Nintendo Switch: play style, battery life, and Joy-Cons
There's a lot to these little things
It's been a long time coming but we can finally sink our teeth into some real detail concerning the Nintendo Switch.
With three modes of play (TV mode, tabletop mode, and handheld mode) the Switch is totally diverse as you can play solo or local multiplayer at the flick of a switch (pun intended).
Its battery life will be dependant by game, but can range from two-and-a-half to six-and-a-half-hours. Thanks to its USB Type C adaptor you can still play while the device charges.
The screen uses a capacitive touch panel and you can connect up to eight Nintendo devices over WiFi for local multiplayer gaming.
In terms of controller, the Joy-Con feature fully functional analogue sticks that can be clicked as well as a home button and NFC reader/writer which can read/write Amiibo data. There's also a capture button which lets you capture screenshots, and eventually video at a later date through social media.
Each controller also features accelerometer and giro sensors, making independent motion control possible. The actual buttons that connect the Joy-Con to the Switch console are in face the L and R buttons, as such each Joy-Con can be used as a fully-functional controller.
The Joy-Con will also be coming in neon blue and neon red, as well as having useful accessories with it such as the strap which makes it less likely to fly out of your hand in movement-based games (such as ping-pong). The right Joy-Con has a motion IR camera that can sense the motion and shape of objects in front of it, and that's pretty neat in itself.
The new HD rumble also built into the controllers makes more immersive feedback - such as being able to physically feel as though you were shaking a glass full of ice cubes.
