Jan. 12th Switch event rumors - lots of surprises left, third party exclusives, VC talk and more

The following info comes from a Reddit AMA with games journalist Laura Kate Dale...

- surprises left for the Jan. 12th event
- a lot of third party stuff not touched on yet
- more hardware details
- UI system level info and other info not yet spoiled
- very info-heavy presentation
- at least one new unexpected IP
- Zelda: Breath of the Wild could make launch, but launching in June seems more likely
- initial reports stated 3 hours max battery, but no details on whether that's full clock speed or portable clock speed
- longer battery estimates have since come out
- has heard about two third party exclusives, the Rabbids RPG, and one other
- suspects there's a third third party exclusive as well
- Initial VC library won't be a large amount of titles
- Wii U ports vary from extensive to minimal enhancements
- CGI teaser for BGE2 is in the works, less than a minute long, but may not air during the event
- Mother 3 rumor keeps floating around, but no more info to share
- Monolith Soft's new project is something new, not the Xenoblade X Switch port
- this new title is in the same vain as Xenoblade and X in terms of combat style
- no reveals from Platinum

- price might start at $250, positive it will be below $300
- March 17th will be the release date for PAL regions and the rest of the world will get it the same week
- upgrade fee for VC games
- doesn't think Retro Studios' new project will be shown at the event
- Retro is not working on Metroid
- Mario game will be shown, playable at the press event and will launch day 1
- Luigi's Mansion 3 still seems likely
- undocked games will still run better than Wii U games
- custom joy-cons will be a thing
- special kind of vibration in Joy-Cons
- Joy-Cons can can be charged via joy-con grip and will have about a 5 hour battery life
- very sure of there being a touch screen
- bluetooth capabilities, but not sure of what it's used for
- Pro controller should have basic gyro controls
- holds up to 128 GB on Micro SD
- presentation should be 30-60 mins
- every major event between Jan 12 and Mar 17 will include hands on for the Switch
- no additional docks at launch, but will eventually see release
- carts are have a different shape when compared to 3DS/DS
- one dev kit went out in July and another more powerful one went out in October
- a lot of the specs info we've heard has been based on the July dev kit
- region free
- achievement system, but not sure if it's different from the My Nintendo ones
- your account on the Switch will be the one you use for Miitomo/Mario Run