Nintendo Switch hybrid console revealed: Games, Price and other things to know

Nintendo Switch features a tablet-like display unit that can dock at home and connect with the TV

"A portable couch gaming system"

Nintendo Co. unveiled its long-awaited new gaming platform, the Switch, featuring a tablet-like console that will allow gamers to play at home and on the go. In a three-minute video released Thursday, the Kyoto, Japan-based company showed gamers using the new system to play in their living rooms, but also detaching a part of it to continue playing at an airport, in a car and at a barbecue. It showed several titles from its flagship franchises, including Zelda, Super Mario, Mario Kart and a basketball game. Nintendo reiterated in the video that the new system, originally dubbed NX, will be released in March. A price wasn’t disclosed. The company is trying to carve out a niche between casual smartphone gamers and more serious players who use consoles such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4, according to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad.

“They’ve certainly found their place in the market and this is the most logical thing for Nintendo to do. It’s quite a positive,” said Ahmad, who covers the game industry. “Providing this two-in-one solution, this is very unique and something that the PlayStation doesn’t do and something that smartphones don’t really do either.”

Nintendo’s American depositary receipts in New York added 2.1 percent after the video was aired. Shares in Tokyo rose 3.3 percent, adding more than $1 billion in market value in their biggest rally in a month, after Nintendo flagged the video’s release.

Smartphone Embrace

The new device features a tablet-like display unit that can dock at home and connect with the TV, or be taken out and about with two detachable controllers for multiparty play. Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima said in April that “it will allow for a whole new way to experience hardware and software together.”

The Switch’s portable feature puts it at odds with Nintendo’s recent embrace of smartphones. After years of ignoring pleas from fans and investors to bring its games to mobile phones, the company is planning to release Super Mario Run for Apple Inc.’s devices in December. The release follows this summer’s wildly successful Pokemon Go, which was developed by San Francisco-based Niantic Inc. with Nintendo’s help.

Investors have cheered the shift to mobile, sending Nintendo shares in Tokyo up more than 60 percent this year through Thursday’s close. Nintendo is also planning to release mobile titles for its Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem franchises by March.

The company is betting the hybrid approach will help the Switch become a hit like the Wii, its most-successful console ever thanks to its motion-tracking controllers. The machine, which debuted in 2006, went on to sell more than 100 million units worldwide and helped propel the company’s market value to about $90 billion in late 2007, almost three times its market capitalization today.

But its 2012 follow-up, the Wii U, was criticized for being less powerful than competing consoles from Sony and Microsoft Corp. Only 13 million units were sold as of June, less than a third of the 40 million PlayStation 4s that Sony has shipped.

Ahmad said that while the Switch will end up competing with smartphones, it also offers features that make it superior. Not only will controllers provide a better gaming interface than a smartphone touchscreen, but having two of them should allow gamers on the go to get started with much less hassle.

“On mobile, to get other players to play with you you’d typically need two separate smartphones.,” said Ahmad. “This is a lot more inclusive and this is a good move from Nintendo.”

Price Point

How well the new hardware does may depend largely on the price, according to Macquarie Securities analyst David Gibson. In a research report last week, he estimated the device would retail for about $250 to compete with the PS4’s $299 price tag. Gibson wrote that the new hardware is likely to disappoint in terms of revolutionary features, but that a strong lineup of gaming titles will help to fuel demand at launch. He estimated Nintendo will sell 2.5 million units in its first month and an additional 10.6 million units by March 2018.

Nintendo said several game developers and publishers will make titles for the Switch, including Activision Blizzard Inc., Capcom Co., Square Enix Holdings Co., Bandai Namco Holdings Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc., among others. Nvidia Corp. said its graphics chips will power the new device.

Nintendo’s Switch console could “revolutionize”’ the way people play games because of its unique capabilities and design, Ubisoft Entertainment SA Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot said in an e-mailed statement. The Montreuil, France-based company that has made hits including Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry is working on several games for the new platform, including Just Dance 2017, Guillemot said.

PlayStation VR headset shows limited support for Xbox One, Wii U and PC: Reports

Sony launched its PlayStation VR headset on October 13 as a gaming headset for the PS4, but it turns out that it might be supporting other consoles as well

Sony’s long awaited PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset went official on October 13. The virtual reality head-mounted gaming headset has been developed to be fully functional with Sony’s latest gaming console, the PlayStation 4 (PS4). While PlayStation VR was initially considered to be compatible only with Sony’s own console, it turns out the Sony’s VR headset might have compatibility with other gaming platforms as well. According to some posts on Reddit, the gaming-centric VR headset will also work with Microsoft’s Xbox console.

With PlayStation VR, Sony PS4 users can enjoy any game on their console in a “cinematic mode” that replicates a five-meter screen in a virtual space. According to Reddit user MartinB105, the processor unit of the PlayStation VR is able to take any HDMI signal and convert it to cinematic mode. This leaves room for users to “splice the PS4 camera cable and come up with an adapter to offer PSVR support on PC. Another Reddit user velocityseven, claims to have successfully used the PSVR on his Wii U console.

Another Reddit user was able to plug the headset’s HDMI cable running on the PS4 and connected it to his Xbox One. PSVR was able to display content from the Xbox on a virtual screen in 2D. So, even though you will not be able to run virtual content on the PSVR through other consoles, it still gives some limited usability to users.

It is likely that the VR headset was able to display (in some capacity) games running on the Xbox One or the Wii U. It is important to understand that this in no way suggests that other consoles (or PCs) will be able to support virtual reality content on the PSVR. Instead, the PSVR will simply show up a 2D display floating in a VR space in front of the user. Without access to the external camera, PSVR will be unable to adjust the virtual view as the users head tilts/moves forwards or backwards/ or side to side.

Losing out on the smartphone and the computer manufacturing business, Sony has shown renewed faith in its gaming console segment. The PlayStation VR is priced at $400 (approx Rs 26,700), and is expected to boast 50 gaming titles by the year’s end. Sony last month introduced a new version of its famous PS4 consoles, and also unveiled a second PS4 console (PS4 PRO), which will be capable of playing games at 4K resolution.

Sony has also recently announced that it will be entering the mobile gaming segment, and will be launching at least five smartphone games by March 2018 – targeting markets Japan and other Asian markets. These games will be based on games from the PlayStation space, and will be developed by Sony’s gaming arm – Forward Works.