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Soundwave on 30 January 2014
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JEMC said:
Soundwave said:

The other thing that I think could be possible is the concept of a "stackable" chipset ... meaning the handheld and "home dock" could connect together and share hardware resources. Wired connections like Thunderbolt are incredibly fast these days.

I think something (combined HH + home dock) in the range of a

Quad-Core ARM CPU (becomes an 8-core CPU when linked)
Dual-Core SGX PowerVR Series 6 (200 GFLOP approx, 400+ GFLOP when "linked")
2GB RAM (becomes 4GB RAM when linked)

Plays games at Wii U+ fidelity on handheld at about 480-540 resolution on the go. But when you have the home dock you can play at home at full 1080p resolution.

I can see that. Handheld for $200, home dock for $120 or so.

The fitness/quality of life stuff will become Nintendo's second pillar. I'd bet this setup would make more money than the dated current Nintendo console that only Nintendo fans want + old fashioned Nintendo handheld setup which has lost them money for 3 straight years (probably going on 4). 

I think you are complicating what could be easier to do.

I agree that both devices should be designed to use compatible hardware components, but in a scalable manner. Think about it (note that I'm using hardware that we all could recognize, not what they will use).

CPU:

  • Home console: 8 core AMD 64bit "A" architecture running at 2,0 GHz
  • Handheld: 2 core AMD 64bit "A" architecture running at 2,0 GHz / alternatively: 4 core AMD 64bit "A" architecture running at 1,0 GHz

GPU (I'll use the HD 7xxx family as an example):

  • Home console: HD 7870 variant with 1,280 shaders running at 800 MHz
  • Handheld: HD 7750 variant with 640 shaders running at 500 MHz

RAM:

  • Home console: 8 GB of ? memory
  • Handheld: 2 GB of the same kind of memory

With those specs and a single OS, the home console can run all the handheld games with ease, while the handheld could run a small minority of the home console games (or a big part of them if they are build with both hardwares in mind so that it scales acordingly). After all, Nintendo will still want to make us buy both devices, so it's likely that not all home console games will be able to run on the handheld.

And at the same time, the handheld can be used as an extra controller for the home console.

 

Although knowing how Nintendo and how they can make the simple things a lot complicated and the complicated very simple, any guess of what they are planning is just wistful thinking.

Nope, I think the next set of Nintendo gaming hardware will "break" this tradition of the home console being the "main" platform. Next time around the handheld is going to be the main console. The home console will be dramatically reimagined to be a companion for the handheld. 

And yes, I think it will be a mind f*ck for certain Nintendo fans for a couple of days, but they'll get over their boo hooing, just like originally when Project: Revolution was announced most Nintendo fans played up the idea that it would have graphics parity with the PS3/360 just in SD resolution or some nonsense. 

They couldn't understand the concept behind the machine though until it was shown and explained to them clearly, that the Wii was a different console that didn't adhere to the preconceived notion of each console being a quantum leap in processing power but was focused on something else entirely. 

My feeling is the GPU will almost definitely be a tablet/phone GPU too, but a powerful one like PowerVR G6430 or G6630, which Nintendo can easily arrange in multiple cores (say 2 cores for the handheld downclocked a bit, the home dock could have 4 cores running at max clock since it doesn't have to run off battery). 

It should be fairly easy for devs to make games with the visual fidelity of say an XBox 360 or Wii U title for play on the go, and with the stackable core setup they'll be easily able to offer home console versions of those games that run at a higher resolution as well.