Nintendo has already begun distributing development kits for its next console, currently code named NX, according to a report published early Friday by the Wall Street Journal.
The article references “people familiar with the matter” and provides educated speculation that the successor to the Nintendo Wii U could be launching as soon as 2016.
The WSJ article quoted David Gibson, an analyst with financial management firm, Macquarie Capital Securities; “We are increasingly of the idea that Nintendo might launch NX in 2016 because of the softness of the 3DS and Wii U.”
Gibson’s claims run parallel to analysis offered by this reporter regarding Nintendo’s potential NX timeline in a report outlining Nintendo’s performance at this year’s E3 conference.
“Nintendo made it painfully obvious that focus is now shifted towards NX, leaving the Wii U a lame-duck system that is now way over-priced considering the future that it has left.”
“[w]hatever form this new console (or operating system, as some rumors have it) takes will be well supported at launch, because NX is coming, and given the state of Wii U at E3 2015, I’d say it is coming sometime in 2016.”
The Wall Street Journal Article further echos rumors regarding the NX being a hybrid device between portable and home consoles. Word from the rumor-mill has suggested a number of potential forms that NX could take, such as a traditional home console and portable model which share the same operating system, to a single unit that could be plugged into the television while at home, then unplugged and able to act as an independent portable unit while on the go.
The most encouraging, as well as tantalizing info to slip out of the unnamed sources of the WSJ piece was that Nintendo was planning on utilizing “industry-leading chips” as part of the NX’s architecture, which if true, would be in response to the wide spread criticism over the graphical capabilities (or lack thereof) of the Wii U and the Wii before it.
Nintendo has not commented on the NX since the initial confirmation that they were working on it earlier this year, opting to wait until 2016 to release more information. However, given precedence of previous console launches, and the typical schedule on which development kits go out to publishers, it’s becoming a safer bet that NX will be launching next year.
The best case scenario for all of this is that the NX’s handheld/console set-up and incredible horsepower enable them to do what people have suggested they do for forever: utilize their history. If the handheld/console thing works in the way that the Wii U’s Gamepad does (except portable) and this thing is built like a processing tank, they could make every console and handheld game available on it though Virtual Console.
Also, if they require people to buy this set up to get the next Nintendo handheld, they’re building a console install base with guaranteed sales from the Pokemon addicted portable faithful who will buy it no matter what. I’m curious to see their plan when more info comes out. Agree with @Cubist on the fact that no one really has been clamoring for more graphically or technically impressive Nintendo games (they’re beautiful and fun regardless), so I think besides getting ensured third-party support they have to have some other need for that much tech.
Ya know, Super Mario Maker did feel a little bit like a Mario swan song. I just figured it was the nostalgia kicking in. But maybe, if this NX doohickey is supposed to be wildly different, maybe this really is the end of Mario as we currently understand him…
There’s still plenty to enjoy on Wii U.. Get Bayonetta 2 and Mario Kart 8 for sure!
Yep, I still get down with Mario Kart 8 fairly regularly, and 3D World is always fun to revisit after taking some time to let it fade from immediate memory. Then there’s Rainbow Curse and the new Woolly World, neither of which I’ve gotten into yet. SSB 4 wore a little thin for me after a while, but I can see where others dig it. And then there’s the new StarFox coming.
GAH I’m still a little perturbed by the imminent death of the Wii U. Finally after almost 3 years we had some major gaps filled in (Kirby, Yoshi, Mario Kart, Mario Party, etc.) and I was looking forward to at least a “Round 2″…maybe a Galaxy 3 and then a Galaxy 4 2 or 3 years down the road…a Mario Kart 9 some time in 2017, maybe a new Metroid venture mid-2016….
I think at this point Nintendo is ready to bail on the sinking ship that is Wii U. It’s a shame that the machine never took off. I love it and think they have a fantastic library… But with less than 10 mil sold world-wide, it’s no longer viable for them to market and support it..
As for 3DS. Sales have been stagnant for a bit. They introduced “New” 3DS as a stop-gap to spur interest, and it still has an immense library of quality titles, but there just isn’t much growth right now..
The big things to watch are what they do about bringing their properties to mobile, which we should hear about by the end of the year, and more leaks regarding potential NX tech and what those kits are capable of..
2016 is going to be extremely exciting for Nintendo fans!!
Mobile? As in dipping out of the hardware scene and throwing everything at tablets and smart phones? Man I hope it doesn’t go this route. I’ve tried to give tablet gaming a serious go three or four times now, and I just end up disappointed over and over. These machines, and all the software that runs on them, never seems to work. Some of it works some of the time, but whenever I have a problem and start reading about it, it seems like no one has 100% success 100% of the time…or even 99%/99%.
I’m all for the concept behind the devices themselves, but as they exist now…I dunno. Too much money, and too much broken bullshit to deal with in my opinion. Data won’t transfer, there’s no simple, user-friendly way to dig into the file system (even cutting the damn things off won’t clear the cache in some instances; it’s fucking bullshit that I have to manually clear a tablet’s RAM to make shit run properly), apps continually clash with each other, factory resets are the norm when stuff goes wrong….
Don’t get me wrong, they seem to serve their purpose great when it comes to cheap, on-the-go gaming, but when it’s time to get serious and/or thing about longevity, these things don’t come close to cutting it. I really hope this isn’t the future of gaming. I want proprietary hardware!
UGH the NX news is frustrating! I mean I kinda feel like the Wii U finally hit its groove, even if it wasn’t quite the runaway hit that the Wii was. Hell, at least, proportionately speaking, it’s easier to run across a good game for the Wii U than the Wii.
But damn, 2016? And I understand the concerns about graphics, but the people who enjoy the Wii U and Nintendo’s efforts aren’t the ones chasing down ultra high res and ridonkulous framerates. YO, NINTENDO, I don’t want another XB1/PS4 clone that takes a shit every time my internet gets funky!!!
Oh well. I know they need sales, I just wish they’d get ’em by sticking to what they know best – well-designed games with FUN as the number 1 priority, not hyper-realism.
But what’s up with the 3DS? I thought the 3DS was pretty much the greatest shit ever? Granted the 3D is more of a gimmick than revolutionary new feature, and the NEW 3DS was probably a bit premature on Nintendo’s part, but still, the combined libraries of the DS/3DS/all other offshoots and variants thereof has got to be one of the strongest libraries available on a single system in gaming history.