portable gaming

Rechargeable batteries have become standard in most of today’s expensive portable electronics. The convenience comes with a big flaw however: the fact that every time you charge them, the charge holds for a slightly lesser time. It takes a while, but eventually internal batteries become so weak that they can’t keep a device powered longer than 30 minutes, and unlike conventional batteries, it’s not as easy to pop them out and replace them. Especially when the manufacturer doesn’t provide a way. So it’s with concern that we point out this recent FCC filing that suggests Nintendo’s Switch console doesn’t have a battery door on its detatchable portable screen. In fact, it explicitly says “the user can’t remove the battery” on page four. This would be new territory for Nintendo; the Wii U’s tablet controller and all models of the 3DS have swappable batteries. The inability to change a battery is a common complaint about many of today’s smartphones, but in their case that “feature” is part of the ongoing effort

Nintendo is in an awkward position with the Switch. Since it’s merging both their console and handheld markets, it has to be sold at a price that the console crowd will respect, but the handheld buyers won’t feel is too high. If an accidental leak from a Canadian website is accurate, they may have hit this mark fairly well. Last weekend, Toys R Us’s Canadian branch briefly listed the Switch at $329.99, which is $250 American. The listing quickly disappeared, usually a sign that something got out that wasn’t supposed to. $250 is a remarkable price for a console these days and it’s a price Nintendo’s competitors are just now lowering themselves to (thanks to Black Friday sales). But it’s also not prohibitively expensive to those who are more interested in the handheld side of the machine. However, there are indications the price we just saw is merely the base price. The website Let’s Play Video Games already guessed a $250 price tag based on sources they had, and they