Poll - Is Switch a 9th gen console?

[GamingRabbit]

Shiken said:

The Switch is a hybrid because it changes its internal function on a hardware level pending on being docked or undocked.

It doesnt, all these functions are present whether it's docked or not.

Shiken said:

It is not simply a handheld that outputs to a TV because what is output to the TV cannot be done in handheld mode.  The clock speeds change, the screen is enabled/disabled, the cooling system compensates, and the games literally perform differently based on portable or TV play.

If can. Everything in fact. It's just a SOFTware setting, not a HARDware functionality.

Nintendo could just unlock the clock speeds at any point in time and give players the freedom to decide which ones they use

and cooling is linked to the clockspeed profile so that is possible in handheld mode too.

Games perform differently because of the difference in software settings, not because of portable or TV play nor due to a change in clock speed.

And by the way... games dont have to request the docked profile when the system is docked.

The screen disableing itself is just a way to save on power and has nothing to do with the system being a handheld/HC.

Just look at every smartphone, tablet and even some other handhelds (PSP, Vita, 3DS).

I can listen to music on them without the screen being turned on.The screen turns off simply because it's not needed at that moment.

Shiken said:

Not to mention there are games such as Super Mario Party, Ring Fit Adventure, and any Labo set that cannot be played in portable mode.  They are exclusive to the CONSOLE function of the Switch.

None of these games are not playable in handheld mode, just less conveniant or differently used from what was expected.

SMP for example can be played with 1 joy con in your one hand, the switch in your other. 

In addition, your argumentation is based on the peripherals boundled with these games, but they are not necessary to play the games.

You can just recreate the movement patterns shown in ring fit with both joy cons in your hand and you can do the same with all of the labo sets.

This works, because the peripherals arent needed in order to play the game.

You can play these games that way in both handheld AND docked mode.

The biggest point against your compearison however is that laptops, which are portable devices and

sometimes even portable gaming devices if specificly build for that purpose, arent 'conveniently' usable on the go either.

Yet that didnt stop them from being categorized as portable devices.

And since handhelds are a sub-category of portable devices, it wouldnt be to far fetched to assume some level of inconvinience in some cases.

If anything, the existance of SMP, Ring Fit and Labo confirms that the switch became closer to general portable hardware, which makes sense, since

the abillity to provide tv-play derives from general portable hardware.

Also using your argumentation from above [change in hardware settings]...

if you use the switch in table top mode, the switch uses the same settings as the switch with both Joy Cons attached (undocked),

yet all of these games work the same as in docked mode.

This makes Quote#3 and Quote#2 contradict each other in that the settings are handheld/home console bound.

Shiken said:

With the device changing its functions on a hardware level as well as games that can only be played in console mode, I don't see how it can be called anything other than a hybrid (which again is what it brings to the table to gen 9).

Functions change on a software level, not hardware level, are arbitrary and not caused by the hardware itself.

There are no games which (truly) cannot be played in portable mode, because they are only locked on a software level not hardware level.

You could very well play them with both joy cons attached to the main unit, there is nothing on a hardware level that speaks against it.

But Nintendo - most likely - didnt want to deal with people who have thrown their switch through their room while playing the game, because 

they couldnt properly hold it in their hands

Switch is a handheld with some extentions borrowed from general portable hardware, or just an expanded handheld.

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Switch stays a handheld until Nintendo adds hardware to the system which can only be used in one, but not the other mode(s) on a hardware level,

independant from the software which uses the hardware.

The quick and dirty example would be a 2nd GPU inside the dock, which can only be accessed when docked,

because it lacks the physical connection when undocked. And that GPU must be usable IF you want to (but dont have to).

That's what defines a hybrid in the context of handheld/hc gaming.

EDIT: and yes I can totally understand the confusion, because the line between HH/HC is extremly thin and blurry.

Last edited by GamingRabbit - on 02 August 2020