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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Nintendo's rumored "NX" console [wikipedia.org] has been officially announced as the Nintendo Switch [bbc.com], a console-handheld hybrid. The Switch may be Nintendo's last stand in the console wars:

Previously code-named NX, now named the Nintendo Switch, the device looks like a tablet computer with controllers that attach to its sides. The device was revealed in a short "teaser" video posted on YouTube [youtube.com].

One analyst said the device could be Nintendo's "last shot" at selling a home console. "The Wii U was a car crash, basically," said Paul Jackson of the Ovum consultancy. They fudged the communication and confused everybody with the controller and what the screen was for. As a result it sold about a tenth of what the original Wii sold."

The Wii U was rapidly outsold by Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, although Nintendo has enjoyed success with its handheld 3DS device. The new Switch console can be seated in a dock to play games on a television, or used as a stand-alone portable device. Games will be delivered on small cartridges - a nod to older Nintendo consoles.

The console will use a customized NVIDIA Tegra system-on-a-chip [anandtech.com]. The core count/type [wikipedia.org] is unknown, as is the choice of Maxwell or Pascal GPU.

The PS4 and Xbox One mid-cycle refreshes could allow Nintendo some breathing room [digitaltrends.com] to compete on graphics/processing capabilities, since developers will be forced to support the older consoles:

Strangely, though, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 may provide some relief. They aren't being abandoned – which means developers will already be focused on building games that scale down to less powerful hardware. It's not unreasonable to imagine the Switch will offer visual quality on par, or very nearly on par, with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 throughout its lifespan.

Also at WSJ [wsj.com].

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