Games

Can the launch model be rooted?

Something I've seen far less reaction to than I expected? While the Switch 2 looks like it takes standard MicroSD cards, it DOESN'T. It takes the fairly obscure MicroSD Express standard! I can't even BUY an SD Express card locally right now! It seems likely, at launch, that Nintendo's branded cards will be the only ones people can get that will work with it!

The Switch 2 has 256GB of onboard storage, much more than the Switch, it is true. But it's also backwards compatible with the Switch, and lets users bring their old digital library over with them. I have a 256GB card in my Switch, it's nearly full, and it doesn't have my whole library on it! If I got a Switch 2, I'd have it filled up on day 1!

And the MicroSD card issue won't be obvious to most buyers. Parents will get their kids Switch 2s, and wonder why their old card won't work with it. It'll look to them like the Switch 2 or the card is broken, unless they implement a physical lock against incompatible cards, and I don't know if SD cards even support those. Also, SD Express cards are more expensive than standard ones.

This could end up being a debacle almost on the scale of the price (which, as others have noted, isn't even Nintendo's fault entirely).

The GPU has less than 10% the CUDA cores of a 4090, a GPU that can't hit 120 FPS in most modern games @4K without DLSS. No way in hell will the Switch 2 hit 120 FPS @1080p, not without some extreme DLSS upscaling and some serious graphical compromises... Proper RT is completely out of the question.

This thing won't even be able to keep up with the PS5, a 5 year old console. It will compete with the Steam Deck, however.

That said, I miss the days when Nintendo cared about graphics. But at this point it's been over 25 years since those days. That's almost as long as it's been since I last enjoyed a Mario or Zelda game. Between all this and the fact that they sue their fans, I am so done with Nintendo. I feel like I've outgrown them anyway.

4k? My 3070 can't even get close to 60fps 4k on most games

Bet they priced it that high to get ahead of any tariffs that might affect them. Consumers really don’t like to see price hikes right around a launch. Plus they still want to milk the Switch 1 since they probably have a very healthy profit margin on that machine. This price makes the Switch 1 look very appealing for people who still haven’t bought one.