What If The NX Console Is Portable Too?

[Soundwave]

designmaps said:

Soundwave said:

designmaps said:

there won't be 3 different hardware. not to mention you are calling those skus of the same system. rollseye.

There could be 3. There could be 4. Iwata said as much, unifying software developent will allow them to support more hardware setups if that's what they choose to do. 

No one really knows what they'll decide, so saying definitively right now is silly. 

What I would say is, I know internet fans are hellbent on everything staying exactly the same, but if Nintendo thinks like that, they are likely to continue to suffer declining hardware. They need to start changing things up and questioning "traditional tenants", especially when they're not even working to their benefit any longer. 

So I think their designers are likely really being pushed to think outside of the box. 

Also the portable has to be reasonably powerful to have scalable games work, if your handheld is so weak that it requires basically a complete redesign of the game to run or can't run a lot of the games period, then the whole point of a scalable platform is basically spoiled. So they can't just fart out a really low end handheld IMO, not unless the other corresponding hardware lines are also fairly low-end. 

"Iwata said as much, unifying software developent will allow them to support more hardware setups if that's what they choose to do. "

lol, only thing iwata ever said was that THE NEXT HANDHELD AND THE NEXT HOME CONSOLE would share the architeture.

"No one really knows what they'll decide, so saying definitively right now is silly. "

funny because saying definetely is what you do the most. and what's worst, you say definetely about the most ridiculous things.

"Also the portable has to be reasonably powerful to have scalable games work"

who said they are planning that? NO ONE. and you are again ignoring that the 3ds had a version of smash bros even though it's 50-60x weaker than wii u. a 300 gflop handheld can get select shared games with the console like smash and mario kart, regardless of the home console having 3/4/5+ tflops.

This is the actual quote from Mr. Iwata, I think people should actually read it, because he never says anything about a specific hardware layout. 

http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/iwata-addresses-possibility-of-single-nintendo-hybrid-console-the-number-of-form-factors-might-increase-23929

Still, I am not sure if the form factor (the size and configuration of the hardware) will be integrated. In contrast, the number of form factors might increase. Currently, we can only provide two form factors because if we had three or four different architectures, we would face serious shortages of software on every platform. To cite a specific case, Apple is able to release smart devices with various form factors one after another because there is one way of programming adopted by all platforms. Apple has a common platform called iOS. Another example is Android. Though there are various models, Android does not face software shortages because there is one common way of programming on the Android platform that works with various models. 

The point is, Nintendo platforms should be like those two examples. Whether we will ultimately need just one device will be determined by what consumers demand in the future, and that is not something we know at the moment. However, we are hoping to change and correct the situation in which we develop games for different platforms individually and sometimes disappoint consumers with game shortages as we attempt to move from one platform to another, and we believe that we will be able to deliver tangible results in the future.

I would guess if you were allowed into their R&D they probably have 5 or 6 different versions of the NX, perhaps more, though all of those will probably not see retail, but if I was a designer I would the freedom to experiment. 

The traditional way of doing things is not working for Nintendo anyway, they need a "new hardware concept". Which is what they've described the NX as. Not "lets just do the same thing we've been doing the last 20 years+". 

Also Smash Brothers is probably what Nintendo wants to avoid. Yes you can make two seperate versions of each franchise ... but it's a waste of resources, and good luck supporting that super duper 2TFLOP+ console you're pining for when you also have to make games seperately for a PSVita+ handheld. No one in the industry (not Sony, not MS, not Nintendo) would be able to properly supply games for two platforms like that. 

The team making the 3DS or Wii U Smash could've been used to make a Metroid game or a Wave Race game or a Kid Icarus game or a new IP.