Speculation has been growing over the past few weeks as Nintendo fans wonder what direction the upcoming Nintendo Switch will go when it releases in early March. With rumours running across the gaming industry, here’s just a few highlights to keep in mind as the final quarter of 2016 draws to a close:
Earlier in October, CGMagazine reported on an alleged leaked developer kit posted by Twitter user @NWPlayer123. If true, the devkit would run with four ARM Cortex-A57 cores and a 1024 FLOPS per cycle NVIDIA GPU, allowing for powerful graphical output. Nintendo Switch blogger Emily Rogers later confirmed that the Nintendo Switch will ship with 4G RAM, although other specifications on the Nintendo Switch’s hardware have yet to be officially announced.
UK-based games journalist Laura Dale has been providing a variety of reports on Nintendo Switch over at LetsPlayVideoGames. According to her, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will miss its Wii U and Switch launch. However, the unannounced Mario Switch title will be available from release, along with a Splatoon re-release that features a one-on-one multiplayer mode. She also reports that the the “Skyrim port [for Nintendo Switch]… is totally happening,” suggesting that a Nintendo Switch version of Bethesda’s immensely popular open-world game will be a day one title that “[mirrors] the recent remastered version of the game.” Mod support will be included sometime down the road.
As for the Nintendo Switch’s price, she reports that the Nintendo Switch will be sold for £199.99 at the UK store, GAME. An additional unit with extra internal storage and a bundled game will launch for £249.99. This roughly translates to $249.99 and $299.99 USD, albeit, those conversions are unofficial.
Eurogamer reports that Nintendo’s latest Pokémon offering, Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon, will also see a Nintendo Switch offering entitled Pokémon Stars. Coinciding with reports from earlier in the year that Game Freak was working on a main Pokémon title for the Switch, Eurogamer hints that an HD version of Sun and Moon‘s Pikipek has already been revealed. The publication suggests a late 2017 release is in order for the Switch.
The Nintendo Switch’s official release is coming quickly, with just a little over three months until the console hits retail shelves. Check back as more news develops over the next couple months.
