This morning in Tokyo, Nintendo held their long-awaited full product launch briefing for their upcoming console, the Nintendo Switch. Previously unveiled back in October of 2016 , Nintendo has been keeping a fairly tight lid on specific details about the console, including its specifications, capabilities, and software lineup. Now with just less than 2 months to go until the console goes on sale, Nintendo is ramping up their promotional campaigns, releasing a good deal of new details on the console, though in a very Nintendo way.
Back when the Switch was unveiled, we learned that the handheld console would be powered by an NVIDIA SoC, NVIDIA\u2019s first console win since 2006. At the time Nintendo and NVIDIA had been very quiet on the specifications of the SoC, and while the full specifications were certain to be off the table, I had been hoping that Nintendo would open up at least a bit more on the SoC. Unfortunately, in admittedly traditional Nintendo fashion, the company has skipped right past anything involving the SoC, and I suspect we\u2019re going to be waiting for the console launch and full teardown before we get any more hard facts here.
For what it is worth, Eurogamer strongly believes that the underlying SoC is a Tegra X1 \u2013 NVIDIA\u2019s 20nm Cortex-A57 CPU + Maxwell GPU SoC that\u2019s also used in the NVIDIA SHIELD TV \u2013 and while I can\u2019t confirm this at this time, for the moment I don\u2019t have any reason to doubt their suspicions. Tegra X1 is ready and available in volume, and in this respect Nintendo has been conservative for quite some time. Still, it will be interesting to crack open the Switch in March to see if it\u2019s actually Tegra X1 under the hood, or if it\u2019s some sort of Nintendo-specific derivative.
Moving on to new information, while Nintendo held off on SoC information, they have published some new information on the console as a whole. As long suspected, the Switch features a 1280x720p capacitive touch screen LCD. Though lower in resolution than comparable phones and tablets, this is a logical fit for the console giving its performance characteristics, battery life needs, and cost concerns. Nintendo\u2019s website does not specify the type of the underlying panel, though I will be surprised if it\u2019s not IPS or *VA.
For storage, the console will feature expandable storage. 32GB (presumably eMMC) is built in to the console, while the console can be further expanded using microSDXC cards, similar to the current-generation 3DS consoles. And as revealed in Nintendo\u2019s teaser video last year, there will also be a separate game card slot for games released on physical media.
Meanwhile Nintendo isn\u2019t being quite as forthcoming on the underlying specifications of the console\u2019s integrated battery, but they are providing some ballpark power figures. The Switch is rated to last between 2.5 and 6.5 hours on a single charge, depending on the game, with the forthcoming Zelda game said to run for 3 hours. This is roughly comparable to the New Nintendo 3DS XL, which is rated for 3.5 to 6 hours, with the Switch having a slightly wider range (ed: though well short of the DS Lite\u2019s 8+ hours). Still, for a long trip it\u2019s clear you\u2019ll need to bring some extra power.
The good news here is that for the Switch, Nintendo is giving up on proprietary chargers and power connectors. The Switch will charge via a standard USB Type-C connection, so it\u2019s possible to use USB power banks with the console. Though without more details on the battery it\u2019s hard to say just how large of a power bank will be required; given the higher power consumption of a gaming console, I expect the Switch will need a larger power bank than similarly sized tablets (perhaps something iPad Pro-sized). The Switch will also come with an AC adapter (curiously, with a hardwired cable), a welcome change after Nintendo didn\u2019t include a power adapter with the New Nintendo 3DS.
As for the Switch\u2019s companion dock, Nintendo has previously confirmed that it would largely be a \u201cdumb\u201d device. That said, today\u2019s unveiling does confirm that it includes a trio of USB 2.0 ports, presumably using the two USB 2.0 channels built-in to the USB Type-C connector. Nintendo hasn\u2019t officially announced any USB peripherals at this time \u2013 and it will be interesting to see what does arise, since this is a portable console \u2013 though a quick straw poll around here is that we\u2019ll be disappointed if Nintendo doesn\u2019t support the GameCube adapter for the obligatory Super Smash Bros. game.
Otherwise, as far as hardware goes the bulk of Nintendo\u2019s focus with respect to hardware has been on the console\u2019s two detachable controllers, the Joy-Cons. Besides being the console\u2019s primary control mechanism (ed: a tablet with buttons, thank you!), the Joy-Cons are actually a lot more sophisticated than Nintendo originally let on last year. In terms of controls, each Joy-Con features the previously depicted 4 face buttons, a large shoulder button, an analog stick; also confirmed today is that on the inside, rail edge of the Joy-Cons are a pair of smaller shoulder buttons for when a single Joy-Con is used as a controller. So the Joy-Cons are essentially miniature versions of the SNES controller with an analog stick in place of the D-Pad.
It\u2019s what\u2019s under the hood that\u2019s particularly interesting though. As one might expect, Nintendo is sticking with motion controls. Each Joy-Con contains a gyroscope and set of accelerometers, making it roughly equivalent to the Wii remote with Motion Plus.
Beyond that, each Joy-Con features its own special set of features. The right Joy-Con contains an NFC reader\/writer for use with Nintendo\u2019s Amiibo figures, and what Nintendo is calling a «IR motion camera,\u201d An IR camera would imply that it\u2019s the same basic functionality as the Wii Remote, which used an IR camera to orient itself relative to the IR LEDs in the console\u2019s sensor bar, however Nintendo also quickly demonstrated that the Joy-Con could measure distance and motion from a human hand facing the camera, something the Wii Remote could not do. Finally, the left Joy-Con contains what Nintendo is calling \u201cHD rumble\u201d functionality, their name for high fidelity rumbling. Given the diminutive size of the Joy-Con, coupled with Nintendo\u2019s examples, I suspect that we\u2019re looking at multiple linear actuators for vibration (similar to Apple\u2019s Taptic Engine), as opposed to traditional motors. Not too surprisingly then, a second set of Joy-Cons won\u2019t come cheap, with Nintendo listing the MSRP at $80.
Finally, taking a brief look at the software side, retailer pre-release information has unveiled that Switch games will go for $60. This is the same price as Wii U games and $20 higher than most 3DS games. The one bit of good news here is that Nintendo has done away with region locking, so it\u2019s possible to buy and play games from any region. Launch day games will include the previously announced Zelda game, and Nintendo\u2019s new mini-game collection, 1-2-Switch.
Wrapping things up, the Switch will be receiving a world-wide release on March 3 rd (coincidentally the final day of the 2017 Game Developers Conference). It will be priced at $299 in the United States, with similar regional prices elsewhere across the globe. Ahead of the launch retailers have already put up pre-order pages (and some have started taking pre-orders), including Amazon , Best Buy , and GameStop.<\/p>\n