Nintendo’s latest console has been stuck in leaks and rumours for some time now, with mostly crumbs of details being spread around about what Nintendo will be offering for the latest console. Nintendo announced their codename NX console more than a year ago.
Now we have the official announcement and name. The new console from Nintendo is called Switch and arrives early next year in March.
The Switch console, is actually a tablet, and comes with a dock that connects directly to your TV. The WII U worked by giving you a tablet sized display on your controller, whereas, the Switch itself is the tablet and sits in a dock when playing on your TV.
Nintendo clearly what freedom to be a big part of their plans, so simply removing the tablet from the dock allows you to instantly go mobile with your games. The device itself is power by Nvidia using a Tegra chip, but that’s about all the information we have in terms of specs of the device. Games are most likley going to be viable via some from of SD card/proprietary cartridge and digitally downloaded.
The new Joy-Con as Nintendo called them, are somewhat modular controllers that can connect directly to the tablet for a Wii U style gaming, or can act as a dedicated controller with the Joy-Con Grip, which we assume has a large battery inside as well. The Joy-Con when separated can act as mini controllers for split screen gaming as well. Pretty nifty thinking there Nintendo. The Switch is also getting Pro controller treatment, should you wish to get something a little bit more robust for your gaming needs.
Below is the first trailer for the new console/tablet. There is no word on what games will launch along side the console, or exactly what kind of third party support, however Nintendo have stated that the likes of Activision, Atlus, Bethesda, Capcom, EA, Epic Games, Konami, PlatinumGames, Square Enix, Take-Two and Ubisoft are all on board, but to what extent remains to be seen. The demo video shows a few from said publishers already, along side Zelda, Mario and Platoon.
The Nintendo Switch arrives March 2017 with a yet to be announce price tag, we’re guessing around €200-299, but Nintendo could go cheaper.
