| Akeos said: JustBeingReal, WII U is using an ARM processeur for the OS ... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For me, the NX will probably be a HC at first (March) and in October / november Nintendo released a HH ...
but with a more disign like 2DS or Gamepad ... forming a true HC ...
But smartphone & pad = HC is the first secret of NX ... The second secret of NX and explains the hybrid machine is a second part which will remain at home, part that is connected to the TV. I think that this part contain a hard drive for storing games, an Opteron server CPU (for high quality online service without subscription), a graphic part for displaying HC games on TV (probably streaming) .. .
So the NX HC will be : 1 smartphone with 1 special pad to transform the smartphone in HC, Accompanied by 1 personal server (storage, online gaming, viewing on TV)
Then in late 2017 (the last secret of NX), Nintendo will release a HH, it will only contain CPU, RAM, GPU and connects via PCI (or equivalent) on the server that accompanies the HC ... for making a powerfull système and be ready for PS5 and Xbox 2 ...
NX HC : 300 $ ...
NX HH : 300 $ ...
;)
|
I know that, but we're talking about gaming here and Wii U doesn't use it's Arm processor for games or any really CPU intensive tasks.
PS4 has an Arm chip for decoding and encoding tasks, I'm pretty sure XB1 does the same, but both have an SOC, made by AMD, which both use AMD CPUs and GPU tech.
Cost wise it's much cheaper to make a single chip for CPU and GPU needs, especially when it comes to actually building the system, you only need to install one part and the only provider that can really give Nintendo decent CPU and GPU power on a single package are AMD.
There's no real reason for Nintendo to target the mobile gaming and set-top box markets, because people have no reason to spend extra money on such devices, but the dedicated console market is still up for grabs. This is why having reasonable performance is important, Nintendo needs comparable technology to PS4 and XB1 at the least. Going well beyond that, beyond say the rumored PS4K is going to be too costly and 3rd party developers aren't ready to move on yet.
It's cost effective to make a handheld close to XB1 and a console around 2X the performance of PS4, especially in the time frame Nintendo are releasing. The timing doesn't make sense for an Arm based system, it does however make sense for an AMD SOC using Zen and Polaris or using Excavator CPU cores shrunk down to 14nm, along with a Polaris GPU.
The tablet market is already flooded, same goes for the set-top box market, dedicate gaming devices, even with Sony and Microsoft's current grip on the console space there's still a big chunk of the market up for grabs, through people that are yet to move on from PS3 and XBox 360, plus people looking to upgrade from their vita or 3DS devices.
