Nintendo announce: Nintendo NX

[Grall]

at least have a platform that can receive ports.

This is minimum requirement. They can't not have a console that cannot be ported to one more generation. It's not cost efficient to make games that only run on one machine. Ubi took it on the chin when Wuu and ZombiU both bombed; nobody's gonna want to go through that again, especially with a modern HD console (assuming Nintendo makes something such as that), and its much more expensive art assets...

Even so, I'm not convinced Nintendo has been dissuaded from its obsolete hardware follies. They seem to be under the mistaken impression that this strategy has served them well...

 

[Rangers]

If the NX is released 5 months after Neo and uses a totally new tech (contrary to Neo) it better be more powerful than Neo...

Right?

I very much doubt they'l be over almost 4 Teraflops. Although, at least they'll get to use what they have unlike Neo.

Also not sure what "totally new tech" you're referring too.

Hehe, imagine Nintendo engineers, under strict budget and power constraints, worked and slaved and went crazy to actually get a Nintendo product as cutting edge, "here it is boss, we hit 2.0 teraflops, more than PS4 tops on the market!! No more weakling Nintendo"...only to see PS4K....Doh!

 

[AlNom]

They can't not have a console that cannot be ported to one more generation.

hm.... no?


wat

 

[MrFox]

hm.... no?


wat

If you mean to say they can't not have a console that cannot be ported to not one more generation, I disagree.

They can and they must.

 

[AlNom]

If you mean to say they can't not have a console that cannot be ported to not one more generation, I disagree.

No, not never wouldn't couldn't shouldn't not never again disagree that unported ungenerated unworked nothing never not I didn't undie.

not unwat couldn't haven't shouldn't unwatted so unresponsibly not for the none.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

So the Wii didn't outsell the PS3 and XB360?

The Wii brought great happiness to Nintendo during its first 2 years because it sold lots of hardware and 1st-party software.
That happiness faded away when, by 2010, the company's revenue was slipping and by 2012 they posted losses for the first time in 30 years. And by the time the Wii U launched, they noticed they had already alienated 3rd parties so much that besides a few titles that inevitably went wrong, the Wii U became a desert for anything but 1st/2nd party and FIFA.

So looking back, was the Wii a successful console on the long term for the company? Maybe it wasn't.

The 3DS didn't massacre the Vita in sales?

At launch week it was 1.24 Million 3DSes vs. 1.1 Million Vitas. Hardly a massacre.
Then the sales got rather poor for both consoles. The difference is that while Nintendo fought hard to keep making titles for the 3DS (Nintendo is a lot more dependent on their handhelds than Sony ever was), Sony actively shat on their own platform. Unlike the 3DS, the Vita never got any reasonable 1st-party attention, Sony hardly ever mentioned the handheld during the largest conventions like E3, and good franchises had their names scarred by incompetent offshore development.
Vita's demise was manufactured by Sony. Maybe it was because due to the earthquakes and subsequent losses they could only afford one platform to get sufficient attention and they chose the PS3, maybe they became afraid of smartphones becoming so much more powerful so soon that they thought iOS and Android gaming would screw their investment anyways, who knows...
But the Vita's failure was definitely a decision made by Sony during its first year in the market. Of that I have no doubts.

Power is not the be-all and end-all of gaming.

Nothing is the be-all and end-all of gaming. Power just happens to be immensely important.

Have you seen the total revenue of iOS games?

Have you seen the total revenue of cheap cars? Why should car makers ever release expensive cars?
Have you seen the total revenue of cheap socks? Why should sock makers ever release anything but cheap socks?

 

[Entropy]

Have you seen the total revenue of cheap cars? Why should car makers ever release expensive cars?
Have you seen the total revenue of cheap socks? Why should sock makers ever release anything but cheap socks?

I'll refrain from getting into a history discussion. Fact remains that console power is only one of several factors that characterize a console. And it is not necessary for success (profitability), as demonstrated as late as the previous (stationary) and this (handheld) generation.
Obviously being of similar power and architecture simplifies ports. If Nintendo regards minimum effort ports important, and believes they will make it to the system If the system has comparable performance to the lead platform, it makes sense to consider that when designing the console.

But just how profitable would a third console with no hooks, but with some multiplats and Nintendos catalog actually be? What could it bring to gaming apart from what is already supplied and Mario with subsurface scattered skin? Does the market need (and can it support) three very similar systems?

Nintendo will Bring Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing over to mobile.
They have a contingency plan where they can bring their flavour of entertainment to a much greater audience, if NX doesn't fly high enough to make sense for them as a platform holder, and the console market outlook seems too weak.

 

[liolio]

I'll refrain from getting into a history discussion. Fact remains that console power is only one of several factors that characterize a console. And it is not necessary for success (profitability), as demonstrated as late as the previous (stationary) and this (handheld) generation.
Obviously being of similar power and architecture simplifies ports. If Nintendo regards minimum effort ports important, and believes they will make it to the system If the system has comparable performance to the lead platform, it makes sense to consider that when designing the console.

But just how profitable would a third console with no hooks, but with some multiplats and Nintendos catalog actually be? What could it bring to gaming apart from what is already supplied and Mario with subsurface scattered skin? Does the market need (and can it support) three very similar systems?

Nintendo will Bring Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing over to mobile.
They have a contingency plan where they can bring their flavour of entertainment to a much greater audience, if NX doesn't fly high enough to make sense for them as a platform holder, and the console market outlook seems too weak.

I'm a believer in the handheld market, people (including me) are more and more into autonomous, self powered devices. Tablets and phones can do games but they are far from cutting it. I might not have the right idea about what to do but I'm sure that there is something outdated with the format of the last modern handheld which prevent greater adoption. It can be the delivery method, price of games, the price, the size (too tiny in a world where ipad, phablets, 2in1 nettop are in everybody houses) or a blend of it all (most likely) but I just can't believe that the market is dead when gaming makes so much money everywhere else.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I don't see the handheld market disappearing, it might not get as big as before but there are still many advantages to a dedicated handheld gaming device.

Around here every kid up to 10 ~ 12 years old seems to own a 3DS. I always seem them setting outside playing with their friends. Its a much better value proposition than a phone or tablet. A 200 dollar handheld will last you half a decade. A 200 dollar phone or tablet won't last you anywhere near that long. That is if you can even buy a phone which at least in Japan isn't that easy. There are some sim free phones but most phones are on a contract. The cheapest you can get is 10 bucks a month and that gets you a pretty crappy phone.

 

[snarfbot]

you cant just buy an unlocked phone on amazon or something?

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

You can, but even something like a HTC desire 626, which is a 2014 midrange phone, costs twice as much as a new 3ds.

 

[orangpelupa]

You can, but even something like a HTC desire 626, which is a 2014 midrange phone, costs twice as much as a new 3ds.

Isn't That's too powerful?

Under 200 dollars phone should be good enough for gaming.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

You can, but even something like a HTC desire 626, which is a 2014 midrange phone, costs twice as much as a new 3ds.

The Desire line has hardly ever been the epitome of price/performance.

For example, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 has almost exactly the same specs (Snapdragon 410, 720p screen, 2GB RAM) and it can be found at around $120.
Smartphones with a MT6735 and 5" IPS 720p screen can be found for less than $100.

 

[function]

Not launching till March 2013.

E3 just got 33% less interesting.

Edit: definitely not launching before March 2013.

 

[orangpelupa]

Not launching till March 2013.

E3 just got 33% less interesting.

Aww you from the past?

 

[function]

Aww you from the past?

First time I'd seen confirmation from Nintendo that NX won't be at E3 was today (thnx NeoGaf):

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1212575

Had Nintendo previously confirmed it wasn't going to be there?

Edit: Also says they aren't planning for NX to be sold at a loss. Time to start reeling in those super-powah hardware dreams, folks!

 

[Shifty Geezer]

First time I'd seen confirmation from Nintendo that NX won't be at E3 was today (thnx NeoGaf):
Had Nintendo previously confirmed it wasn't going to be there?

You said not launching until 2013.

 

[function]

You said not launching until 2013.

Wrong key.

I hit wrong key.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

The Desire line has hardly ever been the epitome of price/performance.

For example, the Xiaomi Redmi 2 has almost exactly the same specs (Snapdragon 410, 720p screen, 2GB RAM) and it can be found at around $120.
Smartphones with a MT6735 and 5" IPS 720p screen can be found for less than $100.

No mom is going to order a doggywhatever China phone online outside of Japan, dealing with import, non Japanese menu's etc hoping they end up with something half decent.

Fact is any simfree phone/tablet not downright terrible and for sale over here is going to cost you at least 20 ~ 30.000 yen and at that point everybody with half a brain will just get their kids a 3DS because these things are sold on every street corner and they just work.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

No mom is going to order a doggywhatever China phone online outside of Japan, dealing with import, non Japanese menu's etc hoping they end up with something half decent.

Fact is any simfree phone/tablet not downright terrible and for sale over here is going to cost you at least 20 ~ 30.000 yen and at that point everybody with half a brain will just get their kids a 3DS because these things are sold on every street corner and they just work.

Why are you talking about Japan exclusively? In my country, several stores sell Xiaomi phones and there are even Xiaomi stores.
There are also lots of store-branded cheap smartphones which are chinese models from ZTE, Micromax and others.