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Hackers accept released video of the Nintendo Switch's "VR Fashion" firing up, implying that Nintendo'due south experiments with VR progressed to the betoken of being tested on the unit before the company put the thought bated. Back in 2022, Nintendo of America CEO Reggie Fils-Aime told reporters that the company wasn't interested in the capability because the technologies hadn't gone mainstream yet and weren't guaranteed to be well positioned to catch consumer interest. While that may be true, conspicuously some work was done at Nintendo to make the Switch VR-capable — at least in theory.

Switch modder random666_kys posted a video (in response to a query from fellow hacker OatmealDome) showing the Switch'southward Test VR mode firing up with a duplicated video field for each eye, as Ars Technica reports. The examination demonstrates that the screen renders each one-half separately, in what appeared to exist a manner you'd apply by inserting the Switch into a headset designed for that purpose.

In that location are a number of reasons for Nintendo to accept moved abroad from this idea. Starting time, the Switch is larger and heavier than most phones. Samsung'south Milky way Notation ix is six.37 inches long and three inches loftier, while the SwitchSEEAMAZON_ET_135 See Amazon ET commerce is roughly 6.57 inches long and 4 inches loftier. The Note 9 is 7 ounces while the Switch weighs in at a flake over 10 ounces. Information technology might still be possible to build an HMD to fit a device like the Switch, but the heavier and larger the screen is, the trickier that would be.

The other trouble is the innate resolution of the Switch itself. Nintendo's console is already a compromise between the horsepower required to return at living-room scale and the battery life and portability needed in a handheld device. If you've used the first generation Oculus Rift or HTC Vive you know that while these devices can be a lot of fun — Beat Saber is a current addictive favorite of mine — rendering clarity is not their strong suit. With a base resolution of 720p, about Switch content wouldn't expect great hanging directly in front of someone'due south eyes.

The problem here, ultimately, is content. It'due south not that Nintendo couldn't detect a way to make Switch VR literally piece of work — after years of contending with the limited hardware available on the Wii, Wii U, and devices like the 3DS, we imagine the company'southward employees and studio partners have a neat deal of experience in finding ways to eke acceptable functioning out of limited hardware. The problem most likely is that Nintendo doesn't want to invest in creating a limited set of VR titles that won't wait well-nigh as good as the other work it's shipping, or run as well.

The solution to this problem, if Nintendo was serious about VR, would be a mid-cycle hardware upgrade to take reward of considerable advances in process technology and hardware blueprint. While the Switch is under 18 months old, the flake it's based on, the Tegra X1, launched more than than three years ago on a 20nm planar procedure. Moving to a fourteen/16nm design with FinFETs and an updated SoC would give Nintendo considerably more animate room. Information technology's piece of cake to imagine the company waiting for 7nm at this point and making a two-node leap, which would lead to nonetheless more improvements.

But the question that also has to be asked is whether it makes sense for Nintendo to slew sideways into focusing on VR when the market for virtual reality is still so nascent and unproven? And that, unfortunately, remains unclear. Given the Switch's meteoric popularity, at that place's a reasonable argument to make that focusing on VR would just distract from the success the platform is already enjoying. With MS sitting out VR as well, there's little reason for Nintendo to try and invent differentiation it doesn't seem to need.

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