I wouldn't call Switch next gen. It's not powerful than current gen consoles. The generation thing is for fan boys to say "Nintendo is leading the 9th gen by default".

There's nothing next gen about this gimmick. Hope it works out for them.

I know it's not new. And I agree, the gap could be smaller than many expect. PS4 and XB1 have been on the market for three years now, and they were considered underpowered even when they were released. Now we're having mid-gen upgrades, but I think it still begs the question about when new consoles are coming.

I wouldn't say Sony is following traditional generations either if it weren't for the fact that Sony has made a comment which reinforces the stance that they still believe in traditional generations.

Yeah it's a 9th gen platform although being as it's a new type of device for gaming although as strange as it sounds it's more of the birth of a new line of devices for the industry so technically it is and can be seen as Gen 1 of new set of hardware type for the industry.

Why would they call it their 9th generation console when it's their 7th?

Funny how you ended the thread in the second post and everyone ignores it.

Call me crazy but I honestly don't see the Switch being much less powerful than the Xbox One or Playstation 4. People act like the Playstation 4 and Xbox One are significantly different in power but they really aren't, if I remember correctly Xbox One's issues with resolution have to do with microsoft having locked ERam usage for the first 2 years of the Xbox One's life. In reality, even if the Switch is slightly less powerful than the Xbox One, it won't be lagging behind compared to the PS4 or Xbox One, it will be almost the same.

I think it's a 9th gen console still though. Even if they're just competing with the 8th gen, it's still technically their 9th gen.

Ah, so that was what you were wondering. I don't think Nintendo isn't following generations anymore (sort of). I think that a universal concept of generations is not very useful anymore. Nintendo follows its own release cycles, which aligns its consoles quite differently compared to those of other console manufacturers. Microsoft sounds like it's not going to even have generations anymore, and Sony seems to be following traditional generations but even that's not really clear. Personally I think talking about each manufacturer's own generations is more useful than talking about one universal concept of generations. I think the fact that we keep getting these threads is a sign that there's something wrong with the current universal generations. Generations are a nice concept because they offer a really simple model on how console lifecycles work, but they're not necessarily a very descriptive model anymore.

Also all these people saying that it's their "7th gen console because of the power" apparently are just pandering to the same tropes and misleading things they've been doing for years. Wii U was more powerful than the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, the problem was the complex architecture and the lack of marketing that made it die. Nobody really made the games on the Wii U look good because, get this, they didn't want to spend the time on a complex and dying console. It was STILL an 8th gen console, it was much more powerful than the 360 and 3, just not to the extent of Xbone or PS4.

This console will most likely be an even smaller jump than the Wii U, the Wii U went from an upgraded Gamecube(Wii) to a console better than the 360 and 3, the Switch will go from an underpowered 8th gen to a 9th gen console that is competing with 8th gen consoles. This might seem like a bad thing, but because of the law of diminishing returns AND because of the fact that it's releasing THREE YEARS before the next PS and XB...I don't see it being a bad thing honestly.

Except the topic of the thread is what Nintendo will call it,
and as per the linked reference, they are using 7th gen re: their own 7th gen.
So as it happens, people can have their own definitions of the term which function based on what matters to them.
So as it happens, your absolutist self rightelous definition FAILED, you did not cohere to the stated term of the thread topic,
so go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200.