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

[ertaboy356b]

The way the Switch works and why it is seamless to dock and un-dock is because of it always running off battery power.

This can be done without running on battery power though. I have a Sony Xperia phone, it has this mode called H.S. Control, which uses the charger's power to run the phone when gaming. You can plug and unplug the charger seamlessly and it switches up.

Now, how do I confirm that it's not running on battery power? If you look at Accubattery, there's no charging current that is being reported, which means the battery is not being charged. If you somehow switch to another app or go to home screen, the battery starts charging again.

 

[HankyPanky]

i don't believe price will be an issue even if it's $450 there will be enough demand to sell as many units they can produce for the first year or two. if i was Nintendo i'd start on the higher end and monitor demand before considering a price cut. there probably isn't a single person at the 'enthusiast' level who wouldn't fork out $500 if the games look good enough. this is why it's a bit frustrating that we're still waiting (presumably on the games) as people would pay a premium to get this thing now. even if it was just to play Zelda in 4k etc.

 

[Link_enfant]

I'm not sure what the big deal is with NERD's job offer (which, by the way, is easily accessible in French by changing "EN" to "FR" in the filename in the url).
I mean, of course Nintendo is going to have a next generation system at some point, and it's especially true after more than 6 years with the Switch.

NERD has also worked on emulation for systems like NES/SNES Mini iirc, or even the recent Mario/Zelda Game&Watch (not sure for those), it's always best to think of all possibilities when "other Nintendo systems" are mentioned.
The French document also doesn't explicitly talk about new generations, just mentions "future Nintendo platforms" which can be another Game&Watch or a Mini console or even something else.

Of course, I'm deliberately posting in a pessimist way to temper expectations and such, I think we should never jump to conclusions too quickly even from an official Nintendo document and especially for NERD, even considering what they worked on before.

I just don't think it confirms something we didn't know, except maybe some kind of cross-platform but that could just be for NSO stuff.
If anything, this job offer actually worries me because it feels a bit late and could indicate that we won't even have a reveal this year, or am I mistaken?

 

[Concernt]

I'm not sure what the big deal is with NERD's job offer (which, by the way, is easily accessible in French by changing "EN" to "FR" in the filename in the url).
I mean, of course Nintendo is going to have a next generation system at some point, and it's especially true after more than 6 years with the Switch.

NERD has also worked on emulation for systems like NES/SNES Mini iirc, or even the recent Mario/Zelda Game&Watch (not sure for those), it's always best to think of all possibilities when "other Nintendo systems" are mentioned.
The French document also doesn't explicitly talk about new generations, just mentions "future Nintendo platforms" which can be another Game&Watch or a Mini console or even something else.

Of course, I'm deliberately posting in a pessimist way to temper expectations and such, I think we should never jump to conclusions too quickly even from an official Nintendo document and especially for NERD, even considering what they worked on before.

I just don't think it confirms something we didn't know, except maybe some kind of cross-platform but that could just be for NSO stuff.
If anything, this job offer actually worries me because it feels a bit late and could indicate that we won't even have a reveal this year, or am I mistaken?

It doesn't CONFIRM anything, sure, but it's more about how they're so open about it (in a way they have not been in any other communications, not even mentioning the next generation in explicit terms to investors.)

 

[TheSentry]

Are we talking about price again? The loop!

Release dates
Chip fabrication size and which foundry (Samsung vs TSMC)
Price
Launch games and upgrades
Repeat

 

[carbonaxiom]

Yes, but what are the implications of that? That they've heavily customised the memory configuration? Or just that they've gone with a smaller cache?

One significance of that is that it was the first sign that T234 (Orin) and T239 (Drake) have different CPUs. The T239 SoC seems to have been designed to fit in as small a physical space as possible (implying that this new device from Nintendo will have a very similar form factor to the original Switch).

The above picture is just a preliminary version of T234 (from the Nvidia leaker kopite7kimi), but it serves to show how much space the GPU takes up in this design. For the T234, this is a large 2048 CUDA core GPU with 4MB of L2 Cache (the L2 Cache takes up a fairly large and separate space in the die). Since Nintendo probably had some involvement in the design of T239, which was likely always going to be derived from T234, they might have decided that two good ways to save space would be to cut the CUDA cores from 2048 to 1536 and the L2 cache from 4MB to 1MB.

Physical space is far from the only consideration when making decisions like this, but it most likely was a big factor here. In regards to the GPU's L2 cache, Nintendo probably thought that it would be fine to instead rely on the CPU cache wherever possible, which is what implied Drake has a CPU that has better cache than Orin's Arm Cortex A78AE's 4MB or 6MB of L3 cache (see page 6 of this technical brief). The 8-core Arm Cortex A78C can have up to 8MB of L3 cache, and an 8-core CPU is mentioned in the T239 Linux commit from last year.

I know this is all nothing new for people who have been following this thread for a long time, but it's always a good reminder of just how unique and tailor made for Nintendo the T239 SoC is, at least based on what we know so far.

 

[Concernt]

One significance of that is that it was the first sign that T234 (Orin) and T239 (Drake) have different CPUs. The T239 SoC seems to have been designed to fit in as small a physical space as possible (implying that this new device from Nintendo will have a very similar form factor to the original Switch).

The above picture is just a preliminary version of T234 (from the Nvidia leaker kopite7kimi), but it serves to show how much space the GPU takes up in this design. For the T234, this is a large 2048 CUDA core GPU with 4MB of L2 Cache (the L2 Cache takes up a fairly large and separate space in the die). Since Nintendo probably had some involvement in the design of T239, which was likely always going to be derived from T234, they might have decided that two good ways to save space would be to cut the CUDA cores from 2048 to 1536 and the L2 cache from 4MB to 1MB.

Physical space is far from the only consideration when making decisions like this, but it most likely was a big factor here. In regards to the GPU's L2 cache, Nintendo probably thought that it would be fine to instead rely on the CPU cache wherever possible, which is what implied Drake has a CPU that has better cache than Orin's Arm Cortex A78AE's 4MB or 6MB of L3 cache (see page 6 of this technical brief). The 8-core Arm Cortex A78C can have up to 8MB of L3 cache, and an 8-core CPU is mentioned in the T239 Linux commit from last year.

This is all nothing new for people who have been following this thread for a long time, but it's always a good reminder of just how unique and tailor made for Nintendo the T239 SoC is, at least based on what we know so far.

An excellent breakdown, thank you. I do have some musings that follow on from this.

I definitely agree that this (T239) seems to be tailor made to squeeze as much performance as reasonably possible into a formfactor in line with Nintendo Switch. That makes a lot of sense, of course, but does have me, for lack of a better word, simply impressed! Miniaturisation, all the way down to the silicon itself. Unless this is made on Samsung 8nm, this really will be one of the most performance dense chips I've ever seen. It's genuinely impressive how they could, in theory, get it down to a size similar to the TX1 (or even TX1+), while still increasing performance and features to such a high degree. It leaves me scratching my head somewhat as to how this could fit into Nintendo's pricerange, but I think Oldpuck had a good breakdown on that.


The big question about the SOC left for me is just node, but since I'd probably side with Z0mbi3 and say that the leaked power consumption tests are accurate to the hardware (or at least, simulations based on their expectations), it isn't really a concern, because those results were extremely encouraging (and point to Samsung 5LPE or TSMC 4N, both of which would be acceptable.)

As it stands, personally I lean heavily towards TSMC 4N. The timeline of testing and production was so parallel with the Lovelace cards, that I find alternatives hard to believe.

 

[ILikeFeet]

The only news of note today is that TSMC 4nm is readily available in a mobile form factor releasing this year. This can only be seen as a net positive for Nintendo; as it will certainly trickle down to lower costs of [TBA].

That's not gonna change anything, really. 5/4nm is gonna be a long lived node so costs would have naturally come down.

 

[carbonaxiom]

The big question about the SOC left for me is just node, but since I'd probably side with Z0mbi3 and say that the leaked power consumption tests are accurate to the hardware (or at least, simulations based on their expectations), it isn't really a concern, because those results were extremely encouraging (and point to Samsung 5LPE or TSMC 4N, both of which would be acceptable.)

As it stands, personally I lean heavily towards TSMC 4N. The timeline of testing and production was so parallel with the Lovelace cards, that I find alternatives hard to believe.

Those SoC size considerations probably played a big part in this decision too. Even if Samsung 8nm, the node that Orin used, can technically handle the performance specifications and power profile that Nintendo wants, it still would have likely been too big to fit in a device with the same size as the Switch.

Whichever one of those options was the one Nvidia and Nintendo went with, it was likely chosen because it was an acceptable size and because it had a good power to performance ratio (for the battery life). I actually don't think cost matters to Nintendo as much as those two factors do, so if TSMC 4N fit the bill best then it's what they would have gone with.

 

[theguy]

doctore is the huncle (hiring uncle)

 

[Simba1]

$399 is my bet, I dont see they going above that price point (at least for main/regular model).

Talking about timing, at this point, I would be surprised if its releasing this year, it's too quite if Switch 2 is really coming this year,
so next year it is ( around March or November).

 

[boodream]

I don't think the next Swtich will be launched at a price point that allows you to buy a PS5 (the digital version is $450). No matter how much disproportionate importance enthusiast forums decide to give to enthusiast consumers on their own.

 

[Shareholder Chad]

No. Could have been as generic as 'Successor'. Nintendo knew full well that commenting on the case would require disclosure & that the CMA would be obligated to redact anything.

One weird angle about this.

Follow the money. Politicians always get the "scoop" early. I see it every time before major announcements for companies. You will see a spike in their stock price because they have been tipped off. The biggest example of this was a sell off in the S&P500 before the banks failed in 2008 and in 2020 before the lockdown announcements (There was even an arrest. Forgot who tho). As small as Nvidia stocks rising before it was announced they would be supplying nintendo for the switch. The information itself may be "redacted" but it won't stop the usual suspects (Politicians, Regulators) from piling into Nintendo's stock before a reveal.

 

[Nintendojitsu]

I don't think the next Swtich will be launched at a price point that allows you to buy a PS5 (the digital version is $450). No matter how much disproportionate importance enthusiast forums decide to give to enthusiast consumers on their own.

It didn't matter when the Switch was released after the PS4 Pro and it won't matter in the future.

 

[boodream]

It didn't matter when the Switch was released after the PS4 Pro and it won't matter in the future.

The situation with the PS5, which has had major shortages, constant demand and, more importantly,a price increase, recently, several years AFTER its launch, is in my opinion not comparable with a mid-gen model released almost at the same time as the Switch.

I personally don't have enough confidence in my judgment to claim with certainty what will or will not matter in the future, but I am certain that price is a key factor in Nintendo's positioning. And it seems to me that this positioning is less determined by enthousiasts forums than we may sometimes want to think.

 

[eye0h]

One weird angle about this.

Follow the money. Politicians always get the "scoop" early. I see it every time before major announcements for companies. You will see a spike in their stock price because they have been tipped off. The biggest example of this was a sell off in the S&P500 before the banks failed in 2008 and in 2020 before the lockdown announcements (There was even an arrest. Forgot who tho). As small as Nvidia stocks rising before it was announced they would be supplying nintendo for the switch. The information itself may be "redacted" but it won't stop the usual suspects (Politicians, Regulators) from piling into Nintendo's stock before a reveal.

We're entering our economics arc on the thread? Down for this. $FAMI

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

We're entering our economics arc on the thread? Down for this. $FAMI

I mean we had a brief Fire Emblem arc, so why not?


When does the equivalent of the Dressrosa arc hit



Actually, I guess this is of note:

 

[pelusilla6]

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

This means no new switch until 2037.

did I do this right?

 

[Dakhil]

Samsung's 5 nm** process node still seems to be worse than TSMC's N6 process node in terms of performance and power efficiency, despite Samsung's 5 nm** process having a higher transistor density vs TSMC's N6 process node (126.9 MTr/mm² vs ~114.2 MTr/mm²).


** → a marketing nomenclature used by all foundry companies, including Samsung

 

[syrozz]

Interesting!

Gamescon is usually more about playable games (ready to or already launched) than big announcements, I wonder what would push them go back there and what games people will be able to get their hands on.
Especially in this unchartered territory, when they supposedly don't have a lot to show.

If they're announcing Redracted in June it may be too optimistic to expect playable games late August, but who knows. Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

 

[Concernt]

Interesting!

Gamescon is usually more about playable games (ready to or already launched) than big announcements, I wonder what would push them go back there and what games people will be able to get their hands on.
Especially in this unchartered territory, when they supposedly don't have a lot to show.

If they're announcing Redracted in June it may be too optimistic to expect playable games late August, but who knows. Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

I unironically think you're onto something. As for timing, this would be about what is expected for an autumn release. In the lead up to Switch launching and briefly after, they had a LOT of in person events so people could go hands on with the console and really get a feel for it. I think the new console would benefit from that. There isn't much reason for them to attend Gamescom without a new console, I feel.

A June or July announcement in place of E3 or a Partner Direct, August and September press events including LIVE and Gamescom, then an October or November launch. This would be pretty much in line with the marketing cycle of OLED Model or the original Nintendo Switch, and would allow them to push assembly back right up to announcement and still have enough for launch.

 

[ziggyrivers]

Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

Probably upcoming software

 

[Concernt]

Probably upcoming software

Barring new hardware, I can't think of a compelling reason why we haven't heard about any of this new software yet. Not even their holiday title.

 

[Stefan51278]

Especially in this unchartered territory, when they supposedly don't have a lot to show. […] Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

Selling Metroid Prime 4 to the hardcore-crowd for Switch for 2023Q4.

 

[ShaunSwitch]

Hmmmm Nintendo has largely abandoned in person events in recent years, what could possibly happen in H2 that would warrant them expanding their marketing to in person events. What product gets a benefit from having an in person hands on I wonder?

Damn straight Nintendo is finally releasing their quality of life project. Can't wait!

 

[Giancarlo]

So what's the predicted release of this thing? People still learning towards early next year or is this year a possibility?

maybe holiday 2023(novembre/dezembre 2023, or spring 2024( march/april 2024)

 

[Dakhil]

Physical space is far from the only consideration when making decisions like this, but it most likely was a big factor here. In regards to the GPU's L2 cache, Nintendo probably thought that it would be fine to instead rely on the CPU cache wherever possible, which is what implied Drake has a CPU that has better cache than Orin's Arm Cortex A78AE's 4MB or 6MB of L3 cache (see page 6 of this technical brief). The 8-core Arm Cortex A78C can have up to 8MB of L3 cache, and an 8-core CPU is mentioned in the T239 Linux commit from last year.

Assuming Nintendo and Nvidia are using Samsung as the foundry company for fabricating Drake, I think yields are more of a factor than die size for reasons I explain here.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Nintendo generally skimps on the amount of cache.

---

Speaking of yields:

https://www.eetimes.com/tsmcs-3-nm-push-faces-tool-struggles/

⋮
Apple will pay TSMC for known good die rather than standard wafer prices, at least for the first three to four quarters of the N3 ramp as yields climb to around 70%, Brett Simpson, senior analyst at Arete Research, said in a report provided to EE Times.

"We think TSMC will move to normal wafer-based pricing on N3 with Apple during the first half of 2024, at around $16-17K average selling prices," Simpson said. "At present, we believe N3 yields at TSMC for A17 and M3 processors are at around 55% [a healthy level at this stage in N3 development], and TSMC looks on schedule to boost yields by around 5+ points each quarter."

For the iPhone A17 chip, TSMC will do 82 mask layers with a die size likely in the 100-110 mm square range, the Arete report said. That means a yield of around 620 chips per wafer with a wafer cycle time of four months, the report added. M3 is likely to be around 135-150 mm square die size and around 450 chips per wafer, according to Arete.
⋮

⋮
TSMC has delayed the introduction and ramp of 3 nm due to a need to adopt multi-patterning with EUV lithography from tool supplier ASML, Hosseini said.

"While the high cost of EUV multi-patterning has made the cost/benefit of EUV unattractive, loosening the design rules to minimize the number of EUV multi-patterning layers has led to a much higher die size," Hosseini said. The "real" 3-nm node will not scale until a higher-throughput EUV system, ASML’s NXE:3800E, is available during the second half of 2023, he added.

The NXE:3800E will help improve wafer throughput by about 30% over the current NXE:3600D by lowering the overall cost of EUV multi-patterning, according to Hosseini.
⋮

 

[2B]

Barring new hardware, I can't think of a compelling reason why we haven't heard about any of this new software yet. Not even their holiday title.

Maybe to keep focus on TotK? Or keep TotK from overshadowing whatever they have lined up?

 

[Giancarlo]

I'm not sure what the big deal is with NERD's job offer (which, by the way, is easily accessible in French by changing "EN" to "FR" in the filename in the url).
I mean, of course Nintendo is going to have a next generation system at some point, and it's especially true after more than 6 years with the Switch.

NERD has also worked on emulation for systems like NES/SNES Mini iirc, or even the recent Mario/Zelda Game&Watch (not sure for those), it's always best to think of all possibilities when "other Nintendo systems" are mentioned.
The French document also doesn't explicitly talk about new generations, just mentions "future Nintendo platforms" which can be another Game&Watch or a Mini console or even something else.

Of course, I'm deliberately posting in a pessimist way to temper expectations and such, I think we should never jump to conclusions too quickly even from an official Nintendo document and especially for NERD, even considering what they worked on before.

I just don't think it confirms something we didn't know, except maybe some kind of cross-platform but that could just be for NSO stuff.
If anything, this job offer actually worries me because it feels a bit late and could indicate that we won't even have a reveal this year, or am I mistaken?

NERD was also responsible for the 3D Mario collection for the Mario franchise 35th anniversary in 2020

 

[Armoured_Bear]

itshappening.gif


Please.

 

[AxkilAvenger]

Hmmmm Nintendo has largely abandoned in person events in recent years, what could possibly happen in H2 that would warrant them expanding their marketing to in person events. What product gets a benefit from having an in person hands on I wonder?

Damn straight Nintendo is finally releasing their quality of life project. Can't wait!

Metroid Prime 4

 

[boodream]

Knowing that the release of the next Zelda is imminent and that we'll have to wait years for the next episode, I can't imagine for a second making the next 3D Mario a crossgen title. So, considering the hype of the Super Mario movie and considering Nintendo's likely willingness to keep on releasing games on the current Swtich for a while even if a successor is announced, I think an all-new 2D Mario would be absolutely ideal to get the buzz going at such an event, just like Prime 4.

 

[Hosermess]

Hmmmm Nintendo has largely abandoned in person events in recent years, what could possibly happen in H2 that would warrant them expanding their marketing to in person events. What product gets a benefit from having an in person hands on I wonder?

Damn straight Nintendo is finally releasing their quality of life project. Can't wait!

We all know the reason behind that.

This is more in general, I only quoted your post. Let's not get so carried away. Gamescom 2019 had a number of announced but not yet released games present and if that trend continues, that only means we can safely assume they're going to announce whatever games will be there this year at some point before August - which we were all reasonably expecting anyway. Could it be Drake stuff? Sure. Does this mean it's more likely to be Drake stuff? Not really. But I guess every new thing that doesn't rule it out is just added to the "it's happening" pile lol which I completely understand.

 

[Concernt]

We all know the reason behind that.

This is more in general, I only quoted your post. Let's not get so carried away. Gamescom 2019 had a number of announced but not yet released games present and if that trend continues, that only means we can safely assume they're going to announce whatever games will be there this year at some point before August - which we were all reasonably expecting anyway. Could it be Drake stuff? Sure. Does this mean it's more likely to be Drake stuff? Not really. But I guess every new thing that doesn't rule it out is just added to the "it's happening" pile lol which I completely understand.

One strange occurance or gap in the release window is one thing, quite common in fact, but this year seems to be pretty strong on the exceptional side of things. Could they just be keeping things warm for Switch's final year as their headline console? Maybe. But they didn't do this for 3DS.


I don't think this CONFIRMS anything, nothing but Nintendo's own announcement could, but it's certainly another piece of the puzzle that makes a launch this year appear more likely.

 

[Nintendojitsu]

Hmmmm Nintendo has largely abandoned in person events in recent years, what could possibly happen in H2 that would warrant them expanding their marketing to in person events. What product gets a benefit from having an in person hands on I wonder?

Damn straight Nintendo is finally releasing their quality of life project. Can't wait!

You were almost about to hit diamond but you gave up at the last moment.

 

[Thraktor]

Is the dual issue instructions similar to single and double precision?

No, it's actually capable of running two (single precision) instructions at a time in certain circumstances.

There's a description of it here with some microbenchmarks, but effectively there are a limited number of instructions called VOPD instructions which can be dual-issued. There are a variety of restrictions on exactly when you can dual-issue a pair of instructions (relating to things like what registers they're accessing), and it's up to the compiler to figure out when to do so. This image of compiled RDNA3 shader code from the Chips and Cheese article is actually a pretty good illustration of how it works:

Those instructions with red boxes around them are some of the VOPD instructions. You can see that each of those lines literally contains two instructions, and the RDNA3 CU will run both of those instructions simultaneously. Aside from the restrictions on how and when these VOPD instructions can be used, the main downside is that shader compilers have to find cases where they can be used, which we can't assume they'll do a particularly good job at. Shader compilation is a difficult problem at the best of times, and adding the need to find dual-issue opportunities only complicates that further. Hence why AMD doesn't advertise these as extra shader cores or claim a doubling of real-world performance.

Ampere's doubling of shader throughput over Turing is quite different. In the Turing SM, Nvidia introduced parallel datapaths for floating point and integer operations. This allows a Turing SM to execute both 64 FP32 operations and 64 INT32 operations per clock. Nvidia realised that the INT datapath was underused in graphics applications, so for Ampere they changed the INT datapath to one which can execute both INT32 and FP32 operations. So, an Ampere SM can execute either 64 FP32 operations and 64 INT32 operations per clock, like Turing, or 128 FP32 operations per clock if the INT/FP datapath is executing FP ops. None of this requires special instructions or compiler optimisations, so it's more accurate to advertise them as extra shader cores in this case and include them in Flops calculations.

However, in any case where GPU manufacturers increase the number of instructions they can theoretically execute per clock, the usefulness of that depends on whether the system as a whole is bottlenecked purely by compute throughput. In reality this isn't always the case, and often you'll find that bandwidth is the bigger bottleneck, which limits the benefit of any attempt to increase the raw computational throughput of GPUs.

 

[D36]

I mean we had a brief Fire Emblem arc, so why not?


When does the equivalent of the Dressrosa arc hit



Actually, I guess this is of note:

So, what does this mean for that Call of Duty deal with Nintendo?

 

[invwar]

If they're announcing Redracted in June it may be too optimistic to expect playable games late August, but who knows. Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

Nintendo was always very careful in excusing their appearance at Gamescom in the last year. Of course, the real reason is that they usually had already an expensive E3 presence and in September the TGS, which Nintendo as a japanese company could better connect to. But their official excuse was always, that they have not much to show to share it with the gamer. Of course they don't show released games there. Last year, they could have of course showed of Splatoon 3, but e.g. its a minor title for Germany (sold similar to Mario Strikers and Mario + Rabbids) and the situation was still relative uncertain.
But before that, they were always there, of course the last regular Gamescom was 2019. Back then they focused on Links Awakening and Luigi's Mansion 3. So they definitely focus on on hands gaming, the question is just of what titles? Last years biggest hit for Germany was btw Nintendo Sports, so a more casual gaming approach wouldn't be so surprising. Mario Games also always resonate well with Germans, Metroid not so much. But we will definitely see new games which will be announced until then. So I assume the Summer (E3) Direct is 100% confirmed.

 

[eye0h]

Interesting!

Gamescon is usually more about playable games (ready to or already launched) than big announcements, I wonder what would push them go back there and what games people will be able to get their hands on.
Especially in this unchartered territory, when they supposedly don't have a lot to show.

If they're announcing Redracted in June it may be too optimistic to expect playable games late August, but who knows. Why would they bother showing up in Cologne just for Zelda, Pikmin and some DLCs?

DOOMSDAY SCENARIO:
No new console

June direct:

3D Mario
Metroid Prime 4
Pokemon DLC trailer
+ Other games

Gamescom:
Show off Pikmin, New mario, MP4, Pokemon DLC and a couple of other things.

 

[Bonejack]

So, what does this mean for that Call of Duty deal with Nintendo?

Deal was between MS and Nintendo. No ABK aquisition, no deal.

 

[D36]

If they're attending Gamescom, that means they'll have something to show, right? Even if Drake isn't this year, surely we see some stuff about whatever's coming out in 2H, meaning that they'll have to be announced beforehand. Methinks that Summer Direct is looking more and more likely. Now if Drake is this year (which I believe it will be), that would certainly be a show stealer if Nintendo wants to have hands on demos and stuff.

 

[eye0h]

Barring new hardware, I can't think of a compelling reason why we haven't heard about any of this new software yet. Not even their holiday title.

There isn't any reason to take the focus off Tears of the Kingdom. There's enough time between Summer and the holidays to Market their big holiday title.

 

[D36]

Deal was between MS and Nintendo. No ABK aquisition, no deal.

So, at least for the foreseeable future, no COD for Switch or Drake. Not that I'm all torn up about, especially since we've had too many consolidations over these past few years, but it's still kind of a shame. Though I would like to see Nintendo swipe up Platinum Games and Mist Walker.

 

[Truno]

DOOMSDAY SCENARIO:
No new console

June direct:

3D Mario
Metroid Prime 4
Pokemon DLC trailer
+ Other games

Gamescom:
Show off Pikmin, New mario, MP4, Pokemon DLC and a couple of other things.

Swap 3D Mario for 2D Mario and this is what's gonna happen, I think. In no way a doomsday scenario

 

[D36]

There isn't any reason to take the focus off Tears of the Kingdom. There's enough time between Summer and the holidays to Market their big holiday title.

I've already mentioned this a few times, but TotK can hold its own even if we get a ton of other announcements around its timeframe.

 

[eye0h]

Swap 3D Mario for 2D Mario and this is what's gonna happen, I think. In no way a doomsday scenario

Doomsday only in the context of the thread we're in lol

 

[TheSentry]

I am a firm believer that anything after August that Nintendo has planned is very much connected to their plans to launch their next-gen hardware, even if it isn’t obvious and the hardware isn’t even present!

 

[robertman2]

So, what does this mean for that Call of Duty deal with Nintendo?

the 10 year deal won't happen, but Call of Duty on Drake is still pretty likely

 

[Hosermess]

One strange occurance or gap in the release window is one thing, quite common in fact, but this year seems to be pretty strong on the exceptional side of things. Could they just be keeping things warm for Switch's final year as their headline console? Maybe. But they didn't do this for 3DS.


I don't think this CONFIRMS anything, nothing but Nintendo's own announcement could, but it's certainly another piece of the puzzle that makes a launch this year appear more likely.

For sure, I'm on Team 2023 - as "on" as I can be after all the previous times I've been wrong. I've just been trying to take the Tenth Man approach with any new stuff that seems to point to Drake being around the corner.