A successor to Nintendo’s massively well-liked Swap gaming console has been rumored for years, however precise Swap 2 {hardware} now seems to be out within the wild. Eurogamer stories that Nintendo used a particular model of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to demo the brand new console for builders at Gamescom 2023 final month.
Nintendo had a sales space on the present ground in Cologne, Germany selling Pikmin 4 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, however behind closed doorways it was secretly showcasing the Swap 2. Whereas one of many demos consisted of the 2017 open world Zelda recreation working at greater specs, little else is understood about what builders noticed in the course of the conferences or what their impressions had been.
VGC has corroborated Eurogamer’s report, with additional information a few second take a look at that had the Swap 2 {hardware} working the Unreal Engine 5 Matrix Awakens tech demo initially used to indicate off the capabilities of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Sequence X. It apparently even ran Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling expertise with some model of ray-tracing enabled.
Swap house owners have been questioning for some time when a successor would arrive and simply how highly effective it might be. Nintendo gave up competing on cutting-edge tech specs again with the launch of the Wii, and the Swap has bought 125 million models regardless of working video games at decrease framerates and resolutions than rival {hardware}. With the arrival of the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally, nonetheless, PC gaming handhelds have proven that portability doesn’t at all times have to come back on the expense of efficiency.
Nintendo introduced earlier this 12 months that it might don’t have any information to share a few Swap 2 or another gaming hardeware refresh previous to the tip of its fiscal 12 months in March 2024. VGC just lately reported that whereas the Swap 2 is predicted to launch someday subsequent 12 months, Nintendo won’t deliver it out till nearer to the vacation season in an effort to keep away from console shortages at launch.
