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[Shikamaru Ninja]

That doesn't mean it's only going to be one hardware though. I like to think of this as a refresh button except this time games can play between systems (probably only so far ahead like iPhones with their games).
NX = NES
NX2 = SNES and so on

The NX isn't the end all for Nintendo.

I'm hoping it isn't. Right now we are in the dark, with the main leaks or rumors mainly addressing this dockable hand held.

 

[Genio88]

Whatever, this gives me the perfect opportunity to go handheld-only finally and never have to worry about having to have a TV around. Handhelds are just a far better gaming ecosystem than consoles.

I think that's a personal thing, you can't just say that for everyone, though i agree that a handheld console which i can also attach to my TV whenever i want is great, but i also love my "traditional" gaming PC always plugged and ready in my gamingstation

 

[Akki]

The disappointment comes from the realization that if the handheld NX is all there is, it's the death of any hope for a console that doesn't have tire-fire hardware.

This is not the death of Nintendo home consoles. The hybrid is a simple replacement. It´s basically a trade off. You get less computing power compared to a traditional stand alone console but a far bigger library.

 

[jmizzal]

I'm hoping it isn't. Right now we are in the dark, with the main leaks or rumors mainly addressing this dockable hand held.

But early rumors people had no clue about it being handheld and everybody thought it was a home console, since it was power level close to Xbox one and all the rumored games were console games

So i'm pretty sure used as a console it will be fine power wise

 

[Cow Mengde]

True, but you're part of a mostly dead market, at least in the west.

Even most of us adult gamers are fine just doing gaming, or other things like reading, Facebook/Twitter, surfing the net etc., on our phones/tablets when out and about or traveling.

So they really shouldn't limit themselves too much (i.e. underpowered as a result of needing to be small) by focusing on making the device small and portable when the bulk of the western gaming market, which is far bigger than the Japanese market, will just use it at home docked to the TV 95% of the time.

Interesting that you say that. Right now, I live in China, and whenever people have their phones out, chances are they're playing a game on it. There are people using Wechat or watch a movie, but I noticed people tend to game more. Of course this is anecdotal evidence.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I'm hoping it isn't. Right now we are in the dark, with the main leaks or rumors mainly addressing this dockable hand held.

Yeah, I feel you.

I was on the wagon of it makes sense to have a NX handheld and a NX console with both playing the same games. NX console could've released in the west in March with NX handheld releasing in Japan in March. Then come the holidays they would launch console in Japan and handheld in the west.

I don't think it's very safe for Nintendo to put all their eggs into one hybrid basket because if it fails there won't be a fallback this time like they had with GBA or 3DS. If people think SCDs will release, well that's not really a fallback since it's an optional accessory.

 

[richman555]

But early rumors people had no clue about it being handheld and everybody thought it was a home console, since it was power level close to Xbox one and all the rumored games were console games

So i'm pretty sure used as a console it will be fine power wise

I agree, basically as long as it provides something more powerful than the Wii U and 3DS, its going to be an improvement over what currently exists.

 

[eifer]

This is not the death of Nintendo home consoles. The hybrid is a simple replacement. It´s basically a trade off. You get less computing power compared to a traditional stand alone console but a far bigger library.

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

 

[Rodin]

Yeah, I feel you.

I was on the wagon of it makes sense to have a NX handheld and a NX console with both playing the same games. NX console could've released in the west in March with NX handheld releasing in Japan in March. Then come the holidays they would launch console in Japan and handheld in the west.

I don't think it's very safe for Nintendo to put all their eggs into one hybrid basket because if it fails there won't be a fallback this time like they had with GBA or 3DS. If people think SCDs will release, well that's not really a fallback since it's an optional accessory.

I think that when they'll have a huge library on the market, they'll release both a more expensive home console and a cheaper, smaller portable, which will be compatible with the entire NX lineup from d1. They did talk about increasing the number of devices on the market after all, and about resolving the issue of software droughts at the launch of a new platform. This way, everything would fall into place.

 

[LordOfChaos]

The disappointment comes from the realization that if the handheld NX is all there is, it's the death of any hope for a console that doesn't have tire-fire hardware.

I'm somehow more excited for this than any of their hardware in a decade.

The Tegra X1 would already be far more modern than anything they've shipped in a console in all that time since the Gamecube. Ironic for a mobile part. But the rumoured Pascal version of that, untethered by battery power concerns when docked, i think will be much better than people expect for the mobile SoC.

Likely it still comes in under the XBO, putting it in a similar situation as the Wii U to the rest of the 8th gen. But the difference here this time is that the base PS4/XBO hardware is sticking around in large marketshare and hopefully as the prime development target, it's not a generational split again.

And then the unified development target - being both their mobile and stationary platform in one would avoid software droughts one would hope.


Price is key here. 250 for both lines of Nintendo software? I'd buy the shit out of that.

 

[wonderful103]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

They're not getting broad western third party support. They would not receive said support if they literally put a Nintendo sticker on a ps4. Let that dream die.

What they meant was that all of nintendo's teams and all of their contracted/third party exclusive work now ends up on one platform, as well as some Japanese third party support (of which the 3ds is an excellent recipient of) and family oriented western third party ports.

 

[Anth0ny]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

a traditional nintendo home console

instead of their resources being split between two platforms, they're just cranking everything out for one platform. the first party support for this thing should be insane.


it goes without saying at this point that a nintendo platform is going to have little to no third party support

 

[Koren]

I love how no one can predict what Nintendo will do. In the world of the samey boring predictions and eventual reality of the PS4 Neo and Xbox One S/scorpio, It's so fucking refreshing to have such a wildcard in the mix.

I'll be buying an NX day one. I don't give a fuck. I have a high end gaming PC, only Nintendo can seemingly give me something different. The 3DS is amazing, and despite its flaws, I love the Wii U. Bring it.

Well, that's a nice resume about how I'm feeling too (except that I don't care playing recent games on PC, OpenTTD is probably by far my most played PC game currently)...

 

[goldenpp72]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

Because all of the development teams that made games on portables and consoles would be merged into one platform, are you serious?

 

[Tom Nook Sawyer]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

If it's a true hybrid, it'll have at least double the amount of games since Nintendo's handheld and console games will exist on a single platform.

With that many games, lacking 3rd party support will be less of an issue

 

[richman555]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

The Nintendo game 'droughts' are typically due to them switching resources to accommodate both handheld and console games. Sony (without Vita) and MS don't ever have to worry about doing this.

I do agree with what you say in terms of 3rd party support, but I think Nintendo isn't concerned about that anymore. They haven't had that in quite some time.

 

[Astral Dog]

I'm not sure what exactly the NX hardware will end up being, or if and what different SKUs may be planned. Ultimately I think everyone agrees that unifying the software library is good, but making one fit all hardware isn't good. I think we've learned that the hardware that works in one region, may not work in another.

im not sure what you mean by this, handheld Nintendo hardware (the cheapest one) has been more popular compared to its home counterpart, from DS, 3DS, GBA, and GB.
certain games are what depend on the country/market, but an unified system would not neccessarily be a problem for that

 

[the androgyne]

At first, she stated that NX is "at least 2x more powerful than the Wii U, possibly more". Later, she modified that phrase and now it is "The NX is more powerful than what the Wii U can currently offer.

That seems like quite a purposeful rewording... Maybe what some speculated about the SCD being for Wii U and not NX? I dont think i'd be opposed if they could somehow upgrade my Wii U for cheap. Maybe they were being more literal than anyone thought when they said NX isn't a replacement for Wii U?

 

[eifer]

Because all of the development teams that made games on portables and consoles would be merged into one platform, are you serious?

I don't buy it. Especially since they've said they are "working on their next home console". Home console doesn't sound like hybrid portable to me. Having a more traditional design will simply be easier to develop for than if they try to carry forward some kind of Wii U style dual screen configuration.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I think that when they'll have a huge library on the market, they'll release both a more expensive home console and a cheaper, smaller portable, which will be compatible with the entire NX lineup from d1. They did talk about increasing the number of devices on the market after all, and about resolving the issue of software droughts at the launch of a new platform. This way, everything would fall into place.

That's the best solution. The NX is multiple devices and this powerful handheld that connects to the tv is the first "model". And like you said a console would come sometime later and other various versions.

 

[Anth0ny]

I love how no one can predict what Nintendo will do. In the world of the samey boring predictions and eventual reality of the PS4 Neo and Xbox One S/scorpio, It's so fucking refreshing to have such a wildcard in the mix.

I'll be buying an NX day one. I don't give a fuck. I have a high end gaming PC, only Nintendo can seemingly give me something different. The 3DS is amazing, and despite its flaws, I love the Wii U. Bring it.

it's true, but it reminds me a LOT of the build up to the Wii U unveiling/re-unveiling at e3 2012, which was super underwhelming.

it wasn't until the wednesdayton in January 2013 that Wii U hype got truly exciting

 

[Akki]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

The beauty of this hybrid concept is that 3rd parties are more or less forced to deliver a TV-version which massivly increases the software output compared to the Wii U. Monster Hunter and Pokemon will be playable on the tv.

Assumung there will be 2 distinct devices. What´s the incentive for Capcom to put their game on the NX console? The installbase would be smaller and it would require a lot of additional work.

 

[Oregano]

I think being on a console centric hard-core gamer site like GAF might skew people's perceptions. The amount of people that would buy a Nintendo home console but have no interest in a Nintendo portable is likely a very small minority.

Every Nintendo portable has been more successful than the same gen's home console. The Wii U only sold a 1/4 of the 3DS and the vast majority of Wii U owners will own a 3DS.

Even if you want to point at other manufacturers hardware then only the Playstations have been more popular, even this gen with the 3DS massively down. As someone pointed out earlier in the thread the 3DS has been keeping pace with the Xbox One during the XBO's lifetime and that ignores the first two years of the 3DS's life.

That's not to say people aren't allowed to be upset they're not getting a competitive home console but you need to understand you're probably a minority.


EDIT: I really wouldn't rule out an NX TV either. Additional(likely cheaper) SKUs are obviously something that works for Nintendo looking at the 2DS.

 

[MuchoMalo]

That seems like quite a purposeful rewording... Maybe what some speculated about the SCD being for Wii U and not NX? I dont think i'd be opposed if they could somehow upgrade my Wii U for cheap. Maybe they were being more literal than anyone thought when they said NX isn't a replacement for Wii U?

You're thinking too hard. It doesn't mean anything.

 

[Roo]

I don't buy it. Especially since they've said they are "working on their next home console". Home console doesn't sound like hybrid portable to me. Having a more traditional design will simply be easier to develop for than if they try to carry forward some kind of Wii U style dual screen configuration.

Seems like you already have your mind set anyway so it's pointless to explain you further how Nintendo will operate from now on.

 

[bachikarn]

I love how no one can predict what Nintendo will do. In the world of the samey boring predictions and eventual reality of the PS4 Neo and Xbox One S/scorpio, It's so fucking refreshing to have such a wildcard in the mix.

I'll be buying an NX day one. I don't give a fuck. I have a high end gaming PC, only Nintendo can seemingly give me something different. The 3DS is amazing, and despite its flaws, I love the Wii U. Bring it.

But people have been predicting a hybrid for years

 

[bachikarn]

I think that when they'll have a huge library on the market, they'll release both a more expensive home console and a cheaper, smaller portable, which will be compatible with the entire NX lineup from d1. They did talk about increasing the number of devices on the market after all, and about resolving the issue of software droughts at the launch of a new platform. This way, everything would fall into place.

I'm not really sure why Nintendo would release a home console. They don't like chasing power, and their console market has been on a steady decline. They'd have to have some novel idea that doesn't work on a portable. The hybrid idea is the best for them now.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I'm just excited for console-level Fire Emblem, Shin Megami Tensei, Bravely Default, Etrian Odyssey and portable versions of stuff like Pokken, Splatoon, Pikmin, etc.

Rolling all the first/third/indie/VC support from 3DS and Wii U in to one platform is a gigantic amount of quality content.

 

[thefro]

I'm not really sure why Nintendo would release a home console. They don't like chasing power, and their console market has been on a steady decline. They'd have to have some novel idea that doesn't work on a portable. The hybrid idea is the best for them now.

Yeah, the only reason for power would be to get third party support, and a Pascal-based Tegra chip should be able to run all the third party engines that run on XB1/PS4. The Shield already supports UE4.

 

[Rich!]

But people have been predicting a hybrid for years

only because Nintendo mentioned it first.

 

[Oregano]

You only need to look at the wasteland of the Japanese market to see how a console that is also a successor to the 3DS will get more support than a straight successor to the Wii U.

I also think people are sleeping on possible western third party support depending on just how powerful the NX is. It's not going to get the vast majority of games but let me use COD as an example.

During the DS/Wii generation Activision continued to make unique DS versions and Wii ports. They tried on the Wii U but didn't get sales results to make it viable and the development costs associated with unique 3DS versions meant making separate versions was a no-go but if Activision could take those Wii U ports and put them on 3DS they probably would have. That's not to say COD will definitely be there but if Activision can do downgraded ports(the Wii versions lacked killcam and cut entire scenes if they couldn't run on Wii) I wouldn't rule it out.

 

[Graphics Horse]

I'm not really sure why Nintendo would release a home console. They don't like chasing power, and their console market has been on a steady decline. They'd have to have some novel idea that doesn't work on a portable. The hybrid idea is the best for them now.

I don't think a console would have to be a more expensive version, it could run the same chipset potentially much faster and be cheaper to make overall with no main battery or touchscreen.

 

[ozfunghi]

only because Nintendo mentioned it first.

No, because it made sense. I've been saying this sinde the Gamecube/GBA days, when it was rumored that Nintendo wanted to put the industry on its head with new ways of playing games (what ended up being touchscreen/motion controls). As soon as the "third pillar" talk started, and Miyamoto's remark about how Revolution was going to be the "big gun" next gen... that's when i started to think about a handheld that could be docked for home gaming.

At the time I also had a Toshiba Portégé (at that time superflat) laptop that had a docking station, which also improved performance, offered a DVD drive, video out etc... I've been waiting for the NX basically since then. lol

 

[Angry Chair]

I don't buy it. Especially since they've said they are "working on their next home console". Home console doesn't sound like hybrid portable to me. Having a more traditional design will simply be easier to develop for than if they try to carry forward some kind of Wii U style dual screen configuration.

They never said "home console" and they aren't going to have trouble developing games for the NX if these rumors are true. A handheld with some sort of TV out isn't gimmicky.

 

[Koren]

Every Nintendo portable has been more successful than the same gen's home console. The Wii U only sold a 1/4 of the 3DS and the vast majority of Wii U owners will own a 3DS.

I think 1/4 is a bit misleading, though, it's easier to own several 3DS in a single house.

Even more so when you talk about NeoGaf.

 

[MoonFrog]

I'm not sure what exactly the NX hardware will end up being, or if and what different SKUs may be planned. Ultimately I think everyone agrees that unifying the software library is good, but making one fit all hardware isn't good. I think we've learned that the hardware that works in one region, may not work in another.

Hmmm...I'm not sure this is right. When hybrid was off the table, shared library could not be used as a consumer side 'gimmick.' People aren't going to buy their first NX device because if they buy another they can play the same software on both. This makes me think about the advantage of a bundle and simultaneous release of both form factors, but a bundle would probably be too expensive, if the devices were designed to be stand-alone with the home console spec'd close to or above PS4.

Yes, shared library alone does change things on the production side by unifying development, and through this lessening the instance of droughts, which in turn would make the product more appealing to consumers. But it provides no hardware hook, which, going up against smart phones on one side and PS4/XBone on the other would not be a good thing to lack.

As such, I think hybrid is the best solution, if Nintendo can pull it off at a reasonable price. It sets the hardware apart from both phones and home consoles. It ensures the shared library for non-Nintendo software. So a hardware hook and a software hook. It is the most elegant solution to the issues Nintendo faces, provided it still cares about both audiences.

Moreover, leading handheld is leading from their relative position of strength. I think hybrid has always made the most sense but we thought it was off the table. Handheld only made the next most sense, but the rumors pointed home console. I think that is the only reason home console talk made sense at all.

 

[QaaQer]

Interesting that you say that. Right now, I live in China, and whenever people have their phones out, chances are they're playing a game on it. There are people using Wechat or watch a movie, but I noticed people tend to game more. Of course this is anecdotal evidence.

Here it is 90% texting/Facebook.

 

[Oregano]

No, because it made sense. I've been saying this sinde the Gamecube/GBA days, when it was rumored that Nintendo wanted to put the industry on its head with new ways of playing games (what ended up being touchscreen/motion controls). As soon as the "third pillar" talk started, and Miyamoto's remark about how Revolution was going to be the "big gun" next gen... that's when i started to think about a handheld that could be docked for home gaming.

At the time I also had a Toshiba Portégé (at that time superflat) laptop that had a docking station, which also improved performance, offered a DVD drive, video out etc... I've been waiting for the NX basically since then. lol

I've been thinking about it a bit over the last few days but when you look at stuff like the Surface, Yoga and Pixel C it's not really as out there anyway. There's already mobile/tablet products that double up as computers.

Actually in general tech lines are blurring nowadays especially with W10 and the incremental updates with Neo and Scorpio.

EDIT:

I think 1/4 is a bit misleading, though, it's easier to own several 3DS in a single house.

Even more so when you talk about NeoGaf.

True but then that probably means more people own several 3DSs than own a Wii U which might be an even worse metric.

 

[blu]

Polygon throughput doesn't really mean anything in the grand scheme, so I wouldn't even look at it personally.

Actually trisetup rate is a fundamental characteristic of a rasterizer.

Thanks blu. Are Nvidia's "rasterized polygons" a good point of comparison to AMD's then?

Ever since Fermi, the trisetup has been carried in the PolyMorph (tm) (r) (c) engine, which traditionally has been coupled to a SM - a PolyMorph engine per SM. Now (and here comes the tricky part), every PolyMorph engine can do the trisetup for the pertinent SM to carry out its part of a triangle. So there's the implicit notion that a triangle may (and often will) span multiple SMs. And indeed, a triangle entity needs to pass some other stages before it even gets to the trisetup stage (carried by the PolyMorph), and there happens a sort of a bottleneck - a triangle can be dispatched to one or more GPC (Graphics Processing Cluster), based on its screen footprint, but a GPC does one tri per clock. So if a GTX1080 has 4 GPCs, that translates to 4tri/clock, even though it has as many as 5 SMs per GPC = 20 SMs, each with a PolyMorph engine, each capable of a trisetup per clock. Alas. The entire issue stems from this 'a tri shall span multiple GPCs' notion - and it is technically (and most importantly - statistically) true - tris more often than not are big enough to span multiple screen tiles - the workload unit of the GPC/SMs within a GPC. Here's some very informative read on the subject. Now, since Tegras have traditionally had just one GPC, that means they're traditionally 1 tri/clock.

 

[Snakeyes]

That's the best solution. The NX is multiple devices and this powerful handheld that connects to the tv is the first "model". And like you said a console would come sometime later and other various versions.

We can only hope.

 

[eifer]

They never said "home console" and they aren't going to have trouble developing games for the NX if these rumors are true. A handheld with some sort of TV out isn't gimmicky.

Reggie saying "home console" http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/06...ls-aime-talks-amiibo-and-the-skylanders-deal/

 

[Rodin]

I'm not really sure why Nintendo would release a home console. They don't like chasing power, and their console market has been on a steady decline. They'd have to have some novel idea that doesn't work on a portable. The hybrid idea is the best for them now.

It's not about chasing power, but reaching a different audience with different needs that won't be interested in the machine they're preparing now. Also, they don't have to necessarily shoot for the highest tflops count. Just put out something that can play their games on any TV without the obvious compromises of mobile chips.

For example, if the 4K TV market explodes in the next two years and they want to reach the audience that wants to play games in 4K on their new 4K TV (something that the hybrid device can't do for obvious reasons), they need a more powerful machine on the market to do that. It's not about competing in specs (which is something they're not interested in, they made it perfectly clear multiple times), but offering a product that could help them expanding their audience.

I'm not sure what exactly the NX hardware will end up being, or if and what different SKUs may be planned. Ultimately I think everyone agrees that unifying the software library is good, but making one fit all hardware isn't good. I think we've learned that the hardware that works in one region, may not work in another.

This too.

 

[MuchoMalo]

Actually trisetup rate is a fundamental characteristic of a rasterizer.


Ever since Fermi, the trisetup has been carried in the PolyMorph (tm) (r) (c) engine, which traditionally has been coupled to a SM - a PolyMorph engine per SM. Now (and here comes the tricky part), every PolyMorph engine can do the trisetup for the pertinent SM to carry out its part of a triangle. So there's the implicit notion that a triangle may (and often will) span multiple SMs. And indeed, a triangle entity needs to pass some other stages before it even gets to the trisetup stage (carried by the PolyMorph), and there happens a sort of a bottleneck - a triangle can be dispatched to one or more GPC (Graphics Processing Cluster), based on its screen footprint, but a GPC does one tri per clock. So if a GTX1080 has 4 GPCs, that translates to 4tri/clock, even though it has as many as 5 SMs per GPC = 20 SMs, each with a PolyMorph engine, each capable of a trisetup per clock. Alas. The entire issue stems from this 'a tri shall span multiple GPCs' notion - and it is technically (and most importantly - statistically) true - tris more often than not are big enough to span multiple screen tiles - the workload unit of the GPC/SMs within a GPC. Here's some very informative read on the subject. Now, since Tegras have traditionally had just one GPC, that means they're traditionally 1 tri/clock.

I mean more to the point of the perceivable effect on performance and visual quality.

 

[L Thammy]

I can't see any way that the NX will be able to fully satisfy console-only consumers without having a distinct console form factor with improved specs. It's great for guys like me who want to buy a console but can't really justify something a gaming device that I can't take with me on my commute. But the idea of just having the handheld really sounds like they're just giving up on getting the traditional Western consumer; I don't think that sounds good to anyone, Nintendo included.

 

[Plinko]

It's not about chasing power, but reaching a different audience with different needs that won't be interested in the machine they're preparing now. Also, they don't have to necessarily shoot for the highest tflops count. Just put out something that can play their games on any TV without the obvious compromises of mobile chips.

For example, if the 4K TV market explodes in the next two years and they want to reach the audience that wants to play games in 4K on their new 4K TV (something that the hybrid device can't do for obvious reasons), they need a more powerful machine on the market to do that. It's not about competing in specs (which is something they're not interested in, they made it perfectly clear multiple times), but offering a product that could help them expanding their audience.


This too.

They could if the dock was upgradeable.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

I can't see any way that the NX will be able to fully satisfy console-only consumers without having a distinct console form factor with improved specs. It's great for guys like me who want to buy a console but can't really justify something a gaming device that I can't take with me on my commute. But the idea of just having the handheld really sounds like they're just giving up on getting the traditional Western consumer; I don't think that sounds good to anyone, Nintendo included.

Nintendo hasn't been able to satisfy most console-only consumers in over a decade. I think this is by far the best option for them. A system that can be used as both portable device and home console, with the backing of Nintendo's entire game development muscle.

Of course, if an improved version of NX releases later on, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

 

[ozfunghi]

I can't see any way that the NX will be able to fully satisfy console-only consumers without having a distinct console form factor with improved specs. It's great for guys like me who want to buy a console but can't really justify something a gaming device that I can't take with me on my commute. But the idea of just having the handheld really sounds like they're just giving up on getting the traditional Western consumer; I don't think that sounds good to anyone, Nintendo included.

You have to take software, both 1st and 3rd party, into account. Nintendo can now put all their games onto one device, like combining all their 3DS and WiiU games. In the homeconsole space, they had barely any 3rd party support. Only on their handhelds, they keep getting 3rd party games. By making a handheld that can only be played on the TV, they basically are able to move those 3rd party games back into the livingroom as well.

If the big 3rd party hitters of homeconsole games are not coming to NX, then that is basically no different from WiiU, which was also not getting these games. In fact, by releasing one device, which will be supported twice as good by Nintendo, as well as get all the mobile devs onboard, their chances of better hardware sales will rise along with the chances that some of those 3rd party homeconsole games might actually be ported (if the tech is capable enough, and the userbase is there).

In case these 3rd party devs shun the device, at the very least you will get a much broader 1st party line up. And with their 1st party games, Nintendo can amaze graphically on any hardware they put out. Even if it's "just" a beefed up handheld.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Interesting that you say that. Right now, I live in China, and whenever people have their phones out, chances are they're playing a game on it. There are people using Wechat or watch a movie, but I noticed people tend to game more. Of course this is anecdotal evidence.

Well, I think it's more Japan, and to a lesser extent Korea, where there's still a decent amount of audience for dedicated portables. Though mobile is also huge.

With Japan especially it's so densely populated that people are in small places without a lot of room for TVs or PCs. Much less multiple TVs for family watching and gaming etc.

A lot of China is closer to the West in terms of being more spread out, more people in houses (albeit smaller ones than the McMansions in the US) etc.

 

[mugurumakensei]

Of course, if an improved version of NX releases later on, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised.

I would hope, with the SCD patent and all, Nintendo created an easy to use resource availability API so that things can be turned on or off ( or varying levels of quality ) based on what is available at a given point in time. That would allow a feature home revision that's actively cooled to be clocked higher and have more (potentially faster) RAM with games just working and maintaining higher resolutions / particle count / texture quality. It'd also allow for seamless transition for original version owners when an SCD is available. I imagine the SCD purpose is so that early adopters don't have to pay full price every time there is a revision.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

How could it possibly have a bigger library than a traditional home console? Gimmicky hardware is more difficult to develop for. There will certainly be fewer games on this console than if it were a traditional home console.

Think the 3DS plus Wii U libraries put together. More games available to you now without having to buy two separate platforms. Devs can put out more games as they're not wasting time on Mario Kart 7 and 8, Super Mario 3D Land and 3D World etc.

It's going to remain a "Nintendo" machine with little third party support beyond the few devs making games that sell better on Nintendo platforms than the competition. Having all their library in one place just makes the overall package more attractive to more people.

Those who only game at home can now play ALL Nintendo's games on their big screens. Those who only game on portables can now play ALL Nintendo's games on a portable. Those who do both can now play ALL their games home and way on one device.

That's what they're going for. Vs. this gen (and past) where the software libraries on the Nintendo console and portable separately have been pretty thin for people who aren't diehard Nintendo fans (i.e. those that don't like their B tier franchises and spinoffs).