The Nintendo Switch announcement was met with both fanfare and many unanswered questions. A lot of very good, must-know questions. Interestingly, Nintendo did reveal third-party support from publishers, thus assuaging fears of another WiiU ‘lack-of-support’ fiasco. Other questions, however, continue to remain a mystery. Like, how much will it cost? Does it have a touch screen? How much does the device weigh? How much processing power will it pack? What is the battery life like? How, exactly, will all of the various bits and bobs play together? These questions, and more, still need answering.

Fortunately, a Nintendo employee has revealed a little bit more about the Nintendo Switch system to IGN. As it turns out, the Nintendo Switch dock will basically only serve a single purpose: that of a dock, and not much more.

“The Nintendo Switch Dock has been created so that it is extremely easy to seamless switch from playing games on a TV to transition into a portable mode”, a Nintendo representative told IGN. “The dock is not the main console unit of Nintendo Switch. The main unit of Nintendo Switch is the unit that has the LCD screen, which the two Joy-Con controllers can be attached to and detached from”.

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Furthermore, the Nintendo representative also confirmed that the dock’s main function is to provide an output to the TV, as well as charging and powering the console. I was hoping that the dock might pack a secondary processor to further power the console for high-definition displays. Alas, that does not seem to be the case.

So there you have it, folks. Perhaps the dock might still harbour a a secret or two. For now though, all we can do is take this Nintendo representative’s word and try and be patient for more concrete information as the console nears launch.

The Nintendo Switch is slated for release in March 2017. I believe this launch window only pertains to Japan, but more will be revealed in the next few months.

[Sources: IGN, The Verge]

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Junior Editor at Vamers. From Superman to Ironman; Bill Rizer to Sam Fisher and everything in-between, Edward loves it all. He is a Bachelor of Arts student and English Major specialising in Language and Literature. He is an avid writer and casual social networker with a flare for all things tech related.