Wednesday, July 7, 2021

Nintendo Switch LOLED (OLED)

Image from Nintendo

"Nintendo Switch Pro! 4K, baby!" If you're one of the many Switch owners, no doubt you've heard the rumors that have been spreading like wild fires about a new Switch model. This isn't the first time rumors like this one has made the rounds. Given Nintendo's history of updating their handhelds, thinking that a "superior" version of the Switch could be in the works isn't completely out of the question. And while Nintendo did put such rumors of a Switch Pro to rest, this didn't stop people's imaginations from running wild. Until Nintendo released this little video.


Meet the newest member of the Nintendo Switch family, the OLED model. Among the new features, it has better speakers, a wider screen and the ability to crush the hopes and dreams of leakers, rumor spreaders and those that believe them. 

Understandably, there was some, ahem, disappointment.

See kids, this is why I place zero stock in rumors. I don't even follow the dang things, but this Switch Pro business has been so persistent that it keeping myself unaware of the existence of such a rumor was impossible. I don't give a rat's buttocks how credible the source is when it comes to rumors. Unless the company in charge comes out, lays down some confirmation, a rumor is just a rumor, not true. So when the OLED was revealed, I couldn't help but find the news very amusing.

Yes, rumor spreaders, leakers and those that believed in the Switch Pro rumors, I am very much delighting in your misery. You have no one to blame but yourselves for getting hyped up for something that you didn't even have confirmation that existed. The salt you guys are generating is almost as good as Smash fan salt.

I do like the look of the initial OLED model. Like the Switch Lite, it may get more colors, but this one is looking super sleek. 

But do I personally have a reason to upgrade to this version of the Switch? Nah. I don't even use my Switch's kickstand because it just sucks. I bought a very nice Hori stand a few years ago and it still works just as well as the day I unboxed it. I'm also not hurting for storage at the moment as I've still got space left on my 256 GB SD card. Yeah, the bigger screen is nice and the built in Ethernet port is sure to make online players happy. However, right now, there isn't much reason for me to buy an OLED.

Those of you that don't own a Switch and have been considering buying one, if you can get an OLED when October rolls around, I say go for it. I can see Switch owners that have multiple Switch coping this thing. If I ever do buy another Switch, I'll probably get the OLED. 

For better and for worse Nintendo operates on a level that pretty much no on else in the video game industry does. "Lateral thinking with withered technology," was the design philosophy that the late and great Gunpei Yokoi lived by. Make great games with technology that has been around for some time. It was the driving force behind both the Game & Watch line of handhelds and the Game Boy, the later, of which went on to dominate every single piece of vastly superior hardware that tried to compete against it. Yokoi's line of thinking still resides within Nintendo to this very day. The Switch is not as powerful as the PS4, whatever the new Xbox is and yet it has gone on to break records. This method of designing gaming systems also keeps the cost of hardware down. People that want a 4K Switch probably haven't stopped to consider what the asking price on such a Switch would be. For what the current models of the Switch families can do, they are really affordable. 

Here's a little something for you rumor spreaders and those of you that bought into those rumors.

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