Nintendo to Adopt New Nvidia Graphics Chip

March 23, 2021
Nintendo

By Ahmed Rahma

A Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company, Nintendo, has said it plans to adopt an upgraded Nvidia Corporation chip with better graphics and processing for a new Switch model.

The new Nvidia graphics card, GeForce RTX™ 30 Series GPUs, delivers the ultimate performance for gamers and creators.

They’re powered by Ampere—NVIDIA’s 2nd gen RTX architecture—with new RT Cores, Tensor Cores, and streaming multiprocessors for the most realistic ray-traced graphics and cutting-edge AI features.

Planned for the year-end shopping season, the new Switch iteration will support Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling, or DLSS, a novel rendering technology that uses artificial intelligence to deliver higher-fidelity graphics more efficiently which will allow the console that is also set for an OLED display upgrade, to reproduce game visuals at 4K quality when plugged into a TV, said the people familiar with the development who pleaded to remain anonymous because the plan is not public.

The U.S. company’s new chipset will also bring a better CPU and increased memory. DLSS support will require new code to be added to games, so it’ll primarily be used to improve graphics on upcoming titles, said the people, including multiple game developers.

Bloomberg News previously reported that the new Switch is likely to include a 7-inch OLED screen from Samsung Display Co. and couple the console’s release with a bounty of new games.

Nintendo’s Switch games release calendar remains mostly empty for the latter half of the year, though the company announced Tuesday a new partnership with Niantic Inc. on augmented-reality smartphone apps, set to commence with a Pikmin app in 2021.

According to Bloomberg, analysts expect the new Switch to be offered at a higher price than the current model’s $299, a level unchanged since the Switch’s initial release in 2017.

DLSS was first introduced as an image upscaling feature in 2018 and remains exclusive to Nvidia graphics cards. It’s an atypically advanced addition for Kyoto-based Nintendo, which has tended to opt for more mature and lower-cost technology than rivals Sony Corp. and Microsoft Corp. adopt with their consoles. The new Switch will still lag the overall performance capabilities of its pricier rivals.

“What we value is how much a new technology contributes to the fun experience, and how comfortably a consumer can play,” Nintendo Senior Executive Officer Ko Shiota said last year.

On the development, Nvidia and Nintendo representatives declined to comment.

Rahma Ahmed

Ahmed Rahma is a journalist with great interest in arts and craft. She is also a foodie who loves new ideas. She loves to travel and would love to visit other African countries someday. She is a sucker for historical movies and afrobeat.

Leave a Reply

SEB AB New Product Development
Previous Story

SEB Partners Google Cloud for New Product Development

Nigeria's oil production
Next Story

Nigeria’s Oil Production Within OPEC+ Limits—NNPC

Latest from Technology