Updated: Images of official third party accessories have leaked online which point towards a March release for Legend of Zelda and a possible fighting game. More details below.
The Nintendo Switch could be one of the most revolutionary consoles ever released – similar to the Nintendo DS handheld or the Nintendo 64.
We say that because Nintendo is taking a strange twist on traditional form factors:The NX is a hybrid between a traditional console and a handheld, meaning that you can use it while out and about like you would a Nintendo 3DS or a PS Vita and then 'dock' it while in your home to play games on the big screen.
This means you'll easily be able to seamlessly continue your gaming when you leave the house, and should also make it much easier to play multiplayer games in person with friends.
Everything we officially know about the console so far has come from its announcement trailer (which you can watch below), and it will likely stay that way until Nintendo's first official hands on experience that it's holding in New York City on January 13, 2017, one day after its January 12 livestream event.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? Nintendo's newest console
- When is it out? Officially March 2017, but unofficially March 17 has been rumored as a release date.
- What will it cost? It's not official yet, but a price point of $249 (£200/ around AU$330) is looking likely
Nintendo Switch release date
The Switch's debut trailer revealed that the console will launch in March 2017, which agrees with what Nintendo had previously announced in its earnings call earlier this year.
A European release date of Friday March 17 is currently being rumored for the console, which would tally with Nintendo's history of releasing consoles on Friday in the territory.
This rumor was corroborated by a listing by GameSeek, which listed March 17 as a release date.
Based on this, we'd guess that the console will probably be released on the 5th or the 12th of March in North America, but we'll probably receive a more exact release date on January 12 when Nintendo will live-stream a presentation about the new console.
Nintendo Switch Price
Nintendo has yet to officially announce the price of its new console, but we've collected together all of the most promising price rumors around.
A recent report from LetsPlayVideoGames based on the word of two reliable sources from UK retailer Game has suggested that when it's launched, the Nintendo Switch price in the UK will be £199.99. The report also suggests that we'll see a premium model with more memory and a game released at the same time for £249.99.
Apparently Nintendo's intention is to price the consoles using direct currency conversion which would mean that the launch price in the US would be $249/ $299 and in Australia it would be $330/ $415.
This super tempting price point is backed up by another recent leak from the Canadian Toys R Us site which listed the Canadian launch price as $329.99. If the direct conversion pricing rumor is accurate, this would mean the UK launch price would indeed be £199, substantiating the claims in LetsPlayVideoGames' report.
The most recent news, though, comes from UK retailer GameSeek which has listed the Switch with a price of £198.50 (US $246.79/ AU $330). More significantly, it's not just taking pre-orders for the console at this price, it's placing a price guarantee on it. This guarantee states that if the price increases between now and the console's release pre-order customers won't have to pay anymore.
Of course, if the price decreases then you're also locked into this pre-order price but let's face it, if Nintendo lowers the cost of the Switch below this they're basically giving it away.
Before you run to GameSeek and pre-order the console for yourself, though, it should be noted that a customer has reported on the store's Facebook page that they were told by their local GameSeek store that all customers who have placed a pre-order have received a full refund. So perhaps it's not quite as guaranteed as we thought.
None of these rumors have been confirmed or denied by Nintendo, so it looks like we'll have to wait for exact pricing details to be revealed on Nintendo's January 12 live-stream.
In the past, high initial price tags were the biggest roadblock for Nintendo's most recent portable and home consoles, and we're hoping that the Switch isn't prohibitively expensive.
Nintendo's previous generation of consoles, the DS and Wii, gained traction by launching at $150 and $250 (£99.99 and £179.99) respectively, so whether it's focused on dominating your living room or your public transportation commute, Nintendo knows where the sweet spot lays for pricing its consoles.
Nintendo Switch games
Images of official third party accessories for the Nintendo Switch recently leaked online and though they include the usual generic chargers and cases that it's hard to get excited about, there are a couple worth noting.
The first is a Legend of Zelda console skin which has a March 2017 release date, suggesting the game itself might be released around this time to accompany it. The second is an arcade-style gaming pad which points towards plans for a good old-fashioned fighting game.
A recent listing of the Switch console on the GameStop retail site has hinted that we could see a Pokemon title come to the console, adding to previous rumors that a directors' cut of Sun and Moon called Stars was planned for Switch release.
Spotted by a NeoGAF user, the description of the console on the GameStop website read “Nintendo Switch games will include new title offerings from Mario, Splatoon, Zelda, the NBA and more! You will even be able to play Skyrim on the go, or Pokémon at home with the Nintendo Switch.”
Hopefully the existence of the Pokemon title will be confirmed or denied in this week's big press conference.
Nintendo of America has tweeted that a special installment of Treehouse Live dedicated to Nintendo Switch games will show on January 13 at 9:30 am ET, only a few hours after the full Switch press conference.
The livestream will show on Twitch and YouTube and will give "an in-depth look at upcoming games featured in the Nintendo Switch presentation." Whether the games featured will be purely launch titles, or whether they'll include games we can expect to see at some point down the line is unclear but it's an exciting prospect.
As good as the console might claim to be, the real pull for many consumers will come from the games it's able to offer.
When the Switch was debuted on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, we got the chance to see the newest Legend of Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, in action. From what we saw, the game is as visually stunning as you could hope a Legend of Zelda title would be with an expansive game world and it played well on the large screen in Fallon's studio.
As well as giving us our first look at the console, the official trailer also gave us a great look at a number of the console's games.
We saw a version of what appeared to be Skyrim, a basketball game, the new Zelda game, Breath of the Wild, and an all new Mario game in the style of classic Mario 64.
Interestingly a couple of these games, including Mario Kart, appear to be ports of Wii U games. In the weeks that followed the launch, further reports backed up the suggestion that Wii U ports would feature heavily in the console's catalogue. Reliable Switch leaker Laura Kate Dale revealed that fan favorite Super Smash Bros. would make the jump to the new console within six months of the console's launch, along with the game's remaining associated Amiibo.
Another point is how prominently the trailer showed off Skyrim, which is the kind of adult game that Nintendo has tended not to make a priority on its consoles, although after company subsequently failed to confirm whether the game is actually coming to the console, it now appears as though they have something in the works for it, even if they won't confirm exactly what it is.
Perhaps most excitingly, we've also had rumors that a full Pokémon RPG will be making its way to the Switch in what is a first for home consoles. Allegedly this will be an enhanced version of the excellent Pokémon Sun and Moon, and we couldn't be more excited.
Dark Souls is apparently another series that might come to the Switch. Apparently Dark Souls 3 has already been made to run on the console, and discussions are occurring about whether to release the entire trilogy on the console with all its DLC bundled in.
We also saw games being played competitively in a multiplayer setting, which may indicate Nintendo's intention to make eSports a focus of the console.
In addition to the trailer, Nintendo has also sent out a list of all the developers and publishers who are planning to support the Switch.
There are a lot of companies on the list that we're not surprised to see such as Activision, EA and Ubisoft, but it's more surprising to see a company like FromSoftware, developers of the Dark Souls series, on the list, due to its focus on more adult games.
Nintendo Switch features
Nintendo has always been a company willing to do its own thing. While Sony and Microsoft have fought over having the more powerful machines, Nintendo has focussed its attention on interesting controllers and 3D displays.
The Switch looks like a very unique console indeed.
In recent years Nintendo has developed a bit of a problem with its attention being split across its consoles and its handhelds. The Nintendo Switch console will be a hybrid between the two, and might just solve this problem.
In other words what the console will be able to do is allow you to take it on the go, and then 'dock' it when you're back home in order to seamlessly transition to using it like a traditional console. When we saw a live demonstration of the console on Jimmy Fallon's tonight show, the transition between handheld and console appears to be as fast and seamless as it was in the official trailer.
Nintendo should have just one piece of hardware to focus its attention on, and this should help it maintain a better level of focus.
When played as a handheld, you attach two controller portions to the side of the 6.2" 720p multi-touch screen, which feature a 'split' d-pad as previously rumored.
These can then be detached when your dock the console, at which point you can either play the console with a more traditional controller, which features a more traditional Nintendo d-pad, or reassemble the detached controller handles into a gamepad.
Additionally the dock will allegedly contain an additional fan, which will help to cool the console, allowing it to run at a faster clock speed while docked and not running on battery power.
This faster clock speed means that the processing power of the console will increase, allowing it to output at 1080p resolutions on an external televisions.
The Switch will apparently connect to the dock using a modern USB-C connector.
The dock itself will reportedly be cheap, allowing people to have multiple units connected to different TVs throughout the house.
You can detach the controller handles to use with the console while it's in tablet mode.
Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima has confirmed that the console will see a wide array of accessories, which some have taken to mean that we'll see multiple detachable controller types.
Nintendo has confirmed that you won't be able to use the tablet to create a dual-screen gaming experience similar to the Gamepad with the Wii U. Instead, the Switch will be an completely single-screen experience "on whatever screen you might choose."
From the looks of this controller it might be equipped with detachable handles, but this wasn't made explicit in the trailer.
The trailer also confirmed the fact that the console will feature games sold on a cartridge rather than a disc.
Unfortunately this means that the console won't be physically backwards compatible.
The trailer didn't mention a major rumor that was doing the rounds about the console supporting VR after the company admitted it was "researching" VR technology, according to someone who was present.
Twitter's NStyles attended the meeting in Kyoto and claims Nintendo's Shigeru Minamoto said Nintendo was researching VR but has concerns about users playing for long periods of time.
Rumors about the console being powered by an Nvidia chip appear to be correct. The graphics card company has revealed in a blog post that the console is powered by a custom Tegra chip.
Nintendo Switch accessories
At this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, third party gaming accessory manufacturer, Snakebyte, revealed that it would be creating accessories for the Switch console.
Considering Snakebyte has released accessories for the Wii U and the New 3DS, this is hardly surprising. On the CES show floor, the company is displaying accessory bundles it says have been "designed to enhance the portable nature of the Switch console."
Snakebyte is only announcing two products in the Switch accessory range which are a foldable gaming headset and a Starter Kit.
The headset has been designed to fold up, making it the perfect companion for the Switch when it's in its portable mode.
The Starter Kit has everything a new Switch owner will need to take care of their console and make the most of it, including a carry case, earbuds, a cleaning cloth, screen protectors, and game cases.
Unfortunately, these basic accessories don't tell us much more about the Switch console itself but we don't have long to wait until the big January reveal.
Snakebyte doesn't have price points for the accessories just yet, but they're expected to be released in Spring 2017 so that players can purchase them alongside the console on day one.
Nintendo Switch specs
Thanks to a Nvidia blog post we know the console is powered by a custom Tegra chip, which was also found in the Nvidia Shield, but unfortunately neither Nvidia nor Nintendo have provided any further details on how powerful the chip is.
Nvidia's desktop GPU's have seen a substantial upgrade recently, and there was some home that this upgrade would carry through to Tegra, but this hasn't been confirmed, and seems unlikely given the specs we've seen.
What we do know are the clock speeds that the CPU and GPU will run at. The CPU has a clock speed of 1020MHz in both docked and undocked modes, but the GPU sees more of a change, dropping from 768MHz to 307.2MHz when running on battery power.
307.2MHz might not seem like much compared to the PS4's 800MHz or the Xbox One's 853MHz, but it should still be enough to outperform the Wii U, and we've all seen the performance Nintendo was able to squeeze out of its last console.
The blog post does mention that the chip has been optimised for "mobile use cases" which we hope means that it's not too battery hungry, but there are rumors circulating that the console only has a battery life of three hours when used as a handheld.
In terms of RAM, the Switch is rumored to have 4GB, which puts it in line with most major smartphones including the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and Motorola Moto Z, and is more than both the iPhone 7 (2GB) and iPhone 7 Plus (3GB).
Unfortunately this is half the amount of both the PS4 and Xbox One, which suggests the Switch might sit behind the current generation in terms of graphical fidelity.
The screen is rumored to have a resolution of 720p and be capable of multi-touch in a first for the company which has focussed on single-touch screens up until now.
The tablet will also reportedly feature a USB-C port for charging, as well as supporting up to 128GB Micro SDXC Cards.
