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Rumor: Switch developer information leaked. Reveals A TON incl. hardware specs

What a dreadful post. Who cares? Your Pixel costs vastly more money, for starters, and it has nothing which can even begin to compare to games of the complexity, scale and scope of what Switch will have.

Show me Zelda Breath of the Wild on Pixel. Show me Xenoblade 2. Show me Splatoon. Show me Mario Kart 8 deluxe.

IOS / Android phones and set top boxes like the ouya have proved one thing in the last few years: power means fuck all of you don't have anything good to show it off with. Switch is looking like one of the best handheld gaming devices ever made from a hardware POV. Your Pixel might have better specs, but if they're just gonna be used playing some shit mobile game with awful controls, poor graphics and art design, weak stories and more rough edges than an angle grinder then what the hell is the point?

To be fair not all mobile games are awful. You are right though, there just aren't mobile games that deliver visuals and performance on par with first party Switch games. Most mobile games are made to work across a variety of devices from the high end to the budget, games on the Pixel won't come close to games on Switch.
 
I think Tomodachi Life is definitely happening at some point. MiiTomo was basically an entry in that franchise, so they're clearly interested in keeping it around. If Nintendo's promise at Tomodachi Life's release wasn't untrue, then we could expect gay marriage in this iteration.

That makes sense.
Hopefully they'll talk about their plans for the IP on the Switch soon; I think stuff like Tomodachi Life and the inevitable Animal Crossing Switch will help make the console more appealing and relevant to both casual consumers and children.
 

Astral Dog

Member
I bet it's the secret dGPU that's hidden in the power brick.

They'll unlock it soon. Get hype.

This is how you sound right now
Its ok i was just talking about the resolution,not expecting any miracles out of it (if true)

Also damn this shitty keypad 😡
 
My pixel is more powerful than the switch. The switch is a mobile device. I'm sorry the facts out there hurt but it's the truth.

It's like saying my $3000 PC is much more powerful than PS4 pro so the pro must be a weak console, eh no, that's not how comparison works.
 

routerbad

Banned
So OLED was not "Cutting edge" at the time of the vita release?

The vita was not (one of) the first consumer device to have SGX543MP4+? Even though it still ended up being too little to drive the native resolution required by many games

The iphone 6s is not more powerful than the switch?

Linear actuators are not currently available in phones and smart watches?

I mean come on throw me a bone here I've put in some speculation but where I have I have used similes so there can be little to no confusion

OLED was cutting edge for a mobile device, but linear actuators being positioned on all sides of a controller (when the iphone has one) is also fairly cutting edge. Both are marketing points that may or may not improve the experience for some users.

The iPhone 6s PowerVR7600 was not as powerful as the X1 used in the ShieldTV, with Android overhead.

The Tegra X1 also outperformed the A8X, which was the SoC used in the iPad Air 2. It outperforms the A9 to a smaller degree, which is the SoC in the 6s.

Also worth pointing out is that the devices in question are all much, much more expensive, and even if the Switch was still using the specs in this "leak" (which we know they aren't) it would still be a very capable handheld and console given that developers have direct access to the bare metal.
 

Ryoku

Member
Pixel is:
-Twice as expensive
-Smaller battery
-Not a gaming device
-None of that power will be used for gaming
-Not going to have the long-term commitment compared to a gaming device.
I'm sorry the facts are out there, but it's the truth.

Even if they have the same GPU, Pixel will likely throttle it far more than the Switch, lowering its graphical performance. I mean, unless the Pixel has some cooling system that is leagues ahead of the Switch's in that small form-factor. And look, we haven't even touched the software-side of things, including the OS overhead and driver-level details.
 

Razgreez

Member
No, your conclusions are what is lacking. What hardware do you think an MS or Sony Switch would be running?

Well that's clearly where I was speculating. Sony, or MS, could perhaps have approached IMGTec, in Sony's case this would not be the first time, and used standard arm cores to complete the SoC a la the vita. Were they desperate could have gone straight for the Mali cores and just pumped the SoC choc full of them such that they could potentially run them at a lower clock without requiring passive cooling.

I'm a tech enthusiast not a hardware engineer though so the balance and thresholds for what would have been required by MS or Sony would be key. There are many ways to skin this cat and plenty of hardware developers (or licence holders) in the market to potentially strike a bargain with while at the same time avoiding exorbitant (hardware) development costs.

That is why, to me at least, it seems like nintendo ended up with somewhat of a raw deal. But it is what it is and I am merely describing the spade as I see it.

My pixel is more powerful than the switch. The switch is a mobile device. I'm sorry the facts out there hurt but it's the truth.

I was definitely not attempting to do this of course. The Pixel C has loads of hardware which is entirely unnecessary for a gaming device and even then it's still expensive. The comparison is silly

Ridiculous argument. The 6s is twice the retail price of the Switch. GAF lost their shit with a $299 price tag--and you're comparing something twice the price? LoL. Secondly, the Switch has been engineered down to the metal to just play games unlike the iPhone. So while the 6s (might-not sure) be more powerful overall, when it comes to game performance, the Switch excels.

Refer to my response above. I was clearly referring specifically to the two devices in terms of size and power (as, seemingly, was the original poster of the pic earlier in the thread).
 

ASIS

Member
What a dreadful post. Who cares? Your Pixel costs vastly more money, for starters, and it has nothing which can even begin to compare to games of the complexity, scale and scope of what Switch will have.

Show me Zelda Breath of the Wild on Pixel. Show me Xenoblade 2. Show me Splatoon. Show me Mario Kart 8 deluxe.

IOS / Android phones and set top boxes like the ouya have proved one thing in the last few years: power means fuck all of you don't have anything good to show it off with. Switch is looking like one of the best handheld gaming devices ever made from a hardware POV. Your Pixel might have better specs, but if they're just gonna be used playing some shit mobile game with awful controls, poor graphics and art design, weak stories and more rough edges than an angle grinder then what the hell is the point?

This is an argument that can work even against the PS4 and Xbox 1. None of those games have BoTW, Xeno 2, Splatoon, etc. But that's not his point.

He is saying that the specs inside his pixel is more powerful than what is inside the Switch. If that statement is true then everything you said is irrelevant. It doesn't matter that you hate mobile games. The real question is this: Can the pixel run Breath of the Wild better than the Switch or not? Hypothetically speaking. The only relevant argument you can bring is by comparing battery life and see how it goes.

I don't know much, but what I do know is that the quality of the games are completely missing the point of his statement.
 

TAS

Member
I find it entirely amusing since the iphone, which I presume to be an iphone 6s, is more powerful than the switch.

Ridiculous argument. The 6s is twice the retail price of the Switch. GAF lost their shit with a $299 price tag--and you're comparing something twice the price? LoL. Secondly, the Switch has been engineered down to the metal to just play games unlike the iPhone. So while the 6s (might-not sure) be more powerful overall, when it comes to game performance, the Switch excels.
 
The pro controller, yeah whatever. But these two points are crazy! I think the logo is the best logo Nintendo has had in some time, it's instantly recognizable, iconic, and communicates something about the device.

The system itself is gorgeous too, especially in Neon. How ya gonna come in here and tell me this shit looks generic?

I think the Neon looks garish, but to each their own. But the console itself, especially in the dock, looks like something a company who normally makes baby monitors would design. It just looks like generic and unexciting. There's no sex appeal to the hardware.

As for the logo, I could go into a long critique, but the most obvious thing wrong with it is the weight and proportion imbalance between the logotype and the graphic mark. It feels clumsy and amateurish. And a portable device should have a logotype that feels light, but the Switch type's heavy weight conveys the opposite. Also, the chunky font looks almost exactly like a 1990's font I used to see often; doesn't exactly exude a modern feel.
 
The phone stuff is just silly.

I have never looked at my phone as a gaming system. I look at it as a phone with a few games.
The truth is, (in my opinion) you cant have a true gaming device without proper controls and I have yet to see decent homegrown options on a cell phone.

This is a system with specs decided upon based on cost to consumer versus cost to produce. It has enough to be more powerful without going over the top. It can functions as a home console.... sorry haters, but it can.
And it functions as a portable console. I think its the best of both worlds and cant wait to play it.
 
Ridiculous argument. The 6s is twice the retail price of the Switch. GAF lost their shit with a $299 price tag--and you're comparing something twice the price? LoL. Secondly, the Switch has been engineered down to the metal to just play games unlike the iPhone. So while the 6s (might-not sure) be more powerful overall, when it comes to game performance, the Switch excels.

I don't see a problem with the system price to be honest. Hell, since I have been buying consoles they are all around the same price (given inflation).
 

Oregano

Member
This is an argument that can work even against the PS4 and Xbox 1. None of those games have BoTW, Xeno 2, Splatoon, etc. But that's not his point.

He is saying that the specs inside his pixel is more powerful than what is inside the Switch. If that statement is true then everything you said is irrelevant. It doesn't matter that you hate mobile games. The real question is this: Can the pixel run Breath of the Wild better than the Switch or not? Hypothetically speaking. The only relevant argument you can bring is by comparing battery life and see how it goes.

I don't know much, but what I do know is that the quality of the games are completely missing the point of his statement.

Vita was in the exact same situation and no one would say that was underpowered.
 

PrimeBeef

Member
It doesn't matter, it has Zelda /s

For me this, playing Nintendo games, is all that matters for me. I never look at specs for gaming consoles since all games for them are made to be played on them. PC is a different story. I care about my PC specs whenever I see a new game I want to play.
 

ASIS

Member
Vita was in the exact same situation and no one would say that was underpowered.

Vita is not a home console. The Onus is on the Switch to prove that a hybrid console CAN work. So far, outside of the joy cons. The answer is no.

Plus, the Vita flopped.

The Joy Cons are enough for me,I think they look amazing! But since we are talking about specs I don't think they qualify.
 

JustenP88

I earned 100 Gamerscore™ for collecting 300 widgets and thereby created Trump's America
Y'all turkeys with this "Pixel is more powerful" concern trolling nonsense are more than welcome to go out and find yourselves a Pixel at that price point that comes with detachable controllers.

So, can we just shut any talk about any gaming device down by pointing to a higher-powered PC build? What's the fucking point?
 

Matt

Member
Well that's clearly where I was speculating. Sony, or MS, could perhaps have approached IMGTec, in Sony's case this would not be the first time, and used standard arm cores to complete the SoC a la the vita. Were they desperate could have gone straight for the Mali cores and just pumped the SoC choc full of them such that they could potentially run them at a lower clock without requiring passive cooling.

I'm a tech enthusiast not a hardware engineer though so the balance and thresholds for what would have been required by MS or Sony would be key. There are many ways to skin this cat and plenty of hardware developers (or licence holders) in the market to potentially strike a bargain with while at the same time avoiding exorbitant (hardware) development costs.

That is why, to me at least, it seems like nintendo ended up with somewhat of a raw deal. But it is what it is and I am merely describing the spade as I see it.
So your answer is, essentially, "I feel this to be true, so it's true."

Sitting there and saying you just assume Sony or MS would have come up with something even better on a whim is just silly. The mobile chipset market is vastly different than what it was then the Vita came out.
 

AgeEighty

Member
Miis also no longer allow you to set them to prevent copying. That's unfortunate for those of us who made some of the really popular ones that people copied and presented as their own, but oh well, there were always ways around that feature anyway.

Also, apparently the only way to transfer Miis to the Switch from a legacy console is via amiibo? Which is going to be a real pain in the ass for those of us who have made dozens or hundreds of them.
 
there's a lot of very interesting info in that doc and we are still at "my phone is more powerful than this". Or "lol nintendo fans expected PS4 pro power".

seriously. Has the average gaffer posting quality level lowered or what?
 
Price - To me is fair. You get a hybrid console that is competitive with consoles out now, and the portable functionality is great.

Games - For the first time in a while it seems Nintendo's is getting the interests of the 3rd party developers. This is great.

Hardware - I think it looks really good. I like the clean look of it and even the neon colors are growing on me.

memory - something to be desired, but EVERYBODY will get different mileage here depending on how much storage we go with.

Battery life - Until I get my own numbers I tend to not pay attention to the other stuff. I need to play with brightness... .and stuff first.
 
I wonder how developers will tackle the power difference between the dock mode and portable mode.
Same way PS developers handle Pro, and the same way XB will handle Scorpio.

It'll suck a little to start with, but not to the same extent that having to deal with the near infinite combinations of power that PC developers have had to deal with since the Turbo button capped out it's viability.

They've already had a taste with the new 3DS.
 

routerbad

Banned
Vita is not a home console. The Onus is on the Switch to prove that a hybrid console CAN work. So far, outside of the joy cons. The answer is no.

Plus, the Vita flopped.

The Joy Cons are enough for me,I think they look amazing! But since we are talking about specs I don't think they qualify.

I think that depends on the consumer purchasing one. It's going to be a handheld for me. It will be my 3DS replacement. They've already proved it's an awesome handheld. It's also a much better home console than the Wii U was, and I actually really loved that console despite it's issues.
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
I'd argue the contrary.
You surely would but Matt is right. Switch is what most other vendors would have come up with. With variations, of course.

E.g. even though the vita was under-powered on the CPU side it at least had extra GPU cores to make up for that deficiency.
How could extra GPU cores make up for CPU under-power? And it's not like the GPU had clocks to spare driving that screen adequately.

It also had a "top of the range for its time" OLED screen. It was, at least in some ways, cutting edge tech.
That's true, but most high-end devices are IPS today, and for a good reason too. A good IPS goes a long way.

Take for example that image of the iphone and switch. I find it entirely amusing since the iphone, which I presume to be an iphone 6s, is more powerful than the switch. And even were it underclocked and given a large enough battery to last as long as the switch it would still be more powerful and likely not require active cooling to boot.
These devices are in very different categories. While the iphone6 holds a CPU advantage in most scenarios (vs a 3-core 1GHz-clocked TX1), the TX1 Maxwell2 destroys the Series6TX in most scenarios: https://gfxbench.com/compare.jsp?be...ame1=Apple+A8+GPU&D2=NVIDIA+Shield+Android+TV
 
What the. Transparent plastic?? It looks like a MadCatz controller. Nintendo's design on everything about the Switch has been really off. I guess their design A-team is designing their QoL product or something, because the Switch hardware ranges from generic (the console) to tacky (this controller) to just bad design (the logo). Look how cramped the logo is on this controller right next to the buttons. It gives me design hives.

It's pretty much just you. The Switch is their best designed product yet, and that's almost the universal consensus
 

Matt

Member
Lol. That is straight to the point.

Btw, Matt, are you aware of there were any notable changes to the Switch specs since July? That has been a big argument for awhile now. :/
The final Switch dev kits were allowing better performance.

But that's not exactly unusual.
 

Oregano

Member
Vita is not a home console. The Onus is on the Switch to prove that a hybrid console CAN work. So far, outside of the joy cons. The answer is no.

Plus, the Vita flopped.

The Joy Cons are enough for me,I think they look amazing! But since we are talking about specs I don't think they qualify.

The fact that Switch clocks up when docked means it is comparatively more powerful than Vita was when docked. Even still there's not getting around the laws of physics.
 
This is an argument that can work even against the PS4 and Xbox 1. None of those games have BoTW, Xeno 2, Splatoon, etc. But that's not his point.

He is saying that the specs inside his pixel is more powerful than what is inside the Switch. If that statement is true then everything you said is irrelevant. It doesn't matter that you hate mobile games. The real question is this: Can the pixel run Breath of the Wild better than the Switch or not? Hypothetically speaking. The only relevant argument you can bring is by comparing battery life and see how it goes.

I don't know much, but what I do know is that the quality of the games are completely missing the point of his statement.

Comparing the Pixel to the Switch is irrelevant because both those devices are using their power differently. Pixel is using the highest end Snapdragon chip because it's $650. If I'm spending that kind of money I expect the highest end parts with the best performance.

Also for a gaming device, the quality of the games is very important.
 

QaaQer

Member
No, your conclusions are what is lacking. What hardware do you think an MS or Sony Switch would be running?

They wouldn't release a hybrid; and since specialized devices don't have to make compromises, whatever they release would be 'better'.

In 24 months, we might be signing the praises of Nintendo's/Iwata's vision. Right now,however, a hybrid product is untested and full of compromise; and because of that, risky. The market might reject it, it might not. I'm looking forward to finding out.

......

I will miss the spec threads with fourth storm, you, thraktor, Vern, oregano, Durante, etc. Nintendo spec threads are the best.
 
D

Deleted member 752119

Unconfirmed Member
For me this, playing Nintendo games, is all that matters for me. I never look at specs for gaming consoles since all games for them are made to be played on them. PC is a different story. I care about my PC specs whenever I see a new game I want to play.

I'm there too. But I've owned every Nintendo console and portable except Virtual Boy (well, not every revision of every portable). I'm not a fanboy anymore and shifted to mainly playing on other platforms with the PS2 on, but I still need my Nintendo games.

I don't particularly like the Switch hardware since I'm almost solely a console gamer (sold my 3DS and Vita last year due to non-use), but I'm excited due to the fact that it should have a great library now that their teams aren't split across separate portable and console platforms. I don't buy that 3DS will get more than token support this year/early into 2018.

I have no idea how Switch will sell outside of their diehard fans and people like me that love the games enough to buy despite not being a big fan of the hardware. But it should sell better than Wii U for sure since it will get at least a decent chunk of the 3DS/Vita owners who are still interested in portables over time as prices come down. That along with the unified development should mean a great library even if it doesn't set the world on fire in terms of sales.
 
Pixel is:
-Twice as expensive
-Smaller battery
-Not a gaming device
-None of that power will be used for gaming
-Not going to have the long-term commitment compared to a gaming device.
I'm sorry the facts are out there, but it's the truth.
I also think the Pixel C's GPU throttles and caps at 400 MHz.
 

ASIS

Member
I think that depends on the consumer purchasing one. It's going to be a handheld for me. It will be my 3DS replacement. They've already proved it's an awesome handheld. It's also a much better home console than the Wii U was, and I actually really loved that console despite it's issues.
I liked the Wii U, had really nice games. But I hope you can understand that, for consumers who want a new Nintendo home console, it's perfectly reasonable that they are disappointed when everyone, even smartphone manufacturers, are ahead of the Switch. That's the crux of these comparisons, and no I don't think they are pointless discussion.
The fact that Switch clocks up when docked means it is comparatively more powerful than Vita was when docked. Even still there's not getting around the laws of physics.
Nintendo is the one that chose the environment of said physics. They are not confined by it. They take full responsibility of the failures of their decision. If they are failures that is.

Comparing the Pixel to the Switch is irrelevant because both those devices are using their power differently. Pixel is using the highest end Snapdragon chip because it's $650. If I'm spending that kind of money I expect the highest end parts with the best performance.

Also for a gaming device, the quality of the games is very important.

Dude, I have two switches pre-ordered because I can't let go of one. That's how excited I am for the console and its games. But we are talking about the specs here, so I repeat my question, can the pixel run Breath of the Wild better than the Switch?
 

OCD Guy

Member
Some people really hate Nintendo huh?

I can't believe some people are drawing comparisons with phones.

Superior hardware is often touted as the be all and end all, but the reality is it's not.

Look at Apple Hardware, I could name countless Android phones or Windows devices that are superior but that doesn't tell the whole story.

Even if we forget the actual specs, you don't need need to have a crystal ball to know that any hardware Nintendo release is not going to be cutting edge lol.

But the software and experiences Nintendo provide is the reason they sell their hardware. Look Nvidia could release a tablet or phone that's more powerful than Scorpio, but there are a large number of people that still wouldn't care as they prefer to use a controller. Yes I'm aware that you can use controllers on a tablet, but my point still stands.

Take even the PlayStation and Xbox battle, going by some of the logic in this thread then the Scorpio is going to change everything right? Nah, the Xbox brand will still do badly in certain countries and how powerful the hardware is isn't going to change shit.
 
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