Tanabe doesn't speak english and, incase you didn't know, the japanese word for next is not "next." Eurogamer misinterpret anything. You're grasping at straws.

He's the head of SPD3. In the last 5 years, he has been credited as producer on Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!, Fluidity, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Pilotwings Resort, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, Fluidity: Spin Cycle, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move, and
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Note that SPD3 works with third party and non-Japanese studios, so nearly all of these were co-produced by other development studios... but they don't just sit around and wait for the other studio to do all of the work.

About that quote from Tanabe... I have to say..



The man is shown to not be sure of when the NX will release, he clearly said that it would be LIKELY the NX would be out by then, in other words, even him as a the head of a production team doesn't know when in the world will the NX release, and this is no surprise either, that link provided earlier from late December 2014 shows that the NX should still be in a conceptual phase, and that is proven by Iwata's words, a mere month ago he said that he could not talk about when it would go on sale or what it's like, in other words, not even Iwata know how the NX looks, because the console is still in a conceptual phase.

Unless you tell me that in 6 months, they settled on the idea of how the console will be, they worked out the specs, the look of the console, and already have dev kits ready and were presented to the internal developer, there is no way that Tanabe's words can be used as evidence for when the NX will come out, if anything, he is just like any of us, just speculating, while taking into account the company's usual home console cycle. Even if we all know that by 2018 their next home console will be out, his words are no decisive evidence, if anything he just shows us that no one internally knows when the NX will be out! And that also rules out a 2016 release, and puts a 2017 release in doubt.

Then Eurogamer would have said something about a translator. Tanabe is the head of the SPD group dedicated to working with studios like Next Level Games, Retro Studios, Kuji Entertainment, n-Space, and Monster Games. Do you honestly believe he doesn't speak English? It's far more likely that he's like Miyamoto - he can speak English, but only does so sometimes, because he's not particularly fluent.

Besides which, even if he was talking through a translator, he's head of the SPD group that works with western studios... he'd have his own translator, who is probably also Japanese. The translator could just as easily have said "Nex" instead of "Next" and been misinterpreted by Eurogamer.

But let me demonstrate that Tanabe understands English: http://kotaku.com/everything-we-could-find-out-about-that-new-metroid-gam-1712003930 - "The interview was conducted through a translator. Tanabe understood most of my questions without translation but asked for longer ones to be translated. He replied in Japanese, which was translated for me." Note that, while he had a translator in this interview, a look at the length of the answers shows why - this was an in-depth interview. Note that, as I pointed out, Eurogamer said nothing about a translator, while Kotaku explicitly mentioned one (and I also notice that the Kotaku one came after - is it possible that they decided he needed a translator because of the Eurogamer interview?).

Not sure if that is really confirmation, as they will begin developing/planning for the next console soon after the Wii U was released

I think it will be like the Wii U. How they announced it in 2011, and then released it in 2012. So the NX will be announced next year, but will release in 2017. Which makes the Wii U will have 5 years. 

I've been saying it since the day it came out of Iwata's mouth. The NX was the next home console and I fail to understand how people saw it otherwise....

As for that article on Metroid!!! HOLY!!! This is EXACTLY what I wanted the next Metroid title to be. A story that focuses on Samus and Sylux! It is assumed he is a human and he is set out to be a very bad guy. Is he a just a character made to rival Samus or is his hatred for her and Federation actually warranted? Is it possible that in the past Samus's reckless actions had cause Sylux to lose something that was close to him? Perhaps the loss of family or destruction of part of his world? Could it be that this occurred in the past when Samus was part of the Federation before she broke off or perhaps it took place after and Sylux felt that the Federation should be held responsible for her actions?

Of course this is all speculation but it would be awesome if this is the case and he's not just another run down the mill typical Nintendo "dark counterpart" typecast character. Metroid has such a rich lore behind it that is often overlooked in the games. I hope that Metroid starts to dive deeper into its lore and explore more of the characters and the universe within. From what is being said it seems that this may be the case. Metroid Other M was a turning point for diving into the story within the games regardless if you thought it was a good game or not.

Historically this is how they've announced consoles.

But I wonder if a more effective way to release and garner interest may be:

Reveal: Spring 2016 (special direct)

Info Dump: E3 2016

Release: Nov 2016

Similar to how the PS4 and Xbox One were announced and released over the course of one year, I think between Wii U being announced and released the length of time was so great that people lost interest (alongside the other issues). If Nintendo bring the 18 month announce-release gap down to 8 or 9 months they can generate greater consumer interest.

DS was first shown at E3 2004 and released 6 months later.

NX is a phone.

OH the plot twist.