For months now we’ve been hearing all kinds of speculation and rumor about the Nintendo NX. Nintendo and third party developers have already started to announce games that might be developed for the new system but only until recently have we heard any concrete details. The Wall Street Journal published a report stating that Nintendo has started to send out software development kits to third party developers. Software kits are usually a measuring stick for developers to aim for but would look nothing like a finished product. Think of it as a Nintendo PC in a shoe box.
According to the WSJ source the NX will have a mobile functionality to it. Some sort of device that can either be used with the NX (similar to the Wii U game pad maybe?) but also used separately or “on the road”. This would certainly fit into the philosophy of the Wii U but would also replace the 3DS, another piece of hardware that is beginning to reach the end of its life cycle. In addition this source claims the NX has “industry-leading chips” which would hopefully mean it was competitive with the Xbox One and PS4.
The WSJ also speculates the NX could easily launch in 2016 since the Wii U continues to under-perform and the 3DS is on a down-slope. Nintendo has already announced they could begin a pilot hardware program for the NX this month and see final versions of product by March 2016, but more than likely that isn’t happening.
2016 will be a very busy year for Nintendo and I imagine they’ll stay mostly silent on the NX until E3 next year. It’d be nice to see Nintendo with the powerful system on the market and with game franchises like Zelda, Metroid, and F-Zero all rumored to be coming to the new hardware it’d be hard to ignore. How crazy would it be if Nintendo upgraded mid console cycle and won?
