Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Next Nintendo Handheld To Be Powered By NVIDIA's Tegra Chipset

Posted by Soulskill on from the tegra-his-arms-wide dept.

Vigile writes "When you sell over 100 million handheld gaming systems, everyone wants to be involved in your success; just ask Nintendo. As a company with many different obstacles in its path, NVIDIA could definitely use the boost in revenues that would come from partnering with a company like Nintendo on a handheld system, and it looks like the Tegra processor will make that happen. The NVIDIA Tegra processor is an SoC that runs a set of ARM cores, a GeForce-based graphics core and an HD video processor capable of 1080p output that would definitely give the current Nintendo DS/DSi systems a performance boost in line with the Sony PSP. The 'Nintendo TS,' as it has been dubbed, will apparently be ready for a late winter 2010 release and should put a spark in the mobile gaming market and give Nintendo's developers the power to bring higher quality games to the platform."

12 of 216 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Zelda! by hattig · · Score: 2, Insightful

    More likely two screens of 480x320 to 640x480, with 4xAA and decent filtering.

    Unless they're dumping the dual-screen concept, but it's worked well so far.

  2. So when can we expect 1080p on the Wii? by tomhudson · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's the *real* question. 1080p makes a bigger difference when hooked up to a big-screen TV than it will in a tiny hand-held.

  3. Wondering about other specs by the_scoots · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I wonder if they'll "upgrade" it like the PSP so you can get to repurchase your older games through DLC?

  4. Re:Open it, and make it a phone by Aladrin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Right, because nobody over the age of 12 owns a DS...

    Wait, no. That's not right. I have one, and so does my: Mother, father, sister, both nephews... That's just off the top of my head, and only people actually related to me by blood. My youngest niece owns one, too, but she's actually under 12, so...

    --
    "If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
  5. Re:Open it, and make it a phone by richy+freeway · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I doubt that the homebrew community will spend the effort to reverse-engineer the next Nintendo hand-held when they could buy a cheap, open cell phone for the same price.

    I think you're REALLY underestimating the homebrew communities. They'll hack it just because they can.

  6. Re:Flashcards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    What he said:

    Who cares, I'm waiting to pirate the games. Fuck you nintendo.

    What he meant to say:

    I HATE YOU SO MUCH I'M GOING TO KEEP PLAYING YOUR SHITTY GAMES.

  7. Higher quality games by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Love how higher quality graphics means "higher quality games."

  8. Graphics and quality are largely unrelated. by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "...and give Nintendo's developers the power to bring higher quality games to the platform."

    Any developer that thinks the thing stopping them from delivering higher quality games is more powerful graphics hardware has no hope of delivering high quality games.

    --
    Search 2010 Gen Con events
    1. Re:Graphics and quality are largely unrelated. by ChaosDiscord · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I've always thought it was a shame that Rembrandt didn't have access to Photoshop; it would have enabled him to make higher quality art. And the quality of Bach's work really suffered since he lacked access to synthesizers and theremins. And I guess Casablanca is pretty good, but clearly its quality suffered for lacking the options of widescreen, color, and 3d.

      --
      Search 2010 Gen Con events
    2. Re:Graphics and quality are largely unrelated. by brkello · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, you are saying the 8-bit Nintendo is all we ever needed. That's the argument you are making and it is stupid. A more capable system allow for better graphics that can give a more immersive environment as well as having improved AI or capabilities. Every retard knows that better graphics != a better game. But it seems counter intuitive to people on here that increasing the hardware specs can give a developer more options to create a deeper game.

      Any artist can make great art with the tools of their time. But you seem to argue against improving those tools...that the tools we have now are good enough. Could you really have Half-Life or Mass Effect or Bioshock on an 8-bit Nintendo? Maybe, but it would not be as fun because it would be so limited. It would be like telling Mozart that all he could use is a tuba and a triangle.

      --
      Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
    3. Re:Graphics and quality are largely unrelated. by ookaze · · Score: 2, Insightful

      So, you are saying the 8-bit Nintendo is all we ever needed. That's the argument you are making and it is stupid.

      No, actually that's YOUR stupid argument.
      He is saying that 8-bit Nintendo game were still quality games, and you're saying they can't be.
      That's a very stupid argument to make, when the 8-bit Nintendo games still sell well on Virtual Console on the Wii.

      A more capable system allow for better graphics that can give a more immersive environment as well as having improved AI or capabilities.

      Yes, but a less powerful system allows for exactly the same things.

      Every retard knows that better graphics != a better game. But it seems counter intuitive to people on here that increasing the hardware specs can give a developer more options to create a deeper game.

      Experience has shown that the counter intuitive thing is the correct one.
      What you're saying is true in a vacuum, but in real life, there's a thing called money that prevents you from reaching your utopia.

      Any artist can make great art with the tools of their time. But you seem to argue against improving those tools...that the tools we have now are good enough. Could you really have Half-Life or Mass Effect or Bioshock on an 8-bit Nintendo? Maybe, but it would not be as fun because it would be so limited. It would be like telling Mozart that all he could use is a tuba and a triangle.

      So much BS. How do you know it would not be as fun because it would be so limited?
      Artists always manage to manage past the limitations of their tools, that's creativity. Because you're unable of being creative enough to bypass the tools' limitations doesn't mean nobody can.
      That's this mindset that made Sony, MS, and nearly everyone in the game industry dismiss Nintendo as irrelevant this generation, only to be destroyed. The game industry is not technology industry: having less powerful hardware doesn't prevent you to succeed, at all.
      Seems like lots of people still have not understood that the game industry is not a technology industry: it's entertainment.
      The same entertainment industry where it doesn't matter if your movie is in mono, black and white, or other "limited" technology, if the content is better. That's why the Nintendo DS is cleaning it up, despite being "limited".
      Thus why the OP is plain wrong in thinking that more power will bring more quality.

  9. Re:Zelda! by Toonol · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Which is MORE than enough for a handheld. There's no reason to pack in 1600x1080 resolution into a screen that's four inches across.

    On a handheld, priorities are different than a home console. In addition to the obvious (like low power consumption), I would think resolution would pale in importance to other things like offloading physics or better compression or procedural generation of textures, to counteract the restricted processor/memory.