Since launching the Nintendo Switch in 2017, Nintendo has released a few variations of the popular hybrid game console including a Nintendo Switch Lite (which has built-in controllers rather than detachable ones) and the Switch OLED (which has a better display). But the underlying hardware hasn’t changed much in the past seven years.
Now Nintendo says its next game console is on the way. The president of the company has revealed that Nintendo will introduce its follow-up to the Nintendo Switch by the end of the fiscal year (which means by the end of March, 2025). But that’s about all we know for now… and all we’re likely to know for the foreseeable future, as the same announcement makes it clear that Nintendo will not be talking about the next-gen console during its Nintendo Direct event in June. Instead that event will focus on games for the current console.
Here’s a roundup of recent tech news from around the web.
Nintendo Confirms It Will Announce Switch Successor Console ‘Within This Fiscal Year’ [IGN]
Nintendo acknowledges that a “successor to the Nintendo Switch” is on the way. The company says it will make an announcement by March, 2025. But don’t expect any further details in the coming months.
Google Pixel Tablet now available for $399 without the Speaker Dock [Google Store]
When the Google Pixel Tablet first hit the streets last summer, it was a $499 tablet that shipped standard with a Charging Speaker Dock for smart speaker/display functions. Now you can buy just the tablet for $399 (but it was often on sale for that price anyway).
Introducing Raspberry Pi Connect [Raspberry Pi]
Raspberry Pi Connect is a new tool for the Debian-based Raspberry Pi OS using Wayland that offers remote access through a web browser via aa peer-to-peer (or relayed) connection using WebRTC.
AYANEO AG01 graphics dock teaser [@AYANEO__]
The upcoming AYANEO AG01 will be an “all purpose GPU dock” with a spaceship-inspired design and a USB4 port. We should learn more about other ports and functionality on May 18th.
Google’s working on a way to speed-up data transfers when setting up a new phone [Android Authority]
Google’s data transfer tool that lets you transfer data from an old Android phone to a new one during setup could get faster thanks to a Multi Transport mode that uses both a USB cable and wireless connection simultaneously. A Restore Anytime feature will also let you transfer data even after a phone has already been set up.
Keep up on the latest headlines by following @liliputing_liliputing.com on Mastodon (or @[email protected]). You can also follow Liliputing on X and Facebook. We’re also on Bluesky now, but just barely.
The Nintendo Next will likely be a smidge faster than the 2014 PS4, around roughly the speed of the 2019 Valve SteamDeck, and slower than the 2020 Xbox Series S.
That means once again Nintendo will alienate the Game Publishers from their console and their ecosystem. It will be a mostly first-party system, with lots of backwards compatibility, some indie titles, and a rare few games that do get ported.
Back with the NSwitch, they lost a golden opportunity, since the competition had slow and underpowered console systems. They could have offered their ecosystem with enough performance for AAA Publishers as well. This time around, the competition have fast and overpowered console systems. There’s a high probability the Nintendo Next will be very disappointing for people who want pocketability, and who want variety for games.
The only way Nintendo CAN possibly achieve this, is if they go with the “Super Switch” concept. That is to have a lot of storage, memory, and CPU power in the mobile device. But with only a modest iGPU. And to sell a separate Dock which houses a next-gen (or current-gen) Nvidia dGPU which accelerates it, and has a Disc Slot (maybe), and Active Cooling (probably), and a PSU charging (definitely). That way they can at least offer an option for developers. It’s doable, and not even particularly hard. But the chances of something this innovative coming from Nintendo is almost nill. Hence my comment above.
Still it’s interesting to ponder what could have been.
Can someone explain why users would want to use a man-in-the-middled RPi Connect over something like Headscale?
“It just works”.
That is, it’s less complicated, if more limited, than setting up your own VPN on a VPS.
Like Tailscale then?