Nintendo Switch: $300, March 3, Paid Online Service Michael Kwan January 13, 2017 News Well, it looks like everything we’ve heard is true. Nintendo confirmed a number of details during a big event last night and all the finer details, save one, align with what we figured we already knew. Let’s start with the basics. The Nintendo Switch will ship on March 3 with an American MSRP of $300. For that price, you get the tablet-based console itself, the docking station to connect to your TV, the left and right Joy-Con controllers in your choice of blue/red or grey, the Joy-Con grip, a couple of Joy-Con straps (similar to the Wii controller straps to prevent you from throwing the controllers at your TV), the AC adapter and an HDMI cable. The main Nintendo Switch tablet features a 6.2-inch 720p display and you can expect “up to” six hours of gaming on the go, though more resource intensive games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will gobble up your battery in about three hours. Thankfully, you can charge (via USB-C) and play at the same time. When playing out in the wild in handheld mode, you can connect up to eight Switch consoles for local multiplayer. The console has 32GB of internal memory with microSDXC expansion. And as we already knew, the Joy-Con controllers can function as a combined pair or as two separate units for multiplayer. Each half features an analog stick and four face buttons, as well as two shoulder buttons and an accelerometer. The right half has an AR camera and an NFC reader/writer, whereas the left half gets a “capture” button for nabbing screenshots. Addition Joy-Con pairs are $79.99, individual Joy-Con are $49.99 and the Pro Controller is $69.99. Good news! The games won’t be region locked. Bad news! The new online service, while free at launch, will turn into a paid service in the fall. If you subscribe, you get a free NES or SNES game for free each month. So, that’s something. That’s the gist of it. What do you think? Is this wildly innovative and exactly what Nintendo needs? Or is this the Wii U all over again? The Nintendo Switch is available for pre-order now, assuming you can find stock anywhere. While you decide, here are a bunch of game trailers, including Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, the new Zelda, Super Mario Odyssey, Splatoon 2 and something called 1-2 Switch. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKlRN2YpxRE] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw47_q9wbBE] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kcdRBHM7kM] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN4w5D2tzME] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7p47TOmicQ] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJuiTw6nk7A] [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7s3UB_8dFM] Share This With The World!
