It happened. This morning Nintendo took the wraps off of its brand new console, the Nintendo Switch.
The rumors floating around the web over the last few months turned out to be mostly true.
The device is “console-first” according to Nintendo, though you wouldn’t know it by the sheer design. Housed in a screen 6″ wide or so are the guts of the Switch. Nintendo has not revealed if the LCD will be touch-capable or not, but development kits are rumored to incorporate data for a 10-point multitouch capacitive screen. No specific hardware power is discussed either, but Nvidia has confirmed that it is powering the device. A custom version of the company’s Tegra X1 (or an early X2) may be behind the GPU. An important note: The X1 chip is capable of outputting 4K video, much like Microsoft’s Xbox One S console, so Ultra High Def streaming could be a thing with the Switch.
The screen will also work with amiibo and incorporates a kickstand for viewing. Nintendo will even leave the courage with Link, by incorporating a headphone jack for audio preferences. Games will be stored on an internal hard drive (size TBD) and game cartridges (named Game Cards) instead of Blu Rays.
Miniature controllers, named Joy-Cons, can be attached to either side of the HD screen. While not much is known about these either (eg. how they attach, how they’re powered/charged, if there are motion controls) we can ascertain that there are four action face buttons, an analog stick, special menu button (+ or -, depending on the side) and two shoulder buttons. One of the Joy-Cons has a home menu button as well. This would bring the total to 7+ buttons each, or about 15 total (if not more).
If user wish to play at home, the device can be slid vertically into a dock, zipping the video output through HDMI to a TV for big screen play. The dock itself has multiple USB ports for accessories and charging, though what those are is still unknown.
Players can either use the Joy-Cons as their controllers for the console while at home, or plug the mini controllers into into a dog-faced hub that functions more like a traditional (albeit big) game pad. Finally, Nintendo showed that a Switch Pro controller would also be available, similar to the Wii & Wii U pro controllers and looking a lot like Amazon’s Fire gaming pad.
Nintendo wants the Switch to be a device that lets user take their console experience with them, without sacrificing visual fidelity or multiplayer gaming.
It launches March 2017.
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