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

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mjayer said:
I think it’s all about perception. If they only get 20% performance lift that’s still a thing. It’s a thing you market what you did to get there. You don’t mention that number of course, probably no numbers, but you market the tech… buzz words for the metal case, cooling system, dock with a fan, it’s HIGH TECH BABY, now look at this trailer… that looks as good as a PS5 right? Right? But wait, there’s more! It’s still a switch! OMG right? Ya. You want this hot 🥵 piece of tech. Mmmm look at this rendering of the inside of our machine… oooh that big ol heat sink. Ya you like that don’t you.

You wanna play with power, don’t you? Ya you do. Super Power. BUY NOW.
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Shout out to this guy for whatever this is. Blud successfully sexualised a trailer.
 
If you’re going to reveal soon Nintendo you better hurry up. And most of all you better use it to tell me that my digital library carries over.

I’m tired of wondering if I should buy a game digitally or not. Wonder sitting at a 93, but buying digital sounds especially bad late in the gen without that confirmation.

Edit: I have a leftover voucher apparently from who knows what. Probably Tears of the Kingdom. Not sure I’m going to get a better full priced game than this before Switch 2…
 
Lancelot said:
Wow, this is old. No idea if any of this has relevance at this point, the body has probably changed several times since then. I don't expect any significant docked boosts because of parity and memory bandwidth, though.
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This is pretty much guaranteed to be about the oled.
 
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Individualised said:
Will you tell us the codename after it reveals?
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Assuming it doesn't leak before then, sure.
casualreader said:
Reading both threads and it seems to me like even the reasonable people (that includes you, that excludes me) expect a little something in the coming days/weeks am I right ?
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I’m at the point where I think an announcement anytime in the next 4 months wouldn’t surprise me. If I had to put money down I’d put it at closer to the end of that window, but I’m not going to say “impossible” any longer.

We’re about to hit a manufacturing lull, as the holiday preparation turns into shipping product. If Nintendo wants to launch between now and summer, this would be a very cost effective time to start manufacturing. And either Nintendo announces or we get manufacturing leaks.
 
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karmitt said:
And most of all you better use it to tell me that my digital library carries over.
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They've not been crystal clear, but they've been pretty up front in investor meetings that they want them to, and have the technology to make them do so.

The only real clean break we've had in digital libraries was when Nintendo Switch launched. Both 3DS and Wii U carried over their respective digital libraries from their predecessors, with 3DS especially integrating DSiWare into the eShop and registering your purchases with the eShop when you did the transfer.

I understand why digital libraries couldn't carry over on the whole from Wii U and 3DS to Switch, even though I think they should have at least TRIED, I understand from a business perspective why they didn't.

As long as devices going forward are a "superset" of the features of Nintendo Switch, which is pretty likely, or there are straightforward, software implementation workarounds, there's no reason our digital libraries should ever not be available on our next Nintendo.
 
Maybe this sounds weird to some of you, but I kinda hope the new device doesn't have a metal case. Call me cheap, but I prefer the feel of really smooth plastic to metal on devices like this.

Hopes aside though, would Nintendo prioritize a metal chassis over an OLED screen? Because if we're getting an LCD due to cost-cutting...
 
Raccoon said:
you all realize mario comes out on friday right

why would they do this to themselves
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To smother the news cycle with Nintendo hype to try and suppress Sony's upcoming efforts with their new model and Spiderman 2. A generation is a lot bigger than one game, while Switch 2's reveal could heavily feature Wonder as a display of BC/enhancements, contributing to the media cycle of Wonder rather than detract.

That said, I don't expect it to be revealed this week at all, and think next week or the week after us a lot more likely.
 
oldpuck said:
Love ya'll, you're all very smart.

Trying to reverse engineer IP law from first principles, or guess licensing shenanigans in the music industry without having worked in it - fool's errand. It's weirder than you could possibly imagine in your free time.

Not saying it is licensing shenanigans, but you can't dismiss it, because you cannot imagine how insanely complicated it would be. We're talking about an industry where the biggest pop star in the western world had to rerecord her own early albums because a label keeps hard drives in a vault and IP law treats them like artifacts in Final Fantasy game.
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Just wanting to second this.

Like, it's not just a question of what IP law says (potentially in multiple jurisdictions), but also the terms of the contractual agreement(s) between Nintendo and various rights holders - which we obviously don't have visibility over.

The same band's music existing elsewhere online is kinda irrelevant, in the sense that there'd be completely different contractual arrangements involved, and completely different risk/benefit scenarios even if there are behind the scenes IP shenanigans. And that's before you get to other sorts of rights involved - oldpuck pointed to actors as another involved party.

It makes sense that various licencing or licencing extensions could be negotiated in a round number of years, and that preparation for a change in the licencing situation could happen in the leadup to the anniversary, either as a matter or preparedness or because the thing wasn't published on the exact date that the licence commenced. It could be reasonable for there to be a different risk/benefit analysis to leaving the video up or removing it from different social media platforms, even if rights are expiring. Or maybe not - we don't have enough of a sense of the legal and contractual framework to know.

Which means it could mean something, or it could not, and we don't really have the information to determine either way. And if it means something, that could be a sign of something to come imminently or in the next 12 months - again, we don't have the information to know (yet).

(General purpose disclaimer about not legal advice etc., because who doesn’t like gratuitous disclaimers?)
 
wikiales said:
Hopes aside though, would Nintendo prioritize a metal chassis over an OLED screen? Because if we're getting an LCD due to cost-cutting...
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Metal case likely wouldn't cost much more than what they do now. OLED Model uses as much metal as a metal encased Switch would, but it covers it with a plastic panel for a variety of reasons.
 
Concernt said:
By the end of the month at the latest seems realistic. 😜

I realise this is getting off the topic of hardware speculation, so to bring that back a bit, now would make a lot of sense to reveal the device T239 is for. If the reveal really is next year, I think March or April is probably the time with the most solid chance, and that would mean a chip goes two entire calendar years from tape out to even being able to PREORDER the device that uses it. Unless there's been some expensive, unusual situation where Nintendo is stockpiling countless T239 SOCs thanks to the long lead-up. Storing things is expensive, after all. Late next year might "feel" right to people, but since we know with good confidence what the timeline of the SOC has been, it makes late next year extremely unusual. This isn't like Tegra X1 where there was a different mass market device for it to go into and be sold as a part of.
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Nvidia would be the ones to have purchased capacity with the manufacture, and assuming its 4N, a process that Nvidia uses for many of their products, they have the ability to be flexible with how they use that capacity. Nvidia would know that 4N would be a high volume process for them for years, assuming Drake is on 4N, that allows them to fit in Drake at the correct time, they wouldn't need to have a nailed down date penciled in years ago. But even if Nintendo were to have to start manufacturing Drake far in advance, they are tiny and could be stockpiled in a relatively small place.
 
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Raccoon said:
you all realize mario comes out on friday right

why would they do this to themselves
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Clearly Mario is the happening
because it certainly will be for me come Friday.

carbvan said:
yall think when Mario Wonder is properly datamined we'll see any references to the next system?
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I doubt it. IIRC there hasn't been precedent for a new Nintendo console being leaked via datamining.
 
carbvan said:
yall think when Mario Wonder is properly datamined we'll see any references to the next system?
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I severely doubt it, if it hasn't happened by now. Wonder has probably been QAed to hell and back, including checks that nothing that doesn't need to ship ships.

We already have a rich volume of next system references and inferences from system software datamines.
 
RailWays said:
Clearly Mario is the happening
because it certainly will be for me come Friday.


I doubt it. IIRC there hasn't been precedent for a new Nintendo console being leaked via datamining.
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When would the precedent have been set before? The Wii U wouldn't visually enhance games, nor would the DS to the 3DS.
 
Concernt said:
I'm firmly in the camp that it will consume the same wattage as the original Nintendo Switch. There's just a lot that points in that direction. Nintendo likes to reuse accessories, especially chargers, so it's less likely it will exceed the capacity of the existing Nintendo USB C charger. T239 on 4N doesn't consume more power than Tegra X1 based on the clocks we saw in the Nvidia leaks, which were linked with target wattages which themselves line up with power consumption for the GPU in the original Nintendo Switch. A larger screen doesn't contribute to more power consumption, because screens have gotten more power efficient since 2017. The controllers have their own batteries, so short stints of intense rumble thanks to new haptics won't impact power consumption. All this, while power consumption directly contributes to heat output and the need for heat dissipation, so if they want this device to be light enough to carry around, light and small enough to fit in the hands of children, appealing to the Japanese market, or the fashion conscious markets in the USA, it can't consume much more, if any more, power than the original Nintendo Switch.

T239 on 4N can achieve truly incredible performance at the same power consumption as the original Nintendo Switch, I would even say it appears designed to do so, so there isn't a benefit to pushing past that power consumption and heat dissipation.
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for sure you could be right but their design budget for this machine is higher considering its coming off a homerun vs a flop. Cheap phone battery capacities are indeed materially higher now and so to me it seems that heat is for sure the main constraint, especially in docked mode. It will be interesting to see what they do, but I would say the same power draw in both modes is a pretty fair worst case scenario

Using more expensive and efficient components like LPPDR5X and UFS 4.0 as well as down clocking the RAM in by handheld more vs OG Switch would give you more power headroom. In docked, it really comes down to how aggressive they get with cooling the device imo. I do wonder if they will stick to $399 which seems like a great price point or consider pushing it to $429-$449.
 
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Mirev said:
One day this video will probably be privatised and we will be in the biggest hype moment ever



biggest hype moment ever, after the one for Sushi Strikers 2
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Aaand we finally crossed that line. Almost one month later.

Let's see what happens now
 
Concernt said:
To smother the news cycle with Nintendo hype to try and suppress Sony's upcoming efforts with their new model and Spiderman 2. A generation is a lot bigger than one game, while Switch 2's reveal could heavily feature Wonder as a display of BC/enhancements, contributing to the media cycle of Wonder rather than detract.

That said, I don't expect it to be revealed this week at all, and think next week or the week after us a lot more likely.
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Nintendo is not Digital Foundry and they won't show a direct comparison of the same game on Switch and Switch 2. And that's the only way you'd notice the difference in Wonder: higher resolution and some more elaborate effect.

A new generation announcement would kill Wonder mindshare, not enhance it.
 
karmitt said:
If you’re going to reveal soon Nintendo you better hurry up. And most of all you better use it to tell me that my digital library carries over.

I’m tired of wondering if I should buy a game digitally or not. Wonder sitting at a 93, but buying digital sounds especially bad late in the gen without that confirmation.

Edit: I have a leftover voucher apparently from who knows what. Probably Tears of the Kingdom. Not sure I’m going to get a better full priced game than this before Switch 2…
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If a "half backwards compatiblity" is in the cards, I would say they would prioritise digital copies because they're the ones who generate more revenue. Another thing that would imply a digital-only BC is a significant change in cartridge size/format. I think Nintendo also stated that they plan to transition stuff like accounts into next-gen.
 
Zaimokuza said:
Nintendo is not Digital Foundry and they won't show a direct comparison of the same game on Switch and Switch 2. And that's the only way you'd notice the difference in Wonder: higher resolution and some more elaborate effect.

A new generation announcement would kill Wonder mindshare, not enhance it.
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Nothing that a press release can't solve. They could reveal on November 2nd with a quite short teaser showcasing BC, 4KRT graphics and release window and still not detract much from SMRPG and the holiday sales.
 
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justanotherperson said:
If a "half backwards compatiblity" is in the cards, I would say they would prioritise digital copies because they're the ones who generate more revenue. Another thing that would imply a digital-only BC is a significant change in cartridge size/format. I think Nintendo also stated that they plan to transition stuff like accounts into next-gen.
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I expect the next gen Lite will drop Game Cards, but no way will the launch model. The launch model will with little doubt have a card reader that can read both Game Card and NG Game Card, and it's likely that cross gen games will come on an OG Game Card with the "patch" already on board, since they said they want a "smooth transition", that seems to imply they wouldn't want seperate SKUs across gen, like how Xbox works.
 
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wikiales said:
Maybe this sounds weird to some of you, but I kinda hope the new device doesn't have a metal case. Call me cheap, but I prefer the feel of really smooth plastic to metal on devices like this.
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You like what you like!

wikiales said:
Hopes aside though, would Nintendo prioritize a metal chassis over an OLED screen? Because if we're getting an LCD due to cost-cutting...
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Plastic - insulator. Metal - conductor. A metal chassis is conceivably part of the whole cooling system, so it may not be optional.

I thing we’ve not talked about as much lately is the degree to which the device will be competing with the existing switch and will need to “feel” premium. While I’d prefer an OLED screen, a 8”, 1080p LCD is a bump over the base model.

Having a chassis that has the solidity and build quality equal to the most popular Switch model (the OLED) is probably a good move
 
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carbvan said:
i can't imagine they'd be that much more expensive than a normal button. it would just be like a mouse wheel, and mice are pretty cheap.
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May be cheap, but can they be engineered to keep the new joycons relatively slim? Or are they giving up the form factor to make them a little bulkier and ergonomic?
 
Brofield said:
May be cheap, but can they be engineered to keep the new joycons relatively slim? Or are they giving up the form factor to make them a little bulkier and ergonomic?
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Sure, but the problem is that they add mechanical complexity and allow gunk to get inside the controller, something they have a problem with due to the current design of the joysticks.

If they go with "advanced" shoulder buttons, using capacitive surfaces could allow for scrolling action without mechanical complexity.

And if they do that, I REALLY hope they go the whole way and add pressure sensitivity (like force touch) so games can have some kind of analogue button input without adding bulk.

I know I've said this all a hundred times, but I mean it, I REALLY want them to do this. Input parity with other consoles without sacrificing digital triggers would be INCREDIBLE.
 
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Skittzo said:
The code name is gym
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Gym the knight from Hydlide ?

hydlide-1674869083487.jpg


(Yes, the hero in Hydlide is named "Jim")
 
JoshuaJSlone said:
The end result of letting it rip here is probably the difference between using DLSS to do 1080->4K, or being able to use DLSS to do 1280->4K. A relatively small difference that's still going to leave it in the same general spot relative to Switch and PS5 on either side.
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Not necessarily. Upping the GPU clocks also means making the tensor cores run faster, allowing it to do DLSS better. It might be the difference between using DLSS to hit 1440p and then upscaling to 2160p (so you get unsightly upscaling artifacts), or getting proper DLSS 2160p.
 
BreakAtmo said:
Not necessarily. Upping the GPU clocks also means making the tensor cores run faster, allowing it to do DLSS better. It might be the difference between using DLSS to hit 1440p and then upscaling to 2160p (so you get unsightly upscaling artifacts), or getting proper DLSS 2160p.
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True man. There could be research done here to figure out how high these tensor cores need to be clocked to get there. I'm not smart enough to do that though.
 
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