Nintendo has just announced the launch of its “Nintendo Switch Customize” platform. This new store allows for gamers to customize the colors of their Switches via the Joy-Con and Joy-Con strap. Priced at ¥32,978 JPY (approximately $305 USD), there are a number of color combinations to choose from including neon green, yellow, pink, purple, blue, orange, red, as well as the gray shade option. Head over the site now to customize your very own Switch. Orders placed today are expected to ship at the end of May. In other gaming news, nostalgic gamers celebrate the Nintendo Game Boy’s 32nd anniversary on Twitter. If Nintendo does make another Switch-like console, it seems safe to assume that it'll once again allow you to play in TV, tabletop and handheld modes.
But some recent Nintendo patents hint at some other interesting features that could either make their way to the new console or serve as a complementary device. Nintendo recently patented a unique health-tracking device, which would be able to track your sleep, monitor your mood via microphones and sensors, and even change the odor of a room. Interestingly, the patented device has its own dock (much like the Switch), and seems designed to work with health-related games a la Ring Fit Adventure. It's too early to tell whether such a device will even come to market, but it will be interesting to see if Nintendo ups its fitness-tracking game in time for the next Switch console. The Nintendo Switch is an absolute joy of a system backed by some of the finest games Nintendo has ever released. But its hardware is starting to show its limitations more than three years after release, largely when it comes to ports of major third-party games. Kotaku's Ethan Gach recently got his hands on the new Switch port of The Outer Worlds, which reportedly "looks so bad on Switch I'm tempted to tell even people who have no other means of playing it to stay away." Based on Gach's screenshots, the port looks incredibly blurry, and suffers from framerate drops. Gamers have had similar issues with ports such as Pillars of Eternity and Wasteland 2. While Nintendo games such as Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons are optimized to look and run great on Switch, the console seems to be running into a AAA games problem. And that could prove especially challenging for Nintendo, especially with a new crop of third-party games built for PS5 and Xbox Series X that may be more graphically demanding than ever. Nintendo doesn't necessarily need a system as powerful as the best gaming PCs or Sony's and Microsoft's latest consoles (and the Switch did just fine against PS4 and Xbox One), but a significant power boost could make the company's hybrid console even more appealing for fans of big third-party franchises.
