Nintendo’s big January presentation for the upcoming release of the Switch confirmed a lot about the duel home console/hand-held gaming device, not least of all the incredible potential of Super Mario Odyssey. While technical specifications haven’t yet been announced, we do finally know what the price is going to be in the UK, along with details on the battery life and online service.
Nintendo Switch UK price
The price of the Nintendo Switch in the UK is currently £279.99 and it’s available to pre-order already from the likes of Amazon, Game and HMV. The price in the UK is a little more than it should have been, because of the cost of imports and the weak pound at the moment due to Brexit.
The console has been given a recommended retail price in the US of $299, which converts directly to around £245, but with the added import costs we have it takes the price up to the £279.99 mark. If we had the same conversion rate we had before Brexit, $299 would be around the £200 mark, so maybe it would have cost around £235 with import costs, which would have been a lot more competitive. It’ll be arriving in the UK on the 3rd March 2017.
What do you get for the price?
The console doesn’t come bundled with a game, so you’ll also need to factor in the price of one of the three launch games – either The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild at £59.99, 1-2-Switch at £39.99 or Super Bomberman R at £59.99. All of which are higher than the current standard cost of buying a game, but we’re expecting the price to normalise a little before the end of the year.
What you do get to compensate with the Nintendo Switch is a lot of options when it comes to controllers with the two Joy Cons attached to the side of the device. Not only do these act as controllers with the device when you’re playing hand held gaming, they also combine up with the Joy Con grip to become a more traditional controller. This can either be used for home gaming or with the kick stand when you’re out and about.
However, things get interesting when you unclip the left and right Joy Cons and they become individual controllers for multiplayer action. That makes a lot of flexibility in a clever little package and when you consider the fact that both the Xbox ONE and the PS4 launched with no games and no second controller included in the price, it suddenly makes the £279 cost look a whole lot better.
You also get the docking station for HD gaming from the comfort of your living room, along with the power cable and HDMI, plus two Joy Con straps for motion control games, like 1-2-Switch.
Nintendo Switch battery life
When docked to the home TV power base, the Switch charges up its battery for hand-held gaming and it’s here that the device could win or lose. During the January Nintendo presentation, the company confirmed that the battery life will be between 2.5 and 6 hours, depending on the game you’re playing. For example, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild will play for around three hours on the battery alone.
If we’re being honest, it’s not that much game time between charges, but it can also be charged with a USB-C connector, as well as in the dock, so you should be able to give it a boost on the move.
Online service details
There’s a big shakeup at Nintendo when it comes to its online service as it’s moving in the direction of the more established concept of a paid subscription that makes multiplayer action more open. However, the real ice clinker comes from the development that will allow gamers to sync up a dedicated smart device app to set gaming challenges, schedule times for multiplayer sessions, and meet up in online lobbies to play and voice chat. The language around it all is a little random, so we’ll have to wait to see it in action to really get it, but in general it sounds promising.
The paid service will launch for free for a limited period around the release of the Nintendo Switch.
