Leaking Nintendo Switch Specs was a Bad Move

Ty at Squish Turtle writes: "If the rumours are true, a developer leaked Nintendo Switch specs potentially jeopardising future indie development."

[PapaBop]

Nintendo's fault really, in 2017 it's impossible to keep these sort of things all hush hush, especially so close to launch.

[gedden7]

Soooo, if its impossible Nintendo should have just leaked it themselves?

[JayPi3]

No it's actually not Nintendo's fault it was leaked. But they should've been more open with the specs in the first place.

[bouzebbal]

"If you’re buying a car, you don’t ask “what kind of glue is holding the windshield in place?”. It’s not that the car manufacturer wants to “hide” this information from you, it’s just not that important enough to the value proposition of the product to be shouting it from the rooftops."

This is pure idiocy. how can you compare console power to car glue. shouldn't it be glue vs glue?
Seriously, i thought xbox fanboys were the worst but there is worse actually.
OK, you buy a car for its engine and comfort but you also buy a console for its games and ease of use.
power comes later on but in the case of nintendo, they keep making consoles out of the ordinary and they can be a tough sell.
the only way they can have success (selling lot of consoles) is to have a strong 3rd party support. N64, Gamecube and Wii u proved that nintendo's talent means nothing. in case of a powerless console, third party have to spend more money developping special ports of their games.

[PapaBop]

No Nintendo shouldn't "leak" it, they should have been more open to begin with.

[S2Killinit]

The specs are not as important as what games it will have. I'm getting one just so I can play games like Zelda (which justify a purchase by themselves)

[chrisoadamson]

@S2Killinit Zelda is available on the WiiU so the argument of buying a Switch to play Zelda makes no sense!!!

[candystop]

"Seriously, i thought xbox fanboys were the worst but there is worse actually. "

Says the Sony fanboy lol. Smdh

Other than that snarky remark I agree with the rest!

[Amongunz]

I would venture to bet you completely ignored or didn't read the part about most consumers being confused regarding specs. No... its not nintendos fault for protecting their brand using common sense nda

[OrangePowerz]

They are just hiding the fact that the hardware doesn't have that much power and trying to defend that by saying "We know they use nVidia chips so it will be high quality". It is important to know the full speccs. If I know the soeccs are similar to the two home consoles I know there is a good chance of third party games coming to it that the others get. If I know the speccs are far below I know there isn't much chance for that to happen and that there won't be as many games.

[_-EDMIX-_]

The problem is why exactly the even have an NDA regarding the damn specs of their platforms? So they're basically hiding information from their consumers?

[endi123]

People should know the specs, I think it's a dumb move from Nintendo to hide the specs, if I'm going to buy a product then i want to know what to expect, I don't want to buy their hopes and dreams like wiiU

[_-EDMIX-_]

100% agreed I don't see any reason for anyone to support a company not even being transparent about the hardware there now trying to ask people to give them money for

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed I don't even understand the point of the article why blame the messenger? Blame the damn company for making inferior Hardware in the first place.

[FyBy]

Yeah, its like if you stole my car and say that its my fault because I have so many cars and you have none. And it was only matter of time, when someone steal it.

[freshslicepizza]

"If you’re buying a car, you don’t ask “what kind of glue is holding the windshield in place?”. It’s not that the car manufacturer wants to “hide” this information from you, it’s just not that important enough to the value proposition of the product to be shouting it from the rooftops."

oh please, as if its unreasonable to ask the saleman what kind of engine it has. we are not talking about glue holding a windshield, what an asinine analogy. it's nintendo who is fearful of specs leaking and that is on them, indie developers will make great games on switch and the power is secondary i agree. the power is what it is and developers will have to use the benefits of what makes switch different to their advantage.

consumers have a right to know what they are buying and when nintendo hides things i too would be cautious. so dont blame the leaks, blame nintendo for not being transparent about it.

[RpgSama]

This was one of the stupidest most fanboyist articles I've read in a long time, people aren't asking what glue is holding the windshield in place, they're asking how many Mpg do we get, how much horsepower, if it has a GPS or not, leather seats. look at this:

"For example, you can buy a $4000 Astell & Kern AK380 music player that only plays music files. It plays music files incredibly well, far better than any iPhone can, but that’s all it does. Such devices sell outside of the “red ocean” and cement themselves as a unique offering. Like listening to music in the best way possible? Buy a dedicated device to do that.

In that sense, it’s pointless to compare specifications between, say, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Sure, PlayStation 4 might have more memory or whatever, but it’s used to run music in the background, or ensure players can quickly hop into the online store to browse movie trailers. As far as Nintendo’s concerned, its console needs to play games. If it does that, and does that well, then the product is acceptable to release."

Is he seriously telling us that Nintendo consoles and in this case the Switch will play games better than the other consoles, just because that's all it does? not only does the switch do less as an all around machine, but as a gaming console it also run games worse.

[Kreisen]

Well thats the thing isnt it. Right now the Switch is not only more expensive then anything else on the market but barely has anything to offer. The console doesnt even come with any games.
Considering the rough amount of consoles sold as of 2016 there are literally tens of millions of people out there who dont own either a Xbox or PS4 yet, why the hell would any of them buy a Switch? At the same time Nintendo cant possibly compete with smartphones either becouse of its size, price and lack of features...

[freshslicepizza]

no, he is saying that the specs being released will hurt indie developers because many might not care because the ps4 and xbox one are more powerful and will buy it on that instead. i disagree, the switch has its own unique hardware and selling features.

of course people are worried about the power and have a right to be. but can you imagine if nintendo was selling cars and someone asked what power is under the hood? they would say its not about how fast the car is or how great the handling is but how many people you can take with you. plus it has an app on your smartphone that allows you to roll up or roll down your windows, there is no button on the door or a handle to manually do it.

[RpgSama]

@Moldybread

He is saying what you're saying at first, but then he is also literally saying what I'm saying, as you can see by what I chose to quote out of the article which quite frankly is an insult to the intelligence of people. He used bad examples and analogies after bad examples and analogies.

[rlow1]

So as a all around machine it does less? First we don't yet know if or if not they'll add in video or music to the device, which they could easily do. While current consoles overall are more powerful you cant pick them up and continue to play your game some other place. Which makes the Switch far more versatile than either current gen consoles. So all around it does more, as for graphics department its not going to win any awards.

[Death]

I agree consumers have a right to know what they are buying. Sadly though most consumers are ignorant and incapable of understanding some things. The only thing specs will do is give certain camps bragging rights on why their system is superior while ignoring the games and features Switch provides. Too much misinformation is passed by customers to make their opinions anything but toxic. Let the games and experiences speak for themselves.

[freshslicepizza]

Snipperclips is a great example of an indie game that is using the hardware well that can carry itself.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Absolutely agreed this might be one of the stupidest things I think I've ever read in a long time

Were someone is literally trying to blame another company in trying to defend a company hiding such information from its consumers.

Who on Earth tries to defend a damn company from hiding information from its consumers?

[xX1NORM1Xx]

its become a much bigger deal because they tried to hide it if they had come out and said "this is how powerful it is we couldn't put more power in and keep the same form factor that's why it's that powerful" it would have been fine they made it clear that it wasn't meant to compete with Sony and Microsoft on a power level but because it's Nintendo they had to do something stupid didn't they

[Mr Marvel]

Nintendo need to stop being so secretive & show some confidence in their products.

In my opinion the Switch looks like a great system with huge potential, yet Nintendo alone are making me doubt this opinion.

[pcz]

If nintendo had a cutting edge, industry leading spec, they would be shouting it from the roof tops and mentioning it at every opportunity. it would be the main selling point.

the reason they are secretive about it is because its not impressive. infact, its less than unimpressive, its embarrassing. hence the need to avoid revealing that info

[FyBy]

I dont think its embarassing. We are talking about handheld device with possibility to play on tv. Its not big console. Yeah ok, everyone wanted new state of the art best of the breed nvidia chipset and voila....its the older one. But in world of handheld devices, that should be ok.

[Cmv38]

At this point, Nintendo should just embrace what it brought to the table and go from there. Impossible to hide the specs for too long.

[wheresmymonkey]

Nintendo officially revealed the specs. For a handheld the specs are pretty damn good.

[EddieNX]

Agreed. A beast handheld that gets a boost when docked to make the games look good on a TV. I don't think its underpowered really especially not for a handheld! Its gunna be insane playing BOTW on the go.

[wheresmymonkey]

Precisely. I went to the reveal event in London, and i was thoroughly impressed with what I saw and played.

I think Nintendo need to come clean and just say, yes all our eggs are in one basket.

In this case that really isn't a bad thing. Just think of the next Pokemon playing on this thing if they used the Breath of the Wild engine for it. Or the next Fire Emblem, or (insert your favorite handheld Nintendo series here).

[objdadon]

This is a portable in a sense that a tablet is portable. Which tablets are a dying market because people rather carry around their phones. This isn't a traditional handheld as in the 3ds or vita that can just be put in your pocket and plays handheld games. This is Nintendo's 9th gen console. Love the concept but this thing won't see the light outside of my house.

[wheresmymonkey]

Actually its not much bigger than a mobile if you take the joycons off it.

[IAmLoki]

Good luck cramming much better specs into a portable device of reasonable size and with no active cooling. The Switch is amazing specs wise for what it is. Meanwhile for the large stationary consoles they fall far behind gaming PCs with enthusiast graphics cards, and supercomputers make every console put together look like a Lite Brite by comparison.

[niteight]

The nvidia shield says hi.

[chrisoadamson]

But according to Nintendo themselves it's a home console first .. Not a handheld that can be docked

[IAmLoki]

What they said doesn't really change what it is. The console is a hybrid in reality. Some people might only use it on the go, some people might only use it at home docked, most will use it both ways.

[patchzon]

I really gotta disagree on this!I love handhelds consoles better than home consoles,i use the remote play feature of my ps4, 9 times out of 10 with my oled vita and i love it to this day.I don't trust nintendo on this ``switch``thing at all!!! I owned a couple of handhelds,from the gameboy,sega game gear, to the atari lynx,and neo geo x and i can say that nintendo hardware were always so underpowered and technically inferior to what the competition was offering, i stopped buying their consoles after the N64.(i must admit i had a lot of fun with the snes thought).Remember it took them more than 10 years to implement a back light to the gameboy screen,and now they have not been fully transparent with the switch specs,and expect people to be excited over nothing.I mean its 2017 they should have gave us what we always wanted,a very powerfull high end portable or hybrid console call it what ever you want,that can at least be on part with home consoles that have been realeased almost 5 years ago,i mean come on now!

[Ol_G]

You didnt buy their stuff after n64?
You have no right to speak

[FyBy]

I totally agree. Its handheld with possibility to play on tv. Why people think its easy to put xbox or ps4 power into handheld? Its pathetic.

[jukins]

No Nintendo "hiding" specs is a bad move. Anyone who understands "specs" knows the switch isn't exactly a powerhouse. Don't know why this day and age nintendo didnt just put it out there so they have the official word. Now it's up to speculation of the Internet even with leaks and that's worse than having seemingly weak specs when the average Nintendo gamer couldnot care less

[Athos]

Anyone who understand specs knows that there is no console on the market that is a powerhouse. Sorry, that goes for your shiny plastic box of choice too.

[CrimsonWing69]

Why are the specs surprising to anyone?

[Mithan]

What a stupid article.

[hiawa23]

I just bought a 2017 Mitsu Lancer SE AWC car and the first thing I looked at was what was under the hood, horsepower, MPG, torque, transmission, so I don't agree, specs are a bad thing to release.

Many gamers want to know the specs, and specs only become a problem for the manufacturer if the product is severely under powered compared to the competition or standard.

I was interested in a traditional Nintendo console with specs between the PS4 and Scorpio, but when Nintendo went the portable route I knew that was out, but I am still optimistic about the Switch.

The way this article is written is not very good, as gamers want to know specs to get some sort if idea about the games that can be made for the platform.

[iofhua]

Ninty should have released the specs months ago. It's already in production and retailers are taking pre orders. They are past the point of changing the specs - so why continue to keep them secret? It's rigorous inflexibility for the point of rigorous inflexibility. Utterly stupid.

[Aenea]

Why on earth would it hamper future Indie development? Once you have the dev. kit you know the specs as well, heck you probably even know them before that.

Knowing specs is actually a good thing for devs I feel....

[Guyfamily999]

The switch should've launched with more powerful tech (Pascal architecture for better battery life and performance, 6gb ram at least, and a Tegra X2 which is 50 percent faster. Keep in mind that the 1TF figure of the switches specs are at half precision 16 bit operations, it's actually only 500gflops at 32 bit which games will use). Along with the more powerful tech, they could've massively increased the appeal of the system by putting Android on it (a dual OS, you can switch between them when playing switch games or not), that would have cured all of the media and usage fallbacks of the switch by making it the most powerful tablet in existence that has access to a gargantuan library of mobile applications (ALL WITH NO EFFORT OR COST TO NINTENDO. It would literally just be android software).

They could've released that version of the switch for 299 with no dock, and sold a 399 version with a dock that overclocks the CPU and has another X2 that runs in SLI (which would bring the system around the Xbox One in performance). Nintendo needed to go all out with the switch, and they didn't. They should've made it more powerful and easy to develop for while taking a slight loss on each system so that it could have a competitive price.

Even I as a Playstation and PC fan would've bought a more powerful version of the switch if Nintendo had had their priorities right. They needed third party support, so the switch could be that console where you can play AAA games everywhere (you're not gonna find a decent gaming laptop for 300 bucks).

[superchiller]

Well said. Nintendo clearly didn't think through the design of the Switch, just as they didn't think through the design of the Wii U. They designed yet another barebones product, hoping people would buy it anyway "because Mario and Zelda". It isn't even out yet, but it's pretty clear that the Switch will be unable to deliver current generation games, a certain recipe for disaster.

[Guyfamily999]

It hurts because there aren't only little mistakes, there are easy things that Nintendo could've done to really increase the value of the system. Switch the micro-sd card slot to a micro-sd sim combo slot (adding maybe a couple dollars to production costs), allowing anyone to throw the device onto their phone plan as a tablet (unlimited plans are making QUITE the comeback, you'd be able to play multiplayer anywhere). Android as mentioned would cost very little in development but would vastly increase the functionality and market for the console. With a little RnD and maybe a 10-15 dollar loss on the dock, they could have included an optical drive in the dock and made the switch the most backwards compatible console in history (GameCube, Wii, and WiiU. Motion controls are already in the controllers. WiiU emulation would be the tricky bit but they could just leave that out if need be).

The concept of the switch is fantastic. If they had fully realized it and not held back, they could have had an affordable tablet that can play a ton of AAA games, and just be a decent tablet as well. And then the people who want the TV experience and better graphics could opt for that.

[V0LT]

I could care less what the specs are honestly. Just give me good games.

[Tussin187]

Nothing wrong with what you said. We all want good games. With Nintendo though, you have to question their practices based on their history. The handheld part. Awesome. The console part. Not even to X1 standards. That will be a problem. No one is doubting their 1st party games. Those are always ace. 3rd party is a whole other beast and has been a problem for them for generations.

Yes, they have a good list now but that has, again, been the case for generations. That's what worries people and for good reason. People expect and want more out of Nintendo but the diehards refuse to see everyone else's point. And what happens? Ninitendo continues to make the same decisions over and over. For a lot of people, its going to be a wait and see approach because they have been burned a few times before.

Hopefully, the doubters(like me) are wrong and it takes off then maybe 3rd will show up. I just want them to make a system that can compete with the competition power wise. That's all I'm asking.

[Homushi]

Why is everyone here such a negative nancy? You guys seriously baffle me. Lets walk through this. When has nintendo EVER made a powerful gaming console? when?! Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, 3DS(compared to psp at the time or current vita), all these consoles have always been running lower hardware than their competitors! and yet, nintendo has continued to release incredible games that have always made nintendo great. It's part of the nintendo brand, and what makes nintendo, nintendo. Microsoft's Phil Spencer and Sony's Shuhei Yoshida, and many other devs have praised the console for its uniqueness and Nintendo insatiable appetite to design and make hardware outside the norm, and they love Nintendo for that. and Yet, the people here who claim to be long time gamers fail to see this long history of nintendo? When did you guys start gaming exactly, yesterday? stop disparaging nintendo, they honestly know what they're doing MOST of the time. No company is consistent in its success. Sony learned from their mistakes with the PS3, and this lead to the amazing PS4. Microsoft dominated with their xbox 360, and are now struggling with xbox One. These gaming company's are always learning from their errors. Anyways, long story short. Nintendo's console specs don't really matter for shit to be quite frank, its the games, the games, the games.

[Dannycr]

When? The NES was the most powerful console when it came out. It even had better specs for gaming than PCs. SNES when it came out was the most powerful console in the market. N64 was the most powerful console when it came out. The Gamecube was the 2nd most powerfull console with some of the best looking games out there (like the Resident Evil remake). Handhelds have been powerfull when they were first released.

Please stop spreading that misinformed non-sense about Nintendo always being the underdog or underpowered cause history will never back you up on that argument.

[patchzon]

That has to be the most delusional comment i have ever read!The Nes and the Snes were great consoles because of 3rd support.i owned every nintendo consoles and handheld until the n64.

The Sega genesis(mega drive),Game gear,atari lynx,neo-geo,ps one,psp,ps vita,ps2,ps3 just to name these few,have been 10 times more powerful,and technically superior to anything nintendo has ever produce back then.

The nintendo gameboy didn't even have a back light screen until 2000 something, and it was first release in 1989!Are you kidding me?That is why i stopped buying their hardware since the n64,i loved mario,wario,and zelda as a kid and teenager,but not as an adult anymore!!!

[Dannycr]

@Patchzon

You read but you don't understand, do you? I specifically said: WHEN THEY FIRST CAME OUT. The Sega Genesis was not 10 times more powerful. The SNES was way better in a lot of different areas, specially the sound chipset. Game Gear was release 2/3 years AFTER the Gameboy. Same with the Atari Lynx, etc.

Was the Gameboy a revolutionary cutting edge device when it came out? YES! Did the other companies capitalize on it's success? OBVIOUSLY. Same with the NES, same with the SNES.

Just because the companies released more powerful versions of the hardware, doesn't mean that they didn't release cutting edge technology back then. It's called competition.

Saying that the PS One was more powerful than the N64 just demonstrates your ignorance.

Go learn some history. Go read before you post misinformed opinions like that again.

[patchzon]

And then again,reread what you are writting before you reply out of emotion .Your emotions don't make what you said true.It Seems like the delusional effects of the pill you took are lasting more than i could ever imagine!Go reread and backcheck all the facts,release dates and specs of nintendo consoles vs competition,before you even start writting non sense and ignorant statements like that!

[Dannycr]

@Patchzon

Translation: "I have no facts to support my claims, so I will tell you to go check your facts (already done as I've made EXTENSIVE research on this for multiple reasons) to make it look like I'm right.

I get it buddy. Sucks when you are wrong and can't back up your claims. Just stop trying to get attention.

If you are going to keep saying that the PS1 was superior to the N64, or that the NES wasn't a cutting edge machine when it came out, then I suggest you check your sources. Feel free to go and check information about the launch of every console, about how the S-SMP (designed by Ken Kutaragi) was by far the best sound chip against the Sega MegaDrive (Genesis in case that you don't even know that), etc, etc, etc.

Unlike you, I can list FACTS. And what's worse, is that, all your misinformed posts are made just to justify the argument that Nintendo was never concerned about technology. That's....I don't know...sad?

[Tankbusta40]

Nintendo 64,SNES and NES(Guess what, back then they had amazing 3rd party support also!). You must be a millennial gamer. Most people who HATE Nintendo these days grew up loving them. They are a shell of what they once were and ONLY make systems to sell Zelda, Mario etc. Its sickening how they cannot get with the times and put out a modern machine that isn't a freaking gimmick with 3rd party support. Until then NINTENDO has been dead to me for 20 years and will stay so

[OG_TK_Cole]

One thing is for sure. leaking this info will hurt Indy Developers in the future with Nintendo. The Indy Developers that leaked this showed the Gaming Industry how unprofessional they are.

[Tankbusta40]

Making the switch was a bad move!

[SaxScrotumz]

Had to laugh! Good comment.

[IAmLoki]

No it wasnt. People already decided whether or not to buy the Switch the moment it was revealed. Leaking spec information will not cause a negative impact on the Switch's success.

[subtenko]

Its not bad leaking specs...its bad the specs arent better. At least the battery life

[InTheZoneAC]

Here's the problem. Nintendo has a hard time attracting third party support, fact. If sales mimic the Wii u then we'll have a repeat. When devs/publishers are holding out until they can see the system move that only hurts Nintendos chances. They are not willing to throw money away for Nintendo, and take those risks, and at the same time Nintendo needs their support. If Nintendo really believes in their system they should take some of the hit in financing those third party games...Yes unheard of, so that they can attract more buyers. This problem also exists due to overpriced/underpowered hardware. If Nintendo opts to partially finance games to get more their way, even if third party, they will get that jump start they desperately need.

[Tankbusta40]

They never had trouble attracting 3rd party support in the NES, SNES, and N64 days, because they put out a quality product that wasn't a gimmick. Now they just put out weak gimmicky consoles that are years behind the others and its too much of a headache for 3rd party companies to revise their games to work with their systems. If only Nintendo might wise up and put out a machine with comparable specs to the competition, they COULD have 3rd party support plus their mainstays and be much better. I guess I am not paid millions of dollars to make these decisions so it cant be this easy I guess :)

[Einhander1971]

What a bullshit article with bullshit comments, ooh I'm going to cancel my preorder now NOT !!.
At the end of the day didn't expect switch to have PS4 power get over it, going to be a great system.
I expect when Microsoft give u all the crap about amazing Scorpio specs you'll all be wetting your pants over it, but think on its about games not an expensive paper weight and yes that could go
For switch as well as Scorpio. But I will take my chances with switch as I love nintendo exclusives.

[Ninte]

Haha does it really matter? The switch had so many rumors and leaks before the presentation.

[Realplaya]

I'm assuming that people who have the negative comments on here were going to post them no matter what. since people misssd the point of the article it's basically saying you signed an agreement that you wouldn't leak the systems specs unless Nintendo chooses to do so. Instead you pull a move which will ultimately affect how Nintendo gets future products in developers hands to start working on games. People complain about how Nintendo doesn't treat companies right and when they do this is what happens.

They trusted this company and it bit them in the ass.

[superchiller]

Who cares? Nintendo has been way too secretive about the true specs for the Switch. Instead of trying to blame an indie developer for leaking those specs (which everyone has the right to know, shouldn't be kept secret), you should be calling Nintendo to task for once again failing to deliver a competitive gaming console. Stop drinking the Kool aid, and demand better products from them in the future.

[deafdani]

This is a terrible article. It takes forever to get to the point, and when it does... the point is completely idiotic.

So, people shouldn't be informed about what the Switch's hardware capabilities are because it would be confusing to them? Seriously?

What a load of crap.

[GoldenElf]

Ah but you didn't read all of it, did you?

[deafdani]

Yes, I did. All of it. Do I win a prize?

[PurpHerbison]

I really hope the Switch puts Nintendo in such a bad spot they can never release a console again. I'd love for them to go the Sega route so we can play Nintendo games on better consoles.

[Athos]

Nintendo has so much cash on hand that there is no way that even a miserable failure of a console would cause them to go software only. Plus I love how you would like it to bomb, very mature.

[PurpHerbison]

I don't care. I've been waiting around 15 years for Nintendo to return to form and they just keep shoveling shit in our faces. Majority of us opt out of eating that shit while some willingly eat it. Enough is enough.

[Chinkyinc18]

I'm seriously confused about the Switch. On one hand, the handheld form is essentially what the PS Vita would have been in terms of power and price if it had a successor during this time frame. On the other hand, the console form factor power is comparable to the Wii when compared to the Gamecube. The Vita's lack of success is contributed to the pricetag associated with all that power in a handheld, and the success of the Wii was due to a completely new innovation that the Switch lacks. If first-party games were the cause of success, then the Gamecube and Wii U should have been just as successful as the the Wii. I understand why Nintendo fans like it, but I don't see how the Switch will be a success in terms of the general market. If the cost of the system was $250 as rumored, and the accessories were priced more similar to the Wii's accesories, then I could see a lot of potential in sales for general market; how things are now, and Nintendo's reputation of sparingly lowering prices of their product, I can't.

As a heldhand, it looks dope and really powerful. I would definitely buy it in the handheld configuration if Nintendo sold it by itself for $200. But, at $300, I am not really interested in the whole Switch bundle. I hope Nintendo offers an option like this in the future.

[OpinionSmasher]

lol people just love to hate on the switch.

[bulldog2016]

Think it maybe decent for a handheld but the docked specs are pretty pathetic.
Whats the point of doing a half baked console spec wise that will struggle to hit 1tf in 2017 ,especially with the rise of 4k tvs?
Just bring out a powerfull console or super doc,was hoping for it to be on par with the ps4 at least so 3rd party games can be ported over
Madness really,Wii u all over again.

[deafdani]

You probably already have a PS4 or Xbox One or PC that already can play these high end games pretty well. Why do you want Nintendo to make another machine that just does the same?

Having a portable that seamlessly docks so that you can also play it as a home console is a good idea, IMO.

[bulldog2016]

Your missing my point.
Ive just bought a ps4 pro very recently on the basis on the leaked specs of the switch,i want to play Nintendo games and the top 3rd party games.
Now if i want to do that i have to buy 2 consoles instead of 1.
See where im coming from?

[mochachino]

This article has some of most ridiculous arguments I've read in a long time. Wow.

[FreeSpeech69]

Comparing a CPU to Car Glue... really... ban this website already.

[Profchaos]

Really silly article the author is blind in the technical world the extra ram and processing power is not all consumed by the os of more powerful consoles.

By this guys logic we don't ever need a console more powerful then the nes as it does what it's designed to do and play games

Umm No specs are important but everyone knows it's going to be underpowered and deliver a quality experience why deny the underlying issue it's not going to harm sales nobody saw the launch videos and thought this thing competed on a graphical level.

[GoldenElf]

Point is, it doesn't matter. Nintendo isn't selling you a CPU and a GPU. It's selling you a machine to play games on.

Specs don't matter because all you're ever going to be able to do with it is play games. You're not going to be doing word processing, or making feature films. Can you? Sure. Technically yes. But that's not what Nintendo's intention is. If all third parties refuse to make any software for Switch, then all Switch has to do is play Zelda and Mario. It can have the best CPU in the world but at the end of the day, it just has to run Mario and Zelda. Nothing else.

A computer/laptop is a multi-use tool. The specs matter because you're buying something that will be used for many different things. Nintendo consoles need to do one thing.

But that's just a side note as to why Nintendo doesn't talk about specs. The main point of the article is that it was a dick move for the developer to wipe his ass with the NDA, one that could ruin it for developers in the future.

[deafdani]

Now you're trying to compare it with effectively multipurpose machines like PCs instead of consoles because you're getting desperate.

PS4 and Xbox One are more powerful than Switch, and yet their main function is still games. Yes, they can also do some other stuff, but gaming is still front and center for them, and the majority of their power is used for proper gaming.

I said it before, and I will say it again: your reasoning is crap.

And I'm actually pretty damn excited for the Switch, but your way to defend it is just plain wrong. Switch doesn't need to be as powerful as other current gen consoles, this much is true, but not for the reasons you're giving, which amount to a bunch of fallacious, even insane, comparisons.

[GoldenElf]

Not "getting desperate". I'm not trying to convince you of anything. But you're completely missing the point.

1 - Nintendo doesn't release specs because they don't sell consoles based on specs.
2 - Developer abusing his "privilege" and releasing the specs will probably have consequences on the developer community.

[ziggurcat]

What were the leaked specs? I would very much like to know how powerful this device happens to be...

[jlove4life]

Ok i like the style or you writing well thought out and structured but i call Malarkey on this when i buy a car no i dont ask how muck glue used on wipers but i sure as h e l l ask miles per gallon engine rpm how fast it goes cd aux port etc specification that are important to functionality of said product were not asking what plastic nintendo use but any gamer/consumer want to know what machine can and can't do

[GoldenElf]

Right - you ask the important questions based on the use of the car. The rest, the "wiper glue" or whatever, comes down to trust that the manufacturer knows what they're doing.

Of course the reality is that someone's job was to sit down and spend hours designing the wiper glue. It had to be important to someone, to be quality tested. Someone made sure it was fit for use and that it would do the intended job, even though it means nothing to you as someone who's about to buy a car.

The same argument can be applied to Nintendo Switch. Lots of time, money and care went into building the hardware but that's not what Nintendo is selling you. It's trying to sell you a "game machine that plays games", not a "machine with X, Y, Z specs". It wants the conversation, then, to be around the games, not the technology required to play those games.

So when you say "consumer wants to know what a machine can and can't do", Nintendo's already answered that question: it plays games, it can't do anything else.

The thing is meant to be mass market. Most people (people, not gamers) don't care that "this version has better textures" or "that version has DLC add ons". To that end, Nintendo is trying to keep its message clear: this thing plays games, and here are the games it plays.

Anyway, those points are in the article to try to highlight some of the reasons behind imposing an NDA on developers. The real issue here is that the actions taken by the developer who leaked the specs (if they're real) may have ruined Nintendo's trust in lower-tier developers for future hardware.

But aside from console launches, I wonder what impact this may have on small developers collaborating with Nintendo. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD was ported over by a small developer not associated with Nintendo, I doubt they'll be so quick to entrust these people in the future, which would be a shame for everyone concerned.

[jlove4life]

Very well said thx for your insight

[alfcrippinjr]

yeah because it possible a rebuilt of the wiiu parts when they got back the systems from unsold sales

the switch will do well as there not many portable consoles on the market now
except the ps vita
but the hype will die down later on as how many library of games can we expect to have in the year
possible 10 games if your lucky

[sk8ofmnd]

It just makes me wonder...

If nintendo themselves say they will make $ day one on the switch and its 299 how cheap are the innards of this console? I cant believe they decided to go with older tech... I thought that was the whole reason they postponed the nx (switch) in the first place.

1 thing im noticing is all the nintendo fanboys that were shouting how close to a xb1 and ps4 the switch was in power have all gone silent.

Its never a good thing when a games console maker announce a new system and dont go over power and especially if that console maker is nintendo. It makes it look like they have something to hide... And as it turns out digital foundry was right on the $ and i trust them more then the anticonsumer practices of nintendo.

[NohansenBoy]

Since it's quite a bit weaker than a PS4, I assume a lot of content would need to be cut in the porting process making it unattractive to 3rd parties. Be prepared to see Nintendo yet again not learning from their mistakes.

[tealive]

Its hard to hide stuff on the internet. Besides, even if it did launch in the future, a lot of us would be disappointed even the due to the low specs.

[xX1NORM1Xx]

If Nintendo had just come out and told us this stuff it wouldn't have happened they know people are going to tear it apart on launch and do all kinds of tests. I don get why it's a big deal it was never going to compete with Xbox and PlayStation They made that clear with their innovation presentation there is no way you could get the power of an Xbox one or PS4 in a tablet that size and maintain any kind of reasonable battery life I like to think people understand this and all the fanboys are just trolling.

[higgins78]

You'd think this would have been put to bed by now. It's easy. Nintendo isn't competing with Sony and/or Microsoft, but instead finding a niche in the industry in which it can offer it's own brand of entertainment, the industry being all the better for it in my opinion. I've never picked up a Nintendo home console - of which I've done continually since the SNES - with my priority being will it be more powerful than anything on the market under a lab environment.

No, rather knowing I'll likely be playing some of the best 1st party games that gen or indeed any gen of all time. That some excellent 3rd party games may get thrown into the mix being a bonus. Nintendo is never going to be all things to all people, thank God.

[H1t_Monster]

Yes but for how long can you play those first party games until you get jaded and say I would like to play gta6 or red dead 2 ,oh wait my console can't because it's underpowered.

[higgins78]

You kidding? I'd feel far, far more jaded playing games such as GTA or RDR, knowing all the while vibrant, innovative and immensely playable games exist ONLY on Nintendo hardware. It's a matter of opinion of course.

[windblowsagain]

£279 oh dear,

[Kosic]

Seeing inside the docking station to be a usb c hub was a wrecking point in Nintendo.
90 bucks for a plastic holder with a tiny power in usb c - hdmi out is a joke.

Specs of this tablet isn't appealing either.
Wait for year 2 and see where the support is. If it has a big library I'll grab it. If not, it'll be a repeat of the Wii U.

I'd like it to do well, as I do enjoy nintendo consoles.