Nintendo were showing off the Switch 2 in private at Gamescom, and rumours are ramping up that this thing is going to be a beast.
Read that again. ‘Nintendo’ and ‘beast’ in the same sentence, and not a hint of sarcasm at all. It’s been a good while since we’ve been able to say that.
It can supposedly run the Matrix Unreal demo at around the same level as the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. And if it can do that, it’s almost definitely because it has amazing upscaling technology under the hood. They can use lower end graphics cards, and still end up with the same results. And those fantastic savings will definitely be passed onto the consumer, right…?
Right?
That’s a rant for when the price is unveiled. With rumours of a Switch 2 on the horizon for almost as long as there has been a Switch 1, it seems we’ll no longer have to answer the difficult question about whether it’s worth jumping in at this stage in its lifecycle. And if it can play games as well as the Switch’s bigger brothers, that’ll be huge for Nintendo and for the industry.
DLSS has been a sensation on PC, and rightly so. If you have the right hardware, it can improve your experience massively, with practically no cost. If it looks as good, if it plays better, that can only be a net gain.
“The right hardware” is the crux of the issue. Even within nVidia’s own products there is segregation. If you want the latest features – and they’re really cool, we’re told – then you’ll need to shell out for a very expensive new graphics card. The FOMO and bank balance envy is real.
PlayStation and Xbox don’t have the right hardware. They use AMD graphics cards, and are stuck using the less impressive FSR. It’s still doing the job, but not as frequently or as well as you might see on PC.
The new Nintendo Switch will have the right hardware. In fact, if rumours are to be believed, it’s been built entirely around the right hardware for this reason.
That’ll hopefully mean we can finally see the likes of Mario and Link in a resolution they deserve. It’ll also mean third parties can bring their games to Switch 2, both re-releases from the last generation and moving forward.
Nintendo bringing it, and not just being an additional buy, would boost competitiveness within the big three without them having to actually build a beast to compete or outdo Xbox and PlayStation.
Naturally it’s early days yet, and we’re operating off rumours. Remember when the Switch 2 was being revealed and it turned out to be an OLED screen?
DLSS will do nothing for the quality of games on consoles right now. Nintendo is using it to catch up to the other two, and the other two can’t use it. But it will potentially create a new and exciting dynamic.
And that’s just the beginning.
