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Forums - Nintendo - THEORY: Nintendo dropping backwards compatibility for the NX

bonzobanana on 23 May 2015
Bofferbrauer said:
Nem said:
Another derpy article? It goes against everything Nintendo has said.

The NX will use architecture that is similar to the Wii U because they said that they want ports/hd remakes to be more easily done between systems.

The CPU is a design from 1999 and WAY past it's life expectancy, and newer IBM processors are wholefully inadequate to the needs of a videogames console as they are designed specifically for giant High Power Servers, which consume electricity by Megawatts. That's why a change in CPU hardware is basically a must and thus backwards compability out of question, unless they include a shrinked Wii U processor & graphics just for this. But that would again increase it's costs by at least 30-50$.

Besides, I think NX will be a sucessor to the 3DS, not the Wii U, so the article is probably wrong in any case.


The wii u cpu design as you say is horrifically old with very low performance. Just 3 x 1.25ghz 32bit risc processors of teh same tech as Gamecube and some very old Macintosh models.  So they will be a breeze to emulate on a more powerful cpu system. It's the gpu that is more problematic.



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bonzobanana on 23 May 2015
teigaga said:

Does anyone honestly think that a large portion of Wii owners went back and played gamecube games, or even cared to acknowledge gamecube games? It'll be the exact same situation with NX (home console).

Nintendo will likely drop BC simply because it doesn't make any sense going forward. The Wii U was not successful so Nintendo have no interest in trying to carry along its audience as they tried with the wii audience and unlike gamecube/Wii, NX architecture will likely be very different from Wii U. Logistics has been the only thing behind past BC as far as Nintendo's home consoles are concerned, that is now (probably) out of the window.

I think Nintendo will just port their most important games from SNES-Wii U on NX (both handheld+home console) and give them digital releases. One or 2 wii U games may see retail remasters instead (Xenoblade, Zelda?)


I doubt I'm the average gamer but for a long period of buying my wii I was mainly playing gamecube games on it. I bought a wii fairly late too perhaps 2009. I still view the Gamecube library as better than wii overall.  The Gamecube had a lot of third party support and because the Gamecube was a competitive design with ps2 and the original xbox it got many of the same games as well as many exclusives. Great wii games were a struggle on such weak hardware and  only Nintendo really delivered on that.  Most wii ports of 360 and PS3 games were horrible both visually and with limitations in gameplay and I also had a 360 which I could use when it wasn't suffereing from RROD.

I also only bought a wii u at launch really because I wanted to run wii games via hdmi. If the wii u didn't have wii compatibility then it probably would have had a far superior chipset so may still have bought one at launch but if it was at the same performance level, pricing and no wii compatibility then I certainly wouldn't have bought one at launch.



JRPGfan on 23 May 2015
Mystro-Sama said:

http://gamerfitnation.com/it_gamingnews/2015/05/nintendo-nx-backwards-compatibility/

 

If they go through with this plan it's going to TERRIBLE. That's the one thing I liked about Nintendo systems, despite not being as powerful as their competitiors you could play a massive backlog of games and I feel this is especially needed considering if the NX takes off a lot of people will want to pick up Wii U games that they never got to play during the Wii U generation. Thoughts?

 

IMB PowerPC CPU... isnt going to be inside the next nintendo consol.  Its most likely going to be a ARM CPU + AMD APU.

It probably wont have a "disk" drive. There is a high chance it will use cartridges, that are simular to the handheld version of the consol.

 

It makes perfect sense they drop backwards compatibility.

 

 

Soundwave said:
Backwards compatibility sure is helping the Wii U sell like hotcakes and hurting the PS4 massively ... oh wait.
StarOcean said:
Eh, I'd prefer they get rid of backwards compatibility if it means it brings the price down/gets rid of the game-pad and Wii controllers

 

spemanig said:
Superquagsire said:

You severely misread that quote if that's what you got from it. He said it wasn't a "simple" replacement, not that it wasn't a replacement at all. As in, it's not just an iterative upgrade. That doesn't mean it's not succeeding them. It means it's not something direct like the transition between Wii to Wii U, but something more complicated.

In other words, the unified platform with a shared library across two or more systems. It's not replacing one or the other - it's replacing both. Not a simple replacement. More complicated.


Yep Nintendo is changeing the architecture of its new consol/handheld hybrid, its going to be very differnt from the Wii/Wii U.

I personally see it not haveing a disk drive, but useing some form of cartridges.... that alone means you cant just pop in a game from your wii u and play that.

 





teigaga on 23 May 2015
bonzobanana said:

I doubt I'm the average gamer but for a long period of buying my wii I was mainly playing gamecube games on it. I bought a wii fairly late too perhaps 2009. I still view the Gamecube library as better than wii overall.  The Gamecube had a lot of third party support and because the Gamecube was a competitive design with ps2 and the original xbox it got many of the same games as well as many exclusives. Great wii games were a struggle on such weak hardware and  only Nintendo really delivered on that.  Most wii ports of 360 and PS3 games were horrible both visually and with limitations in gameplay and I also had a 360 which I could use when it wasn't suffereing from RROD.

I also only bought a wii u at launch really because I wanted to run wii games via hdmi. If the wii u didn't have wii compatibility then it probably would have had a far superior chipset so may still have bought one at launch but if it was at the same performance level, pricing and no wii compatibility then I certainly wouldn't have bought one at launch.


No, I don't think you are :p 

But Neither am I, when I do pick up a Wii U, I'll probably be playing Skyward Sword and Galaxy 2 before anything else, partially for the same reasons as you, also because my old wii had a minor fault with the GPU which makes it display faint dark lines on screen



globalisateur on 23 May 2015

NX could be the Nintendo tablet powered by a whole Wii U hardware at small Die process like 16nm or 20nm.

They could sell the NX for the tablet customers who want genuine and compelling Nintendo games (Mario, Zelda open world, Pikmin, Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade etc.).

Not forgetting 100% compatibility with this Amiibo nonsense.

That could totally work IMO, Nintendo Tablet could be the new Wii.



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Miyamotoo on 23 May 2015
bonzobanana said:
Miyamotoo said:
bonzobanana said:
NX is probably just an exit strategy for Nintendo to withdraw from the home console business. They release a powerful handheld system that perhaps has x86 architecture and also fits into a craddle where it draws more power and has fan cooling and creates better visuals for connection via hdmi. End result also a home console of sorts but not competitve with xbox or ps4.

From all that Nintendo announced and said, NX is integration of their home and handheld business. Like Iwata said,

"Home consoles and handheld devices will no longer be completely different, and they will become like brothers in a family of systems.”.


Fair enough but if there is no direct replacement for wii u as a home console then clearly it will be an exit strategy especially if its clear the handheld side dominates sales.

Iwata:

"a dedicated video game platform with a brand new concept," it should mean that we do not intend it to become a simple "replacement" for Nintendo 3DS or Wii U".

Nintendo never said that are no direct replacement only for Wii U, they said that new platform is more than just replacement for 3DS and Wii U. They still making two consoles, handheld and home, just with heavy integration, same OS, similar architecture, cross development, cross play...

For the record, Nintendo handheld side always was dominating in sales.



DélioPT on 23 May 2015

There're more reasons to not have BC, then to have it.

Do gamers want BC?Probably. Will they care if it doesn't happen? PS4 and XB1 show that no, they don't mind that much.



Moonhero on 23 May 2015

No more wiimotes would be killer.



Ask stefl1504 for a sig, even if you don't need one.

Miyamotoo on 23 May 2015
Nem said:
Another derpy article? It goes against everything Nintendo has said.

The NX will use architecture that is similar to the Wii U because they said that they want ports/hd remakes to be more easily done between systems.

Actualy Nintendo never said NX will use similar arhictecure to Wii U, and part about easy ports was made about porting games from next handheld to next home console and reverse.

“It will become important for us to accurately take advantage of what we have done with the Wii U architecture,” Iwata said. “It of course does not mean that we are going to use exactly the same architecture as Wii U, but we are going to create a system that can absorb the Wii U architecture adequately."



forethought14 on 23 May 2015

Drop it. Leave behind the Wii name, leave behind the controllers, and focus on something fresh and new.