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

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Simba1 said:
Nate said that Metroid Prime is 2022. games,
with no announcement yet, is it possible that Nintendo pushed Metroid Prime further to be part of Drake "launch" window!?
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Probably unless they do some kind of quick announcement to release later this year ala Mario 3D All Stars.
 
Kise Ryota said:
Why make the version they can sell the most (by far) to look so bad (in comparison with the next-gen one) at its release date? I wouldn't do that.
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Well... I agree with the rest of your post but, back when botw came out, the game did not only look better but ran considerably better on switch than the wii u on the very first patches before nintendo stepped in and released tweaks to improve performance on both platforms.
And I think that might have motivated (some) wii u owners to buy a switch after they saw how the game performed across the two platforms through early adopter's feedback.
 
Serif said:
Are Series X upgrades for Xbox One games free? I suppose that's another close comparison we can make (next-gen iterative successor device).
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MS treats the Xbox One and Xbox Series versions of games as the same thing unless publishers force a separation. I suspect Nintendo's approach will probably be closer to this, but a bit different due to differences in philosophy and constraints. Primarily, I think Nintendo is likely to go with an approach where either both versions share exactly the same files or only the different files are stored in a separate add-on image in order to reduce cart space and download requirements.
 
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ReddDreadtheLead said:
Disappointment will ensue.
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That's inevitable for me since I was disappointed that Nintendo's new hardware likely won't be launched in late 2022. And I was disappointed Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD wasn't announced today. (Although I was pleasantly surprised Tears of the Kingdom was announced today.) 😛
 
niconiconick64 said:
Well... I agree with the rest of your post but, back when botw came out, the game did not only look better but ran considerably better on switch than the wii u on the very first patches before nintendo stepped in and released tweaks to improve performance on both platforms.
And I think that might have motivated (some) wii u owners to buy a switch after they saw how the game performed across the two platforms through early adopter's feedback.
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I'll be honest and say that I didn't notice a big difference between those two versions when I played it. But I can see the technical hurdles of having to make the game to run on both hardwares at launch with completely different architectures.

With that said, for me the appeal of the switch version was having the portable mode. Playing BotW on the go was incredible. And in the end the game sold a total of 1.6kk on the 13kk userbase of the Wii U (last known number) while on the switch the game was selling 10kk in the first year with an installed base of ~17kk.

If consumers see the next hardware as the best place to play, they'll wait to play there. But you can't produce enough [new] consoles to meet demand. That was my point. But as I said before, I understood people here have a different view of what's Nintendo's strategy for the coming years.
 
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I see the revision releasing before or on the same day as TotK. To me, unless there's an actual component shortage or other issue, there's no shot it releases later than Zelda.
 
LoneRanger said:
Prediction time…

Instead of February Direct, we will get an special event revealing next Switch HW. It will be mid february, after FE Engage releases. Details will include

Next Switch HW launching on May 12th with new Zelda.
Pikmin 4 full reveal (late july)
Next Tokyo EPD project (DK or Mario)
Xenoblade 3 expansion
Metroid Prime 1 Remaster + 4 Teaser
RDR2
Borderlands 3
Exclusive Resident Evil + native VII/2R/3R/VIII/4R ports
Howarts Legacy (Switch version release date)
Metro Exodus
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Scratch Borderlands, Metro and Hogwarts, replace them with something like Dragon Quest XII, an updated version of Shin Megami Tensei V and Elden Ring, and I could see it looking like that
 
the thing that brings me to strongly believe it's coming with Zelda, aside from the fact I believe Zelda was pushed back at least partially because of the hardware, is everything we've heard about third parties readying their games for this window. not holiday 23 or later but exactly the timeframe Zelda is confirmed to be dropping. no reveal this year but there will surely be leaks at things heat up in the production pipeline.

i also didn't expect a date today but the fact we have it and it's exactly when we'd expect it if Drake is not coming this FY is icing on the cake. yes May is still Spring lol. and to date the game well over 6 months out is a big clue it's launch is part of a larger plan/strategy to do with the new hardware. the cogs are in motion and it's coming.
 
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Tron1 said:
So do we think new hardware will release before or around the new Zelda game?
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I don't think it's a given just yet, but I'm feeling pretty confident that if new Switch doesn't release the same day, it'll certainly release the same month before the game.

A spring release for a new console for enthusiasts to fight over before the holidays is a strategy that paid off in spades for Nintendo back in 2017; it just seemed unfortunate that for a company so fond of anniversaries it would be difficult to replicate without angering someone who has just bought a Switch if it were to release in March 2023 when the announcement would have to be January at the latest. But an announcement in March, three months after the holidays, seems like enough of a buffer has been provided for late adopters who probably are just gonna shrug their shoulders as long as their recently purchased console is supported for another 3-4 years (which would put the OG Switch at a ten year lifespan before developers move on exclusively to Drake). Q4 sales don't necessarily flatline with a new console on the horizon until just before the end of the fiscal year, and Q1 picks up pretty quick after a lull in sales with April so investors are still happy.

To me, it seems most logical to keep everyone excited and ensure that there is enough supply to satisfy demand as quickly as possible.

tl;dr if it still isn't announced by the end of March next year I give up entirely and this Switch the last piece of hardware Nintendo ever makes until societal collapse/bankruptcy/heat death of the universe.
 
Hermii said:
Why? You weren’t actually expecting an announcement today, we’re you?
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How did you get that from my post? It was about the date of Zelda and expectations will be in worse straits I feel for normals in the thread.

I can see some people being dissatisfied or disappointed is all.

They expected march. But it would be a bit later.
 
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Instro said:
Probably unless they do some kind of quick announcement to release later this year ala Mario 3D All Stars.
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If it’s had all the work done that Emily and Nate implied, it sounds like it deserved to be in a Direct. I’m very curious about this one - don’t doubt that it’s all true, but why it wasn’t in the Direct is a mystery.

I mean Nintendo decided to give the longest segment to Pikmin Bloom of all things tho, so who knows what goes on over there.

HankyPanky said:
is everything we've heard about third parties readying their games for this window. not holiday 23 or later but exactly the timeframe Zelda is confirmed to be dropping.
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Eh, have we heard a single thing about games being prepared for May/June 2023? Nothing I recall. We’ve heard many a thing about games being prepared for “Late 2022 or early 2023” but trying to pin that on May is a stretch.

I still think hardware can release before Zelda. Zelda won’t (or at least really shouldn’t) release before hardware tho.
 
karmitt said:
If it’s had all the work done that Emily and Nate implied, it sounds like it deserved to be in a Direct. I’m very curious about this one - don’t doubt that it’s all true, but why it wasn’t in the Direct is a mystery.
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They could announce it in January and release it in March.

Heck, the new hardware could release alongside it and not Zelda for all we know. The OLED Switch released alongside Dread. Nintendo clearly wants to raise the profile of the series.
 
karmitt said:
If it’s had all the work done that Emily and Nate implied, it sounds like it deserved to be in a Direct. I’m very curious about this one - don’t doubt that it’s all true, but why it wasn’t in the Direct is a mystery.

I mean Nintendo decided to give the longest segment to Pikmin Bloom of all things tho, so who knows what goes on over there.



Eh, have we heard a single thing about games being prepared for May/June 2023? Nothing I recall. We’ve heard many a thing about games being prepared for “Late 2022 or early 2023” but trying to pin that on May is a stretch.

I still think hardware can release before Zelda. Zelda won’t (or at least really shouldn’t) release before hardware tho.
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the same games that'll be ready for 'early 23' will still be ready for May, there's barely any difference. the point was we can be confident it's not coming any later than May, as some continue to claim.
 
HankyPanky said:
the same games that'll be ready for 'early 23' will still be ready for May, there's barely any difference. the point was we can be confident it's not coming any later than May, as some continue to claim.
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Ah yes, I guess I misunderstood what you were emphasizing. I still think March would be just as viable, but May now definitely feels like the ceiling.
 
Onizuka said:
Has there been any rumor or news or comment about whether the native versions of Resident Evil will arrive in Drake?
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They should, goddammit.

Everybody who bought the weird cloud versions of Kingdom Hearts or Resident Evil should just get to download the native Drake versions day one. I know that probably won’t happen. But it’s just asinine.
 
Stinky Horse said:
They didn't tell people BOTW was a launch title until January. There were even notable insiders saying that it wouldn't be one, rumours which were only able to enter the conversation because they did not, in fact, tell you it was coming in March, dude.
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Yep, I explicitly remember tons of speculation and rumors that the new Mario game would be the big launch game and BoTW would launch in the fall.
 
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karmitt said:
If it’s had all the work done that Emily and Nate implied, it sounds like it deserved to be in a Direct. I’m very curious about this one - don’t doubt that it’s all true, but why it wasn’t in the Direct is a mystery.

I mean Nintendo decided to give the longest segment to Pikmin Bloom of all things tho, so who knows what goes on over there.
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Switch 2 launch title I guess.
 
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So if we genuinely believe that they’ll pull the Zelda cross-gen launch title trick a 3rd time (and hey, stranger things have happened), and we accept that Nintendo is operating on a 6-month announcement-to-release time window, Nintendo could be expected to announce new hardware in November. That’s the month to watch now, as far as I’m concerned.

EDIT: Since they’re unlikely to be THAT precise with this, a good “window of opportunity” would be no earlier than October and no later than the beginning of January. The only way I’d see this being different is if TotK isn’t a cross-gen launch title or Furukawa is shortening the time window from announcement to release yet again.
 
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Gay Bowser said:
They should, goddammit.

Everybody who bought the weird cloud versions of Kingdom Hearts or Resident Evil should just get to download the native Drake versions day one. I know that probably won’t happen. But it’s just asinine.
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This would actually be the most organic way to introduce cloud streaming to the mass market while also ensuring a game bought is a download for later.


And encourages people to actually move up in a normal way that seems accessible to a degree.
 
Terrell said:
So if we genuinely believe that they’ll pull the Zelda cross-gen launch title trick a 3rd time (and hey, stranger things have happened), and we accept that Nintendo is operating on a 6-month announcement-to-release time window, Nintendo could be expected to announce new hardware in November. That’s the month to watch now, as far as I’m concerned.
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Not sure why you'd assume a 6 month announcement to release cycle. Nothing they've released since the Wii U has had more than a 5 month cycle.
 
Onizuka said:
Has there been any rumor or news or comment about whether the native versions of Resident Evil will arrive in Drake?
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nope

ReddDreadtheLead said:
This would actually be the most organic way to introduce cloud streaming to the mass market while also ensuring a game bought is a download for later.


And encourages people to actually move up in a normal way that seems accessible to a degree.
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also fucks over the cloud provider
 
Skittzo said:
Not sure why you'd assume a 6 month announcement to release cycle. Nothing they've released since the Wii U has had more than a 5 month cycle.
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They also had to, like, explain the Switch in a way they won’t have to with this one.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the new Switch rollout is a lot like the Switch rollout but starting with the January presentation that laid out the final hardware SKUs and pricing and launch lineup, not with the October concept/teaser video.
 
feels like the announcement will come at the latest possible moment to prevent leaks on the production side. sometime in the new year, latest February would be a good guess. we'll probably get some juicy stuff well before then if it pans out with Zelda being a launch title.

the question would now be what is the production timeframe to have a sufficient number of units available for that May date. 3-4 months starting next year would be long enough i'd imagine?
 
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Skittzo said:
Not sure why you'd assume a 6 month announcement to release cycle. Nothing they've released since the Wii U has had more than a 5 month cycle.
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Yeah, I edited my post after thinking about it for a minute on my cigarette break.

EDIT: the 5 month window with Switch, I just rounded up by a month in my head to an even half-year, give Nintendo an extra month leeway.
 
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My new problem with the idea of Botw2 being a launch title is that they would have effectively leaked their hardware launch date 8 month in advance, which I think is completely unheard of?
They normally confirm those details for hardware a few months beforehand, like they did even with Twilight Princess in September 2006 for example.
 
Stinky Horse said:
My new problem with the idea of Botw2 being a launch title is that they would have effectively leaked their hardware launch date 8 month in advance, which I think is completely unheard of?
They normally confirm those details for hardware a few months beforehand, like they did even with Twilight Princess in September 2006 for example.
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Do we think possible they might do a staggered launch (Drake + TOTK May 5th, base Switch 12th)?

I don’t think they’d really consider it a leak at this point given that it’s just rumblings in niche corners of the web, imo.
 
I am pretty sure they will announce it in early February with a trailer and a tweet for release on the 12/05/23. Then a week later they will hold a presentation similar to the Switch January 2017 presentation for it.
 
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Hermii said:
“We” are not of a single mind. Everyone has a different speculation.
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I wasn't trying to speak for anyone else, but myself. Hence why I've added "personally" after "I" to emphasise that I was speaking only for myself and nobody else.

And I've assumed when Tron1 used "we", Tron1 was referring to anyone in this thread.
Onizuka said:
Has there been any rumor or news or comment about whether the native versions of Resident Evil will arrive in Drake?
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No. But I certainly hope so.

I can also tell you that I hope native versions of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, and Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind do come to Nintendo's hardware equipped with Drake. Although I can understand Kingdom Hearts III + Re:Mind and Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue only coming to the Nintendo Switch as cloud versions, Square Enix's reason for not bringing Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix to the Nintendo Switch as a native version is 100% bullshit.
 
Stinky Horse said:
My new problem with the idea of Botw2 being a launch title is that they would have effectively leaked their hardware launch date 8 month in advance, which I think is completely unheard of?
They normally confirm those details for hardware a few months beforehand, like they did even with Twilight Princess in September 2006 for example.
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“NX” was confirmed for a March 2017 release via financial forecasting in April 2016, to explain their forecasting targets being as high as they were at the time. We’d be close enough that they could hammer down a more precise date and just haven’t indicated it’s also the hardware launch date yet. Things are often mapped out well in advance.
 
kojimaposting said:
Do we think possible they might do a staggered launch (Drake + TOTK May 5th, base Switch 12th)?
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I think that’s a good way to burn a lot of goodwill right when they need it most, going into a new hardware cycle.

Also that’s assuming that there will be two different editions of the game, and it won’t be just one game card that performs better on the new Switch, which I think is more likely.
 
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Dakhil said:
I personally think there's a possibility Nintendo could release new hardware before Tears of the Kingdom's released.
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I agree, especially since releasing it a month or two before TotK would give third parties time to sell their shiny next-gen games to thirsty early adopters before the Zelda behemoth arrives and overshadows everything else.
 
Dakhil said:
I personally think there's a possibility Nintendo could release new hardware before Tears of the Kingdom's released.
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I think that’s definitely possible, especially if Nintendo committed to a March release for their partners and Zelda simply ended up needing more time. There are a lot of moving parts around console launches.

They’re going to release something in March, as far as games go. Maybe that game could make just as good a launch showcase for the new Switch as Zelda would?
 
Gay Bowser said:
I think that’s definitely possible, especially if Nintendo committed to a March release for their partners and Zelda simply ended up needing more time. There are a lot of moving parts around console launches.

They’re going to release something in March, as far as games go. Maybe that game could make just as good a launch showcase for the new Switch as Zelda would?
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Well, the Mario movie does release shortly after March...

Or maybe Metroid Prime 4 is much further along than we thought...
 
Skittzo said:
Well, the Mario movie does release shortly after March...

Or maybe Metroid Prime 4 is much further along than we thought...
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I’m not really feeling Metroid Prime 4 for March, but Metroid Prime Redux? Sure. They launched the OLED model with a Metroid game, after all.
 
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Tron1 said:
So do we think new hardware will release before or around the new Zelda game?
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We, as every Nintendo fan, believe that Nintendo will wait for next FY, I'm surprised you didn't get the memo.

Zelda has been tied to this new hardware for years now, and it's no secret that Nintendo likes to launch new hardware with Zelda, not every time, but more often then not, and we (again as everyone who is reading this, and those who aren't) believe that the rumors about early next year for Drake's release is true.

Glad we could have this discussion with ourselves.
 
Stinky Horse said:
My new problem with the idea of Botw2 being a launch title is that they would have effectively leaked their hardware launch date 8 month in advance, which I think is completely unheard of?
They normally confirm those details for hardware a few months beforehand, like they did even with Twilight Princess in September 2006 for example.
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Just last year, they announced a game and then later revealed hardware would launch the same day. I don't think it's really a big concern.

And like, even if it does turn out that way, they haven't leaked anything. One can certainly make that educated guess, but Nintendo isn't that consistent with their launch titles.
 
I've lost the thread a little bit.

I don't see any reason for new hardware to have much of a relationship to Zelda re: release date. I know others have felt otherwise - I've seen some folks say that this hardware and Zelda have been linked for a while, but that's been purely in terms of fan speculation, there is no insider indication that they are connected.

Did the release date announcement for Zelda change the calculus for anyone in any way?
 
So, IF Drake comes alongside TotK in May 2023, Nintendo can announce it in March. Close the FY with the announcement.

FEngage and Kirby remaster as the last first party games for the Switch before Drake’s announcement.

March and April can be filled with third party games and DLC for Splatoon, Xenoblade, Switch Sports and Mario Kart.
 
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