Are hybrid consoles the future?

I voted yes because being able to play your game anywhere you go or in your home on TV is awesome for me!!

That depends on how successful the Nintendo Switch is, I haven't been keeping up with it, so idk how well it's doing.. If it turns out to be more successful than the PS4 and Xbox One, then yeah, Sony and Microsoft will follow suit, but if not, it'll just be a gimmick of the past.

Nah, laptops have been around a long time tho. lol.

MS with Mighty X1X doing BC & FC for games and devises plus buy once, play anywhere Win10 is the future... now. Jump In. :P

I hope so. I’ve played the Switch more than anything since its release. The Switch has made me reevaluate the hobby as a whole, really. I usually go for cutting edge PC hardware and purchase all of the consoles. But Nintendo, once again has showed me what the hobby is really about. Fun games.

Yes of course it is. If you want high performance gaming there is the PC that functions more and more like a console (or vice versa) anyway. It's a matter of 1 generation or 2 that you can use a PC basically like a traditional console. The gap between PC and console keeps growing too.

And the mobile tech is improving very rapidly. So there is much more gain in a generation of Switches than a generation of traditional console. The Switch is already somewhat(!) acceptable in terms of performance for a console. You can see it getting there. I bet in 1 or 2 gens we'll have a hybrid console that is performing pretty well as a traditional console.

My thing is..i'm on the road a lot for my job. Not having to haul another laptop or a console around is great. Very very mobile and I get the full console experience.

The switch has great games, and I love that. What is important is it enables me to play games when I usually could not.

No......

Why not?

It's the future for Nintendo, but it should not be the future for Microsoft and Sony.

It's the perfect move for Nintendo since it plays well to their strengths and helps consolidate their resources on just one system instead of two so that they can deliver more games for the single system than they could when they had to spread their resources among two different systems, but if Microsoft and Sony try to copy it then I think that it will be a colossal failure for them just like when they tried to copy the Wii's motion controls.

Microsoft and Sony need to do their own thing and find ways to utilize their own strengths to differentiate themselves and provide a unique value. Microsoft was doing this early on with the Xbox 360 and was having great success with it until they decided to stop focusing on providing their own unique value and instead copy the Wii's motion controls and we all know what happened after that. It's a mistake for them to try to copy Nintendo.

naw, they would become over saturated if everyone tried to do it and would go against what the others a pushing for in terms of power. Nintendo can get away with it because they dont focus on the high power

I hope not.

No shit, I hope not !

Lol, no.

The switch is also way underpowered and limited for my tastes. I don't want to game on a handheld at all. It's like the worst of everything. No options, no power, tiny low-res screen, Nintendo upcharge. I just don't see the appeal.

Eh.... I'm seeing less and less reason to care about consoles in general. I'm probably in the minority here though.

There's definitely a market for hybrid consoles... but doesn't mean every hardware company has to do it. Or do it like Nintendo.

No damn , i hope not !

They can get away because of their 1st parties having this cartoony appeal that doesnt need powerful machines to make them appealing and flashy.

Can you imagine a full "next-gen" 3D Zelda BOTW on such low end hardware ? No way it could work.

They get away with it because their art direction and style doesn't require power.

The Switch is the console I like the least because it is the weakest and that limits what the developers can do on it. I don't care much for the portability and it is not worth sacrificing performance for. I only bought it for the Nintendo exclusives. I am not a fan of hybrid consoles. Regular consoles are already bad enough.

mhm

I would imagine that at some point we will hit a ceiling of graphical fidelity and resources needed. Given that, I imagine with a powerful enough handheld, dedicated home consoles would be a thing of the past.

As much as I like the switch I don’t see hybrid systems being the future. I see them existing side by side with traditional consoles.

Nah, the majority of people go outside for a reason, and to play a gaming device isn't really one of them.

Hybrid consoles are not the future and the non gamers causal will see it as a Gimmick.

What is it about it being a hybrid console, and how has it shifted your views?

No because hybrid consoles are going to be too weak or too expensive. Sony has no plans to make a hybrid console. It would be too risky for them.

If you want portability (traveling for work or whatever reason) then buy a laptop. It can serve you well for your work and if you are at your hotel for the night then you can game if you want to.

As far as I am concerned, Hyrbid console is nothing more than a buzzword/marketing term. The Switch is a handheld through and through.

@GameboyTroy:

Tbh the Sony ecosystem wouldnt survive the transition to a portable based console.

I do think Microsoft will make one eventually, but itll likely just use touch based controls to use to help their mobile ecosystem.

Maybe...will Nintendo do another hybrid after Switchy? remains the question...or this is just a one off project & they go back to try to reinvent the wheel again. :P

Yes. Next year? Hell no. But I do believe games will eventually move towards hybrid devices and delivery by streaming - whether people hate one or both options or not.

Personally, I love my Switch.

Nope. No way. The switch is too limiting and the graphics are terrible.

If PlayStation as a company can get the PS4 & PSVR as a bundled unit for less then 300 that would be a great purchase.

Hell no. Sheep always talk big the first year a new nintendo console comes out. But get shaved after that honeymoon period is over. Its going to flop, and the sheep will disappear in the ether as usual. Thats why i like lemmings more. At least they stick around after their console fails.

Switch is the first console I've bought since the Gamecube for this reason. It's been a hit with PC gamers.

Xbox/PS never appealed to me. They are just low-end PCs with limited exclusives. If I can afford a $1500 PC, I have zero use for a $500 home console. It's redundant. The Switch offers something unique.

I'm curious why people think the answer is no. We aren't talking next year (I assume). Hardware is constantly miniaturizing, and with the rise of high capacity flash storage, better battery tech and energy consumption, digital distribution, and now streaming from high-powered compute systems, the need for large hardware to deliver a high end experience is shrinking. We aren't talking about the Switch here, but the Switch 3, you know? I'm sorry, but the perceptible returns on increasing visual fidelity are getting very small, and at some point the benefit of having a "console under your TV" over one that "plugs into a dock under your TV" is just not going to be clear. Horizon on PS4 demonstrates how great games can look on mediocre hardware. Coming from a childhood with friggin Scorched Earth, Horizon is visually mindblowing.

Put another way: if you could have a high end gaming experience on your TV, versus one on your TV and anywhere else you wanted, then all things being close to equal the second option is surely the better one, no? Who wants less options? I can promise you that if we ever move beyond life on earth, we will not be sitting down in front an XBox. The way we game is going to shrink even while it continues to improve in realism - evolving into handhelds that also deliver traditional experiences, and eventually evolving into space-age shit I can only make up but that doesn't even require a hybrid design as we now know it

@xantufrog: I guess folks are saying no because the current state of hybrid consoles (The Nintendo Switch) are forced to make compromises. I don't know what direction the tech industry will take and how viable a powerful hybrid is, but if that were the case, then I can't imagine there would be any issues. After all, it would be more options and versatility.

The reason I feel people are answering 'no' now is because the Nintendo Switch has compromises and cannot adhere to the desires of many AAA game developers and publishers. It might be easier to imagine a hybrid future when we start seeing technology grow; right now, I understand the concerns given what the Nintendo Switch has to offer, but like you said, technology is growing.

While playing Skyrim on Switch I keep turning it around because it must be secretly attached to some crazy powerful hardware that we can't see. Maybe it's invisible. I'm on the train shot gunning demons in the face in DOOM and I can't believe it even as I'm playing it.

It's a miracle machine. I mean it actually feels magical and special while you play it. Like how the hell does mario odyssey fit on that little cartridge?

Wii U's fanbase stood strong even as it failed. We always made sure to mention its amazing list of exclusive games. And if you think the switch is gonna flop you are delusional. Electronics that start successful remain so. It's when they start bad that they end up doing even worse later on.

I think they suit Nintendo to a T. I don't think they're the right solution for Sony/MS.

Of course! Just like motion controls were.

@jumpaction: yeah, I mean the Switch doesn't adhere to current AAA power standards - but it adheres to those from last gen. If this shit had come out last gen, it would have been the only system anyone wanted. Of course - that was impossible. The tech wasn't there yet.

And it's true that this type of design will be a step behind for the foreseeable future - BUT, when you've got a 4k Switch3 and a dynamic8k PS6, I... well I'll be damned if more pixels that I already can't see are going to be a selling point any more. They're already nothing but a bonus to me.

Meanwhile, both MS and Sony are laying the groundwork in front of our eyes to move away from any kind of locked hardware platform focus - I'm not convinced that a PS6 won't be something like a Switch that also uses streaming and cloud computations to punch above its weight or deliver content. There's a reason these companies keep buying and investing in cloud services and streaming servers. Nvidia launched their own high-end PS Now for PC gamers as well.

@xantufrog: I get you completely. When it gets to a point where a machine like that has the capacity to do 4k or alternatively, to have silky smooth frame-rates in 1080p, then hybrid platforms will be far more viable as a future standard. At least, I believe that the less compromises that need to be made, the more interested AAA developers and gamers will be. :)

Right now, with the Nintendo Switch, you have to be willing to accept a loss of performance and resolution for the portable aspect of the hybrid.

@jumpaction: I already find the compromises not that intrusive - but I'll admit that 30fps on Doom is very unattractive. I don't think it will be that long before only the biggest pixel counters will be unable to tolerate a hybrid.

IDK, we'll see. I'm sounding a bit like a nutjob, so I'll go back to work

@xantufrog: Hahaha, no I understand you completely.

For most of the games I have played, the compromises have been acceptable. However, there are other games on Switch that don't serve so well.

I don't game when I'm not home, so it's meh on my end. Nice feature for those that use it, but if I'm out, I'd rather be doing stuff that's not gaming while I'm out.

Lol, you've heard of SD storage, correct?

The size of your thumb. https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-MicroSDXC-Adapter-MB-ME256GA-AM/dp/B072HRDM55/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1512146596&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=256+gb+micro+sd+card&psc=1

I'm obviously not being literal. Come on now.

Sorry, gotta take your posts at face value, 'cause system wars. ;)

No I would take power over portability, everytime.

I really don't have any need for handhelds. I use my phone when out and would rather use a TV at home.