Nintendo Switch Announced, Powered By NVIDIA Tegra

[soulsource]

Nintendo always valued gameplay more than graphics (and imho rightfully so). Even though their new console is basically a high-end smartphone without the phone part, it can be a success with Nintendo's target audience.

[riklaunim]

Even if they put like GTX 1050 specs into that Tegra it will handle most games at 1080p. Maybe without fireworks and wow effects like Witcher 3, but Skyrim - easily. And mobile screen is likely less than 1080p so it's getting even easier to run at high enough framerate.

[RussianNeuroMancer]

Looking at the specs. Since it's based on a Tegra chip. I guess we might have a chance of booting Linux on it(and turn it into a desktop)?
If it's using the same chip from the Tegra Shield Tablet. We even might have the first game console that can run Linux with full 3D acceleration.

What about getting Linux work properly on millions of BayTrail/CherryTrail-based tablets out there? Should be easier, right?

[starshipeleven]

What about getting Linux work properly on millions of BayTrail/CherryTrail-based tablets out there? Should be easier, right?

Probably easier, yes. But their iGPU sucks if compared to this device's (actually, it sucks even on its own).

[marty1885]

What about getting Linux work properly on millions of BayTrail/CherryTrail-based tablets out there? Should be easier, right?

Since Linux never works properly on BayTrail/CherryTrail-based devices, I will be hard. But we do have fully functional Linux on Tegra (at least on the TK1 and TX1). So I guess it might be easier.
I own a Z8300 based tablet. I know that battery monitor, SST audio, WiFi, BT and touchscreen isn't working. But since I'm talking just about he graphics. Yes, the iGPU on CherryTrail is fully functional (It really sucks though.). Even advanced feature such as hardware video decoding and OpenCL works.

[chimpy]

Is it possible this thing is Linux based?

What we know: nVidia tegra SOC with Pascal GPU (so it's arm based and Linux runs great on arm), and that's about it.

Assumptions: it uses modified Vulkan. It also works like a tablet (Wii u, ds/3ds have touch screens and a web browser). nVidia mentioned other platforms as the reason for pushing EGLStreams, maybe this is one of those platforms?

[Michael]

Fun Fact: Compiler fun and I can't confirm or deny whether internally they may have used PTS

[DMJC]

If people want Skyrim/Oblivion on Linux, their best bet is to fork OpenMW and start adding it. There's been experiments made to do that and they've had some pretty decent success so far. Man power is what's lacking. They need all the devs they can get right now.

[e8hffff]

Nintendo always valued gameplay more than graphics (and imho rightfully so). Even though their new console is basically a high-end smartphone without the phone part, it can be a success with Nintendo's target audience.

Consider that Nintendo is marketing the Switch to young adults.

Nintendo desperately needs to enter the mobile phone market else they maybe relegated to software creation only. A new gaming phone would be price prohibitive and or a risky step for existing console buyers to get into in numbers. Conjecture... they enter the market with the $349 Switch Console, that runs a modified Linux/Android build, much like Amazon did. By using Android they therefore create the opportunity to later release a Switch Phone $500+ for those that can afford it. Any other pursuit would be too much of a challenge for a company that struggles to bring out game titles as it is. Just look at the Wii's OS, it was severely lacking when first released and couldn't even network games over their community portal. Nintendo just doesn't have it in them, even with Nvidia, to create a whole new operating system and inspire the likes of Valkun, Unity3D, Unreal Engine team, and an array of other working groups to jump on-board. Nintendo has the opportunity to use their customer base to jump into mobile phones like Apple, but do it via a portable hybrid console that will be compatible with a coming phone.

[e8hffff]

One thing, Nintendo and Open Source, is an oxymoron. Maybe Nvidia will be a bridge.