| Soundwave said:
Mr. Iwata did mention one of the things about unified/shared platform is that you can have more than just the two traditional form factors. "What we are saying is that we would like to integrate software development methods, operating systems, and built-in software and software assets for each platform so that we can use them across different machines," Iwata said. "This means that if we manage to integrate our platforms successfully, we may in fact be able to make more platforms." So what about a scenario like this ... NX Tablet (portable) - Spring 2017 ARM + AMD chipset, 500 GFLOPS, 4GB RAM, 6 inch screen, $229.99 launch MSRP (will gradually come down to $199.99) NX Family Console (Famicom NX) - Mid-2017 ARM + AMD chip, 1-1.2 TFLOP, new type of wacky controller for new play styles, $249.99 launch NX Pro Console - Fall-2017 ARM + AMD chip, 2.4-3.6 TFLOP, $349.99 launch price Games scale up and down on all three in effects/graphics/resolution. Shared ecosystem, a bit like STEAM, from now on, Nintendo will have a centralized platform not tied to any one piece of hardware (again similar to STEAM or iOS). Over time even more hardware variants could be introduced like a NX Pocket (smaller handheld when chip can be shrunk even further), NX 4K (4K console), etc. Consumer chooses whats best for them, no more complaining about some gamers feeling slighted, everyone can have what they want and get their Nintendo fix however they want it. |
I think Nintendo will just launch with the handheld and console in the beginning, but the basis for moving to a unified architecture and API/OS will let them release evolved hardware every few years.
The handheld should be around Wii U spec level 400GFlop, but with more PC like Architecture, probably use a mobile varient of AMD's Zen SMT core, perhaps 2 cores, with 4 threads overall, 2GBs of HBM at around 50GB/s, standard 32GBs of in-built SSD storage. RRP: $149.
Handheld can handle all of the same games as the home console, but they run at low settings, 720P 60FPS, while the home console is a 1080p 60FPS scaled up design, running games on ultra settings.
The home console could be an 8 Core Zen CPU, with 10X the GPU performance, running games on the equivalent of ultra settings at 1080p 60FPS, high AA, AF at high levels for big screen viewing. Cost could be $349, come with a Bluray Drive, 1TB HDD with 128MBs of onboard cache for fast access of data.
At least 8GBs of HBM running at around 300GB/s.
Both systems would release in holiday 2017.
