After months of leaks and rumors and what not, Nintendo finally revealed it’s much hyped next-gen console, the Nintendo Switch on 20, October. The Switch turned out to be a console-portable hybrid, capable of attaching to your TV when at home, and being carried as a tablet when on the move. Nintendo chooses not to reveal much about the console apart from a trailer, and naturally there are lots of questions and speculations going around. Although, Nintendo assures us that there will be more to reveal about the Switch soon.In the meantime you can check out what we know about the console so far.
Nintendo’s stock share went down by 7% after Switch’s reveal.
Nintendo left everybody keeps talking about Switch on the internet as there are dozens of unanswered questions still hovering. How is the Switch connecting to the TV? What will be its internal memory? Will the TV unit and the mobile unit have seperate memories? What about HDR? How robust are those sliding joysticks?
Among all these varied and nevertheless important questions, there are some (critical) questions that I believe are going to define Switch’s success or it’s failure
The Battery
The first and foremost concern about Switch (or any other handheld) is its battery life. So, how long should we expect the Switch to last on a single charge? 4 hours? 3 hours? or 2 hours (that sounds unreasonable, but it’s Nintendo who knows)?
Switch needs to have a better battery life as that’s one of the most crucial things about any portable handheld’s success. Someone could have aspect it to last atleast 4 hours, as nobody wants to get interrupted by freakingly annoying “battery low” alerts amid a Zelda walkthrough or a Co-op session.
According to reports by industry insiders Emily Rogers and Laura Kate Dale, Switch is said to accommodate just 3 hours of battery life at maximum. Which is, undoubtedly, very low. Also, it should be noted that Switch has entered into production so this might be the finalized product. Nintendo must need to figure out this battery problem before shipping the final product.
The Price
The second most concerning thing about Switch is going to be it’s price. Nobody wants to buy a console less powerful but priced same as that of the PS4 and Xbox One. Its not my choice atleast.
Switch needs to be around ₹20,000 to ₹29,999 (199-299 USD) but nothing more than that. ₹29,999 (or 299 USD) needs to be the price cap for the portable retail version of Switch. On the off chance it exceeds that limit, nobody but die-hard Nintendo fans are going to trade-in there Wii U to get this one. Cost is not the concerning certainty for Nintendo fans, however, if Nintendo wants to take hold of the handheld gaming market it needs to consider price for anyone who’s going to ditch their current handheld/console over Switch.
The Rest
Nintendo Switch is powered by Nvidia’s custom Tegra processor that also powers Nvidia’s own Shield tablet which itself has a price tag of 199 USD (around ₹14,000). Currently, PS4 and Xbox One are priced at ₹28,000 (289 USD in US) and ₹25,000 (239 USD in US) respectively. Furthermore, as Eurogamer explains Tegra processor is more powerful than PS3 and Xbox 360 but less powerful than PS4 and Xbox One.
Would you be willing enough to get a portable that cost you about the same money as that the high power console does? Probably not.
Battery and cost is by all account not the only thing to get distraught at. Reports suggest that Switch will incorporate a 720p display for best experience(lol… Even my smartphone’s screen resolution is higher than that). If these reports are true (which are accurate so far)….may the god have mercy on you Nintendo fans.
I’m also annoyed at the Joy-Con controllers which looks beautifully uncomfortable, though Nintendo has effectively sorted this out with Xbox-like Switch Pro controller (that’s going to sold separately). But what if a huge guy with huge palms, like our Editor, Ayush (lol… Sorry man), who bought the base variant of Switch (with no Switch Pro controller bundled) going to play with these Joy-Cons during a particular game that requires hard hitting and smashing.
I’m not very fond of Nintendo and I don’t know much about them. I don’t have any Nintendo console and I haven’t played their titles yet (not all of them but most of them). I might sound like a Nintendo hater right now but believe me I’m not. I really like Nintendo’s vision behind Switch and I have to admit that this is the most innovative console to date. Meanwhile, I also don’t want to compromise with my gaming needs at the name of innovation. I’m also impressed by their third-party lineup from the likes of Square Enix, Activision, and even Bethesda for the first time, and loads of more.
Switch will start shipping from March 2017, along with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (the first Nintendo title I’m pretty excited about). Until then… fingers crossed.
