Report: Nintendo NX is Portable With Detachable Controllers

Lizzy Finnegan

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Report: Nintendo NX is Portable With Detachable Controllers

A new report claims that the mysterious Nintendo NX console is portable, with detachable controllers, and uses cartridges.

Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-07-26-nx-is-a-portable-console-with-detachable-controllers] reports that "a number of sources" have confirmed that Nintendo's next gaming console, the NX, will be "a high-powered handheld console with its own display," with two detachable controllers on either side of the screen.

Further, the report indicates that the system can be connected to a docking station for use on a larger screen. "A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX - within the controller - to display on your TV," the Eurogamer report reads. The new report also corroborates earlier rumors, which indicated that the system will use cartridges.

"Nintendo has not made any new official announcements regarding NX which is due to launch in March 2017," a Nintendo spokesperson told Eurogamer. "As such [we're] unable to comment on the various rumours and speculations circulating."

The NX is slated to release in March 2017, accompanied by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167276-Nintendo-NX-Launches-March-2017-Legend-of-Zelda-Delayed].

Since we don't have any pictures of the console, here's a Breath of the Wild gallery to hold you over.

[gallery=6356]

[Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-07-26-nx-is-a-portable-console-with-detachable-controllers]]

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Leg End

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A handheld that can trade blows with the PS4 and Xbone is going to need so much juice it isn't even funny and I can only think of so many things to even try and solve the issue without utterly gimping the system or making it absolutely fuckhuge.

But if they can truly deliver on the power on the go while the station can provide a bit extra power for 4K, it's an interesting idea and if Nintendo doesn't fuck it up, they might just have a chance here for a good system that matches the limitations now set forth by the new PS4 and whatever Scorpio is, as they have to also run on the older hardware.

I think Nintendo has a good shot with this and preemptively managed to outwit Sony and Microsoft so the playing field might finally be even for the first time since the Gamecube.

Westaway said:
This sounds absurd. What are they thinking?
It is so fucking crazy it just might work. Using Cartridges for the system can heavily reduce loading times and isn't a battery hog like an optical drive with moving parts or a laser, which Sony learned the hard way.
 

Quellist

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If thats true (and i sincerely hope it isn't), Nintendo can eat a dick!

There's just about no possible way (Unless they unearthed some UFO tech) that a handheld with games on cartridges is going to compete side by side with Sony and M$
 

Leg End

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Quellist said:
There's just about no possible way (Unless they unearthed some UFO tech) that a handheld with games on cartridges is going to compete side by side with Sony and M$
It's possible depending on how they implement this. The big issue I'm seeing here is price and size, with battery being guaranteed to be a major issue.

I think they've either lost their minds or are going to win hard with this. My body is so fucking ready.
 

Mr.Mattress

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Quellist said:
If thats true (and i sincerely hope it isn't), Nintendo can eat a dick!

There's just about no possible way (Unless they unearthed some UFO tech) that a handheld with games on cartridges is going to compete side by side with Sony and M$
You do know that the 3DS is selling on par with the XBone and only slightly less then the PS4, right? It's not impossible for a handheld to sell well while still competing with powerful consoles.

OT: I don't know why everyone is being negative about this idea. I'd buy it in a heart beat if it's true. Obviously it's not confirmed or denied by Nintendo yet. Either way I think this is neat.
 

chemicalfire

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I think the cartridges are a good idea if used to their full potential. Back in the SNES/NES days they were able to add extra chips in some games' cartridges to help improve performance, such as the Super FX chip. Other than that, I feel conflicted and depressed. Probably because I'm a Wii U die hard.
 

RejjeN

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Well, given the price of SD cards these days... I guess it's possible? Going to be interesting to see what's true and if it works out or not.
 

Johnny Novgorod

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Every time I read a new report about the NX I am reminded of that parable about the three blind men feeling out an elephant.
 

VirOath

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Westaway said:
This sounds absurd. What are they thinking?
Quellist said:
If thats true (and i sincerely hope it isn't), Nintendo can eat a dick!

There's just about no possible way (Unless they unearthed some UFO tech) that a handheld with games on cartridges is going to compete side by side with Sony and M$
Right now, the 3DS is a pretty powerful unit for it's size- the biggest hangups for the blocky look that often appears in it's 3D games is the 3D setting itself, it has to be designed to be able to double it's rendering load per frame without tanking the framerate to unacceptable levels. Which means compromises in graphical fidelity that have to be compensated for in art aesthetic.

So the idea of a console being a portable unit isn't completely crazy. Nintendo's portable systems have been incredibly successful these past cycles and their main market of focus, Japan, is ravenous for portable gaming. A problem that has been rearing it's ugly head has been the line between the capabilities of a portable system and a console being blurred compared to previous console/portable cycles, this has led to a cannibalization of the production focus between the Wii-U and the 3DS. There are a number of players that would rather play certain 3DS games on a console instead of a portable but the series has been sticking to portable releases. Also with VC becoming a stronger market driver the current division of Wii-U and 3DS has them using a different VC, wasting effort and further damaging the value proposition of VC purchases.

There are two more points to this: that Nintendo has stated that the hardware would be sold at a profit and that power may not be as big a hangup as you might think. That Nintendo would sell it's hardware at a profit is just expected of them at this point, being that was what they did with the Wii and aimed it's marketing to get it into the homes of families. Sure, they only cared about Wii-Sports but the matter that they made a profit off of console adoption is a something that provided unparalleled revenue, they are trying to have lightning strike twice. Being able to do this without major sacrifices in power is significantly easier now than it has ever been, VR has finally given a reason for a new generational jump in consumer graphical processing at consumer grade pricing. Both AMD and Nvidia have released high powered graphics cards that have changed the Price/Performance landscape of graphics cards, the 900 series level of power is now matched or beaten by budget cards. If it is that hardware that is used in the manufacturing of the next generation of consoles then we will see a massive power jump across the board.

Not that such a thing matters. Despite the marketing for the consoles themselves the power behind them isn't really that important. While high levels of graphical fidelity requires massive crunch what makes something beautiful is artistic direction and art aesthetic. There are many games with a beautiful art aesthetic while having low fidelity just as there is plenty of high fidelity games made ugly by their aesthetic due to having no real artistic direction.

But this idea of the NX being a portable/console hybrid has been a rumor that has been floating around for months now. Even with this news it's still not official and is still a rumor.

Edit: USB and SD cards would classify as cartridges, have higher data transfer rates than discs and have a higher capacity than discs. For a while CD tech was advancing faster than chip based storage but chip based storage has caught up. There is a reason why SSDs are becoming more commonplace in the PC market, chip based storage is proving itself superior to disc based storage once more.
 

marioandsonic

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I really wish Nintendo would just reveal the NX already. All of these reports and rumors are driving me nuts.
 

09philj

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I thought the NX was going to be elbow mounted and made of celery.

Joking aside, this sounds like the kind of thing Nintendo would do. Really, I just want to know what the fuck this thing is.
 

Quellist

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Mr.Mattress said:
Quellist said:
If thats true (and i sincerely hope it isn't), Nintendo can eat a dick!

There's just about no possible way (Unless they unearthed some UFO tech) that a handheld with games on cartridges is going to compete side by side with Sony and M$
You do know that the 3DS is selling on par with the XBone and only slightly less then the PS4, right? It's not impossible for a handheld to sell well while still competing with powerful consoles.

OT: I don't know why everyone is being negative about this idea. I'd buy it in a heart beat if it's true. Obviously it's not confirmed or denied by Nintendo yet. Either way I think this is neat.
I'll tell you why i'm being so negative about this. I don't want to play Xenoblade Chronicles X-2 (or whatever it will be called) or Breath of the Wild on a fucking 6 inch screen! Even assuming it plugs into a TV i'm less than keen on playing them on substandard tech thats been optimized out the ass to make it portable.
 

Neurotic Void Melody

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Cartridges eh? Why not. Every time I try to picture the article's description of the console within the brain frame, a strange tickling sensation occurs which escalates to a loud, numbing buzz, then everything goes white and i wake up, crumpled on top of a poor house pet with a nose-bleed.
 

Jacked Assassin

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marioandsonic said:
I really wish Nintendo would just reveal the NX already. All of these reports and rumors are driving me nuts.
Also I'm not excited by the use of cartridges as I've moved on to digital distribution.
 

Leg End

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Quellist said:
I'll tell you why i'm being so negative about this. I don't want to play Xenoblade Chronicles X-2 (or whatever it will be called) or Breath of the Wild on a fucking 6 inch screen! Even assuming it plugs into a TV i'm less than keen on playing them on substandard tech thats been optimized out the ass to make it portable.
I'd imagine it's possible they're going to have the games run in a mobile and console mode and me optimized for both in terms of resolution and framerate.

I imagine the dock is going to be having its own bits and bobs to make the difference. The serious issue is pricing here.
 

Quellist

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LegendaryGamer0 said:
Quellist said:
I'll tell you why i'm being so negative about this. I don't want to play Xenoblade Chronicles X-2 (or whatever it will be called) or Breath of the Wild on a fucking 6 inch screen! Even assuming it plugs into a TV i'm less than keen on playing them on substandard tech thats been optimized out the ass to make it portable.
I'd imagine it's possible they're going to have the games run in a mobile and console mode and me optimized for both in terms of resolution and framerate.

I imagine the dock is going to be having its own bits and bobs to make the difference. The serious issue is pricing here.
The serious issue is this is the company that brought us the Virtual Boy. When Nintendo are good they are very good but sometimes they make the worst missteps imaginable
 

JUMBO PALACE

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Mr.Mattress said:
You do know that the 3DS is selling on par with the XBone and only slightly less then the PS4, right? It's not impossible for a handheld to sell well while still competing with powerful consoles.
Yeah it just seems that Nintendo is looking at where they are successful and triyng to carry over elements of that to their home console. We kind of already saw this a little with the Wii U's ability to play on either the TV or the game pad. I'm not particularly interested and I don't think it's likely people will latch onto this but I can see the line of thinking that brought Nintendo there.
 

Colt47

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I like the idea of a handheld that can be plugged into a TV. Basically, it lets you take your games with you and when you get back to your house you can sit down and play the game normally as well. For games like Pokemon this sounds amazing, especially if they do something like a miniature Pokemon GO type game for getting pokemon while out and about.