. It's very normal for the second generation of Pokémon on a console to straddle the console generation. Crystal's late launch, Color requirement and network features. Black 2 and White 2's 3DS integrations. Sun and Moon's engine and mechanics used in Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee.

The "upper" games especially tend to do this, only with Scarlet and Violet, the "upper" version is the same game, but with DLC. Like it's predecessors, I would expect it to be next gen enhanced in some way. Leaks suggest this, of course.

Ultimately I think that's a really solid base for a new console. It will have a Pokémon game with ongoing support. I'd say the repackaging will happen alongside the launch of DLC 2 and the next gen patch, so that Redacted's first holiday season it's on the shelf with "Nintendo Switch REDACTED: Pokémon Scarlet + Hidden Secret of Area Zero" beside it.

Gen 10 is probably REDACTED exclusive.
 
Concernt said:
Bayonetta Origins DLC announced and released within a week of 1+2 Rebootcamp and the XBC3 DLC. Between those, the Zelda trailer and the Indie World I swear they had enough material in April for a healthy Direct Mini.

But spurting out EVERYTHING to do with their published games before the end of April, including DLC and updates?

I can't help but think that they're clearing the slate. In the last, June was empty because of E3. Now there isn't an E3. But there's room for an event.

What kind of event would cause them to schedule everything so close together?
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Bayonetta Origins DLC? Was something announced? This is a tangent, but if someone could provide a link to info on this, that'd be greatly appreciated. I'm having trouble finding information on it and seemingly missed it.

Anyway, I have the same feeling as you on some level. I'm very curious how they'll fill the second half of the year. I'm not sold on it being hardware, but I would definitely not rule it out either until we get some solid reporting saying otherwise.
 
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NateDrake said:
Holiday 2023 or by first half 2024 -- though I'd likely reduce that to by March 2024.
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This doesn’t match your late 2024/early 2025 Drake release prediction.

MP4 is different from TotK. Retro started working on MP4 much later than EPD started TotK.
MP4 must be a drake launch title. At least a cross gen title.
 
Erika said:
This doesn’t match your late 2024/early 2025 Drake release prediction.

MP4 is different from TotK. Retro started working on MP4 much later than EPD started TotK.
MP4 must be a drake launch title. At least a cross gen title.
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I don't see why MP4 has to be a Drake launch title or cross gen. It is already announced for Switch. It can launch independent of any new hardware. Nothing is tying it down. It doesn't have to to launch with Drake.
 
BDGAME said:
About the name, how about they don't utilize the world "Switch" in their next machine? Maybe call it "Nintendo Hybrid" or give a acronym name, like Nintendo S4K.
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That's not out of the realm of possibility.

I am leaning towards them sticking with the Switch name and selling it as the next-generation Switch with a number of improvements to the docked experience.
Stefan51278 said:
From a raw teraflop-number this could be true, but the PS4 has an older feature-set and moves this number-comparison to the absurd realms.

T239 / Drake / Switch 2 seems to have:

  • way better CPU than everything in Gen 8 had to offer
  • not massive, but existing Raytracing
  • more recent ways of programming the GPU (DX12-level, important for future engine support and making ports easier) and more recent optimizations, for example texture compression at higher average compression rates
  • DLSS
  • file decompression engine
  • no slow hard drive
  • even with 8GB of Ram the smaller Switch-OS would give developers more memory, I personally still dream of 16GB but think that 12GB is also very possible.
  • Tensor-cores could also be used for AI in games
  • hardware-decoding could make game files smaller, better hardware-enconding could save space and battery for features like saving the last 30 seconds of your gameplay

All these features will make the console more powerful than a PS4 Pro. Comparing the handheld-mode with the PS4 also is not a fitting comparison because the PS4 was made for 1080p, SwitchTwo-handheld-mode will be 720p.
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Yeah even if you used the current Switch dock speeds and applied them to the rumored T239, you get a machine a good deal more powerful than the base PS4 which is already great for a Nintendo handheld.

The best bit of news to me is that memory bandwidth bottleneck being done away with which will be huge for development and performance on the Switch 2 on so many levels.

I do not think we get 16gb RAM,12 at most, but I am expecting 8.
 
D36 said:
Eh, I'd say we have enough grounds to believe that it'd be at least more powerful than a PS4. Hell, you could even call it a foregone conclusion.
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All we know is that at some point in the last few years Nvidia had developed the T239 chip with Nintendo (in mind), that's it. Time is dragging on and on and we know nothing. We have no idea if Switch 2 will use this chip, no idea if or how Nintendo have changed plans, what technical difficulties there have been, if it is that chips, no idea on clock speeds, throttling, anything.
Speculation is fine and there's a very good chance it will be T239 based but we do not KNOW anything so no idea why people keep saying we do.
If Nate is right (and I have no clue , he's accepted here as an impeccable insider, I have no idea what he revealed before) then the machine will come out something like 4 years after T239 development.

tl;dr
We don't know anything about Switch 2 for sure, despite people repeatedly saying we do.
 
Wockio said:
Dude... no. GameFreak just sucks.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Pokemon fan and was extremely disappointed with Scarlet and Violets performance, but I largely like to avoid rhetoric like "X dev just sucks" because it's unhelpful.

Plenty of capable devs put out less than stellar games nowadays due to budget and time constraints, and GameFreak is no exception. Due to the nature of how Pokemon operates too, they're far less likely to delay because it affects so much. So the projects suffer further. I'm not giving them an excuse mind you, I think they need to fix their game on the Switch and I'm really tired of waiting for a patch for a game I want to play more of.

Still I think they're a fairly competent developer who has shown through their other Switch projects that they're quite a bit more capable of making games than S/V would have people believe. Given the right timeframe and better tech investment, I think we'll see some good games yet. I don't think it's worth dismissing the de-emphasizing performance idea just because a dev is in a trouble spot.
 
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Truthfully Prime 4 title as a launch game doesn't make sense unless there is a more mainstream game launching alongside it like Mario. Metroid isn't a system seller. So I'm inclined to believe if it's ready to go and there's still a solid 6+ months between it and Switch 2, it will launch for Switch 1.
 
Boxle said:
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Pokemon fan and was extremely disappointed with Scarlet and Violets performance, but I largely like to avoid rhetoric like "X dev just sucks" because it's unhelpful.

Plenty of capable devs put out less than stellar games nowadays due to budget and time constraints, and GameFreak is no exception. Due to the nature of how Pokemon operates too, they're far less likely to delay because it affects so much. So the projects suffer further. I'm not giving them an excuse mind you, I think they need to fix their game on the Switch and I'm really tired of waiting for a patch for a game I want to play more of.

Still I think they're a fairly competent developer who has shown through their other Switch projects that they're quite a bit more capable of making games than S/V would have people believe. Given the right timeframe and better tech investment, I think we'll see some good games yet. I don't think it's worth dismissing the de-emphasizing performance idea just because a dev is in a trouble spot.
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When have they produced a game that looks/performas as well as their contemporaries ? You seem to be suggesting that S&V is some sort of outlier when they pump out technically horrible looking and performing games time after time.
 
Armoured_Bear said:
When have they produced a game that looks/performas as well as their contemporaries ? You seem to be suggesting that S&V is some sort of outlier when they pump out technically horrible looking and performing games time after time.
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I'm not speaking to comparisons with other developers. But in terms of their own projects, S/V is an outlier in performance and overall quality.

I have generally found that many over-exaggerate how badly Pokemon games actually perform. Their games have never been lookers or technical masterpieces by any means, but with the exception of a few trouble spots (like the online wild area) in their games, they usually run well and consistent, especially the Switch era games.

Legends Arceus is head and shoulders over S/V in visuals, performance, technical aspects and more. Even SwSh in all it's NPC pop-in glory never even comes close to the level of broken that S/V is.

S/V is broken in almost every category and is incredibly inconsistent with their own bar of quality (however low you view that) they've shown up to this point.
 
Boxle said:
I'm not speaking to comparisons with other developers. But in terms of their own projects, S/V is an outlier in performance and overall quality.

I have generally found that many over-exaggerate how badly Pokemon games actually perform. Their games have never been lookers or technical masterpieces by any means, but with the exception of a few trouble spots (like the online wild area) in their games, they usually run well and consistent, especially the Switch era games.

Legends Arceus is head and shoulders over S/V in visuals, performance, technical aspects and more. Even SwSh in all it's NPC pop-in glory never even comes close to the level of broken that S/V is.

S/V is broken in almost every category and is incredibly inconsistent with their own bar of quality (however low you view that) they've shown up to this point.
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OK, fair enough. Thanks for the detail.
 
Mekanos said:
Truthfully Prime 4 title as a launch game doesn't make sense unless there is a more mainstream game launching alongside it like Mario. Metroid isn't a system seller. So I'm inclined to believe if it's ready to go and there's still a solid 6+ months between it and Switch 2, it will launch for Switch 1.
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System seller doesn't have to be the biggest franchise. It can be a visual showcase. It can showcase a gimmick. Quite frequently systems launch without the very biggest franchises. Metroid isn't top tier, but the past two releases on Switch, neither of which are as big or as pushed as 4 will be, have done very well.
 
karmitt said:
because we really really really want it to be :]
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It would be a banger of a launch title, as it would be such a title which will have much coverage in gamer cycles (=early adopter). Even if the sales wouldnt be as impressive as other Nintendo titles, the press coverage and thus PR will be there. Exactly what you would like to have when you release a new console.
This wouldnt be the case with e.g. a Mario title. Yes, they are generally 90%+ titles, but Mario is basically ignored by gamer, as its "just" a family title. As Zelda is this time already released, Mario Kart 8 is good enough for the masses, it would be a rocky start, if they have "nothing" to convince gamer/early adopter. Thats why MP4 should be a launch title.
I mentioned it already before, the biggest issue of REDACTED will be, that basically everyone has the Switch. And the casuals will not buy a MK9, just because it is out, they will not pay 450USD for just that, as they have what they like already on Switch. Thats also why 3rd Party Support will be key, casuals buy a XBox/PS4 for FIFA or COD, so being able to play these titles and MK9 will be key to be a wide success. For gamer they need titles like MP4 to get press coverage in this cycles. But what else do they have? Resident Evil/Capcom is basically locked to Sony nowadays, the only exclusive Switch got was a stripped Monster Hunter - the real success happened only on PS platform. So what other titles they have to make gamer aware that REDACTED is a buy? I only see Mother, Star Fox, F-Zero and potentially Eternal Darkness (see Resident Evil success) as having the chance to get enough coverage. But here we heard absolute nothing and also reasonable doubt that Nintendo would continue these series.
 
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