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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Miyamoto: We're Not Interested In High End Specs (Hardware)

Soundwave on 22 June 2015

From the NPR interview, which has been posted in full on their website and provides a better translation, and Miyamoto goes more into depth about Nintendo's hardware philosophy ... if you're banking on Nintendo making some super powerful console post Wii U ... looks like you've got another thing coming:

http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2015/06/19/415568892/q-a-shigeru-miyamoto-on-the-origins-of-nintendos-famous-characters

One of the things about Nintendo that's always been interesting is you've never tried to make a more powerful console with better graphics, and all the stuff that the Xbox has done. Can you explain a little why you've kind of stuck with that?

Miyamoto: So unfortunately with our latest system, the Wii U, the price point was one that ended up getting a little higher than we wanted. But what we are always striving to do is to find a way to take novel technology that we can take and offer it to people at a price that everybody can afford. And in addition to that, rather than going after the high-end tech spec race and trying to create the most powerful console, really what we want to do is try to find a console that has the best balance of features with the best interface that anyone can use. 

And the reason for that is that, No. 1, we like to do things that are unique and different from other companies, but we also don't want to just end up in a race to have the highest-tech specs in a competition to try to find how we get these expensive tech specs to the lowest price of the other systems. And so there's different ways that we can approach it, and sometimes we look at it just from the sense of offering a system that consumes less power and makes less noise and generates less heat, or sometimes we may look at the size of the media and the size of the system and where it fits within the home.

But really what's most important to us is, how do we create a system that is both unique and affordable so that everyone can afford it and everyone can enjoy it.

In other words ... don't expect NX to be anything mind blowing tech wise. I'm personally expecting a portable-centric line of hardware that has a home version sidekick. Portable can run Wii U-level graphics, home sidekick can run the same games but in 1080P with many a few added effects. They'll bank on some new gimmick to try and sell the system beyond that IMO. 

At least you can rest easy that NX won't consume too much electricity. 



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curl-6 on 22 June 2015

I called this a long time ago, I even have bets against two members that NX won't significantly exceed PS4 in specs.



Playstation_prophet on 22 June 2015

oh no. not what i wanted to hear



Soundwave on 22 June 2015
curl-6 said:
I called this a long time ago, I even have bets against two members that NX won't significantly exceed PS4 in specs.


I don't think it will match the PS4, let alone exceed it. 



AbbathTheGrim on 22 June 2015

Makes sense.

Underpowered console, reducing costs and price and therefore risks, then add whatever new input device they come up with to try and seduce casuals until luck strikes again like with the Wii.

Low costs will see them through those attempts that end up in failure.

This is the smartest strategy for Nintendo.



Nintendo is selling their IPs to Microsoft and this is true because:

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/thread.php?id=221391&page=1

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curl-6 on 22 June 2015
Soundwave said:
curl-6 said:
I called this a long time ago, I even have bets against two members that NX won't significantly exceed PS4 in specs.


I don't think it will match the PS4, let alone exceed it. 

Agreed.



GuyDuke on 22 June 2015
shikamaru317 said:

They need to at least match PS4/XB1 specs with NX if they want 3rd parties back, if only for a year or two until PS5 and XB4 release. Often 3rd parties are not willing to downscale their games to run on weaker hardware, that's been shown time and again.

We always say that each generation and each generation the outcome is the same.



Wright on 22 June 2015

I don't get it. You can have the most powerful console coupled with the best balance of features and interface.

I don't really understand the explanation or the motive given, it feels more like an excuse of some sort. Also, don't the X1 and Ps4 produce little to zero noise and heat?



Ultrashroomz on 22 June 2015

*sigh*

Maybe this is a premature thing to say, but I'm already losing hope on NX.



"Just for comparison Uncharted 4 was 20x bigger than Splatoon 2. This shows the huge difference between Sony's first-party games and Nintendo's first-party games."

cannonballZ on 22 June 2015

I had a feeling this would be the case. Why would they release a console weaker than ps4 or xbox one in the middle of this gen?

Edit: "We're not interested in high end specs" ... Well, I guess more people will not be interested in Nintendo.