Since it was officially announced in March of 2015, there have been no shortage of Nintendo NX rumors. Some seem plausible while others are so far out of left field that they hardly warrant any attention. A NeoGAF forums user — 10K — seems to have some inside sources that have provided some new clues into what the next Nintendo console could hold. As always, until the console is officially announced these rumors should be taken with a grain of salt, though 10K has set up a weighting system to show which rumors may be most likely. The T-Codes assigned represent how many people 10K has heard from on a specific rumor. T1 means that one person has said something, while T2, T3, etc. mean that 2, 3, etc. people have said something similar enough to give weight to the rumors. We’ll start with the strongest contenders:
T3 Rumors:
The Nintendo NX is thought to have some variety of screen controller. While this is nothing new for Nintendo after the Wii U gamepad, the NX is rumored to have a lot more functionality in its controller. While you can conceivably use the Wii U controller from across the room, or even around your house to play games on your Wii U system, the Nintendo NX controller is rumored to be able to be taken anywhere, and still play games remotely from your system at home. From 10K:
The NX is going to have a screen controller (whether it’s optional or standard I don’t know) and can be used anywhere to play your home console games. The controller itself will not have any processing capabilities, it’ll essentially be a dummy vita. It’ll likely have basic OS functions to access the NX console from anywhere, like a tiny cpu. Nintendo will use enhanced Wii U gamepad streaming tech, and allow the controller to be taken anywhere, connect to the NX console at home (likely through Wi-fi or personal hotspots and the NX console will likely have to be in stand-by mode). Basically, it’s remote play built into the box and won’t require a $200 add-on to experience it.
While this would be an interesting gimmick, Nintendo really doesn’t need any help in the mobile gaming department. Their 3DS systems are still immensely popular, and it seems odd to try and shoehorn another device into that market. We’ll have to wait and see what Nintendo is thinking here.
T2 Rumors:
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is in development for Nintendo NX. Originally thought to be a release on Wii U, it seems that development has been shifted to NX. I don’t think it’s any surprise to hear that a 1st Party Nintendo game will be released for the system, Nintendo has always had spectacular 1st Party games. We’ll hear about some other game possibilities in a bit, but it seems we can add Luigi’s Mansion 3 to the list of games we know about on the NX.
T1 Rumors:
While these may be lowest on the totem pole, these are some of the juiciest rumors out there. While some of these rumors may be flat out incorrect, or at the very least set to change prior to release, they paint a picture of a Nintendo that may actually be trying to create a competitive console system. The pessimist in me says that the idea of Nintendo building a competitive console is reason enough to debunk these rumors right away, but the Nintendo fanboy in me hopes there’s at least some truth to the rumors.
The NX could use a custom Polaris GPU. Rumors point to a GPU that is at least twice as powerful as the PS4. Now of course there are plenty of rumors swirling about a newer beefier PS4 coming along, so take that statement how you will. A Nintendo console with truly powerful specs would be something new and impressive though, so here’s hoping something comes from this rumor.
One aspect of the GPU that has seen some speculation is the inclusion of what is referred to as a Primitive Discard Accelerator. A TechGAF user was kind enough to provide a description of what this means:
[It’s] designed to perform culling of triangles before they hit the geometry processor. Effectively, what this means is that it runs through the triangles (also known as primitives) as they hit the GPU and tests them to see if they’re actually going to be visible on the screen or not (with a variety of tests), then throws out the triangles that aren’t going to be on screen (i.e. discards them or culls them).
There are software solutions that provide similar functionality, but if this were built into the GPU it could truly offer improved performance by eliminating triangles that are unnecessary to the current view.
Other T1 rumors include information about some games in development — allegedly there are “lots” of them — including not only existing franchises but also new IPs. Nintendo has always had an issue with alienating 3rd Party developers, so hopefully they’ve learned from past mistakes and provide a console with a wide variety of games. One game rumored to arrive on the new Nintendo console is Final Fantasy XV.
The Nintendo NX may also have different launch windows around the world. This could be a measure to ensure that Nintendo has enough stock, or simply a way to gauge interest before producing a significant number of consoles. There are a few other bits and pieces that you can read at the source link below.
What are you most excited about seeing from the Nintendo NX? Let us know in the comment section at the bottom or on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=201100330&postcount=4778″ icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: NeoGAF[/button]
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