Nintendo: Switch dock only for charging and TV-out, Amiibo support, no commt on touch

Nintendo continued: "The dock is not the main console unit of Nintendo Switch. The main unit of Nintendo Switch is the unit that has the LCD screen, which the two Joy-Con controllers can be attached to and detached from. The main function of the Nintendo Switch Dock is to provide an output to the TV, as well as charging and providing power to the system."

LCD confirmed... Too bad they couldn't go at least AMOLED. Hope they comment on Touch soon.
 
Biggest blunder in the world will be a tablet like device with no touch screen.

Anyone who goes to use this device is going to expect it to have touch ability. It would be a bizarre break for a device also made to attract younger/casual players back to consoles.

Why would you also throw away the idea of getting mobile games easily ported to your ecosystem and detachable controls (screen only) with no touch ability.

For the added cost why skip that? Lol

The rest of this is kind of assumed. Maybe down the line as it gets cheaper you'll see a dock that adds more functionality, but not at launch.

As was said prior, I think nintendo is purposefully keeping this tight lipped so assumptions aren't made. I fully expect it to have a touch screen. All of those planned mobile titles, are more than likely going to be playable on the Switch as well.
 
1. Why is it so big then?

2. In the trailer, Zelda ran very well during the TV portion, but had clear stuttering when the guy was playing it while ignoring the dog at the park. What's up with that?
 
Everyone needs to realize that Nintendo is done with the dedicated home console business.

They have replaced both wii and ds lines with a tablet (with controller attachments and a charging/hdmi dock)

That's fine but then they need to price this at handheld prices. I'm not gonna pay home console prices for what is essentially a handheld unless that handheld is a phone.
 
Okay but, still not clear whether it adds extra power for the TV out.

I don't agree that it allows for easy switching by the way. My main real gripe with the design is with the dock. Where do I leave it? In my cupboard? That sucks ass for switching. Next to the TV? Looks ugly and might as well ask my kids to destroy it right away.

A dongle would have allowed for easy switching. A dock? Nuh uh.

I just hope I can have it horizontal.
 
1. Why is it so big then?

2. In the trailer, Zelda ran very well during the TV portion, but had clear stuttering when the guy was playing it while ignoring the dog at the park. What's up with that?

I still think everyone who says this is seeing things because I can't see any difference.

Edit: I just rewatched it again are you referring to the part where it goes slow-mo when he pulls out his arrow in mid-air? It's always looked jittery when doing that look at the E3 gameplay.
 
Biggest blunder in the world will be a tablet like device with no touch screen.

Anyone who goes to use this device is going to expect it to have touch ability. It would be a bizarre break for a device also made to attract younger/casual players back to consoles.

Why would you also throw away the idea of getting mobile games easily ported to your ecosystem and detachable controls (screen only) with no touch ability.

For the added cost why skip that? Lol

The rest of this is kind of assumed. Maybe down the line as it gets cheaper you'll see a dock that adds more functionality, but not at launch.

It will probably have a touch screen.
 
So how powerful is this thing then? This would mean everything would be inside the handheld it self.

Wii U (~200 GFLOPS) < Switch < Xbox One (~1400 GFLOPS)

People have been speculating ~500 GFLOPS

Of course different architectures mean direct comparisons of the numbers are not entirely accurate.
 
A pain in the ass to do what PC does for most games at many more resolutions?

Not all games design UI elements for every resolution. The can also use scaling, which can cause artifacting and/or blurring when UI elements are scaled up and down. If you design the UI for 1080p, it looks too large at 720p and has to be scaled down, making it hard to read. If you design it around 720p and scale up, it could result in it being somewhat fuzzy.
 
So it pretty much is a overclock mode then?

no, it's just a power save mode such as in Windows. when in portable mode the device will consume less power, but it will be less powerful (maybe around 70%?), but when docked in, the device enters in performance power save mode and it will suck power enough to work at 100% performance
 
An output?

As in there can be more ways!?
1.0
 
Seamlessly and on the go? Yeah, it's a pain in the ass to go to Advance Settings and switch particular apects a notch lower every time you undock, and then turning them back to their respective "high settings" once docked..

Yes, it's a shame that it's completely, utterly impossible for the console to do this automatically when you take it out of the dock.
 
If a Nintendo Switch game supports amiibo then the Nintendo Switch home gaming system will as well

So if a game doesn't support Amiibo, the system doesn't support Amiibo anymore

It's like poetry


PR people can be weird
 
This thing is going to be under $200. I can feel it.

No fucking way. Nintendo has to make some cash off of it because Nintendo always thinks they should make profit off of hardware sales. It's not like the garbage tech in the 3DS is costing them that much and they're still running $200.
 
Probably already mentioned and probably grasping at straws, but why are these mentioned as 2 separate things?

Nintendo Switch Dock...well as charging and providing power to the system
Charging and powering the system should be the same thing...unless

That while in handheld mode the system is underclocked, using less power, and in docked mode the chip is used at full power, since there is no battery draw.

The comments in the OP dont rule out this possibility, and I can see Nintendo not wanting to focus on this possibility, as it would mean the handheld would be perceived as gimped compared to the docked mode.

Ok, Ill see myself out...
 
Weird they refused to comment on touchscreen. Is there a hidden feature they have yet to unveil?
I'm betting they will show the touch feature with Super Mario Run and Google Store/AppStore compatibility or something.
 
1. Why is it so big then?

2. In the trailer, Zelda ran very well during the TV portion, but had clear stuttering when the guy was playing it while ignoring the dog at the park. What's up with that?

I doubt those were actual gameplay clips from the current-state software. Don't use them for examples for performance.
 
1. Why is it so big then?

This is what I'm wondering. It's essentially a fancy dock with some USB ports. They could have feasibly just sold the handheld device and a proprietary cable that both runs an HDMI out into your TV and charges it as well for pennies.
 
1. Why is it so big then?

2. In the trailer, Zelda ran very well during the TV portion, but had clear stuttering when the guy was playing it while ignoring the dog at the park. What's up with that?

In tablet mode it must save some power.
Pc Portable are scalable when you use the batterie or not.
 
People really stretch Nintendo 's statement thin just to make it fit their narratives. The dock is just a charging station with HDMI out. That's pretty much it. If it could provide any significant enhancement to the tablet unit, Nintendo would have already emphasized on that.
 
Kind of disappointed, i wonder if it'll really be able to output all the more graphic intensive games (Zelda, Mario 3D, DQXI) at 1080p with no external help.
 
No surprise. Anyone actually expecting the dock to have extra hardware is bananas.

But there is still the very possible chance of multiple performance modes for when the system is dock and undocked just based on power profiles. Having a dedicated power source and not having to worry so much about heat means they can run the chips at higher clock or with more active cores. No extra hardware needed.
 
No extra power confirmed then. Well, this is the reason I haven't gotten really excited about Switch yet, I need to know the details before I decide I really want it. So far the concept is really appealing and I love the fact the a regular controller (be it Joy-Con or Pro Controller) is the norm, but I need to see more.
 
Does this mean the dock won't even provide any sort of offloading when it comes to running stuff or help with power management? Cause if it did, couldn't that also translate into some sort of performance boost?
 
Maybe the dock's size is for additional cooling, the vent in handheld mode is actually passive cooling and only when docked a big but silent cooler in the dock blows air through the Switch. *shrugs*
 
Probably already mentioned and probably grasping at straws, but why are these mentioned as 2 separate things?


Charging and powering the system should be the same thing...unless

That while in handheld mode the system is underclocked, using less power, and in docked mode the chip is used at full power, since there is no battery draw.

The comments in the OP dont rule out this possibility, and I can see Nintendo not wanting to focus on this possibility, as it would mean the handheld would be perceived as gimped compared to the docked mode.

Ok, Ill see myself out...

No, it's a good question. They could have left it as "charging the system", the "powering" part seems deliberately ambiguous. I'm sure we'll know pretty soon!
 
If the screen is not touch screen and if the tablet doesn't run at higher clock speeds when docked...

It's just the obvious kind of stuff that should be there, but isn't, because Nintendo.
 
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