I hope Nintendo actually makes this a huge step up from the Switch we’ve had since 2017. The OLED switch was nice, but it’s what the switch should’ve been from day one.
Oh and dear lord PLEASE let them fix the joycon issues. I would love to play my switch more in handheld mode but because both of my joycons have drift, it’s impossible to play in anything but docked mode with a pro controller.
I think the copyright for that technology is, well…copyrighted. So Nintendo would need to pay a licensing fee to use it in their Joycons (as would any gaming company for their joysticks). That would add significant cost to the controllers.
Same reason we haven’t seen back buttons adopted into controllers as a standard yet despite being the next logical evolution in controller design.
Thanks for doing the googling and bringing it up here.
Apparently the dreamcast controller had hall effect sensors, so it’s not really new tech. With the volume that Nintendo produces stuff with, the extra price per joystick would most likely be quite small.
I think it would need to be a patent, not a copyright. Also, Hall effect sensors were in use before someone decided to put them into a joystick. I would hope that “use the thing for which it was designed” isn’t patentable but, knowing the USPTO when it comes to technology…
The OLED switch was nice, but it’s what the switch should’ve been from day one.
The processor was long in the tooth and the joycons were unacceptably flawed on day one. The OLED switch changed none of these things and it still frustrates me a lot that people weren’t more critical of it tbh.
Yeah they’d fill should’ve upgraded the processor for the OLED switch, and I totally agree about the joycon situation. I was more talking about the screen, Nintendo easily could’ve made the first Gen switch OLED but they didn’t.
I feel the price was already a little high at launch (since they are adamant about making a profit on hardware as opposed to Sony/Microsoft who sell at a loss) so the addition of a more expensive screen would’ve probably pushed the price too high tbh. It was 2017, OLED’s were still pretty new and very expensive.
LCD was fine. Locked 60 Hz refresh rate made no sense whatsoever. Even shitty laptops can dip down to 40 Hz, and that’d make dodgy framerates less stuttery. But the Switch is Nvidia hardware. There’s no excuse to not at least support 120 Hz polling to flip framebuffers.
Nintendo would have solidified the design and specs of the SoC and committed to a bulk contract for them just before we saw some big leaps in hardware; specifically in GPU and ARM SoCs, memory bandwidth and PCIe bus performance, and chip die resolution.
Think about where mobile processors were in 2014; it’s been almost 9 years. Think about where Apple silicon is now (also an ARM SoC platform). We’re truly “living in the future”.
Since the products were already in consumer hands as these innovations where happening, it was too late to change anything. It’s a rock and a hard place; especially for Nintendo who caters to so many casual enjoyers - if you upgrade the hardware, you’re gonna need to do another launch. The alternative would be that people with older switches wouldn’t be able to run newer games. You also don’t want to anger your customers by saying “remember that $400 you spent 3 years ago? Yeah you’re gonna need to go ahead and give us another $400”. Additionally, if they had done that, we’d probably be complaining about THAT machine being underpowered now. The Switch was selling like hotcakes regardless, they weren’t going to disrupt that revenue. Money talks and the world told Nintendo what they wanted, whether they meant to or not.
Now that even 1st party titles are struggling on the system, the writing is on the wall, the tech has improved massively, and consumers are warming to the idea of a new console, it makes sense that Nintendo would have been doing the legwork to be at the point when suppliers are leaking info, when investor calls subtly reveal dates when at a minimum we’ll get our first official info, etc. I bet they’ll start shipping dev kits in the fall (if they haven’t already) if all this info is accurate.
Piggybacking on this - do they also make the same sensors for pro controllers? I have two Joycon Ls, a Nintendo pro controller, a PowerA controller, and a PS5 controller that all drift (I’m starting to think I might be playing video games wrong…)
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Switzerland Nintendo will fix your joycons for free. If you are anywhere else, just buy some new sticks and replace them.
Ironically my joycons that I’ve had since launch day have been fine (regarding drift, anyway), but my pro controller got drift last year, and I just had to replace it.
That’s wild. My release day joycons drift like a bitch, but I have never once had an issue with my pro controller. I didn’t even know the pro controller could have drifting issues tbh
If they don’t fix the joycon issues Nintendo is going to lose more lawsuits and be on the hook for fixing people’s joycons for free forever. I just sent 4 of mine in in the US.
I hope Nintendo actually makes this a huge step up from the Switch we’ve had since 2017. The OLED switch was nice, but it’s what the switch should’ve been from day one.
Oh and dear lord PLEASE let them fix the joycon issues. I would love to play my switch more in handheld mode but because both of my joycons have drift, it’s impossible to play in anything but docked mode with a pro controller.
I wish for all controller manufactures to use that magnetic joystick instead
Hall Effect Joysticks!
I think the copyright for that technology is, well…copyrighted. So Nintendo would need to pay a licensing fee to use it in their Joycons (as would any gaming company for their joysticks). That would add significant cost to the controllers.
Same reason we haven’t seen back buttons adopted into controllers as a standard yet despite being the next logical evolution in controller design.
@StarServal, you mean patents (not copyright), since it is about inventions.
And there is at least one hall effect controller patent that already expired. It is from 1988, so hall effect joysticks are not a new thing at all.
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4825157A/
@anarchyrabbit @Yondu_the_Ravager @Birchoff
Thanks for doing the googling and bringing it up here.
Apparently the dreamcast controller had hall effect sensors, so it’s not really new tech. With the volume that Nintendo produces stuff with, the extra price per joystick would most likely be quite small.
I think it would need to be a patent, not a copyright. Also, Hall effect sensors were in use before someone decided to put them into a joystick. I would hope that “use the thing for which it was designed” isn’t patentable but, knowing the USPTO when it comes to technology…
The processor was long in the tooth and the joycons were unacceptably flawed on day one. The OLED switch changed none of these things and it still frustrates me a lot that people weren’t more critical of it tbh.
Yeah they’d fill should’ve upgraded the processor for the OLED switch, and I totally agree about the joycon situation. I was more talking about the screen, Nintendo easily could’ve made the first Gen switch OLED but they didn’t.
I feel the price was already a little high at launch (since they are adamant about making a profit on hardware as opposed to Sony/Microsoft who sell at a loss) so the addition of a more expensive screen would’ve probably pushed the price too high tbh. It was 2017, OLED’s were still pretty new and very expensive.
LCD was fine. Locked 60 Hz refresh rate made no sense whatsoever. Even shitty laptops can dip down to 40 Hz, and that’d make dodgy framerates less stuttery. But the Switch is Nvidia hardware. There’s no excuse to not at least support 120 Hz polling to flip framebuffers.
Nintendo would have solidified the design and specs of the SoC and committed to a bulk contract for them just before we saw some big leaps in hardware; specifically in GPU and ARM SoCs, memory bandwidth and PCIe bus performance, and chip die resolution.
Think about where mobile processors were in 2014; it’s been almost 9 years. Think about where Apple silicon is now (also an ARM SoC platform). We’re truly “living in the future”.
Since the products were already in consumer hands as these innovations where happening, it was too late to change anything. It’s a rock and a hard place; especially for Nintendo who caters to so many casual enjoyers - if you upgrade the hardware, you’re gonna need to do another launch. The alternative would be that people with older switches wouldn’t be able to run newer games. You also don’t want to anger your customers by saying “remember that $400 you spent 3 years ago? Yeah you’re gonna need to go ahead and give us another $400”. Additionally, if they had done that, we’d probably be complaining about THAT machine being underpowered now. The Switch was selling like hotcakes regardless, they weren’t going to disrupt that revenue. Money talks and the world told Nintendo what they wanted, whether they meant to or not.
Now that even 1st party titles are struggling on the system, the writing is on the wall, the tech has improved massively, and consumers are warming to the idea of a new console, it makes sense that Nintendo would have been doing the legwork to be at the point when suppliers are leaking info, when investor calls subtly reveal dates when at a minimum we’ll get our first official info, etc. I bet they’ll start shipping dev kits in the fall (if they haven’t already) if all this info is accurate.
Ehhhhh I get that but my main gripes are 1) the joy cons and 2) literally no changes for the OLED
Just put in a modern chip to start with if the hardware will be the same for 7-8 years
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Tried em, they don’t fix the issue long term. Eventually it’ll creep back and I’m stuck with the same issue again.
Replace the sticks with hall sensor sticks off amazon. They will never drift. Takes about 10 mins.
Note that I’m not excusing nintendo here. If anything it shows how pathetic it is that nintendo isn’t using hall effect sticks.
Got links to ones you recommend?
I got the ones by gulikit. No issues with mine
Piggybacking on this - do they also make the same sensors for pro controllers? I have two Joycon Ls, a Nintendo pro controller, a PowerA controller, and a PS5 controller that all drift (I’m starting to think I might be playing video games wrong…)
I don’t think they do :(
If they do I can’t find them
If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), UK and Switzerland Nintendo will fix your joycons for free. If you are anywhere else, just buy some new sticks and replace them.
They do in the US too.
Am in Italy. Sent mine in yesterday actually. Thanks EU!
Ironically my joycons that I’ve had since launch day have been fine (regarding drift, anyway), but my pro controller got drift last year, and I just had to replace it.
That’s wild. My release day joycons drift like a bitch, but I have never once had an issue with my pro controller. I didn’t even know the pro controller could have drifting issues tbh
I’m probably the very edge of the bell curve on those joycons. Unfortunately, the wireless connection on the left joycon is basically unusable.
And, not surprised I got drift on my pro controller. I probably have close to 1000 hours on it in smash alone.
If they don’t fix the joycon issues Nintendo is going to lose more lawsuits and be on the hook for fixing people’s joycons for free forever. I just sent 4 of mine in in the US.