Nintendo Switch Hacked To Run Steam, GTA 5, God of War, And More

gameranx.com:

A modder has hacked the Nintendo Switch to run Steam, and found some very interesting results testing some popular AAA games on the console.

While we won’t explain the details of how this modder did it, we’ll go through the broad strokes. Nintendo Switch hacking has been around for quite some time, allowing gamers to load up their own operating systems.

However, our modder took the trouble of loading up the desktop Linux OS Ubuntu, and then using several tools to run Steam, and Windows based games on the console.

Steam can be run natively on Linux, but for Windows games to run on the Switch, our modder had to use several modder tools. As far as we know, this is the first time any modder tried to do this to run Windows games on Switch.

The first tool he used is WiNE, a compatibility layer that allows Linux to work with the Windows API.

The second tool in his arsenal was Box64. Box 64 is a  translation layer that works with CPU architectures instead of APIs. Box64 allows x64 applications to run on ARM.

Finally, DXVK is a translation layer for graphics APIs. It allows programming meant for DirectX to run on Vulkan.

These may all seem overly complicated details, but they serve to make the point that most gamers with modded consoles, even most hackers, don’t have the knowhow to do this.

Our modder demonstrated Steam running on their Nintendo Switch, but found that they would overtax the system if it had Steam running in the background while running high end video games. So, he also made arrangements to run the following Windows games without loading up Steam.

To sum, he tested Titanfall 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, Devil May Cry 5, and finally, God of War. All of these games can run on the Nintendo Switch, but there’s a catch.

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