Slashdot Mirror


Nintendo NX Is a Portable Console With Detachable Controllers, Says Report (eurogamer.net)

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Eurogamer.net: We now have a good idea as to what the Nintendo NX will consist of thanks to a new report from Eurogamer. According to a number of sources, Nintendo's upcoming NX will be a portable, handheld console with detachable controllers. Eurogamer.net reports: "On the move, NX will function as a high-powered handheld console with its own display. So far so normal -- but here's the twist: we've heard the screen is bookended by two controller sections on either side, which can be attached or detached as required. Then, when you get home, the system can connect to your TV for gaming on the big screen. A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX -- within the controller -- to display on your TV. NX will use game cartridges as its choice of physical media, multiple sources have also told [Eurogamer]. Another source said the system would run on a new operating system from Nintendo. It won't, contrary to some earlier rumors, simply run on Android. [...] The system will harness Nvidia's powerful mobile processor Tegra. Graphical comparisons with current consoles are difficult due to the vastly different nature of the device -- but once again we've heard Nintendo is not chasing graphical parity. Quite the opposite, it is sacrificing power to ensure it can squeeze all of this technology into a handheld, something which also tallies with earlier reports. Finally, we've heard from one source that NX planning has recently moved up a gear within Nintendo ahead of the console's unveiling, which is currently slated for September. After the confused PR fiasco of the Wii U launch, the company is already settling on a simple marketing message for NX -- of being able to take your games with you on the go."

158 comments

  1. Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Viol8 · · Score: 1

    Anyone who wants decent mobile gaming has already got a choice of dozens of devices that also do more than just play games. I don't understand the logic behind this. Perhaps it'll work in japan but it'll be a dismal failure everywhere else. Still, its their billions to burn. Meanwhile playstation and xbox just keep on trucking...

    1. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Except none of your dozens of systems has the Mario Franchise on it. or the other nintendo only franchises that have a rabid following.

      it's about the games not the hardware. Those that think it's about the hardware, just do not play games.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Viol8 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      No one over the age of 12 gives a damn about any of Nintendos game franchises. If they think they're going to corner the kids market then good luck to them, but they might find that the kids have moved on.

      "Those that think it's about the hardware, just do not play games."

      Of course its about the hardware or we'd all still be playing games on an Atari 2600.

    3. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      Smartphones suck at everything except being a phone. Gaming on them is horrible, only games you can reliably play are F2P "click this thing to make it disappear and get some kind of score for it". Or Pokemon GO if your into that kinda thing.
      But normal games, like ive been playing for years. You know the ones im talking about, from platformers to fpss, none of which are remotely playable on a fucking smartphone OR tablet.

      So fuck off dick weed, and play your crappy games on your crappy phone.

    4. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by NotInHere · · Score: 1

      Its about having to pay google 30% or not about having to pay google 30%. With their own hardware, they aren't required to do that, and apparently they believe they make more money if they sell their own hardware instead of going through google (and apple, but apple only owns a minority of the market) first.

    5. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 1

      If I were them I would be making it an Android smartphone on top of that.

    6. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >the games
      Yes, I'm sure it was all those games that sold Wii.
      I mean, Wii U was such a massive success thanks to all those games. Oh...wait.

      People need to realise Wii was a damn fluke already.
      It happened at the right time, nothing else.
      All those people moved to smartphones while their Wiis gather dust.

      NX won't be the next big thing for these people either, especially since it won't have smartphone features.
      You think the majority of them will carry another device with them? Fuck no, they just managed to get rid of everything else.
      Handhelds are dying because they are not smartphone-like.

    7. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There we go, now we see your true colors. You haven't mentally matured since you were 15.

      Here's a secret: real adults don't care about what looks adult or not. That's why Mario still sells so well.

      It's ok sport, one day you'll grow up too. Probably. ;)

    8. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      decent mobile gaming

      "Decent" mobile gaming does not take place on smartphones or tablets. The touch interface is too poor to support more than simple, clunky, and thus necessarily limited controls and gameplay. I would argue that touch interfaces do not offer decent personal computing full stop, and their standard selection of "software" reflects that.

      already got a choice of dozens of devices

      There are presently two mainstream devices that support games with as much interactivity and depth as say, Quake, Command and Conquer, or super mario. They are the Nintendo 3DS and the Playstation Vita. Both are vastly superior to any tablet at doing what they are designed for; Playing Video Games. Both are approaching end of life cycle.

      Android and iOS are not gaming platforms. They are barely personal computing platforms. Sales numbers do not a great gaming platform make. Both OSes to tis day offer an anemic and depressingly staid selection of titles which fails to reach the the breadth, depth, or entertainment value of even the Atari 2600. Centipede? Space Invaders? Pac-man? Frogger? River-raid? Pitfall? These are iconic titles that built a foundation for the world's largest entertainment industry.

      What has "app-store" gaming delivered us in spite of its massive reach? Angry birds, Candy Crush, and...? What titles and genres has it developed that can serve as both a foundation for future developers and a keystone to support continued gamer patronage? What's the killer app for smartphone gaming? "Something, something, VR". You'll have to do better -- but you won't. You will appeal to nebulous adoption rates, download figures, unicorn stock prices, and just somehow hope that "good games" will be able to overcome a inferior control interface; and apathetic audience; and an app-store race to the very, very bottom of the free to play barrel. God help us all.

      A smartphone does not beat an Atari 2600, because fundamentally it doesn't have enough buttons. So how on earth can it expect to beat a NES or Playstation? A future of limited, cludgey smartphone apps is the ultimate BAD END for video games as a whole. If Nintendo can get us out of it by delivering a traditional handheld to win kids and big kids back from their touchscreen zombie oblivions.

      If Nintendo fails, so does the industry.

    9. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (not the same anon)

      Performance on Android or iOS has absolutely nothing to do with why phone "gaming" as a whole is just a deeply fucked-up market.

      Putting aside the whole "no physical controls" thing for a bit (and yes I know there's accessories... but you know as well as I do those don't sell to the mass public and aren't feasible to develop games specifically for), the terrible FTP trend has made sure nobody expects to pay a cent to download apps on a phone anymore, and no game can be made without FTP mechanics.

      FTP apps make money. But as a true videogames platform, phones were dead on arrival. And they will never, ever amount to anything in that regard.

    10. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by mukinrestak · · Score: 2

      "decent mobile gaming" Those words, I do not think they mean what you think they mean. Nintendo makes the only good handheld gaming right now. Vita is a distant second, and Nvidia shield is a joke. Cellphones are crap for gaming, unless your idea of quality is angry birds and candy crush.

    11. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No one over the age of 12 gives a damn about any of Nintendos game franchises. If they think they're going to corner the kids market then good luck to them, but they might find that the kids have moved on.

      "Those that think it's about the hardware, just do not play games."

      Of course its about the hardware or we'd all still be playing games on an Atari 2600.

      As a thirty-something year old gamer (at least when I have free time), a lot of the main Nintendo franchises are still amazing to play and replay. If I feel like playing a real-time strategy or first person shooter then Nintendo doesn't offer much, but when I want to play an adventure game or platformer their franchises are still heavy weights in the arena and well worth considering.

    12. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by mukinrestak · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hey, my smart phone does double duty as an Ebook reader. I also play Master of Magic on it via Dosbox and a portable keyboard with touchpad (It's great for doctor's visits!). OFC, when you need a cellphone stand, a USB A to micro adapter, and a small wireless keyboard, you ain't exactly doing "mobile" gaming anymore than a laptop user is. And no, using the onscreen keyboard and touchscreen is NOT a viable option for Dosbox.

    13. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Z80a · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Try playing any oldschool action game on your mobile device and tell us how well you went.
      I'm pretty sure you can't for example reach the ending of megaman 3.

    14. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by johannesg · · Score: 1

      On an Android system they would be competing against millions of free games. That alone would reduce the acceptable price level for their games to close to zero, even if those games happen to be much better. How many parents will shell out 60 or 65 euro or dollar for a game when they can also say "see what's available on the download store for free", do you think?

      The choice for cartridge confirms this. It not only helps protect against pirates but also adds perceived value - you are getting an actual, physical piece of hardware as well.

    15. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Except none of your dozens of systems has the Mario Franchise on it.

      Perhaps not fully legally. But if I go buy the game cart at the flea market, download a dump of the same cart, and play it on an emulator, in practice nobody is going to sue me. And there are good emulators for NES and SNES for basically every platform now, so it's still difficult to see where they are coming from.

      Well, actually, it isn't; they are making a portable console with detachable controllers in order to cash in on Game & Watch nostalgia. Does anyone care? I suspect no.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    16. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by LichtSpektren · · Score: 1

      Anyone who wants decent mobile gaming has already got a choice of dozens of devices that also do more than just play games.

      Android and iOS games are almost universally terrible. The 3DS is the only current portable console worth owning.

    17. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't trust Smart Phone games to not compromise my security or privacy. I'm sure as hell not going to install a bunch of games on my phone. In the age of everyone hacking everyone- it's smart to have a system that uses cartridges or other physical media (but allow for a local digital emergency backup).

      Also, a handheld can dedicate itself to being a handheld gaming device instead of worrying about camera quality, and phone call quality, and other crap that is unnecessary.

    18. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you explain the millions of adults looking ridiculous trying to "catch 'em all".

      Sure, Nintendo didn't write that game but it is one of their franchises (and a lot of people THINK they did).

    19. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by kosmosik · · Score: 1

      Adding physical buttons to smartphone or tablet is not a problem. I constatnly use my iPega controller with 5,5" smartphone and 8" tablet and it works great. I mostly play oldschool titles from SNES, M.A.M.E. and native ports of games as Metal Slug or similar. I think there is lot of money to make if Nintendo released an attachable controler that hosts the device such as smartphone as its screen with built-in battery. AND also released its vast library of oldschool games on it. They have means to do it via all this virtual console stuff they have on their current systems.

    20. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones?

      They not only have but they tried one with Nokia right at the very dawn of smartphones. It didn't sell well.
      I think this thing will work since the first question someone asked me about a Nintendo DS around a decade ago was "does it also plug into the TV?"

      Still, its their billions to burn

      It's Nintendo, they don't tend to spend a fortune on development and hardware so if it bombs it's not "billions to burn".

    21. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      Square-Enix has had the right idea IMO. They are reselling their old Franchises (ie Final Fantasy 1 - 6) on the Android market for $15 a pop, and people are paying it because these are quality ports. Granted FF 2, 3 and 5 never made it to the US in their original form (the US's FF 2 and FF 3 were Japan's FF 4 and FF 6 respectively) so that increases the value a bit; but S-E has actually gone through to update the UI to work with the touch interfaces natively, along with BT controllers that can connect to the phone/tab, cross device cloud saving in addition to local storage saves (so I can take a game I'm playing on my phone, throw the save to their cloud, and then download resume it on my Shield connected to the big screen...and vice versa), and improved the graphics to look good on newer hardware.

      If I had the option to play an updated version of the original Legend of Zelda that has a great UI to match the device type it's being played on, updated graphics (maybe using 3D models instead of sprites, a la "Tiny Keep"), multiple device compatibility with cloud saves, etc... I'd be more than happy to slap down $15-$20 on it. Hell, given that most Android devices have some kind of Mic system, they could even give an update based on the Famicom version where you could actually shout down a room full of Pols Voice instead of using up arrows to one hit kill them (warning...that was a spoiler. sorry).

      My point is, people have already shown Nintendo that there's an interest in (re)purchasing 20-30 year old games to play on their new TVs and 3DS using the Wii(U)'s and 3DS' Virtual Console system for $5 - $10 a pop. Square-Enix and a few other companies of the classic console era have also shown that there's an interest in playing older titles with updated experiences. I'm not saying that Nintendo can afford to become exclusively an Android developer (Square-Enix, SEGA, EA, etc still have their bigger budget console and PC offerings going on), but I think they are missing out on a very large market by not going forward with expanding into mobile development at least for their older titles/franchises.

      Besides...have you played those free Android games? You get what you pay for is no less true in the Android ecosystem. (Hint: games that are free to download but you have to pay real money for items, boosters, and upgrades to be able to get a decent playing advantage are not free [Pokemon])

    22. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      You mean one-button controllers instead of something competent?

    23. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In practice nobody is going to sue you even if you don't buy the cart.

    24. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by jimbolauski · · Score: 1

      No one over the age of 12 gives a damn about any of Nintendos game franchises. If they think they're going to corner the kids market then good luck to them, but they might find that the kids have moved on.

      The sole reason I will be buying the Nx is because of Zelda, I will tell my wife I got it for the kids but the real reason is because of Zelda.

      Of course its about the hardware or we'd all still be playing games on an Atari 2600.

      Either you are intentionally missing the point or you truly don't play games, the only thing good hardware does is it doesn't detract from the gaming experience. A game is still good even if it's not played on bleeding edge hardware. I still have fun playing mario cart, chrono trigger, and super mario world with my kids.

      --
      Knowledge = Power
      P= W/t
      t=Money
      Money = Work/Knowledge so the less you know the more you make
    25. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As a 20 something year old gamer I can say that Nintendo has the worst franchises of all time.
      Mario was good for it's day, but what have they done to improve it?
      More racing games?
      More platformers?
      It hasn't changed in decades.
      Nintendo is stuck in some kind of protectionist mindset. They could have their games being played one every single phone out there, but no.
      Instead they want their own hardware that you have to carry around.
      No one except kids are going to be willing to walk around with a seperate piece of hardware that can only be used to play games.
      Their 20 year old games are just not enough reason to walk around with yet another POS that has to be charged.

    26. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Bing+Tsher+E · · Score: 1

      I like playing games with hardware controllers more than smearing and wiping my fingers all over a glass surface. Sure, there are various physical controller kludges for Android, but they are not consistent and it's never a "just use it" experience.

      The other difference is that few mobile game publishers have the confidence in their product to just charge the fucking money for their game that it is supposedly worth. I really wish the Android Play Store had a search option to only show games priced $5 or more, because micro transaction and spam-the-player are dismal experiences.

      Game creators: quit fucking with us. If your game isn't shit, make a spam free 'demo' version, then charge for the full. Don't be a mosquito for Google.

    27. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by MitchDev · · Score: 1

      Agreed, none of the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone games have anywhere near the depth or fun of a halfway decent DS/3DS cartridge game.

    28. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It runs on phones, which everyone already has.
      Or do you think it would have been just as successful if everyone had to buy a Nintenphone to play this shit?

    29. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by edxwelch · · Score: 1

      Except that there's only room for one device in your pocket, so which is it going to be?

    30. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by CastrTroy · · Score: 1

      Very much agree with you on all accounts. To add more, it seems like the Android/iOS market has made it impossible to just sell a game outright without having any micropayments. Pokemon Go is a great game, but I'd rather they just charged $30 for it and developed a quality game didn't crash so much than try to do the minimum thing to get by and try to make money off micro transactions. But the market for phones games has basically painted itself into a corner where nobody can charge more than a few dollars for a game.

      --

      Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
    31. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Phones have terrible interface problems for any kind of "serious" gaming. Touchscreens are utter shit for fine control, and provide no tactile feedback.

      I don't blame Nintendo for not wanting to slap a shitty user interface on top of their games just to get some share of the mobile market.

    32. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by ArmoredDragon · · Score: 1

      That, and on Android it's quite possible to ditch the 30% commission entirely.

    33. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      As a 20 something year old gamer I can say that Nintendo has the worst franchises of all time.

      Nice trolling attempt.

      Nintendo has a lot of good franchises, and despite what you apparently think, they make more than Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros sequels (however, the mainline platformers like Super Mario Bros and Kirby have always been very good).

      The mainline Zelda games have also been top-notch (the spin-offs, maybe not so much).

      The gameplay in the mainline Pokemon series is solid, even if the story is a little simplistic.

      Fire Emblem is a solid tactical RPG series

      See also the mainline Metroid games, the Paper Mario series (cutesy graphics, but solid games), Punch-Out!!, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Splatoon, and so on and so on. Just because they don't appeal to you personally doesn't mean that they're bad by any stretch.

    34. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that there's only room for one device in your pocket, so which is it going to be?

      Put it in the backpack, problem solved. Take it out when you want to play.

    35. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except none of your dozens of systems has the Mario Franchise on it. or the other nintendo only franchises that have a rabid following.

      Not true at all. My PC has every single Mario game ever made thanks to Dolphin, Cemu, and other emulators.

    36. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My four and seven year olds don't have phones and won't utill they are older. And they abuse and drop stuff, so not sure a phone will hold up.

    37. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Games on cellphones are called retarded games in my mind. One of the reasons I am trying to never play a mobile game ever.

    38. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nintendo is big enough to make their own app store for android. They wouldn't have to pay the 30% or compete with the garbage on google's app store.

    39. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mobile phones are God awful to play games on. Nintendo has basically made a psp That can stream the image to your tv. Or a wiiu that you can just shut off the tv and walk away still playing. Plus is has detachable controllers. It's virtually a perfect product.

    40. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Viol8 · · Score: 1

      I don't count a lot of millenials as adults tbh. Most of them act like overground children.

    41. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Viol8 · · Score: 0

      Keep telling yourself that. Maybe someone will believe it one day. Now run along, mummy has done your dinner...

    42. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Yeah if this is true Nintendo is gonna be as dead as Sega in the console market. I mean FFS didn't they learn anything with the Wii U? Console players want the same big titles the other guys get and they sure as shit aren't gonna get that when Console I and II are running AMD octocores and your console is nothing more than a smartphone.

      I may not have a horse in this race but I've always had a soft spot for classic gaming so I really hope this isn't so, but ever since the Wii became a hit based on a gimmick Nintendo just seems to have lost their way. I mean who is gonna pay $300 for a console that will end up just like the Wii U and have nothing to play on it but first party titles because the other 2 consoles are running such a different architecture porting is all but impossible? What do they think people are gonna shell out for yet another device to play Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja on?

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    43. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by chispito · · Score: 1

      Except none of your dozens of systems has the Mario Franchise on it. or the other nintendo only franchises that have a rabid following.

      Actually all of them now have the franchise with the most rabid following.

      --
      The Daddy casts sleep on the Baby. The Baby resists!
    44. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by tepples · · Score: 2

      Agreed, none of the iPhone, Android, Windows Phone games have anywhere near the depth or fun of a halfway decent DS/3DS cartridge game.

      I'm pretty sure that's for two technical reasons.

      Limits of blind positional input A touch screen is designed for applications where you activate objects that you're looking at. That's fine for point-and-click games or continuous runner games like Rayman Jungle Run where a whole quadrant of the screen is the button. But a lot of other genres don't handle well with a touch screen as the only input method, especially games where you control the speed and direction of movement and attacks of a character in the center of a scrolling view. The virtual gamepad in Pixeline and the Jungle Treasure for Android was an exercise in frustration, as I kept pressing outside the controls' active area. Unlike a modern smartphone, the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS systems have physical buttons and directional controls, and I'm pretty sure that most action-oriented games for those systems use them. Latency Android is reportedly plagued by input lag and audio lag. A game like Punch-Out!! would be unplayable under such conditions.
    45. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good. I'm pretty sick of all of the Marios, Zeldas, Metroids and other stuff that Nintendo has been recycling for decades. I wish they would create something new for once. It seems the only platform still getting original games is the PC.

    46. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      The "free" applications is what pull in the most money so "free" is kinda an exaggeration.

      Accessible for everyone? :)

    47. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Backpack? We aren't children.

    48. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by jellomizer · · Score: 2

      As an adult I still play Mario Kart and Smash Bro. Mostly because These are the few games left that allow Me and my Wife to play at the same time. Most of the games for the XBox and PS4 are not side by side multi-player.

      --
      If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
    49. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Except that there's only room for one device in your pocket, so which is it going to be?

      My underpants has this extrapocket in the front which is empty so I'll just put it there.

      Maybe it's not even pocketable? That would solve your issues. The Lynx, GameGear (and see how they sold ..) but yes, the GameBoy too wheren't pocketable and that worked well anyway.

      Personally I don't have a smartphone or a tablet (those aren't pocketable either.)

      If I were given the choice of an iPad or a similair but more gamey Nintendo NX for the same price (not entirely impossible?) then I'd pick the Nintendo NX.
      VS a cheaper tablet maybe not. Then again I still don't have that damn $400-500 tablet to watch my comic books which I buy in bundles because I think that's way too much for watching comic books. $400 for a gaming system isn't necessarily too much though I've got a shit-ton of games on Steam and wouldn't want to have full-price titles (though I'd be totally fine with having Nintendo titles!)

      If it was smartphone sized and worked like that too, which I guess isn't the perfect form factor for gaming and unlikely (?) then I would had picked a Nintendo NX phone over another Android phone with similar specs and price any day too because .. it would say Nintendo and it would run Mario games!

    50. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rabid but small and getting smaller.

      All those franchises didn't help the SNES from selling worse than the NES, or the N64 from selling worse than the SNES, or the Gamecube selling worse than the N64 or the Wii U being the worst selling Nintendo console of all time.

    51. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Kirby is HAL Labs. Pokemon is Gamefreak.

      It's worth noting because Nintendo could lose those franchises due to second party status. Like Rare and Killer Instinct. Even if unlikely.

    52. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "As a 20 something year old gamer I can say that Nintendo has the worst franchises of all time."

      LOL oh jesus christ, this must be a troll. Very funny.

    53. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 1

      >> I will be buying the Nx is because of Zelda

      Zelda is coming for the Wii U too.

    54. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Of course its about the hardware or we'd all still be playing games on an Atari 2600.

      Hmm... So those who like to play Galaga would have to keep Atari game system nowadays in order to play the game???

    55. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      > Anyone who wants decent mobile gaming has already got a choice of dozens of devices that also do more than just play games.

      ?????

      You used the word decent, and then went on to allude to a whole bunch of touchscreen only devices. I don't think that word means what you think it means. Touchscreen controls for any action game are torture, and most games designed specifically for phones and tablets are about as deep as a kiddie pool. So no, there are not dozens of choices, there are a handful. And that handful have Nintendo or Sony logos on them.

    56. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      > No one over the age of 12 gives a damn about any of Nintendos game franchises

      Explain the Pokemon go mobs roaming the cities currently, the majority of which are well over the age of 12, or 20 for that matter.

    57. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, slashdot was completely wrong about you. You actually have the debating skills of a 12 year old :)

    58. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Kirby is HAL Labs. Pokemon is Gamefreak.

      Not exactly. Kirby is owned by BOTH Nintendo & HAL Labs -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... -- and Pokemon is owned by Nintendo & Gamefreak & 2 others -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    59. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Anyone who wants decent mobile gaming has already got a choice of dozens of devices that also do more than just play games.

      Android and iOS games are almost universally terrible. The 3DS is the only current portable console worth owning.

      That's BS.

      Good touch screen based games are in different genre's than you find on other platforms, but there are plenty of good mobile touch screen games.

      I wouldn't play Catan on my PC, but on my phone while waiting for something to happen, absolutely. Board game conversions work EXTREMELY well on touch screens.

    60. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Those are idiots who played the Pokemons when they were 7-year-old instead of real games like Street Fighter II, Doom etc.
      Pokemons turned them into the most sheepish, wimpy generation ever so other ones who would otherwise not play follow the bandwagon.

    61. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Those are idiots who played the Pokemons when they were 7-year-old

      I first played Pokemon in 1999 (Red/Blue) on a GBC when I was 32 you insignificant clod!

      instead of real games like Street Fighter II, Doom etc.

      I've also played SF2 (on a SNES, but I'm not a big fan of the game or genre) and DOOM (also on the SNES and PSone)

      Playing both Pokemon and DOOM is not a zero sum game, one can like them both. Though the last Pokemon I played was Gold/Silver/Crystal. The combination of the in-game clock tied with events, and the whole trading thing designed around the schoolyard made the games not very adult friendly even if you DID have two GBC's.

    62. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by cfalcon · · Score: 1

      > overground children

      When we all know underworld children make for better Potions Of Youth.

    63. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Nintendo has basically made a psp That can stream the image to your tv.

      Or basically recreated the combo of a Vita and Playstation TV in one device.

    64. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Expect the Wii-U version to be specced downward so it doesn't outshine the likely inferior NX.

    65. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      decent mobile gaming has already got a choice of dozens of devices that also do more than just play games.

      Like the Vita and 2DS/3DS? They're the only decent mobile gaming around.

      Hell, Sony's PSP is probably a more "decent" game machine than tablets and phones with all the F2P IAP crap.

    66. Re: Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by BlytheBowman · · Score: 1

      Damn, I did not realise we were thay close to the year 2664! That is when people are so stupid, education consists of being locked in a cage and having to pull one of the two chains crossed over eachother which has the slice of carrot on it to get an A.

    67. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by barc0001 · · Score: 1

      People can play more than one type of game. And by the way, good luck playing SFII or Doom on a touchscreen. Hadouken? More like FRUSTRATION!

    68. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Smartphone games are a different ballgame; For starters, smartphones have no buttons and capacitive screens are the worst for accurate controls and precise button presses.
      Sure you can get controllers for smart phones but a) Who does that? and b) How many games even support them? I'm guessing low%.
      Next, Smartphones have the worst battery life in the world - I imagine if you were actually playing games on it AND using it as a phone you wouldn't get through half a day without needing to charge it in many cases,

      If you are old enough to remember the GameGear, you will understand how lame this is. It's partly why the wimpy 4-greyscale Nintendo Gameboy destroyed the more technically advanced full-colour Sega Gamegear and Atari Lynx - The Gameboy can run for a few days off a set of batteries whereas the other two wouldn't last a few hours.

    69. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There are plenty of people with old bodies who haven't progressed beyond the mental age of 12.

    70. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And by the way, good luck playing SFII or Doom on a touchscreen. Hadouken? More like FRUSTRATION!

      Only if a small-minded person like you designed the control scheme (1:1 button conversion). I've played lots of action games on Android that had good control schemes that took into account the fact that people would be using touchscreens.

      Doom, with its limited interactivity works fine. Street Fighter IV, King of Fighters and Mortal Kombat X work great with their respective touchscreen controls. So does NBA Jam, Another World, NOVA 3, Deus Ex: The Fall, Max Payne, etc. because they were designed to work with the touch input method.

    71. Re:Has Nintendo not heard of smartphones? by loufoque · · Score: 1

      You must be living under a rock.
      Games have been getting worse since the mid-2000, now they're all the same uninspired action/press-A-to-be-awesome games targeting a casual audience.
      The Japanese are the only ones with any creativity and personality, and among them only Nintendo has mass appeal, in part because their US division is mismanaged and spends all of its money on marketing for kids.

      At the latest E3, the biggest video game convention worldwide, Nintendo only had one game while competitors had 20 or 30 each: Zelda for Wii U and NX. Yet they easily got the whole world much more excited than American studios presenting all their rehashes of Call of Duty and Battlefield.

  2. Another "novelty" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Another "novelty" from Nintendo, perhaps its last at this point. Don't know if anyone told the people at Nintendo, but I can already take my games with me. In fact I've been able to do so for about a decade now, with a device that nearly a third of the entire world has. You can even catch Pokemon using one! I saw a pair of 11 year old boys in bikes doing so excitedly this weekend, while a pair of 10 year old girls sat near a fountain and did the same. To bad Nintendo doesn't actually make Pokemon Go.

    And yes, I expect someone will try to say that unlike a smartphone you could possibly play Darksouls or the like on an NX. But the moment I want to play Darksouls on a morning train commute is the moment you can divide by zero.

    1. Re:Another "novelty" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You have a very broad definition of "games". Dark Souls isn't the only thing that the current phone market and platform features completely prevent from being developed or sold on there. Far, FAR from it. :)

      Have fun with your horrific mind-numbing microtransaction FTP apps, I guess. ;)

    2. Re:Another "novelty" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My phone has KOTOR and San Andreas on it. 'nuf said.

  3. Have they not learned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the potential problems with anything (in this case controllers but it still applies) detachable? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQBPgJQhQHc

  4. As for the hardware by johnsmithperson123 · · Score: 3, Informative

    It's a Tegra X1 (possibly successor.) Enough power to emulate an original Wii if Nintendo wants to.

    1. Re:As for the hardware by Nidi62 · · Score: 0

      Just give me a graphically updated Ocarina of Time and I'll be happy. Never did finish it when I was younger. Going to have to dig through my parents' house and see if we ever sold our old N64 or not...

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:As for the hardware by Aerokii · · Score: 1

      They DID do a somewhat upgraded version on the 3DS that looks good and plays quite well. If you've got access to a 3DS, I highly recommend it!

    3. Re:As for the hardware by Nemyst · · Score: 1

      I'm a bit concerned if it's the X1 due to battery life considerations. If, on the other hand, they managed to snatch the X2 in a premiere, then that would be huge.

  5. What PR fiasco? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After the confused PR fiasco of the Wii U launch

    Why isn't this statement a link?

    I googled it, but the only thing that comes up for Wii U PR fiasco is THIS STORY.

    If this PR fiasco is a thing, where's the prior information about it?

    1. Re:What PR fiasco? by mukinrestak · · Score: 1

      I recall several stories about the Wii U confusing customers as to whether it was a new console or not due to the similar name. See for yourself https://www.google.com/search?... I'd just link the top story, but Polygon can DIAF.

    2. Re:What PR fiasco? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I recall several stories about the X confusing costumers as to why it isn't the NES. Few who actually looked at the thing would be confused.

    3. Re:What PR fiasco? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I knew self described gamers who thought the Wii U was a tablet add-on at launch.

      Nintendo has done very little to rectify that in the meantime (in so far as the essentially stopped bothering to market the system at all)

    4. Re:What PR fiasco? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The polygon story mentions several media professionals making false claims that it's an accessory.

      Personally, I had only recently purchased a Wii at the time the Wii U came out, and saw no reason to get one. And since that time, there's been nothing I've wanted to play on it, so I still haven't gotten one.

  6. Now it makes sense... by RatPh!nk · · Score: 1

    I can see now why Nintendo has been so far hesitant to allow their franchises (old games specifically) to be ported to iOS or Android. There is a lot of money on the table and I think they know this. So I think we will see this portable NX feature a fair amount of retro gaming. This, in addition to the mini-Nintendo they are about to release. Except I can't imagine anyone carrying one around around in addition to their smartphone.

    --
    Argh. The laws of science be a harsh mistress.
    1. Re:Now it makes sense... by kosmosik · · Score: 1

      They don't need to port anything. They already have the technology to do it via Virtual Console. They just need to release VC client and allow to purchase and download games to that.

    2. Re:Now it makes sense... by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      If Nintendo adds the ability to make phone calls and send text messages, they're set.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    3. Re:Now it makes sense... by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      Sony did that in 2011 with the Xperia play...it didn't quite take off.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      Also one could Skype on a PSP or Vita in the past, though you can't now. The Vita's email client works though.

      The Xperia play even had Minecraft PE as an exclusive for a couple of months. As an aside, the physical controls on the Vita make Minecraft on the Vita a better experience than Minecraft PE on tablets and phones, even with the Vita version's world size limitation.

      IMHO phones should stay phones. The changes needed to make a phone a good gaming device increase the size, weight, heat output and battery draw. We still need dedicated portable consoles for "Good" gaming on the go. Sure, maybe if you like F2P touchy games with IAP you like gaming on phones...but for other games, not so much.

  7. Dreamcast by LichtSpektren · · Score: 1

    Anybody remember the Dreamcast? The memory cards for the games had a screen and went into the controller; they served as a second interface in some respects. But you could also remove the memory card and play some minigames on it like a tiny console.

    1. Re:Dreamcast by ledow · · Score: 1

      Anyone remember the WiiU, which also did basically the same?

      This is just an evolution of the same idea as the Dreamcast's, which no doubt had its own primitive predecessor too.

    2. Re:Dreamcast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd say this is more like a rip-off of the Sega Nomad, a handheld version of the Mega Drive that could also be connected to a television and have an additional controller attached to it.

  8. It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fail by yetanotherforgottenl · · Score: 1

    Every time Nintendo launches a new system, there's the same chorus: "It will fail miserably!" And every time, it's wrong - sometimes drastically so. For me the most interesting aspect of this is the smooth transition between mobile and traditional-console gaming experiences. Continuing a console game on the go smoothly and vice-versa is something I've always wanted to be able to do without fiddling around copying save files at best, and without a big fat "nope" at worst. I suspect I'm not alone. I think they're making the right bet here. It's interesting that this aspect is completely unmentioned in the comments so far.

  9. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure what alternate reality you've been living in, but the naysayers have been right. The WiiU has performed poorly relative to other home consoles, and the 3DS loses to cell phone games. The Wii was a flash in the pan - a one time hardware success, but with lots of customers that Nintendo failed to convert into repeat buyers.

  10. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you keep wishing for it hard enough, maybe one day Nintendo will really be Doomed! Just a few more decades now, keep praying for it buddy!

    Seriously though, the 3DS has the highest sales of any videogame platform right now, so... oh, I'm sorry, you thought the horse shit F2P apps you download on your phone actually count as "games"? Good joke.

  11. Still hasn't learned by Merk42 · · Score: 0

    "but once again we've heard Nintendo is not chasing graphical parity".

    Which means it won't reach library parity, and you'll see games on Xbox One and PS4 but not NX, like the current situation with WiiU.
    Nintendo cannot survive on first party alone.

    1. Re:Still hasn't learned by Z80a · · Score: 1

      At least this time their system will be able to run the code from PS4/Xbone, which probably will make possible to downport games to it, like running at 720p rather than having to rewrite the whole thing from scratch and having to redo the whole texturing/models to fit into the tiny memory.

    2. Re:Still hasn't learned by LichtSpektren · · Score: 1

      "but once again we've heard Nintendo is not chasing graphical parity". Which means it won't reach library parity, and you'll see games on Xbox One and PS4 but not NX, like the current situation with WiiU. Nintendo cannot survive on first party alone.

      Really? That's funny. They seem to be doing pretty well. I bet you think Apple should also sell macOS separately for any x86 computer, right?

    3. Re:Still hasn't learned by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nintendo is in the fortunate position that they needn't rely on third party games. They have a pretty well stocked catalog themselves. Mario, Smash Brothers, now probably Pokemon, too, what more "exclusives" do you need?

      Noticeably, Nintendo has always been the "odd man out" when it came to games libraries. Non-exclusives for XB or PS usually eventually came out for the other system, but Nintendo always had a nearly distinct game library from the other two. That does matter. It means that Nintendo doesn't have to compete with them on their turf. XB and PS have always been busy one-up'ing each other in specs, mostly because, well, if you have the same games on both systems, what matters is simply "where does it look better" and "where does it run more smoothly". If you're dealing with a completely different game base, you can't compare. More over, the games have a vastly different focus. Where PS and XB focus on action oriented games where multiplayer is mostly a thing of online gaming, Nintendo's consoles always had a distinct focus on local multiplayer, complete with a lineup of party games and controllers that were, compared to XB and PS controllers, VERY basic and simplified, so you didn't first have to learn to play, you could simply pick them up and play. Maybe not perfectly, but most games were of the "easy to pick up" kind that lends itself well to party gaming.

      So I do think that Nintendo can (and will) survive as this "niche" player. It has a few strong IPs in their pocket, and since they themselves own that IP, there is exactly zero danger that this IP would ever go to another console, hoping for a bigger market share there. Even the WiiU, which was a train wreck from conception to inception to realization to actually playing with that piece of garbage, couldn't prevent that. I still don't see why anyone thought the WiiU was a good idea, and I don't know anyone who really wanted that console, but, well, there's nowhere else you could play Mario games. And Smash Brothers. And the other consoles simply suck as party consoles. Even more than the WiiU, believe it or not.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    4. Re:Still hasn't learned by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      Which is funny considering that back in the day the same game could be released for both the Amiga and the Sinclair Spectrum. And in those days the gaming market where much much smaller than it's today. So no I don't think that the slightly less powerful hardware in the Wii U has anything to do with the missing 3d party games, it's all political, i.e they decided to not support Nintendo for whatever reason.

      For example Watch Dogs where ported but never the DLC even though it didn't contain code. Also we had Resident Evil Revelations (so Capcom did port their game engine) but never got Revelations 2 or any of the other RE games that utilized the exact same engine that where already ported.

    5. Re:Still hasn't learned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WATCH_DOGS was released on Wii U months after everything else (November rather than May). Other 3rd party games like Bayonetta 2 were similarly delayed.

      Wii U was a disappointment for a few reasons:
      1. The pad was never truly realized as an interface
      2. 3rd party support was virtually nonexistent
      3. 1st party titles were late and weak

      Splatoon to my knowledge is the only title that boosted Wii U sales significantly.

    6. Re:Still hasn't learned by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I still don't see why anyone thought the WiiU was a good idea, and I don't know anyone who really wanted that console,

      If it was a true update and not a mid-term revision, it would've been a viable console. If it was a expansion device, it would've sold at least as well as the 32X.
      I participate in gaming that has a divide between the players and the master of the setting, which is what the WiiU tablet-controller could've enabled. But since it was neither an add-on to existing Wii consoles nor a new console with a new and promising game library, it failed.

    7. Re:Still hasn't learned by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

      I don't know why you think they should be able to survive on releasing the same games that exist on two other consoles already. Why would anyone buy a Nintendo system at all?

      Nintendo's salvation lies in strong third party support, but they won't be the same games as are on the PS4 and XBox.

      Game budgets for PS4 and XBone are enormous. The pipelines are huge, and hard to fill. When you've got that much horsepower, you need a lot more creative staff to make sure there's actually something worth rendering. If Nintendo produces a modestly equipped console that has decent graphics, it will be a much lower barrier to entry.

    8. Re:Still hasn't learned by Merk42 · · Score: 1

      I don't know why you think they should be able to survive on releasing the same games that exist on two other consoles already. Why would anyone buy a Nintendo system at all?

      Because if you can only afford one, the number of good Nintendo games is far fewer than good non-Nintendo games

      Nintendo's salvation lies in strong third party support, but they won't be the same games as are on the PS4 and XBox.

      Yeah they'll just make different versions and/or entirely new games like they did for WiiU, oh wait.

      Game budgets for PS4 and XBone are enormous. The pipelines are huge, and hard to fill. When you've got that much horsepower, you need a lot more creative staff to make sure there's actually something worth rendering. If Nintendo produces a modestly equipped console that has decent graphics, it will be a much lower barrier to entry.

      Which is why $Publisher, rather than making $Game for all 3, will make it for only 2 and not go through the extra expense of an entirely different game for one system.

    9. Re:Still hasn't learned by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

      and controllers that were, compared to XB and PS controllers, VERY basic and simplified, so you didn't first have to learn to play, you could simply pick them up and play.

      Only with the Wii, the N64 and Gamecube controllers were more traditional.

      And the other consoles simply suck as party consoles.

      That depends on how you #define party console.

      One of the issues is that people "think" there are no "party/family-get-together" games for the PS4...since you don't see those games on the shelf. But there ARE some party games....the thing is they're mostly in the Playstation Store.

      So when a "Wii Mom" goes to the game aisle and sees "Game party pack 2016" or "Happy fun time sports-with-mii's" in the Wii/WiiU section, and then goes over to the PS4 section and sees: Fallout 4, Destiny, TESO, ModernSeasonalRealisticSportsGame2016, Duty Calls: Medal of the Battlefield Ops Master Shooty Sergeant eXTREEM edition, Demon Souls, etc etc..she's going to think there are no party games for the PS4.

      It's one of the problems with digital downloads, it is hard for SCEfoo to market them to people who aren't already on PSN so they might as well not exist to "casuals". Even then it is hit or miss. I only just found out about Brut@l a couple of days ago.

    10. Re:Still hasn't learned by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Cannot reply. Seems /.'s lameness filter thinks it's lame to explain why Gamecube controllers are less intimidating to non-console players and why this (rather than the game lineup) is the reason the GC is more of a party console than XB or PS.

      But when you look at the controllers and compare them, I'm pretty sure you can figure it out yourself. Just imagine you never saw a PS2 controller and should now figure out

      a) which one is the main controller stick
      b) what buttons might be used for what
      c) what those 4 buttons on the left are supposed to be.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    11. Re:Still hasn't learned by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      And was it released late due to real problems or because it was an afterthought? In any way the delay hurt the sales and this Ubusoft saw as fact that there where no demand for their games on the Wii U and they stopped all ports.

    12. Re:Still hasn't learned by Waccoon · · Score: 1

      The Wii U hasn't done so well clutching on to 1st-party exclusives.

  12. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The 3DS install base is north of 50 million, and despite it being five years old they still sell about a million of them per quarter.

    I'm not entirely sure how that counts as 'loses'.

  13. Doesn't matter by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    What people will want to know is what the new Mario title is going to be and what characters are going to be in the Smash Brothers title.

    Nobody really gives a shit about anything else concerning Nintendo consoles. The gimmicks are the smokescreen to get other console makers desperate, thinking that this is the reason for the Nintendo's success and they embarrass themselves by trying to copy the gimmick only to be shown that the gimmicks were pretty much the reason people were wondering whether they really want to put up with it just to play the next Mario title and Smash Brothers.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  14. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Wrong question. The question isn't "Why wasn't the WiiU a hit?" The question is rather "Why is an abomination like the WiiU, the biggest design blunder in console history (and yes, I do remember the Atari 5200, the 3DO, the Saturn, the Philips CD-i and yes even the Hyperscan, why do you ask?) selling AT ALL instead of going into blissful ignorance like the aforementioned other design atrocities?"

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  15. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why? Because it has some really good games on it. It failed to get 3rd party support which killed it but the Nintendo releases are well made and fun to play and the only place to get them, the virtual console gives it usefulness, it can play wii games you have hanging around or bought cheap, and some indies help as well. While I don't like the gamepad as a second screen playing, it is surprising nice to use to play off tv games.

  16. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

    Because the WiiU is not an abomination at all. It bombed due to political reasons, i.e something went amiss between Nintendo and the 3rd party publishing houses that meant that they didn't release their games on the system.

  17. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

    For some strange reason I actually like the gamepad screen a lot better than my large TV when playing virtual console games. Could be that they where designed for a small screen to begin with (or it's just me that's crazy).

  18. Zelda and Metroid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The NX better have a good Zelda game and a good Metroid game or I'm not buying it. It better not be expensive either.

    1. Re:Zelda and Metroid by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It'll have Breath of the Wild, though given you want a "good Metroid game" I guess you won't be getting an NX.

  19. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    Like, say, mostly that Nintendo wanted everyone and their dog to include the stupid handheld-screen-gimmick in their games that didn't really make it very possible to port your games to any other console, so unless you got some Nintendo-exclusive deal you probably didn't want to tie your company's fate to a console that had a lukewarm reception?

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  20. large family by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    my problem with this is what do large families do?

    In the past each kid could have their own gameboy and you could share games and there would be a seperate console connected to the tv. If the NX is priced too high it would cause problems. I'm not buying 5 NX's and one kid can't take it with them because someone wants it connected to the tv...

  21. How to make a defense under 17 USC 117 by tepples · · Score: 1

    But if I go buy the game cart at the flea market, download a dump of the same cart, and play it on an emulator, in practice nobody is going to sue me.

    And if you buy the Game Pak and a Kazzo or Retrode dumper, you have a defense under 17 USC 117(a)(1) (or foreign counterparts) if someone does sue you, so long as you can afford a lawyer and don't distribute the dumps.

    1. Re:How to make a defense under 17 USC 117 by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      And if you buy the Game Pak and a Kazzo or Retrode dumper, you have a defense under 17 USC 117(a)(1) (or foreign counterparts) if someone does sue you, so long as you can afford a lawyer and don't distribute the dumps.

      Actually, no. That defense doesn't work because you're format-shifting. More specifically, you're going from a format that doesn't have copyright to one that does - you are not allowed to dump ROMs, period, without a legitimate developmental reason.

      It's a funny thing, but a mask programmed ROM is actually not copyrighted. It's Mask-protected (it's a M in a circle, similar to how copyright is C in a circle). Mask works have higher protections, and even though you can easily dump it, the conversion from physical to software is actually completely illegal.

      The one exception to that, is for developmental reasons - you're developing something that requires the data in the ROM. In which case you are allowed to have it only for that reason for the duration necessary. (Sony v. Bleem confirmed this when Bleem had Sony BIOS dumps of the PSX - it was determined that Bleem had the legal right to have those dumps, as they were necessary for the development of the Bleem emulator. But Bleem could not distribute those dumps, and must destroy them when complete).

      It's one of the reasons why Nintendo kept cartridges around - there are plenty of legal protections for software embedded inside of a ROM (more generally, any IC) that aren't available on more traditionally available media.

    2. Re:How to make a defense under 17 USC 117 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BS. Software is software and the law allows you to make backups to protect your investment.

    3. Re:How to make a defense under 17 USC 117 by flink · · Score: 1

      And if you buy the Game Pak and a Kazzo or Retrode dumper, you have a defense under 17 USC 117(a)(1) (or foreign counterparts) if someone does sue you, so long as you can afford a lawyer and don't distribute the dumps.

      Actually, no. That defense doesn't work because you're format-shifting. More specifically, you're going from a format that doesn't have copyright to one that does - you are not allowed to dump ROMs, period, without a legitimate developmental reason.

      It's a funny thing, but a mask programmed ROM is actually not copyrighted. It's Mask-protected (it's a M in a circle, similar to how copyright is C in a circle). Mask works have higher protections, and even though you can easily dump it, the conversion from physical to software is actually completely illegal.

      That may have been true at one time, but as far as I can tell, Mask Protection in the US only extends to 10 years, so any original NES ROMs have long since fallen out of protection. The underlying software encoded in the ROM is still protected by copyright, and the game franchises that they represent are still trademarked, so anyone reproducing ROMs commercially would still be in hot water. However, at this point I think you would be within your rights to dump to ROMs in order to back up your software.

    4. Re:How to make a defense under 17 USC 117 by slew · · Score: 1

      The big advantage of cartridges is that they are more rugged, easier to transport and harder to duplicate.

      IANAL, but I'm pretty sure you are incorrect about the IP protection available to "mask-works". The mask-work protection laws protect the mask itself from being copied or being used w/o permission to create computer chips. The theory of mask-work protection is that the actual mask sets used to fabricate integrated circuits weren't sufficiently protected by copyright or patents. As a rule, copyrights do not offer protection against most utilitarian aspect of industrial design objects (e.g., so you can't get around the fact you can't patent a fork by allowing it to be copyrighted). Since a mask is pretty much all utilitarian, and although you can patent the chip that it makes, how do your protect the mask itself from being duplicated or used w/o permission? That's where these smask-works protection laws came from.

      It is unclear that mask-work protection laws extend to actually protect the ROM contents represented by the mask (although in their "dumped" form, the software and game artwork is most certainly protect-able by copyright). In fact many statutory overviews I've read about mask-work protection seem to indicate that protection is only given to masks used to make a specific topological pattern of circuits on an integrated circuit, but not protect a circuit that is potentially functionally the same but a different pattern (e.g., a ROM that is topologically different, but functions the same). You could of course attempt to protect the functionality of your IC by a patent, but it would not be protected by mask-work protection laws. It might be hard to assert a new patent on a ROM device, except for potentially a novel copy protection scheme, so I'm not so sure how mask-work protection helps from a legal point of view over simple copyright.

  22. F2P needs to go back to shareware by tepples · · Score: 1

    Why don't modern games do free-to-play the way Doom did? The first episode was available without charge as Doom: Knee-Deep in the Dead, and additional episodes were available in paid expansion packs titled Ultimate Doom and Doom II.

    1. Re:F2P needs to go back to shareware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many of them do. Ever see those games on Google Play that have IAPs? That is the modern day version of shareware/crippleware and it sucks.

    2. Re:F2P needs to go back to shareware by tepples · · Score: 1

      How does sale of episodes through IAP suck more than sale of episodes through other means? Or are you opposed to episodic video games in the first place?

    3. Re:F2P needs to go back to shareware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because developers who implement IAPs tend to do it in such a way where you cannot outright buy a game. You will always get nickel and dimed for something. They are also usually filled with spyware and or ads, despite you paying, just take a look at the permissions they request.

      Episodic video games and DLC are a scam to get people to pay more for a full game.

  23. Oh fall off the fucking planet. by Pezbian · · Score: 0

    Wild guess you're 23, think you're "all grown up now", and look down on everyone older or younger.

    --
    In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
    1. Re:Oh fall off the fucking planet. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wild guess you're 23, think you're "all grown up now", and look down on everyone older or younger.

      Irony.

  24. Swipe gestures with your thumbs by tepples · · Score: 1

    A smartphone does not beat an Atari 2600, because fundamentally it doesn't have enough buttons.

    In theory, a multitouch device can support seven actions per thumb: tap, hold, swipe up, swipe down, swipe left, swipe right, and large swipe. Swipes can be combined diagonally. That already gives you more gestures than a 2600 controller. One might make a platformer by using tap to stop, swipe sideways to go (large swipe to dash), swipe up to jump, and tap with the other thumb to shoot. Do any Android games use a similar control scheme?

    1. Re:Swipe gestures with your thumbs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Swipes are much less responsive than buttons.

    2. Re:Swipe gestures with your thumbs by tepples · · Score: 1

      Though swipes have the disadvantage of being less responsive, they have the advantage of being usable on devices that are more widely deployed.

  25. How many people have that controller? by tepples · · Score: 1

    Adding physical buttons to smartphone or tablet is not a problem. I constatnly use my iPega controller

    How many other people own that controller or others like it? I haven't seen one third-party controller maker release sales figures, and without them, it becomes hard for a for-profit company to justify developing a game targeted at a particular third-party controller. It's also bulky to carry in a pocket.

    I think there is lot of money to make if Nintendo released an attachable controler that hosts the device such as smartphone as its screen with built-in battery. AND also released its vast library of oldschool games on it. They have means to do it via all this virtual console stuff they have on their current systems.

    Then why hasn't every third-party developer on the NES and Super NES released iPega editions of its games?

    1. Re:How many people have that controller? by kosmosik · · Score: 1

      Well as for your first question I only noted that that is possible to play arcade style games on mobile tablets and smartphones using controllers with physical buttons. With that it is perfectly playable. And I assumed that Nintendo could sell such controller with access to its games library (via Virtual Console system). In my opinion this would make them a lot of additional money without really canibalizing they mobile consoles. Who buys current generation gameboy style device to play oldschool games?

      As for your second question I guess that developers who developed for Nintendo platforms do not have rights to release these games elsewhere.

    2. Re:How many people have that controller? by tepples · · Score: 1

      As for your second question I guess that developers who developed for Nintendo platforms do not have rights to release these games elsewhere.

      I don't see how that's anywhere near the case. Konami released Castlevania and Contra for PC, for example.

    3. Re:How many people have that controller? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      How many other people own that controller or others like it? I haven't seen one third-party controller maker release sales figures, and without them, it becomes hard for a for-profit company to justify developing a game targeted at a particular third-party controller. It's also bulky to carry in a pocket.

      I'm glad you asked. When the latest AppleTV got released, one of the first items to purchase with it was a game controller. At the time there was just the Nimbus, which is the one I got. Shortly thereafter, the Steel Series Status came out. Now there are a total of six different controllers in all available. The pricing ranges from what you normally expect, so nothing shocking here.

      FYI - will continue on next post as lameness filter is fucked

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    4. Re:How many people have that controller? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      continuation--

      The problem isn't hardware availability, it's content. The best title I have so far for the Apple TV is OceanHorn. It's basically a Zelda Wind Waker clone. The graphics are really superb, and the music is composed by the some of the best console musicians out there - Kalle Ylitalo, Nobu Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Kenji Ito (Secret of Mana). It's a pale imitation and leaves lots to be desired. But the point is, the Apple TV with a 3rd party controller would explode in sales if Shigeru Minamoto coded games for it. So the platform is there. Nintendo just needs to develop for iOS and stop chasing waterfalls with new proprietary console hardware. It's a complete waste of their time IMHO.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    5. Re:How many people have that controller? by Z80a · · Score: 1

      Well, when they succeed, they get a much higher profit by selling the hardware and software than they would on IOS.
      Also they don't have to deal with a fuckton of different hardware configurations, or things interrupting the game flow horribly like crapware bundled by phone operators.

    6. Re:How many people have that controller? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The graphics are really superb

      No, they really aren't. They look like something from ten years ago. The game itself is dull, uninspired and lifeless.

      music is composed by the some of the best console musicians out there - Kalle Ylitalo, Nobu Uematsu (Final Fantasy) and Kenji Ito (Secret of Mana)

      That's sad that those tone-deaf hacks are considered "the best" musicians for console.

      I'll take music by Jeroen Tel, Stéphane Picq, Chris Huelsbeck, Gustaf Grefberg, Frank Klepacki, Jeremy Soule, Jack Wall, Barry Leitch, Jesper Kyd, Clint Bajakian, Michael Land, Bill Brown, George Sanger, Alexander Brandon or Andrew Sega over those any day. Even Tommy Tallarico is a better musician.

    7. Re:How many people have that controller? by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      No, they really aren't. They look like something from ten years ago. The game itself is dull, uninspired and lifeless.

      Yes, the game is lacking a director in production. It's not exactly uninspired, but it is a but dull and lifeless at times. There are definitely better games out there for sure.

      As for the graphics, mainly it's a hardware limitation in that you can't throw textures and high geometry like you can a dedicated gaming console these days. But that's ok, because it was purposefully designed to be a swashbuckling Wind Waker clone. It's truly an art form to match the evocative retro effect with the hardware you have. A perfect example is Horizon Chase on iOS. The It's flat-shaded polygons with arcade style synth music. If that looks and sounds like a hybrid modern/retro Sega Outrun clone, you would be correct :). So, depending on the game and designer, you can leverage HW limitation as a form of artistic expression. In some cases, emulate it for the retro effect.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
  26. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

    Yeah its called "crap hardware that made it prohibitively expensive if not downright impossible to port" which is exactly what will kill this turkey as well.

    Look here is what you and Big N just don't seem to be grasping, its a hell of a lot different now than it was during the days of the classic consoles, games are INSANELY expensive to produce now and every penny you have to spend above initial development could mean the difference between profit and loss. Now lets look at the competition....you have X86 Xbox, X86 Playstation, and X86 PC....what do they have in common? Oh yeah X86! Thanks to two of the big three consoles being X86 a dev house only has to make one game and then do some minor tweaks to release for all 3 platforms.

    But if this is legit what you will have is 3 platforms you can release on with coding your game in X86 versus only 1 console if you port to Nintendo and if that wasn't enough if TFS is to be believed its gonna be underpowered to boot which means they'd basically have to start from scratch and code specifically for this thing.....companies simply aren't gonna do that, not when there are so many PS4, XB1, and PC players that they can sell to.

    And this isn't even addressing the rotten elephant in the room which is the consoles today are already being pushed to the limits which is why we are about to get Xbox Scorpio and Sony Neo....and you expect to have devs code a version of the game for a system that isn't even as powerful as what they are coding on now when they are already having to use every trick in the book just to get their monster titles to run?

    When the wii U came out you had game dev after game dev saying "our game engine won't run on that" and ignoring it and mark my words, the same will be true here. this will sell strictly to the most hardcore of fanboys who will buy anything a new Mario or Zelda comes out on but as we saw with the Wii U there just isn't enough of them to make a console viable, but the ONLY way you'll see a GTA or CoD or Dark Souls on this thing is if its a crap smartphone game using the name.

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  27. First episode free by tepples · · Score: 1

    I really wish the Android Play Store had a search option to only show games priced $5 or more, because micro transaction and spam-the-player are dismal experiences.

    Would a 1-episode game available without charge on Google Play Store, with additional episodes available for in-app purchase, also be a "dismal experience"?

  28. Buying three PS4s by tepples · · Score: 1

    Other Slashdot users seem to be under the impression that large families already buy a console for the TV in each kid's bedroom.

  29. No nx by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I won't be getting the new Nintendo because if I want to game on the go, I've a cell phone that'll do it.

    I like my will u anyway.

  30. Mask work expires before patent by tepples · · Score: 1

    For convenience, I shall quote the relevant part of the statute:

    it is not an infringement for the owner of a copy of a computer program to make or authorize the making of another copy or adaptation of that computer program provided: (1) that such a new copy or adaptation is created as an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine and that it is used in no other manner

    tlhIngan wrote:

    That defense doesn't work because you're format-shifting.

    The format shifting is "an essential step in the utilization of the computer program in conjunction with a machine".

    Mask works have higher protections

    Mask works are covered under chapter 9 of the U.S. copyright statute. And as flink pointed out, protection under chapter 9 subsists until the end of the Gregorian calendar year of first publication plus ten more years (17 USC 904). It's shorter than even a patent.

  31. Vita + Playstation TV anyone? by CronoCloud · · Score: 1

    You can already play games on the go and on the big screen if you have both a Vita and the Playstation TV microconsole (which is basically a screenless Vita) Not even taking into account that the vita can do Remote Play with a PS4.

  32. BLANK ATM CARD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BE SMART AND BECOME RICH IN LESS THAN 3DAYS Are you living a poor life,then here is the opportunity you have been waiting for. Get the new ATM BLACK CARD that can hack any ATM MACHINE and withdraw money from any account. You do not require anybody's account number before you can use it. Although you and I knows that its illegal,there is no risk using it. It has SPECIAL FEATURES, that makes the machine unable to detect this very card,and its transaction is can't be traced . You can use it anywhere in the world. With this card,reach the hackers via email address :Benhookson@hotmail.com or contact with this mobile number:+447031909657.

  33. What if Apple bought Nintendo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And integrated the console with Apple TV? Apple gets into the gaming market, and gets exclusive access to Mario, Zelda and friends leading to games released on both the console and the iPhone. Apple gets itself into a whole new vertical keeping the stockholders happy - for awhile anyway.

    Just a thought - although not sure if Nintendo is willing to sell.

  34. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

    So that is why the same companies could port their games to Xbox360 and PS3 which isn't x86 based. Or why for example both Ubisoft and Capcom ported their engines to the Wii U but then only released one or two games?

    All those insanely expensive things that you talk about are in the design phase of the game, the code which is the engine is mostly standard stuff these days (of course they improve it slightly from time to time) which is evident in the low costs that where involved when Assassins Creed 3 and 4, Watch Dogs or Resident Evil Revelations where ported.

  35. Nintendo 32X? by Waccoon · · Score: 1

    Obviously, I haven't seen the device, but just listening to the part about detachable controllers makes me skeptical.

    A console needs everything built-in, or else it doesn't become standard. Having options is nice, but optional attachments aren't going to have any significant positive impact on usability, as it always the case for consoles. The drawbacks are obvious, though. Extra cost, extra material that makes it bulky, less room for a battery, less durability, and so on. It's not a good idea. This also assumes the controllers will be included, as they'll have to be so NX is not just another tablet. If you lose a controller, will replacements be easy to get, given that this setup won't be for multiplayer? You can't buy a replacement/second Wii U controller, for example (last I heard).

    I won't even bother commenting on trying to get a portable playing on a TV. Let's just hope that Nintendo doesn't forget what made the Gameboy and their following portable consoles: terrific battery life. I have a feeling Nintendo is aiming at those phone gamers who have gotten used to running to look for a power plug and charging every chance they get... assuming the thing comes bundled with an actual charger, unlike some Nintendo hardware.

  36. Entitlement IAP != consumable IAP by tepples · · Score: 1

    Because developers who implement IAPs tend to do it in such a way where you cannot outright buy a game. You will always get nickel and dimed for something.

    The documentation for the OUYA development kit described two kinds of in-app purchase: "entitlement" IAPs, which are purchased once and then forever associated with your store account, and "consumable" IAPs, the nickel-and-dime energy-mechanic crap that game reviewers love to hate. Sale of downloadable campaigns through IAP would be an entitlement, something you "outright buy" to the extent that it's possible to "outright buy" something downloadable.

    just take a look at the permissions they request.

    Part of overreaching permissions relates to a limit of Android's manifest file prior to Android 6 "Marshmallow". If an optional game feature requires the use of a permission, such as the camera, microphone, or contacts, the application has to request it at install time whether or not the user chooses to enable the feature associated with the permission. Before Marshmallow, there was no way to mark a permission as optional for the user.

    Episodic video games and DLC are a scam to get people to pay more for a full game.

    Not new. The pay-per-episode concept has been around as long as expansions have been around, dating back to Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal (1996) and StarCraft: Brood War (1998). Even if a game with all its optional downloadable campaigns costs $120, games nowadays are far longer than games used to be, and a single $120 game has far more play time than three $40 games used to.

  37. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

    Those systems already had a huge install base which made it profitable to port...yeah how did that work out for the Wii U? Oh yeah they didn't get shit for ports and it tanked.

    You are gonna have 2 octocore APUs at 2Ghz+ versus...a cellphone. Yeah I don't see them getting shit except for Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja which I really don't see selling many units, do you?

    --
    ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  38. Re:It will succeed, or at the very least, won't fa by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

    So a system that is more powerful than the 360 and PS3 is now smeared as a cellphone. Yeah I will look forward to playing say Xenoblade Chronicles X on my current cellphone.

  39. No rental of smartphone games by tepples · · Score: 1

    Doom, with its limited interactivity works fine.

    Which Doom are you talking about? The first Doom isn't in Google Play Store. I searched, and all I got were Doom 3 ($9.95) and several apps whose titles included "Doom" but were unrelated to Idthesda's franchise.

    Besides, how would I go about trying a paid game in order to understand how its input method works? Back in the old days of cartridge- and CD-based consoles, I could rent the cartridge from a local video store, and I could scan my local friends' collections on their shelves. Nowadays, with paid downloads, I'd have to ask each of my local friends whether he or she owns each game on this list, and I don't foresee much success in that especially in an era where one's gamer friends are more likely to live in a different city.

    1. Re:No rental of smartphone games by Blaskowicz · · Score: 1

      Can be one of the million Doom ports. This is the game that has been on on any and all ridiculous things such as a digital camera, portable music players, obscure or uncommon or toy OSes, even an unofficial Atari Jaguar port that runs better than the original one.
      You might even be in the clear if running the WAD file from the shareware version.