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Soundwave on 20 November 2014
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Solid-Stark said:
Soundwave said:
Solid-Stark said:
I think the next Nintendo consoles will feature a unified platform (architecture, online and so on), but still a home and handheld console. The only issue would be that Nintendo will likely go with only one physical media type. So this would mean a cartridge (for the sake of making it easy for the portable). Then should the home console feature a disc drive? If it did it would only be there for the sake of backwards compatibility of disc based Wii and WiiU software. Of course BC isn't a requirement but has been a nice feature for both the WiiU and Wii in the past, and consoles of other companies.


Discs suck. The disc drive is an unneccessary cost and one of the most annoying things about the Wii U is how damn loud the disc drive is. It sounds like its having a seizure when trying to load Bayonetta cutscenes for example. 

They can use 3DS style carts next time for both the portable and home variants. Nowadays 4GB-16GB storage is cheap is 32GB is even getting dirt cheap, so 4-32GB carts should be good enough for most any game. 

The next Nintendo "console" will be tiny, like PlaystationTV size I think. No disc drive at all IMO. You'll be able to fit the console in your pocket if you really wanted to because it'll just be the handheld chip with more CPU/GPU cores and extra RAM, but that's it. The chipset even in an iPhone 6s is tiny, especially when you remove the battery which is what takes up like 70% of the space in an iPhone. I expect Nintendo to use similar sized components, even for the console variant. 

I doubt it would be as small as the PSTV size or near the size. Perhaps only if they axe backwards compatibility, and they opt for hardware thats weaker than XOne. That's assuming wonders for mobile chip advancement in the next year or so. Really depends what type of power is envisioned for console, and who can supply those chips. 


Backwards compatibility is out, not enough people own a Wii U for that to be a significant factor anyway, besides I think Nintendo will want people to rebuy some of the Wii U games via ports because they didn't exactly make a ton of money this gen off them (they can double dip on titles like Pikmin 3, DKC, Captain Toad, Bayonetta, Xenoblade, etc. this way ... games that likely won't sell on the Wii U what they should've). 

PSTV size is actually ginormous if you're using mobile parts. The new iPhone's chip is fairly close in horsepower to a PS3/360 (which isn't far off from a Wii U), but actually the chip itself inside an iPhone is maybe only 25% of the size ... the rest is the battery, which you don't need for a home version obviously. 

You could fit 3-4 of the iPhone CPUs + GPUs + RAM (the A8 processor) into a very small casing and that would be more powerful than a Wii U probably quite easily at that. 

That's more or less the power I think they're going for too ... Wii U quality for the handheld at 540p-720p; 1080p for the "home variant", same games otherwise. Will be very easy/simple for devs to make games that work on both, same chip, just variable resolutions, maybe a few more effects on the console side. 

It also means the console version can be cheap as sh*t ... no disc drive, no fan, no expensive motherboard, the same CPU/GPU/RAM as the handheld ... means Nintendo will be able to get a killer price on the chip since they'll be ordering them in huge numbers. Nintendo will save a ton in R&D costs too by not having to invest in two seperate chipsets.