I was hoping someone else would post this because I was too lazy to format, but fine, I lost this game of chicken.
Not Really New Rumors From Emily RogersFor those too lazy:
Disclaimer: Everything in this blog post is rumor until proven otherwise. Please take everything with a grain of salt.
Here is what you can expect from the final retail product:
-Custom Nvidia GPU chip
-Region Free (No region lock)
-Six inch (6.2 inch?) multi-touch screen (Heard nothing about a stylus)
-The touchscreen has 720p resolution.
-32GB of built-in internal storage
-SD card support
-Supports USB 2.0 and 3.0
-The dock has two 2.0 usb ports and one 3.0 usb port.
-The device is around 14 – 15 mm in thickness.
-The right analogue stick (or circle pad?) will be below the face buttons.
-Camera and microphone are not built into/inside the NX portable device.
-Cooling is still a little noisy
-Detachable controllers (motion controls and next-gen vibration technology) <– Everything Laura Kate Dale said in her article was correct.
-Share / Social button that Laura Kate Dale posted is true.
-There are *at least* two shoulder buttons.
-Battery Life — Ehhh not great. I haven’t heard an exact number of hours, but it doesn’t sound great.
-Below PS4 and XB1 in raw power.
-Supports Unreal Engine 4 and Unity Engine.
My Thoughts (this section became longer than intended so I don't expect everyone to read it):
1. Cooling is noisy because development kits are using X1. Final hardware will be based on nvidia's recently announced Parker SOC while also based on already available Pascal GPU architecture (16nm FinFET process) with all the automobile stuff stripped out for obvious reasons. There will be no heat sink on the retail unit because one makes no sense on a handheld. Nintendo is going with something based on Parker for energy efficiency rather the performance boost.
2. Region free is pretty nice. It's something Iwata mentioned Nintendo was thinking about. I think this is a smart move. Region locking is not worth the trouble to implement since few people will take advantage of it anyway.
3. A 6.2 inch screen is surprising as it's portable yet not pocketable. This decision is oddly encouraging. Pockets are for phones these days, but that doesn't mean people won't still carry NX in a bag. This could be a preliminary hint that Nintendo is starting to understand its place.
4. Nintendo had no choice but to go at least 720p with a screen that large in 2017. If Iwata's "brothers in a family of systems" ever comes to pass, I'd expect a 1080p screen at some point.
5. Not really understanding why Nintendo would still be fucking with USB 2.0. I hope this is a development kit thing. There to show it will be there but not representative of the final product. Anything less than USB 3.0 is unacceptable though I'd push for USB 3.1. It's backward compatible and standard now. No excuse for this if true.
6. Depth of 14mm to 15mm is encouraging as it's much thinner (and likely lighter) than the GamePad. With Parker, Nintendo can fit a larger battery in there.
7. I expect a camera and microphone if only for backward compatibility and augmented reality.
8. Everyone keeps speculating that the detachable controllers are so you can play two player games with them. One thing I haven't heard anyone mention is that each part would then require a battery. That adds weight and cost. My thinking is that the physical buttons detach to make the touchscreen easier to hold for games that heavily use the touch screen. Doubtful Nintendo ever pushes dual screens at home. When demoing Breath of the Wild, Nintendo admitted that forcing players to look away from the TV disrupted gameplay. I would not be surprised DS/3DS backward compatibility on the go was achieved by viewing the screen vertically.
This also has the added benefit of allowing people to really punish the controller parts with impunity without having to worry about replacing the whole unit. I can personally attest to this. I prefer not using the GamePad for fear of wearing it out. I don't doubt that there will be niche peripherals in lieu of the standard layout.
9. Social/share button is likely the Miiverse button. I'd be downright shocked if it was for something like Twitch or YouTube. I'd never use it, but I'd welcome it. I could see maybe a menu popping up. Then again, couldn't that just be implemented by pressing the home button. Who knows?
10. I'll judge battery life once we know what the SOC is in this thing. I'm hoping for 10 hours. Anything less than 5 hours is garbage-tier. Either way, I will almost always have this thing docked. I'd prefer if there was a straight-up home version of this and consumers can buy a touchscreen separately though that confuses the messaging here. A powerful handheld with HDMI-out is the right call. Once the platform is established with Nintendo (hopefully) nailing the marketing, it can start releasing other models.
11. I'm okay with NX being below Xbox One in power considering NX is, by all respected accounts, a portable that trounces Wii U. Being on a modern API (Vulkan) and natively supporting most modern engines will help tremendously. EA's Frostbite engine may be the only holdout and even that can probably be ported. Additionally, Neo and Scorpio probably won't change anything either.
Topic: Switchmas Eve Rumors and Speculations Thread (Read 675067 times)
