The Wall Street Journal this morning is reporting some interesting bits of information on Nintendo’s upcoming NX gaming device.
While the article does mention that it received information from sources familiar with the product’s development, many items fall in line with previous speculation.
Furthermore, the NX is being described as “devices”. Here’s the meaty quote:
The exact shape of the NX hardware isn’t yet clear. People familiar with the development plans said Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use. They also said Nintendo would aim to put industry-leading chips in the NX devices, after criticism that the Wii U’s capabilities didn’t match those of competitors.
Let’s dissect this.
Nintendo is intending to use “industry-leading chips in the NX devices”.
Devices is plural there. The company has recently combined its once separate console & portable hardware and OS groups into one unit, and executives have spoken to the many positives of an iOS-like system in which an operating system and its software are flexible. This could imply that NX is more than one device, that it’s more related to the software and services that power the products rather than the electronics themselves.
The “industry-leading chips” point is important. Since the Wii and DS, Nintendo has opted to let its competitors wage a war of technological stats and power while it focused on delivering experiences and value. This has often led to third party publishers skipping the company’s hardware for their games because it wasn’t powerful enough or simply wasn’t easy enough to develop for. With both Sony and Microsoft pushing the PC-ness of their next-gen offerings, keeping up with those is important — but making development easier is absolutely crucial.
“Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit”
This could mean a hybrid device that is both a portable unit and some sort of docking station or something similar to Amazon’s Fire Stick, with Nintendo’s portable device containing all of the power while the stick or docking station outputs to a TV. The key thing to note is that a mobile unit containing that much power would be incredibly expensive. Consider taking a PS4, shrinking it down in size, and adding a controller, screen (or two) and a hefty hard drive (no discs, obviously). It would need to be more powerful than the Vita, which already sells for $200 and can’t match the power of even the PS3 or Wii U. Modern portable devices that have that much power cost in the high hundreds (think: iPad Pro or Microsoft Surface). It’s just not economical. And if it includes “at least one mobile unit” then that means two of those units would be
No, the outlook is something probably altogether different. We’ve detailed some below that may better fit the description.
A) A less powerful portable device (possibly somewhere between a Wii U and an Xbox One) that connects to a TV via powerful dock, with the ability to accept input from a few peripherals (external controllers, VR headset) when in TV mode. A couple of these could be packaged with the NX dock. We already know two Gamepads can be used with the Wii U, though no software has made use of that feature yet. If each of the Gamepads costs $150 to consumers, that could mean an NX console that rounds up to at least $500 if two are included. The portable devices could potentially take simplified versions of the main game with them. Summary: Powerful dock, less powerful portables that link to it.
B) A series of devices that function off of one OS, like Apple’s products do. This could be a powerful home console or a simplified portable device, or even an app on iOS or Android that links to a cloud service. Summary: Powerful or simple hardware, with scaleable software and cloud services
C) A powerful portable device that can connect to mobile phones and tablets for multiple players. Essentially this would be like cramming the entirety of the Wii U into the Gamepad, and letting others play along by hopping online with their mobile phones, much like Jackbox Party Pack collection of games did last year. The dock would just be an output to a TV. Summary: Powerful portable with simple dock serving as video output.
Whatever Nintendo has planned for the NX design-wise, the report states that it has started pushing its SDK to third party developers already. This falls in line with recent comments from Square Enix in which the upcoming Dragon Quest XI is being developed for the PS4 and NX (and 3DS). If the NX and PS4 are comparable games, then one would assume the hardware power is similar as well. Getting the SDK in front of developers early means that its intended 2016 reveal could lead to a launch during the same calendar year — possible Holiday 2016 — as a few of us have speculated.
We’ll find out more from the company as the months flip into the new year.
We’ve reached out to Nintendo for further comment, and will update this article once a reply arrives.
Source: Wall Street Journal (sub required)
1 Comment