Report: Nintendo Switch Isn't as Powerful as a PS4

[Karadalis]

The people who are going "oh but its not about them graphics!"...

Its not only about the graphics, its about the entire system performing rather poorly.

Wich then made the plattform very unatractive to AAA developers since it was nigh impossible to port their AAA games to it. Does anyone remember dead rising for the Wii? Even capcom couldnt pull it off.. the game was horrible compared to its other versions.

Nintendo allways wants to have its cake and eat it too... but thats not how the modern gaming world functions!

No ones going to develope a AAA title exclusively for one console only, especially one with such a limited (compared to having the big 3) market as nintendo currently has. (unless nintendo themselves foot the bill, but seeing that nintendo ALSO developes their own games thats not going to happen very often during the lifecycle of one of their consoles)

Splitscreen coop? Wich AAA game of the last couple of years had that? And who really wants to play splitscreen on a tiny tablet using flimsy small controllers that seem to be using their own batteries? (even more batteries that can run out of charge... dont forget to buy the official nintendo recharging station for 49.99 or invest heavily into batteries!)

You will have mario cart and smash brothers for that function... thats it...

It also doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that the sliding parts on the thing will eventually become loose the more you use it, thats how it works with plastic especially if you use it in its portable form alot. (remember to buy the official nintendo classic controller for another 49.99)

Also a DS is a rather solid construction, the screens are protected from scratches rather nicely if you fold it together. making it easy to take everywhere you go even if you just put it into a backpack. And yet i still cant imagine one single scenario where i would simply sit outside and play my DS in public. Im sorry but that is such an unlikely scenario.


And yet that scenario is exactly what they use as a sales argument? Taking your 300+ dollar tablet thats allmost all screen with no protection to places where it can easaly get damaged, stolen or scratched up so you can show off infront of your friends who will more likely laugh about your poor purchase desicion? (Better buy the official nintendo switch carry sheath... only 39.99)

And then theres the fact that nintendo is so paranoid about piracy that they are going to force everyone who wants to develope for their plattform to use SD cards. A move that makes the switch even more unattractive for 3rd party support since now they have to develope for Disc AND SD card and also pay for two different factory lanes... and the SD will cost them extra since theres no way they can order the same bulk amount for the switch cause compared to the other 3 it has a rather limited consumer base from the getgo. (dont forget to buy the official nintendo SD card pouch, only 29.99!)

As i said before: Handhelds dont sell. People who play mobile games are NOT looking for 60 $ AAA games, they look for things like candy crush, peggle and other time wasters. They do not want to play skyrim on teeny weeny screens. That the DS did so well in comparison to the PsP and Vita is more due to the fact that pokemon and animal crossing are still a thing and that many japanese developers like atlus, square and capcom supported the DS, thanks to nintendo striking exclusive deals with these (also compared to a big console its rather on the cheap side and ofcourse cheap to develope for) But when people buy a 300$ console they expect more. Theres a huge difference in buying a 40 dollar game now and then for your dusty DS then to look at your 300 $ switch everyday and noticing that you have nothing to play on the bloody thing and how stupid you feel for actually buying one, afterall the Wii and Wii U had the same damn problem.

Now dont get me wrong, nintendo is not going anywhere...

But i do believe that their days as console manufacturers are rather limited.

 

[gorfias]

x

Then again, I really wonder who actually thought Nintendo would come out with a some sort of superpowerful machine. Hasn't really been part of their MO, so to say.

Not recently anyway. The 8 bit NES was supposedly better than the 8 big sega machine, 16 SNES more powerful than the Sega offering, but developers figured out how to use a chip meant for timing to add even more processing power (For Starfox). The N64 was much more powerful than the PS1 (but its continued dependence upon cartridges killed them that round). Gamecube much faster, sturdier and more powerful than the PS2. But they lost. I think that's when they decided power wasn't everything.

I'm not surprised about the Switch's power. It's a tablet and a small one at that. And it is supposed to compete with a device the size of a briefcase?

I hope it does well.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Im also not really sure what market this thing is even aimed at.

The spontaneous rooftop party demographic, duh.

 

[weirdee]

They've put themselves into a tough situation, but they're making the same mistakes to try to get out of it, it seems. Rushing anything to market has never really worked out for them.

 

[Living_Brain]

To everyone saying, "no shit it's a handheld", keep in mind that they could have gotten NVIDIA's newer chip, a mobile gaming chip, that would match or beat the PS4. The ps4 is weak, and years old now; it would not have been difficult.

 

[Ukomba]

It's a handheld console with a home dock, of course it's not. Was anyone really expecting it to? It's like comparing Laptop and Desktop computers.

 

[chozo_hybrid]

Snip

I agree entirely, don't need to convince me Consoles are kind of phasing themselves out in a weird way aren't they.

 

[Saulkar]

TFlops have little to do with real world gaming performance

I wonder which marketing department first came up with using FLOPS in their marketing. FLOPS are a perfectly fine way to measure the performance of hardware (certainly much better than (M/G)Hz), but it doesn't help anyone for a variety of reasons:
[ol]
[li]the average gamer doesn't really know what it means[/li]
[li]even among those people who do, only very few have a feeling for the order of magnitude[/li]
[li]it measures the performance of the hardware, which doesn't tell you a whole lot about the performance of the games running on it later[/li]
[/ol]

Tell me about it. My workstation graphics card has only 5.2 TFLOPS of single precision power compared to the 8 point something on an acquaintance's GTX 1080 yet I completely murder him in every single OpenGL and 3D viewport application; He still insists that I am somehow cheating. There are so many other factors at play that using FLOPS for accurately determining the raw potential of a piece of hardware in a software application is incredibly rare and gaming is not one of those applications.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

To everyone saying, "no shit it's a handheld", keep in mind that they could have gotten NVIDIA's newer chip, a mobile gaming chip, that would match or beat the PS4.

And how much would it have hiked the price of the console?

 

[L34dP1LL]

The controller looking about as comfortable to hold as a Dreamcast one isn't going to help much either.

Hopefully it will amount to more than being the "Breath of the Wild box."

And Skyrim Go.

 

[sagitel]

The controller looking about as comfortable to hold as a Dreamcast one isn't going to help much either.

Hopefully it will amount to more than being the "Breath of the Wild box."

And Skyrim Go.

oh yeah. that five years old game that everyone and their mom played. whose main selling point were the mods. things that if nintendo allow on their device, i will eat my shirt.

i really dont get who they are releasing skyrim for. eveyone who wanted it got the vanilla and/or legendary version on the 360, ps3 and pc. and then they all got the special edition too. so who is this going to sell to?

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Besides, if consoles start with "upgradeable machinery" they will surely make custom pieces which cost a ton more than computer parts.

Then we will see games locked out unless the player has Version 3 of the console with X, Y and Z optional upgrades.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

TFlops have little to do with real world gaming performance

True, but the speed in which they are processed, do.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Except, we're not.

If we weren't, then why aren't games like Overwatch or CS:GO all low res games?

 

[Chaosian]

In response to the sentiment of "it's a handheld, there's no problem with this" I think your point is being drowned out by the sound of third party support dying off for this thing before it's even released. A huge chunk of the core market Nintendo is yet again trying to appeal back to is dying off with it.

As someone who is currently in the industry working on a game, I can say that having to worry about optimization can make or break a port. It's why you have never heard the name of a game engine that natively exports to Wii or Wii U, but most things will compile for Linux now - despite the audience probably being not even 1% the size of Nintendo's. A lot of teams won't want to spend months working to downgrade their game from development machines to PS4 (which is already difficult and time consuming), and then further to the Switch.

Of course, it all depends on the end hardware specs, and exactly *how* much worse it is, but it's not a good sign to get this early. This could easily start the signal of the 9th console generation here and it's already weaker than the 8th. It's not exactly the 'best foot forward'.

 

[Guffe]

Besides, if consoles start with "upgradeable machinery" they will surely make custom pieces which cost a ton more than computer parts.

Then we will see games locked out unless the player has Version 3 of the console with X, Y and Z optional upgrades.

This could very well be true.
But I can't see a way in which the consoles can use any/all hardware either, since that would just mean they are normal PCs.
There must be some restriction or specific hardware if they want to call is a "Playstation" or "Xbox" and to be able to have exclusive content.

 

[Guffe]

x

Then again, I really wonder who actually thought Nintendo would come out with a some sort of superpowerful machine. Hasn't really been part of their MO, so to say.

. Gamecube much faster, sturdier and more powerful than the PS2. But they lost. I think that's when they decided power wasn't everything.

I hope it does well.

The GC more powerful than the PS2
I had always thought that that era was when Sony went past Nintendo in terms of power in the machine.
You learn something new every day

 

[gorfias]

The GC more powerful than the PS2
I had always thought that that era was when Sony went past Nintendo in terms of power in the machine.
You learn something new every day

Nope. That was the next gen with the PS3 curb stomping the Wii. That was a tougher Gen for me to pick a winner. Wii consoles sold extremely well and they weren't even HD! They were bought by casual gamers (some from my own family). The PS3 got off to a horrible start but by the end of that gen it was really catching on.

The Cube came out about a year after the PS2, giving Nintendo time to do what Microsoft is doing now with the Scorpio (taking an extra year to develop more power at a doable price).

Example from Resident Evil 4

When PS2 outsold Xbox and Gamecube by about 4 to 1, everyone's business models changed. While the difference in power is easy to see, the PS2 version still did what it needed to do.

And Wii, and then Wii U, did what they need to do in terms of power. I think the Switch will as well. But will people buy it? I hope so. I love these 3 competitor (4 if you include PC) "wars" because we consumers win. (Or lose in a way. I keep buying all four. Truly not sure if I will this time. My PC library alone is out of control and so am I.)