Nintendo NX Mega Leak: Specs, Controller, Handheld, Better Performance Than PS4, And More

As the NX’s official announcement nears (most rumors peg it for a late April announcement, some time after the release of Star Fox Zero), we’re receiving more and more leaks. One of them was especially massive- posting on Reddit, an art designer for what is purportedly a western AAA game for the NX decided to leak a lot of details about the Nintendo NX. He declined to reveal what game, or even what kind of game, he is allegedly working on, and on the whole, he decided to shy away from giving any hard specs that may end up exposing him. However, he still had a lot to say about the NX

THE NINTENDO NX

Information about the Nintendo NX is coming via the development kit that these guys have- they’re currently working on an original western AAA exclusive for the NX, but their first priority is to prepare and have some versions of multiplatform titles ready for the NX by its launch. The NX development kit in question has been described as being a boring black box, with a boxy controller, and a number of ports. The NX seems to run a proprietary OS, which does not seem to be an Android fork, as was often rumored, accepts Blu Ray sized Nintendo Optical Discs, instead of cartridges, and is, the best the developer can estimate, on track for an early 2017 release.

The Nintendo NX is something that will probably delight core gamers worldwide- it is, in the developer’s words, a response to everyone who has ever wished for a traditional Nintendo console to go up against the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One- with not much gimmicks, but of course, some of Nintendo’s quirks.

THE SPECS

• The Nintendo NX uses an ARM architecture
• It is a little bit more powerful than the PlayStation 4; any game that runs on the PS4 will run on the NX with ease
• That said, porting is a little harder than a simple copy/paste job, because the NX is on ARM rather than x86. Thankfully, most modern engines are flexible and intercompatible between x86 and ARM, so it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort to get games running
• The Nintendo NX apparently uses 8GB of GDDR5 RAM- that said, the developer did say that a substantial amount of this could end up being reserved for the OS, like on the PS4, Xbox One, or even the Wii U
• The developer kit comes with a 1TB HDD on board; the developer pointed out that this could just be for the developer version, however, and that the final consumer version may not necessarily ship with that much storage space

THE CONTROLLER

• The leaker pointed out that the recent leaks were very obviously false; that said, he did credit them for getting some stuff right: for instance, the entire controller surface is a screen, and the shoulder buttons are scroll wheels, that can also be clicked
• With that out of the way, the leaked controllers’ most controversial elements- the oval shape, the touch only controls- are all false. The NX controller seems to be rectangular in shape, and has a physical Dpad, physical shoulder buttons and triggers, physical face buttons, and two full blown analog sticks, as opposed to nubs or sliders
• The controller has no physical Start or Select buttons (these show up as touch buttons contextually on the controller); it has a physical Home button
• The controller surface is the screen, and the screen circles around the buttons, but not the analog sticks (their bases are opaque)- it’s an exciting piece of tech, which allows for persistent second screen functionality. As opposed to Remote Play streaming, comparisons were drawn to the Dreamcast VMU, or second screen play apps on smartphones
• That said, while Remote Play is no longer the selling point, it is definitely possible
• Some really exciting applications come in the form of dragging icons under the physical buttons on the controller, and remapping their functions in that way
• The controller has a camera of its own, but possibly no speakers; it does have a headphone jack
• The controller has a gyroscope and accelerometer, bringing it on par with the motion functionality of the PlayStation Vita or DualShock 4, or Nintendo’s own 3DS or Wii U Gamepad
• The touch screen is capacitive, not the resistive kind that was used on DS, 3DS, or Wii U
• The controller is an independent unit, with specs on par with a mid tier smartphone. It has microSD functionality.
• The screen on the controller is 1080p
• The controller’s battery life is unknown, since it is hardwired to the console in the devkit
• The controller seems to be it- according to the developer, there is no NX handheld, it seems to be a gangland myth. The NX controller does not seem to be getting many independent games of its own, though it can get second screen apps/small minigames

SO, WHAT IS IT?

Admittedly, all of this sounds too good to be true- if these rumors are true, then the Nintendo NX is:

• A traditional console
• More powerful than the PS4
• With a mostly normal controller without much in the way of gimmicks, but some unique functionality (ala the DualShock 4 on the PS4)
• With easy intercompatibility with Xbox One and PS4 for porting purposes
• 8GB of GDDR5 RAM and 1TB of storage space
• Using discs, not cartridges
• Set for a 2017 release (although the developer here did acknowledge that it could release as early as December 2016)

This is, in other words, exactly the kind of thing that we have all been hoping for- the kind of system that we have wanted Nintendo to make for a very long time.

SOURCE

(disclosure, I wrote this feature for the site I work for. I've copied all relevant information here, so you don't have to click on the link, you've got everything here. The original source, which is the Reddit leak, is also included in the introduction, so you should be set).

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Anyway, if this is true? I am incredibly excited. This is basically it, this is the ideal Nintendo console that I have had in mind for such a long time. I really hope that it is true, but of course, as we've learned in the last week, even the most convincing leaks can be fake.

I hope it's updatable from the start to combat PS4K and XE.

So the controller is its own seperate system ?

Very interesting.

Why would Nintendo release a home console in early 2017, and why would they give developers a 1tb harddrive? This sounds very, very fake. Also no game leak equal no fun.

Man, you don't know much about dev kits and development hardware, do you? Dev units come with extra ports and storage space to enable functions needed for development- like connecting other devices and HDDs to the system, or being able to store all assets on the console unit itself.

Personally, I think it is late 2016 (the developer who leaked this did acknowledge that it could launch in December 2016)

If it is ARM, then it would be updateable, yes.

Sort of? It's its own system like the Dreamcast VMU was its own system.

@charizard1605: I never knew dev kits came with such large harddrives, seems would be a waste of money, no way a developer will use up 1TB. Especially when he most likely has a much bigger HD on his companies PC. I wonder what the Wii U dev kit came with.

300GB for the Wii U devkits, iirc.

Dev kits have come with additional stuff for years now, nothing special 'bout that.

"I am a AAA dev who actually works with a real NX devkit"

@charizard1605: Thats good to know, so im guessing Nintendo is just sending them that much space for them alone, not for consumers. I still think this leak is highly fake though. I dont think Nintendo will make another Wii U Gamepad.

Sounds great, can't wait for them to get confirmed officially.

In terms of power, being slightly better than PS4 is good for couple of years but this gen might end soon and of course we will witness the new versions of Xbox One and PS4...so...

I never knew they did, i dont follow the dev kit stuff much, i dont even really follow the rumors.

Nothing in the leak says they are making another Wii U Gamepad, though.

Well, if they are using ARM, then the NX will probably be upgradeable too, and be able to keep up for a good while.

That, plus the fact that this gen is only two years old, and we have another 3-4 years left at least before we move on to new systems.

Slighty stronger than 3year old counterparts, no super gimmicks -> sounds too good to be true

Man Nintendo really has set the bar high!

@charizard1605: I thought thats what the whole controller leak is about. A touch screen 1080p controller. Sounds very pricey like the Wii U Gamepad. I think id rather have a traditional controller with Gyro. Keep it cheap.

Yeah, there's a chance they have actually learned something, there's a chance they're not utterly stupid after all. I'm rooting for them, but only time will tell.

Yup, a high chance it's not going to be another Wii U

Well, after two poorly made consoles, we can only hope they're not going to be completely dumb this time.

Any bets on whether it'll actually play BluRay movies?

The handheld part disappoints me (too good to be true? Lolwut) as that's am I'm excited with. Hopefully the successor to the 3DS comes soon.

I heard a rumour the NX is actually a lot more powerful than X1 and PS4 and its one of the reasons MS & Sony want to release upgraded hardware to try and take some of the excitement and hype away from the NX launch this year by also having new SKU's go on sale

@Blabadon: If for some silly reason they pay Sony to use Blu Ray games, i dont see why they wouldnt be silly enough to pay for blu ray movies also.

Highly doubt it will play Blu Ray movies, tbh. I'd even bet money on it.

As for the no handheld thing- definitely a bummer, yes. But at least they are getting the console part completely right.

@charizard1605:

Yeah but the current design would mean no dedicated handheld i.e. no follow up to GB/DS/3DS ?

Lol the NX Controller has a higher resolution than most Xbone games. No wonder they want to upgrade it.

"The Nintendo NX apparently uses 8GB of GDDR5 RAM"

UGH... I knew it. I called it out months ago and no one believed me. Nintendo is stealing SONY's technology.

I hope SONY sues them out of existence. Microsoft being the slimy corporation will also copy SONY's technology for the Xbox 1.5.

@charizard1605: True that. i hope they go with ARM.

Is it your goal to make that name of yours ironic as hell?

lol Sony does not own GDDR5, designs or anything related... the fact that they are using 8gb GDDR5 is no different from AMD or Nvidia using same standard and amounts of GDDR5 on their gpus.

Oh hell YEAH! Everything I wanted! God, I hope this one is accurate.

I'm just tired of Nintendo and Microsoft who free-ride off SONY's technology.

Microsoft did it with the CD-ROM and 360 CPU.

Now Nintendo is doing it with the 8 GB GDDR5 unified memory architecture.

Do you think it's right for SONY to do all the hard work and for Nintendo and Microsoft to sweep in and steal everything?

Competition for the sake of competition isn't optimal for the consumers. Gamers need better companies than Nintendo and Microsoft to compete with SONY. Stop being a fanboy and hope both Nintendo and Microsoft leave the gaming industry.

SONY was the one who came up with implementing GDDR5 on their SoC. They're also the reason why it's cheap (Large economies of scale). Nintendo is free-riding off SONY's work.

@notafanboy: GDDR5 is not Sony technology. Fucking lol

Why do people think there is a large difference in compatibility between arm vs x86... for developers there's literally no difference. No one writes in machine code. Its a compiler option.

ARM will break compatibility with older titles for BC and they'll have to emulate their current architecture (it's PPC?). What generally matters more is the API's and ABI.

It won't be any more "upgradable" then a PPC, or x86. So long as they stick with arm and their GPU API from gen to gen it should make BC fairly easy.

The implementation of GDDR5 on a console SoC is SONY's technology.

Why isn't Nintendo using DDR4 RAM? Because that would mean Nintendo would need to spend money figuring out the proper configuration on the SoC for optimal performance. By free-riding off Cerny's genius design, Nintendo spends $0 on R&D while benefitting from low GDDR5 prices due to SONY's PS4 economies of scale.

Sick a tired of this slimy corporation. Support SONY! Anyone who is a true gamer should be angered that only SONY is the pro-gamer corporation. MS and Nintendo need to take a hike.

It's not sony's technology, they chose to use GDDR5 instead of DDR3... it's a choice

Maybe more and more info will surface because of this, if it's legit, and in turn force Nintendo to unveil the thing sooner rather than later.

@notafanboy: I don't know if you're being serious or trying really hard to troll..... Because sony did NOT invent GDDR5

right...... just like how Sony used GDDR5 which was developed by another company to use in their system..... Intel made use of GDDR5 on their cocpu Xeon Phi before anyone else.... so did Sony steal the idea from Intel to use GDDR5 on their APU?

Its a set standard in memory design the fact that Sony decided to use shared pool of 8gb GDDR5 has no bearing of Nintendo using 8gb of GDDR5. Fact is that its easier to use a unified shared pool of fast memory then it is to use a split pool using two different types or using a shared pool of slower memory on a CPU+GPU within same die.

Hoping its fake, sounds bad again

So true. The combination of such technology was introduced by Sony and Lord Cerny the creator of all great consoles. His knowledge is envied by the evil forces of MS and Nintendo. This is blatant copyright infringement on Nintendo's part and they are most likely going to be sued by Sony for stealing their super tech that is used for the PS4.

Its slightly higher but you are within range.

This is BS semantics at play.

Everything in engineering and technology is down to choice. The difference between LCD and OLED comes down to different choices in filament chemicals.

The difference between traditional transistors and graphene transistors comes down to different choices in transistor compounds.

This situation is no different. Using GDDR5 UMA as both the main memory and graphics memory has never been done before the PS4. It is a new technology.

Nintendo is stealing that technology.

If the controller acts as a Handheld device then why no sound?

I'm not talking about the invention of GDDR5. I'm talking about the specific implementation of GDDR5 as a UMA, used as both main and graphics memory.

The implementation of GDDR5 as UMA is different from the development of GDDR5. Both count as separate technologies.

What you're insisting means that Intel's 10/14nm process can't be patented and can be copied by everyone because the components they use in their fabs were made by Swedish companies.

It's not the individual components. It's the implementation of those components.

Has there ever been so many leaks that are all saying something different XD

What sounds bad now?

LCD vs OLED are both different types of technology, a PS4 is mostly a package of different technologies, there is some custom designed technology in it like the onion bus... but GDDR5 is not one of their custom designs. It's a choice that also was pulled from xbox 360... to go with a single pool of GDDR3 memory.

There's no custom technology here.

Revolution

It has a headphone jack

Controller speakers sound like ass. Might as well be listening to a pair of BEATS through the headphone jack they all sound so bad.