Meh.  Powerful portable hardware sounds cool.  It would take a lot to get me to invest in a new console right now though.  Killing all backwards compatibility was expected (at least, by me) but only makes this a clean cut-off point for me. 


Time to hit that backlog!

It's a handheld, not a console.

Yeah, with the change in chip architecture and drastic change in form factor I was anticipating no backwards compatibility. Otherwise why the rumors around work being done on porting? Actually... that said... I wonder if there was any possibility for 3DS backwards compatibility...

I am totally jazzed by this if true(ish), it's been in line with a lot of stuff I've been feeling like this could be heading, a Portable-First design with a reverse-SuperGameboy to hook up to the TV. The detachable controllers though blow my mind! That's so... so... Advanced Video System? (The AVS was the precursor to the Famicom)

There were other rumours that the docking station has it's own hardware that beefs up the NX when in console mode to bring up to par with other consoles.  Without that it's basically a more high tech 3DS with a TV out, like if the PS Vita and TV were one in the same.

My objection to this is that essentially Nintendo wouldn't be making consoles at all anymore.  We get a successor to the 3DS but not the Wii U.  Any problems with games showing up on every console but Nintendo would not be solved since multiplatform games don't include the 3DS.  And Nintendo themselves continues to be restricted by less hardware since I can't see this thing being a PS4/XB1 equivalent while still having the right size and battery life of a decent handheld.  Though I guess it must at least be Wii U level hardware for Zelda to be on both.

I fear the market will just see this as a 3DS successor and interpret it as Nintendo leaving the console market.  There will be virtually no Western third party support since only Japanese devs support handhelds.

What's the difference when you can (and presumably will) play it on your TV?


The barriers between handheld and home console have been blurring for a while, and PSTV (despite bombing pretty hard because of some silly choices) proved to me that merging the two isn't an impossible task.


That said, I think Ian Sane's post has a lot of valid points. Developer support and public perception will be two big hurdles for Nintendo to overcome... although I'm not sure either is a new hurdle.

I'm a bit skeptical of how games would look when docked to the TV.  How much of a upgrade could be provided?  Will we be stuck at Wii U quality for the TV?  Or is the dock thing legit and providing a necessary spec bump?

32GB cartridges! Never thought I'd see the day.

So the NX is probably what everyone already guessed it would be a year ago. Truly, this "secret" was worth not bringing the console to E3.

Because there is no discernible home console elements to this. The sources Eurogamer has point this to a handheld first and foremost with it running on a mobile chipset. As friend-of-the-site Syrenne points out in her twitter thread(I'm paraphrasing): you're either looking at a Vita-like 540p resolution on the handheld with an HD upscaler inside the dock, which means "great job! You've found a way to piss off devs even more!"(my words, not hers), or the handheld runs everything and can natively output 720p or 1080p and now you're looking at Pokemon Go levels of battery drain.


It's a compromise either way, and Nintendo's track record points to the former, meaning the console side gets gimped. And I'm supposed to believe this is the hardware that's going to run Breath of the Wild flawlessly?

What the hell is an NX?

if the wiiu version is running at 1080p, and the nx is running it at 720p, and less assume is as powerful as a wiiu for a second. the nx should run zelda flawlessly. 720,1080,1440... ech jump requires 2x the resources to do the same render, but that works in reverse as well.  if the nx is the same power, but a lower screen res is should run it better.

As someone who'd prefer to play just about everything on a handheld, I could really get behind this idea.

I wouldn't really know how to vote with my wallet on this.  As a new handheld, it sounds great!  I would gladly support a 3DS successor with beefier hardware and the ability to plug into a TV.  But as a Wii U successor and a new Nintendo console, well I don't think of it as a console at all.  So how do I tell Nintendo "yes, I like your new handheld" and "no I do not consider a dockable handheld with no improved specs over the Wii U as an acceptable replacement for a proper console"?  Buying it can be seen as an endorsement of both and not buying it can be seen as a rejection of both.

When has Nintendo every correctly interpreted people voting with their wallets in the past anyway?  (Ok, maybe with GBA Micro and Virtual Boy...)

As has been the case with most NX rumours up to this point, I'm disinclined to believe a lot of this. Eurogamer certainly has more credibility than random "verified" GAF poster, but in some ways this reads like Eurogamer (or their sources) drawing conclusions based on the collection of previously reported NX rumours that they believe are the most plausible. It could well be true and in a general sense it definitely seems like the direction Nintendo might go in, but I'm still skeptical about many of the details.

If this does end up being an accurate approximation of what the NX is, I'd be fine with it. I do most of my gaming on handhelds as it is, so a powerful Nintendo portable sounds amazing to me. I don't know how much I'd use the "docking" feature in any meaningful capacity and it would be a shame if we weren't getting a new, true Nintendo home console, but if you asked me what piece of gaming hardware I wanted the most right now, a powerful Nintendo handheld console would top my list by a huge margin.

So, are the NX controllers the rumored U shape, and will they attach to the portable like handle on each side?

If there is any truth to these rumours then I just lost all interest in it.  I don't like handheld gaming and I have had nothing but mediocre experiences with the Tegra chips. 


Will this thing be any more powerful than the Wii U?  Or will the Wii U version of Breath of the Wild be the more capable of the two?  It's pretty much confirmed that the Wii U version is the one I'll be picking up and the days of my console ownership have come to an end. 


I might add that I'm not jumping up and down in outrage.  If that's their decision then that's fine.  I guess it does show that Nintendo have resigned themselves to the fact that they're never going to make any more headroom in the console space so they're slowly withdrawing from it to the handheld space where they are still dominant. Makes sense from a business perspective I guess.


Edit: obviously these are still rumours so treat the above diatribe accordingly.

To put it simply: I don't trust Emily Rogers' baseless intuition, which seems to be the one source all of these rumors link back to. I'll just wait for Nintendo to announce the NX when they want to.

My philosophy with Nintendo's secret projects stays the same: if random people on the internet can think of it, then it's not the concept that Nintendo is working on.

http://youtu.be/sgrHrd1Grvc

I don't really know what to make of this rumour. If true, sure, I'll buy it but it does mean that I will continue to miss out on some major "console games" because they once again won't be coming to a Nintendo platform. The one game that might get me to care enough to buy a PS4 or whatever would be the Red Dead Redemption sequel. I loved that game.

Nintendo has already messed with the lines between handheld and console in several ways. You can play all sorts of VC handheld games on your Wii U and all sorts of console NES and SNES titles on your handheld. You have two versions of games like smash bros and ports of 3ds games to Wii U like Resident Evil Revelaitons and Nano Assault and a bunch of other indie games like mighty switch force, mutant mudds, Ollie Ollie and Tipping Stars. These last two feature cross-buy. The landscape is, frankly, confusing and I'd be relieved if Nintendo just did away with all of that by giving us a true unified console that has a bunch of great games. I will no longer have to give a crap about whether it's a "console" or "handheld" experience because I'll just be playing great games wherever and whenever. I'd like that. Bring on Breath of the Wild (Hogs) and Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart and whatever other delightful Ninty efforts, big or small, and I'll hopefully be quite happy with that.

So, yeah, interesting.

I doubt this is the entirety of what NX is.

There's no way NX won't be backwards compatible with Wii U. Nintendo needs a way to make money off those games they made that no one played. Maybe not compatible with Wii U discs, but definitely compatible with the software. Especially if it truly is a portable device like these reports claim because that means it should have a built-in screen and all the other features that would make Wii U games possible.

Sorry, no passes for Eurogamer, especially when they use Emily Roger's as a source, This is basically a re posting of what emily said back in april. wither directly or indirectly, Her rumors or sources as she so often calls it tends to be wrong on so many levels.

Yes, I'm calling Emily Roger's out on this misinformation she keeps spreading.

She has a terrible track record, as does Eurogamer, they all seem to believe this is the NX console, but everything keeps pointing to a hand held, yet neither seem to call it just that.

Yet the information seems off and has so many inconsistencies.

Also the console NX will be an AMD x86 architecture, as AMD has announced they have won contracts, which we know are Scorpio and technically Neo , we know there's more that hasn't been announced.

They keep thinking it's the console, emily is misinformed. If anything it seems based on a handheld than the console itself. It's possible both systems could interact with one another.

But take anything with emily and eurogamer with a grain of salt.

I see a couple of possibilities if this rumor is more right than wrong. The first is that Nintendo never confirmed or denied whether the NX is a console successor. They have left that door open. If this IS the next home console offering, then I would naturally expect it would surpass the Wii U in every way. It would also suggest that the other rumors placing the NX on par with or superior to the Xbox One might also be correct.


As for 3rd party support, nothing changes. It has always been about the number of units sold, and if the NX sells 50 million+ and offers a full home gaming experience then you can expect all the western dev support.


I will concede this, as I'm not one who really enjoys handheld gaming, I would love to play the RPGs for 3DS on a big screen. That alone will not sell me on an NX, but in addition to the console experience it would make for a home run.

Some of this sounds plausible, but other parts seem to contradict some of the other info we've heard. I'm not believing anything yet.

I guess it goes to show that voting with one's wallet is a really poor means of communication.

@MysticGohan
But Emily Rogers was tweeting a day or two before the Eurogamer article that "major" gaming news sites would shortly be reporting something like this. That they had independently verified some rumours (verified not with her, with others) and that those reports would back up things she had been hearing and hinting at (like no x86 architecture). So, you're saying this was self serving, pre-tweeting?
I don't get it.

I like the idea of detachable controllers. It adds a third option of play I never considered. That said, how durable and big would this be? It seems like Nintendo is forfeiting one of their greatest group of buyers, parents who buy Nintendo handhelds for their kids, by offering something that isn't very durable and is probably huge.

I never respected all in one devices. They never turn out well enough. And the same goes with this. If it's both a handheld and console then they have to compromise on either battery or specs, durability or sleekness, and price or specs.

Now it is true that a lot of gamers happen to be older people, so if they're focusing on that market this could work. Still, it seems like an awful idea.

I would have preferred the "gimmick" be a universal software foundation; where games can be ported with ease, handhelds can speak to consoles, and all your games can be accessed on either one.

Emily tends to do this, but there's been devs that have come out and say that the NX is more powerful than the PS4. There's alot that contradicts what emily's been saying.

I'm so excited about NX. I hope Nintendo don't leave us waiting too long for concrete information and I really, really hope Nintendo has learned a lot from the past. They need to remember two things: one, don't be lazy, two, don't be greedy.

Youch. Emily Rogers has more fans on this site then I thought

We love Emily Rogers as much as we love using keys in Super Mario World. Sooooooo goooood.

AMD have 2 SOC coming, Q3 16 (Neo likely)+1 more date is secret (NX likely) + other SOC'S they haven't announced. According to SMD64 who I'd trust over Emily and has been working in the business.

I have been wanting a 3DS successor, so this could be good. But I wont believe anything until an announcement from Nintendo or some really big leaks.

/News Editor mode off

I'm leaning toward this being bunk, or at least not the whole story. Look at the games that have been announced for NX release so far: Just Dance 2017, Zelda, Sonic 2017*. One would make absolutely 0 sense as a portable game - and its publisher said that the NX would capture the casual market, which I would love to happen with a portable but never will. The other two are or will likely be confirmed as high powered games, which would run through a battery faster than Sanic on triple espresso and run hotter than a flaming Magcargo.

At best, if this thing is legit, it's a 3rd pillar (remember Nintendo talking about releasing more hardware form factors).

/News Editor mode on

*I'm aware we list two Dragon Quest games, but despite Horii being the source, they're still not official.

Didn't AMD confirm it as the Xbox One S? Like, last week?

Meh.


I've seen a lot of ugly and/or baseless online bashing of Emily Rogers by people who seem to have nothing better to do. Yet as rumor mongers go, I recall her being right more often than most - and she's considerably less annoying than the haters to boot. So why not be a fan?


Doesn't mean she's going to be right, or that I put any stock into there rumors. After all, that's all they are:  rumors.

Console or Handheld?

"Ah those trusted Gaf insiders" -makes a certain hand gesture-

Ugh, that's just begging for market confusion. The last thing Nintendo needs is several SKUs.

This certainly makes those other weird rumors about some sort of hardware that plugs into other hardware and gets more powerful as a result more intriguing. So you take your portable NX that these current rumors point to, and then plug it into an at-home NX, and it all of a sudden becomes beefier and more home-console like? Then when you want you just undock it from the home-dock and carry the same games with you on the go, but at a different graphical output and form factor?

*boggle* That STILL sounds absolutely wild to me, can't get my head wrapped around those particular rumors.

Yeah, that sounds like a cool idea!  This rumour sounds like if you removed the key parts that make me interested in the hybrid idea.

If Nintendo had any approach that was a console and handheld in one then they would have to offer some sort of SKU that is just a handheld.  Like maybe it could still connect to the home base if you bough the extra accessories but there are families where each kid has a handheld with their own Pokemon game.  That would get needlessly expensive if you had to buy this whole thing with docking unit every time when you really only need one of those with multiple handhelds.

See, that's how they get you.

It's possible through USB-C. This is how they are miniaturizing laptops but still allowing them to have power at the desk. It's pretty damn cool.

My reservations are still about the handheld itself. It can't be expensive or power hungry or flimsy. That means it's graphical output can't be crazy either, so it really does come down to the dock and nothing was said about it really. That's a red flag. It also has the controllers attached to the handheld, which is cool, but lends more credence to the dock being just a dock.

SMD64 is not from GAF, but I'd wager on him anyday than emily and eurongamer.

Console rumors, like consoles themselves, are a religion that inspire crusading.


Anyway, on this rumor, the NX sounds alright.


EDIT: And never burn your source!

Yes I believe so, but they also have sever SOC's that weren't announced but would be later.

I'm banking on that being Nintendo NX.

It doesn't make sense for the NX to be using AMD and then a handheld counter part that can be docked to the console using Nvidia Tegra. Those two architectures do not go together, there's no way either company would be willing to work on such projects.

And I doubt third parties would get excited for the NX using a tegra that's Xbone lever specs, the whole thing doesn't add up.

Plus Nintendo has done streaming well with the Wii U pad, if they wanted to take that tech a step further.

But I'm doubting the home console will be Nvidia based.

What I'm getting is that the handheld will be sub xbone spec with a lower resolution screen, either 560p or 720p. And of course be cartridge based as previous handhelds from Nintendo.

That's my take, wither it's Nvidia... I'm doubting it, but we'll see.

But I'm certain NX console will be AMD, x86 using polaris.

It may interact with the handheld, or it's possible the handheld may have an HDMI dongle that we've heard of to stream to a tv. But that's just patents, and we know not every patent makes it to reality.

Too many rumors at this point, but I doubt Nintendo would allow leaks at this point when we're close to them announcing the NX in all it's glory.

Just too much out there contradicting everything EG and Emily has stated.

paper mario color splash was accidentally leaked before she said nintendo was releasing it, and tp hd was found on the wii u eshop database and she piggybacked off of it.

she said nintendo was releasing a gta on the wii u and it never happened. she said a mother 3 was releasing in the west and it also…. never happened. she said we’d see pikmin 3 at e3 2010 and it also never happened.

Emily has been wrong many many times, so when I hear things and Emily in the same sentence, well this and others come to mind.

An thus I play the waiting game :p

Dude, we get it. You haven't made a single post in this thread without attacking Emily's credibility, because you don't think she has any. The point is established, just move on and lay off already - it's a bad look for you to be still beating that drum.

You clearly haven't been paying attention to Nintendo these last few years...

Thats right, Razer have a new laptop that uses an external graphics card over USB-C. I got to try it out at an event a week ago and it worked surprisingly well. It wasnt completely perfect though, I think it was probably early hardware and drivers.