Switch Reveal: Rise of Nintendo

While most players in the video game industry currently look toward making hardware more and more akin to a powerful PC gaming rig, the industry pioneers at Nintendo have stuck to their guns. The company continues to release products that not only utilize innovative means of interaction and utility, but also carve a unique niche in the market as a pedigree console experience. Despite these several points of praise, there is no denying the fact that Nintendo’s current endeavor in the home gaming hardware market, the Wii U, was far from successful. This was a result of poor marketing and an overall design that made game development additionally frustrating. This essentially led to the console receiving almost no third-party developer support and a game catalogue with a serious drought of noteworthy titles. Heck, the Wii U in itself has become synonymous with failure amongst the gaming community.

However, since the later part of 2015, the Japanese company has been hinting towards a new product under the codename NX. While its existence was indeed confirmed, for a better part of a year the public had not a single clue about what this device may actually be. With this level of mystery shrouding it, the Internet and the gaming community at large was running wild with speculation to what this new console would be. Despite this large level of chatter, not a single official statement about the NX was made since the confirmation of its existence, save for a tentative release date of March 2017. But even then we still had no clue what this machine even was. By the beginning of October, many had begun to lose hope on the delivery of the NX, with still no word on what it even is. However, this past week, Nintendo finally gave us our first look at their next console, which is now officially known as the Nintendo Switch.

Despite the tremendous fumble that was the Wii U, I am confident that the Switch will right every wrong the Wii U had been plagued by, not only by its technology but also by how unique the device actually is. While most video game consoles tend to focus on a premium home experience or a convenient portable design, the Switch manages to accomplish both goals, with what appears to be next to no compromise. The console features a modular design, packing a 7-inch portable display play that can be used on the go, like any other portable console. The system also comes with a docking station for the portable hardware, which, when utilized, transfers the display of the device to whatever television or display the dock itself is connected to, essentially becoming a home console system not unlike the Wii U. Due to the custom-made internal processors, through collaboration with NVidia and their Tegra chip technology, Nintendo claims that the portable experience of the Switch is completely identical performance-wise to that of the home console experience. While not being a powerhouse like a gaming PC or even the other current home consoles such as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the Switch is still no slouch, especially when you consider the fact that all of the console’s primary internals are housed in the thin portable display. However, the console’s gimmick and software lineup show that Nintendo has a smash hit waiting to happen. Just like the hardware itself, the controller, or should I say controllers, are fully modular and can be detached into two smaller, different controllers for co-op play and reassembled into its original full gamepad. What’s so amazing about this is that the Switch is multi-player ready out of the box and also in any environment, creating an opportunity for a premium game experience regardless of location. I wouldn’t be surprised if when March comes around that these things are going to be a hit in the GQ lounge due to its emphasis on social play. In addition to its innovative design, the Switch also has a substantial level of third-party developer support, something that the Wii U suffered tremendously from due its absence. While not many specific games have been confirmed, developers such as Atlus, FromSoftware, and Bethesda have confirmed that they would be involved in producing titles for the console. Additionally, Nintendo appears to have a couple of monumental titles in the works as well, such as the enhanced Switch port of the upcoming Legend of Zelda game, and an unannounced 3D Mario game first seen in the reveal trailer for the Switch. While the Switch may not be explicitly competing with the likes of Sony and Microsoft in terms of hardware, the Switch is such a unique device that it very well may be in a class of its own, or even go on to pave the way towards a new niche in the video game market altogether.