Nintendo Switch: what we know about the upcoming game console

I am only about 15 hours through the new Legend of Zelda right now, but it’s clear to me that I’ll probably spend dozens, if not hundreds, of hours exploring the world, killing Moblins, and collecting treasure.

For a few days now, rumors and reports have been circulating that the cartridges for the new Nintendo Switch taste really bad when you lick them or put them in your mouth. The Verge can now confirm that, yes, licking a Switch cart is the absolute worst. Don’t lick your Switch cartridges.

It never actually occurred to our reviewers to lick the cartridges we tested, because honestly who does that. But the internet could not be ignored. Here’s GiantBomb’s Jeff Gerstmann putting a cart in his mouth and regretting it almost immediately:

Nintendo has a revised strategy for indie games: look forward rather than backward. That goal is a bit loaded. On one hand, it speaks to a general concept of newness. Its slate of upcoming indie games, which will be charged with filling the Switch’s slim release calendar, are largely new releases, many debuting exclusively on the portable-console hybrid. That is to say, few of them are releases of games that have appeared elsewhere (Stardew Valley being the obvious exception). But “looking forward rather than backward” also speaks to the company’s ongoing relationship with the people who make and publish indie video games — a group it has, to this point, largely neglected.

In recent years, Sony — with its PS4 console and Vita handheld — has been aggressive about courting indie game developers. Now, Nintendo appears to be cribbing from its competitors playbook. Nintendo of America has formed a dedicated indie team to improve relationships with independent developers and publishers. Nintendo still evaluates Switch candidates on a case-by-case basis. But according to Nintendo representatives at GDC 2017, once a game is greenlit for release on Switch, the publishing process has been smoothed. Porting games from PC is simpler than it’s been in the past. The development kit, a modified version of the console used by game makers, is “cheaper” than previous Nintendo dev kits. And the company itself is more responsive with partners.

Barring some massive last-minute redesign, the Nintendo Switch will launch with one of the company’s most benign user interfaces. A queue of open slots (for your yet-to-be-built game collection) floats above six small icons: News, eShop, Album, Controllers, System Settings, and Power. There’s no flashy animation or interactive Mii village. It’s less minimal than it is skeletal. Fittingly, the console has two visual themes from which to choose: “Basic White” and “Basic Black.” Yes, those are the real names.

However, the Switch isn’t completely void of personality. Nintendo has placed one charming and recurring detail throughout the menus. Its name is Amelia, and she is a fictional customer support employee. Amelia resembles a Doctor Seuss character, a petite young woman with a robin’s egg blue bob and an orange turtleneck. Every news update is written from the first person, and after the thrust of the news, Amelia amends a personal letter with some additional details.

Nintendo’s focus at its Switch event last week was on the hybrid portable/home console’s lineup of games, with next to no information on the operating system or other functionality. Now, via some answers provided in response to questions asked by Kotaku, the company has revealed a little more information — but stayed quiet on a lot.

Here are a few things we’ve learned:

A recently published Nintendo patent shows how virtual reality could work on the company’s upcoming Switch console, despite Nintendo’s overall ambivalence toward VR. The patent, spotted by a NeoGAF member, describes a head-mounted display that would hold the Nintendo Switch tablet, reminiscent of Google’s Daydream headset or the Samsung Gear VR. The headset, Nintendo writes, could “enhance the sense of immersion” and could either include its own tracking sensors or use ones on the tablet itself. Wearers would play games by sliding off the Switch’s removable controllers, which could hypothetically also feature Wiimote-esque motion sensors.

The patent was filed in June, before the Switch was unveiled, and it covers a range of possible configurations. The patent gives us one very simple visual representation, in which the Switch tablet slides into a front slot, and users wear it with a wraparound headband.

Nintendo CEO Tatsumi Kimishima has hinted that there's more to the company's upcoming console, the Switch, than it revealed in the brief video introduction last week. "By no means was that everything," Kimishima told Bloomberg, suggesting that the tablet-style core unit and detachable controllers are part of a larger hardware initiative. "It may be appropriate to call them accessories. Or it might be better to call them add-on hardware. It's probably more correct to call them accessories. You can assume that there will be a wider array."

Twitter user Ryan Salamanda shared an interesting concept for the Switch's controller back when the system was known as the NX, highlighting the possibilities for what Nintendo and its partners could do with detachable modules:

Last week Nintendo finally unveiled its long-rumored next console, Switch. But while the console’s debut trailer provided a clearer picture of the device, it also raised a number of questions. Most notably: does Switch have a touchscreen? The answer, according to a new report from Eurogamer, is yes.

The site claims that Switch will feature a 6.2-inch 720p display and that, unlike past Nintendo hardware like the 3DS and Wii U which had resistive touch screens, it will also include a capacitive multitouch display. Eurogamer previously reported accurately that the Switch — then known as the NX — would be a portable / console hybrid with controls that detached from a tablet.

Nintendo doesn't plan to reveal much more about its upcoming Switch console this year, but you won't have to wait too long into 2017. The company just announced a "Nintendo Switch Presentation" in Tokyo on January 13th (the 12th on US time), which will be streamed live around the world. Nintendo will use the event to announce the system's price, release date, and initial lineup of games.

Nintendo confirmed in its earnings report yesterday that it still plans to release the Switch worldwide in March, so there isn't a lot of time to get the word out. Nintendo is also planning media presentations in the US and Europe following the Tokyo presentation, and there will be hands-on events that members of the public can attend ahead of launch.

The core concept of Nintendo's upcoming Switch console is that it's a portable device with games that you can also play on your TV at home by way of a dock. But don't expect the docking unit to provide more storage or performance capability to the tablet — Nintendo has confirmed that it's primarily a way to get the tablet-style portable's games onto the bigger screen.

"The dock is not the main console unit of Nintendo Switch," a representative tells IGN. "The main unit of Nintendo Switch is the unit that has the LCD screen, which the two Joy-Con controllers can be attached to and detached from. The main function of the Nintendo Switch Dock is to provide an output to the TV, as well as charging and providing power to the system."

Nintendo this morning unveiled its ambitious Switch device, a portable handheld-console hybrid that will act as the company’s successor to the Wii U. One of its trademark features is a wild modular controller scheme called Joy-Con. Essentially, the left and right portions of the wireless controller slide out and reattach to a portable display you remove from the base station. Joy-Con also lets you play multiplayer games by using each tiny Wiimote-like peripheral as a standalone handheld controller.

This opens up all sorts of possibilities. In fact, Twitter user Ryan Salamanda has devised a fascinating Joy-Con peripheral concept that would make the right unit swappable for game-specific modules. He came up with a Pokémon Snap shutter-release button that would also give you an optical zoom wheel.

Last week, I published a piece on The Verge detailing the upcoming fall local multiplayer releases across all the major gaming platforms. There were 11 games on the list.

And while there are various AAA holdouts in this fall’s major releases — Gears of War 4 offered local split-screen, as do some modes in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare — the overall pickings are slim. Split-screen racing? Microsoft has Forza 6 on Xbox One, though only if you’re willing to give up many of the game’s features, while PlayStation 4 owners are flat out of luck. And with the increasing popularity of VR headsets, things appear to only be getting worse for local gaming.

The trailer for Nintendo's new Switch console plays like a Mission Impossible heist. Just when you think Tom Cruise is stumped, his gadget does one more weird trick to save the day.

Dog needs to go outside?

After more than a year and a half of speculation, we finally know what Nintendo's NX project is: the Nintendo Switch. The company revealed the first details today via a three-minute video posted to its website. You can read our breakdown of the trailer here.

The Switch isn't a surprise to anyone who's been following rumors surrounding the system. It is, as has been reported, a hybrid device — the console itself is essentially a tablet, yet it's designed to be hooked up to a TV for home use. The tablet has two controller modules that attach onto the side for regular portable play, and they can be detached for on-the-go multiplayer or attached together to form something that resembles a regular controller.

The Nintendo Switch — known before its announcement as the NX — is one of the weirdest and most interesting pieces of major gaming hardware we’ve seen for a while. It’s a modular device that can be used as a portable console or placed in a dock for living room gaming. But Nintendo packed a lot more detail than that into its three-minute trailer for the Switch, so here’s everything we’ve just learned.

Nintendo’s goal with the Switch is to fill all gaming niches — single-player couch and mobile sessions, party gaming, meeting another friend with a console, even e-sports. To that end, we’ve seen at least five distinct ways to use the Switch.

Nintendo just unveiled its next console, now officially known as the Nintendo Switch. The Switch features an interesting controller scheme called the "Joy-Con."

As seen in the video, each Switch seems to come with a Joy-Con that consists of two halves, the Joy-Con (R) and the Joy-Con (L), that slot into the sides of the Switch console.

Whereas Nintendo has at times struggled in the past with third-party support, for its upcoming Switch console (née NX), the company has announced dozens of publishers, developers, and middleware companies pledging to support the new platform. All the major third-party publishers are here, including Activision, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Bethesda (Skyrim, or something that looked very similar to Skyrim, appeared in the Switch debut trailer).

Nintendo is careful to say that these are just “some” of the partners it has, many of which haven’t yet announced specific plans — it’s worth being a bit skeptical until we know what, exactly, these companies will be bringing to Switch.

Just as previously reported, the Nintendo Switch (previously known as the Nintendo NX) will rely on cartridges — or, more specifically, GameCards a la the Nintendo DS. Based on what was revealed in today’s first-look video, GameCards will slot into the main Switch Console, which can then connect to a television via the Switch Dock or directly into the controllers for mobile play.

Using GameCards is a good strategy for Nintendo’s hybrid device. Nintendo already uses flash memory for the DS, and games on cartridges are more portable than optical discs, are harder to pirate, and are harder to damage. (Especially in the hands of children, who remain the company’s core demographic.) They also eliminate the need for internal storage. Nintendo may be the only company relying on flash storage for gaming at the moment, but its unique case it makes a lot of sense.

Nintendo stuffed a lot into its three-minute reveal of the Switch console, including six games. Though a number of the games have already or will appear on Nintendo’s Wii U, the idea of playing console-quality games on-the-go is enticing.

Here are the six games that appear in the trailer:

The Nintendo Switch has finally been revealed. The three-minute trailer, above, gives us our first official look at the long-awaited console.

As rumored, the new console is a console-portable hybrid that will use cartridges rather than discs. In the trailer, a man lifts the core of the console from a home base station, attaches to controller accessories, and plays Zelda on the go. In a later sequence, the two controllers disconnect, and players play a multiplayer on the standalone screen. In another scene, four players play Mario Kart by sharing two controllers. A traditional wireless controller also works with the devices both in its console and portable forms.

Just hours before Nintendo is set to finally reveal its next console, the company debuted new footage from its upcoming open-world Zelda title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The trailer, found on Nintendo’s Japanese YouTube account, is very much a gameplay demo akin to what we saw at E3, and it shows a game every bit as beautiful as it is ambitious. Link runs, swims, hang glides, and even snowboards in this spot as he traverses an expansive version of Hyrule and collects artifacts that will surely reveal something cool.

Nintendo will finally reveal its new console — codenamed NX — at 10AM ET today. It's been a long and arduous wait for fans, who first caught wind of the company's Wii U successor in March last year, when late president Satoru Iwata mentioned that Nintendo was at work on "a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept." It was a glimmer of hope after the commercial failure of the Wii U, but since then, trade shows, press presentations, and community events have come and gone without concrete details, forcing people to sift through patent applications for hints at what the NX will actually be.

It's been a frustrating process for me, and many others who just want to know what the deal is, but longtime Nintendo gamers will know this dance well. The company has a weird history with its console announcements, historically confirming the existence of new machines months or even years in advance, then dragging their reveals out for as long as possible. It did it with the Wii U, releasing a statement confirming that an HD-capable successor to the Wii existed months before it showed the machine off at E3 2011, a full year before its eventual launch in 2012. It did it with the GameCube, too, finally confirming that the enigmatic machine codenamed "Dolphin" would be squeezed into a colorful plastic case in 2000, ahead of its launch in late 2001.