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

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."

Comments

So when can we expect 1080p on the Wii?

[tomhudson]

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.

Re:Open it, and make it a phone

[Aladrin]

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...

Re:Open it, and make it a phone

[richy freeway]

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.

Graphics and quality are largely unrelated.

[ChaosDiscord]

"...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.

Re:Graphics and quality are largely unrelated.

[ChaosDiscord]

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.

Re:Graphics and quality are largely unrelated.

[brkello]

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.