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[EuroGamer] Nintendo NX is a portable console with detachable controllers + powered by Nvidia Tegra technology

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#1 ·
Source - (EuroGamer) Nintendo NX is a portable console with detachable controllers
Source - (Digital Foundry) Nintendo NX is powered by Nvidia Tegra technology

EuroGamer - Nintendo NX is a portable console with detachable controllers
Quote:
Nintendo's upcoming NX will be a portable, handheld console with detachable controllers, a number of sources have confirmed to Eurogamer.

On the move, NX will function as a high-powered handheld console with its own display. So far so normal - but here's the twist: we've heard the screen is bookended by two controller sections on either side, which can be attached or detached as required.

Then, when you get home, the system can connect to your TV for gaming on the big screen.

A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX - within the controller - to display on your TV.

Quote:
NX will use game cartridges as its choice of physical media, multiple sources have also told us.

Considering NX's basis as a handheld first and foremost, the choice may not come as too much of a surprise - although we have heard the suggestion Nintendo recommends a 32GB cartridge, which is small when considering the size of many modern games.

Naturally, we expect digital game downloads will also be available. We were told Nintendo considered but then decided against making a system which supported digital downloads only.

It's not the first time cartridge-based media has been mooted for NX. Back in May, eagle-eyed fans spotted The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's trademark included cartridge-based games. This was a change from Nintendo's usual wording for home console trademarks, which only refer to digital downloads and discs.
Digital Foundry - Nintendo NX is powered by Nvidia Tegra technology




Quote:
Nvidia is providing the core technology that powers Nintendo's next generation NX console. Multiple sources have confirmed that the new machine is based around Nvidia's mobile-orientated Tegra processor, with development kits currently using the Tegra X1 chip found in the Shield Android TV console and the Google Pixel C tablet.

The news is bound to come as some surprise to those - including ourselves - who suspected that AMD would provide the technology guts to the new Nintendo machine, but what's clear is that the firm is planning to go into a completely new, potentially revolutionary direction. Right now, it is simply not interested in providing hardware that directly competes with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It has its own ideas on where to take next-gen gaming.

NX is a mobile games machine, albeit one with a twist - principally that the unit can plug into a base station that transforms it into something more akin to a conventional console. However, the handheld's side-mounted control areas are apparently detachable, becoming individual pads for two-player gameplay - as revealed in today's big Nintendo NX news story on this site. At a really basic level, NX is effectively a reversal of the Wii U GamePad concept. It's a fully integrated mobile games machine you can plug into an HDTV, as opposed to a console with a semi-portable gaming component, bolstered with a unique 'go anywhere' take on local multiplayer.

And the compromise there is clear - a relatively lower level of performance compared to the existing current-gen machines. Nvidia's Tegra technology is built with a specific profile in mind: a delicate balance between performance and power efficiency in order to maintain battery life, the life force of mobile gaming. What this means is that prior, plausible rumours of an AMD-powered console with PS4-beating performance and utilising x86 architecture are erroneous. NX is smaller, leaner, portable - and yes, less powerful.
EuroGamer posted these two articles around the same time so I placed them into a single thread for convenience as both articles complement each-other.

Nintendo's upcoming NX sounds very interesting, what does everyone think of this? The current development kits are allegedly utilizing the Tegra X1 which may be switched to a potentially more powerful Pascal successor in the final console. I'm pretty shocked to see Nintendo putting NVIDIA's technology in their upcoming console, they have been using AMD's technology since the GameCube.
 
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#2 ·
It doesn't sound interesting at all, actually. Many phones, tablets, "mobile gaming devices" have had the ability to be connected to a TV for ages, and the ability still hasn't taken off.

People who want mobile gaming already have a 3DS, Vita, or a capable phone. People that want home entertainment already have a PS4/Xbone/WiiU. People that want both already have both. I really just don't see a point to this system at all. It will likely be too big and too heavy to be a true "mobile gaming" system, and far too weak to be useful connected to a television.
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanLoco View Post

It doesn't sound interesting at all, actually. Many phones, tablets, "mobile gaming devices" have had the ability to be connected to a TV for ages, and the ability still hasn't taken off. It will likely be too big and too heavy to be a true "mobile gaming" system, and far too weak to be useful connected to a television.
People said the sane thing on the previous wii, and it was not a colossal failure.
Having lower graphics performance does not mean game will suck or be bad in any way. Most family and friends oriented that nintendo usually put out, don't need super realistic graphics like the xbox or PS needs. They don't need to push the envelope as long as it is good enough for the consumers.
 
#4 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Defoler View Post

People said the sane thing on the previous wii, and it was not a colossal failure.
Having lower graphics performance does not mean game will suck or be bad in any way. Most family and friends oriented that nintendo usually put out, don't need super realistic graphics like the xbox or PS needs. They don't need to push the envelope as long as it is good enough for the consumers.
The Wii had the controller gimmick. The WiiU didn't have as good a gimmick, didn't have the hardware and it was a failure.
 
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artikbot View Post

Euh... Um... Okay?

So this doesn't replace my Wii U nor it replaces my N3DS... What the heck is it?
It wounds like it replaces both, not neither.

Either way, I'm interested. I typically have nintendo+one of the big guys, but I skipped the wii u after nintendo dropped the ball on games. Perhaps nintendo has learned their lesson with the NX.
 
#8 ·
Well if this is where the next monster hunter games will be calling home, I am sold.
 
#11 ·
Yeah but... 3DS carts and NX carts in the same system? With detachable controllers?

That makes it sound like it will be way too large for a 3DS replacement, plus it docks to a TV so it needs some sort of fairly rugged interface, instantly making it incompatible with the traditional Nintendo portable design...

Where is the second display then? Do you have a unit that disassembles into 4 pieces (dockable thing, controller, screen?)

It makes absolutely zero sense to me...
 
#12 ·
This has Wii U's failure written all over it, in my opinion.

The Wii U was based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the "many screens, such engagement, wow" phenomenon of the past half-decade. Yes, we use our smartphones for everything, in the case of many people completely replacing a computer, TV, radio, and movie theater.

But that doesn't mean that you can get people to use extra screens just by throwing another one at them, nor does it mean that mobility is the one and only useful metric. We use smartphones because they are convenient: they can do every basic task an electronic device could need to do, and they can do it anywhere. Most of us, at least those of us who care about things like Nintendo products, still have other devices that we use for other purposes. I have a smartphone, yes, but I also have a monster of a desktop PC because I want that unique experience. I can't play games on my phone like I can my desktop.

Likewise, a gaming console has to provide some unique function in the modern landscape. Back in the good ol' days, a gaming console provided that unique function by presenting a piece of dedicated gaming hardware that was hard to get any other way. In the SNES days, gaming on desktop computers was rare, the games of questionable quality, and both hardware and software weren't aimed at delivering a dedicated gaming experience. Consoles were.

Now, though, consoles have fallen *behind* in the realm of dedicated hardware, and so they need to provide something else. The second major benefit of the old-time consoles was convenience: plug in your game and go, no setup required, no troubleshooting, just pick up a controller and play. That still exists today, and it is a large part of why any consoles still get purchased.

But this? I'm sorry, but no. I do not need a faux-mobile device. Its capabilities will be limited simply because it is mobile, but when I'm mobile I am not going to be wanting to sit down and play Zelda. So I trade away the quality of the gaming experience for a benefit that doesn't apply to the games I would want to use the device for, so where does that leave me?

There has to be a recognition that there is a major, clear divide between mobile and non-mobile gaming. This half-breed device is doomed to failure if it tries to straddle that divide.

I say this as a dedicated Nintendo fan since the NES, but who never got convinced of the value of the Wii U. Do not make me give up hope, Nintendo. I still want to play Zelda, the way Zelda has been played for decades, the way Zelda is meant to be played. And that's not on a Tegra.
 
#13 ·
^

And that's exactly why this makes absolutely no sense. It's like a Wii U and a 3DS, being neither and failing at both.

This doesn't sound like something Nintendo would put out.

You can like the Wii U controller more or less, but it's there, it works and it actually adds to the experience. Now, cramming two into one, making it disassemble-able, theoretically portable and not being really portable? That makes zero sense.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artikbot View Post

Yeah but... 3DS carts and NX carts in the same system? With detachable controllers?

That makes it sound like it will be way too large for a 3DS replacement, plus it docks to a TV so it needs some sort of fairly rugged interface, instantly making it incompatible with the traditional Nintendo portable design...

Where is the second display then? Do you have a unit that disassembles into 4 pieces (dockable thing, controller, screen?)

It makes absolutely zero sense to me...
That's exactly how I feel. It's the same thing with laptops. Good gaming notebooks are just about useless for non-gaming tasks due to their short battery life, hot-running and generally heavier weight. While good portable notebooks are useless for gaming. Then you have the mildly powerful systems that aren't particularly great at either task.

I feel this NX is going to be that middling system. It's going to be a poor mobile system due to size and weight, and a bad home system due to lack of power and 0 third party support.
 
#15 ·
...I think I'm going to start ignoring NX rumours confirmed by 'numerous sources' until Nintendo pronounce themselves in the matter and actually show us what the hell the NX is all about.

It doesn't look like I'm the only confused one, judging by the piece Eurogamer have written.
 
#16 ·
Nintendo how about you deliver a stable platform with decent enough hardware like your competitors? Jeez,nVidia Tegra....
doh.gif
 
#17 ·
I would love a good handheld actually, more powerful than 3DS and better game support than Vita. I don't own a smartphone (just the name makes me laugh) and i never will. Wait and see.
 
#18 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by AmericanLoco View Post

That's exactly how I feel. It's the same thing with laptops. Good gaming notebooks are just about useless for non-gaming tasks due to their short battery life, hot-running and generally heavier weight. While good portable notebooks are useless for gaming. Then you have the mildly powerful systems that aren't particularly great at either task.

I feel this NX is going to be that middling system. It's going to be a poor mobile system due to size and weight, and a bad home system due to lack of power and 0 third party support.
When is the last time you used a gaming laptop? Mine (alienware 15r2) gets 7 hours of usage with web browsing, and doesnt get hot unless you play something graphically intensive. Even then, it runs in the 60C range for the chips themselves, far cooler then laptops of old. The weight is the only detrimental factor, but this thing still weighs less then my 17 inch monster from 2008. 6 pounds isnt all that heavy.

We also have no idea how large/heavy this thing will be. A 7 inch tablet (ala nexus 7) with half a controller on each side wouldnt be much bigger then a ipad. And razer already has a comfortable gaming tablet with built in controls. Nintendo also made the reasonably powered 3DS. Take something 3DSXL sized, put a more powerful ARM chip in it. The chip wouldnt have to run nearly as fast while in portable mode, due to much lower rez screens, while running at full speed when plugged into the dock.

As for a connector, USB C can push 10GBps. You only need 4 Gbps on an interface to push 1080p60. And nintendo, i am sure, could come up with a small connector that could transfer such a signal and still be robust.
 
#20 ·
All I want to know is if there's going to be a main series Pokemon game for the NX. Since it's a "handheld", they just might. If there is, then I'm all down for buying one of these consoles.
thumb.gif
 
#21 ·
The NX is rumored to be handheld tablet masquerading as hybrid home console? Me no likey. It would confirm one of the nintendo devs saying the new Zelda would have the same experience on both NX and WiiU. Powerwise, it might be the same. Imagine Nintendo charging $300 for this? Ugh.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Syan48306 View Post

All I want to know is if there's going to be a main series Pokemon game for the NX. Since it's a "handheld", they just might. If there is, then I'm all down for buying one of these consoles.
thumb.gif
The return of pokemon Colosseum, combined with gameplay more similar to the handheld games.
Quote:
Originally Posted by keikei View Post

The NX is rumored to be handheld tablet masquerading as hybrid home console? Me no likey. It would confirm one of the nintendo devs saying the new Zelda would have the same experience on both NX and WiiU. Powerwise, it might be the same. Imagine Nintendo charging $300 for this? Ugh.
Nintendo charging $300 for a console that is both portable yet can also be a home system, basically what sony was trying to do with the vita, but with actual effort put into it? Seems fair.
 
#23 ·
I know right? Pokemon deserves a good platform for a deeper experience!
 
#24 ·
They should have just called it a 3DX. Because its sounding like a direct follow up to the 3DS with an option hooking it up to a tv. Groundbreaking. OMG!
rolleyes.gif
They cant afford to experiment and play around. If this bombs like the Pii U. They only have themselves to blame. They simply don't get it and will always do as they please.
 
#25 ·
Heard that the dock could improve the visuals but is it possible without straining the portable parts with excess heat and power draw? Would the screen survive the heat generated in console mode?

i forsee a NX TV version without a screen in a bargain bin soon.
 
#26 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FattysGoneWild View Post

They should have just called it a 3DX. Because its sounding like a direct follow up to the 3DS with an option hooking it up to a tv. Groundbreaking. OMG!
rolleyes.gif
They cant afford to experiment and play around. If this bombs like the Pii U. They only have themselves to blame. They simply don't get it and will always do as they please.
nintendo actually *can* afford to play around and experiment. They have plenty of money in the bank. Even the wii u made money in the end.
 
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