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

[Erathix]

I really do enjoy this thread really roaring to life and having some chaotic spark in it again. Yes, that is the speculation, theory crafting, leaks faked or not and rumours I so do love.

It makes this thread fun. Oh and we are 729 pages away from 2000.

 

[Ojoloco]

Barcelona!
It was the first time that we met
Barcelona!
How can I forget
The moment that you stepped in the room
You took my breath away

 

[Giancarlo]

Turns out the obvious that the NX2 portal thing was a fake thing...
The NWPlayer Tweet also a opinion and not an inside info as expected

Regarding the devkit reported from Nash Waddle = TRUE
About a potential July Nintendo news = Can be anything, my PERSONAL guess?
— Pokémon news

maybe a release date for part 1 of the Pokemon Scarlet/Violet DLC?

 

[Thraktor]

Random thought: there is one advantage to Nintendo from Sony and MS using high-speed SSDs in their new consoles; Switch NG should be much closer in terms of built-in storage capacity than Switch was to its contemporaries. PS4 and XBO both launched with 500GB HDDs, and a generation later we’ve got between 500GB and 1TB SSDs on the new hardware, with more expensive SSDs preventing them from significantly increasing storage over the old HDD models.

At 32GB, the Switch had just 6% the capacity of a launch PS4, but with either 128GB or 256GB the Switch NG would be looking at between 17% to 33% of the PS5’s 750GB drive (which they call 825GB in an old “powers of 10 instead of powers of 2” trick, but is the same capacity as a commercial 750GB SSD). It’s quite plausible that Switch NG could have 50% the storage of the baseline Xbox, a generation after it had 6%.

Of course this is far from the most important factor in comparing the consoles, and game card capacities will also come into play, but it’s interesting in the context of the MS Activision acquisition, where one factor that seemed to be compared a lot (and brought up as a factor in the feasibility of ports) was Switch’s much smaller internal storage.

 

[Deleted member 887]

Wasn’t that speculated (by others) to be for an anniversary of the Famicom?

It’ll be as old as some posters here :3

Hey, some of us are a bit older than the Famicom...

 

[Suswave]

i’m #Team20 for life

 

[ziggyrivers]

i’m #Team20 for life

Or like Megaman would put it:
202X

 

[fwd-bwd]

So Nintendo is ending the extended Switch warranty in Japan soon. August I think. I think no later than July 14th for memberships or whatever. Just watched the news on Spawn Wave's.

They ending Wide Care, its a service like Apple Care. Nintendo just introduced it last year. So them ending it just one year later can mean two things:
Either it was a total failure, because no one subscribed to it, as the Switch is not expensive enough. Or the people who subscribed to it really used it a lot, making it a total loser. So don't interpret too much into it.

@invwar is most likely correct. The Wide Care service is jointly offered by Nintendo Sales (NCL subsidiary) and Aon Japan (provider of risk mitigation products). The service only went live on July 1, 2022, and is now being sunset in less than a year later. The quick termination isn’t a suggestion of Switch EOL but a failed business venture.

Another piece of clue is that on Oct. 12, 2022, merely three months after the Wide Care started, NCL updated its repair service policies to include a whole new section about “customer harassment” (カスタマーハラスメント). I guess that a paid extended warranty might have emboldened some to behave unacceptably. If so it could be a contributing factor to Wide Care’s demise.

 

[D36]

I think I mentioned it before but I still feel like the July thing could be related to the Famicom anniversary which got mentioned during the japanese direct so it could still be hardware related just not the kind most people are hoping for.

Awwww Yeah! Get ready for the 40th anniversary Famicom Switch OLED! Only available for a limited time!

 

[eye0h]

Or like Megaman would put it:
202X

Bold. I'd go 20XX just to be safe

 

[Aether]

Random thought: there is one advantage to Nintendo from Sony and MS using high-speed SSDs in their new consoles; Switch NG should be much closer in terms of built-in storage capacity than Switch was to its contemporaries. PS4 and XBO both launched with 500GB HDDs, and a generation later we’ve got between 500GB and 1TB SSDs on the new hardware, with more expensive SSDs preventing them from significantly increasing storage over the old HDD models.

At 32GB, the Switch had just 6% the capacity of a launch PS4, but with either 128GB or 256GB the Switch NG would be looking at between 17% to 33% of the PS5’s 750GB drive (which they call 825GB in an old “powers of 10 instead of powers of 2” trick, but is the same capacity as a commercial 750GB SSD). It’s quite plausible that Switch NG could have 50% the storage of the baseline Xbox, a generation after it had 6%.

Of course this is far from the most important factor in comparing the consoles, and game card capacities will also come into play, but it’s interesting in the context of the MS Activision acquisition, where one factor that seemed to be compared a lot (and brought up as a factor in the feasibility of ports) was Switch’s much smaller internal storage.

You are 100% right... and also i think it makes 0 difference.

Even if games could be as big as the internal storage, i don't think they will be. Games will still be limited foremost by cartridge space,
and not a single developer wants to be the one that fills up the storage.

And since AAA games LAST generation already came close to 128 (with 50-60GB being "normal"), having to kompress and reduce assets for a port will still be as important.

 

[ILikeFeet]

phone specs are getting crazier and crazier. 24GB of LPDDR5X. at least it shows that a lot of premium stuff is commoditized now.

Red Magic 8S Pro debuts Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset, 8S Pro+ offers up to 24GB RAM

The new chip boosts the CPU and GPU clock speeds while improvements to the cooling fan help it keep temps in check. The Red Magic 8 Pro was among the first...

www.gsmarena.com

watch Nintendo go with 8GB LPDDR5 and 64GB emmc

 

[Porygon]

Washu must be contained, don't let it out of her habitat

 

[Dakhil]

phone specs are getting crazier and crazier. 24GB of LPDDR5X. at least it shows that a lot of premium stuff is commoditized now.

Red Magic 8S Pro debuts Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 chipset, 8S Pro+ offers up to 24GB RAM

The new chip boosts the CPU and GPU clock speeds while improvements to the cooling fan help it keep temps in check. The Red Magic 8 Pro was among the first...

www.gsmarena.com

I want to see a teardown of the Red Magic 8S Pro+ to see if ZTE's using a (64-bit) 192 Gb (24 GB) LPDDR5X-8533 module, or two (32-bit or 64-bit) 96 Gb (12 GB) LPDDR5X-8533 modules.

 

[Mirev]

With the main conclusion I take from this: The transition has begun.

This is the perfect summary of everything. Both from Nintendo and others, we're in the endgame now

 

[NateDrake]

This is the perfect summary of everything. Both from Nintendo and others, we're in the endgame now

The last Direct made that clear.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Random thought: there is one advantage to Nintendo from Sony and MS using high-speed SSDs in their new consoles; Switch NG should be much closer in terms of built-in storage capacity than Switch was to its contemporaries. PS4 and XBO both launched with 500GB HDDs, and a generation later we’ve got between 500GB and 1TB SSDs on the new hardware, with more expensive SSDs preventing them from significantly increasing storage over the old HDD models.

At 32GB, the Switch had just 6% the capacity of a launch PS4, but with either 128GB or 256GB the Switch NG would be looking at between 17% to 33% of the PS5’s 750GB drive (which they call 825GB in an old “powers of 10 instead of powers of 2” trick, but is the same capacity as a commercial 750GB SSD). It’s quite plausible that Switch NG could have 50% the storage of the baseline Xbox, a generation after it had 6%.

Of course this is far from the most important factor in comparing the consoles, and game card capacities will also come into play, but it’s interesting in the context of the MS Activision acquisition, where one factor that seemed to be compared a lot (and brought up as a factor in the feasibility of ports) was Switch’s much smaller internal storage.

I don't know if Activision can get Call of Duty under 128 GBs so Nintendo would probably need to have an internal storage of at least 256 GBs (in real storage) for Activision to consider Call of Duty viable on Switch.

 

[Lelouch0612]

* Hidden text: cannot be quoted. *

This is actually significant since it would point to a Western 3rd party studio having a devkit. We initially thought of a studio with closer ties to Nintendo than that.

The inner circle is wider than anticipated, announcement could therefore be closer than we thought.

 

[kvetcha]

Yeah idk why they're being so defensive about a random leak they found lol. The amount of posts they have since joining is crazy, responding to every single person doubting the leak

I’m convinced they’re a psy-op by Team 2024 to delegitimize the 2023 crew.

 

[Derachi]

I don't know if Activision can get Call of Duty under 128 GBs so Nintendo would probably need to have an internal storage of at least 256 GBs (in real storage) for Activision to consider Call of Duty viable on Switch.

Tinfoil hat time: Activision keeps Call of Duty so big in terms of file size on Xbox and Playstation so the end user, who wants to keep COD installed, has less room to install a competitor‘s game, limiting the user’s options for avenues to spend money.

I think, if Switch Gen 2 has like, 128 GB internal, Activision can/will make it work.

 

[Dark Cloud]

The last Direct made that clear.

Somehow some people took the last direct to mean the switch has so much more life in it.

It’s a winding down system and Nintendo isn’t going to kill it. They still have momentum and will move into the Switch 2 while still supporting the Switch at the same time.

 

[Discostew]

I don't know if Activision can get Call of Duty under 128 GBs so Nintendo would probably need to have an internal storage of at least 256 GBs (in real storage) for Activision to consider Call of Duty viable on Switch.

Obviously a Switch or even Switch 2 version of CoD won't be as big as what's set for PS5/Series, and even if we're looking at a comparison with PS4/XB1 versions, those are very likely being built with data duplication in mind for faster load times.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Tinfoil hat time: Activision keeps Call of Duty so big in terms of file size on Xbox and Playstation so the end user, who wants to keep COD installed, has less room to install a competitor‘s game, limiting the user’s options for avenues to spend money.

I think, if Switch Gen 2 has like, 128 GB internal, Activision can/will make it work.

Call of Duty has extremely high quality assets and is basically 4 different (content-rich) video games in one (campaign, standard multiplayer, zombies, battle royale), I don't know if this can go below 128 GBs without splitting the game up even more download wise (which could be a pain in the ass to do) and reducing the asset quality dramatically.

 

[Dark Cloud]

The less ties you have to Nintendo and we’re finding out you’re now getting dev kits is a great sign, since the closer partners would’ve had them much longer.

 

[Armoured_Bear]

This is the perfect summary of everything. Both from Nintendo and others, we're in the endgame now

 

[NateDrake]

Somehow some people took the last direct to mean the switch has so much more life in it.

It’s a winding down system and Nintendo isn’t going to kill it. They still have momentum and will move into the Switch 2 while still supporting the Switch at the same time.

It was made clear that Nintendo is beginning to shift resources to something new -- Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is proof of that. The platform will get support for 2024 and beyond, but their key teams have moved on or will soon be doing so.

The less ties you have to Nintendo and we’re finding out you’re now getting dev kits is a great sign, since the closer partners would’ve had them much longer.

It varies and one cannot make an accurate estimation based on these things -- many still have no access, including some major partners (or they lacked access a few months ago & I'd need to check back in for an update). Regardless of the validity of the Spain devkit claim, the fact it circulated will spur some partners to inquire with their regional reps.

 

[Ojoloco]

I don't know if Activision can get Call of Duty under 128 GBs so Nintendo would probably need to have an internal storage of at least 256 GBs (in real storage) for Activision to consider Call of Duty viable on Switch.

Something similar happens with the download size of the NBA and Take Two has never had a problem putting a notice "a microsd is required for the mandatory download" on the game box, or in the eshop.

In addition, we are talking about CoD, the game that cared about 0 occupying more than the entire 500GB PS4 disk and that allows you to install and uninstall modes to fit the game.

 

[Ojoloco]

Call of Duty has extremely high quality assets and is basically 4 different (content-rich) video games in one (campaign, standard multiplayer, zombies, battle royale), I don't know if this can go below 128 GBs without splitting the game up even more download wise (which could be a pain in the ass to do) and reducing the asset quality dramatically.

CoD already has splitting downloads on all platforms.

How to uninstall Modern Warfare 2 campaign on PS5, Xbox, & PC

If there is one thing Call of Duty fans know, it's how large recent CoD titles can be, especially when you factor in Warzone 2 on top of that. As such,

www.wepc.com

 

[Concernt]

Not sure if it's been posted, but Nintendo Systems (Nintendo eShop, accounts, NSO) is beginning to hire. This is days after the President of the company mentioned moving towards a clean transition with Nintendo Account.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

CoD already has splitting downloads on all platforms.

How to uninstall Modern Warfare 2 campaign on PS5, Xbox, & PC

If there is one thing Call of Duty fans know, it's how large recent CoD titles can be, especially when you factor in Warzone 2 on top of that. As such,

www.wepc.com

Got it, did not know this.

 

[ILikeFeet]

I want to see a teardown of the Red Magic 8S Pro+ to see if ZTE's using a (64-bit) 192 Gb (24 GB) LPDDR5X-8533 module, or two (32-bit or 64-bit) 96 Gb (12 GB) LPDDR5X-8533 modules.

phones don't have the space anymore for ram chips so they just stack them on the SoC. that's a different production method

I don't know if Activision can get Call of Duty under 128 GBs so Nintendo would probably need to have an internal storage of at least 256 GBs (in real storage) for Activision to consider Call of Duty viable on Switch.

they can. you might not like the results, but they can

 

[JesusSaves7]

Ah well! Really thought it was going to be this year. But next year is still pretty cool. Though there were less heavy hitters in the last direct, I'm still really happy with what we've got!

 

[Dark Cloud]

It was made clear that Nintendo is beginning to shift resources to something new -- Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon is proof of that. The platform will get support for 2024 and beyond, but their key teams have moved on or will soon be doing so.


It varies and one cannot make an accurate estimation based on these things -- many still have no access, including some major partners (or they lacked access a few months ago & I'd need to check back in for an update). Regardless of the validity of the Spain devkit claim, the fact it circulated will spur some partners to inquire with their regional reps.

Oh ok. I assumed all the major partners had it.

 

[Kevin360]

Okay. I feel like I can now join this thread without losing my sanity. After the hype that became the OLED in 2021, I've got this buzzing feeling like things are ramping up.

 

[D36]

Ah well! Really thought it was going to be this year. But next year is still pretty cool. Though there were less heavy hitters in the last direct, I'm still really happy with what we've got!

I might get heat for this, but there's nothing that really confirms one way or the other. At least, not right now.

 

[Instro]

The timing on some of this is kind of interesting. Maybe folks were right about Gamescom in part being used for some behind the scenes meetings/presentations, discussions of wider availability for dev kits/specs, in person feedback, etc. TGS could be the same, and maybe that was the plan for E3 at one point. That would give a larger portion of devs a good 12-18 months of time with the physical kits, or at least access to the dev environment and target specs, ahead of the launch period which is an ample time to get ports ready for launch or the first year of life.

Aligns reasonably well with Nate's mention of additional info over the next few months. As we see the gates opening a bit now, we should then reasonably expect more info to slip out in the back half of this year.

I might get heat for this, but there's nothing that really confirms one way or the other. At least, not right now.

Well we have several points of solid info now to conclude that dev kits/specs are out there, but not yet widely available, or only just starting to become more available. That would be indicative of a product that is still a ways out, not one that is launching soon.

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

I might get heat for this, but there's nothing that really confirms one way or the other. At least, not right now.

Right, there is no solid confirmation for 2024 vs. 2025/2026. 2024 seems more likely as it makes more financial sense, but 2025 could still happen.

 

[Paxie]

Just as a refresher, how soon do consoles come out after devkits sent? It's like a year at minimum right?

 

[lattjeful]

Okay. I feel like I can now join this thread without losing my sanity. After the hype that became the OLED in 2021, I've got this buzzing feeling like things are ramping up.

The buildup and hype of this thread leading up to what would be the OLED was so much fun. I really can't wait for things to start getting like that again, especially if it all ends in a legit announcement.

 

[ILikeFeet]

Just as a refresher, how soon do consoles come out after devkits sent? It's like a year at minimum right?

there's no consistent timeline. "dev kits" can be final hardware to pc parts glued together in a box, so it can't tell us anything

 

[ReddDreadtheLead]

Just as a refresher, how soon do consoles come out after devkits sent? It's like a year at minimum right?

PS5 devkits were supposedly in 2018, device came out in 2020.

Switch devkits came out in like H1 2016 for a March 2017 launch.

It varies.

 

[Andre3333456]

Grubb just talked about the July thing he eluded to a few weeks ago. He said he doesn't believe it is hardware related but speculated that he thinks the next hardware can be announced later this year.

Ok, a Pikmin 4 direct seems to be not likely as we got enough info about that game, a Pokemon Presents would be a safe choice but it sounds more of a separate thing that Nintendo doesn't own that much, a partners/indie world direct seems to be likely and safe but it is just too lame for Nintendo fans to get into, but what am I hoping is a new type of direct dedicated to Nintendo's visual content.

 

[wolftendo]

I love this thread, man

 

[Hocot8]

Ok, a Pikmin 4 direct seems to be not likely as we got enough info about that game, a Pokemon Presents would be a safe choice but it sounds more of a separate thing that Nintendo doesn't own that much, a partners/indie world direct seems to be likely and safe but it is just too lame for Nintendo fans to get into, but what am I hoping is a new type of direct dedicated to Nintendo's visual content.

Pikmin 4 is weird cause we definitely know a lot but I get the vibe there is a massive difference between what we know and what is known outside of this very enthusiastic fanbase. I can't speak on a presents cause idk Grubb's history in predicting those presentations quite frankly. An indie direct is usually in August iirc.

 

[Instro]

Just as a refresher, how soon do consoles come out after devkits sent? It's like a year at minimum right?

Hard to say as what is sent out kind of varies. Sony/MS have historically earlier than Nintendo. You'd expect a significant period of time where a chunk of devs/pubs have access to physical kits that are not early prototypes.

IIRC dev kits for the Switch became more widely available in early 2016, so I'd assume a similar window for Switch 2. I.e. at least a year before launch, which seems to align with what we are starting to hear currently.

 

[Adulfzen]

doesn't feel like there is much point to a Pikmin 4 direct after releasing a demo imo, would only be worth it if it's Miyamoto doing the presentation.

 

[TomNookYankees]

Grubb just talked about the July thing he eluded to a few weeks ago. He said he doesn't believe it is hardware related but speculated that he thinks the next hardware can be announced later this year.

As others have already speculated it's probably just Famicom 40th anniversary related announcements.

 

[invwar]

Just as a refresher, how soon do consoles come out after devkits sent? It's like a year at minimum right?

Really depends on the leaks. Before the Dev Kits gets released, companies get a heads up to prepare for a more powerful system, and to our info this happened in late summer of 2020. Considering current development processes, this would logically happen 3 years in advance, as current AA/AAA games have a 4-5 year development process - so the game is still in early development. Thanks to Covid, we can expect the successor was delayed by one year.
Early Devkits gets usually only sent out to First Party and trustworthy partners. Here it is unlikely leaks are happening and if, basically it is very easy for Big N Ninjas to track the culprit down. The current rumors e.g. are coming from Spain and Spain does not have many game developer who would be considered having a good partnership with Nintendo, so if true, it is most likely MercurySteam. I doubt Ninjas will be unleashed already for the currently leaked information, but wouldn't wonder, if the boss of MercurySteam got a call and also reminded his employees, how important the partnership for them is. Anyway, we can assume that they are/were on the trusted partner list, so get the console quite early. But we also know, that Nintendo is on the Gamescom (no surprise imo), but ALSO on the TGS and only in the Business area. As Nintendo notoriously skipping TGS, it is highly likely, that they are presenting there the final DevKit to Third Parties to attract them. If the Architecture is relatively similar to the Switch and/or the Toolkits are easy to handle, developer who planned well, can finish their game within one year. So yes, Late 2024 release is realistic to me.

 

[Pokemaniac]

Really depends on the leaks. Before the Dev Kits gets released, companies get a heads up to prepare for a more powerful system, and to our info this happened in late summer of 2020. Considering current development processes, this would logically happen 3 years in advance, as current AA/AAA games have a 4-5 year development process - so the game is still in early development. Thanks to Covid, we can expect the successor was delayed by one year.
Early Devkits gets usually only sent out to First Party and trustworthy partners. Here it is unlikely leaks are happening and if, basically it is very easy for Big N Ninjas to track the culprit down. The current rumors e.g. are coming from Spain and Spain does not have many game developer who would be considered having a good partnership with Nintendo, so if true, it is most likely MercurySteam. I doubt Ninjas will be unleashed already for the currently leaked information, but wouldn't wonder, if the boss of MercurySteam got a call and also reminded his employees, how important the partnership for them is. Anyway, we can assume that they are/were on the trusted partner list, so get the console quite early. But we also know, that Nintendo is on the Gamescom (no surprise imo), but ALSO on the TGS and only in the Business area. As Nintendo notoriously skipping TGS, it is highly likely, that they are presenting there the final DevKit to Third Parties to attract them. If the Architecture is relatively similar to the Switch and/or the Toolkits are easy to handle, developer who planned well, can finish their game within one year. So yes, Late 2024 release is realistic to me.

Apparently it's fairly typical for Nintendo to attend the business portion of TGS.

 

[The Competition]

Doesn't Activision not having specs almost eliminate a 2023 launch as a possibility?
It's possible to say Activision isn't a close partner so isn't trusted with early access, but we're also discussing the possibility (and in my opinion high likelihood) that Nintendo would send out dev kits to 3rd parties that completely lacked any new features other than the new specs, to prevent leaks.

Activision may not be the biggest Nintendo supporter, but they have put out Crash and Spyro and probably a few other games on Switch, and they are one of the biggest publishers in the business. Surely they would get specs, and at least new-controller-less-and-new-feature-less dev kits 6 months before launch right?

In my mind, this pretty much completely wipes out 2023 as a possibility, and unless Activision receives their shipment today, it also wipes out a Q1/Q2 launch as well. Would love to hear counter arguments, I'm all ears to hear what I might have failed to consider