What If The NX Console Is Portable Too?

[TheWPCTraveler]

Soundwave said:

I guess another way of doing it is what if Nintendo made a different console for different regional tastes?

I'm going say Nintendo chooses to be a little bold and uses AMD's 14nm FinFET process which is supposed to be firing on all cylinders by next year. So lets assume 70 GFLOPS/watt.

NX Pocket Handheld - 350 GFLOP. 960x540 4.88-inch LCD screen. $199.99. Standard Nintendo option, good for kids, people who want a DS/3DS successor. 3GB RAM. Cheap screen but does the job. 

NX Mobile Console (Japan) - 600 GFLOP (on battery); 900 GFLOP (plugged in). New Console Concept. Has a 1280x720 7-inch LCD screen. Can stream wirelessly to the TV via HDMI receiver (sold separately). Form factor may look like a Wii U controller or maybe a Surface tablet (kickstand display, play with controller). Not designed for pockets, but easy enough to take in a bag or carry from room to room. 6GB RAM. - $299.99 MSRP

NX Home Console (US/EU Markets) - 2TFLOP console (@28 watts), 1TB internal HDD, your standard Nintendo console. Games run at the full 1080P resolution for TV. 8GB RAM. About the size of the OG Wii (no disc drive). $299.99 MSRP.

All three versions could be sold in all markets of course, just the focus in the US would be the home console, in Japan the mobile console is the console made for Japanese tastes, and you have the standard Nintendo portable option for the typical kid market, budget parent, and the gamer who values portability/pocket-ability.

The only thing is I don't think the NX Pocket would be able to run all games (though at 350GFLOPS for only 540p render is pretty beastly still), but it would be able to run most third party games with scaled down effects and probably all Nintendo games at the lowered resolution, plus virtual console games and perhaps Android app ports. Ideal for getting kids with budget strict parents into the NX ecosystem and playing Splatoon 2/Mario Maker 2.0/Dragon Quest XI, then later on they can start bugging mom/dad for one of the console versions. 

I am of the opinion that the next handheld, dual-screened and with 3D, or not, should be more powerful than Wii U. That said, I'm thinking you'll get rid of those, no?

The problem I see with your set-up is the mobile console. The GamePad runs 6 hours max with the default battery at 540p, and doesn't really have to do the heavy lifting. That, and the different power settings when plugged in or not. In theory, that is a great idea, but devs will most likely end up targeting the 600 GFLOP part. This is Japan we're talking about.

 

I have a different approach in mind, however. 2016: Handheld, 2017: Console.

In my opinion, a slider would do well, especially if the top screen is capacitive, and the device can be utilized as a phone.

There should be multiple variants, too. Base price should be $179 (4.3" screen), and all devices should have equal footing when it comes to power and screen resolution. Add $50 for a bigger screen (5.3") and better battery life. Add another $60 to bump up the storage from 8 to 32GB, add phone hardware and 1GB RAM (for multitasking), have a better (set of) camera(s), and switch from a clamshell to a slider layout. All devices are more powerful than Wii U, with two screens and the face-tracking 3D tech. (top: 1920*540px, bottom: 720*540px). Why the power? To milk one more year out of the Wii U and theoretically encourage at least some development there. Why the lay-out and 3D? To take advantage of backwards compatibility to 3(DS) and also take away devs interested in fanservice. Yum.

That's for the handheld.

The reason it launches a year earlier is to give the console breathing room, would you really spend, say, $600 a year in hardware alone? Well, that and it can be utilized as a controller for the platform.

The standard console needs to come in at $290 max (250GB), for the base price, with the Pro controller or some improved Wiimote+nunchuck. Add $70 and you can have either 1TB storage, or an improved GamePad (720p display). Add $110 instead, and you can have both. Or, add $200 for the ultimate bundle: 1TB console + deluxe XL hardware unit.

All I ask from it is for it to be able to handle streaming 720p to a TV and to four controllers at once, that was a big flaw of the Wii U to me.