Nintendo’s Next Generation Of Gaming

After seeing lukewarm results from the Wii U, Nintendo has tried to climb the ladder to dominance in the gaming industry with the recent release of the Nintendo Switch.

For Nintendo, the Switch may simply be the step in the right direction to return them to gaming glory. From the day it was released, the console saw immediate success across the board.

According to Nintendo, the Switch was estimated to have shipped over 1.5 million units in the first two weeks of launch. This makes the Switch the fastest-selling home console in gaming history, with very strong sales in Europe and North America.

Thanks to the amazing sales of the Switch, Nintendo has found a way to cover the past mistakes of 2014, where the company saw major financial losses due to the Wii U and growth of mobile gaming overall. The past president, Satoru Iwata, had actually encouraged a focus on mobile gaming, instead of trying to make Nintendo executives think outside of the box in gaming.

Without turning the system on, the Switch itself has one of the most innovative designs for a gaming system. Considered to be a hybrid video gaming console, the Switch offers the new Joy-Con wireless controllers.

In particular, the Joy-Con includes the standard buttons of a controller, two joy sticks for user input and motion sensors. For maneuverability, the Joy- Con controllers attach to either side of the console and can be removed easily. When removed, the controllers work similarly to Wii remotes.

To pique interest in the Switch, the “Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild” game was released to accompany the console. Nonetheless, the flaws of the Switch are shown in this game alone.

For example, “Breath of the Wild” looks exactly the same on both the Wii U and the Switch graphically. Before release, Nintendo implied that the Switch version of the game would be far superior visually to the Wii U version.

On both consoles, “Breath of the Wild” fails to exceed 30 frames per second, while the Switch runs in 1080, and the Wii U runs in 720p. As a result, the biggest problem with this game and console have been the frame rate issues. With all the hype the Switch received prior to launch, one would assume it should be significantly superior to the Wii U version, yet expectations are not being met.

Still, the Nintendo Switch is the main focus in the gaming industry right now. With the Switch being in its early stages, gaming fans alike should be excited for upcoming developments on the console taking the world by storm.

Kaitlin Armstrong

Kaitlin Armstrong is a senior studying communications and emerging media. Originally from Atlanta, Ga., she shadowed the Atlanta Falcons’ community relations department in 2016. Armstrong hopes to use that experience to gain additional internships.

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