Nintendo has been teasing their next hardware project, which was code-named “NX”, for over a year now, but they were tight-lipped on what exactly it was until they were ready to reveal it to the world. And last week they did just that, announcing the successor to the Wii U, which they are calling the Nintendo Switch.
In typical Nintendo fashion, The Switch is unlike any other video game console available. When the system is at home in its dock, it is pretty much like any other video game system. You have a wireless controller, and can play games up on your TV.
The big difference is, if you want to move, the Switch can move with you. In the dock is a 6.2” tablet, which is the actual game system. The controller splits in half, and each half clips onto the sides of the tablet, making it a portable gaming system. You don’t even have to stop your game, the game moves effortlessly from the TV to the Switch’s tablet display.
Each of the sides of the controller, called the Joy-Con, have an analog stick and 4 buttons, and are wireless, so they can be used independently. Nintendo demonstrated this by showing someone handing one of the remotes to a friend, and playing a two-player Mariokart race. The system also supports more traditional controllers.
The Switch’s built in Nvidia graphics chip should be powerful enough to deliver fantastic graphics, while being energy efficient enough to allow hours of gameplay without recharging.
We’ll know more about the Nintendo Switch in January, when Nintendo is fully revealing the console. After that, it should be available for purchase in March of 2017.
