More details of Nintendo's NX console leak! We list five features that are worth noting
While Microsoft and Sony have been duking it out for a while now, Nintendo's Wii U doesn't even register as a contender. That's set to change in the next few years as Nintendo gears up to introduce their NX console. With a recent patent application, we now know what features it might have.
Nintendo has been in the console business since the early 1980s. Its NES and Super NES consoles dominated early console generations.
Nintendo is a name most people would recognize off the bat, even if they're not gamers. The name is so intrinsically tied with gaming that even those who've never handled a controller before know what the company does. For kids and parents in the 1980s and 90s, video games (no matter if they're the Sega Genesis, the PC Engine or whatever console) was still referred to as a 'Nintendo'.
While the company's since lost its traction with most modern gamers, it is still firmly entrenched in console gaming, despite lagging behind relative newcomers Sony and Microsoft.
We've known for awhile now that Nintendo's been quietly working on their Wii U successor, under the project title of NX, but there's been nothing much to speak of that's concrete. Rumors have swirled that the console was using an Android OS (which Nintendo vehemently denied) and that it would be a radical change for the company.
Till now, everything's been unconfirmed but a recent patent filing from Nintendo might just have revealed some interesting details regarding the NX. The patent, which was filed for a "Stationary Game Apparatus, Game Apparatus, Game System, Recording Medium and Speed Control Method" on August 20, 2015 had a boatload of interesting details for those willing to delve into it.
We've done it and here are some interesting tidbits we found both from looking at the Claims section in the patent form and the diagram below.
The patent image has some very interesting tidbits, namely the lack of an optical disc drive.
1 - The console doesn't seem to have an optical drive, but is instead going back to flash based memory, as seen in the memory card and the memory card slot in the upper left section of the image. It's interesting to note that while Nintendo consoles haven't been using flash storage for games since the Nintendo 64, it has kept itself abreast of the technology, with its implementation in the portable Nintendo 3DS. Therefore, it's entirely possible that Nintendo will be bringing back its favored storage format as the delivery medium for its next console system. With flash memory being so affordable now, it's not a big leap to imagine that Nintendo might be interested in the improved loading speeds of flash memory, especially when compared to slower Blu-Ray loads on the Xbox One and the PS4.
10. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the processor is able to execute a program which operates by using a different hard disk drive different from the internal hard disk drive, and the speed control unit emulates a speed of reading and/or writing of data with respect to the different hard disk drive when the processor executes the program.
2 - Claim 10. The console has built-in support for external HDDs. This is important as both the Xbox One and PS4 didn't have external HDD support when they launched. It was only later added in via firmware patches. The NX seems like it will have the capability out of the box and have users will have the ability whether to install a game to the internal HDD or the external one.
13. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the game apparatus is compatible with another game apparatus comprising an optical disk drive for reading out a program and/or data from an optical disk, and a processor for executing the program read out from the optical disk to perform game processing, and an interface for the hard disk drive is same as an interface for the optical disk drive in said another game apparatus.
3 - Claim 13. Claim 13 is very interesting in that it states that the device can connect to another game apparatus with an optical disc drive. It's interesting because the Wii U is the only current Nintendo console that has an optical disc drive. The 3DS uses flash cartridges. So it's either the NX can connect with the Wii U for data transfer or Nintendo's planning on another console that has an optical disc drive. Nintendo's been rumored for years now to be working on a 3DS successor (which the New 3DS isn't), which the claim might be referring to.
16. The stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a wireless communication unit performing wireless communication with a wireless operation device having an operation unit and a display unit, and wirelessly transmitting/receiving information concerning an operation accepted by the operation unit and information concerning an image to be displayed on the display unit.
4 - Claim 16. The NX's controller might be taking cues from the Wii U Pad, with it having its own screen.
17. A non-transitory recording medium recording a computer program executed by the processor of the stationary game apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the computer program includes a processing routine for the stationary game apparatus, and one or more processing routines for a game apparatus having a hardware configuration different from the stationary game apparatus, and the computer program causes the processor to operate as an identification information obtaining unit obtaining identification information of a game apparatus, and a selection unit selecting a processing routine in accordance with the identification information obtained by the identification information obtaining unit.
5 - Claim 17. We think this claim is detailing the NX might have software emulation to emulate the hardware of an older Nintendo system. Backwards compatibility is pretty much a feature of Nintendo consoles for the past few generations, with only the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube the only consoles without it. The Wii has backwards compatibility with the Gamecube and the Wii U has backwards compatibility with the Wii, though it has can be hacked for Gamecube support. Even the 3DS has DS support.
Of course, none of these features might end up being in the final version of the NX as patents are indicative of what the final product will have. Until we have concrete information, treat these claims with a grain of salt, interesting as they might be.
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