More Switch Details and Rumours Appear

Yep back to more rumour but technically they aren't NX rumours, They're Switch rumours so its different.. Yeah I know but its the only way I'm going to get through this. 

Official
First up lets start with some confirmed news. The Nintendo Switch marks the end of Nintendo's adventure into dual screen gaming, which started with the DS and ended with the Wii U. The Switch will be strictly a single screen system, which was to be expected seeing as the device has to be inside a dock for the image to appear on the TV.

In other "well yeah obviously" news, Nintendo has also confirmed the Switch will not be "compatible with physical games from Wii U/3DS" which has an obvious eye brow raising wording. Could it be possible that digital Wii U and 3DS games be playable? Think its going to depend on where the Switch has a touch screen, without it you can dismiss any idea of backwards compatibility.

Also Amazon has a product page up for the Switch where players can sign up for email alerts.

Rumours
Now entering rumour town with some of the more stable rumours via Wall Street Journal which says Nintendo wont be making anymore Switch announcements this year about games, specs, or the status of region locking. This whilst disappointing it also makes a fair amount of sense as Nintendo has some high profile games on 3DS this Christmas. But also any official announcements for a future console are bound to get lost in PS4 Pro marketing and the Christmas media tornado.

Next we have Laura Dale saying her sources have confirmed the Switch features analog triggers, something the Wii and Wii U didn't have (which makes racing games a lot better), A multi touch screen, The dock gives the console a minor boost to help the console outputting to a TV, and finally (and more worryingly) a current battery life of 3 hours whilst on max settings.

Before we loose it, its worth noting that's doesn't mean the retail unit will have that life span, however a quick check on the Nvidia Shield Tablet turns out 3 hours is a huge improvement as that device only had 1 hour of playtime (a little more if you turn everything off). An additional detail here is that each Joy-Con appears to have its own battery, so you can use them in multiplayer and free from the device as such having them attached could drain the battery on the unit quicker.

And finally Emily Rogers is saying the Switch will see at least two "enhanced ports" from the Wii U. Supposedly these include the two we saw in the trailer: Mario Kart and Splatoon but also Smash 4 and Super Mario Maker. Obviously that last one might have trouble as the Switch might not have a touchscreen and defiantly wont have a 2 screens.

Abe's Take

Whilst it seems like an ice age till we here more official details about the Switch till next year but thats actually 70 days/just over 2 months and there is plenty for us to do between then and now.