Introduction

So as most of you should know, the long rumored NX was finally unveiled by Nintendo through an announcement trailer on their youtube channel. The console is named the Nintendo Switch and rumors about it being a handheld and home console hybrid does indeed seem to be true. Overall this marks a major departure from the direction of its competitors even going back to use of cartridges. 

This brings us to the point of discussion, whether or not Nintendo seem stuck in the thinking that spawned the financial failure of the Wii U. In analyzing this, there will be comparison with the Wii U. If you haven't I suggest reading an article I wrote earlier this year where I tried to analyze the key reason for why the Wii U failed and my opinion on how Nintendo consoles  could be made financially successful again. It can be found here. This may also go without saying but if you haven't I would also suggest checking out official the announcement trailer for yourself before reading this ,as I will be referencing it.

Along the way I will also be talking about any high points as well as concerns to have about the console right now. Do keep in mind this is a VERY early analysis. Much, if not all of what I say here could change considering what we have to go on is just the announcement trailer and some statements made in connection to the reveal. None of this should been as entirely factual. With that said, this should hopefully be an interesting read for those of you interested in the console.


Being Different Without Forcing a Gimmick

Now the first thing we need to discuss when looking at the Switch is the concept of the console itself. As you may be aware what I identified as one of the key reasons for the Wii U failing was considering the gamepad a forced-in gimmick. Something that was put into the console simply to make it stand out with little regard for how this could have a negative impact. It added a lot to the cost of the Wii U and had little added benefit. Not many games really utilized it well and in many cases it became viewed as an obstacle due to people preferring a more standard controller or developers feeling forced to somehow have to utilize it, this later lead to the introduction of the pro controller.

At first glance the Switch would seem to be following in the Wii U's footsteps possibly being a cause for alarm. However in function it's actually fairly different and the trailer illustrates this. Notice that the controller button layout seems to very much be that of a traditional controller, and in when playing it at home, it should function much like a regular home console without any particular added gimmicks. The screen becomes part of the console and the controller itself looks and functions not all that different from a PS4 or Xbox One controller.

In stead it only really differs when it comes to the portability and even here we don't see any particular added gimmicks. Being a bit similar to a Wii U gamepad except it is itself the entire console. One can also notice the buttons themselves being placed differently for what seems like a more ergonomic design to that of the gamepad. While both sides of the controller can be detached this isn't something that at all needs to be utilised in games and in fact seems more like an added option, particularly intended for some multiplayer games as shown in the trailer.

Realizing what Sony and Microsoft Doesn't

In stead this seems like a step in the right direction. The console is clearly different from the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 but this is a good thing. Nintendo needs to find a niche by doing things differently compared to the other major companies. This has been the company's selling point for some time now and is a large part of what allowed the Wii to be successful.

I personally find the direction they're taking to be a great initiative by Nintendo and I'll explain why: One of the most notable things about the direction the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is in my opinion that they seem to be moving more towards mimicking PCs in their function. There are good things about this, such as introducing many new features, being able to stream through your console, having many social features and more. In some aspects it succeeds in bringing some of the features of a PC and making them more accessible to a wider audience. I can testament to this with my main gaming platform for the last two years having been the PlayStation 4.

The problem is this isn't entirely the case. Trying to make the console function closer to a PC is done to a point where it starts to reduce the ease of accessibility that have historically been the selling point of home consoles. Games need to be pre installed often times taking several more hours to install than the same game would on PC, further made worse by having to install large patches. Removing this ease where you can just "pop in the disc and play" that consoles have allowed for. On top of these concerns, is the limited storage space of an Xbox One and PlayStation 4 originally having a limit of 500gb which is often a big problem today with some big games alone taking up 50-60gb memory with patches. That's more than 10% of all storage space being used for a single game.

I feel this isn't going to work in the long run because put simply a console is not going to be able best PC gaming at providing the experience of PC gaming. PC is always going to have some natural advantages like automatic backwards compatibility, a wider selection of games at cheaper prices (because of the many different services that sell them) and due to easily being able to use things like text chat for communicating which becomes much harder when using a controller.

Which bring us back to the Switch. Here we have a console that seems to clearly realize that and tries to be different and utilize the capabilities unique to a dedicated gaming console, and even more notably the strengths Nintendo have. A hybrid console is very different to a regular gaming PC and it makes sense to integrate the two as handheld gaming has been Nintendo's strong point as a company ever since the release of the GBA. The use of cartridges as opposed to discs seems to further illustrate that this is the direction Nintendo wants to take. The games will be stored on the actual cartridge itself. Cartridges were originally abandoned because of storage limitations and how cumbersome they were to produce games for, this no longer seems to be the case as technology has since improved and should be able to make them a viable option yet again. Which is going to appeal to this casual audience that originally caused the Wii to do very well. This brings me to the next major topic of discussion...


Trying to Recapture the Wii Audience

This is another major shift that Nintendo has made compared to that of the Wii U. Many argue that perhaps the principal reason the Wii U failed was how it was marketed. Before and even after launch many less avid gamers who didn't keep up with the latest gaming trends thought the Wii U was an add on to the Wii. In large part thanks to the name "Wii U" and the fact that the marketing was almost entirely focused on the gamepad without actually showing much of the console itself. One could assume this caused many people to dismiss the console simply because of not knowing it existed, making for a bad launch that would lay the foundation for many problems to come.

So far we've only really seen the trailer, but if taken as a representation of the direction their marketing is taking we can already notice a clear improvement compared to the Wii U. It's short being 3 minutes and 20 seconds but during this time shows you pretty much everything you would want to know about the console from a surface level. It shows every aspect, how it can be used as a home console, and how easily it transitions to become a handheld. In doing this it also shows the aforementioned ease of play that consoles have been known for. You simply put in the cartridge and play.

It also shows how the controller works, and how it can be taken apart turning one large controller into two smaller controllers looking more like NES controllers. This is another smart and seemingly careful move by Nintendo , and I'll explain why. Many casual gamers especially some older enjoy video games as a social experience. They may find the several different buttons on a controller imposing and seemingly hard to learn (something we more avid gamers don't really consider now as we're so used to this controller layout). This is another reason motion gaming was successful because using motion to control your character in a game makes a lot more sense to someone new to gaming and was a lot easier to grasp than trying to learn how 15 different buttons on a controller work. While this doesn't use motion, Nintendo still finds a way to simplify things for that audience going back to its roots. Without sacrificing any depth for more serious gamers, just combine the smaller controllers and it will function as your standard modern controller yet again.

This otherwise simple example I think says a lot about the direction Nintendo could be trying to take. It's realizing it needs to recapture this casual audience but tries to do so while still keeping the loyal and more serious gamers in mind. They know their target groups and is coming at them with a clear message as to why you should be interested in the console, what it has to offer. Aside from the console itself it also shows this through showing various games throughout the trailer...

The Hardware and 3rd Party Support

The trailer shows a large variety of different games being played. This includes some hit games from the Wii U like Splatoon and Mario Kart 8 as well as the yet to be released Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. More notable however are the 3rd party games shown which seems to include Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition and NBA 2K17. While none of these games are officially announced to be coming to the console, it seems likely they will be announced as part of the launch lineup in March.

This is significant for a lot of reasons. Firstly the variety of games shown seems to indicate that the Switch will have a solid launch lineup with all kinds of games, contrary to both the Wii U and even the Xbox One/PlayStation 4. Here Nintendo seems to yet again be taking into consideration the problems the Wii U had with its weak launch lineup causing many to lose interest, not just that but even learning from the mistakes of their opponents as well.  The most significant part of this is the 3rd party games shown. Bethesda and 2K like most other major 3rd party developers dropped support for the Wii U with the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The Wii U stayed afloat almost entirely thourgh 1st party IPs which for a long time left it in a state of having a very limited library of games to play. However these companies now seem to be in full support of the Wii U and are only a small part of a large list of companies Nintendo have partnered with. This would seem to imply that Nintendo is trying to focus on 3rd party support and judging by this list may very well be successful in doing so.

The trailer showing these games running on the Switch could indicate it being similar in terms of hardware power to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. This would make sense as Nintendo's benchmark to hit. As Sony and Microsoft are now moving towards Scorpio and Neo and 4k support for maximum graphical fidelity they're still retaining support for the original PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In doing so reaching this minimum will allow for companies to more easily port games to the Switch without having to make significant downgrades and implementing touchpad functionally like was often the case with the Wii U.

Nintendo is Learning From Their Mistakes

This all leads to one important conclusion, which distinctly separates the Switch from the Wii U. The Wii U was designed around the gimmick of the gamepad first and fire most and the marketing reflected this. Letting 3rd party developers adapt to it, which eventually lead to them abandoning the console as sales started to drop. It essentially became more trouble to develop for than it was worth. Overall this lead to its fall.

The Switch however was specifically designed with 3rd party support in mind, to allow these developers to be able more easily develop games. Not just in terms of hardware, but the concept itself. Moving towards a traditional controller, having the use of cartridges, and having a selling point that sets the console apart from competitors but is not a gimmick that turns into a hurdle for developers. This is not a coincidence but rather Nintendo learning from all the mistakes they made with the Wii U. They've already realized the importance of having a wide game library and ease of access while at the same time not abandoning what has historically set Nintendo apart for other console manufacturers, not being afraid to do things differently.

Now does this means there is nothing to be concerned about? Not exactly...

The Big Question Marks

Now based on what I've concluded so far, everything seems to be in order for Nintendo. But there are some aspects that could drastically affect how this console will do that have yet to be cleared up. The first is the battery life. Being a hybrid console it is important that Nintendo makes sure the Switch has sufficient battery life to function as a portable console. A practical example of this could mean being able to last for a long plane trip like shown in the trailer. What makes this questionable is looking back at the Wii U gamepad. The Wii U was less powerful than the Switch will be and the actual console being separate from the gamepad only made it semi portable. Despite this the battery life was only 4-5 hours. This is less of a problem when you're at home and should have an easier time charging it after each individual session. The Switch is touted as a fully portable console however and is significantly more powerful.

This could suggest one of two troublesome scenarios. The first is the battery life being comparable or shorter than that of the gamepad which would be a problem as that would mean a major flaw with the console's design. It is something that could ruin its entire selling point as it would severely limit its portability.  The solution to this could be using a higher quality battery, but this brings up the second question mark which is also worrying, namely the price. Something like that could bump up the price and with this supposedly being on the level of the PS4 and Xbox One in terms of hardware already, could make it very expensive.

The console being expensive could seriously hurt its chances of succeeding with the casual crowd Nintendo otherwise seems to be working hard to recapture. This is the main concern I see with the console as it stands and due to having more or less no information on the battery life or price so far we can do little but guess. Hopefully Nintendo will have taken this into consideration as they seem to have done with the many other aspects.

In Conclusion

Regardless of the lingering question mark in terms of battery life and the price, what can be said is that Nintendo seems to be taking a step in the right direction. They are learning from many of the mistakes they've made with the Wii U and overall actually seem to have a clear vision this time which they're working towards. One that is different from other consoles and PC gaming while at the same time making Nintendo relevant in the console wars once again. While it's of course very early on and I may be shown wrong on this, I am going to say that based on what we know, there seems to be real hope for Nintendo this time. If they handle this well it could lead to them becoming a power player in gaming once again.

You're wrong. Wow that was fun the first time around, but it was even better the second time.

Seriously though, you said a lot of things here so I'll just group my thoughts on it all together as neatly as possible.

Where I disagree
•Nintendo needs to be different.
Couldn't disagree more (as you already know). My reasoning is simple: Nintendo won the eight and sixteen bit generations without a doubt in terms of sales. The N64 is where they started to decline. A key point of interest in this is that the N64 is when Nintendo started trying to do things differently than their competitors. N64 it was cartridge over disc like Sony and SEGA. GameCube it was minidiscs and lack of connectivity. Wii it was...everything. Wii U again ditched controllers. And while Wii was popular as sales go, we both agree on that, having both studied it's sales trends.

The need to be different is Nintendo's own thinking. They either think they can't compete or they need to come up with a reason why their competitors are beating them. They feel they will fail if they go full on console. Nintendo needs a console that's heavy on the power and gets up in MS and Sony's faces. I know people say "low price points and slightly weaker has been Nintendo's pitch for years now" but those people also need to look at Nintendo's track record in sales and legitimate popularity in consoles since the mid nineties.


•Cartiridges was a good call. Now this was only implied. I disagree however as despite the fact that cartridges have advanced in capabilities they are still inferior, as discs have as well.


•Xbox One and PS4 are a step in the wrong direction. Again, implied only. Still while I agree that full installs is a bad idea, I also feel that the added abilities of these two consoles over systems of the past, along with the accessibility and power, is a huge plus for console gaming, keeping it relevant.

The Switch has some good things about it, but those good things (in my opinion) are as follows: third party support, normal control schemes, and increased power finally. Hey, they had my attention with just a controller.
I'm interested in the Switch, again because it has a controller and no gimmicks. Still handhelds/console hybrid is a huge step backwards in my opinion. Consoles are already struggling to stay relevant thanks to gamers getting so greedy and comparing their specs to PCs constantly, and thanks to sites like Steam. They've already had to adopt mid-gen refreshes and now Xbox is killing generations to try keeping up and staying relevant. The Switch is roughly as powerful (in theory) as the PS4. The PS4: a three year old console that was outdated in comparison to console gaming's biggest threat when it was released. So what, that makes the Switch outdated by like six to ten years? Hybrids would pull the console market back 5-10 years and kill the last thing keeping them relevant in today's world. Again, opinion.


Where I agree
•A step in the right direction for Nintendo. Yes, this thing is HUGE for Nintendo. It shows an open admission and acceptance of their mistakes in the past. Pride is an insanely big deal with the big N, and to see them owning up is impressive and gives me hope.

They finally got off of the gimmick and motion control kicks and went for power, enough power to field the same games as their competitors, even if they have to be slightly dialed down (may or may not). This is the best move Nintendo has made in decades. Best call since the SNES honestly. I am so glad to see this.


•Third party support. This is a big big win for Nintendo. They've been lacking support in general since the N64 released (excepting Wii), and it was painfully lacking in the Wii U. To land third party support on their consoles is a massive improvement and one that will probably save their backsides. The Switch will succeed in my opinion, but it will be because of this, and not because of it's portability. It will succeed in spite of it's portability.





As for the article: very well documented. It shows how much thought went into this. Good write, man.

Eirinn : You're wrong. This'll be fun.

-Discs are superior because they've advanced just like Cartridges have. This is wrong, because all games are better ran from solid state, which is exactly what cartridges do. Moreover, we only changed to discs in the past because there was a shortage of computer chips and manufacturing discs was cheaper. Just like a computer, Solid State Drives are better than Hard Disk Drives.

That's the only point I particularly wanted to argue.

Eirinn : To slightly articulate on what Yosh has stated, even a micro SD card can be up to 128 GB, which is about equal to a blu-ray disc, it had a MUCH faster read time and eliminates the need for an internal harddrive on the console. This saves power and produces less heat.

I also have to disagree with your 8 and 16 bit comparison. We have to take into account that that was basically the beginning of popular home consoles and was 20 years ago. If the wheel didn't need reinventing from time to time, they'd still be made out of stone.

Zlinqx : battery life was one of my initial concerns, but the GPU they're basing it on is supposed to be more powerful and 40% more efficient than the last model, which paired with the lack of an internal HDD, could greatly improve battery life.

yoshirulez! : Just throwing this out there because of your opening comment: methinks you misunderstood the intent of my "You're wrong. That was fun etc." comment. It was a continuation of a joke made by Zlinqx in a PM to me earlier. I didn't actually mean I derived pleasure from correcting or contradicting him.

Also have you looked into the differences brought about from the PSX disc to the PS2, to the Blu-ray? They've gained a lot of ground and blu-ray are able to render much higher quality than even the average DVD. This is one reason why Blu-ray is viewed as the superior choice in physical mediums of entertainment. And of course, there's still storage space. Also bear in mind that modern console games are installed fully on the system, meaning it's not read from the disc, but from the system's HDD. Digital is as direct as data reading gets. This much at least is a plus of the full installs.


m0ssb3rg935 : Reference what I said to him. Digital is still superior to any of it. Less encoding, decoding, etc. It's all right there in the system already.

As for reinventing the wheel: slapping a new material on it isn't reinventing. Still, going back is going back. That's my take on it. The next step from disc is digital if you want performance enhancement, and modern disc systems do that.

I want to be cautiously optimistic about the Switch. I haven't bought a Nintendo non-handheld since the Gamecube (we had a Wii, but I never used it, much), and I'm hoping this console gets me to do just that.

I both love and hate the controller design. I am most likely to use the "pro" controller because I think the tablet+joysticks thing is just too cumbersome looking.

I do not believe Sony and Microsoft went the wrong direction. I believe they went a good direction. Their architecture is more PC-like than it was in the past generation, but with the popularity of PC gaming, I think this was to be expected. With that said, I love that Nintendo is going to try to appeal to both core gamers (Skyrim!) and their own fan base (Mario/Pokemon/etc).

The thing I've hated about past Nintendo consoles is a lack of decent third party support. If the Switch can run Skyrim, it will probably be able to run just about any other third party game presently on the PS3/4/One/360.

With Nintendo making that shift, they've potentially brought someone who doesn't play Nintendo games anymore, back into the fold.

My main concerns with the Switch are as follows:
1. Controller- looks ugly and cumbersome. Would rather use the pro controller.

2. Battery life - What is the battery life going to be on the controller/tablet?

3. Cost - If it is under 350 dollars, consider me sold. But in this day of commercialism, I'm not 100% certain it will be.

4. Games - Will Skyrim actually be available? Or was that a ploy of marketing? Wouldn't be the first time we were deceived by a Nintendo ad.

5. Backwards Compatibility - Nintendo missed a BIG opportunity to win everyone over at once. No backwards compatibility makes it harder to justify purchasing another console.

Eirinn : Yeah I was just trying to shoehorn my way into that inside joke

That's not entirely true either, HDD is not as direct as data gets. SSD can go much faster. For instance, the UMD on a PSP takes average 5-10 seconds to register the slightest thing in some cases, while me running it straight from the Memstick made it load nearly instantly.

Also, all PSP games can fit on a standard 2 GB memstick, as well. While HDD is a step up from disc reading, it's a step below SSD reading.

In short, Cartridge reading will be faster than any standard disk, and from my understanding, faster than reading from an HDD. Consoles do not have SSDs, so it would run slower from installing it directly to the console, to my understanding.

Eirinn : I will agree that full installation is better than removable media in most cases, but that's pretty much doing to turn this into a PC vs home console debate. The whole point of home console gaming was affordability and looking for PC performance from a home console is silly, honestly. In that way, removable media is a much better option than installation for home console gaming because it allows you to collect a library without buying huge HDDs. In terms of removable media, solid state is always better because of it's better performance and much higher durability.

Eirinn :

I'll adress the points you made one by one since some of these I don't think I've ever discussed with you before.

1. The thing is Nintendo was able to succeed that way during the 8 and 16 bit generation because PC gaming wasn't really prevelant. It existed but did so in pretty limited capacity and didn't have the wide game library it has. It was a lot more underground. The NES and later the SNES was basically the only widely accessible source of good games, along with the Genesis.

The N64 didn't fail because it was different but rather because it had more competition, in particular the original Playstation but also with PC gaming starting to become an alternative with hugely popular games like Starcraft and Counter Strike arriving. Of course the limited storage of cartridges was a big factor here but remember that the PSX was released after the N64, I doubt Nintendo really realized the difference it made until it was too late. The same goes for the Gamecube. Neither the N64 or the Gamecube were really different to a traditional console in how they played games so I don't consider that "Nintendo trying to do things differently". That only started with the Wii and motion gaming, which incidentally is around the time PC gaming is starting to become really big with Steam now existing. Which brings us to your second point.

2. yoshirulez! pretty much beat me to the punch on this so I'll be brief. Considering the advances made with flash storage I don't think space is really a problem in the same way it was back N64 vs PSX days. It is going to be more expensive than using discs but not by a ton and I feel like the other benefits outweigh that added cost. They're more durable, they read faster. I think it's strategic as well since using discs would likely shorten the battery life of the console like is the case with the PSP vs the DS and just overall makes more sense for something that is partly a handheld.

3. I'm standing my ground on this. m0ss sort of said part of what I was going to say. I'm not against home consoles incorporating functions typically associated with PC. I think increased ways to be social, direct streaming and such is a good thing especially when made more accessible to a wider audience. I am a Playstation 4 owner after all.

What I'm against is the extent to which these consoles are mimicking PCs. It takes away the benefits of owning a console to a PC like the ease of play and essentially turns them into less capable gaming PCs. Considering the fact that gaming PCs have become cheaper and games are cheaper to get on PC due to all the sales and suddenly there's less and less reason to get a home console over a PC aside from exclusive games. It's something that's going to make console gaming irrelevant as people realize this. You're already seeing this happen in Japan where the PS4 is struggling almost as much as the Wii U (that's not to even talk about the Xbox One) and eventually the rest of the world will follow. Especially when you now have things like gamepads being supported on PC.

I think the Nintendo Switch will leave Nintendo the opportunity to pick back up their Wii fan base along with older fans. This is basically the Wii U on steroids