What you need to know about the Nintendo NX, including release date, launch titles, and rumors!
Nintendo NX Latest News
The most persistent rumor is that the NX will be both a handheld and a home console, with a screen-controller hybrid akin to the Wii U's GamePad that will connect to our televisions. That suggestion has surfaced again in a new report from Digitimes (thanks,Nintendo Life), which describes the NX has having "a 5- to 7-inch display, controller and joystick" plus the option to connect it to a television. But the outlet also has more news to share: it suggests that production on the NX is to be delayed by six months in order to add VR support to the system.
"Sources from the related upstream supply chain pointed out that the delay was because Nintendo wished to enhance the game console's video-game/handheld-game-integrated gaming experience and add virtual reality (VR) function into the system to gain advantages in the upcoming video game and mobile game competitions," Digitimessays.
Production on the NX was originally planned for late this year, but the report says it could be pushed back to the middle of 2017. This contradicts Nintendo's earlier financial report from April, which stated that the NX was scheduled for release next March. If it's true that last-minute additions are being made, then it will inevitably miss that window by a considerable margin.
The same report also adds that around 10m NX systems will now be produced instead of 20m—apparently because of a shrinking console market.
Is Nintendo really going to delay the NX to make such last-minute alterations? Given the untested market for VR, it seems like a drastic move, particularly given that its overall design must have been signed off by now.
It also looks as though Nintendo's been working out third-party deals with developers behind the scenes, since a trailer for the forthcoming racing game Rise: Race the Future reveals that the NX is among its platforms:
The logo's since been blurred out, which rather suggests that someone at the developer's had their wrist slapped for jumping the gun. Nevertheless, Pocket Lint managed to get a grab of the non-blurred-out image, and here it is:
It could be that Nintendo NX, widely assumed to be the codename, really is the console's final monicker. Then again, it could also be a placeholder until the official name's revealed. At any rate, Rise: Race the Future is scheduled for launch this winter, which implies that the NX can't be too far behind.
Nintendo NX Release Date
Nintendo recently released its financial results, and in those reports it's emerged that the NX will now launch in March 2017. Once again, the briefing doesn't give anything away other than the console is a "brand new concept" - three words we originally heard when the NX was announced all those months ago.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported on Twitter that the NX won't be unveiled at E3 - instead, Nintendo will focus on promoting the new Zelda game, which will launch on both the Wii U and NX.
So there we have it. Everything we thought we knew has been shattered. There'll be no NX this Christmas.
Nintendo NX Details
Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has been speaking to Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun (via IGN) about the NX and where it stands as a follow-up to the Wii U.
"The NX is neither the successor to the Wii U nor to the 3DS. It's a new way of playing games, which I think will have a larger impact than the Wii U, but I don't feel it's a pure replacement for the Wii U."
Kimishima has said in the past that the game is a brand new project that won't emulate past platforrms: "If you only expand upon existing hardware, it's dull. In some shape or form, we're always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person's video gaming life."
In a financial Q&A with investors, Kimishima dished out some further details about the business strategies surrounding the hotly anticipated NX and its upcoming release, such as not selling the console at a loss and the necessity for a strong launch lineup of software titles.
With regards to the eventual price of the NX, Kimishima affirms that Nintendo are “not thinking of launching the hardware at a loss.” He goes on to explain that “selling at a loss at launch would not support the business, so we are keeping that mind in developing NX.” So does this mean that the NX will cost somewhere in the ballpark of the PS4 and Xbox One on their respective launch dates? Or could it mean the NX hardware will just have less expensive (and thereby less powerful) parts?
Kimishima also puts an emphasis on a strong new lineup of games, both at launch and later on down the road to support the new console with many years of longevity. This directly ties into why the NX will be skipping the standard holiday release window in favor of a March 2017 launch, a move which seemed to baffle many in the industry: “One of the reasons for choosing the launch timing that we did is so that the software lineup will be ready in time for the hardware launch.”
Nintendo NX Games
The Legend of Zelda
So far, only The Legend of Zelda is a confirmed launch title for the NX. Originally slated to release in 2016 for the Wii U, the game was delayed in order to make it onto Nintendo's new console.
"Though originally scheduled for 2016, the release of the latest The Legend of Zeldatitle is postponed until 2017, to allow further improvement of quality. Thank you for your understanding," said the tweet.
Nintendo added that "an NX version [of the game] is also currently in development, to release simultaneously with the Wii U version."
Nintendo NX Rumors
The Nintendo NX will play games. Right now, that's all we can honestly say for sure. Okay, we've heard lots of rumours, some more convincing than others - the 4K video streaming, the PlayStation 4 compatibility, the lack of a region lock, the purported Android architecture (which Nintendo has said is untrue), and even those weird patents.
Interest in the mysterious console has been such that some web dwellers went to the curious lengths of faking the NX's controller, based on designs in those patents linked above.
We'll just have to wait and see. More news on the NX as we get it.
