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Nintendo files patent application for cloud gaming devices

Xone9

Banned
Sounds like Microsoft Surface Book laptop which houses the Nvidia GPU in the keyboard but when you detach it it runs on the integrated Intel chipset.
 
Don't want if it means online-only games from Nintendo.

I wouldn't mind if it enhanced the graphics or performance of the games though as long as you could play the graphically inferior version offline.

Though Nintendo has filed plenty of patents that have never came to anything so we shouldn't assume anything yet.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
516g89madnL._SL500_AA280_.jpg
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
I'll tell you one thing.

Nintendo is going to need to increase the strength and clarity of their marketing messages by approximately 99,999,999% to sell this en masse.
 
It looks and sounds a bit like an external HDD w/ some additional coprocessers.

Perhaps a "hardcore upgrade kit" for the base NX console?
 

AntMurda

Member
The patents do not mention a hand held computing device anywhere! It merely suggests a console taking advantage of cloud computing for extra calculations / cpu power.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Also, fast sell-through SKU ideas:

Handheld variation: $99
Console variation: $129
Hardcore upgrade kit: $149
 

True Fire

Member
I'll tell you one thing.

Nintendo is going to need to increase the strength and clarity of their marketing messages by approximately 99,999,999% to sell this en masse.

Introducing Nintendo Diimobo! Connect your Nintendo Wii Thrii to the Nintendo Network to SUPER CHARGE your games!
 

Riki

Member
It looks and sounds a bit like an external HDD w/ some additional coprocessers.

Perhaps a "hardcore upgrade kit" for the base NX console?
Or maybe it comes with the console and can be used with the console or handheld.
It's so hard to figure out what Nintendo is doing.
 
Doesn't look as strictly cloud solution for me, to be honest. I actually imagine "Supplemental Computing Device" to be some sort of active dock station for new portable console which gives it enough guts to count as a home console.

The patents do not mention a hand held computing device anywhere! It merely suggests a console taking advantage of cloud computing for extra calculations / cpu power.

1. The game console 102 may take the form of any suitable type of computing device, e.g., mobile, semi-mobile, semi-stationary, or stationary.
 

Raide

Member
If it lets me play handheld games and then the same game and copy my progress, colour me interested. Still have to wait for some actual solid info.
 

valouris

Member
In some instances, a user may be compensated based on an amount (e.g., time, raw resources, etc.) that the user shares his or her supplemental computing device or indicates that he or she is willing to share the supplemental computing device. This compensation may comprise any form of value, include access (e.g., time) to other supplemental computing devices maintained by other users, discounts on games, access to certain game content, points for redemption for digital or physical goods, information for display (e.g., as a badge) on a social network, or the like.

What
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Also, fast sell-through SKU ideas:

Handheld variation: $99
Console variation: $129
Hardcore upgrade kit: $149

Add $100 - $200 to each of those, and you might be getting close.
 

Brofield

Member
I wonder if you can daisy chain multiple supplemental computers as a form of ad hoc LAN...

...to be used by the likes of, say, Spla2oon
 
I can't imagine it will be online only. Otherwise, their portable market would be toast and it wouldn't be mobile that killed it.
I know the console won't be always online. I'm worried that Nintendo might put out some online only games despite having single player modes if they decide to do some core processing through the cloud (AI for instance).
 
If its a handheld, then RIP Mario Galaxy/Metroid Prime/big 3D Zeldas/Pikmin/Splatoon/Wonderful 101/Bayonetta/that big AAA Retro Studios game you're all dreaming of
 

valouris

Member
tl;dr - you can get free points if your console is idle and online

Allow your console to be used for cloud computing and get free stuff.

Oh no, I completely understood what it means. It just sounds so outlandish and bizarre, if not genius. It's like folding@home with Nintendo bonuses. I am having a hard time believing this will work, it sounds too god to be true.

edit: Goodbye online subscription maybe? Maybe you can pay for it just by having your box available for some time? And perhaps it even lowers the costs for their server maintenance.
 
I'll tell you one thing.

Nintendo is going to need to increase the strength and clarity of their marketing messages by approximately 99,999,999% to sell this en masse.

If there's one thing Nintendo is good at, it is making things 'just work.'

If they make this process seamless enough for the masses, they could market it with ease.
 

KORNdoggy

Member
sounds like it needs to be online? no thanks.

If there's one thing Nintendo is good at, it is making things 'just work.'

If they make this process seamless enough for the masses, they could market it with ease.

when the Wii-U was announced they made it seem like it was a new controller for the wii. they're not great at getting a message across. lol
 

Samemind

Member
I'll patiently wait for someone to make a case mod for it to look like ROB and call it RCB (Rickby): Robotic Computing Buddy
 

Trago

Member
I guess this is part of what Iwata meant when he said that the number of form factors could increase.
 

lt519

Member
Wow so actually giving some of your console resources to someone playing a game that may need the extra power? I'm all for the cloud and server support but having the consoles actually share resources with each other is a whole extra level. I like it but am pessimistic about the execution. I know it's Nintendo but it just seems really ambitious.
 

Zukuu

Banned
We are still not at a stage where you can reliable enforce a stable internet connection with no data and speed caps. I hope they aren't doing this, because it will most likely fail.

I really like the approach of a "Handheld + Homeconsole", where you can just take the handheld part on the bus and keep playing your games on a small screen.
 
I know the console won't be always online. I'm worried that Nintendo might put out some online only games despite having single player modes if they decide to do some core processing through the cloud (AI for instance).

Online-only games require an online connection, which is a luxury that portable games don't always have available.
 

AntMurda

Member
Doesn't look as strictly cloud solution for me, to be honest. I actually imagine "Supplemental Computing Device" to be some sort of active dock station for new portable console which gives it enough guts to count as a home console.

Controller --- Game Console --- Cloud Computing device-- register as three different physical entities in the patent's demonstrative figure.
 
It's a way for Nintendo to theoretically cut down on latency in cloud gaming (since users w/ the supplemental computing device would be more spread out) while also passing the cost of the cloud servers onto the consumer.

It sounds smart. I just wonder if it can actually be done.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
Patents aren't meant to be read and understood by the average layman.

Nor are Nintendo hardware marketing messages for that matter.

Add $100 - $200 to each of those, and you might be getting close.

Unfortunately you may be right, but I see this as a golden opportunity for Nintendo to go really big, all-in, at a loss, and explode back onto the scene.

I admit my prices are crazy-low, but that's kinda the point.
 

JeffZero

Purple Drazi
If there's one thing Nintendo is good at, it is making things 'just work.'

If they make this process seamless enough for the masses, they could market it with ease.

You're right. It's just that on the other hand I've seen so much confusion over everything they've done over the past several years. They're going to need to fine-tune some of the rhetoric here.
 
sounds like it needs to be online? no thanks.

No, this is more describing a local cloud.

Imagine purchasing another box that you connect to your console to that adds more CPU cores. Or a second graphics card.

In abstract:
"For instance, the supplemental computing device may couple via a physical connection (e.g., a wired connection) to the game console for processing data associated with the game and providing a result back to the console, and/or for storing game data on behalf of the game console."
 

Riki

Member
It's a way for Nintendo to theoretically cut down on latency in cloud gaming (since users w/ the supplemental computing device would be more spread out) while also passing the cost of the cloud servers onto the consumer.

It sounds smart. I just wonder if it can actually be done.
Giving people points and stuff for connecting to their online service.
It's genius in every way.
Sony and MS charge you to be online.
Nintendo is going to pay you to be online!
Hello 80+% online rate!
 
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