Or they know their target audience and they know what's important to them? Assuming it's underpowered because they haven't revealed specs is a bit of a stretch. If I had a choice between the trailer from last week and a dry tech spec press release, I'd pick the trailer all year long.
Yes you may be right. It's interesting times. I guess that by combining mobile and tv console into one device, this stands a chance of selling fairly well, but there are some potential issues with that.
- The handhelds they have previously sold have been fairly cheap (around the £100 - £150 mark) and if this comes in at £250 - £300, will it attract that market, or will they shy away from the Switch.
- Nintendo expected the Wii U to sell around 100 million units, but it has instead been a huge flop, selling only 13 million units! If Nintendo only manage to attract this hardcore, then they are in big trouble.
You could say that with this device they are getting the benefits of the 3DS and the Wii U in one device and logically there's a lot of sense in that. For me though, the 3DS and the DS before it sold well because they were fantastic devices which met a specific need. They were fairly compact, durable (the clamshell design made them idea for kids), very simply to use and had some great games on them. Being cheap, they were something that was easily within reach as a birthday/Christmas present and they sold very well to their key marketplace - Kids!
The issues with the Switch are that it's going to be more expensive (at least £250 I'd say) and it looks less durable (big screen which is likely to smash, no clamshell design etc.). It just doesn't look like something that's aimed at the DS/3DS marketplace (kids).
Like I have stated previously, I quite like it, but I just can't see it being a commercial success, as I just can't see who it's aimed at, other than the 10-15 million Nintendo hardcore. The wider gaming market just look at Nintendo as a kids toy now and not really a viable player along side Sony & Nintendo any more. Can they change minds with the Switch? I just don't see it, but would be happy to be proven wrong.