Nintendo announce: Nintendo NX

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I don't know if it's a thing in other countries but in the US, a lot of people under 30 rarely sit in front of a TV.
If you are so close to the TV that you can see Donald Trump's alien hair in UHD, why is he even within a chance of being the next President? :runaway:
 
And have a fat cord running across the livingroom, connecting straight to your TV?
I think the idea is you detach the controllers and place the console unit next to the TV, connected via a short HDMI cable.

edit: Which incidentally is how the Shield Tablet can game on TV. Connect via mini HDMI and use a wireless controller and it works like a console.
 
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Macronix have been able to deliver 8GB cartridges for the 3DS. These are produced on 75nm lithography. They have recently upgraded their capabilities for this class of products to 32nm lithography which in itself would allow 32-64GB capacities, with no other changes or upgrades. It is pretty much a given that they can supply whatever capacity product is needed in practise.
32GB is a facile estimated lower bound, and makes practical sense for shipping games, but it is a bit too easy to arrive at by simplistic extrapolation.
Unless I missed something, the 8GB capacity is a paper launch. I'm still trying to find out for sure, but all the lists of game sizes are showing only a handful of titles above 2GB, and none above 4GB on either 3DS or Vita. Xenoblade is the biggest one from last year and it's 3.6 GB. Vita has a game at 3.95GB. The norm seems to be 1GB or less.

Every Nintendo news article I read says they are using 75nm, but Macronix have been using 45nm for ROM carts since 2013.
http://www.simmtester.com/page/news/shownews.asp?num=15450
July 31, 2013
Macronix has started commercial production of 16Gb and 32Gb ROM chips using 45nm process technology, which will lift the proportion for 45nm to 45% in the third quarter, the company said. The 45nm, 16Gb and 32Gb ROM chips are designed for game consoles and other gaming terminals.

http://en.ofweek.com/news/Macronix-posts-net-losses-of-NT-1-1-billion-for-3Q14-20487
03 Nov 2014
Sales of 45nm ROM products accounted for 80% of Macronix's total ROM shipments in the third quarter, during which ROM devices made up 32% of total revenues, according to company chairman Miin Wu.

The company expects its 32nm 16/32Gb ROM products to be verified by clients in November, paving the way for volume shipments in December.

http://www.macronix.com/Lists/QuarterlyResults/Attachments/185/2015Q2 webcast PPT_en.pdf
In 2015 45nm dominates their 16Gb/32Gb ROM offering which is basically gaming carts and pachinko machines, while 32nm was at 2%.

In any case, for the rumor to be true, a huge leap must happen elsewhere, besides 45nm->32nm. There could be significantly more bits per cells, but they are already at 4bits/cell, so maybe they went 3D. Their announced products for 32nm xtraROM is still 16Gb/32Gb per chip.

I don't like when things don't add up.... and right now things don't add up.:runaway:
 
And also also, the detachable controllers:

If they're nice and compact they'll be fine for two players. For one player, joining them together would place the sticks/nubs pretty close to each other.

Guess you could play with them spread out in each hand. The seem far too relaxed a gaming position and, well, unnatural!
 
32GB sounds right as an upper limit not as a standard. Other than that the concept grows on me. I hope the screen is at least as big as the one in the Wii U gamepad and so the split controllers are of decent size. I would favor a 4:3 screen format ratio as it would help keeping the device tighter, and it allows for better split screen option either in portrait or landscape orientations.
I'm not bother by the hardware even if they go with the minimal possibly setup, it is going to be a serious jump ahead from the new 3DS. I'm more concerned about the price, the system sounds like a complicated thing to put together.
 
At what price for 32 GBs? High speed (300 mb/s) SD is in the tens of dollars retail. So unless games are upwards of $80 each, I'm not sure that's a goer. ;)

Not sure about 32 GB MicroSD cards. I've been getting 64 GB MicroSD cards for ~20-24 USD. Full sized SD cards are even cheaper. These are cards that do between 90-110 MB/s (MB not Mb) when reading data which is comparable to the HDDs that ship in the current gen consoles when reading from the outer tracks and faster than the HDDs when reading from the inner tracks. Their weak point is write speeds. Which are generally around 20-35 MB/s. The relatively more expensive Samsung cards (I think last I looked about 5-10 USD more expensive) can do 50-75 MB/s writes.

Regards,
SB
 
Eurogamer said 32 GB right? Not 32 Gb...

You can pick up 32 GB USb drives for like, 5 bucks nowdays.

4GB sounds way too small, 32GB sounds like more than plenty.

But, now that I think about it, considering PS360 usually operated at ~7GB of DVd size (yes I know PS3 had Blu Ray but most games didn't use it or effectively use it) if you expect NX to be PS360 level maybe 4GB could work in a pinch...seems too low though.
Eurogamer also wrote this article:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-07-28-nx-is-different-and-different-is-nintendos-best-option

I agree with the author in some ways, like not making sense to enter the home console market, where Nintendo is behind, plus Nintendo is a company with 5000 employees, while Sony has more than 100000, not sure about how many employees Microsoft have..

There are certain things I don't agree with..comparing Nintendo to Apple is cringe-worthy, imho. Not even close.. Plus it's overly enthusiastic about what I think innovation is. For now, NX is just a handheld console with a bit more scope than the DS, connectivity wise.
 
I think the idea is you detach the controllers and place the console unit next to the TV
Righto, and have to fish for the HDMI cable every time you wanna use it or have it schlepping messily on the side of your TV when you're not using it? (AND the charging cable as well btw.) Awesome suggestion! So why not simply have a small dock there which holds the cables in place, and also holding the console in place while docked instead of having it loitering like a bum around your AV gear?

Their weak point is write speeds. Which are generally around 20-35 MB/s.
If you go with photography SD cards their write speeds is much better than the regular barrel-bottom dredge flash cards. Of course, these cost more. Anyhow, write speeds are most likely not a serious limitation for this application, so doubtful if it'll matter a whole lot...
 
Why even fuck with hdmi cords? Why not use the existing wireless android screen casting technology that all modern phones and tablets support? Also some TVs and consoles have it built in too. That way Nintendo just needs to make available a tiny portable cast device.
 
I can't find datasheets for this, but someone on gaf said the macronix 45nm rom is on a 25ns read cycle, so assuming Nintendo stays at 16bits, that would be 80MB/s, and 32bits would be 160MB/s. A bit faster on 32nm, maybe 100MB/s and 200MB/s respectively?

If all carts have two chips that could be doubled. We could reach ludicrous speed.
 
Why even fuck with hdmi cords? Why not use the existing wireless android screen casting technology that all modern phones and tablets support? Also some TVs and consoles have it built in too. That way Nintendo just needs to make available a tiny portable cast device.

A physical connection offers a guaranteed reliable...er...connection. A wireless connection will generally be good in most places, but may be erratic at some locations. For a tablet device, that's not a big deal if all you have is a wireless connection for display. For a gaming device you'd still want the user to have the option of using a physical connection.

It'd be nice if they have the capability to use either a physical or wireless connection. Cost may be what determines if they do that or not. But if they can only afford one, the safer option would be to go with a physical connection.

Regards,
SB
 
The dock of NX is mysterious. Why not just make a mini-hdmi port on the main part of NX? In fact after considering the retail price, the BOM of the dock should be as low as possible. If the whole system is targeting $199, at most the dock may have a video encoder for remote play and video recording.The more functions it has, the more expensive it becomes.
I was thinking about that. Repeatedly plug and unplug both the hdmi and power cables is not really convenient and could even damage those fragile HDMI ports (personal story). There could have special ports on both the dock and NX in order to easily connect both the HDMI and the power just by placing the NX on its dock.

It would be an easy way to: charge the tablet when you're finished and to easily play on the TV without having to fiddle with 2 fragile cables.

Like this (minus the magnetic disk obviously):
64ddunit1.jpg
 
And also also, the detachable controllers:

If they're nice and compact they'll be fine for two players. For one player, joining them together would place the sticks/nubs pretty close to each other.

Guess you could play with them spread out in each hand. The seem far too relaxed a gaming position and, well, unnatural!
not for vr tho.

Put a camera in a base that charges and hooks to the tv and then let the player put the console on their head and play vr games . With ir tracking they would be able to track the controllers and visor.

It be good for games found on android vr
 
not for vr tho.

Put a camera in a base that charges and hooks to the tv and then let the player put the console on their head and play vr games . With ir tracking they would be able to track the controllers and visor.

It be good for games found on android vr
I'd bet on the NX being a bit too big for VR at this point. I hadn't though that Daydream does provide some low requirement content.

I'd have thought they'd go with Daydreams control option if they were going to do it, where the controller only orientate to the player. An external camera system for positional tracking would mean it could only be used for VR in the home.

If they did go with a camera on the base station option, would you be able to have a suitable ir target on a small controller? Move, Touch and Vive have have pretty big tracking areas to avoid occlusion.

(Admittedly move uses visible light tracking, and the other two are set up to enable room scale, rather than just 'couch cone')
 
I'd bet on the NX being a bit too big for VR at this point. I hadn't though that Daydream does provide some low requirement content.

I'd have thought they'd go with Daydreams control option if they were going to do it, where the controller only orientate to the player. An external camera system for positional tracking would mean it could only be used for VR in the home.

If they did go with a camera on the base station option, would you be able to have a suitable ir target on a small controller? Move, Touch and Vive have have pretty big tracking areas to avoid occlusion.

(Admittedly move uses visible light tracking, and the other two are set up to enable room scale, rather than just 'couch cone')

you have a bunch of gear vr and daydream stuff to put on the console. Also it depends on the size of the screen. Remember Oculus Dev kit 2 used a note 3 screen which is 5.7 inches. So a 6 inch screen wouldn't be out of the question. Gear vr currently uses the 5.7 inch note 5 .

As for occlusion. If your using a single Camera a few IRs on both controllers would work fine, your going to get oculsion but then I doubt you will be doing the fine movements of the vive or touch.

Sony uses a single camera with a single light source for tracking . if they want more fine grain motion like touch is doing they could have two cameras and have the owner put them on each side of the tv. You'd only get a 180 or 220 degree tracking scope but it would be fine for a lot of games. It be more accurate most likely than the move at that point .

That could be the benefit of playing in the home.

I mean you can also put a camera on on the back of the console if it is just a tablet. I am sure customers would want to take pictures and hell the 3d had 2 cameras for 3d pictures. Then use a combination of those cameras like leap motion does along with the internal sensors the controllers

however I don't see VR taking off outside of the home. No one is going to walk around with a vr headset on. Maybe I can see some one watching something on a train or plane. Maybe a bus ? but you'd miss your spot and people getting on and off could be annoying. I doubt you will play a game requiring your hands and moving your head on the thing tho. I think AR will be what gets big for that type of travel. That's why I figure the VR stuff would just be a thing to do at home when connected to the base. They can remove the complexity to the base instead of the tablet and they could also add in some processing power to help with the vr situation
 
My size comment was more about weight for VR than screen size as such, particularly given its aimed at kids. There's also the cost element as my assumption is that making it light enough to slot in a headset adds cost.

I am sold on the content side though. Third party stuff from Daydream + Nintendo would cook up something amazing.

(Going down flights of fancy, how much silicon does nVidia's single pass stereo require? That would seriously help with VR workloads)
 
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