The following video was released this morning finally debuting Nintendo’s new console.
From the video, we can see several notable things:
- Very clearly, it shows that you are able to essentially play the console anywhere on it’s own portable screen and detachable controllers. We heard rumors about this being a “mobile” console but this confirms it.
- Plug and play at home or on larger screens is done through what appears to be a docking station like device.
- When playing docked, there looks to be a new “Pro” type controller. A closer look at the controller shows a design more akin to the Xbox 1 pad with concave thumbsticks and a similar button layout.
- Skyrim is shown running on the system which leads us to believe that wider 3rd party support is being pushed. It likely also means that the system will be far more powerful than the Wii U was.
- A new Mario game!
- The portable console includes some type of cartridge port. In this vein it looked very similar to the Vita though we have no specifications on the memory or type of storage being used at this time.
Nintendo also released the following graphic to highlight some of the industry support the Switch is already seeing:
Our Take
New hardware is always exciting and after the Wii U, which was not received nearly as universally as the Wii, we’re sure Nintendo is hoping that the portable aspect of the Switch catches on. There are still a lot of questions to be answered and hopefully we’ll receive some answers today. Our largest concerns are console power, third party support, price, and details on the portable screen and storage types. Let’s hope Nintendo gets this one right!
Stay tuned to SG for more coverage as Nintendo provides more details.
