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Zstream

Diamond Member
Oct 24, 2005
3,395
277
136
The 3DS has done just fine without phone capabilities, and the reason why people would want a portable from Nintendo instead of an iPad is partly due to the Nintendo handheld being significantly cheaper and partly due to the games being orders of magnitudes better.

While the 3DS has done just fine, you're alienating a major chunk of potential users. Look, I'm all for another portable, but Nintendo is alienating users by insisting on being a hardware provider. They should know their strengths by now and we should all applaud them for it.

Creating a device, that can bridge the gap between 6-12 year old users would be a huge milestone. Making the gap 6-14 would be even better, but there are already devices out there that can do this.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
They already have a great 3DS for hand-held.

Great? It has a good library but its old, slow and relies on a gimmick fad (3D) that has passed by.

Honestly Nintendo needs a new portable console more than anything else. The "New" 3DS was a terrible idea.
 

poohbear

Platinum Member
Mar 11, 2003
2,284
5
81
Odd, for months I was told it was AMD. And that it was going to be x86, going against what even Miyamoto has been saying for over a year.

Nintendo isn't chasing Sony/MSFT. They are catering to their demograph which is stronger on mobile.

Expect an updated Pokemon Go to work on handheld with transferable data to console for online battles.

I'm excited to see what Nintendo comes up with. My prediction was handheld with low settings, then a console with the same hardware but no power restrictions so higher visuals. Don't need to be 4K native with uber graphics to sell. As Pokemon Go is showing, there is still a huge casual market that doesn't need the best graphics to enjoy themselves.

Nvidia came out and publicly said they didn't develop pokemon go and therefore are hardly making any money on it. Sending their stocks plunging 20%. It's developed by nunatic and played on Smartphones. Nintendo has very little to do with it.
 

Stuka87

Diamond Member
Dec 10, 2010
6,240
2,559
136
Nvidia came out and publicly said they didn't develop pokemon go and therefore are hardly making any money on it. Sending their stocks plunging 20%. It's developed by nunatic and played on Smartphones. Nintendo has very little to do with it.

I think you mean Nintendo came out and said that?
 

guachi

Senior member
Nov 16, 2010
761
415
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I guess as a bonus to lure gamers, MS is now doing "play anywhere" feature for Xbone games. Buy it once, play on your console or PC! That means their titles will be Win 10 UWP DX12 moving forward.

This is one of those "integration" things I can actually get behind.
 
Feb 19, 2009
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Great? It has a good library but its old, slow and relies on a gimmick fad (3D) that has passed by.

Honestly Nintendo needs a new portable console more than anything else. The "New" 3DS was a terrible idea.

The reason it's great is because of the libraries of games on it and it's comfy and long battery life for real mobile gaming.

I think it's their best console and the gamers agree, DS have always been a good seller for Nintendo.

Tegra in a new DS refresh, would be awesome.
 

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
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Right...now imagine a DS refresh, but with non-mobile-console graphics, and no other Nintendo hardware to compete with (i.e. it gets every first party franchise). That's why I think this could potentially be a massive success IF they get the hardware right. The idea behind it is good, I just worry it will be too weak or have piss-poor battery life.
Don't forget the price, if it competes in the mobile/tablet space (for gaming) it must be cheaper too, kinda like an ipod touch just without the multimedia playback.
 

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,583
164
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It's not a tablet. It's not going to compete with tablets. Stop thinking this way. I don't know how many times this needs to be said: casual phone gaming and dedicated handheld consoles are two entirely different markets.

You are right that it must be priced well, but damn you guys, what about the way people game on phones and tablets suggests it's at all relevant to this conversation?
I didn't say it was a tablet, but since it's a handheld console (the 3DS successor?) it will compete with tablets & smartphones & so it will have to be priced appropriately. Unless you're saying they'll attract the phone/tablet crowd with just the Nintendo brand name, also a gaming device without multimedia capabilities will not be an instant hit.

You, among others, are just assuming that Nintendo has a huge fan following & people are dying to buy a Nintendo console, instead of playing the friendly neighborhood Pokemon go on their phone. The phone/tablet doesn't just sell because they can do regular voice/video calls, the 3DS successor will have to be more than just a gaming device to stop the flight of people opting for a phone/tablet over PS Vita, Nintendo's 3DS et al.

Just to clarify ~ I'm talking about the handheld console from Nintendo; the NX as it stands today could well be a portable device (with a dock?) or it could be just a regular plug in console, that tidbit is not clear as yet.
 
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dark zero

Platinum Member
Jun 2, 2015
2,655
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Nintendo is about to create their own Dreamcast.... now that Maxwell went into legacy, I feel that the this way to put legacy tags to old products will be applied in their console GPUs.

What I mean is when the next nVIDIA GPU generation comes, the one with the Nintendo NX will likely be short lived.
 

Zstream

Diamond Member
Oct 24, 2005
3,395
277
136
This suggestion is just ridiculous. The success of the NX will not hinge on whether or not it can be used as an emergency phone for small children. And it should be obvious to everyone that phones and tablets are not competing directly with dedicated handhelds. The gaming experience is completely different and appeals to a completely different market.


Went right over your head...
 

antihelten

Golden Member
Feb 2, 2012
1,764
274
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Went right over your head...

But what is your point then?

You're idea that Nintendo needs to include emergency phone capabilities to not alienate users is just plain silly, seeing as the 3DS did just fine without it. It's about as rational as saying that the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony will fail if they don't include a built in smoke detector.

And saying that building a device that can bridge the gap between 6-12 (or 6-14) year old users would be a huge milestone is just plain ignorant when the 6-15 year old demographic is already the one that the 3DS is the most popular with.
 
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dogen1

Senior member
Oct 14, 2014
739
40
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Nintendo is about to create their own Dreamcast.... now that Maxwell went into legacy, I feel that the this way to put legacy tags to old products will be applied in their console GPUs.

What I mean is when the next nVIDIA GPU generation comes, the one with the Nintendo NX will likely be short lived.

We don't even know what GPU it's gonna use. It might end up having a pascal based tegra chip.
 

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
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Honestly Nintendo needs a new portable console more than anything else. The "New" 3DS was a terrible idea.

100% agree. Nothing like segregating your user base with two sets of hardware and then making some games run like ass on the older hardware. Why even bother porting it at that point?

Nvidia came out and publicly said they didn't develop pokemon go and therefore are hardly making any money on it. Sending their stocks plunging 20%. It's developed by nunatic and played on Smartphones. Nintendo has very little to do with it.

Nintendo gets a lot of money from selling Pokemon on their devices, (licensing+royalties) and most important hardware sales. Pokemon X and Y alone sold 4 million copies (not including bundle sales) it's first week. It led Nintendo to post a profit for that quarter.

When we use Pokemon Go, we mean the popularity it is creating. I even said imagine Pokemon Go Battle (the 'battle' would make it a separate game, but connected to Pokemon Go to allow consumers to realize continuity) where users can still collect Pokemon using their phones but to battle online they'd require a NX. So far Pokemon Go doesn't have active battles, which makes me think this is part of a Nintendo clause for licensing. I don't think there has ever been an actual 2D/3D battle game outside of Nintendo hardware. Even the PC versions resort to battling using trading cards.

This with the possibility of a launch Zelda title would be huge for the new NX. The Wii U had zero support from Nintendo on launch, and it lacked that support for almost 2 years!
 

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
126
I think we can all agree that there's a lot of uncertainty regarding whether or not they can actually pull this off. Price, performance, battery life, etc. are all significant concerns. But I find it hard to suggest that this isn't the best or even the only course of action for Nintendo.

I still think there will be two versions of the hardware. One will be an at home unit using a power supply to allow for higher clocks on the GPU/CPU and thus better Image Quality settings. This unit will be cheaper (no screen, no mobility) and will act as the "console" for anyone who rather have that.

The mobile version will be the focus and I still hope they go clamshell, but see what happens. This will be their bread and butter. It will run in a more power-efficient manner than the console version thus lower CPU/GPU and lower image quality. (ie 720p@30 vs console unit doing 1080p@60, with better AA and shadows most likely).

Games will work on both units.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,838
31,322
146
I honestly didn't know that dedicated portable game thingies were still a thing. I've seen those being sold, but I've never seen anyone using them in public.

Last portable gaming device I used was the original gameboy, which I thought was great when I was 9, but lost interest in the whole idea a few years later.
 

railven

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2010
6,604
561
126
I honestly didn't know that dedicated portable game thingies were still a thing. I've seen those being sold, but I've never seen anyone using them in public.

Last portable gaming device I used was the original gameboy, which I thought was great when I was 9, but lost interest in the whole idea a few years later.

Portables are basically what killed the console market in some territories. Cheaper, not stuck to an outlet, and at least Nintendo (Sony really lacked a good library) had a strong catalog of titles.

Last I saw 3DS sales were around 45-50million. It's also been on the market longer than PS4/Xbone.

But if the current trends stick, Xbone won't break 30 million and PS4 will probably stop at 50 million as consumers most likely move onto PS4 Neo. Microsoft is stuck with another brick that hopefully Scorpio can recover from, but I seriously doubt it. This is probably why they are moving more focus to PC-support. They got to sell their software some where.

Vita is basically dead in the hand held too.