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

[Hermii]

Man I wish ToTK was a Switch 2 launch title. The graphics really suffer because of the switch hardware.

Yea, I don't know how someone who been actually playing the game for a while can say this wouldn't have been a fantastic showcase for Drake. Especially while skydiving a million feet above Hyrule.

 

[D36]

I must have bad eyesight or bad taste, because the only visual issues with TotK that I've had is the occasional dips in frame rate and even then, it's like, barely a second. That being said, I'm still on the tutorial island, which dwarfs the Great Plateau. I do agree that this could have been a great Drake showcase, but that could only apply if either a. it was ever planned to launch alongside it, which doesn't seem to be the case and b. if it gets a major patch once Drake does release, which is what I'm expecting. Until I come across something that's borderline deal breaking, no skin off my bones .

 

[Hermii]

I must have bad eyesight or bad taste, because the only visual issues with TotK that I've had is the occasional dips in frame rate and even then, it's like, barely a second. That being said, I'm still on the tutorial island, which dwarfs the Great Plateau. I do agree that this could have been a great Drake showcase, but that could only apply if either a. it was ever planned to launch alongside, which doesn't seem to be the case and b. if it gets a major patch once Drake does release, which is what I'm expecting. Until I come across something that's borderline deal breaking, no skin off my bones .

I fully agree it's very good on the OG Switch, absolutely nothing dealbraking about this version. But Drake could have elevated it to drop dead gorgeous if they put a bit of effort into the patch

 

[Armoured_Bear]

It’s possible for the game to look pleasant and run well but also contains limitations such as lack of AA, shimmering and low resolution which would be much better on modern hardware.

 

[D36]

I fully agree it's very good on the OG Switch, absolutely nothing dealbraking about this version. But Drake could have elevated it to drop dead gorgeous if they put a bit of effort into the patch

I think it will with a patch, the only lamentable thing is actually waiting for it. Though, not so much for me, anyway.

 

[eye0h]

I must have bad eyesight or bad taste, because the only visual issues with TotK that I've had is the occasional dips in frame rate and even then, it's like, barely a second. That being said, I'm still on the tutorial island, which dwarfs the Great Plateau. I do agree that this could have been a great Drake showcase, but that could only apply if either a. it was ever planned to launch alongside it, which doesn't seem to be the case and b. if it gets a major patch once Drake does release, which is what I'm expecting. Until I come across something that's borderline deal breaking, no skin off my bones .

You can get it to churn if you climb into a tree and moved the camera or by using ultra hand anywhere that things are happening. Other than that it isn't awful. Watching Yuzu videos does make it seem pretty bad though :/ there are people playing in 4k60 and it looks really really good.

 

[Giancarlo]

November 14, 2023 for the release of an untitled magic wand game...

Very interesting choice of launch date?

Unrelated:
Game Cube–November 18, 2001 in North America
Wii–November 19, 2006, in North America
Wii U –November 18, 2012, in North America

Nintendo is going to Gamescom for the first time in 4 years... with what?

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe final DLC and Pokemon Scarlet e Violet DLC perhaps?

 

[Giancarlo]

Yea, I don't know how someone who been actually playing the game for a while can say this wouldn't have been a fantastic showcase for Drake. Especially while skydiving a million feet above Hyrule.

Metroid Prime 4 would be a better showcase for Switch sucessor or Pikimin 4.

 

[mjayer]

I hear ya. I used to think I wanted 4K, but now I think TotK would benefit so much more from 60fps, better shadows, and higher rez textures. Give me 900p all day long. I just am having a hard time with the frame rate, most of all. But hey. If they re-release it as a remaster for REDACTED, I’ll bitch and moan, but I’d still buy it.

Ya honestly it looks fine. The frame dips suck though.

 

[D36]

Metroid Prime 4 would be a better showcase for Switch sucessor or Pikimin 4.

Ehhhhhh, not that I disagree, but TotK looks gorgeous, yet flawed enough that it can really shine on better hardware.

 

[mjayer]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe final DLC and Pokemon Scarlet e Violet DLC perhaps?

And you think 2 DLC packs is enough for Nintendo to go back to Gamescom after 4 years of being absent?

 

[Thraktor]

The fact that there are SD card readers that also can read UFS cards is already a big boost, that in and of itself can actually facilitate a more seamless transition (over generation) from one format to another.

The other option is CFExpress but that’s… well I think it isn’t compatible with the SD cards at all, and would require one extra slot maybe just for Micro SD cards.

Several of Sony's cameras have combination CFexpress Type A/SD card readers. They support full-size SD cards, though, not microSD.

Drake needs ~16 GB of RAM to overcome the substantial I/O deficit it will have compared to current consoles. Xbox Series S may only have ~8.3 GB of usable RAM, but it will be able to flood RAM with data far faster than Drake will be able to - not to mention all of the other techniques that are part of the Xbox Velocity Architecture that reduce the amount of RAM needed for assets (ie, something like SFS, which essentially functions as a multiplier on the amount of available RAM).

I honestly don't think it's a given that [redacted] will have a substantial I/O deficit. UFS 3.1 can achieve as high as 2GB/s read speeds, which puts it in touching distance of the Series S and X, and it's old (the review I linked was from 2020), cheap and power-efficient. The last one is what's leaning me more towards UFS 3.1 now, as Micron claim their UFS 3.1 parts consume around 40% less power than their UFS 2.1 parts, despite a considerable increase in speed. Nintendo switched from LPDDR4 to LPDDR4X in Switch models from 2019 onwards despite not using the higher speed, presumably just for the power savings. I could see a similar thing happening here where Nintendo use UFS 3.1 for the reduced power draw even if they don't think they need the higher speeds. Removable storage is a different matter, but there are options there.

Fast internal storage is actually the one area where Nintendo can compete with Sony and MS if they really wanted to without taking a hit in power consumption. Hell, if they really wanted to they could hit 3.8GB/s with UFS 4.0, which according to Samsung consumes a similar power draw to UFS 3.1. I don't think UFS 4.0 is likely, both due to cost and the timing of getting the necessary interface on T239, but the option would have been there for Nintendo if they really wanted it.

Thanks. I'm surprised people are reading this and taking it as some kind of confirmation that Nintendo won't release [redacted] this FY. If Nintendo wanted to convey that they're not releasing new hardware this fiscal year, they would just say so explicitly, like they've done in the past, they wouldn't vaguely hint at it in answers to unrelated questions.

There are two questions pertinent to the new hardware which are worth posting in full, Q4 and Q7:

Q4. The number of annual playing users for Nintendo Switch is continuing to rise even as we enter its seventh year since launch, so from that perspective, I feel that it is possible to say that there is less of a need to release a next-generation platform. When you do release a next-generation platform, do you foresee a dramatic increase in the number of annual playing users, or will you maintain it at the level of at least 100 million users?

A4. Furukawa:
The growth in annual playing users has become more gradual compared to three or four years ago and going forward, we expect to be at a point where we prioritize maintaining high engagement while also aiming to invite in new users. Gaming system operation tends to fluctuate based on the release timing of major titles, so we will continue to release a steady flow of software. We also believe that we need to keep providing opportunities for consumers to play Nintendo Switch, rather than relying solely on new software releases.
We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform. I cannot say anything specific about a next-generation platform at this time, but we are always working on various projects aimed at the future by asking ourselves what kind of fun proposal we can make which can possibly provide new and unique entertainment.
And in the case of future new hardware releases, the annual playing users will largely depend on how widely the hardware is adopted. From that standpoint as well, we believe that how we maintain a high level of consumers actively playing Nintendo dedicated video game platforms while transitioning to the next generation of hardware will be a very important topic going forward. However, at this stage, we believe that our top priorities are maintaining and expanding the utilization of Nintendo Switch, which has entered its seventh year since launch, and maintaining business momentum.

The most interesting line here is "We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform." It's a bit confusingly worded, as it's a double negative (Furukawa is disagreeing with the negative statement originally posed), but I think it's pretty notable. The questioner basically said "Given annual users are still growing, do you even need next-gen hardware any time soon?", and gave Furukawa the option of just saying something like "Yeah, we're happy that the user base is still growing, and it shows that there's still a lot of life left in the Switch", but instead he said pretty much the opposite, stating that despite the healthy user numbers, Nintendo will need to release next-gen hardware.

Of course he's not saying when that next-gen hardware needs to be released, but it seems a strange answer to give if (as many people expect) they won't even announce next-gen hardware this FY.

Q7. Nintendo Switch was announced under the development codename “NX” in March 2015, and then the official name was announced in October 2016 prior to its launch in March 2017. Looking back, do you consider this a success in terms of hardware marketing, given there was a space of about two years between the initial announcement and launch? Do you think a similar interval between the announcement and launch of a next-generation platform will be necessary?

A7. Furukawa:
Looking back at the release of information leading up to the Nintendo Switch launch, we announced the “NX” development codename in March 2015 during a joint announcement with DeNA Co., Ltd. regarding our business and capital alliance (as it related to joint development of smart-device game applications and its operation, and also the core system development centered around Nintendo Account). When we announced our entry into the mobile business at that time, we needed to let people know that Nintendo would be continuing to focus on the dedicated video game platform business as our core business. So, I believe that the timing of the Nintendo Switch announcement was a special case.
We will provide information about hardware and software at the appropriate time for each product and strive to reach a wide range of consumers.

Confirming that the Switch's early announcement was a special case, and basically saying "Nintendo will announce hardware and software whenever we damn well want to".

 

[themagpieswarble]

Ugh. Imagine?

 

[ziggyrivers]

Several of Sony's cameras have combination CFexpress Type A/SD card readers. They support full-size SD cards, though, not microSD.



I honestly don't think it's a given that [redacted] will have a substantial I/O deficit. UFS 3.1 can achieve as high as 2GB/s read speeds, which puts it in touching distance of the Series S and X, and it's old (the review I linked was from 2020), cheap and power-efficient. The last one is what's leaning me more towards UFS 3.1 now, as Micron claim their UFS 3.1 parts consume around 40% less power than their UFS 2.1 parts, despite a considerable increase in speed. Nintendo switched from LPDDR4 to LPDDR4X in Switch models from 2019 onwards despite not using the higher speed, presumably just for the power savings. I could see a similar thing happening here where Nintendo use UFS 3.1 for the reduced power draw even if they don't think they need the higher speeds. Removable storage is a different matter, but there are options there.

Fast internal storage is actually the one area where Nintendo can compete with Sony and MS if they really wanted to without taking a hit in power consumption. Hell, if they really wanted to they could hit 3.8GB/s with UFS 4.0, which according to Samsung consumes a similar power draw to UFS 3.1. I don't think UFS 4.0 is likely, both due to cost and the timing of getting the necessary interface on T239, but the option would have been there for Nintendo if they really wanted it.



Thanks. I'm surprised people are reading this and taking it as some kind of confirmation that Nintendo won't release [redacted] this FY. If Nintendo wanted to convey that they're not releasing new hardware this fiscal year, they would just say so explicitly, like they've done in the past, they wouldn't vaguely hint at it in answers to unrelated questions.

There are two questions pertinent to the new hardware which are worth posting in full, Q4 and Q7:

The most interesting line here is "We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform." It's a bit confusingly worded, as it's a double negative (Furukawa is disagreeing with the negative statement originally posed), but I think it's pretty notable. The questioner basically said "Given annual users are still growing, do you even need next-gen hardware any time soon?", and gave Furukawa the option of just saying something like "Yeah, we're happy that the user base is still growing, and it shows that there's still a lot of life left in the Switch", but instead he said pretty much the opposite, stating that despite the healthy user numbers, Nintendo will need to release next-gen hardware.

Of course he's not saying when that next-gen hardware needs to be released, but it seems a strange answer to give if (as many people expect) they won't even announce next-gen hardware this FY.


Confirming that the Switch's early announcement was a special case, and basically saying "Nintendo will announce hardware and software whenever we damn well want to".

Thanks for your input, Thraktor. This could mean that the successor could come during this Fiscal Year, be it Holiday 2023 or Spring 2024. I imagine Holiday is the target, but if not all the pieces are in place, they won’t feel that bad if they need to redo the OG Switch’s release of March.

 

[BowserIsMyFather]

Ugh. Imagine?

I understand, but is it okay if I don't give two hoots that I'm not playing it in 4K?

I mean, it'd be nice I guess, but my fun isn't hinging on more powerful hardware.

 

[Ashee]

I just read the Q&A. Mind you my first language is Spanish, so even if my reading is not bad maybe i could miss some specific meaning. For me they are not going to drop a new console in the next few months, july for example (im team 2023 btw) because their top priorities are maintaining and expandidng the Switch BUT that "priority" could be the next 6 months... why? because of this: " We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform". Yes, they want 15M for the switch but they are not so dumb to not see they need something new, but they want a transition not a "here is the new console, forget about the switch right now". For me that point means the first games will be compatible with the switch and next gen.

And there is something that peaked my interest: " I cannot say anything specific about a next-generation platform at this time." the whole text is "we, we, we" and in that particular part he went "I". It cant be anything but for me its more of "we have something but im not going to leak anything".

If they want to go the route of smooth transition they can do whatever they want, because they could drop 3-4 or more big games with double compability and still sell Switch because a lot of families will aim for the cheaper console. Even if they dont cut the price of the Switch, the next gen could be 450-500 and that would give them a normal and premium console.

 

[ziggyrivers]

I just read the Q&A. Mind you my first language is Spanish, so even if my reading is not bad maybe i could miss some specific meaning. For me they are not going to drop a new console in the next few months, july for example (im team 2023 btw) because their top priorities are maintaining and expandidng the Switch BUT that "priority" could be the next 6 months... why? because of this: " We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform". Yes, they want 15M for the switch but they are not so dumb to not see they need something new, but they want a transition not a "here is the new console, forget about the switch right now". For me that point means the first games will be compatible with the switch and next gen.

And there is something that peaked my interest: " I cannot say anything specific about a next-generation platform at this time." the whole text is "we, we, we" and in that particular part he went "I". It cant be anything but for me its more of "we have something but im not going to leak anything".

If they want to go the route of smooth transition they can do whatever they want, because they could drop 3-4 or more big games with double compability and still sell Switch because a lot of families will aim for the cheaper console. Even if they dont cut the price of the Switch, the next gen could be 450-500 and that would give them a normal and premium console.

Now that you mention it, I hadn’t notice that: the change from plural to singular. It’s somewhat weird

 

[Dakhil]

I was obviously talking about 2024 too.

Ah, I'm sorry. But I don't think I've heard anyone here say a launch after 2024 is impossible.

---

I honestly don't think it's a given that [redacted] will have a substantial I/O deficit. UFS 3.1 can achieve as high as 2GB/s read speeds, which puts it in touching distance of the Series S and X, and it's old (the review I linked was from 2020), cheap and power-efficient. The last one is what's leaning me more towards UFS 3.1 now, as Micron claim their UFS 3.1 parts consume around 40% less power than their UFS 2.1 parts, despite a considerable increase in speed. Nintendo switched from LPDDR4 to LPDDR4X in Switch models from 2019 onwards despite not using the higher speed, presumably just for the power savings. I could see a similar thing happening here where Nintendo use UFS 3.1 for the reduced power draw even if they don't think they need the higher speeds. Removable storage is a different matter, but there are options there.

Fast internal storage is actually the one area where Nintendo can compete with Sony and MS if they really wanted to without taking a hit in power consumption. Hell, if they really wanted to they could hit 3.8GB/s with UFS 4.0, which according to Samsung consumes a similar power draw to UFS 3.1. I don't think UFS 4.0 is likely, both due to cost and the timing of getting the necessary interface on T239, but the option would have been there for Nintendo if they really wanted it.

I do wonder if Nintendo and Nvidia have bothered upgrading the UFS controller inside Drake to a UFS 3.1 controller from a UFS 3.0 controller in Orin.

---

Anyway, Geekerwan did a technical review of Tears of the Kingdom, but only in Chinese. (But since Geekerwan provided Chinese subtitles, the provided Chinese subtitles can be auto-translated into English on desktop. I have no idea why the auto-translate option isn't offered on the mobile YouTube app.)

 

[D36]

Several of Sony's cameras have combination CFexpress Type A/SD card readers. They support full-size SD cards, though, not microSD.



I honestly don't think it's a given that [redacted] will have a substantial I/O deficit. UFS 3.1 can achieve as high as 2GB/s read speeds, which puts it in touching distance of the Series S and X, and it's old (the review I linked was from 2020), cheap and power-efficient. The last one is what's leaning me more towards UFS 3.1 now, as Micron claim their UFS 3.1 parts consume around 40% less power than their UFS 2.1 parts, despite a considerable increase in speed. Nintendo switched from LPDDR4 to LPDDR4X in Switch models from 2019 onwards despite not using the higher speed, presumably just for the power savings. I could see a similar thing happening here where Nintendo use UFS 3.1 for the reduced power draw even if they don't think they need the higher speeds. Removable storage is a different matter, but there are options there.

Fast internal storage is actually the one area where Nintendo can compete with Sony and MS if they really wanted to without taking a hit in power consumption. Hell, if they really wanted to they could hit 3.8GB/s with UFS 4.0, which according to Samsung consumes a similar power draw to UFS 3.1. I don't think UFS 4.0 is likely, both due to cost and the timing of getting the necessary interface on T239, but the option would have been there for Nintendo if they really wanted it.



Thanks. I'm surprised people are reading this and taking it as some kind of confirmation that Nintendo won't release [redacted] this FY. If Nintendo wanted to convey that they're not releasing new hardware this fiscal year, they would just say so explicitly, like they've done in the past, they wouldn't vaguely hint at it in answers to unrelated questions.

There are two questions pertinent to the new hardware which are worth posting in full, Q4 and Q7:

The most interesting line here is "We do not believe that reaching a certain number of annual playing users means that there is no need to release a next-generation platform." It's a bit confusingly worded, as it's a double negative (Furukawa is disagreeing with the negative statement originally posed), but I think it's pretty notable. The questioner basically said "Given annual users are still growing, do you even need next-gen hardware any time soon?", and gave Furukawa the option of just saying something like "Yeah, we're happy that the user base is still growing, and it shows that there's still a lot of life left in the Switch", but instead he said pretty much the opposite, stating that despite the healthy user numbers, Nintendo will need to release next-gen hardware.

Of course he's not saying when that next-gen hardware needs to be released, but it seems a strange answer to give if (as many people expect) they won't even announce next-gen hardware this FY.


Confirming that the Switch's early announcement was a special case, and basically saying "Nintendo will announce hardware and software whenever we damn well want to".

Regarding the response to Q7, I wonder if that extends to the Switch's Spring release date, as that was also a fringe case. Granted, that only happened because it wasn't ready for a Holiday release, so it might be up in the air. Furukawa's vagueness and a lack of denial of new hardware says to me that Drake is at least coming this fiscal year and I'm inclined to believe that we'll know before the end of summer.

 

[eye0h]

Hogwarts remains in active development and has been making fine progress on Switch.

The cancellation of Midnight Suns for Switch was circulating last yr soon after the game bombed.

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

Edit: I'm Team 2024, I just remembered when nate said it was progressing fine and thought it'd be a bit funny to stoke the flame a little

 

[invwar]

And you think 2 DLC packs is enough for Nintendo to go back to Gamescom after 4 years of being absent?

The only real Gamescom they missed was last year, 2020 and 2021 were cancelled. Before that they were regulars and the marketing budget for Splatoon was better spent in Japan.

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

Please board the train! Next stop: Uncharted Territory.

 

[Thraktor]

I do wonder if Nintendo and Nvidia have bothered upgrading the UFS controller inside Drake to a UFS 3.1 controller from a UFS 3.0 controller in Orin.

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think there's a difference between UFS 3.0 and UFS 3.1 from a silicon point of view. They both use the M-PHY 4.1 physical layer and the UniPro 1.8 transport layer. The differences outside of that should all be in software. That would also explain why UFS 3.0 disappeared almost completely as soon as 3.1 arrived.

 

[Giancarlo]

And you think 2 DLC packs is enough for Nintendo to go back to Gamescom after 4 years of being absent?

not sure, for Nintendo maybe, for us yes,

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

Oh it’s dated? This definitely is not for a new system.

 

[Giancarlo]

I'd be surprised by any official comment/statement regarding hardware made this year. It's not an impossibility but I'm not expecting any such action.

I'm not anticipating any official public communication until next FY -- once mass production nears or begins (April to June 2024 window).

I'll welcome a surprise.

holiday 2024/spring 2025 release for Switch sucessor launch?

 

[Hosermess]

As expected there's nothing in regards to Drake timing, but reading the Q6 answer in English and not a headache inducing translation is more interesting. Probably off-topic and probably pointed out elsewhere (and maybe everybody picked up on this right away lol), but not venturing into any other threads right now.

Question 6 was about why the overall sales decrease % is less than the unit sales % decrease. Exact wording is "What kinds of positive impact on sales are you anticipating?" but it boils down to "how are you going to sell so many games?".

After saying how even the lower 15M goal will "is not a goal that we will be able to achieve easily.", they mention the Mario movie yet again.

Then this paragraph: "Our aim is to leverage this momentum into maximizing sales during the holiday season to achieve our sales plans. In terms of software, we will release a variety of new titles, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4. We also plan to release paid add-on content for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet as well as Splatoon 3, all of which we released last year."

That's all nothing we didn't know. I mean, that's basically ALL we do know (which yeah, it's weird). But anyway...TotK & Pikmin 4 are going to be released way before the holiday season.

Then they must mean the S/V and Splatoon DLC right? Nope.

In the middle of the next paragraph they drop: "note that the paid add-on content such as those for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, as well as Splatoon 3, are not reflected in the sales volume forecast we shared."

So, I think we can rule out Nintendo coasting on only DLC for the holiday season. The relatively safe bet is MP4 being a holiday title and Nintendo is going to push the hell out of it (and thus having it GamesCon), BUT I don't think it could/would carry the entire holiday season on its own. I don't think Nintendo would count on that.

So after all that all I'm saying is Nintendo has something(s) else big cooking (games wise) for the 2H. Which I was personally not worried about, but many have speculated about. So maybe this eases their worries a little bit.

 

[LitKai]

Not disagreeing, just curious how you calculated that date? If it’s not a proprietary process that is

The time between the release of a Nintendo console and the latest Zelda is 0 or 1 year. If the Switch U launched before May 10, 2024 then it would be better for me lol.

• Twilight Princess (GameCube, Wii) - Wii = 0
• Skyward Sword (Wii) - Wii U = 1 year
• Twilight Princess HD (Wii U) - Switch = 1 year
• Breath of the Wild (Wii U, Switch) - Switch = 0
• Skyward Sword HD (Switch) - Switch U = 1 year
• Tears of the Kingdom (Switch, Switch U) - Switch U = 0
• Tears of the Kingdom (Switch) - Switch U = 1 year
• Monolith Soft's action game "Zeldablade" (Switch U) - Switch U = 0

I actually don't know if Zeldablade will be a launch title because the Wii U didn't have a Zelda as a launch title; but in 2025 they will release Xenoblade X so I don't think they would also release Zeldablade the same year.

 

[Hocot8]

And you think 2 DLC packs is enough for Nintendo to go back to Gamescom after 4 years of being absent?

I mean would anyone really be surprised haha.

 

[eye0h]

• Monolith Soft's action game "Zeldablade" (Switch U) - Switch U = 0

"An ambitious project that differs from Monolith Soft's brand image" = not zelda

 

[Deleted member 887]

So, are we really expecting a console that is more powerful than the Steam Deck, but draws less watts than it? Is this already possible?

The short answer, I guess is "easily." The long answer is slightly more nuanced.

Basically, it's like @ILikeFeet said - the Steam Deck is a mini PC, and that means that it has to run PC CPUs, instead of Nintendo's mobile CPUs. If all you did was replace the CPUs, you'd save something like 25% power right away.

Steam Deck is built with last gen tech. Its using a TSMC 7nm process (which is very nice, don't get me wrong) but modern GPUs have recently moved to 5nm, which offers something like 30% power savings. And modern GPUs have other power saving tech, which we know Nvidia has at least experimented with putting into the new Nintendo chip.

So yes, Nintendo can build a chip that is more powerful than Steam Deck and draws less power. I think most of us expect a more complicated situation. There are places where Nintendo could choose to be more powerful than Steam Deck (the GPU), places where it could choose to be less powerful (the CPU), and places where it might actually be both - more powerful in Docked mode, less powerful in handheld mode (Memory clock).

There are other places too that Nintendo might be able to save power or save costs over Steam Deck. Steam Deck has a multiple track pads, reassignable grip buttons, and touch sensitive sticks. Steam Deck also uses a custom LCD screen, which is very bright, and is a bit of a power hog. Steam Deck has 16GB of memory, but spends a lot of it on the OS where Nintendo doesn't.

 

[Discostew]

You can get it to churn if you climb into a tree and moved the camera or by using ultra hand anywhere that things are happening. Other than that it isn't awful. Watching Yuzu videos does make it seem pretty bad though :/ there are people playing in 4k60 and it looks really really good.

This to me sounds like RAM bandwidth starvation. I will say that when I got into the first "town", it would chug every so often. The CPU was actually hitting close to 90% on all game cores too, or I think it was when I was playing last night.

 

[Concernt]

I must have bad eyesight or bad taste, because the only visual issues with TotK that I've had is the occasional dips in frame rate and even then, it's like, barely a second. That being said, I'm still on the tutorial island, which dwarfs the Great Plateau. I do agree that this could have been a great Drake showcase, but that could only apply if either a. it was ever planned to launch alongside it, which doesn't seem to be the case and b. if it gets a major patch once Drake does release, which is what I'm expecting. Until I come across something that's borderline deal breaking, no skin off my bones .

The issues I've had have been actually pretty severe. Like gameplay affecting. I'm not going to mention any story aspect but I'll be mentioning things about the world.

Spoiler

Compared to Breath of the Wild, this game is VERY cull-happy. The worst example I've seen would be culling out Shrines in the distance so I don't know where to place a pin. Or the VICIOUS texture tiling that look worse than Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

 

[LitKai]

"An ambitious project that differs from Monolith Soft's brand image" = not zelda

An ambitious new IP? Nintendo financing an ambitious project that may not sell much? That would be strange.

 

[D36]

The issues I've had have been actually pretty severe. Like gameplay affecting. I'm not going to mention any story aspect but I'll be mentioning things about the world.

Spoiler

Compared to Breath of the Wild, this game is VERY cull-happy. The worst example I've seen would be culling out Shrines in the distance so I don't know where to place a pin. Or the VICIOUS texture tiling that look worse than Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Spoiler

Worse than Arceus???? ¡Dios Mio!

An ambitious new IP? Nintendo financing an ambitious project that may not sell much? That would be strange.

We won't know how appealing it would be until we see it for ourselves and with how well Nintendo IPs have been doing in general on the Switch, I have faith that it'll do at least 1mil.

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

An ambitious new IP? Nintendo financing an ambitious project that may not sell much? That would be strange.

Xenoblade exists though.

 

[RennanNT]

The short answer, I guess is "easily." The long answer is slightly more nuanced.

Basically, it's like @ILikeFeet said - the Steam Deck is a mini PC, and that means that it has to run PC CPUs, instead of Nintendo's mobile CPUs. If all you did was replace the CPUs, you'd save something like 25% power right away.

Steam Deck is built with last gen tech. Its using a TSMC 7nm process (which is very nice, don't get me wrong) but modern GPUs have recently moved to 5nm, which offers something like 30% power savings. And modern GPUs have other power saving tech, which we know Nvidia has at least experimented with putting into the new Nintendo chip.

So yes, Nintendo can build a chip that is more powerful than Steam Deck and draws less power. I think most of us expect a more complicated situation. There are places where Nintendo could choose to be more powerful than Steam Deck (the GPU), places where it could choose to be less powerful (the CPU), and places where it might actually be both - more powerful in Docked mode, less powerful in handheld mode (Memory clock).

There are other places too that Nintendo might be able to save power or save costs over Steam Deck. Steam Deck has a multiple track pads, reassignable grip buttons, and touch sensitive sticks. Steam Deck also uses a custom LCD screen, which is very bright, and is a bit of a power hog. Steam Deck has 16GB of memory, but spends a lot of it on the OS where Nintendo doesn't.

And also Drake's target sales is about 10x Deck's, which means:

• They get larger bulk discounts, and can get a better node and/or bigger* chip for similar prices
• They can invest a lot more money on R&D while keeping the cost per chip low
• They're significantly more important to NVidia than Deck is for AMD.

*CPUs and GPUs have specific clocks they are more power efficient, doubling the number of cores at those clocks will get you the same theorical power as doubling the clocks but with significant power savings.

An ambitious new IP? Nintendo financing an ambitious project that may not sell much? That would be strange.

Monolith are very good with ambitious projects on a budget.

Also, Xenoblade X was Nintendo's most ambitious project before Zelda, likely their most expensive at the time as well. It wasn't a new IP, but Xenoblade wasnt even a million seller, let alone a guarantee for sales.

 

[ShadowFox08]

As expected there's nothing in regards to Drake timing, but reading the Q6 answer in English and not a headache inducing translation is more interesting. Probably off-topic and probably pointed out elsewhere (and maybe everybody picked up on this right away lol), but not venturing into any other threads right now.

Question 6 was about why the overall sales decrease % is less than the unit sales % decrease.

After saying how even the lower 15M goal will "is not a goal that we will be able to achieve easily.", they mention the Mario movie yet again.

Then this paragraph: "Our aim is to leverage this momentum into maximizing sales during the holiday season to achieve our sales plans. In terms of software, we will release a variety of new titles, starting with The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom and Pikmin 4. We also plan to release paid add-on content for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet as well as Splatoon 3, all of which we released last year."

That's all nothing we didn't know. I mean, that's basically ALL we do know (which yeah, it's weird). But anyway...TotK & Pikmin 4 are going to be released way before the holiday season.

Then they must mean the S/V and Splatoon DLC right? Nope.

In the middle of the next paragraph they drop: "note that the paid add-on content such as those for Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet, as well as Splatoon 3, are not reflected in the sales volume forecast we shared."

So, I think we can rule out Nintendo coasting on only DLC for the holiday season. The relatively safe bet is MP4 being a holiday title and Nintendo is going to push the hell out of it (and thus having it GamesCon), but I don't think it could/would carry the entire holiday season on its own. I don't think Nintendo would count on that.

So after all that all I'm saying is Nintendo has something(s) else big cooking for the 2H. Which I was personally not worried about, but many have speculated about. So maybe this eases their worries a little bit.

If Nintendo expects to sell 15 million current model switches only, I don't think they will with MP4. It makes more sense to do it with more popular franchise like Mario, then a niche franchise. We haven't had a 2D Mario game in a while, and that's the perfect candidate. MP4 won't move a lot of consoles on switch.

Second, I don't think MP4 is releasing before Switch 2, but rather with it or later with a multiplatform release with switch. Why? It's best to showcase it with Switch 2 performance, and help boost initial Switch 2 consoles, as well as boosting hypothetical lifetime sales with a simultaneous multiplatform release.

I can see at least 3 possible scenarios being played out.

A. No Switch 2 in 2024. We get a new Mario(?) this holiday. Probably a New Mario Bros game. This could help it reach total 15 million switch sales or close, if Nintendo's goal is to maximize current switch sales this year only.

B. Switch 2 this holiday with MP4 on Switch 2 and Switch, with 3rd party exclusives not on Switch (as well as enhanced Hogwarts Legacy, maybe). This could help Nintendo sell 15 million total.

C. Switch 2 with new Mario game this holiday. Multiplatform release of course. MP4 comes out in 2024 on Switch/Switch 2 and maybe within 3 months.

Iit all depends on long they are willing to draw out Switch lifetime sales before introducing Switch 2/Drake, because switch sales will of course drop further when the latter gets released, but switch will be supported for years to come. Part of me thinks they want to do it for the accolades and try to beat DS and PS2, or get close to it, but they also don't want to throw away 120 million install base.

They could also permanent price drop them this holiday, whether switch or Switch 2 comes out this Q4 or not to reach 15 million. I do expect a permanent price drop on all current models when switch 2 gets released at the latest though.

*This is based on the recent QA translated forecast that doesn't confirm if the 15 million consoles this year are Switch only and that Switch 2's release date hasn't been confirmed or deconfirmed for this year.

*Sorry I edited the hell out of this post

 

[BowserIsMyFather]

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

A few thoughts.

1: Switch wasn't a priority over the other versions.

2: Drop-kicked well out of TotK's launch wake.

3: I don't believe new hardware is coming in 2023.

 

[Hermii]

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

If I had a nickle...

 

[Ojoloco]

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

they have simply moved the game to the holiday campaign for commercial reasons.

 

[NateDrake]

We have a delay.



While this doesn't necessarily mean anything it's interesting to note.

It means nothing when the port studio handling the Switch version is only working with a Switch devkit.

 

[ILikeFeet]

1: Switch wasn't a priority over the other versions.

it wasn't a priority then, but it is now. WB is hyping up the switch version rather than letting it quietly release. WB might show to be a big support of Drake given this

 

[Ojoloco]

It means nothing when the port studio handling the Switch version is only working with a Switch devkit.

Is the studio internal to warner or is it a studio with a good history of switchports behind it?

 

[Sol]

Several of Sony's cameras have combination CFexpress Type A/SD card readers. They support full-size SD cards, though, not microSD.



I honestly don't think it's a given that [redacted] will have a substantial I/O deficit. UFS 3.1 can achieve as high as 2GB/s read speeds, which puts it in touching distance of the Series S and X, and it's old (the review I linked was from 2020), cheap and power-efficient. The last one is what's leaning me more towards UFS 3.1 now, as Micron claim their UFS 3.1 parts consume around 40% less power than their UFS 2.1 parts, despite a considerable increase in speed. Nintendo switched from LPDDR4 to LPDDR4X in Switch models from 2019 onwards despite not using the higher speed, presumably just for the power savings. I could see a similar thing happening here where Nintendo use UFS 3.1 for the reduced power draw even if they don't think they need the higher speeds. Removable storage is a different matter, but there are options there.

Fast internal storage is actually the one area where Nintendo can compete with Sony and MS if they really wanted to without taking a hit in power consumption. Hell, if they really wanted to they could hit 3.8GB/s with UFS 4.0, which according to Samsung consumes a similar power draw to UFS 3.1. I don't think UFS 4.0 is likely, both due to cost and the timing of getting the necessary interface on T239, but the option would have been there for Nintendo if they really wanted it.

UFS 3.1 can hit 2 GB/s read speeds....but for how long? Xbox Series X|S and PS5 I/O is sustained with no real thermal throttling (MIcrosoft has been very explicit about this). Even if Drake has UFS 3.1 (a big "if"), are those speeds really going to be something that can be sustained over the course of a play session wiithout the drive heating up and throttling?

 

[Ojoloco]

it wasn't a priority then, but it is now. WB is hyping up the switch version rather than letting it quietly release. WB might show to be a big support of Drake given this

Knowing that the port is progressing correctly according to Nate, and seeing the new date, I would say that it is quite obvious that they want to place it in the middle of the Christmas campaign so that it generates more money.

 

[BowserIsMyFather]

it wasn't a priority then, but it is now. WB is hyping up the switch version rather than letting it quietly release. WB might show to be a big support of Drake given this

It means nothing when the port studio handling the Switch version is only working with a Switch devkit.

I can't even begin to make a correlation between Drake/T239/REDACTED from a delay. I don't believe for one second that new hardware is coming before the FY 23/24 is done, and certainly not this year.

 

[eye0h]

An ambitious new IP? Nintendo financing an ambitious project that may not sell much? That would be strange.

I mean they said it themselves

 

[eye0h]

I don't believe new hardware is coming in 2023.

Yeah I'm inclined to agree

 

[TomNookYankees]

Second, I don't think MP4 is releasing before Switch 2, but rather with it or later with a multiplatform release with switch. Why? It's best to showcase it with Switch 2 performance, and help boost initial Switch 2 consoles, as well as boosting hypothetical lifetime sales with a simultaneous multiplatform release.

There is zero indication that Prime 4 is being made for the Switch 2. None of the people who reported info on Prime Remastered before it was revealed have made any indication that Prime 4 is for anything other than the Switch. No matter how great it would be to see what Retro can do with PS4/Pro level performance.

 

[BowserIsMyFather]

There is zero indication that Prime 4 is being made for the Switch 2.

I remember people saying the same thing about Breath of the Wild and NX