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[Jackano]

On a serious note, the tech looks cool and everything, but, as a product, I really can't see it becoming "serious":

- That's a hw expansion, and we know expansions almost never work in the industry (32x, 64DD... only the Famicom Disk System kinda sell but it was 30 years ago).
- The purpose of having it giving your game a graphic boost / your console a power boost is so not Nintendo
- From the basic consumer point of view, it costs money to virtually add nothing to your games.

I can see hardcore fans liking it, but from what we believe so far, the only concrete implementation I can imagine is using the NX portable/hybrid dock as a SCD with the NX home console. Which once again will only benefit hardcore fans buying several Nintendo hardware.

 

[Dark Cloud]

This definitely sounds like the innovation. We're going to get more power-if you want more power just buy an SCD.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

Very interested to see what comes of this.

The NX!

 

[georly]

I still don't think this will actually ever be used, but we'll see I guess. Sounds neat, sounds like a good compromise, I'm just not buying nintendo will ever do it.

 

[Tokieda]

Is there any possibility that the NX will launch with two SKUs? One 'pure handheld' without the dock and only a charging cable, one 'hybrid' that includes the dock (and maybe something extra)? In this way they might have a price-competitive handheld at, say, $200, and a home console at $250?

 

[Trago]

I'm very interested to see how Nintendo uses this, if they ever do. The resource sharing across a network sounds oddly forward thinking for them.

 

[casey_contra]

On a serious note, the tech looks cool and everything, but, as a product, I really can't see it becoming "serious":

- That's a hw expansion, and we know expansions almost never work in the industry (32x, 64DD... only the Famicom Disk System kinda sell but it was 30 years ago).
- The purpose of having it giving your game a graphic boost / your console a power boost is so not Nintendo
- From the basic consumer point of view, it costs money to virtually add nothing to your games.

I can see hardcore fans liking it, but from what we believe so far, the only concrete implementation I can imagine is using the NX portable/hybrid dock as a SCD with the NX home console. Which once again will only benefit hardcore fans buying several Nintendo hardware.

I agree it could be a tough sell to the mass market... but I think looking at some of the raw reaction here could show us some highlights:

"OMG I can't wait to play Pokemon in HD!" = Watch your Pokemon come to life and battle it out on the big screen!

"Zelda on the go is huge!" = Experience the Breath of the Wild on your morning train ride or in your home theater!

etc. etc.

I'm just not sure "power" is the right message to send.

 

[Graphics Horse]

I'm very interested to see how Nintendo uses this, if they ever do. The resource sharing across a network sounds oddly forward thinking for them.

It should be able to save them enormous amounts of server costs if it can be combined in a useful device.
Main point is it serves as part of a distributed network, so a home hub with a simple processor, an hdd, a charger and hdmi out might make sense.
I think the idea that it will boost GPU power or other very low latency things will not become a reality, but we'll see.

 

[Plinko]

On a serious note, the tech looks cool and everything, but, as a product, I really can't see it becoming "serious":

- That's a hw expansion, and we know expansions almost never work in the industry (32x, 64DD... only the Famicom Disk System kinda sell but it was 30 years ago).
- The purpose of having it giving your game a graphic boost / your console a power boost is so not Nintendo
- From the basic consumer point of view, it costs money to virtually add nothing to your games.

I can see hardcore fans liking it, but from what we believe so far, the only concrete implementation I can imagine is using the NX portable/hybrid dock as a SCD with the NX home console. Which once again will only benefit hardcore fans buying several Nintendo hardware.

It could be utilized the exact same way the Neo/Scorpio are--iterative upgrades each couple of years.

 

[TheAngryMonkey]

It could be utilized the exact same way the Neo/Scorpio are--iterative upgrades each couole of years.

Potentially, if I upgrade a dock in my home then everyone in the home benefits. And if the idea of sharing with people outside the home then I just upgraded my neighborhood.

 

[Kurt]

I think this will be used for the NX home console

Spoiler

release in 2018

 

[Vampirolol]

So why is this patent being granted a bigger deal than any of the other patents Nintendo has filed in the past year or so?

Probably because it's about power.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I'm hoping for a second Tegra. One X1 (assuming they're using X1 and not X2) in the Handheld would make for a pretty potent handheld. A second in the base station (which seems plenty doable based on the Tegra discussions) would be a nice boost and give it a pretty reasonable power level.

Two tegras would probably shit all over 6.5ish Jaguar cores as well. If each Tegra had maybe two A72s and four A53s or something like that. If it was four A72s each...

Though, a dedicated extended GPU would still provide more GPU power. The CPU side of Tegra is fine, but to match the base consoles it would need an eGPU with video memory to match.

I'd take either of those over a dumb dock though.

 

[Majukun]

no experience with patents..does the timeline match up?
i mean it's feasible that nintendo will present a console based on this technology in september after having the patent issue only now?

 

[casey_contra]

no experience with patents..does the timeline match up?
i mean it's feasible that nintendo will present a console based on this technology in september after having the patent issue only now?

Yes, the difference now that it is granted is that when the world can see the technology in context, it is protected. Their fears of being copied, while not eliminated, are mitigated.

 

[pooh]

One other thought I had about this... Though unlikely, if it had some server functionality, and wasn't just an external GPU, it could potentially serve as some kind of community gaming hub that people could connect to via NX portable units or mobile phones. This, I believe, would make it attractive to business owners looking to boost their popularity. It would be sort of like with pokestops in Pokemon Go, but would also enable deeper functionality, like people connecting to the server being able to participate directly in full games with each other via mobile or NX.

Again, I think this is highly unlikely, but I was just considering the possibilities there.

 

[Vena]

I have my doubts on this being NX related as the NX would have been revealed much sooner than this had the delay not occurred, and this would still not have been granted by that time.

 

[casey_contra]

I have my doubts on this being NX related as the NX would have been revealed much sooner than this had the delay not occurred, and this would still not have been granted by that time.

Ooooh, that's a good point.

 

[Majukun]

I have my doubts on this being NX related as the NX would have been revealed much sooner than this had the delay not occurred, and this would still not have been granted by that time.

well they might not have another chance at the console market,so they better shoot all they have now.
also,didn't miyamoto said that part of the delay was given by the fear of being copied?
waiting for this patent would match the narrative..but it might also have just been PR bullshit

 

[MDave]

Super Expansion Pak!

The end of generations, and the end of starting from zero with each new generation.

This is what Nintendo wants for the NX platform.

Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are late, but looks like they all will follow the iOS and Android style of continual ecosystems, and the games library will keep growing, and even allows older consoles/devices to continue to get support after upgrades come along.

 

[pooh]

I have my doubts on this being NX related as the NX would have been revealed much sooner than this had the delay not occurred, and this would still not have been granted by that time.

Maybe... That was the reason for the delay? >_>

/tinfoil

 

[Peterc]

Nice, they used expansion with the snes and n64 too.
Did zelda1 included a battery in the cartridge?


Didn't known that this one even existed:

http://nintendo.wikia.com/wiki/Satellaview

 

[IronicSonic]

So we're now literally duct taping Wiis together?

This sounds like a pretty cool idea, but how well would it scale past one or two upgrades? If you only added on power without ever replacing any parts of it, you'd lose out on the advantage of technology getting smaller and eventually end up with a towering Nintendo NX &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles &Knuckles monstrosity.

I laughed.

 

[Ck1]

So adding everything up and piecing it together with the conversation that 10K posted with the Nintendo employee(even with a grain of salt). Sounds like the selling point of the NX will be about peep to peer network services to enhance a gamers experience.

Even in the conversation from 10K the employee stated that they didn't view the premise of the NX as a gimmick, but people will. That sounds an awful lot like how people scoffed at cloud computing for XbOne to me and labeled that as a gimmick. Also stating while on paper the NX may not add up to equal PS4 hardware, the end result visually would look similar kind of points further to this system working in this fashion.

I'm also betting that the SCD won't be that cheap, with the selling point being allow your device to be utilized by the network and it will pay for itself kind of marketing. The early adopters alone should be more than enough customers to establish a pretty strong worldwide network experience, but can you imagine the word of mouth selling points this thing will have if they can truly reward gamers handsomely for buying extra hardware?

I think this is why Nintendo didn't want to nail down to the public yet what NX is, handheld, console or hybrid. Because to them when they talk about NX, they state multiple devices and a network of SCD's plus the base unit makes up the whole experience. Just my speculation on how they will sell this device

 

[Hexa]

no experience with patents..does the timeline match up?
i mean it's feasible that nintendo will present a console based on this technology in september after having the patent issue only now?

They've been pursuing this patent since June 3rd, 2014. That's also the date the patent term begins.

Also, it's not uncommon for companies to file an application and then go to market before the patent actually issues.

 

[Dark Cloud]

I thought your patent didn't have to go through to sell a product? Doesn't it say "patent pending" behind the 3DS or something like that?

 

[Skittzo0413]

I have my doubts on this being NX related as the NX would have been revealed much sooner than this had the delay not occurred, and this would still not have been granted by that time.

Companies very often release products before the patent is granted. Actually, I would go as far to say the majority of patented products are released while the patent is still pending, rather than after it has been granted. At least in my experience.


I'm curious if an interesting usage of this patent might be the reverse of what we're thinking. The NX handheld could potentially serve as the SCD and when brought over to another house with a dock (or when multiple NX handheld owners live with one dock) the handhelds not being used can supplement the processing of the docked handheld in use. This would allow each NX handheld owner to be compensated as mentioned in the patent, and have it simply notify them on their handheld device.

Just a thought anyway.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

What if the SCD has a stricter NDA, so devs can't mention it and it's chipset.

 

[ika]

I remember this patent being partially rejected before summer (Rösti, correct me if I'm wrong) so they had to re-write some parts so that's the reason it was not granted before.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

Companies very often release products before the patent is granted. Actually, I would go as far to say the majority of patented products are released while the patent is still pending, rather than after it has been granted. At least in my experience.


I'm curious if an interesting usage of this patent might be the reverse of what we're thinking. The NX handheld could potentially serve as the SCD and when brought over to another house with a dock (or when multiple NX handheld owners live with one dock) the handhelds not being used can supplement the processing of the docked handheld in use. This would allow each NX handheld owner to be compensated as mentioned in the patent, and have it simply notify them on their handheld device.

Just a thought anyway.

The problem with that is, in the description, it that device could be without videocards or drivers. So it couldn't be the NX handheld.

 

[ajfoucault]

Can't wait to see how the NX puts this technology to use.

 

[OG_Original Gamer]

On a serious note, the tech looks cool and everything, but, as a product, I really can't see it becoming "serious":

- That's a hw expansion, and we know expansions almost never work in the industry (32x, 64DD... only the Famicom Disk System kinda sell but it was 30 years ago).
- The purpose of having it giving your game a graphic boost / your console a power boost is so not Nintendo
- From the basic consumer point of view, it costs money to virtually add nothing to your games.

I can see hardcore fans liking it, but from what we believe so far, the only concrete implementation I can imagine is using the NX portable/hybrid dock as a SCD with the NX home console. Which once again will only benefit hardcore fans buying several Nintendo hardware.

Memory expansion pack

 

[LegendofLex]

The problem with that is, in the description, it that device could be without videocards or drivers. So it couldn't be the NX handheld.

"Could be" is non-limiting language.

 

[bachikarn]

The fact that the NX is a hybrid makes the cloud based nature of the SCD make more sense to me. However, I really feel GAF has made a bigger deal of this thing than needed and there is a good chance it amounts to nothing.

 

[Rösti]

I remember this patent being partially rejected before summer (Rösti, correct me if I'm wrong) so they had to re-write some parts so that's the reason it was not granted before.

This is correct.

 

[Anastasis]

This is correct.

Do you know what changed?

 

[Elfforkusu]

Remarkable that this is considered novel.

 

[Samemind]

Remarkable that this is considered novel.

The part about tracking usage of the device over the internet to reward the user with incentives is somewhat novel in the gaming hardware space, I think

 

[Graphics Horse]

The fact that the NX is a hybrid makes the cloud based nature of the SCD make more sense to me. However, I really feel GAF has made a bigger deal of this thing than needed and there is a good chance it amounts to nothing.

Pretty much, even if it's something it should be seemless enough to feel like nothing. Nobody should be hoping to build a new generation of Sega towers.

 

[Hexa]

Nvm

 

[Skittzo0413]

I remember this patent being partially rejected before summer (Rösti, correct me if I'm wrong) so they had to re-write some parts so that's the reason it was not granted before.

This is incredibly common in patent prosecution, likely even expected. Patent applications almost always go through a number of rounds of rejections and amendments to the claims (changing claim language, specific limitations), so there is no way Nintendo was banking on this patent being granted before a specific date (if that's what you are suggesting, apologies if it's not).

Edit: Also in case people are wondering about the differences between pending and granted, the patent term in the US is 20 years from the filing date so typically the issue/grant date isn't terribly important for any reason.

Do you know what changed?

I don't have it in front of me but I believe the claims previously were read on by an arcade machine device which wired physically to another one to supplement processing power. I believe the claims were changed to include the wireless supplementing functionality as an addition to the wired supplementing functionality, which is the novelty here.

 

[Anastasis]

I don't have it in front of me but I believe the claims previously were read on by an arcade machine device which wired physically to another one to supplement processing power. I believe the claims were changed to include the wireless supplementing functionality as an addition to the wired supplementing functionality, which is the novelty here.

Thank you!

 

[OBias]

 

[C-Drive]

If this is basically crowd-sourced 'bonus' infrastructure for the NX network...

Wouldn't a really Nintendo-thing to do is make this a physical object you purchase that provides you a PSN/XBL style "subscription" to their online services? As long as it's online in the household, speaking to your NX, you have the online service bonuses activated.

 

[Neiteio]

How many Large Hadron Colliders duct-taped together is this?

 

[Kanyon]

I've always imagined all this dock / supplemental computing device talk for the NX, to basically mean it's just Nintendo's version of a Razer Core or Alienware Graphics Amplifier to help boost the power. I may be way off target but that's been my interpretation of it.

 

[japtor]

Trying to read through the patent it seems like it could be all over the place depending on how you read it. Like just some local storage or central server of sorts for handhelds, or multiple ones that auto connect based on latency (multiple TV out docks?), to stuff with expanded power that can run games, or distributed computing time with credits, or god knows what.

I'd guess it'd be pretty simple to start, like maybe wired and wireless TV output docks, maybe expanded storage/something to stay connected online, or multiple handhelds to play through together or something. Down the line though it could essentially be more like a traditional standalone stronger console itself that links up with the handheld.

 

[Doctor Rover]

I had a thought, you know how cloud gaming was suppose to be an internet provided CPU for Xbone.

Could this supplement be used as an offline cloud service for processing code?

or am I thinking too far into The Jetsons?

 

[japtor]

I had a thought, you know how cloud gaming was suppose to be an internet provided CPU for Xbone.

Could this supplement be used as an offline cloud service for processing code?

or am I thinking too far into The Jetsons?

The patent gets wacky enough that it seems like it could encompass something like that.

 

[HurricaneTrilby]

I think the most interesting bit here is Nintendo could basically have a distributed server network to run their online services on the back of. Almost a mix between peer to peer networking and the "dedicated servers" that many people swear by. There would essentially always be a nearby server to play on, which would reduce lag. For matches between players across the country or the world this network potentially could be able to select one of a million SCD servers on the fly that has an equal and reduced ping between all players to optimize the experience.

By buying an SCD device you may be basically paying for Nintendo's network which would allow them to have a more robust network than they normally have, but also allow them to keep the cost down and possibly keep it free.

On top of that is the more obvious distributed cloud computing which would be done based on ping to your system. This offloads some of the computing that doesn't have to be done on the device, effectively boosting your console's power exponentially depending on the number of other currently unused SCD's in your area, not just limited to the one in your living room. Though it would have a maximum power based on how much computing the game can offload to the nearby SCD's without suffering from lag.