M+E Connections

The new Nintendo Switch hybrid home console and portable video game system will cost $299.99 in the U.S., the company revealed Jan. 13, giving it the same pricing of entry-level versions of Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PlayStation 4.

Among other new details, Nintendo said Switch will launch globally March 3 and the company will offer a new online subscription service for it.

Prior to Jan. 13, Nintendo had said that Switch would ship in March, without giving the exact date.

The timing isn’t generally perceived as the optimum launch time for a game console. In the U.S., consoles are typically launched around the holiday-selling season. But, regardless of its release date, new game systems from Nintendo and the other two main game system makers — Microsoft and Sony — typically sell out of their initial quantities whenever they ship, regardless of how successful those systems wind up being throughout their lifecycles.

Nintendo has a lot riding on the success of Switch. After all, following the popularity of its first Wii home console and the dominance of its portable Game Boy and DS systems for several years, the Wii U wound up being a weak seller and its portable game business took a huge hit from the popularity of smartphones and tablets, as well as the cheap mobile games made available for those devices.

In recent months, Nintendo scored a one-two punch with the success of the augmented reality mobile game “Pokemon Go” from developer Niantic, who licensed the Pokemon rights from Nintendo, and then the success of the Nintendo Classic Edition console this past holiday season. The console was sold out at U.S. retailers through much of the holiday season. Nintendo’s mobile game “Super Mario Run,” however, proved to be a disappointment to at least some gamers.

Switch will include the main console, Joy-Con (L) and Joy-Con (R) controllers, a Joy-Con grip (to which two Joy-Cons are attached and used as one controller), a set of Joy-Con wrist straps, a Switch dock that holds the main console and connects it to a TV, an HDMI cable and an AC adapter, Nintendo said. Two versions of the system will be released: a version with a set of gray Joy-Cons, and a version with one neon blue and one neon red Joy-Con. Each will be the same price.

As Nintendo said previously, Switch can be connected to a TV at home, but it can also instantly be transformed into a handheld system using its 6.2-inch screen that will offer capacitive multi-touch capabilities for compatible games. While away from home, Switch can be charged by plugging the AC adapter into the console’s USB Type-C connector.

Battery life can last for more than six hours, but will vary depending on the software and usage conditions, Nintendo said. For example, its game “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” can be played for about three hours on a single charge, it said.

Up to eight Switch systems can be connected for local wireless play, Nintendo also said. The system will support online Wi-Fi multiplayer gaming.

The new online subscription service that Nintendo announced will begin with a free trial at launch. The service will include a smart-device application available this summer that it said will let users invite friends to play online, set play appointments and chat with each other as they play compatible games. A fully-featured, paid service will then launch in the fall, Nintendo said, without giving the price.