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Nintendo Switch Discussion Thread (Question of the Day, Countdown, etc)

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Can not wait to learn more, I feel like the power is going to be disappointing but I still love the concept.

I don't understand why they're waiting so long to announce what they're working on though. At least give us names of titles or something if you don't want to do a blowout of trailers and stuff. A launch full of Wii U ports is going to pretty pathetic.



That made me think "Wow, the best third party game you could lock down for the reveal was a port of a years-old game."

Something like Watch Dogs 2 would have been a lot more exciting. I don't have any interest in that game but until I see a publisher making something resembling a financial risk in supporting the NS I'm going to assume they're still not confident in supporting Nintendo.

I think they will do a blowout of trailers in january.

@Skyrim: My first thought was that it's old, second that it was Bethesda on a Nintendo System, which is a good thing and something of a showcase. It's not normal ;) And Skyrim is one of the biggest games Bethesda has to offer, it still sells. I don't even think the game is set in stone, it could be an example for Bethesda support, but let's see.

I am very happy with the rumored Beyond Good and Evil from Ubi (they seem to be more excited about the system than they were about Wii U) and i think Capcom and SE will make good games for it.

@question of the day: 249-299dollar/euro

It's a shiny new system and a hybrid, doesn't have to be cheaper than a Wii 10 years ago. I think demand will depend on how awesome the games for it are, how the hybrid idea is accepted (looking at the 20 million+ trailer views i think people like the idea), how well done the marketing is. It shouldn't be over 300$, but i don't see it automatically dead if it's 299. But cheaper is better.
 
Let's look at what we know is in the Switch:

-Tegra SoC (Tegra X1 in devkits, final confirmed to be custom)
-720p 6.2 inch screen
-Solid state storage, likely flash, rumored at 32GB
-At least 3 batteries
-Rumored: motion controls and rumble in joycons, IR sensor in joycon r
-Likely joycon grip
-Dumb dock (just for charging and HDMI passthrough)

The rest is just plastic as far as we know.

Nvidia apparently makes a profit selling the Shield TV with the same TX1, and the Shield Tablet with a higher res screen at $199. And we can assume that Nvidia makes a pretty sizable profit at those prices, because they are unable to make money on software/royalties like Nintendo will be able to.

So I can see the Switch being $199 with a very small profit, or possibly $220 or so. I think $250 is the absolute max they should charge based on this.
 
I think they want $250, but it'll probably be $299.
Let's look at what we know is in the Switch:

-Tegra SoC (Tegra X1 in devkits, final confirmed to be custom)
-720p 6.2 inch screen
-Solid state storage, likely flash, rumored at 32GB
-At least 3 batteries
-Rumored: motion controls and rumble in joycons, IR sensor in joycon r
-Likely joycon grip
-Dumb dock (just for charging and HDMI passthrough)

The rest is just plastic as far as we know.

Nvidia apparently makes a profit selling the Shield TV with the same TX1, and the Shield Tablet with a higher res screen at $199. And we can assume that Nvidia makes a pretty sizable profit at those prices, because they are unable to make money on software/royalties like Nintendo will be able to.

So I can see the Switch being $199 with a very small profit, or possibly $220 or so. I think $250 is the absolute max they should charge based on this.
I think that pricing is fairly unrealistic.
The Shield Tablet used an older, weaker chip and the Shield TV didn't have a screen nor a battery.
Just don't see it being possible at $199 while making a profit. $250 breaking even is probably pushing it
 
Let's look at what we know is in the Switch:

-Tegra SoC (Tegra X1 in devkits, final confirmed to be custom)
-720p 6.2 inch screen
-Solid state storage, likely flash, rumored at 32GB
-At least 3 batteries
-Rumored: motion controls and rumble in joycons, IR sensor in joycon r
-Likely joycon grip
-Dumb dock (just for charging and HDMI passthrough)

The rest is just plastic as far as we know.

Nvidia apparently makes a profit selling the Shield TV with the same TX1, and the Shield Tablet with a higher res screen at $199. And we can assume that Nvidia makes a pretty sizable profit at those prices, because they are unable to make money on software/royalties like Nintendo will be able to.

So I can see the Switch being $199 with a very small profit, or possibly $220 or so. I think $250 is the absolute max they should charge based on this.

Could be that Nintendo choose another CPU (A72), Pascal, esram, it has 4gb of ram, 2 Controllers with it. the dock could have some more to it (no SCD but that's not all you could put in there). Also r&d will be probably higher, they have new software for it, not just android as OS like the Shield etc. on the other hand they will produce a lot more than Nvidia did (but Nvidia hadn't to pay for licensing their own hardware)

I would think 199 would be very very cheap for such a system, wouldn't expect the price to be that low. 249 would be a steal to be honest.
 

Terrell

Member
With currencies fluctuating really wildly right now, I'm not pinning any hopes on what the price point will land at in March.
 

Mpl90

Two copies sold? That's not a bomb guys, stop trolling!!!
With currencies fluctuating really wildly right now, I'm not pinning any hopes on what the price point will land at in March.

Actually (and this surprised me), both USD/Yen and EU/Yen exchanges were characterised by favourable trends for Nintendo in the days after Trump's election (except for the day-after, November 10th, when both exhanges went significantly down and then significantly up): better than the day before he was elected, holding well enough and doing as well as (if not better than) what Nintendo has forecasted in their guidance up to March 2017, which was 1 USD = 100 Yen and 1 Euro = 115 Yen. Of course, other events of different nature can affect both rates, both positively and negatively, so we'll have to see how things go from now to January. At least, the first few days since the dis-I mean, Trump's election happened, outside of the aftermath itself, things are going in a positive enough direction for Nintendo.
 
I think they want $250, but it'll probably be $299.

I think that pricing is fairly unrealistic.
The Shield Tablet used an older, weaker chip and the Shield TV didn't have a screen nor a battery.
Just don't see it being possible at $199 while making a profit. $250 breaking even is probably pushing it

The shield tv includes a controller with battery from what I recall. Also older chips don't necessarily mean cheaper- a 16nm process would likely be cheaper than a 20nm or 28nm process since no one does those anymore, granted I don't know if it would wind up being cheaper now than when the Shield devices were being produced.

Could be that Nintendo choose another CPU (A72), Pascal, esram, it has 4gb of ram, 2 Controllers with it. the dock could have some more to it (no SCD but that's not all you could put in there). Also r&d will be probably higher, they have new software for it, not just android as OS like the Shield etc. on the other hand they will produce a lot more than Nvidia did (but Nvidia hadn't to pay for licensing their own hardware)

I would think 199 would be very very cheap for such a system, wouldn't expect the price to be that low. 249 would be a steal to be honest.

It's certainly true that we don't know what the various customizations are but it does go the other way too. Die shrinks in general seem to make the SoC cheaper for instance, so I would think Pascal actually gives them savings over Maxwell.

I agree that $199 seems low but I really think it's possible that their BoM might be a good amount lower than that. Licensing and retail margins are also obviously a factor, as is:

With currencies fluctuating really wildly right now, I'm not pinning any hopes on what the price point will land at in March.

This. That's a very good point, especially considering the markets might go nuts again in January so I definitely wouldn't make any bets right now, though I really think $299 is far, far higher than it will go.
 

jacksrb

Member
@Question of the day [Nov 13] : Price

I think that they would love to be at $249 in the US, but it is weird to think about it being the same price as the 3DS or Wii.

So I am thinking more like $280 and the box includes:
- Switch tablet w/screen, brains
- 2 Joy Con controllers
- Dock
- Joy Con Grip
- HDMI
- Dock power cord
- On the go charge chord
- NO Pack In game
- NO additional storage
- ONLY one SKU

The Switch rhetorically supporting traditional console games and traditional handheld games should allow for a wide breadth of pricing options, no maybe the system POC software (a la NintendoLand) could be priced at $40 or $50.

Also, nice to have a cozy home for Switch discussion.
 
You act as if they can't instantly drop the MSRP of the 3DS whenever they want.

Thats... not my point.

Nintendo believes n3dsXL MSRP to be 199.99. Right now.

Of course they'll drop the price.

But the Switch is much more advanced than a new 3DS,and they're positioning it as a home console. It's NOT going to start at 199.99.
 
Is the New 3DS going to stay at $99 from here on out? It's an amazing price, and should get a lot of people to dig in late in the systems' life. I don't see Nintendo releasing Switch within $100 of the 3DS' price.
 

Aroll

Member
For anyone who still sees this as a Wii U 2.0, or at least feels it's the same thing - none of you actually owned a Wii U. Thus, I can't blame you because the marketing for the Wii U is very wonky.

Most games on Wii U support two screens at the same time. Sometimes it's just inventory management and maps - but it's still a two screen use case. Just one that doesn't make it impossible to play with one (off-tv play; using a pro controller, etc). You are basically tethered to the same room the console is in, and the GamePad itself feels nice to hold, but looks like a toy. It looks like a toy, promotes heavy two screen gameplay, and feels cheap.

The Switch is a literal portable home console that looks like a premium device.
 

Portugeezer

Member
I think Nintendo will keep it simple.

Have one SKU, the hardcore will buy extra storage if they want (SD cards?), but the base price will be $300, €300 and £250 (maybe £230 before Brexit).
 

Jerm411

Member
Def. curious to see if BotW will be packed in somehow...2 SKUs possibly. If it's $249, would for sure pay $299 with that included.
 

burgerhole

Neo Member
I'm willing to spend up to $600 AUD at launch for the Switch. I'm really pumped from that reveal trailer and hope Nintendo can deliver.
 
VentureBeat: There was a day when it seemed like you were happy with just serving the PC gaming market. The console was a less attractive market. I wonder why you guys went after the Nintendo Switch, and how you accomplished that.

Huang: We’re dedicated to the gaming market and always have been. Some parts of the market, we just weren’t prepared to serve them. I was fairly open about how, when this current generation of consoles was being considered, we didn’t have x86 CPUs. We weren’t in contention for any of those. However, the other factor is whether we could really make a contribution or not. If a particular game console doesn’t require our special skills, what we can uniquely bring, then it’s a commodity business that may not be suited for us.

In the case of Switch, it was such a ground-breaking design. Performance matters, because games are built on great performance, but form factor and energy efficiency matter incredibly, because they want to build something that’s portable and transformable. The type of gameplay they want to enable is like nothing the world has so far. It’s a scenario where two great engineering teams, working with their creative teams, needed to hunker down. Several hundred engineering years went into building this new console. It’s the type of project that really inspires us, gets us excited. It’s a classic win-win.
 

IntelliHeath

As in "Heathcliff"
Thanks for the compliments!

It's good to see you again heath

It's good to see you again too, Fox! :D


Also I know this thread is specifically for Switch but I don't know what is proper place for the comic panel so I'm going to post it here.

ZuCDnBm.jpg
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
No matter how good the actual price of the Switch is, some people will say: "It should be 50$ cheaper and come with a game."
 

batbeg

Member
It's got to be a maximum of $250 I think, for Nintendo to even go higher would be disastrous planning after the Wii U.
 
Possibly cheaper, but I doubt it goes above $300. That's what the Shield Tablet launched for in 2014 and has been $200 since last year. Hardwarewise Switch seems like a Shield Tablet successor with smaller screen + controller + dock.
 

IntelliHeath

As in "Heathcliff"
$250 dollars sound perfect to me if it's correct but I'm going to be a total sucker for Nintendo product so I'm going to purchase it on day one if I could.

No matter how good the actual price of the Switch is, some people will say: "It should be 50$ cheaper and come with a game."

Yep, It don't matter how good the system is or how good the price it is so we are going to see those posts around.
 
Expect $250-$300 with only one SKU and no pack in game.

One thing to consider about multiple SKUs at launch is the possibility that one SKU will be vastly more in demand than the other, like what happened with the Basic/Deluxe Wii U systems. It's much better for Nintendo to keep things simple and ship out a few million of a single SKU that includes just the system and is as cheap as possible, and let customers pick up what games/accessories they want.

The only "optional" accessory I can see being packed in is the joycon grip, which while probably not necessary goes a long way to helping preserve the "console feel" of the Switch's docked mode. Given how heavily Nintendo has focused on more traditional controls and games in its only marketing so far (to the point of completely passing over the Switch's motion control capability!), I think this is very important to them.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
I doubt we get a game packed in, but because of this I can see $249 being the price with the idea that everyone will be buying a game.

I'm trying to budget myself $500 for launch so the cheaper the better lol. $250 + BOTW + SD Card would easily get me under $500 so I could snag a 2nd game. $300 probably means I just BOTW.
 
I doubt we get a game packed in, but because of this I can see $249 being the price with the idea that everyone will be buying a game.

I'm trying to budget myself $500 for launch so the cheaper the better lol. $250 + BOTW + SD Card would easily get me under $500 so I could snag a 2nd game. $300 probably means I just BOTW.

Yeah, you can get a 128gb for $40ish on Amazon, so yeah... Switch+Card+Zelda=$350 in this scenario, you have a lot of wiggle room!
 
Let's look at what we know is in the Switch:

-Tegra SoC (Tegra X1 in devkits, final confirmed to be custom)
-720p 6.2 inch screen
-Solid state storage, likely flash, rumored at 32GB
-At least 3 batteries
-Rumored: motion controls and rumble in joycons, IR sensor in joycon r
-Likely joycon grip
-Dumb dock (just for charging and HDMI passthrough)

That's the first time I've heard of such a rumor. Why 3 batteries?
 
A lot of optmistic people here :) I think Nintendo will price it at $300. I mean, rumors say it's going to be almost as powerful as current $300 game consoles, it acts as both console and handheld, it's a brand new device, and Nintendo doesn't like to sell for a loss. So I think Nintendo will charge $300. Especially after the Wii U didn't get a huge sales boost when its price dropped, so Nintendo won't believe price was the problem with it. I think they'll pack a game with it, though, to increase apparently value.

That's the first time I've heard of such a rumor. Why 3 batteries?
One for each JoyCon controller and one for the device itself
 

Moltenix

Member
It just occurred to me, I doubt we can charge the Joycons separately since it doesn't look like they have their own charging ports. Does that mean they can only be charged when attached to the screen? I wonder if the Joycon Grip allows you to charge the Joycons while they're attached.

It wouldn't make sense if you were playing on the TV but the only way to charge the Joycons was to attach it to the screen forcing you to undock it.
 

bibs

Member
In the newest Pachter Factor, Pachter also suggested it will come down to $249. Probably the best bet given that we know they want to sell it at a profit but also keep the price competitive.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
It just occurred to me, I doubt we can charge the Joycons separately since it doesn't look like they have their own charging ports. Does that mean they can only be charged when attached to the screen? I wonder if the Joycon Grip allows you to charge the Joycons while they're attached.

It wouldn't make sense if you were playing on the TV but the only way to charge the Joycons was to attach it to the screen forcing you to undock it.
I feel like both the Switch itself & the Joy-Con Grip will charge the JoyCons.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Yeah, you can get a 128gb for $40ish on Amazon, so yeah... Switch+Card+Zelda=$350 in this scenario, you have a lot of wiggle room!

Yep. Though I was also including tax in my general musings (I'm in an Amazon tax state so tax either way).

I'm also hoping though not expecting that maybe just maybe 256 gigs will drop in price by March.
 
It will be $249.

People are too dramatic about $249 price. I think it's just right.

Yes, the PS4 is $250 right now, but it's not a portable, and it's not Nintendo Hardware. Nintendo Software is valuable for the $50 extra that the machine would command otherwise.
 
Yes, the PS4 is $250 right now, but it's not a portable, and it's not Nintendo Hardware. Nintendo Software is valuable for the $50 extra that the machine would command otherwise.

Pretty sure PS4 is $300 MSRP right now, not $250. Except for Black Friday deals of course.
 
Pretty sure PS4 is $300 MSRP right now, not $250. Except for Black Friday deals of course.

I believe that by next year, Sony will drop the price to $250, either at Switch launch or some months after.

people are actually complaining 250??? I thought that was the ideal price.

People are trying to pull analogs such as the 3DS and the Wii, yet they fail to take inflation into account

Wii launched at $249 in 2006 dollars, which are $299 of today's dollars, and it sold a shit-fucking-ton
Wii U launched at $299 in 2012 dollars, which are $314 of today's dollars, and it sold for shit
DS launched at $149 in 2005 dollars, which are $184 of today's dollars, and it sold a shit-fucking-ton
3DS launched at $249 in 2011 dollars, which are $269 of today's dollars, and it sold so so

I believe that the Nintendo Tax is real, because their game value proposition is real. Given enough of a value proposition in this launch, I don't think the MSRP plays as much of a role as the hype they can get behind the product. $249 for me is the safest bet and is actually a great price for what you are getting. This is just not a tablet that plays games, it's a tablet that is also a console that also plays NINTENDO games.

I don't believe the majority of the market will stop down to compare specs and while it's true that western third party is up in the air, if the market embraces this thing and is as easy to develop as it's been hinted, the barriers of entry for developers are so low, that they would be doing a disservice to their investors if they at least do not explore the market.
 
I think it will be $299.99. I don't think $250 gives them room for a price drop any time soon. The extra $50 is a safety cushion.

$249.99 is the minimum though. It would be steep for a handheld, but they're positioning it as a home console.
 

oti

Banned
I'm going all out at launch either way. Would be great to keep it under 400€ though. Console + separate Pro Controller + 2 games (Zelda + whatever else there will be) is what I'm looking at.
 
What do people think the chances that the Switch has access to the Android Play Store and can also play games from there?

Is there a risk to piracy of Nintendo's own games if this were the case?

Absolutely zero. To use Google's Play Store, they must run Android. Vulkan and OpenGL still aren't fully supported on Android, which will hinder game development on the Switch. Unless Nintendo is willing to help out their competitors, and write the code themselves, pushing it upstream for everyone to use on their own Android devices. Thats the way to improve performance for their console. If Nintendo wants access to the Play Store, they have to join the Open Handset Alliance, and they'll be subject to the rules Google provides. They'll have to include Google's own Android apps by default.

Running Android and allowing access to the Play Store opens the door for the Switch to run Drastic (DS emulator), Dolphin (GameCube / Wii emulator), PSPP (PSP emulator) and many other emulators which are available for download directly off the Play Store. Nintendo doesn't want to kill their virtual console business.

Any zero day exploits that are exposed in the Android OS will make the Switch vulnerable to an attack that could give customers root access to the system. That would kill game sales and be a boon for the homebrew scene. Nintendo would have to wait for Google to provide security patches before modifying them for their own system.

Plus all the low quality play store apps would just make Nintendo's offering look like poor iPad competition instead of an actual game console.
 
https://twitter.com/LaurakBuzz/status/798091231192555520

LauraK says that 200 british money thing...

EDIT.
To clarify, GAME to price at £199.99.

I think she verified with at least couple of her sources, previous Tweets were saying something like that. So I'd say it may be actually kind of close. And it is kind of close what most of the people were thinking, right?

EDIT2.

Link to LPVG with additional infromation:
http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/11/report-uk-retailer-game-to-price-nintendo-switch-from-199-99/

Don't want to paste too much here, their site could use more visitors...

"It is important to note this is not a Nintendo set RRP, as in the UK manufacturers are not allowed to set RRP prices for consoles. However, it is safe to assume this gives us a solid indication of the price the system will sell at nationwide.

We have also learned that a separate SKU featuring more internal storage and a packed in game is planned to sell at £249.99."

New news, new topic? Can't make one, I am too small for that kind of undertaking.
 
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