As we get closer and closer to the official reveal of the Switch successor, a sharp increase in rumours and bold claims is bound to happen. The latest comes from Reddit and precariously straddles the line between plausible and utterly bizarre. It also happens to be a rather old idea; one that we could certainly see come to fruition in the future, but right now..? We’re not completely convinced yet.
It’s all to do with scroll wheels. Specifically, scroll wheel shoulder buttons. The idea comes from Redditor ‘Adjacent-Adjunct‘, who claims to have held a dummy model of the upcoming ‘Switch 2’. They state that the model had no innards of any kind, nor any indication of ports or vents. Hmm… Convenient.
What they do say, however, is that the shoulder buttons can now scroll; much like those you might find on a PC mouse, albeit stiff enough that you can still click the buttons in without accidentally scrolling them. Amusingly, they compare the concept to that of a store conveyor belt, which… okay, fine!
Before we comment any further, let’s take a look at the exact statement:
“Now here’s the cool part, the shoulder buttons could spin! I sat there playing with it in my hands and staring at it for like 2 or 3 straight minutes before moving on, spinning these wheel-like things in my fingers because it was so strange but satisfying. It reminds me somewhat like a mouse wheel where it spins as you run your finger along it but still clicks like a button. These also still clicked in like L and R do. Each step of the rotation made a satisfying tick feeling in your fingertips as it moved, like a mouse wheel again, but a very heavy one that takes a bit of force to make move. Otherwise they were sturdy enough to not spin when just clicking the buttons in. They weren’t like normal wheels because they were not circular shaped, they were more squared off like the current Switch shoulders shape is. Instead it felt more like a rubber material-type band that was over a track that allowed it to spin.
“To help visualize, the best comparison I can think of that people see every day is somewhat like the conveyor belt at stores during checkout. I guess this lets it have that rectangular shape and not be a huge circle internally. I’m personally excited to see what Nintendo does with this!”
Now, there are a few things going against this. First, a random Redditor isn’t exactly the most credible of sources. Second, it seems a bit odd for Nintendo to produce a dummy of its upcoming console that has no innards, no ports, no vents, yet conveniently still retains functional buttons. Third, scroll wheel functionality has been a bit of a talking point this year already: Masahiro Sakurai made a video on the concept, and we even featured a write-up sometime later looking into the viability of a scroll wheel in the ‘Switch 2’.
So, are we partially the cause of this..? No no no, of course not, how silly. It’s just interesting that, after the dicussions held earlier this year on the concept of a scroll wheel in ‘Switch 2’, it’s now suddenly a thing that’s definitely real.
What we’re saying is, just be careful out there folks. Rumours are flying around at the moment, and we won’t know right from wrong until Nintendo finally lifts the curtain on its new hardware. C’mon Nintendo, we’re all waiting…
As we get closer and closer to the official reveal of the Switch successor, a sharp increase in rumours and bold claims is bound to happen. The latest comes from Reddit and precariously straddles the line between plausible and utterly bizarre. It also happens to be a rather old idea; one that we could certainly see come to fruition in the future, but right now..? We're not completely convinced yet.
It's all to do with scroll wheels. Specifically, scroll wheel shoulder buttons. The idea comes from Redditor 'Adjacent-Adjunct', who claims to have held a dummy model of the upcoming 'Switch 2'. They state that the model had no innards of any kind, nor any indication of ports or vents. Hmm... Convenient.
What they do say, however, is that the shoulder buttons can now scroll; much like those you might find on a PC mouse, albeit stiff enough that you can still click the buttons in without accidentally scrolling them. Amusingly, they compare the concept to that of a store conveyor belt, which... okay, fine!
Before we comment any further, let's take a look at the exact statement:
"Now here's the cool part, the shoulder buttons could spin! I sat there playing with it in my hands and staring at it for like 2 or 3 straight minutes before moving on, spinning these wheel-like things in my fingers because it was so strange but satisfying. It reminds me somewhat like a mouse wheel where it spins as you run your finger along it but still clicks like a button. These also still clicked in like L and R do. Each step of the rotation made a satisfying tick feeling in your fingertips as it moved, like a mouse wheel again, but a very heavy one that takes a bit of force to make move. Otherwise they were sturdy enough to not spin when just clicking the buttons in. They weren't like normal wheels because they were not circular shaped, they were more squared off like the current Switch shoulders shape is. Instead it felt more like a rubber material-type band that was over a track that allowed it to spin.
"To help visualize, the best comparison I can think of that people see every day is somewhat like the conveyor belt at stores during checkout. I guess this lets it have that rectangular shape and not be a huge circle internally. I'm personally excited to see what Nintendo does with this!"
Now, there are a few things going against this. First, a random Redditor isn't exactly the most credible of sources. Second, it seems a bit odd for Nintendo to produce a dummy of its upcoming console that has no innards, no ports, no vents, yet conveniently still retains functional buttons. Third, scroll wheel functionality has been a bit of a talking point this year already: Masahiro Sakurai made a video on the concept, and we even featured a write-up sometime later looking into the viability of a scroll wheel in the 'Switch 2'.
So, are we partially the cause of this..? No no no, of course not, how silly. It's just interesting that, after the dicussions held earlier this year on the concept of a scroll wheel in 'Switch 2', it's now suddenly a thing that's definitely real.
What we're saying is, just be careful out there folks. Rumours are flying around at the moment, and we won't know right from wrong until Nintendo finally lifts the curtain on its new hardware. C'mon Nintendo, we're all waiting...
