Nintendo NX: Speculation on a new console

All of this is pretty pure speculation, as is every other article around right now. We only know a limited amount of information, but if it is to be believed, Nintendo are going to release a new home console by the end of 2016, and it currently goes by the working title, Nintendo NX.

The first major point is that it may have the possibility to be as much handheld gaming as home console. The Wii U already features the ability to play games solely on the handheld gamepad, as long as you are within range of the console itself, allowing you to not use the television as your main screen. If the NX allowed internal processing in the 'gamepad', then it could become a handheld console for use out and about, and a home console, all in one.

If it keeps similar hardware to Wii U, and is more a cosmetic or extra functionality upgrade (eg DSi compared to DS, or new 3DS compared to old), Wii U games would be cross compatible with NX, developers working on Wii U titles wouldn't be left in the lurch and people who have a Wii U wouldn't need to upgrade immediately. As unlikely as this is, it would be a smart move by Nintendo, as long as the upgrade to functionality was enough to warrant buying the new console, but small enough that current Wii U owners were able to keep their existing hardware.

There are rumours that the Nintendo NX may return Nintendo to using 'cartridges' to sell their games physically. However, they wouldn't be the bulky cartridges of the N64 and earlier. It would be using digital media, like SD cards (similar to existing DS/3DS cartridges). This may seem strange at first, but considering that with Blu-Ray style discs, we have just about explored the limits of how much information can be stored without increasing the writeable surface area of the disc, and that SD cards are becoming increasingly cheaper, physically smaller and are capable of holding more information every day, and it suddenly makes a lot more sense. This could be alongside downloading games from their internet-based store, as it is currently.

Pricing is set to be lower than the Wii U and competitors. This has always been a good selling point for Nintendo consoles, both for within the home and handheld. It has led, along with it's first party titles, to the reputation Nintendo has for being family friendly, and was one of the driving factors behind the success of the Wii.

However, the timing is way too early - the PS4 and Xbox One have only just gotten out of their launch title slump, and the Wii U has only just received its first batch of really influential titles - Mario Maker, Splatoon, Yoshi's Wooly World. The Wii U will only have been out for 4 years by late 2016, in comparison to the 6 years that the Wii was the main console for, and the 5 the Gamecube was available for. If it winds up being a more cosmetic upgrade, this may be a moot point, but in the event that it is an entirely new console, fans would have to invest in new hardware sooner than they were expecting - even with cheaper price point, they may lose trust that this console will be useable longer than a handful of years. It's that broken trust that would be the worst thing for Nintendo; people buy their platforms for their unique IPs (such as Mario, Legend of Zelda, Metroid, etc.), but if a platform fails to deliver on those IPs because the next platform is being rushed into development, then fans will feel cheated, and wonder why they should invest in a new platform if the same will happen again.

If third party developers don't adopt it, then it will be the same situation as the Wii U currently faces - good first party support, but no games other than Nintendo's unique IPs to choose from. There are a number of reasons why third party developers may choose not to develop for the Nintendo NX, including investing in learning and testing an entirely new coding language, expenses of developing on the new platform, the risks of developing on a new unproven platform, especially after the premature ending of the Wii U's retail cycle.

If dev kits are already in hands of developers, then it may get decent 3rd party support at launch. Most of the rumours currently circulating are due to developers who already have a kit. We aren't currently aware which developers have dev kits and what titles they are currently working on, but at the very least, it is a decent hope.

At the end of the day, though, this is all wild speculation based off a handful of facts. Speculation where Nintendo are concerned is risky at best, due to the unpredictable nature of the company. Wide speculation of the Wii condemned it to failure, yet it became a ridiculously successful console. The same can be said of the idea of the DS. So at this early stage, all we can say for sure is that whatever Nintendo do wind up doing, it is sure to be a surprise, despite our best efforts to guess at it.