Sony's Shuhei Yoshida Expects Nintendo Switch to 'Cover a New Market'

I think that is a fair comment. I think they are trying to place themselves as the second system/portable system niche. I think that might play very well in Japan.

I don't see them being a direct competitor for PS4 in this current gen. The real question is whether this new audience exists.

Hey look at that. The boss of one of the companies can say something nice about competition even though his job and livelyhood depends on sales. Look at that. Havent seen that before.

Seriously, console wars are dumb.

Anyhow, blue ocean, 9th gen console, very well received reveal that wasnt piggybacking off MS cocking up, releasing right around tax returns and a short smart phone esque reveal, with many hands on events and blow out in January? Yeah itll fail.

Nintendo always went its own way they abandoned the console war since the sinking of the wii u

It can be played at home and is potentially as powerful as a standard PS4... It's direct competition.

@get2sammyb From what I understand, this thing in your pocket is a nice solid 720p machine. Great handheld.

But USB-C which is the current standard allows for fast charging and a few neat things like data transfer at high speeds (potentially faster than ps4 although thats not really necessary) but the key thing is using USB-C to connect to the dock means the system will overclock, running at a higher speed that it cant in handheld mode as the dock has an extra fan to prevent overheated components.

Hving seen things personally and corroborated, this all hinges on what Nvidia has dkne. Its a Tegra CPU with new easy libraries and advanced shaders. Modern up to date power efficient ARM chips, which while not as brute force as x86 do more for less. Overclocking something like that depending on whether or not they are using Pascal architecture (which Nvidia has yet to comment on properly since it was mentioned) within such a ground up system built specifically for this purpose I would not be surprised at all if it could get into the Xbox One and PS4 range. And thats an honest thing. Look what happens when you overclock a dedicated Nvidia GPU in a PC.

But Sammy, the best bit of USB-C is not worrying about which way around it goes in

I have nothing against other consoles - I just chose PS because I like their exclusives better.

From what I have read it pretty much has the same power as a PS4 and PS4 games can be easily ported to the console. I have not owned a Nintendo since the NES this is the first time it has appealed to me. Having a gaming machine that when you want to go mobile you can go without sacrifising on the quality of the game. Nintendo also has some fun exclusives. I was considering buying the Scorpio next year but according to the Manager at my local Game store it will retail at between £500-£600 so not will to spend that on a console I would rather upgrade my PC.

There's certain third party games the switch should target like Minecraft, Destiny, Rocket League and games they shouldn't target like Call of Duty.

That's funny. Some would expect Switch to cover no market at all!

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi You do know that Call of Duty did very well on Wii, right?

@KratosMD I don't see the same theme. Yes, it's easy to view Switch as the glorious successor to Wii U's Off-TV Play (and in a number of aspects, to what Vita attempted earlier), but the marketing campaign left me with the impression that Off-TV was only one of many uses advertised about the Gamepad; the bulk of the system's concept seems to have revolved around dual screen gaming features that had been a success on NDS.

Switch doesn't seem to be about gameplay innovations like Ninty's previous two generations have been, but it seems to be about broadening the horizons and accessibility of what we associate with home console gaming - and that, I believe is the theme it's going for. Heck, there's even space for couch co-op on the go using one system (for games that don't use too many buttons at once?), something one could squeeze out some turn-based examples of in video game history but borderline unprecedented.

And as such, it is indeed a home console I've craved for years.

@Bad-MuthaAdebisi why? Vita showed that first person shooters can work on a portable platform. And Switch will have two sticks, too.

Fifa or pes i do not care
Sony or Nintendo I do not care.
Am I getting Nintendo Switch YES Ps pro No Ps 5 Hmmm dunno

I can't say I'm to fussed about the Switch as long as Sony keep bringing decent games to the Vita. The PSX conference gave me confidence they still see a future for the Vita.

Personally I don't think Nintendo has positioned any of their most recent Consoles as direct competition to Sony or MS either. From a technical standpoint, the Switch is looking to be at best around the Xbox One level which as we know, isn't as powerful as the base PS4. Both the XB1 and PS4 though are also over 3years old and therefore the Switch is yet again another under-powered console.
Of course that's not the whole story. The switch though also has a very small form factor and can also be used as a mobile gaming device. Had Nintendo released a 'fixed' (rather than mobile) gaming console with this much power, the chances are it would seem like the WiiU over again - only powerful enough for 1st party games and lower quality ports of 3rd Party games but the mobility adds a unique selling point.
The Wii with its motion controls (until Sony introduced the superior Move and MS with Kinect) had this as its unique selling point which caught the imagination of the public - not just gamers. People that would not normally by a gaming console or struggled with the ever increasing complexity of controllers could use a Wii.
The fact that the Switch adds portability could strike a chord with a similar range of people - it seems mobile/casual gaming is popular and those of us who maybe less casual may well want to play our PS4/XB1 type games away from a fixed position. It may not have the power to compete statistically with the PS4 but the compromise for higher resolution is portability. A game like Skyrim for example may not look as sharp as the PS4 version on a big screen but then you can't play that everywhere luke you can on Switch.
Its this that puts it in its own bracket and why it may well be most gamers 2nd console. Nintendo can also target the mobile and casual sector too.

Nintendo Switch is the first step into the future. Iterative console releases will become much less attractive when we finally hit the point where graphical advances are so subtle as to be effectively unnoticable. But the ability to play console games anywhere, at any time? That's huge. Local multiplayer with no need for extra controllers? Also huge. All of Nintendo's handheld and console games on one unified platform? Even huger.

Convenience, I think, will be an extremely resonant theme in gaming technology as we go into the future. Playstation's Remote Play and Nintendo's Off-TV play on Wii U were only overtures. Nintendo Switch will be the first big step down this road as long as Nintendo doesn't make a lot of stupid decisions. And, based on recent history, that's a valid concern.

@BAMozzy You think the move was superior? I wouldve thought the thing you hold emitting the signal and connecting with a sensor to track you would be better than a sensor in your hand moving within a limited scope to catch a signal. Oh well. Im backwards

ARM architecture isnt x86 in terms of raw strength and while PS4 is 3 years old, the tech inside is new, entireely custom and built by nvidia for the hardware. Especially for something this light and small to have so much oomph in it is impressive on its own and tk play Dark Souls or Skyrim on the go? Id take that over it on PS4 as im not restricted in when i can make progress.

But its all about the flops. Dem yummy teraflops and ppi and dpi and clock speeds and hdd space and whether or not Sony is on top again like an abusive husband.

Where was i going with this? Oh right, dont count something out just because its weaker. The PS2 was a thing that had huge merit on doing something no one else did at the time: DVDs cheap yo

@Ralizah Mobilr gaming is big because in many ways its convenient. So is PC gaming? In your pocket or your sat on it working. Games are right there. Ready to go.

Playing a big game but dont wanna turn it off? Pick it up and off you go. In between classes for an hour? Play some console level games. I do feel once we hit the logical peak of pushing graphics the next thing is to shrink it down.

@nhSnork I didnt suggest ignore all first person shooters, but if Nintendo have to convince certain third parties to put in effort after the Wii U disaster then they should probably be smart about their choices, I don't think that next year CoD IW or the Legacy edition will sell well unless heavily discounted, destiny collection might do, just my guess, there aren't many people gonna buy the console at launch and buy tons of third party when classic Nintendo franchises are available left right and centre for the first six months @Sensechat dead sorry, thankyou for the constructive criticism @Mahe the install base on the Wii was and still is insanely large, how could it not sell many copies.

@Ralizah Does people want to play console game outside? Psvita has console quality games like uncharted, gravity rush and tearaway but the games sales is low, I don't think people want console games on the go while they have the smartphones and tablet.

@NintendoFan4Lyf According to rumor, the dock doesn't give the switch more power. Beside if the dock is giving power and when not docking the switch is like wii u, then most next-gen game can't be played on switch portable mode. I can't imagine wii u running titles like battlefield 1, titanfall 2, gta 5 and the new cod.

@NintendoFan4Lyf The rumored report is that the Switch is underclocked when its not in the dock, and docking it boosts the performance of the hardware. There's no actual additional tech in the dock, though. So, yeah, similar to what you said.

@wiiware I disagree. The Vita was too expensive (if we factor in the insanely overpriced memory cards), gimmicky, and devoid of killer apps to take off in its first few years on the market, and Sony wasn't willing to support it for more than a year or two. The Vita's commercial failure has nothing to do with people not wanting console games on the go.

I think it's an awesome machine, but I can fully understand why it didn't catch on.

@BLP_Software Switch might be huge for people who like console experiences but who are too busy to actually sit down and play them for very long. There's a reason I've played my handhelds so much more often than my home consoles.

@NintendoFan4Lyf I would imagine with it being cartridge based I would say there is power savings there.

@Ralizah spot on with Vita still too expensive.

not sure what size of screen it has in its mobile form, but i've tried playing PS4 games on a 10" screen, it doesn't work, not for me anyway. even supposed big-console styled games designed for handheld, like killzone mercenary (as good as it was) just had me hankering to play it on a big screen. :-/ something like skyrim trying to do inventory management, etc. would just be a headache imo. i see mobile a bit like VR, it requires its own type of gaming experience to get the best out of it, and that isn't trying to shoehorn big-screen AAA games on to it. :-/

@leucocyte The screen will probably be at least as large as the one on the Wii U GamePad, which was my preferred method of play for most games (why bother with an HDTV when I can just lay on my back and have the game right in front of me?) Moreover, it should be at least a 720p display, which would make the image clearer than on either the GamePad or the PS Vita.

Also, what people are missing is that the console isn't designed to play console games on a handheld exclusively. It's designed to be convenient for everybody. Somebody like Sammy could play his game on on an HDTV most of the time, and only use the tablet as a screen on rare occasions when he doesn't want to quit a game but can't sit in front of his TV anymore. Somebody like me could play on the tablet most of the time but dock it when I have the time to sit down and play in front of a TV. Obviously the console won't appeal to people who only want to play games on giant screens all the time, but for anyone who has ever cursed the need to stay fixed in front of a TV while playing console games, this device is brilliant (at least, in concept).

Imagine if the PS4 and Vita were one device, with integrated libraries, and the Vita portion could support Remote Play anywhere with the same controls and without the need for Wi-Fi. Moreover, imagine, in addition, that switching between PS4 play and Vita remote play were seamless. THAT is what the Switch is promising.

Nothing i've seen on the Switch has really got me interested, and i doubt anything after january will change that. I have literally zero room on my entertainment center for another dock/console, and while i don't play my wii u very much, it is enough that i'm not packing it away yet. I can't see paying another $300 for a feature i'll never use in it being portable. I rarely use the gamepad due to it's awkwardness, weak battery life, kids, and it putting a strain on my neck after an hour of use. It's going to take a substantial amount of quality first party games to even get me interested in rearraging my setup!

Wii U was my main system, now is PS4, so the Switch will be the second mainline console.

@adf86 "I just don't think console gaming on the go doesn't work, people thought they wanted Uncharted, Assassins Creed and CoD on the go but when it came to it many felt they were lesser experiences then their consoles predecessors."

They WERE lesser experiences, though. Those were weaker, console-lite handheld games that were unable to deliver on the fun of the console versions. Not really comparable to the Switch.

@get2sammyb I love my vita for those pick up and play games, also it holds a majority of my PS1 classics, and has a decent battery life. Overall it's been a great handheld for me on road trips.

Vita has some features I'd LOVE to see in the Switch. On top of that list: the Vita's brilliant efficiency with battery power. The fact that I can put it in standby mode, leave it somewhere for a weak, come back, and discover that, not only is the game I had loaded still running smoothly, but that it lost hardly any battery power.

@Ralizah i can play a PS4 game, switch almost immediately to playing it at 720p on a 10" screen whilst sitting on the throne for 10 minutes, then back again to 40" tv. for me, the transition just doesn't work, and i suspect for most console gamers in the west, it won't either. most games just aren't designed around having a screen that small. games like skyrim, or destiny, which have heavy inventories, or games with extensive text prompts/dialogue wheels just fail miserably on small screens when everything is shrunk to scale. there would need to be alternative designs, modifications, etc. in order to work imo, and i don't think 3rd party devs will put all the extra attention in for that.

@wiiware Well, yes and no. The dock, as I predicted, doesn't increase the computational power, however it can increase the CPU and GPU speeds since the system is no longer dependent on its battery and now drains its power right from your AC power socket. It's CPU and/or GPU will be underclocked when in handheld mode to prevent draining the battery too quickly. However, since the system comes with a 720p screen, it doesn't require as much energy as when it would render everything in 1080p on a big screen, so it doesn't matter anyway.

TLDR; It works like a regular console, but in handheld mode it will be ''less powerful'', so it renders in 720p instead of 1080p so to speak, and since the handheld cannot display 1080p anyway, it's not a big loss.

It'll be interesting to see if the rumours match the real thing. As a new type of tech it'll be interesting to see how creatives, storytellers and coders give us a new experience, which hopefully will be fun and decent. Good luck to them : ) and of course more jobs!

@get2sammyb
Ya, but Vita wasn't really up to scratch for console quality games. The games graphics were good for a handheld, but just couldn't compare with actual consoles. The analogs sucked and didn't click in, there were only 2 shoulder buttons, and the screen was too small for actual console games. Toss in the hanky framerates and pop in most console ports had, and of course touch screen controls mapped for buttons, and it all combined to make a very suboptimal experience,

And I think when you have an underwhelming experience like that, its easy to think that you don't really want those games on the go. When in reality, you just don't want a significantly subpar experience. If the screen was larger, if the unit wasn't missing any buttons or clickable analogs, if the graphics were at least moderately comparable to current gen consoles, if the performance was acceptable, if it had far better games than just Borderlands 2 and a knockoff Uncharted from a 3rd party studio- if it had actual, current generation games that are highly rated like Final Fantasy XV or Dark Souls 3 or the Skyrim Remaster...

I think a person might realize that the games on the go was never the issue, it was the quality of the experience.

That aside, having console games on the go is just an added bonus anyways. The great thing about Switch is that it will still provide all the exclusive games you would normally get on a Nintendo console- playable on a TV. It'll basically offer everything a normal Nintendo console would, plus everything a normal Nintendo handheld would offer. No matter who you are or how you like to play your games, Switch has something to offer everyone (of course those who enjoy playing games on TV and handheld will get insane mileage out of the device)

@get2sammyb And where is the outcry for a 4K bluray drive that just two months ago was SO important to everyone?

@Octane Like I said, I can't imagined playing graphics heavy third party game like battlefield 1, titanfall 2, grand theft auto 5 and call of duty on portable device with cartridge. There's so many question that I don't know how they can do it.

Can nvidia make a mobile processor that can play all the heavy 3rd party games like I said above while in the switch portable mode? How about the cartridge, if battlefield 1 having 10gb update where it will be stored? How portable is switch, I don't believe nintendo and nvidia can make a near ps4 power in the size below ps4 slim and portable at that. If they can how long the switch will last while in portable mode, the dock in wii u can only last 3 hours and it seems the switch will be smaller than the wii u dock.

In the end I don't belive many will buy the switch in the hope of playing game on the go, from nds to 3ds (145m to 60m), from psp to psvita (80m to 14m), with every generations the sales of portable is down, most people doesn't want portable system while they already have a smartphone. I think the switch will be a jack of all trades and a master of none, not portable enough for playing on the go, not powerfull enough for playing all the third party game.

@Ralizah But the switch will have lesser version of 3rd party games, the cartidge and mobile processor will make sure of that. Why buy the lesser version on switch while ps4 or ps4 pro will have the best version of the game? Again, I don't think people will want to play gta 5 or skyrim on bus, the only market that want it is japan where portable rule.

Psvita have support in the 1-2 year of it's launch, it has uncharted and gravity rush. You don't need the more expensive memory card because the vita store its save on cartridge.

Remember wii u sold about 13m but the nintendo software sales is high, people buy the wii u games. Psvita software sales is low, I think only uncharted that sold more than 1m. Most people doesn't want playing a full console games on the go, there are people that wan't it, but it's not a big market. And the technology isn't there yet, a game console that can play battlefield 1 60 fps on the go while still have a good battery life? I do not believe it.

@wiiware I'm not saying there are no concerns about third party support. However, if the Xbox One can run a run without any problem, so can the Switch. There's a larger gap between the PS4 and Xbox One in terms of raw power than the Xbox One and the Switch. As a handheld device, it's really high-end. As a console, not so much, but diminishing returns and all. We're not making major leaps anymore, and although I'm not expected Uncharted 4 graphics on the Switch, it will be pretty close.

Don't know what cartridges have to do with this, they're just a storing medium, like optical media is. In fact, they are way more reliable. If I had to chose, I'd pick cartridge based media over optical media anytime. The only problem? They're more expensive to manufacture; however, other than that, there's no reason why a cartridge can't hold the same information. But yes, I do wonder how they're going to deal with DLC, whether they will allow for patches and DLC to be installed on the cartridge or whether it comes with its own separate storage card, I don't know.

Latest rumours are saying that Nintendo is aiming for a 5-8 hour battery life, that's fine IMO.

Well, the GBA ''only'' sold 80 million copies, that's in line with the 65m 3DS units and 15m Vita units sold. Last gen was an anomaly. Just like we're not going to see 260 (100+80+80) million home consoles sold this gen. Doesn't mean that home console gaming is on a decline. It's doing fine compared to pre-gen 7 standards. So again, last gen was an anomaly.

Again, I don't think you're wrong to question battery life and storage capacity, I too want to know more about that and if they don't hit the ball out of the park with that, there's a reason for concern. However, other than that, this looks way more promising than the Wii U ever was. It's at least a step in the right direction, that's for sure.

@Octane My concern is simple, Switch : Not enough power (because portability) + not enough storage (because cartridge) + games not easy to port (because mobile processor) = Third party wont support it after launch = No more 3rd party games = Less gamer buy the switch.

I already see jimmy fallon playing zelda switch, after seeing how the graphics on zelda games are, I don't think switch even powerfull enough comapred to xbox one. The difference between say, zelda switch and final fantasy xv on xbox are massive, zelda looks like an early ps3 games. That's the price of portability.

Shigeru Miyamoto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TJ7IUNWGl4

Does the Playstation handheld have hdmi support most tablets do
tablets are a fraction of the price better battery life choice of screen sizes and can run emulators I managed to get Zelda twilight princess running no problem because there are dedicated people out there that allow you to do it seamlessly get yourself a Bluetooth controller and your away.

I am talking a tablet with windows 8.1 or above no idea how the jellybean community get on

@get2sammyb
I liked the smaller games for the Vita but you didn't enjoy having Uncharted, Killzone, Need For Speed, Mortal Kombat, Assassin's Creed or Gravity Rush on the go? Granted, I didn't complain when it was announced Gravity Rush 2 was making the jump to PS4, but having console-like experiences on the go is cool too. I will be interested to see where I experience games on the Switch more when I eventually get one though. I like the idea that I'll be able to play the Super Mario game on the portable screen but I'm sure I'll be playing it on the tv a lot as well.

Oh wow, Seasons of Heaven looks gorgeous! Of course, any screenshots can be arranged to look good, so I'm excited to see it in action.

@get2sammyb
Fair enough. I prefer home console gaming myself. I wouldn't have minded a PS4 port of Uncharted: Golden Abyss. Was disappointed it wasn't part of the Nathan Drake Collection considering it stars Nathan Drake.

@NintendoFan4Lyf The switch doesn't have harddisk for storage, so what happen when the cartidge storage is all used? Cartridge is price sensitive, 3rd party game can't just use 128gb cartridge in all of their game to store patch and dlc. My concern still stand, Switch : not enough power + not enough storage + games not easy to port. I don't believe I can play the witcher 3 and final fantasy xv on portable machine without much loss in graphics quality and battery that can stand more than 3 hours and still have reasonable price, ie: nintendo make xbox1 portable.

I read the link, it's only screenshot, it maybe real, it may be running at 15 fps on switch. Zelda is real and when you compare it to open world xbox1 game like final fantasy xv and the witcher 3 the difference is massive, the world of zelda is just... flat.

I hope nintendo can do it though, a healty competition is good for the industry.