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After years of rumors about hardware revamps, new SoC and DLSS support, this feels like a very underwhelming announcement. It’s hard to believe that hardware bu

After years of rumors about hardware revamps, new SoC and DLSS support, this feels like a very underwhelming announcement. It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price.

Hamuko 5y ago
>It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price. It's not really that hard to believe if you look at a) how long console lifespans are b) what kind of hardware Nintendo usually puts in their home consoles.
effingwewt 5y ago
Yea this feels super iterative. It's the new 'New 3DS' all over again. Actually, not even. Pretty sure the new New 3DS had a beefier processor and added the 2nd joystick.
- read_if_gay_ 5y ago
  It doubled the RAM, too.
- Wowfunhappy 5y ago
  The New 3DS was actually a huge hardware upgrade, relative to the original model. I actually thought at the time that it was going to be a stealth new console, similar to how the Gameboy Color was originally just “gameboy games, now in color”, but after a couple of years GBC-only titles were the norm. That didn’t happen, of course.
pavlov 5y ago
That’s the traditional console business model. The original NES used a CPU design from 1975 and was still sold in 1995.
- rchaud 5y ago
  1995 was a quarter of a century ago, the traditional console model is long gone, as are Nintendo's biggest rivals at the time, Sega. Sony and Microsoft have greatly pushed the capabilities of consoles over the past 20 years. Nintendo for its part has been happy to stay out of the specs race and focus its console offerings around staples like Mario and Zelda.
read_if_gay_ 5y ago
Until as recently as 2019, Nintendo’s lineup included a handheld with 128MB RAM (2DS). Their selling point is not the hardware.
- nodejs_rulez_1 5y ago
  Yes, it's all about ported indie games with an fat margin.
  - jonfw 5y ago
    All of the top selling games on switch are nintendo titles
  - 12ian34 5y ago
    Incorrect and unrepresentative.
  - baxuz 5y ago
    Ahem, underperforming indie games. Most indie games can barely handle 30fps at 720p, which is pretty telling about Unity which probably runs more than 90% of them. And there are also underperforming first-party games. BOTW had drops to 15 fps in some areas, and Link's Awakening had major performance issues. Good thing we got WarioWare and whatever the current version of Wii Fit is called. Nintendo is seriously out of touch with the market and they are still viewing themselves as a toymaker. I have no idea how their core fanbase doesn't get tired of rehashing the same 5 games for 4 decades.
    - deregulateMed 5y ago
      Nintendo doesn't need to make quality games. They have been advertising to us since we were literal babies. Their corporate mascots have become familiar characters. I personally find it extremely unethical Nintendo advertises to children. As an adult my brain still reacts to their corporate mascots.
libertine 5y ago
I don't think it's underwhelming, and the whole "Switch Pro" didn't make much sense in the way Nintendo does their thing. Nintendo Switch sells a lot in it's current form competing directly/indirectly with new gen consoles, and it's halfway through the Switch lifecycle, and Nintendo way - at least for handhelds - is to launch new versions, like themed ones, of the same hardware (even with minor tweaks - like New 3DS, 3DS XL, etc). It works, why change it? Because they can't get the lasted releases? They still get some, like Doom, but some would never run properly on this form factor, specially at this price point. They sell entertainment, and they are pretty good at it. I'd even go through the length of saying Nintendo might position themselves more towards Disney then Sony Computer Entertainment, for sure they are between them and they're alone there.
delecti 5y ago
This almost seems to be placing the blame for unrealistic expectations on a company that hadn't given any reason for those expectations.
onion2k 5y ago
It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price. It should be quite inspiring for startups really. It's solid evidence that your customers will pay much more than you'd think when the product you're selling is a great fit for their needs. The lesson is that you shouldn't cut prices based on your instincts. Test the market, and only discount when your sales data shows that you actually need to. If you can sell a product for a premium long past the point where you'd expect to need to start discounting then the only thing wrong was your expectation. Believe the market.
slightwinder 5y ago
Those rumors never made any sense. Nintendo has no "specs masterrace"-spirit. Their focus always was elsewhere. And they always denied those rumors, never saying a thing even hinting in those direction. Complaining here is very misguided. And there is also another point to consider. 2020 brought a huge drain of hardware-supply, we've seen it with the new xbox and PS5. Nintendo already had supply-problems in better times, now way would they risk bringing some new hotseller in the actual situation.
- toast0 5y ago
  > And they always denied those rumors, never saying a thing even hinting in those direction. Nintendo denies all reports of new products until they're released; regardless of if the rumor is right or not.
- deregulateMed 5y ago
  "supply problems" has always been a marketing tactic. Nintendo is best in class for using psychology tricks. Edit- I'm not referring to 2021, I'm referring to 2000-2020.
  - dagmx 5y ago
    Are you really saying there's been no industry wide supply issues over the past year?
  - zinekeller 5y ago
    Basically everyone in IT aquipment procurement, PC gamers, automobile factories, and hardware designers: have you've missed the news? Actually, some software companies (especially Electron-based software) have realised how grave the hardware shortages are now that they're optimising their software to run more efficiently at the expense of slowdown in feature-adding (which if it's a more normal event it will be ignored for development velocity).
    - deregulateMed 5y ago
      Edited my post to clarify the last 2 decades.

Hamuko 5y ago

>It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price. It's not really that hard to believe if you look at a) how long console lifespans are b) what kind of hardware Nintendo usually puts in their home consoles.

effingwewt 5y ago

Yea this feels super iterative. It's the new 'New 3DS' all over again. Actually, not even. Pretty sure the new New 3DS had a beefier processor and added the 2nd joystick.

read_if_gay_ 5y ago
It doubled the RAM, too.
Wowfunhappy 5y ago
The New 3DS was actually a huge hardware upgrade, relative to the original model. I actually thought at the time that it was going to be a stealth new console, similar to how the Gameboy Color was originally just “gameboy games, now in color”, but after a couple of years GBC-only titles were the norm. That didn’t happen, of course.

pavlov 5y ago

That’s the traditional console business model. The original NES used a CPU design from 1975 and was still sold in 1995.

rchaud 5y ago
1995 was a quarter of a century ago, the traditional console model is long gone, as are Nintendo's biggest rivals at the time, Sega. Sony and Microsoft have greatly pushed the capabilities of consoles over the past 20 years. Nintendo for its part has been happy to stay out of the specs race and focus its console offerings around staples like Mario and Zelda.

read_if_gay_ 5y ago

Until as recently as 2019, Nintendo’s lineup included a handheld with 128MB RAM (2DS). Their selling point is not the hardware.

nodejs_rulez_1 5y ago
Yes, it's all about ported indie games with an fat margin.
- jonfw 5y ago
  All of the top selling games on switch are nintendo titles
- 12ian34 5y ago
  Incorrect and unrepresentative.
- baxuz 5y ago
  Ahem, underperforming indie games. Most indie games can barely handle 30fps at 720p, which is pretty telling about Unity which probably runs more than 90% of them. And there are also underperforming first-party games. BOTW had drops to 15 fps in some areas, and Link's Awakening had major performance issues. Good thing we got WarioWare and whatever the current version of Wii Fit is called. Nintendo is seriously out of touch with the market and they are still viewing themselves as a toymaker. I have no idea how their core fanbase doesn't get tired of rehashing the same 5 games for 4 decades.
  - deregulateMed 5y ago
    Nintendo doesn't need to make quality games. They have been advertising to us since we were literal babies. Their corporate mascots have become familiar characters. I personally find it extremely unethical Nintendo advertises to children. As an adult my brain still reacts to their corporate mascots.

libertine 5y ago

I don't think it's underwhelming, and the whole "Switch Pro" didn't make much sense in the way Nintendo does their thing. Nintendo Switch sells a lot in it's current form competing directly/indirectly with new gen consoles, and it's halfway through the Switch lifecycle, and Nintendo way - at least for handhelds - is to launch new versions, like themed ones, of the same hardware (even with minor tweaks - like New 3DS, 3DS XL, etc). It works, why change it? Because they can't get the lasted releases? They still get some, like Doom, but some would never run properly on this form factor, specially at this price point. They sell entertainment, and they are pretty good at it. I'd even go through the length of saying Nintendo might position themselves more towards Disney then Sony Computer Entertainment, for sure they are between them and they're alone there.

delecti 5y ago

This almost seems to be placing the blame for unrealistic expectations on a company that hadn't given any reason for those expectations.

onion2k 5y ago

It’s hard to believe that hardware built on top of the original nVidia Shield is still being sold in 2021 at a full price. It should be quite inspiring for startups really. It's solid evidence that your customers will pay much more than you'd think when the product you're selling is a great fit for their needs. The lesson is that you shouldn't cut prices based on your instincts. Test the market, and only discount when your sales data shows that you actually need to. If you can sell a product for a premium long past the point where you'd expect to need to start discounting then the only thing wrong was your expectation. Believe the market.

slightwinder 5y ago

Those rumors never made any sense. Nintendo has no "specs masterrace"-spirit. Their focus always was elsewhere. And they always denied those rumors, never saying a thing even hinting in those direction. Complaining here is very misguided. And there is also another point to consider. 2020 brought a huge drain of hardware-supply, we've seen it with the new xbox and PS5. Nintendo already had supply-problems in better times, now way would they risk bringing some new hotseller in the actual situation.

toast0 5y ago
> And they always denied those rumors, never saying a thing even hinting in those direction. Nintendo denies all reports of new products until they're released; regardless of if the rumor is right or not.
deregulateMed 5y ago
"supply problems" has always been a marketing tactic. Nintendo is best in class for using psychology tricks. Edit- I'm not referring to 2021, I'm referring to 2000-2020.
- dagmx 5y ago
  Are you really saying there's been no industry wide supply issues over the past year?
- zinekeller 5y ago
  Basically everyone in IT aquipment procurement, PC gamers, automobile factories, and hardware designers: have you've missed the news? Actually, some software companies (especially Electron-based software) have realised how grave the hardware shortages are now that they're optimising their software to run more efficiently at the expense of slowdown in feature-adding (which if it's a more normal event it will be ignored for development velocity).
  - deregulateMed 5y ago
    Edited my post to clarify the last 2 decades.