It's a big week for Nintendo fans, with the Big N gearing up to host a Switch-focused presentation Thursday evening, followed by a more in-depth Treehouse broadcast Friday morning. We've pulled together everything you need to know to watch the event in one convenient location.
What are these events all about?
After a couple of years of teasing the Switch, Nintendo finally revealed its new home console/portable hybrid this past fall. The device can be docked to your television for traditional gaming experiences or slid out and taken on the go for portable gaming goodness. The hook is that you're getting the same experience whether you're at home or traveling, with no need to transfer saves or deal with less robust offerings simply because you're going portable. With few details revealed so far, this week's events promise to fill in all of the missing details before the console's March launch.
When can you watch?
The main Switch presentation is set for January 13 in Japan, which means it will be occurring late in the evening on Jan. 12 here in the United States. If you like, you can pretend that we're getting all of the Switch news a full day before Japan. If you live on the East coast, you're going to be able to catch the "morning" Switch presentation beginning at about 11 p.m. For those of you in the West, you can tune in starting at 8 p.m. The Treehouse event occurs the following morning, Jan. 13. That presentation is set to begin at 9:30 a.m. on the East coast, or 6:30 a.m. for those in the West. While the main event will be all about launch lineup details, full specs and pricing, the Treehouse event will provide a more in-depth look at games like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and whatever else Nintendo has planned for the initial batch of games. Rumors are about for Wii U remakes of games like Smash Bros. and Splatoon, so keep your fingers crossed.
Where can you watch?
If you want to enjoy the events firsthand, then you can tune in to either Nintendo's Twitch or YouTube feeds when the shows begin. They'll presumably be archived pretty quickly following each presentation, too, so you shouldn't have any trouble catching up if you can't make it in time for the start of the show. Of course, we'll be providing all of the big news here on Gaming Blend, too, so stay tuned for more details.
What comes next?
After the Switch event and the Treehouse presentation, we imagine Nintendo will have given us just about all of the important launch details before the March launch. They aren't usually keen on dragging things out, so we don't expect any big questions to be left after the two shows. If you like what you see, then you can start saving for a Switch. While no official price point has been announced yet, early rumors have the console at about $250. Thankfully, we should be able to do away with any and all rumors by the end of this week.
