Nintendo Switch console details revealed: launch date, price, games, paid multiplayer, and more

From PC World: And just like that, we’ve officially entered Generation 9 for gaming consoles. Sort of. Last night (or earlier today in Tokyo) Nintendo pulled back the veil on the Nintendo Switch, its upcoming handheld/stationary hybrid console and successor to the underwhelming Wii U.

First up, the important bits: The Switch will launch worldwide on March 3—yes, less than two months from now—for a suggested retail price of $299.

I say that’s the important bit because we pretty much knew everything else about the console from Nintendo’s October reveal. The Switch name refers to the device’s dual nature, both a traditional TV console and a mobile handheld. In its “docked” form, the Switch looks quite a bit like a Wii—a vertically oriented rectangle that connects up to your TV with an HDMI cable. The accompanying Joy-Con controller looks fairly traditional as well, like a blockier Xbox gamepad complete with offset analog sticks.

Appearances are deceptive, though. You can actually remove the core of the Switch, revealing a tablet with a capacitive touch screen. And the controller? It breaks apart also, the two edges sliding out of the central “Joy-Con Grip” and attaching onto the sides of the tablet, basically recreating the Wii U controller. You can then take the Switch out into the world, with Nintendo touting between 2.5 and 6 hours of battery life. That’s a huge spread, so probably err on the side of 2.5 for most gaming purposes.

Internal storage is also something I’m curious about, given the undersized hard drives inside the PS4 and Xbox One. With the Switch being part tablet, I can’t imagine there’s much drive space, especially at $300. Could be interesting.

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