Support NeoGAF

[MuchoMalo]

Having to manage content between HDD and microSD would be a huge detriment to the handheld capabilities. Storage will have to be seamless and packed into the handheld.

It's going to ruin the entire premise of the thing if you pick it up off the dock and find that you suddenly lose access to all your installed games on the go. Or when you have to sit there and transfer data back and forth every time you want to take it with you. Not worth it.

There's no other way to handle it short of sticking with Vita-level capabilities or lower to keep game file sizes down.

 

[KojiKnight]

There's no way for it do be done well that doesn't involve swapping out data between HDD and SD. The entire premise of the device should be that you can play your games everywhere and as such all content should remain on the device.

NX isn't getting 60GB games like PS4 and XB1 anytime soon. The handheld should just come with a memory slot and a cartridge slot for physical games. 128GB cards are cheap as hell.

The original rumor/leak states Nintendo is recommending 32GB size carts... So I'm not sure you're correct on the former.

 

[Hoo-doo]

The original rumor/leak states Nintendo is recommending 32GB size carts... So I'm not sure you're correct on the former.

For the cartridges, sure. But like many already said, most Nintendo games don't come close to reaching that size. Plus, it reinforces the notion that NX games aren't getting to the immense sizes currently seen in PS4 and XB1 (some games being >60GB).

128GB SD cards are selling for as little as 40 bucks. That could fit plenty of 5-9GB games.

 

[Ganondolf]

For the cartridges, sure. But like many already said, most Nintendo games don't come close to reaching that size. Plus, it reinforces the notion that NX games aren't getting to the immense sizes currently seen in PS4 and XB1 (some games being >60GB).

128GB SD cards are selling for as little as 40 bucks. That could fit plenty of 5-9GB games.

I would not be surprised if the nx had 32gb of on board storage and a 128gb micro sd card with all digital games and dlc being download direct to the sd card and the internal storage for game saves, OS and other stuff.

 

[Fourth Storm]

It was based on some report from Sharp about panel shipments, and it should be noted that the size range is a perfect match for 3DS screen sizes. It also got the year of release wrong.

If we accept that Huenry is making an NX game, then we must also accept that there is no power boost in dock mode and that it'll just upscale from 480p or 540p. Do you really see Nintendo going backwards and abandoning HD for a generation?

It may have been based on a report from Sharp, but I have seen no indicator of that in the original article. Source? Even if it were from Sharp, that makes it even more reliable, as not even Nintendo are forecasting selling more 3DS units than the past FY. I think the range that Hayase gave is either a category of lcd panel (cell phone sized as compared to tablet) or he gave the range in order to avoid saying too much.

I think it's also pretty accepted that Nintendo planned for a holiday launch at some point. Trev got that one wrong too while concurrently nailing down the software release schedule.

As for the resolution, how does Huenry's quote indicate the lack of a power boost in dock mode? I, myself, am not sure what they're going to do. They could up the clocks a little bit while docked in order to render the image in HD. Thraktor makes a good point, however, in that in order to give the HH the type of boost people seem to be hoping for, they'd either need a complicated active cooling solution (including some type of vents and/or an aluminum casing--both of which seem unlikely) or the HH will get so hot in dock mode, one might burn themselves if they remove the device too soon after play.

And, C'mon Malo! How many other super secret platforms are out there that would necessitate HD and SD and also support Unity?

 

[Ganondolf]

It may have been based on a report from Sharp, but I have seen no indicator of that in the original article. Source? Even if it were from Sharp, that makes it even more reliable, as not even Nintendo are forecasting selling more 3DS units than the past FY. I think the range that Hayase gave is either a category of lcd panel (cell phone sized as compared to tablet) or he gave the range in order to avoid saying too much.

I think it's also pretty accepted that Nintendo planned for a holiday launch at some point. Trev got that one wrong too while concurrently nailing down the software release schedule.

As for the resolution, how does Huenry's quote indicate the lack of a power boost in dock mode? I, myself, am not sure what they're going to do. They could up the clocks a little bit while docked in order to render the image in HD. Thraktor makes a good point, however, in that in order to give the HH the type of boost people seem to be hoping for, they'd either need a complicated active cooling solution (including some type of vents and/or an aluminum casing--both of which seem unlikely) or the HH will get so hot in dock mode, one might burn themselves if they remove the device too soon after play.

Maybe it will be liquid cooled like the Microsoft lumia 950xl. Also it would depend on how much heat leeway they have from the mobile mode as they may not reach the heat limit the unit can take within the wattage limit for mobile mode.

EDIT: how much more gflops would you need to go from 540p to 1080p if the mobile mode is using 500gflops? (No improvement outside of resolution)

 

[Dark Cloud]

I finally watched Super Metal Daves video. I think I'm starting to believe him more that the NX is multiple devices and AMD has some chip win thing we still don't know about and he believes that's for the NX console. This NX handheld hybrid is probably true, but there is probably atleast one other NX system aka dedicated NX console using AMD.

Also, Nintendo throwing all their eggs into one basket is very risky. If NX was one system and it failed there would be no other fallback hardware.

 

[Fourth Storm]

Maybe it will be liquid cooled like the Microsoft lumia 950xl. Also it would depend on how much heat leeway they have from the mobile mode as they may not reach the heat limit the unit can take within the wattage limit for mobile mode.

EDIT: how much more gflops would you need to go from 540p to 1080p if the mobile mode is using 500gflops? (No improvement outside of resolution)

That would be something else! So would the price, I am sure!

I'd have to imagine that devs would have to factor in the 2 specs as they develop their game. As for how much more beef it would take to render those extra pixels? I'd have to look that up or get some help on that one. haha

 

[rschauby]

The original rumor/leak states Nintendo is recommending 32GB size carts... So I'm not sure you're correct on the former.

If the NX is targeting 540p graphics, 32gb cartridges are overkill.

 

[Seik]

Digital Foundary uploaded a video on the possibility of the NX having GameCube & Wii games on the Virtual Console.

Oh wow, I didn't know the X1 handles Dolphin so well...1080p is below standard FPS but SO close it is very impressive stuff.

 

[Ganondolf]

If the NX is targeting 540p graphics, 32gb cartridges are overkill.

I assume if when docked it 1080p the assets would need to match that as displaying 540p image on a full hd tv won't look good

 

[120v]

If NX is a hybrid and it sells like gangbusters, what will Sony and Microsoft do? Stick to what they're doing now or go up against Nintendo in the "portable" space? A formidable task if ever there was one.

I think Sony any and MS will eventually have "game anywhere" solutions . But I doubt either would bother with a dedicated, propietary portable device

 

[MuchoMalo]

It may have been based on a report from Sharp, but I have seen no indicator of that in the original article. Source? Even if it were from Sharp, that makes it even more reliable, as not even Nintendo are forecasting selling more 3DS units than the past FY. I think the range that Hayase gave is either a category of lcd panel (cell phone sized as compared to tablet) or he gave the range in order to avoid saying too much.

I think it's also pretty accepted that Nintendo planned for a holiday launch at some point. Trev got that one wrong too while concurrently nailing down the software release schedule.

As for the resolution, how does Huenry's quote indicate the lack of a power boost in dock mode? I, myself, am not sure what they're going to do. They could up the clocks a little bit while docked in order to render the image in HD. Thraktor makes a good point, however, in that in order to give the HH the type of boost people seem to be hoping for, they'd either need a complicated active cooling solution (including some type of vents and/or an aluminum casing--both of which seem unlikely) or the HH will get so hot in dock mode, one might burn themselves if they remove the device too soon after play.

And, C'mon Malo! How many other super secret platforms are out there that would necessitate HD and SD and also support Unity?

I decided to go back and read the story, and all that I have to say is this: Hayase is an analyst. He was "predicting" that it would launch this year and made the safe prediction of screen sizes being the same as 3DS, hence posting a range identical to the range of 3DS sizes. Again, he's just an analyst. We can't get any information from this any more than we can from any other analyst.

As for the boost, it's simple: it doesn't make sense to use two different sets of assets. He's running into issues with running out of memory. There's no reason to expect that memory would be disabled in portable mode, and thus there's no need for two sets of assets when the HD ones could just be downscaled. The only way that this is happening is if the dock has a GPU with dedicated VRAM. We're just reading too much into this, even if he is working on NX.

 

[kunonabi]

I dont understand why you would want detachable mini controllers on the NX. If you are on the go with it, most likely you are playing solo. If you have it docked, you would most likely want a more comfortable option like a pro controller. In addition, button symmetry is different on each side so your left and right detachable controllers would have different button layouts ( how would this work for something like a fighting game?). Finally, I think it could take away from the uniformity and sleekness of the build quality - over time I could see the detachable controllers getting loose and rattling.

With so many inexpensive wireless controller options (think 8bitdo mini), I am failing to see the appeal of the detachable controller.

I find detachable mini controllers in the vein of a wiimote/nunchuk to be far more comfortable that a standard dual analog pad.

 

[Fourth Storm]

I decided to go back and read the story, and all that I have to say is this: Hayase is an analyst. He was "predicting" that it would launch this year and made the safe prediction of screen sizes being the same as 3DS, hence posting a range identical to the range of 3DS sizes. Again, he's just an analyst. We can't get any information from this any more than we can from any other analyst.

As for the boost, it's simple: it doesn't make sense to use two different sets of assets. He's running into issues with running out of memory. There's no reason to expect that memory would be disabled in portable mode, and thus there's no need for two sets of assets when the HD ones could just be downscaled. The only way that this is happening is if the dock has a GPU with dedicated VRAM. We're just reading too much into this, even if he is working on NX.

Let's just leave the IHS discussion as it is. We've both made our cases, and others can draw their own conclusions.

As for Huenry's game: if you read the discussion on Twitter, he does seem to have decided on using a thread to downscale the HD assets to SD at runtime. Before, he was bundling two separate sets of assets, and when he attempted to load the bundle into VRAM, he hit the pool's limit.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Let's just leave the IHS discussion as it is. We've both made our cases, and others can draw their own conclusions.

As for Huenry's game: if you read the discussion on Twitter, he does seem to have decided on using a thread to downscale the HD assets to SD at runtime. Before, he was bundling two separate sets of assets, and when he attempted to load the bundle into VRAM, he hit the pool's limit.

Then we should be extremely worried about NX.

 

[GhostTrick]

Then we should be extremely worried about NX.

Why ?

 

[Kathian]

I dont understand why you would want detachable mini controllers on the NX. If you are on the go with it, most likely you are playing solo. If you have it docked, you would most likely want a more comfortable option like a pro controller. In addition, button symmetry is different on each side so your left and right detachable controllers would have different button layouts ( how would this work for something like a fighting game?). Finally, I think it could take away from the uniformity and sleekness of the build quality - over time I could see the detachable controllers getting loose and rattling.

With so many inexpensive wireless controller options (think 8bitdo mini), I am failing to see the appeal of the detachable controller.

Likely usable without controls (i.e. touch) and its so its working out the box without needing to get an additional controller.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Why ?

Because it sounds like the amount of RAM is extremely low. Just look at the game he's working on. Does that look like a game which should be struggling with even even 2GB of RAM? Imagine the disaster if NX only has 2GB of RAM total with 1.5GB for games.

I'm not convinced that the screen isn't 720p, though. For all we know, the platform itself isn't secret but rather the fact that he's working on it, and it could just be a Wii U version that he's not ready to announce yet.

 

[Ganondolf]

Then we should be extremely worried about NX.

Not really, bundling 2 sets of assets is unnecessary. You just need both stored on the cart and request the right assets depending on the power mode selected (mobile or docked). I personally think most devs would just have hd assets and scale them down.

Edit: just saw your post above, what game is he making?

 

[Hermii]

Because it sounds like the amount of RAM is extremely low. Just look at the game he's working on. Does that look like a game which should be struggling with even even 2GB of RAM? Imagine the disaster if NX only has 2GB of RAM total with 1.5GB for games.

I'm not convinced that the screen isn't 720p, though. For all we know, the platform itself isn't secret but rather the fact that he's working on it, and it could just be a Wii U version that he's not ready to announce yet.

Nintendo have been generous with ram relative to performance ever since GameCube. I wouldn't read to much into it.

 

[DESTROYA]

I finally watched Super Metal Daves video. I think I'm starting to believe him more that the NX is multiple devices and AMD has some chip win thing we still don't know about and he believes that's for the NX console. This NX handheld hybrid is probably true, but there is probably atleast one other NX system aka dedicated NX console using AMD.

Also, Nintendo throwing all their eggs into one basket is very risky. If NX was one system and it failed there would be no other fallback hardware.

I highly doubt that if both platforms support the same games, it would be foolish to have to support both ARM and x86 at the same time.

 

[KingSnake]

I highly doubt that if both platforms support the same games, it would be foolish to have to support both ARM and x86 at the same time.

It doesn't make financial sense to have hardware based on two different architectures when you can have one. Two different R&D streams, two different supply chains, two different chip producing lines (thus more expensive chips), more development work for engines/framework, more development time needed if the difference in power is too big (and if it's not, why choose a different architecture in the first place).

Why not use the same architecture with different number of cores and higher clocks for a more powerful device, if such device is in plan?

 

[Thraktor]

That doesn't seem like something LCGeek would be talking about though. Also, in the 3DMark Ice Storm benchmark Jaguar absolutely annihilates any ARM core when both are at the same speed. If the clock speeds are that low, I'm positive that we'll be looking at cores when barely even beat Wii U's.

Whether you can find a contrary benchmark is irrelevant. My original post was simply listing what's feasible within the thermal limits of a handheld SoC, and it's simply not possible for Nintendo to clock a octo-core A72 CPU at 1GHz+ in a handheld environment (and that's based on actual power curves of the A72 on the same fab process as Pascal). When you asked me why LCGeek said that the NX CPU outperforms PS4/XBO, I gave you two plausible answers; either that's based off a workload which favours the ARM cores (of which I gave an example) or the CPU clocks up in docked mode (or perhaps a combination of both). Even if you don't find either of these answers satisfactory, it doesn't change the basic laws of physics which prevent Nintendo from putting high-clocked A72s in a handheld.

My biggest worry from all of this is whether or not the docking theory is even possible. How much would it cost if they did that?

I don't know why, but the whole "dock that will supercharge the console" seems a little off to me. But we never know.

I share your suspicion on the "supercharged while docked" theory. I'd accept the possibility that there's a small increase in clocks while docked to allow the system to run at 720p rather than 540p, but I don't expect any more than that.

 

[Fourth Storm]

Nintendo have been generous with ram relative to performance ever since GameCube. I wouldn't read to much into it.

I wouldn't either, but at the same time, I expect it to have under 8 GB. I'd say 6 GB if we're lucky and they commit to Samsung lpDDR4 (they seem to be the leader).

Also, Takeda made some comments a year or 2 back about Nintendo's philosophy on RAM. They don't go for a super large capacity, but prefer efficiency. There's a good chance this was apologetics after Sony and MS showed up w 4x RAM capacity in their consoles vs Wii U.

 

[Ganondolf]

I wouldn't either, but at the same time, I expect it to have under 8 GB. I'd say 6 GB if we're lucky and they commit to Samsung lpDDR4 (they seem to be the leader).

Also, Takeda made some comments a year or 2 back about Nintendo's philosophy on RAM. They don't go for a super large capacity, but prefer efficiency. There's a good chance this was apologetics after Sony and MS showed up w 4x RAM capacity in their consoles vs Wii U.

It's also worth remembering that the hdtwins have 8GB but 3GB reserved for the OS. If Nintendo's OS uses 1GB like the Wii u then they will have the same amount available for games (with the 6GB figure)

 

[Brenal]

For the cartridges, sure. But like many already said, most Nintendo games don't come close to reaching that size. Plus, it reinforces the notion that NX games aren't getting to the immense sizes currently seen in PS4 and XB1 (some games being >60GB).

128GB SD cards are selling for as little as 40 bucks. That could fit plenty of 5-9GB games.

Do you have examples of 60 GB games ? , because afaik the limit of BD was 50 GB with most games not weighting more than 35 GB,unless you count patches or stuff like that.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Not really, bundling 2 sets of assets is unnecessary. You just need both stored on the cart and request the right assets depending on the power mode selected (mobile or docked). I personally think most devs would just have hd assets and scale them down.

Edit: just saw your post above, what game is he making?

http://huethegame.com/

Not exactly a technical showpiece.

Nintendo have been generous with ram relative to performance ever since GameCube. I wouldn't read to much into it.

While true, things change.

Whether you can find a contrary benchmark is irrelevant. My original post was simply listing what's feasible within the thermal limits of a handheld SoC, and it's simply not possible for Nintendo to clock a octo-core A72 CPU at 1GHz+ in a handheld environment (and that's based on actual power curves of the A72 on the same fab process as Pascal). When you asked me why LCGeek said that the NX CPU outperforms PS4/XBO, I gave you two plausible answers; either that's based off a workload which favours the ARM cores (of which I gave an example) or the CPU clocks up in docked mode (or perhaps a combination of both). Even if you don't find either of these answers satisfactory, it doesn't change the basic laws of physics which prevent Nintendo from putting high-clocked A72s in a handheld.

Then I no longer believe that LCGeek's info is legit. The A-72 doesn't have like Sandy-Bridge level IPC. That's ridiculous. Nintendo releasing a CPU-bottlelnecked system yet again is a HUGE disappointment.

 

[Oregano]

I wouldn't either, but at the same time, I expect it to have under 8 GB. I'd say 6 GB if we're lucky and they commit to Samsung lpDDR4 (they seem to be the leader).

Also, Takeda made some comments a year or 2 back about Nintendo's philosophy on RAM. They don't go for a super large capacity, but prefer efficiency. There's a good chance this was apologetics after Sony and MS showed up w 4x RAM capacity in their consoles vs Wii U.

That kind of sounds more related to 3DS to me. It had a low amount of RAM compared to Vita and phones but it was much faster, no?

 

[MuchoMalo]

I wouldn't either, but at the same time, I expect it to have under 8 GB. I'd say 6 GB if we're lucky and they commit to Samsung lpDDR4 (they seem to be the leader).

Also, Takeda made some comments a year or 2 back about Nintendo's philosophy on RAM. They don't go for a super large capacity, but prefer efficiency. There's a good chance this was apologetics after Sony and MS showed up w 4x RAM capacity in their consoles vs Wii U.

6GB is actually the physical limit assuming a 64-bit bus.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I highly doubt that if both platforms support the same games, it would be foolish to have to support both ARM and x86 at the same time.

Well...I guess I can't believe Eurogamer anymore then. They already did this "verification" of Tegra for the 3DS back in 2009 and they were completely wrong. And there's nothing innovative about a tablet with detachable controllers when it's already been done.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Well...I guess I can't believe Eurogamer anymore then. They already did this "verification" of Tegra for the 3DS back in 2009 and they were completely wrong. And there's nothing innovative about a tablet with detachable controllers when it's already been done.

Our understanding is that Tegra 2 actually was planned for 3DS but couldn't actually meet the thermal or power requirements and was dropped.

 

[Mpl90]

Well...I guess I can't believe Eurogamer anymore then. They already did this "verification" of Tegra for the 3DS back in 2009 and they were completely wrong. And there's nothing innovative about a tablet with detachable controllers when it's already been done.

But Tegra in 3DS was real, before Nintendo went for PICA due to Nvidia not delivering their promises in terms of efficiency (IIRC). Moreover, this time these rumours are happening less than 8 months before its release, while Tegra on DS successor rumours were around more than 12 monhs before the release. I'd say the circumstances are pretty different. Heck, 7 years have passed too, I suppose EG has improved their verification process as well.

 

[Dark Cloud]

But Tegra in 3DS was real, before Nintendo went for PICA due to Nvidia not delivering their promises in terms of efficiency (IIRC). Moreover, this time these rumours are happening less than 8 months before its release, while Tegra on DS successor rumours were around more than 12 monhs before the release. I'd say the circumstances are pretty different. Heck, 7 years have passed too, I suppose EG has improved their verification process as well.

Let's go with what you're saying. Did Eurogamer say this dock would do anything to boost the handheld when connected to the tv or is everybody just speculating?

 

[Fourth Storm]

That kind of sounds more related to 3DS to me. It had a low amount of RAM compared to Vita and phones but it was much faster, no?

I don't recall as much about Fujitsu FCRAM off the top of my head. I want to say it was meant to compete w/ lpDDR2. Takeda was referring to Wii U in that quote, though:

On the other hand, it was a natural and inherent decision to aim for hardware efficiency, including a not huge capacity but low-latency memory, in designing Wii U, as we have done since the days of Nintendo GameCube. These sorts of things have been ubiquitous across the entire company; it is in our DNA.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627qa/02.html

 

[Rodin]

I share your suspicion on the "supercharged while docked" theory. I'd accept the possibility that there's a small increase in clocks while docked to allow the system to run at 720p rather than 540p, but I don't expect any more than that.

"Supercharged while docked" doesn't really mean anything, as the speculation is simply about the chip being able to run at full speed in that situation opposed to a "handheld mode" that heavily downclocks it to save battery life and avoid overheating when you play on the go.

Still, we have 4 reports:

1) Tegra X1 being noisy in devkits would point to an overclocked chip that simulates the (better) performances of the final one
2) Osirisblack saying that the console has little to no issue in handling ports from current gen
3) LCGeek's comment about NX CPU>>>>Xbone CPU
4) Emily Rogers saying that the NX blows the Wii U out of the water, and that it's close to Xbox One (although that's a bit of a stretch, but if it wasn't somewhat close then i don't even see the point in mentioning the Microsoft console, just say that it's noticeably better than the Wii U but still far from the current gen consoles)

All of these point to a console at least over 6-700gflops, while Gaf's speculation is about NX being barely above Wii U or on par/worst but with a 540p screen, which directly contradicts all of them. But those specs are impossible to achieve on a handheld, and that's why i keep saying that there must be something going on with the dock, imho it's the only way that all these reports can fit together.

It's only speculation from my part and i'm open to being wrong, but i really don't see the point in even mentioning the dock if it doesn't do anything (e.g. if it's like the 3DS one, where you simply put the console on it to charge it). It would just a portable with a TV out and a dock put in the pack for convenience.

 

[Hoo-doo]

Because it sounds like the amount of RAM is extremely low. Just look at the game he's working on. Does that look like a game which should be struggling with even even 2GB of RAM? Imagine the disaster if NX only has 2GB of RAM total with 1.5GB for games.

I'm not convinced that the screen isn't 720p, though. For all we know, the platform itself isn't secret but rather the fact that he's working on it, and it could just be a Wii U version that he's not ready to announce yet.

You're still looking at it as if it's a regular home console.
If you're looking at it like a handheld, these 'disasters' you cite mostly vanish. 2-3 gigs of ram is plenty.

Do you have examples of 60 GB games ? , because afaik the limit of BD was 50 GB with most games not weighting more than 35 GB,unless you count patches or stuff like that.

Patches add in a ton of extra gigs for sure. Uncharted 4 is 50GB on my PS4 harddrive.
Battlefield 4 bundle is around 75GB, Diablo III:UE is 60+GB.

I doubt these kind of games are ever hitting the NX so the point is moot. You really don't need huge harddrives for most games that'll be running on NX and a 128GB card is going to be plenty for most people.

More and more i'm convinced that this thing is definitely going to be the successor of the 3DS primarily, while offering an olive branch to console gamers by giving it TV-gaming features. No more, no less. If that's the case, people should adjust their expectations accordingly because 'HD-gaming' might not be a high priority for Nintendo at all.

 

[Oregano]

I don't recall as much about Fujitsu FCRAM off the top of my head. I want to say it was meant to compete w/ lpDDR2. Takeda was referring to Wii U in that quote, though:

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/stock/meeting/140627qa/02.html

Oh, fair enough! Maybe he means the EDRAM then.*Shrugs*

 

[DESTROYA]

Well...I guess I can't believe Eurogamer anymore then. They already did this "verification" of Tegra for the 3DS back in 2009 and they were completely wrong. And there's nothing innovative about a tablet with detachable controllers when it's already been done.

Believe what you want but from what I remember some dev kits were sent using a Tegra 2 at one point, but that had to change it because it wasn't meeting battery life expectations.
Look I'm not a big fan of the whole detachable controllers thing either but we really don't know how that's going to work yet so it's all purely speculation at this point at how it's going to be implemented.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Because it sounds like the amount of RAM is extremely low. Just look at the game he's working on. Does that look like a game which should be struggling with even even 2GB of RAM? Imagine the disaster if NX only has 2GB of RAM total with 1.5GB for games.

I'm not convinced that the screen isn't 720p, though. For all we know, the platform itself isn't secret but rather the fact that he's working on it, and it could just be a Wii U version that he's not ready to announce yet.

He's talking about vram, which we know nothing about in the context of nx. There could be a 32mb pool of embedded ram for all we know. Why are you trying to tie what he said to 2gb of main RAM?

 

[ReyVGM]

Patches add in a ton of extra gigs for sure. Uncharted 4 is 50GB on my PS4 harddrive.
Battlefield 4 bundle is around 75GB, Diablo III:UE is 60+GB.

I doubt these kind of games are ever hitting the NX so the point is moot. You really don't need huge harddrives for most games that'll be running on NX and a 128GB card is going to be plenty for most people.

More and more i'm convinced that this thing is definitely going to be the successor of the 3DS primarily, while offering an olive branch to console gamers by giving it TV-gaming features. No more, no less. If that's the case, people should adjust their expectations accordingly because 'HD-gaming' might not be a high priority for Nintendo at all.

Wait, when people talk about Bluray disc sizes they are talking about GigaBYTEs, no?
And when talking about carts/sd cards, they mean GigaBITS, correct?

There aren't any carts actually bigger than a blueray disc, right?

 

[Oregano]

Wait, when people talk about Bluray disc sizes they are talking about GigaBYTEs, no?
And when talking about carts/sd cards, they mean GigaBITS, correct?

There aren't any carts actually bigger than a blueray disc, right?

DS carts maxed out at 512MBs.
3DS carts max out at 4GB(though 8GB is apparently possible).

32GB for NX carts would follow that pattern.

 

[MuchoMalo]

You're still looking at it as if it's a regular home console.
If you're looking at it like a handheld, these 'disasters' you cite mostly vanish. 2-3 gigs of ram is plenty.

It's meant to be both, so 2GB is still a failure, especially in an age where phones have 6GB. I'm not giving Nintendo a pass if it fails at 50% of its purpose. Also, a 2D game running out or RAM, something is horribly wrong.

He's talking about vram, which we know nothing about in the context of nx. There could be a 32mb pool of embedded ram for all we know. Why are you trying to tie what he said to 2gb of main RAM?

Because the 32MB would just be a cache and not considered VRAM, and the main RAM pool would be unified.

 

[G.ZZZ]

Wait, when people talk about Bluray disc sizes they are talking about GigaBYTEs, no?
And when talking about carts/sd cards, they mean GigaBITS, correct?

There aren't any carts actually bigger than a blueray disc, right?

There are plenty of carts bigger than a blueray. It's just a matter of costs. 32 GBs MicroSDs cost a penny, while things like this cost quite a bit more

 

[sinxtanx]

http://huethegame.com/

Not exactly a technical showpiece.

2D game with a bunch of hand-drawn unique textures (hi-res from the look of it) is exactly the kind of game that eats RAM for breakfast

Also, a 2D game running out or RAM, something is horribly wrong.

I get the feeling you haven't touched game development...unless he's using palettes, lots of textures like that will rack up the RAM usage very fast

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

DS carts maxed out at 512MBs.
3DS carts max out at 4GB(though 8GB is apparently possible).

32GB for NX carts would follow that pattern.

How much do you think a 32GB cart would cost? I see them on sale for 5-10 dollars online. But i dont know if a memory card is different from a game cartridge.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Did Nintendo even use the term megabit this century? Genuine question, but feels like an n64 era thing to me.

 

[ReyVGM]

There are plenty of carts bigger than a blueray. It's just a matter of costs. 32 GBs MicroSDs cost a penny, while things like this cost quite a bit more

Nice. I didn't know there were carts bigger than BR discs. I don't really use SD cards, so I'm not up to speed. But all this time I thought they mean GigaBITs for cards.

 

[Kazooie]

I hope this thing launches with a fleshed out eshop. Like all first party NES, SNES, GB, GBA and N64 games available day one.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

I hope this thing launches with a fleshed out eshop. Like all first party NES, SNES, GB, GBA and N64 games available day one.

That would leave them with little to no virtual console releases for the rest of the system's lifespan, so that ain't happening.