Nintendo’s post-Direct Switch 2 info-dump has been full of juicy little details, and the nuggets keep on coming. It now appears, for instance, that Nintendo’s newest console will be making things a little easier for the avid screenshot sharers and gameplay clippers out there.
Switch 2, just like the original Switch, features a dedicated button for capturing in-game screenshots and gameplay. It was a welcome addition on Switch 1, but a bit of a faff too; sharing captures either involved saving them to a memory card and plugging that into a secondary device for download, uploading them to a social media account (until the feature was removed) then downloading them onto your device, or scanning in QR codes to get them onto your device. Hardly backbreaking stuff, admittedly, but not exactly seamless either.
Switch 2, however, looks to have streamlined the process if a little infographic tucked away on Nintendo’s website is anything to go by. On a page introducing the revamped Nintendo Switch App (formerly known as the Nintendo Switch Online app) Nintendo draws attention to the process of sharing screenshots and video using Switch 2; by selecting the ‘Upload to Smart Device’ option, it’s possible to send captures from the console directly to the app – seemingly with no fiddly middle steps to slow things down.
Captures are stored in a new ‘Uploaded Screenshots and Videos’ gallery – accessible from the app’s home screen – which can display 100 screenshots or videos from the last 30 days. From here, screenshots and videos can be saved to your smart device if you want to keep them indefinitely, or shared on social media. So if you’re the kind of person to regularly go on a game-capturing frenzy, you could end up saving literal seconds – if not minutes – out of your day. Oh, and Nintendo notes the feature is available without a Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
Alongside streamlined capture sharing, the revamped Nintendo Switch App will continue to offer game-specific services – including SplatNet 3, NookLink, and the newly announced Zelda Notes for the Nintendo Switch 2 Editions of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Additionally, the app will still let users see which of their friends are online and register new friends using a QR code – although, notably, Switch 2’s new GameChat system means the app’s voice chat functionality won’t be supported for games exclusive to the new console.
So there you go – another bit of Switch 2 business to ponder. And there’s plenty more information regarding Nintendo’s new console over in EG’s round-up of everything announced in during (and after) today’s Switch 2 Direct.