Nintendo Switch targets competitors in console fightback

Nintendo's new console has been given a release date and price for UK consumers, as the giant aims to retake market control.

The launching of Nintendo's Switch marks a key moment for the Japanese firm, after its unsuccessful Wii console follow-up was rapidly outsold by both Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's XBox One.

The video game giant defined the industry for three decades, but has felt the weight of heavy competition in the last couple of years, losing its hardware market presence and betting on smartphone apps like Pokemon Go and Super Mario Run.

Over the last year, these important pillars of revenue have allowed Nintendo to bet on a console which they hope will revolutionise gaming.

"Nintendo Switch is a brand-new kind of home gaming system that offers a wide variety of play modes," Nintendo's president Tatsumi Kimishima told reporters.

"It's about having fun with communication."

Switch will cost $299.99 in the US and £279.99 in the UK, a price slightly higher than the $250 most analysts were expecting.

And that wasn't the only surprise out of Nintendo's announcement on Friday.

Previously called NX, the Switch is meant to be used as both a home console and a portable handheld, but its battery life is already causing complaints before anyone has even used it.

According to Nintendo, it could vary between two-and-a-half and six hours of battery life.

The wide and unusual range will vary according to each game's individual requirements - although no details have been revealed over which games will be more demanding than others.

What is known is that there are currently more than 80 games in development, including two brand new Super Mario adventures to keep older, die hard Nintendo fans interested.

Super Mario Odyssey was the Japanese giant's first revelation, and left fans wondering if the friendly Italian plumber could be heading to uncharted territories.

In the first images released of the new game, Mario is seen running around in a busy, realistic city - calling for taxis and avoiding commuters.

Fans on Twitter expressed concerns that it was too much like Grand Theft Auto - Rockstar's famous game series where characters use crime to make it in the big city.

The other Super Mario game in the works is Mario Kat 8 Deluxe, which sees new characters added to the race and big arenas to improve its famous Battle Mode.

Super Mario Odyssey will be out in 2017 but Mario Kart has yet to be given a release date.

Another title revealed was Arms, a motion-controlled boxing game to utilise Switch's movement-sensitive controllers called Joy-Cons.

These will come in grey, neon-blue and red and will cost $79.99 (£65) a piece.

All of Switch's games will be sold as game cartridges, not discs - a wink to nostalgic Nintendo consumers - and will be free from the much-dreaded regional locking, meaning users will be able to play games in a console bought anywhere in the world.

Nintendo Switch will be released in the UK on 3 March.