By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
DélioPT on 12 September 2014
Edit Thread
Soundwave said:
DélioPT said:

Being that cheap would probably mean less powerful.
A real, good tablet is what Nintendo would need. Not too much, of course.

No, the tablet would not have console games, at least, not recent ones. Only port Wii games to the tablet.
That way, the old games would not compete with the handheld and home console business.
In a sense it would be like how Nintendo always kept the handheld and home console separate in terms of power. That way they wouldn`t compete with each other and software wouldn`t be costly to produce (with assests already used in the past).

Also, by making it powerful enough, the tablet can be used to serve as a controller or even stream games from the home console (like the gamepad does) and with that you could get a cheaper home console SKU (which would also work with the handheld as a controller).

That way Nintendo can keep 3 hardware devices and not make them compete with each other - by default, that is.

I don`t think your idea of just a portable with a TV attachment is what Nintendo has in mind. They already said they aren`t going with one piece of hardware for next generation.


It depends I guess Nintendo could get a GPU like the PowerVR 6430 (this is the same chip in the iPad mini retina) for dirt cheap. Throw the 3DS GPU in there (even cheaper) + a ARM Cortex A9 and you have probably a very cheap setup that can run all DS/3DS/VC games and all Android stuff too. 

It's not so much the chipset that makes things expensive, it's the LCD display, battery, and any type of custom component (like say a 3D screen) that will drive your costs up. If you stick to widely highly mass produced parts that are more than a tech cycle old you can get components for cheap. 

To be honest, I have to wonder if your basic idea might not be a better play than the "New 3DS followed by a Fusion platform circa 2016" roadmap. Nintendo is absorbing huge losses on the portable battlefield, waiting for 2016 to send in the cavalry probably only allows more damage to be done. 

A tablet that could play hundreds of DS, 3DS, NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, TG16 games on top of Android games and have enough grunt power to draw Wii games in 1280x720 resolution with fancier lighting effects ... I dunno. Maybe waiting for 2016 is too long. Nintendo could release a pretty kick ass handheld for cheap next year if they really wanted to. 


I`ll trust you for the tech stuff, because i really have no clue about that! :D
I guess a 3D screen wouldn`t be needed. Nintendo would be the first to say it wouldn`t be good for kids and then it would be 3DS all over again.
And of course, Nintendo could get other consoles for the tablet VC, if you will.

It`s not just a question of going this way or that way. Fusion strategy or tablet strategy.
I believe there`s a market for both things. Not to mention that in terms of games, Nintendo would take a step back in terms of what HW would allow them to do or how big could their games get. As far as i know, tablets don`t really have GBs and GBs of space to handle several games. Consoles can handle it because you can get the games in a store or have a external disk next to your console.

In terms of timing... i really don´t have a good idea on what the best time, but releasing every piece of hardware at the same time (specially the consoles) would be a way to push people to adopt more than one or at least, even in regards to marketing, would be best to show the exosystem right at the start.