Speaker 1: The Nintendo switch five years in, could they be ready for a sequel?
Speaker 1: So the switch came out in 20 17, 5 years ago, which seems like a really long time. It is a long time, but it spanned this weird period that was also the pandemic. So it feels like time collapsed a bit for me, I'm sure for a lot of people, but the switch is still a really popular game console. In fact, Nintendo released an update to the [00:00:30] switch last fall, the Nintendo switch OED, which has some much needed upgrades, but a lot of them on the outside of the switch, things like an OED display and a better kicks. Dan, what Nintendo still hasn't addressed is the stuff under the hood. Could Nintendo finally revamp the Nintendo switch at some point soon to make it the console that I'd really like it to be. When I look back at Nintendo's history, it looks like the game console refresh cycle for Nintendo was about every five to six years.
Speaker 1: [00:01:00] You have the Nintendo switch out in 2017. Before that you had the WEU 2012, then you had the Nintendo we, which was 2006. Then you had the game cube, went back 2001, the N 64 and 1996. So it seems like we're ready for a new Nintendo console at some point, right now, the switch is still seemingly going pretty strong. But when would Nintendo be thinking about refreshing that hardware right [00:01:30] now, if you're looking to buy a switch, I think you can just get one of the ones that's out there. There's no indication that Nintendo is going to be making a new console. They haven't announced anything on the other hand, Nintendo doesn't tip its hand and those announcement can come completely out of the blue. And that's the other question. Would Nintendo do something completely different for its next's game console? That's not necessarily a given even the Nintendo WEU for all of its new ideas was trying to build off of what the Nintendo we was, which was [00:02:00] a tremendous success.
Speaker 1: It seems likely that Nintendo would keep building off of the success of the switch. Considering it's got such a strong identity sales have been strong, uh, and they've been building a lot of, of game console sales through a lot of families who may even be buying multiple switches. The things that I want for the switch are really improvements in how I play games and how good the games look already. Nintendo was address some of the things that I had a problem with before, like the kickstand, which wasn't that important to fix, but I thought was helpful. [00:02:30] A software update that allows Bluetooth audio connections and the display looks nicer and CRISPR, but the chip that gaming chip that the Nintendo switch is playing games on that Tera based chip that had, has been around for a while and has not fundamentally changed now Nintendo's games, their first party games, and a lot of other indie games still look really good on the switch despite being five years old, but you can see the signs of age.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that would be most helpful to address [00:03:00] in some sort of new graphics update. Now, right now Theano switch plays games in 10 80 P on a TV seven 20 P on the handheld. And that hasn't changed even with the switch OED. It's still 10 80 P to a TV seven 20 P to a handheld. There's been talk for a while about 4k gaming on a, maybe some sort of dead kit that people might be working on. I mean, if they're ever thinking about developing some sort of system that pushes further, you'd expect that somebody would be trying to work on developing games for it. And that's gonna take time. [00:03:30] Could that be in some sort of next version of the hardware who knows? I would love to see that because it would mean that other games that go cross play platform could finally play on the switch better and would enable cross compatibility of more games and, and just make that pipeline easier.
Speaker 1: However, would that mean some sort of tiering level? The Nintendo 3d S was a completely new console from the DS, but it also played Nintendo DS games. Nintendo could go in that direction, but then how would [00:04:00] you make it clear, um, how well games played on one versus the other that would remain to be seen? The other thing I'd really like to see is an improved set of joy cons. The Nintendo JoyCon were very innovative when they came out in 2017, they have not changed now, um, that there are all sorts of weirdnesses to them. Those little controllers have had drift problems for a lot of people where they solely break down over time and get weird. The buttons feel cramped. The thing that bugs me the most, uh, is the trigger. [00:04:30] The triggers are not analog. They're these click triggers that doesn't really match anything else that I play with in other game consoles.
Speaker 1: And I feel like a lot of games take advantage of, of analog triggers, uh, for all sorts of things. I'd love to see some sort of pro design where the JoyCon gets reinvented, uh, becomes more reliable, add some of those things like analog triggers improves the haptics or that vibrating feedback even further. It would be great if those were, if original Joycons were compatible with that new switch, but who knows [00:05:00] it does feel like the controllers are due for some sort of reinvention. Uh, at some point in fact, that would be the feature that I would look forward to the most, even above the graphics at the moment. But at some point, of course, I I'd want the graphics too. The other thing I got to, I just mentioned that before is display and an Nintendo switch already updated display to an OED, which looks really good and actually makes a surprising difference, [00:05:30] but it's still seven 20 P at seven inches.
Speaker 1: But I find that when I'm looking at some text and other things, there may be some limitations in how detailed it can get 10 80 P seems like a natural way to go. Especially if you're gonna go to 4k on a TV, you have 10 80 P on the handheld for some sort of next generation switch beyond that. I don't really have a lot on my list. In fact, I don't even know if I'd think about Nintendo reinventing their gaming concept all over again right now, the switch and [00:06:00] its portable dockable style of game play seems perfect. It might be really cool if the doc could play the games without the switch. I guess what I mean by that is that it, it could be its own independent console. I mean, I've already thought of about what if, you know, there was a, a switch console that wasn't the tablet and you kind of inevitably think about that to just play games like a little box connected to a TV.
Speaker 1: I could think of that as being useful. [00:06:30] If you wanted to have some sort of multiplayer element or, or something like that. Um, it's kind of two consoles for the price of one though. Other than that, I, I love the formula for what the switch is. I, I think I still think other companies should adopt that idea and I'm surprised that there aren't more switchable types of modular devices, especially with those Joycons sliding in and out. So I think just evolving that further seems like the way to go. We don't know much else at this point. In fact, a lot of things that we are D from a switch pro ended up emerging [00:07:00] on the OED switch. And that raises the question on whether Nintendo maybe decided not to make a switch pro as it had been reported or, you know, is there something further down the line that's a true switch to at the moment in 2022, I say just kind of hold on there and hang in.
Speaker 1: But when I think about Nintendo and the gaming landscape, it feels like between tablets, phones, PlayStation five Xbox series X and S a lot of these systems [00:07:30] and their ability to stream games and play more advanced games. Now feel like they've taken, uh, several steps ahead of where Nintendo is at, which does make it feel like Nintendo should upgrade its hardware. At some 0.5 years has been an amazing run, but sooner or later, we're going to hear about what Nintendo has in store next. And ideally it'll be something that builds on the switch platform that already exists. If you have more thoughts about this, uh, put some comments down below and [00:08:00] thanks for watching.
