How Nintendo "operates" I think will change considerably with Switch.

This is the first time they've had basically one hardware line since the 1980s, and it's a different world today obviously.

Also the Tegra X1 in the Switch isn't even that old. It's a 2015 chip, and I think they were definitely going for a 2016 launch, just missed it basically by three months because of software delays. Relative to the hardware release date the Switch chip is probably the most "modern" chip Nintendo has used in a game system since the GameCube chipset. 

So "waiting five years" to use a chip I think is out. Lots of things are out, Nintendo's never used basically a non-custom chip recently, but with Switch it's basically completely non-custom. I think one big reason for that was so Nintendo could easily use future Tegra iterations, if they had done something crazy custom with the chip, it likely would have created problems with future Tegra designs.

I don't think Nintendo views 3DS as the be-all, end-all, in fact I think deep down they're a tad dissapointed with how the 3DS went. 

Beyond that if 3DS was the *only* Nintendo system that had to play all Nintendo games, I think that would be a different story. They would've upgraded sooner.

And even beyond that, the current New 3DS chipset is not the same one as the original 3DS chip. 

And even futher to that, IMO allowing the Switch chipset to age badly and become overpowered by even cheap phones and tablets over time doesn't work for the Switch concept. The Switch concept is not the same as the Wii, where graphics didn't matter too much, Switch is contingent on offering people a plausible console type experience anywhere. It's not the same as the 3DS either.

Once Switch loses credibility as a console-quality experience, the concept is basically shot. This is simply not going to be a hardware line driven by millions of soccer moms, Nintendo has to be able to sell it to console gamers. For now the tech is sufficient, but let 3+ years go by and you're going to have consumers question the "console" part of the sales equation. Even the Wii was only one generation behind, Switch would be two full gens behind by the time PS5 launches (2020?). 

That's because I'm right and don't need sarcasm :)

It's the core component of the system yes. It's a home console experience that can be used everywhere. Not sure why you're going to even try to argue against this, it's in the very marketing Nintendo uses to push the system. 

That's what's making people look at the hardware and go "wow, that's pretty cool", that's the "catch" of the hardware. No one goes "wow" over a 3DS playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D (a 20 year old game), but the newest 3D console Zelda, playable anywhere? Yeah, that's noteworthy. 

No one's putting a gun to your head and saying you have to post in a thread about Switch hardware and future Tegra chipsets if that doesn't interest you. 

Secondly, we can't rule out anything. 

Third, if Switch is popular you can assume there likely will inevitably be tablet knock offs. 

There is no such thing as a hugely successful product in this industry that isn't copied eight ways to Tuesday. 

It's not just graphics it's the overall scope of the experience, Switch needs to maintain the ability to be credible as a home console. Right now it can do that, but 2 generations is a lot. Even the Wii would have suffered some if Nintendo had used a souped up N64 chip (two generations behind a PS3/360). You want to keep the gap at least at one generation.

Beyond all that, model iterations make companies money. It's why they're all doing it and it's not going to stop any time soon. 

And again, comparing to 3DS just makes the whole thing moot, 3DS never had to carry the entire Nintendo franchise catalog, if it did certain games like Splatoon wouldn't really even possible without huge compromises because the hardware is so badly out of date. 

Switch is a very different product from the 3DS and will have different expectations brought upon its shoulders. 

Game runs bad because the bad optimisation. Not because the hardware. MK8 runs a lot better and Odyssey looks like it run very well.

How many EAD games do you know that have bad optimization? MK8 is a racing game, it's a much simpler type of game to run, BotW has to run a much larger open world and can't cheat as much on things (ie: Mario Kart can cheat a lot on background detail). 

And actually really the BotW we're getting is downgraded from the original trailers, what they originally showed probably could not run on the Wii U at all and would have big issues on the Switch @900p. 

Zelda was confirmed the moment they told us in an interview that they had less than a year to port it.

Don't know about the others. Xenoblade 2 looks very good and big, like Odyssey.

Good to see some development, so the next Switch can be backward compatible as well.