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What we know so far about the Nintendo NX with sources

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Peterc

Member
NX should not cross the $399 mark no matter how powerful it is.

2 versions

Iphone 5c and iphone 5s
Galaxy s6 and galaxy s6 mini
3ds and 2ds

Why care? Just buy the cheapest one ☺

The cheapest version could cost 250$ if 299$ is to much

Ive purchased an oculus 1,5y ago. I needed to buy pc components for over 800$

Some people wants only the best
 

orioto

Good Art™
If we can be absolutly sure about something, it's that Nintendo learned a lesson about prices this gen. Both 3ds and WiiU suffered from bad prices. They know the portable shouldn't be more than 200$, and the home console would ideally be at 250$. It can go to the 299 mark i guess, but no more.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
What I mean is that pretty decent devices at a hardware level (Wii U & N3GS) exist now. Any cross platform problems or difficulties are software related. Software Nintendo owns on proprietary platforms. If they decide that the new NX is 'just' a standard console and and a standard handheld with an easier development platform then that's fine but they could've developed the same for the current architecture, aside from the financial incentive of releasing new systems. That's why I think it must be more than that.

I mean, they could do that with Wii U and 3DS. It would be a massive software engineering effort, complicated by the architectural difference between the two platforms, as well as the requirement to maintain compatibility with existing software. Oh and this huge investment would be into two platforms which are nearing the end of their natural life.

Or they could do it on new hardware that was designed with this in mind from the get go.
 

ekim

Member
If the home console and handheld are sold separately, the aimed retail price dictates the HW power unless Nintendo is able and willing to take a loss with each sold console. Aiming for $299 on a power level of a PS4 is feasible at the end of 2016. (provided they go x86)
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
If the home console and handheld are sold separately, the aimed retail price dictates the HW power unless Nintendo is able and willing to take a loss with each sold console. Aiming for $299 on a power level of a PS4 is feasible at the end of 2016. (provided they go x86)
Which I have my doubts for since x86 isn't exactly easy to put into a small handheld. Granted, it's not impossible, but it'd be rather pricey & it isn't exactly power-efficient.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
If the home console and handheld are sold separately, the aimed retail price dictates the HW power unless Nintendo is able and willing to take a loss with each sold console. Aiming for $299 on a power level of a PS4 is feasible at the end of 2016. (provided they go x86)

I'd be surprised if they couldn't do it with ARM, as well.

Yep, but then all they've delivered over and above Wii U and N3GS is a nice platform for their developers. Surely it must be more than that, no?

Well at a minimum, they're still providing more power. And the advantages of a unified platform shouldn't be understated.

That said, we still don't know much about the hardware itself. It could be really interesting if some of Nintendo's recent patents are included.
 

Hiltz

Member
If we can be absolutly sure about something, it's that Nintendo learned a lesson about prices this gen. Both 3ds and WiiU suffered from bad prices. They know the portable shouldn't be more than 200$, and the home console would ideally be at 250$. It can go to the 299 mark i guess, but no more.

We would like to think this, but companies can still continue to make mistakes regardless of whether the previous generation was a success for them or not. Hopefully, Nintendo will make better decisions, but we'll have to keep are fingers crossed that Nintendo doesn't overestimate the perceived value of its console's specs and unique capabilities that consumers may not be as enthusiastic about. Of course, Nintendo knows that attempting to make a product that consumers do not know they wanted comes with risks as they've experienced with success in the previous generation and with some failures in the current generation. In any case, I'd expect a $100 price difference between NX handheld and home console.
 
Still waiting for a reply to my PM to get the ball rolling on verification, it's been a few hours now.

Been watching the reactions, pretty much what expected with most believing and a smaller percentage not sure or don't believe.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Still waiting for a reply to my PM to get the ball rolling on verification, it's been a few hours now.

Been watching the reactions, pretty much what expected with most believing and a smaller percentage not sure or don't believe.
Can you see if you can get some NX Handheld info? It seems that Wall Street Journal is the only one getting info on that.
 
There is no separate "version." It's all just one single engine.

The engine just has lots of different settings and features that can be turned on or off at will. When you create a project the editor asks you if you wish to target mobile or desktop, and choosing mobile will make the engine automatically turn off/on certain settings for you to maximize performance (but you can actually change those settings yourself manually later). You could tell it you're targeting desktop, yet then go and change settings yourself to mobile-friendly ones if you want your game to run on super low-end PCs.

Many mobile games, for example, completely turn off all lighting features of the engine and use only unlit materials (as in, all lighting/shadowing, if any at all, is permanently etched into the model's texture, not calculated in real time).

Since the difference between UE4 mobile vs desktop is just changing certain settings, the engine itself is not the biggest obstacle for porting. It's the assets and how they're created and optimized that matters most (you wouldn't want to use super hi-poly models in a mobile game) and that's something performed in Maya, 3DS Max, Blender, or whatever 3D modeling program developers happen to use. The other obstacle is control input methods. Porting a touch screen game to a console with only a traditional controller would require rewriting a lot of code.

Oh ok. Thank you so much for clarifying that.

Have been reading this thread with interest. I'm a little confused as to why there is there so much chat around processors and specs? Nintendo haven't had a spec leading console since the Snes have they? (genuine question).

(A little background I own everything from Snes to Wii U but am possibly more on the casual spectrum in recent years).

Their proposition has in the main has always been about 1st party games and exclusive 3rd party. Virtual Boy and Wii aside, what they represent effectively for the last 30 years is a standard controller and Mario (and I mean that in a good way).

If the next iteration is 'just' a console and handheld and better platform integration that makes no sense. They could do that with 3GS and Wii U now. I think the NX has to have something not talked about here at an interaction/hardware level (no idea what).

The retro stuff - i.e. own everything you want and pay for it again is nice to a point for a limited audience but the real market is always whatever new games are coming in the future.

Nintendo fans will buy whatever, the real trick is if they can gain back the 3rd party game releases through easy platform conversion and effectively move from niche to must buy again. But that's still not enough to win. The only way to get back on top is all 3 of: true innovation + best specs + all AAA games available. If only one of those is missing then Nintendo remain as they are currently with their dedicated and retro fans, nothing more.

Several things:

- The 3DS and the Wii U have been a pain for Nintendo to intergrate between. Due to the difference of hardware, for example, the Smash team had to treat each version of Smash for Wii U/3DS as its own game. The new systems should be a lot more similar to each other to make cross play and buy easier to set up.

- Neither the Wii U nor the original 3DS had the power to do all of the background tasks and run the popular game engines that Nintendo would like those systems to do that efficiently. Wii U never got that in-game video chat and the n3DS got a major CPU boost and can now use Unity.

- VC is a bit of a mess. We can expect that to be unified this generation.

While posters has argued if Nintendo doesn't care about hardware anymore, it will be an extremely important detail this generation if they want to succeed on making hardware that achieve the goals that Iwata wanted.
 
Hey, someone mentioned having 3 units of hardware instead of two. How plausible is that?
IOS supports multiple devices of different specs, not sure if they'd go for it but that could mean they could make a machine for every market
Maybe not at launch but they could release a new device every year
 

TheMoon

Member
Hey, someone mentioned having 3 units of hardware instead of two. How plausible is that?
IOS supports multiple devices of different specs, not sure if they'd go for it but that could mean they could make a machine for every market
Maybe not at launch but they could release a new device every year

Iwata said form factors might increase from the current status quo (two = handheld + home system). So, very plausible.
 

Roo

Member
Hey, someone mentioned having 3 units of hardware instead of two. How plausible is that?
IOS supports multiple devices of different specs, not sure if they'd go for it but that could mean they could make a machine for every market
Maybe not at launch but they could release a new device every year

Every year seems like a stretch.
Every 3 years is possible tho.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
Hey, someone mentioned having 3 units of hardware instead of two. How plausible is that?
IOS supports multiple devices of different specs, not sure if they'd go for it but that could mean they could make a machine for every market
Maybe not at launch but they could release a new device every year

It's plausible, but it's not the kind of thing I expect to happen right away.

Yearly releases I don't really see happening though. Sure, the cycle could maybe be sped up a bit, but turnaround times on video games aren't really well suited to hardware refreshes which are that frequent.
 
Just thinking about it, it could be very smart.
They could have a product that would appeal to every user, someone who claims to care a lot about performance could buy the high end device.
those that want the Nintendo experience but don't want to spend that much could get the mid tier console or the low end handheld.
Not sure if 3 devices would confuse the market too much but it might be better than being stuck with one decision for a generation
 
So the next question is why would this individual at Nintendo want to reveal this information in general? What they told me is that obviously people that work at Nintendo are they themselves the biggest Nintendo fans and ever since the passing of Satoru Iwata communication has been difficult and less organized now. Nintendo as a company is changing, basically starting over.

Does this make sense to... anyone? What's the motivation here? "Nintendo is changing and I (the leaker employee) want to punish(!?) them for it." This isn't how people who value their jobs behave.

Happy to be proven wrong!
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Does this make sense to... anyone? What's the motivation here? "Nintendo is changing and I (the leaker employee) want to punish(!?) them for it." This isn't how people who value their jobs behave.

Happy to be proven wrong!
It reads to me more like somebody at nintendo believes some bits of NX information could have been communicated out of the company, but (as we know very well) nothing has been so far. And Zelda NX is not exactly a stretch by any means.
 

atbigelow

Member
It's plausible, but it's not the kind of thing I expect to happen right away.

Yearly releases I don't really see happening though. Sure, the cycle could maybe be sped up a bit, but turnaround times on video games aren't really well suited to hardware refreshes which are that frequent.

They wouldn't necessarily be spec upgrades. But look at things like PS2/3 Slim, 2DS, etc. Except you could theoretically tweak things a bit further. If their SDK and platform are built well, they can iterate on different hardware ideas easier.

Good hypothetical would be to apply this idea to the 3DS. That hardware has had some changes over the years and they could have been considerably smoothed out with a good API.

Let the games adapt to the hardware available with a well thought-out API. And then go to town with different hardware ideas. 3D screen, clickable shoulder buttons, scrolling shoulder buttons, whatever.
 

Pif

Banned
-Lots of signs pointing to 2016 release
-Hardware power is a total question mark, with a bunch of people super confident that it'll be powerful and a lot of people confident it will be weak
-Some rumblings about PS4 ports
-Loud rumblings about Zelda and Smash NX ports
-Lots of going over the patents (clickable scroll wheels. cloud computing, no disc drive, free form LCD displays, etc.)
-Trevelyan9999 is the new IdeaMan. (someone remind me how that story ended)
-Lots of random tech discussion having little to do with NX
-Lots of random mockups
-"ahaha" ShockingAlberto 2016

Any gaf historians in here? Need context.
 

Malus

Member
Any gaf historians in here? Need context.

He was laughing at the rumor of NX getting FFXV, Remake, and being more powerful than PS4. Not at the prospects of a 2016 launch in case there was confusion, that's just the "quote followed by year it was said" meme.
 
It's plausible, but it's not the kind of thing I expect to happen right away.

Yearly releases I don't really see happening though. Sure, the cycle could maybe be sped up a bit, but turnaround times on video games aren't really well suited to hardware refreshes which are that frequent.
Right now they release a new revision for their handheld every year and a half.
I think Nintendo wants NX to last a long long time so updates to the hardware are recommended.
Instead of putting out a 3DS XL like update, they can make more like the New 3DS, fixing any issues with the old design while bumping up the hardware.
They should consider it with the console as well. Sony seems to be considering it, probably best not to get outclassed by it.

If the PS5 or the Xbox 2 comes out within 3 years it would be smart to release a new system that can keep up with it so they don't need to drop the old hardware quickly.

Revisions like the New 3DS would work considerably better in this scenario thanks to the console (hopefully) picking up the slack so instead of making a game for a fraction of the portable audience, one could make a more ambitious game for the upgraded portable and the console
 

blu

Wants the largest console games publisher to avoid Nintendo's platforms.
Aiming for $299 on a power level of a PS4 is feasible at the end of 2016. (provided they go x86)
The power level of ps4 at the quoted pricepoint could be achieved with MIPS just as well.
 
What he is saying isnt hard to believe.

If i were to make up rumors based on Nintendos past and situation, my rumors will pretty much be exactly what he said.
Its not that its hard to believethe information, its hard to believe its been confirmed and how the information is relayed. Like how all of that got relayed but nothing of the controller or anything else? Its just tough
 
Hey, someone mentioned having 3 units of hardware instead of two. How plausible is that?
IOS supports multiple devices of different specs, not sure if they'd go for it but that could mean they could make a machine for every market
Maybe not at launch but they could release a new device every year
Nintendo dedicating that many resources to what is a complete unknown in the market is a terrible idea. Apple sells hundreds of millions of devices a year. It takes a lot of man power and support.
 

Lingitiz

Member
One of the biggest issues with Nintendo is that they push completed games back to the holiday season to sell more leaving droughts, and they space out releases thinking the fans have both systems which leaves some months where the 3DS or the Wii U feels under used. .

This is the number one reason why I'm excited for having a unified development platform for all Nintendo published games. While I have both platforms and use each pretty regularly and don't really care where I play whatever Nintendo games come out, it's would be really nice to have everything just tied into one system.

Nintendo doesn't necessarily suffer from droughts if you think about their releases in the sense of 3DS/Wii U combined, so I'm curious to see what kind of approach they take when the pressure is a bit off on needing to meet certain holiday deadlines and things like that. As a side note I also wonder if there are many Wii U owners out there that don't also own a 3DS anyways.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
Right now they release a new revision for their handheld every year and a half.
I think Nintendo wants NX to last a long long time so updates to the hardware are recommended.
Instead of putting out a 3DS XL like update, they can make more like the New 3DS, fixing any issues with the old design while bumping up the hardware.
They should consider it with the console as well. Sony seems to be considering it, probably best not to get outclassed by it.

If the PS5 or the Xbox 2 comes out within 3 years it would be smart to release a new system that can keep up with it so they don't need to drop the old hardware quickly.

Revisions like the New 3DS would work considerably better in this scenario thanks to the console (hopefully) picking up the slack so instead of making a game for a fraction of the portable audience, one could make a more ambitious game for the upgraded portable and the console

Continually releasing new revisions with spec bumps could make the platform too much of a moving target. Having too many target configurations can be a pretty big annoyance when it comes to testing.
 

TLZ

Banned
And Nintendo's rapidly losing that audience to mobile gaming.

Not really. The kids I'm around all use smartphones, 3DS, vita, leapfrog, etc. They'll get their hands on anything new. Kids love new toys and are always curious.

This Trev guy is probably bullshitting. I'm not saying he's making everything up but considering that NX news is in demand and "2016" and "Zelda NX" are two of the more heavily speculated things right now. I wouldn't be surprised if his "source" is just taking wild guesses.

I suggest you stop trolling.
 

Speely

Banned
All I know is that Nintendo just shot Crysis in the foot. Wait, what the fuck is going on in this thread? I don't even know what to feel.

Expectations given healthy perusal of ideas ITT and the sources cited: The NX will be about as powerful as an XBone but cheaper to manufacture, yet a handheld/controller with fancy screen tech will share a development architecture with it in regard to ease of scaling games to either experience. Lots of user account improvements and unified dev talent for all the win. Streetpass am conquerz.

No one will be wowed by visual technical greatness, but both machines will operate so elegantly together and share such a wealth of devoted dev talent focused on unified dev environments/tools that at least a few hundred of us will remain enchanted and rant on this forum about it in every NPD thread while posting sad rainy window pics.
 
Continually releasing new revisions with spec bumps could make the platform too much of a moving target. Having too many target configurations can be a pretty big annoyance when it comes to testing.
It's still less than android and iOS, but true enough.
Don't think they should go overboard but revisions do keep sales flowing and putting better hardware keeps the generation from being stale and having to stick with their decision for 5 years or so.
Revisions are usually every 1.5 years for Nintendo. Maybe longer if you exclude the 2DS.
A similar pattern or even 2 years with a spec bump could be smart
 

atbigelow

Member
They have incredible developer support and even then they don't have yearly refreshes on those devices either.

You're right; they're legitimate siblings of other devices using the same platform. I don't expect Nintendo to introduce replacements for their consoles and handhelds each year. It just gives them flexibility to make different yet similar hardware.
 

TLZ

Banned
I hope that there will be 2 consoles. One for 499$ other one for 299$.

I'll sure will buy the 499$ one, as long it can show killing gfx.

Price doesnt matter for me.


I hope the same thing for handheld.


Imagine what gfx a nintendo game could look like with that kind if power

I wouldn't mind a console with HDD and disk drive for a high price and another with no disk drive and HDD and just flash for updates etc, playing off sd carts for a lower price. Not bad.
 
Nintendo teams used to have to learn different architected for the two different systems and hardware team would have to work on updates for both.
Should be easier this time around even if it's 3 form factors
This is the number one reason why I'm excited for having a unified development platform for all Nintendo published games. While I have both platforms and use each pretty regularly and don't really care where I play whatever Nintendo games come out, it's would be really nice to have everything just tied into one system.

Nintendo doesn't necessarily suffer from droughts if you think about their releases in the sense of 3DS/Wii U combined, so I'm curious to see what kind of approach they take when the pressure is a bit off on needing to meet certain holiday deadlines and things like that. As a side note I also wonder if there are many Wii U owners out there that don't also own a 3DS anyways.
Yeah, it should please fans at least so they don't feel like they're losing out on much.
I think press would be a whole lot kinder to both if the libraries are constantly being expanded upon unlike Wii U which had some times where they'd sing praises for a great holiday line up but it would get trashed for those long droughts throughout the year.
Should boost consumer confidence as well.
Depending on how each form factor sells, it would probably be in Nintendo's best interest to only disclose total NX unit sales as well.
 
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