Last night was the formal presentation of the long awaited Nintendo Switch. Although the Nintendo Switch is not new in terms of being news, it is the first time we were able to see what it’s capable of to some degree on a hardware level and of course we got to see some games. Nintendo put on a good show and it exciting to see gaming look like fun. Best part of the presentation was the announcement that the Switch will be $300 and available in just under two months on March 3rd.
DESIGN
The design of the Nintendo Switch is probably the most striking feature of the new console because that design makes the Switch so multi faceted. There’s the dock that connects to your TV, the Switch itself, the Controller dock and the two joy pads which you can either connect to the controller dock or use individually depending on the game you’re playing or if you’re going to be traveling.
The Switch’s design allows the Switch to do so much. This can either be a good thing or a bad thing but for now, we’ll consider it a good thing. What the developers showed us at the presentation was how it all makes sense in different scenarios with different games. There were different accessories for the Joy cons and the developers showed off the tech involved with the creation of the Joy cons. The Switch is going to give gamers a very unique experience one way or another similar to how the Wii did when it was first introduced. If you want the specifics you can check out the presentation HERE and see for yourself.
GAMES
No console will survive in the gaming market without games. You can have all the tech and gimmickry you want but it means nothing without good games. One would like to think that Nintendo prepared for that fact considering that the Wii U was such a flop but the lineup of games for the North American launch leaves much to be desired. That’s the bad news. We’re looking at a lineup of these titles:
1,2 Switch
Just Dance 2017
Has Been Heroes
Supperclips
Super Bomberman R
Disgaea 5 Complete
Puyo Puyo Tetris
Rayman Legends
Steep
Skylanders: Imaginators
I am Setsuna
The good news is, according to Nintendo they have at least 80 third-party developers creating games for them while they deal with the initial launch. From what I saw it all looked good. Mario has a new open world game that looked reminiscent of Mario 64 with Super Mario Odyssey. The game everyone wants to play, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has been confirmed for the March 3rd launch so if you get a Switch, you can get Zelda too. The presentation did show promise in the games that will be coming forthwith so although the initial launch of games appears to be weak, you can expect that in the coming weeks and months that the highly anticipated titles will start rolling out. This is what will keep folks involved. With games like Splatoon 2, Skyrim, FIFA, NBA 2k18, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, XenoBlade Chronicles 2, four new Dragon Quest games, Project Octopath Traveller from Square Enix, Sonic Mania and Minecraft. It will allow for the Switch to be competitive and not suffer the fate of the Wii U.
Specs
Nintendo has been very vague about the guts of the Switch and that didn’t change much during the presentation. Nintendo gave us some idea of what the Switch has under the hood. The Switch is a 6.2 inch device with a 720p multitouch display when disconnected from the dock and a 1080p device when connected to the dock via HDMI. We also know that the Switch is running on a custom Nvidia Tegra processor. Again, details are vague.
As far as the storage goes, the Switch includes 32gb of onboard memory with expansion being available in the use of MicroSD cards. That sounds like it could get expensive considering that games nowadays are rather large and microSD cards at 256 and 512gb are exorbitantly priced. Yikes.
Nintendo also says that the Switch has a battery life off dock of 2.5 – 6 hours although I suspect that with all devices of this type that the actual battery life will fall somewhere in the middle at about 3 hours. The Switch also supports Wifi with an 802.11 AC connection being standard while allowing you to connect up to 8 different Switch consoles for multiplayer. You can use ethernet with the USB LAN adaptor that the Switch will also have available.
When can you buy it?
The Nintendo Switch is currently available for pre-order right now so you can check your favorite retailer and check for their pre-order policy or you can just wait until March 3rd but I imagine that there will be frenzy to get your hands on one of these consoles. So good luck
