from the imagine-strapping-a-switch-to-your-face dept.
Nintendo's Switch has been hiding a buried "VrMode" for over a year
Hackers have uncovered and tested a screen-splitting "VR Mode" that has been buried in the Switch's system-level firmware for over a year. The discovery suggests that Nintendo at least toyed with the idea that the tablet system could serve as a stereoscopic display for a virtual reality headset.
Switch hackers first discovered and documented references to a "VrMode" in the Switch OS' Applet Manager services back in December when analyzing the June 2017 release of version 3.0.0 of the system's firmware. But the community doesn't seem to have done much testing of the internal functions "IsVrModeEnabled" and "SetVrModeEnabled" at the time. [...] [Using] those functions to enable the Switch's VR mode splits the screen vertically into two identical half-sized images, in much the way other VR displays split an LCD screen to create a stereoscopic 3D effect.
[...] Despite the discovery of this VrMode code (and previous hacked-together proof-of-concept tests from individual Switch owners), it's hard to imagine the Switch's large form factor, 720p resolution screen, and relatively low-end gyroscope would lead to a very robust VR experience. That said, some industry watchers continue to speculate about a potential PS4 Pro/Xbox One X-style mid-generation hardware update for the Switch, which could provide the extra horsepower needed to enable passable virtual reality on the platform (Nintendo has not even hinted at any such plans, though).
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Nintendo's Switch just outsold the GameCube
The Switch's lifetime sales, as of this writing, have reached over 22 million units, which surpasses not only the Wii U's 13.6 million units, but the GameCube's 21.7 million units. For reference, the next most successful Nintendo console was the Nintendo 64 at 33 million units and the most successful (in non-handhelds) is the Wii at 101 million units.
Before crucial holiday season, Nintendo struggles as Sony shines
As 2017 came to a close, Nintendo was busy reveling in Switch sales that were exceeding expectations while Sony's PlayStation 4 was showing signs that its strong sales had peaked. Leading into the all important 2018 holiday season, the companies' comparative console war outlooks seem to have changed a bit.
Let's start with Nintendo, which recently announced worldwide shipments of 3.2 million Switch systems in the July through September quarter. The good news is, that's up slightly from the 2.93 million sold in the same period a year ago. The bad news is that slight increase doesn't put Nintendo on track to meet its long-standing projection for 20 million Switch units sold during the fiscal year (which ends in March 2019). Overall, Nintendo's quarterly profits and revenues both came in significantly below analyst estimates as well, though both were up from a year prior.
[...] Sony, meanwhile, is seeing surprising resilience for the PS4 during its fifth full year on the market. The console shipped 3.9 million units in the last quarter, down slightly from 4.2 million a year ago, but not down nearly as much as might be expected for a platform that launched in late 2013. Overall, the PlayStation division's quarterly profits were up 65 percent year over year, with sales up 22 percent; both figures exceeded analyst expectations.
See also: Nintendo chief says beefing up Switch sales is the main task in his strategy
Previously: Nintendo Sells at Least 10 Million Switch Consoles in 2017, 64 GB Game Cards Delayed to 2019
Related: Video Game Consoles are Doing Better than Ever
Hidden "VrMode" Found in Nintendo Switch Firmware
Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd
Nintendo reveals new Switch Lite, a smaller and cheaper version of popular Switch gaming device
Nintendo on Wednesday unveiled the Nintendo Switch Lite, a smaller and cheaper version of its popular Switch device. The Switch Lite is meant solely for handheld play, as opposed to the larger Switch that lets gamers connect to a TV. It also has a smaller screen; no kickstand; and does not come with detachable Joy-Con controllers — akin to the Game Boy or Nintendo DS. But it does have a new D-pad; a longer battery life; can play all Switch games; and allows for multiplayer via wireless controllers and Nintendo Switch Online.
Think I'll go with the bigger, more expensive - and far more capable - version. Hopefully the price comes down after this new device comes out.
takyon: Nintendo announces Switch Lite handheld console with updated Nvidia Tegra SoC
Previous reports stated that Nintendo will integrate updated hardware for all new variants, and this is in line with a recent analysis coming from Tirias Research principal analyst Jim McGregor, who informs that "the new Nintendo Switch [Lite] will take advantage of two generations of die shrinks to its Nvidia Tegra processor... By joining the joycons to the main body of the Switch, Nintendo will squeeze out the expensive and sophisticated wireless joycons and create a mobile-first Switch platform. The die shrink of the Nvidia Tegra processor will provide better battery life and a meaningful [graphics] upgrade."
Also at Bloomberg.
See also: Nintendo Switch Lite's trade-off of whimsy for practicality is a good one
The new Nintendo Switch Lite undermines what made the original Switch so special
The Nintendo Switch Lite is the right move coming at the right time from Nintendo
Nintendo says the Switch Lite isn't going to replace the 3DS (more accurately, they won't end support for 3DS)
(Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Saturday August 18 2018, @03:57PM (1 child)
I see this kind of stuff all the time, someone finds some buried feature in some released code that clearly isn't ready or meant for public consumption.
But why would the developers even put this stuff in a public production release? Surely they have separate testing and release branches, right? At some point someone decided to merge this half-baked VR stuff into the release branch and no one had an issue with it.
I wonder how much of the switch firmware is nonfunctional cruft. It all sounds very sloppy to me.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 18 2018, @08:05PM
The current Nintendo Switch is permanently pwned due to a flaw in the Nvidia Tegra X1 chip used. Maybe they are sneaking Easter eggs like this into the code to gauge interest. Then they could bolster the specs on an upcoming mid-cycle refresh of the Switch to at least allow 1080p @ 75-90 FPS (handheld mode), which may be just enough to make it usable for VR.
The only info about a hardware refresh I could find suggested a slightly different SoC not subject to the unpatchable vulnerability, and possibly an upgrade to 8GB of RAM. Also, Nvidia's latest generations of Tegra SoCs [wikipedia.org] may not work as a drop-in replacement for the X1. It looks like the TDPs are going up and the chips are now meant for self-driving cars.
I guess that if they really wanted to make a Switch refresh powerful, they could wait for a post-Xavier SoC with 4-8 cores, underclock it to reduce power consumption, and then use the extra machine learning components for some kind of AI feature. GPU performance could be 3-4 times the X1, possibly allowing 4K when docked as well as a VR mode:
Tegra X1 (Nintendo Switch): 256 Maxwell GPU cores, 512 FP32 GFLOPS peak (less for Switch)
Tegra X2: 256 Pascal cores, 437-750 GFLOPS
Xavier: 512 Volta cores, 1.3 TFLOPS
Orin: ???
It's not the first thing that has snuck into the Switch [wikipedia.org]:
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]