[HN Gopher] Nintendo to announce new console by end of fiscal year
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       Nintendo to announce new console by end of fiscal year
        
       Author : ethanholt1
       Score  : 31 points
       Date   : 2024-05-07 21:24 UTC (1 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (twitter.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (twitter.com)
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | It would be madness to pivot away from the successful Switch
       | hybrid handheld/docked console but Nintendo have done crazy
       | things in the past.
       | 
       | There have been rumours that the reason for Nintendo DCMA
       | takedowns are to clear the emulation field for the next-gen
       | console. The Dolphin emulator was able to emulate the Wii two
       | years after release.
        
         | kemayo wrote:
         | There was a comment in the results call where Furukawa was
         | asked whether it was a whole new console-type or another
         | Switch, and he said "Switch next model is the appropriate way
         | to describe it", so it sounds like they're staying the course
         | on this one.
        
           | spondylosaurus wrote:
           | Considering the explosive popularity of the Steam Deck and
           | its doppelgangers, the Switch-esque form factor is clearly
           | doing well right now, so it makes sense to stick to what
           | sells.
           | 
           | Plus the fact that Nintendo's never been shy about iterative
           | console updates: NES > SNES, GB > GBC > GBA, DS > 3DS >
           | New3DS. And arguably Wii > Wii U, and then the Wii U was sort
           | of the missing link between the Wii and the Switch.
           | 
           | Historically they haven't been great at the
           | marketing/positioning around those iterative updates, but
           | maybe this time they've finally learned :P
        
       | jimbobthrowawy wrote:
       | Note: Nintendo's fiscal year ends march 31st.
        
       | tempaskhn wrote:
       | I posted "Ask HN: What do you think about Nintendo phone
       | competing with iPhone/Android?" [0] 8 months ago. Wondering if
       | anyone else thinks it might be a phone.
       | 
       | [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37385793
        
         | accrual wrote:
         | I can't imagine a phone being a component. Nintendo has always
         | had a conservative take on communications between users. It's
         | usually filtered or reduced to set of preset phrases or
         | emoji/reactions.
         | 
         | Animal Crossing let you freely chat, but without a keyboard,
         | it's difficult to get more than a couple short words out.
         | Splatoon is a popular multiplayer game that greatly benefits
         | from team communication, but all you have are "booyah!" and
         | "over here!" and a couple other preset means to communicate to
         | your teams.
         | 
         | Miiverse on the Wii U was an exception and let users post text
         | and drawings, but it felt pretty heavily moderated, and was
         | eventually shut down. I do miss it though, it was a great
         | community while it lasted.
         | 
         | Given their target demographic I can't imagine Nintendo would
         | put any effort into allowing general communications through
         | their hardware.
        
           | 14 wrote:
           | This is one of the most lacking features I see with nintendo
           | products. Being able to play with friends is a massive
           | feature other consoles have and I am unsure why nintendo is
           | so against it. Gone are the days where kids sit in the same
           | room on a TV playing games. It is much more common for them
           | to go home after school, grab their headset and start gaming.
           | I do have a couple switches but I don't think I would be
           | grabbing future model without things like text or chat as it
           | is much more fun to get on a PS5 and be playing with several
           | friends at the same time.
        
           | spondylosaurus wrote:
           | Not sure if you mentioned "through their hardware"
           | specifically in reference to the Nintendo Switch Online
           | mobile's voice chat capabilities, but man, that's always
           | struck me as a weird/interesting choice.
           | 
           | On one hand, bizarre to silo voice chat into a completely
           | different piece of hardware than the one you're gaming on
           | that already has a microphone built in. On the other hand, it
           | does make sense as a way to keep kiddos off the airwaves,
           | since to use NSO's app you either need to have a phone or
           | (hopefully...) get permission from a parent to use theirs. On
           | the other other hand I'm just glad they've finally enabled
           | any kind of voice chat at all.
        
       | oniony wrote:
       | It's a VR contact lens.
        
         | throwaway5959 wrote:
         | The Virtual Boy final form.
        
       | drbig wrote:
       | Why link a tweet when Reuters has an actual article:
       | https://www.reuters.com/technology/nintendo-expects-sell-135...
       | (title: "Nintendo to make announcement on Switch successor by
       | March-end").
       | 
       | Is it because the tweet here "is the source"? Regardless of how
       | bereft of context it is?
        
         | kemayo wrote:
         | That article is just a journalist who read that tweet, and is
         | bulking it out with a bunch of sales numbers in a kind of
         | rambling manner. The tweet on its own was a better way to get
         | this information.
        
         | colechristensen wrote:
         | The article adds zero additional information I needed or wanted
         | to know, and it took considerably more time to read.
        
         | drbig wrote:
         | Thanks for the replies. Points of view are valuable.
        
       | rgovostes wrote:
       | See also: Osborne effect
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
        
         | bombcar wrote:
         | Announced next year (by March) means shipping even later. Some
         | might put off purchasing but that's easily countered by a price
         | drop.
        
       | ProfessorLayton wrote:
       | I'm super excited for the next iteration of the Switch, which has
       | been one of my favorite Nintendo consoles ever. While I
       | appreciate Nintendo's commitment to mix it up significantly
       | between generations, I hope they don't deviate from their wining
       | formula too much on their next console. The main thing I'd like
       | for the next generation is for it to have enough horsepower to be
       | able to play big 3rd party IPs like GTA.
       | 
       | And joycons that don't drift!
       | 
       | An _announcement_ as late as 3 /25 is gonna be rough though as
       | current gen games start tapering off. As always the bottleneck is
       | the launch lineup needing more time.
        
       | legitster wrote:
       | I finally bought a Switch for the family this last Christmas.
       | Then immediately I get swamped by articles from Google about how
       | the hardware is tired and they need a refresh.
       | 
       | I think people are off their rocker. The experience is still
       | pretty magical in 2024. I get that people are tired of the old
       | thing and want the new thing, but it's hard to imagine what stops
       | Nintendo could pull out to make me want to pay more than the
       | current MSRP for the existing Switch.
       | 
       | It's either just going to be an even beefier Switch, or something
       | so out of left field that it's not going to cannibalize their
       | still pretty brisk Switch sales.
        
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       (page generated 2024-05-07 23:01 UTC)