Nintendo NX rumors continue! A supposed company employee in Japan has broken confidentiality agreements to reveal everything that eager gamers want to know with regard to price, release windows and specs. This includes the revelation that NX is a common software platform leveraged on separate 3DS and Wii U successors.
The news comes to Design & Trend via the Italian Nintendo fan site, NintendOn. Rough translation on Reddit provides English clues about the industry's most intriguing hardware.
First and foremost, the source claims that NX is a common software platform that will unify the company's future home console, handheld devices and third-party smartphones. In addition to taking advantage of Nintendo software developers, it's been said that Android designers are also part of the fledgling team. Because the home and portable products use the same OS, there will be many games that play on the go and on the big screen with cross-buy and cross-play functionality. A single ID also allows users to carry their friends lists and purchases with them no matter what Nintendo machine they're on.
That being said, this unified approach hinges on two separate pieces of hardware. The handheld, meant as a successor to the 3DS, might be on store shelves by the end of 2016 or early 2017. It will reportedly have specs similar to the PlayStation Vita and will tout internal memory too. Its display resolution will likely be 540p, but 720p is being considered if development costs permit. Backwards compatibility with existing 3DS software has unfortunately been cited as "problematic."
The NX home console, on the other hand, borrows many attributes from its predecessors. The report says that gamers will be able to stream its games to the NX portable and possibly a Wii U GamePad. It will also be able to play all existing Wii U software should it be available. The source further claims that Nintendo hopes to apply this benefit mainly to digital games since the system itself does not include a disc drive.
As for specs and price, the NX home console might be as powerful as the PS4 and Xbox One. Six months to a year after the portable debuts, the goal is to sell its stationary counterpart for around $200 to $300. In addition, a bundle with NX's portable and home hardware might be available in the $500 range.
Matters get even sweeter when considering about the NX's possible game library. The source mentions that "Metroid" and "F-Zero" are already being worked on by Nintendo. Third-parties like Ubisoft and EA were introduced to the NX family at E3 2015 and have since been given dev kits.
What do you think of these latest NX rumors? Are two new Nintendo products really releasing soon with decent prices? Tell us what you think in the poll and comments section!
