Nintendo Switch review: a brave and fascinating new console

At 280 the Switch is a gamble, but Nintendo has again done its idiosyncratic best to challenge the way we think about games hardware

Nintendo remains a puzzling phenomenon for a lot of modern gamers. The company never makes powerful consoles, or cool consoles; it never pushes the processing envelope, and it always seems a little eccentric when it comes to online infrastructure. Unlike Sony and Microsoft, it isn't trying to make gaming PCs designed to resemble dedicated games machines - it just makes games machines.

The Switch is the latest evolution of an idea Nintendo has been playing with since the arrival of the Wii in 2006 - a console for everyone, with an interesting, accessible and flexible interface. The console itself is basically a tablet, and completely portable, but plug it into the stand and the action immediately appears on your TV. It is a weird hybrid, a new mid-point between home and handheld.