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+--- Thread: Nintendo NX Devkits are out (/showthread.php?tid=6914)
Nintendo NX Devkits are out - A Black Falcon - 31st October 2015
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1125479
Rumor has it that it's supposedly 'powerful' and compares to modern PCs, but we'll see... and with a system that looks like it well might release next year, mid-generation really, I wonder how much success Nintendo will have at drawing in third parties, who have of course almost entirely abandoned Nintendo over the past few generations. If they release another system that's more powerful than their last one but not nearly as good as the other "real" next-gen consoles, whenever those release in years down the road, why would publishers care? Of course, if there is a long gap between NX and the next system maybe they'll get SOMETHING, but there was a decent-sized (one year) gap with the Wii U and it got them not a whole lot.
So yeah, the key is a good concept, good first-party software, and good marketing. Succeed and you'll force third parties to support you, like how they eventually released stuff on the Wii even if it wasn't all of their best games. So... what will it be? Console? Handheld? Console-handheld hybrid? How powerful? And when will it release? Who knows, but it's interesting to think about.
Of course though, the sad part is that if it really does release next year and is a home console, that means it'll be the first time a Nintendo TV console didn't last for a full five-year generation. It's too bad that that seems likely to happen, but with Wii U sales where they are it was probably inevitable, unfortunately.
One other thing I will say is that I hope the rumors of a console with no disc or cart support don't happen. Download-only consoles are awful for a lot of reasons -- rights, ownership, resale, used games, etc. Consoles are a locked market in a way PCs are not, digital-only does not work on consoles like it does on a computer.
Nintendo NX Devkits are out - Dark Jaguar - 1st November 2015
If the rumors are true and this is essentially a handheld designed to be hooked up to a TV as well (including using external controllers), then I can believe it'll come out next year, as it would basically be the true replacement for the 3DS with the console replacement being a bonus.
If it's meant purely as a home console, then I still have a hard time believing that Nintendo would risk alienating so much of their audience with such a move. It'd make people wonder if they shouldn't skip THIS one too and wait for the upcoming "real" next gen. I mean, releasing a "mid-generation" console upgrade would tell people "we want to stay current with the technology again", and thus I have a hard time believing they'd skip out when MS and Sony released whatever they've got coming up next time around. That is, unless Nintendo is intentionally trying to go for a "tick/tock" strategy, where they intend to simply release their own consoles during the "midway" point from here forward. That'd be new.
As for a media-less release, I don't think that'll happen. There's still companies that release physical-only games (such as the entirety of the Kingdom Hearts series, so released for what I can only assume are licensing reasons). Nintendo just doesn't have the influence to force companies to release digital for ALL their games and KEEP them on the store, even when you consider their handheld "dominance". There's also the small matter of backwards compatibility, which Nintendo considers pretty important, at least important enough to keep it going back at least one generation. That said, fact is optical drives likely are a big cost and space factor. Going back to cartridges is actually pretty viable at this point, with SD cards now rivaling bluray storage space (I've seen 128 GB cards on the shelves being sold for about $60). Price is clearly still a concern there, but Nintendo may be banking on the prices for comparable storage space dropping enough to reduce the manufacturing costs to something like $10 per game, which is still way more than an optical disk, but comes with a whole host of benefits, not least of which is how well it fits in with the idea of a handheld/console hybrid.
One thing's for sure. IF that's their plan, they will be marketting the NX as a new handheld to avoid scaring the Wii U owners. I say that based on how they handled the DS, trying to make us believe it was a "third pillar" handheld meant to be sold alongside the Gameboy line. We all know the obvious truth now, it really was the next Gameboy and they used that marketing speak to make it easier to accept it as a two screened giant monster of a handheld (compared to Gameboy systems). As I said, I doubt Wii U owners will be very comfortable with their console becoming "obsolete" this soon, especially considering things like the online-centric nature of hits like Splatoon (and legitimate fears that it's online mode will go dark far too soon). So, Nintendo will say "hey, we have this new handheld, the NX, which is more powerful than the Wii U and can be hooked up to your TV, but don't worry, it's just our new handheld meant to replace the 3DS, and Nintendo is committed to supporting the Wii U for it's continued life span". Then it'll end up replacing the Wii U after all and Nintendo will say something like "due to the runaway success of our new handheld, we're positioning it as our main focus, but don't worry, it can be used as a console too!".
Nintendo NX Devkits are out - A Black Falcon - 3rd November 2015
Hmm, you think it's going to be more of a 3DS successor than Wii U? That would be interesting; the 3DS is older than the Wii U, but it's been much more successful and doesn't have any real competition right now, so I don't know if it really needs a followup so soon, particularly when the New 3DS just released, like, this year. Meanwhile the Wii U has struggled badly, and things won't get much better anytime soon, not with so few games being released for the thing and most of this holidays' major titles pushed back to next year sometime. I know the Wii U will only be 3 years old this holiday, and about 3 by the time the NX presumably releases next year, but it's in much worse shape so I'd think Nintendo's focus would go there. There are some big negatives about releasing mid-generation and getting into that trend would probably not be great, but what choice does Nintendo have? The Wii U won't get anywhere near the GC's level of sales. But we'll see, you could be right that it'll be a more handheld-focused system, or another "third pillar" idea as you say, or something like that.
As for carts... that'd make sense or a handheld of course, but on a console prices for large memory sizes are just too high for that to be a reasonable option when compared to discs, I think. Handheld games aren't as big as console games need to be. Suggesting it as you do is a good idea, but I can't quite see it working at the sizes console games are now. Hopefully it's possible someday though, discs are annoying because of how fragile they are, and the mechanical drives often have issues too.
Oh, and of course I really hope you're right about Nintendo going for a digital-only approach; physical media is important, and we lose things in digital only... most importantly rights, preservation, used sales, and such. As consoles get more and more digital-focused, game preservation (will you be able to play this game in 20 years?), consumer rights, and used games become more and more restricted things. DLC and digital-only console games are awful on a preservation standpoint! Of course game publishers don't care about this and just want you to keep buying their new stuff, so someone will surely push it at some point, but it's bad for some good reasons. At least on PC it's much easier to preserve things digitally, but on consoles, with all of their restrictions, that is much more difficult.