As is always the case with every single new thing ever, the rumors continue to fly about Nintendo’s next console, the NX. Now, I’ve already heard that it is supposedly going to be more powerful than anything else on the market, and somehow be able to run other games in their native code (I call BS on that) rather than them needing to be ported, and on and on about it. Whatever. I’m not even going to entertain such until I actually see the hardware capabilities.
The current rumor floating around though is that the NX will be a portable console, with detachable controllers. Now, I don’t have anything to say on the subject of detachable controllers, but on the subject of it being a portable console…
I’ve been saying that since the day it was announced!
The NX was announced at the same time as Nintendo announcing their move into “mobile” gaming – Cell phone style games and the like, such as Pokemon Go. Why announce a console at the exact same time as another announcement unless the two subjects are related.
Like, think about it – the signs were all there. The WiiU hasn’t sold nearly as much as Nintendo would want it to, but the DS hardware series continues to sell strong. It only makes sense to evolve their core gaming experience into the portable market, rather than standard consoles, and move on. Heck, when most people see a WiiU display they think the gamepad is the whole console anyway, so it makes sense to just go that route in the end, and maybe have the console attach to the TV as an option – thus explaining the detachable controllers.
Using a WiiU picture for this article because there isn’t any NX image out there yet. Not a real one, anyway.
I’m not too concerned about the NX right now. Unless it gives developers something special to develop for, it will probably continue along the same mediocre 3rd party support flow as the Wii and WiiU. If the hardware is better than normal then maybe we will begin to see some major 3rd party titles on the console, but considering how Nintendo prefers to keep things family friendly (with a few exceptions) it seems unlikely.Nintendo will overtake Sony or Microsoft with the NX.
Time will tell, of course. The official word is that the system will be something new entirely… I certainly hope they don’t try to go Virtual Reality with it… I’ve already mentioned before how terrible an idea that is.