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Nintendo Switch: Our hopes about the next console

CNET editors Jeff Bakalar and Scott Stein talk about what they want from Nintendo's 2017 system.

Mike Sorrentino Senior Editor
Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
Expertise Phones, texting apps, iOS, Android, smartwatches, fitness trackers, mobile accessories, gaming phones, budget phones, toys, Star Wars, Marvel, Power Rangers, DC, mobile accessibility, iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal, RCS
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Jeff Bakalar Editor at Large
Jeff is CNET Editor at Large and a host for CNET video. He's regularly featured on CBS and CBSN. He founded the site's longest-running podcast, The 404 Show, which ran for 10 years. He's currently featured on Giant Bomb's Giant Beastcast podcast and has an unhealthy obsession with ice hockey and pinball.
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Bryan VanGelder Former video producer
Bryan VanGelder was a technical producer for CNET. He's a metal-head, an A/V geek and a radio nut, and he spends too much money on comic books.
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Scott Stein Editor at Large
I started with CNET reviewing laptops in 2009. Now I explore wearable tech, VR/AR, tablets, gaming and future/emerging trends in our changing world. Other obsessions include magic, immersive theater, puzzles, board games, cooking, improv and the New York Jets. My background includes an MFA in theater which I apply to thinking about immersive experiences of the future.
Expertise VR and AR, gaming, metaverse technologies, wearable tech, tablets Credentials
  • Nearly 20 years writing about tech, and over a decade reviewing wearable tech, VR, and AR products and apps
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Mike Sorrentino
Jeff Bakalar
Bryan VanGelder , 
Scott Stein
2 min read
Watch this: Nintendo Switch: What we want from the new console

Will Nintendo's Switch be what the company needs to turn customers back onto buying its home systems?

CNET editors Jeff Bakalar and Scott Stein -- both of whom spend plenty of time watching the gaming industry and Nintendo 's platforms -- talk about whether the system will be what the gaming titan needs to win players back who may have moved on to PlayStation, Xbox or even just a smartphone for their entertainment fix.

Plus, Nintendo's announcement leaves plenty of questions out there: What will the battery life be when the console is portable? Could the Switch replace the Nintendo 3DS down the line? And, most importantly, what will we be playing on it?

The console, unveiled Thursday morning in a teaser video, is the first platform that promises to bring portable and home gaming together. The machine, due out in March, has the appearance of a tablet with detachable game controllers for gaming-on-the-go, and the ability to slide into a dock which can connect straight to a television.

Nintendo is touting the platform as one to heavily promote local gaming, even apparently being able to link with other systems for co-op and versus.

And it comes at a critical time for Nintendo, whose Wii U platform never quite lived up to the cultural phenomenon that the original Wii experienced way back in 2006.

What do you think about the Nintendo Switch? Does the system interest you, or are you keeping an eye out for Mario's upcoming iPhone title instead? Talk about it in the comments below.