Judging from the leaks, it looks like it will be more inline with Steam Deck capability as opposed to a leap forward in computational power.
The Steam deck is a leap forward in capability IMO.
A leap forward from the Switch, yes. I think they were saying the “Switch 2” will not be a leap forward in the general sense of what’s available.
With a good portion of its capability hamstrung by abstraction layers. That said, Switch 2 doesn't look to be a 4k device when docked.
I played Hogwarts Legacy on my Steam Deck at 4k upscaled from like 480p or something. I think it was upscaled to 1080p with FSR 2.0 then again to 4k with FSR 1.0. It was like watching a slideshow of impressionist paintings set in the English countryside.
With anything weaker than 3080 the game looked like a slideshow on every machine at launch. UE4 games tend to be seriously broken on PC the last few months.
Then again: Steamdeck is definitely not a 4K console.
Other than in terms of physical hardware innovations, Nintendo hasn't been anywhere near the cutting edge of computational power since the mid-90s... Or maybe never.
GameCube was the last time they tried to fight on specs, and the system struggled to sell. It'll likely be the last time they ever fight on specs.
Yeah, Nintendo's biggest strength has always been the quality of their first-party (and Monolith) games, but never their graphical fidelity. They focus on good games that are fun to play, and I appreciate that, but they have a hard time drawing in AAA third party devs.
Nintendo 64 had quite remarkable graphical fidelity compared to PS and Saturn. It was the only console at the time that used floating point math for 3D calculations (that’s why Playstation got the wobbly look).
Considering the Switch was borderline obsolete when it was released, they are just keeping with tradition. Nintendo doesn't take risks anymore.
Nintendo handhelds have always had weaker specs, just compare the Game Boy to its contemporaries. They usually prioritize battery life, cost, and some sort of gimmick, for lack of a better term
I was just looking at getting a Steam Deck the other day. I love my Switch, but the games I WANT to play aren't on the system(I don't own a PC).
I just want back-compatibility with 1st Switch. It's a Nintendo console, so I don't expect lots of horsepower. I think because of current Switch's lack of power Nintendo was able output loads of great games to their system. Like their studios didn't need to spend a whole generation just to make one game, unlike what we are seeing on other consoles.
This is probably going to be my biggest ask. I don't own a lot of Switch games but backwards compatibility is becoming increasing more important to me across other consoles, so I'd like the same from Nintendo.
I just hope the Switch 2 will run all of Switch 1's shoddy ports at a higher clock speed. Don't do what N3DS did and downclock. I doubt titles that have been ported once will be re-ported, and devs will keep trying to port newer titles that Switch 2 still won't handle.
Hopefully! Not even exclusive games are free from bad performance, I got Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity to play co-op. and the resolution and framerate get abysmal.
I don't see what the big deal is even. Developers can just continue using the same tooling, and just target a higher graphics budget. Surely Nintendo isn't so crazy as to introduce some backward incompatible changes?
It’s important. There’s probably some new features in the new Switch. You cannot really know for sure how they work out unless you test it on real hardware.
Nintendo is also quite experimental with their controllers. It’s pretty lowball to expect they will try something new and unique for the next Switch. Getting hands on with the new controller early makes it easier for developers to design games with this controller in mind.
Judging from the leaks, it sounds like Nintendo is taking an approach to make it more competitive to the Steam Deck, but not a jump forward in terms of computational power.
Compared to the X1 chip from 2015 the Switch uses, the Steam Deck is a pretty big jump in power
It's a huge improvement over the Switch. I've tried the same games on both platforms before, they always perform leagues better on the Deck.
That's a real good point, I should have clarified that it's not a jump compared to what's currently available. It would be a massive upgrade for existing users if the software leverages capability, but it won't be a portable handheld that's going to be able to render contemporary scenes at 4k.
I think Nintendo itself doesn't need much more power than they've been using, but if they want to keep their 3rd party devs, the new system will have to be able to run Unreal engine 5 games in some sort of stripped down performance mode. Over half the new AA & AAA games currently in development all run on UE5
Nintendo essentially rebranded the GameCube for 3 console generations, I assume they'll do the same with the Switch. Don't expect anything better than a slightly out of date Android tablet by the time it comes out. This is great for devs though.
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