@why @rasterman @natsock @coolboymew @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday it's hard to say whether or not there will be a switch 2 or switch pro. they have iterated time and time again on their handhelds, but the only console to get an iteration was the wii with the wii u, and even then it was really in name only. nintendo is always cooking up something different and unique for their main consoles, for better or worse. given that the switch is a hybrid between these two, who really knows what they're going to do going forward. everyone is pressuring them into making essentially a beefier switch, but perhaps the logistics aren't in it for them in term of pricing it well enough while still having it be a more powerful machine (let alone talks of battery life).

my prediction is that they will come out with a completely new console that can play switch games but is not able to be played on the go, then keep developing games for the switch that are essentially boosted on the new stay-at-home console. i don't really see any other option for them at this point unless they want to release what is essentially a steam deck but locked down to nintendo stuff only, and that includes the price of the deck as well. i can't see that being a very "nintendo" move.

@why @rasterman @natsock @coolboymew @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday the switch branding and popularity is way too insanely popular at the moment, so i'm sure they are being super careful to avoid another wii u situation where everyone thinks the "switch pro" is just an addon or something (unless it really is just an addon and not a brand new console, which i think would be preferable).

@coolboymew @rasterman @natsock @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday @why maybe "completely new console" is a bad way of putting it. an add-on for the switch, like an enhanced dock or something, might be what they shoot out. i really just don't think a portable system that's more powerful than the switch (at least, for modern standards) is in the cards at the moment. there are battery life and cost issues.

@coolboymew @rasterman @natsock @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday @why yeah the dock would essentially have to be a translation layer of sorts. it'd get really fuckin weird. it definitely wouldn't be able to add hardware to the switch itself, so it would have to interpret all the calls coming from the switch with its own hardware or something. at the very least, that would still let the switch be played in handheld mode and it would likely be a lot cheaper (in terms of parts) to produce.

of course this is me just talking out of my ass. i don't know nearly enough about programming or the switch to know if this is even a possibility. and if it's not, i really don't know what direction nintendo goes until maybe a few years from now when it is more feasible to release a switch 2.

@natsock @rasterman @coolboymew @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday @why yeah and that brand new hardware is always really expensive. you don't want to fracture your consumer base too much either. the console market is completely different from the raw hardware market, or even the phone market.

nintendo actually has released new revisions of the switch also, with better battery life, better screen, etc. but they were at most $50 more and that was just for a slightly better screen.

the other thing is that nintendo actually develops lots of games, unlike playstation and microsoft (who are publishers at best), so a lot of their money goes there instead of focusing on new console hardware for other people to publish games to. for good reason, too, because part of the reason why the switch has sold so well is because you can't get the games anywhere else (unless via emulation) and most of the games, notably the in-house ones that nintendo develops and finances, are phenomenal.

@natsock @rasterman @coolboymew @mangeurdenuage @mrsaturday @why i mean, miyamoto has said that iwata spent a lot of time on it, that the whole concept was pretty much his idea, and that he was the head of development. that's as straight from the source as it gets.

the switch to wii comparison is pretty large, actually. they are both underpowered for their time, they both fill an interesting niche in the market that were ahead of their time, they're both adequately priced when stacked against the competitors, and they're both completely devoid of star fox xD the biggest difference the switch has is obviously the portability, which consolidates the handheld and console market that Nintendo has down into one, making for a naturally huge success.