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[Pittree]

Sooo...let's say all of this is 100% true. Let's say that the NX is a handheld with a docking station and these weird little controllers on the edges of the screen.

How exactly is one supposed to play Just Dance on it? I mean, Ubi already announced the game for the system. How, with what we are being told the system supposedly is, would that even work? No info has come out about motion tracking or Wiimote compatibility.

I dunno, the more I think about this rumor, the more it feels like the "source" is simply telling people what they've wanted to hear about the console all along...

Well. While I was coming up with my mockup I figured that. For playing just dance, you just place the screen part on a table, grab the two tiny controllers (wich should have motion capabilities) and you use those as wii remotes. Instant multiplayer fun!... -_-

 

[Undead Fantasy]

I spent some more time playing with the idea and concepts being thrown arround so I updated my previous mockup.

I now think that the deattachable controllers could be nice for casual multiplayer on the go, but I am still trying to find a good use for the screen while docked.

I really don't want the screen go to waste like that while in console mode. Especially considering wireless transmission could liberate the (NX) screen for use while still making possible to display the game on the TV

Jesus if the size is portable I would love this. Too good.

 

[Snakeyes]

Obviously, I'm asking why a dock significantly faster than the base system wouldn't be it's own system.

We don't even know if the dock will be something more than a glorified charging cradle with a TV-out. A standalone console hasn't been ruled out either.

 

[diaspora]

A standalone console hasn't been ruled out.

Aren't the rumours ruling out a console? Or is that just baseless extrapolation?

 

[TLZ]

I really disagree with this. I would kill to play this on the bus, and I would love to be able to play my 3DS on a big screen with a separate controller.

Of course portable users will love it. That's not my point. You're not thinking like someone who wants it for home console only use, which the rumors are saying this is what the NX will do as well. That's what I was talking about. Think of the millions of people who just want this under the TV 24/7. The screen is pointless and extra money wasted there paying for portable resources. Nintendo can simply release a home only version without these resources for much cheaper and I for sure know Nintendo will never want to lose out on selling cheap.

I disagree, as sometimes other people want to use the living room television, and it is nice to be able to quickly change to a handheld screen and let someone else watch TV for a bit.

But this is a handheld first and foremost, not a home console with off tv play like the Wii U.

 

[Pittree]

I really like the mock ups, especially pitree's, for giving us a way to visualize the description, but I can't help but think we're all visualizing it wrong.

What about shoulder buttons? if the full controller had shoulder buttons, they would be in strange places when the controller split from the handheld. And no matter what it looks like, wouldn't 2 controllers on the sides of a tablet either make for really tiny controllers, or make the whole set up awkwardly large?

I feel like too many sacrifices would be made to controls for both single player and multiplayer games just to have the ability to play 2 players on a small screen together. Why not just sell the controllers separately and let them all connect to the screen. Why need to bookend the console with controllers to begin with.
r.

In the mockup I placed the shoulder buttons/scroll wheels on the screen part of the system, the controllers being tiny would allow your fingers to rest over that part for using while in handheld mode. Now when you deattach those, you end up without shoulder buttons (wiimote style) wich would fit a more casual style of play focusing on face buttons, motion and maybe even pointer. These setup would also allow using the tablet without controllers attached with virtual buttons on screen and the nice addition of physical shoulder buttons. Wich may be fitting for the "mobile" player market

 

[Violet_0]

a powerful mobile hyrbid platform is exactly what I want from Nintendo. I'm not into dedicated home consoles anymore these days, I even do all my gaming on a laptop. Plus, they don't have to split their first party output between two consoles

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Of course portable users will love it. That's not my point. You're not thinking like someone who wants it for home console only use, which the rumors are saying this is what the NX will do as well. That's what I was talking about. Think of the millions of people who just want this under the TV 24/7. The screen is pointless and extra money wasted there paying for portable resources. Nintendo can simply release a home only version without these resources for much cheaper and I for sure know Nintendo will never want to lose out on selling cheap.

I think this is possible within a couple of years. I think there's a chance of a handheld only SKU as well.

 

[Nerrel]

Being disappointed that the NX is not as powerful as the ps4 is like being disappointed that the 3DS isn't as powerful as the Wii U. Those expectations were misplaced from the beginning.

Nintendo at least coming close to matching the power of a 3 1/2 year old system is too much to expect? Right after their last system failed horribly in large part because it was so underpowered?

What was unreasonable was that some people were expecting this thing to compete with the Neo/Scorpio. That was never going to happen. Competing with the original PS4/XBox, or slightly under those systems, was a reasonable expectation.

I've got to be honest, as long as this thing plays Zelda with notably better graphics/framerate than Wii U, I'm in for it.

 

[Snakeyes]

Aren't the rumours ruling out a console? Or is that just baseless extrapolation?

The latter.

I could be totally wrong but to me, Iwata's "brothers in a family of systems" stuff was way too elaborate to just be thrown out in favor of a docking tablet with detachable controllers. Much like this device has a unique portable-centric gimmick with its detachable controllers that enable casual multiplayer anywhere, I think there will be a home console version with a gimmick that makes sense for home use and sets it apart from the competition.

 

[antonz]

The latter.

I could be totally wrong but to me, Iwata's "brothers in a family of systems" stuff was way too elaborate to just be thrown out in favor of a docking tablet with detachable controllers. Much like this device has a unique portable-centric gimmick with its detachable controllers that enable casual multiplayer anywhere, I think there will be a home console version with a gimmick that makes sense for home use and sets it apart from the competition.

Really cannot take anything Nintendo says at face value. NX is not a replacement for Wii U or 3DS supposedly yet this is very much a 3DS replacement and unless there is a console as well its a Wii U replacement

 

[Hispanic! At the Disco]

In the mockup I placed the shoulder buttons/scroll wheels on the screen part of the system, the controllers being tiny would allow your fingers to rest over that part for using while in handheld mode. Now when you deattach those, you end up without shoulder buttons (wiimote style) wich would fit a more casual style of play focusing on face buttons, motion and maybe even pointer. These setup would also allow using the tablet without controllers attached with virtual buttons on screen and the nice addition of physical shoulder buttons. Wich may be fitting for the "mobile" player market

Ahh, I see it now. My eyes sort of just glanced over the shoulder buttons when I first looked at the images.

 

[Plinko]

Screen in the player's hands the whole time will force us with a Wii U situation, which I do not think will happen again. Also, having the screen in our hands the whole time while playing on TV renders the dock useless if it's just a tv out. They can just give us a chromecast-like connection straight to the TV instead.

Wii U worked fine in that situation.

How can they do a Chromecast connection directly to the TV without a connection? Dongle?

 

[TLZ]

Really cannot take anything Nintendo says at face value. NX is not a replacement for Wii U or 3DS supposedly yet this is very much a 3DS replacement and unless there is a console as well its a Wii U replacement

Well they did say before the DS wasn't a gameboy advance replacement.

Wii U worked fine in that situation.

How can they do a Chromecast connection directly to the TV without a connection? Dongle?

Yea that's what I meant. If the screen won't be using the dock for TV play then a dongle is better, using their excellent Wii U streaming tech (or even a much improved version by now). That's of course in the case the dock is only used for tv out. If the dock really does add power then that's a different story (In which case I don't know if Nintendo releasing a home only version would be cheaper than a combined price of handheld and dock).

 

[Elfforkusu]

Even if everything we've learned is true, there are still some huge questions:

1. will there be another, home-only SKU?
2. will there not be a home SKU, but rather a special dock with eGPU built in? If so, what are the upper limits on TDP here?
3. if either, will they appear at launch? Within a year?
4. in "handheld mode", the Tegra will likely be run at a lower clock to limit power consumption (battery size constraints). Will it run at a higher clock when docked? #1, #2, and #4 might be mutually exclusive.
5. 16nm Tegra??? (I got caught up in calling it the "X2" last night, but that's too specific a name given what we know) It makes all the sense in the world, for the reasons the DF video spelled out and more.

Since we don't know any details, there are also a bunch of smaller questions that still have huge ramifications on the final form factor. For example, if the controller and screen are detachable, do you put the battery with the controller, the screen, or do they each have their own? Choose carefully.

 

[Portugeezer]

Well they did say before the DS wasn't a gameboy advance replacement.

They didn't replace gameboy... they just stopped making gameboy.

 

[jdstorm]

My problem with there article is why not speak about the power? They were the first one hyping up "industry leading chips" with their sources. Why not go back to sources and get better understanding of what is exactly inside the thing. The whole demo that have to be ran on top notch pc the to run. Something is missing here.

I'm on the 16nm pascal Tegra /SLI theory. Hypothetically 2 16nm pascal Tegra chips docked and in a turbo boost mode could potentially hit 1070 performance. Current 1070 performance would have been mind blowing in a handheld/console for e3 2014/15

 

[ArtHands]

Well they did say before the DS wasn't a gameboy advance replacement.

To be fair the DS really feels like they were trying it out to see if a power console is the only way to advance forward, and that they have a more powerful Game Boy prototype in the buffer as an insurance. Nobody expected the DS to be so popular and the market somehow suggest that the DS is enough.

 

[tapedeck]

The more mock ups I see the more I hate the idea of this thing. I hope the execution of the idea is infinitely better than anything I can think of right now.

 

[Snakeyes]

Really cannot take anything Nintendo says at face value. NX is not a replacement for Wii U or 3DS supposedly yet this is very much a 3DS replacement and unless there is a console as well its a Wii U replacement

We'll see, I guess.

 

[Malygos]

I really feel like this is the wrong direction for Nintendo to go. Mobile gaming is completely dominated by phones and that's not going to change any time soon. They should have just continued to publish great nintendo games to Android and IOS for mobile and gone for a powerful gaming console for hardcore gamers. As someone who never really games on the go this is disappointing.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Nintendo at least coming close to matching the power of a 3 1/2 year old system is too much to expect? Right after their last system failed horribly in large part because it was so underpowered?

1. The PS4 is 2 1/2 years old. It came out November 2013.

2. A Nintendo console just isn't going to sell in the $300-350 range they'd probably need to make a profit from day one (which they must do) on each unit sold.

3. I don't think the underpowered part of the Wii U hurt it that much. The Wii was even more underpowered and sold gangbusters.

The Wii U just had nothing to really appeal to people outside of fans of their core franchises, there was no mass market interest in the tablet controller or off tv play, and it was named and marketed terribly.

It's software library isn't as great as the diehard fans make it out to be either as it was heavy on sequels to their standard franchises--which while great games weren't going to bring back lapsed fans who left Nintendo behind because of getting tired of those games nor appeal to gamers who were never in to them. Many of the other highly touted games were pretty niche like Bayonetta, Wonderful 101 etc. Overall a big step down for the Wii's library variety, even if quality of games was up in some franchises.

 

[TLZ]

To be fair the DS really feels like they were trying it out to see if a power console is the only way to advance forward, and that they have a more powerful Game Boy prototype in the buffer as an insurance. Nobody expected the DS to be so popular and the market somehow suggest that the DS is enough.

They're most probably using the same strategy now then

 

[domlolz]

All of this is possible while also having a console that isn't a dumpster fire.



A platform operating in that performance envelope releasing in 2016 as a home console is terrible. This is like defending dedicated Blackberry devices at this point.

you are being a tad hyperbolic

 

[TLZ]

Nintendo at least coming close to matching the power of a 3 1/2 year old system is too much to expect? Right after their last system failed horribly in large part because it was so underpowered?

This is a handheld though. So you're comparing a handheld to a home console.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

I could be totally wrong but to me, Iwata's "brothers in a family of systems" stuff was way too elaborate to just be thrown out in favor of a docking tablet with detachable controllers.

While true, he's dead and the company has underwent a major restructuring in the year plus since. So plans could have changed a lot.

I'm guessing they're pretty risk adverse and want to just focus all efforts on making this NX hybrid thing as big a success as possible over the next couple of years.

If it fails, who knows what they do next. If it takes off, then I could see them expanding into that family of systems idea, or using their supplemental computing devices thing to put out updated docks that boost performance (instead of putting out completely new systems like Sony and MS with their incremental upgrade approaches) etc.

 

[diaspora]

This is a handheld though. So you're comparing a handheld to a home console.

Do one thing right, don't do one thing OK and halfass another.

 

[NeonZ]

Really cannot take anything Nintendo says at face value. NX is not a replacement for Wii U or 3DS supposedly yet this is very much a 3DS replacement and unless there is a console as well its a Wii U replacement

Kimishima did say that the launch of the NX would affect both the Wii U and the 3DS when asked about its negative effects on the Wii U's sales - and, when the interviewer pressed him on how it'd affect mostly the Wii U since it's a "console", he just said that he believes that 3DS can last longer due to the upcoming Pokemon game and other software.

The part about not being a replacement is probably just referencing how this isn't part of those lines. So, no backwards compatibility, and probably no dual screen.

 

[domlolz]

Nintendo at least coming close to matching the power of a 3 1/2 year old system is too much to expect? Right after their last system failed horribly in large part because it was so underpowered?

thats probably not even in the top 5 reasons the wii u didn't sell

the wii was massively underpowered and outsold the two competitors, the ds/3ds were the same

i would have thought by now people know nintendo always go for modestly specced hardware

 

[TLZ]

Do one thing right, don't do one thing OK and halfass another.

I'm with you, if this is being sold as both a handheld and a home console, and no separate home console release.

If it's just a handheld and a tv out, I love it. I just do not want to use this as a home console.

 

[rschauby]

Nintendo is going to iterate on the system anyways like they have anyways done with their handhelds from GBC to the New 3DS and so theoretically with NX they could create a more powerful NX down the line but also sell an SCD to breathe life into the old NX, which would be the equivalent of Sony releasing an add on for the PS4 to bring it to parity with Neo but in a more elegant fashion. Everything is going the iterative route anyways. Point being, the system that they release next year doesn't have to be the one they sick with for the reminder of the gen in regards to power.

You're talking about a company which has yet to release a modern platform OS, an online gaming network, or a proper digital market place; but you believe they're going to skip ahead 10 years and release a future proof console hybrid with upgradeable hardware in mind?

 

[BY2K]

Saw this on Twitter. (Mock-up, obviously.)

https://twitter.com/Mucrush/status/758475979689979904

 

[Neoleo2143]

^ Yeah, that looks about right. Very well done mock up if not.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Saw this on Twitter. (Mock-up, obviously.)

https://twitter.com/Mucrush/status/758475979689979904

Ok, and how are those detachable pieces supposed to work standalone?

EDIT: That's also really big.

 

[rschauby]

thats probably not even in the top 5 reasons the wii u didn't sell

the wii was massively underpowered and outsold the two competitors, the ds/3ds were the same

i would have thought by now people know nintendo always go for modestly specced hardware

You must be young, because I remember all those past consoles where Nintendo had the most powerful hardware.

 

[Kimawolf]

I like it. Actually reminds me of a...Playstation ad. it works. The buttons need to be a tad more spaced for solo play, will be like a Snes pad when separated.

 

[Neoleo2143]

You must be young, because I remember all those past consoles where Nintendo had the most powerful hardware.

That was before the most powerful hardware struck up to $1000 hardware.

 

[Übermatik]

Saw this on Twitter. (Mock-up, obviously.)

https://twitter.com/Mucrush/status/758475979689979904

Chunky and terribly unergonomic considering the detachable controllers rumour. Just looks like a shittier Gamepad.

 

[KingBroly]

So...what would other companies want to copy from NX if Nintendo is so secretive about it?

I don't feel like there's anything here that either Sony or MS would want to copy.

 

[Nanashrew]

You're talking about a company which has yet to release a modern platform OS, an online gaming network, or a proper digital market place; but you believe they're going to skip ahead 10 years and release a future proof console hybrid with upgradeable hardware in mind?

Everything points to iteration. My Nintendo account is a software based account system, cloud is something expected to come to the account system as well. SCD's are patented and looks to be an upgradable thing.

NX is being built with iteration in mind and absolutely everything from Nintendo's words, patents and the industry in general point to it happening.

 

[bengraven]

 

[Peltz]

Deep down, I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed with this concept unless I'm missing something here.

I really don't see how this is a new way to play that could really change Nintendo's trajectory. I'll still enjoy the Nintendo games and be there day 1, but I can't see how this is going to appeal to the casual market. I really hoped that's who they were going after this time.

This still feels totally aimed at the same amorphous Wii U audience. Underpowered hardware with a new take on the structure of the console... but no innovations on gameplay that we can presently see. I prefer them to use hardware to innovate within the games themselves, rather than how they are played in a "convenience" or "location" sense.

That's what they got wrong with the Wii U, and that's also what they're getting wrong here, unless there is more to this concept than we presently know. The Wii, in contrast, got it right, by being hardware that challenged your preconceptions as to how games are played.

They should have never scaled back on motion controls last gen. It's like they really sort of don't seem to understand what made the Wii so special.

 

[HeySeuss]

So are the scroll wheels on the out? I really hope not...

 

[brainchild]

Nintendo at least coming close to matching the power of a 3 1/2 year old system is too much to expect? Right after their last system failed horribly in large part because it was so underpowered?

What was unreasonable was that some people were expecting this thing to compete with the Neo/Scorpio. That was never going to happen. Competing with the original PS4/XBox, or slightly under those systems, was a reasonable expectation.

I've got to be honest, as long as this thing plays Zelda with notably better graphics/framerate than Wii U, I'm in for it.

Again, this is still a handheld, not a console. Expecting even a cutting edge handheld to compete with the current generation of consoles is not a reasonable expectation. It's the expectation of a fanboy's wetdream.

 

[Roo]

If the reveal is going to happen sometime during September (assuming it's is a press conference and not just some random direct) I assume a press release should happen at least a month in advance to let people know they're revealing their new platform the month after.

We should know about it in the coming weeks then.

 

[TLZ]

So...what would other companies want to copy from NX if Nintendo is so secretive about it?

I don't feel like there's anything here that either Sony or MS would want to copy.

Yea. That's why I feel there's something still missing. Fearing Sony and MS will steal ideas from a handheld when they're not in the handheld market tbw...

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

I think Nintendo should have just come out and said it was a handheld a long time ago. Expectations would have been way different and we wouldnt have all these disappointed/confused people that dont know what the heck is going on.

 

[family_guy]

Saw this on Twitter. (Mock-up, obviously.)

https://twitter.com/Mucrush/status/758475979689979904

People will get confused and think it's another accessory for the Wii.

 

[Refreshment.01]

Yea. That's why I feel there's something still missing. Fearing Sony and MS will steal ideas from a handheld when they're not in the handheld market tbw...

The "Ginmick" (NIntendo TM) is not unveiled yet. The controller related one specifically.

 

[brainchild]

I think Nintendo should have just come out and said it was a handheld a long time ago. Expectations would have been way different and we wouldnt have all these disappointed/confused people that dont know what the heck is going on.

I agree with this. Their silence has done nothing but cause negative press so far.