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

Are you trying to use reasoning? I am sorry to inform you but reasoning would not work. Embrace the joys of illogical banter. Its the only way.

-little bit more powerful than the PlayStation 4

-NX is on ARM rather than x86

Did they learn nothing from the Wii U? 4 years late and just barely more powerful than the previous generation? And using different architecture to make 3rd party ports harder? Nintendo is hopeless.

On to the actually topic. I am not anticipating this claim that the system would be almost as powerful as the PS4. I highly doubt it but we shall see. It seems that all these rumors are all over the place. Most likely next month would offer clarity.

It wouldn't make most ports harder per say but I agree. Why ARM? That is very very mobile centric.

I'm just done with the second screen. Its too gimmicky, but not even a fun gimmick like motion controls

Hmmm. Really? I don't like how it can break immersion but it made a game like Wind Waker a lot better by removing the need to pause the game and moving UI elements to the gamepad... And the new Zelda might come out on the NX too... And I like being able to type with the controller. Guess it wouldn't be THAT big a deal but I would miss it. And being able to switch to it when other people wanted to use the TV was nice too...

If the NX doesn't have this feature it probably means having to buy an extra TV.

Yet your ignoring the fact that Intel used Unified memory pool of GDDR5 before PS4 with their Xeon Phi. Or the fact that Sony's PS4 APU is designed and produced by AMD which also makes use of unified memory pools. It has nothing to do with Nintendo using GDDR5 and 8gb of it. They are using same set standard in memory tech its the best option. Sony cant do crap,because the use of GDDR5 and how its used is not proprietary to Sony.....

Also nm manufacturing cant be patented only the product being produced. Anyone can hire those factories to produce their own products just like AMD using same 14nm as intel products with their next product lineups.

Then you can ignore it- it's a traditional system with a second screen that can be ignored, not unlike the Dreamcast.

I imagine they want to use the same hardware base to develop a handheld of some sort in the future.

Not necessary for the devkit?

I'm glad it's at least "more powerful" then PS4, but if that's all it is, it's not exactly a sure winner considering it is 3 years late.

It really depends on how substantially more powerful, it is. With how much GPU technology has evolved, it should not be outside the realm of possibility to build a machine with specs 50% more powerful GPU than PS4, with a better CPU, and still hit a $299-349 price point. They need to make sure the gap is pretty noticable, not just that it can "run games the PS4 can run". It has to run them notably better or else it's entirely pointless except for the occasional 1st party/exclusive game. Nintendo has to make some serious inroads in the 3rd party world to become people's main gaming device.

I hope they have a way to turn it off then. I just feel like its going to raise the price of controllers and drain the battery. It just feels unnecessary and I cant imagine them putting it in and then not abusing it with some sort of gimmick

I don't think that's a reasonable stance to take, especially since they never 'abused' the touchscreen gimmick on the Wii U, where it was a far more prominent part of the system's identity. In most games it was optional, or just used for UI navigation- hardly anything to take offense by.

That won't make porting harder

I found that I either didnt care to use it if I wasnt forced to or didnt like using it when I was. The only times I liked it were for the Nintendo Land games and menus thats about it. It just felt like wasted space almost all the time.

@aigis: But the point of this controller is that you can easily ignore it if you don't want to use it.

Whoa, more powerful than a console released in 2013?! That would be a big step up for Nintendo!

Well it's obviously harder than porting a game to pc/xbox one/ps4 given its developed on one of these platforms or well "hard" isn't the right word but more development time needed

FAKE FAKE FAKE FAKE

The difference from a developers perspective between arm vs x86 is negligible. Generally what makes it difficult is how similar the sdk is. Otherwise cross compiling for different platforms is pretty trivial..

for instance take linux development,

to compile for arm

ARCH=arm make

To compile for x86

ARCH=x86 make

or 64 bit

ARCH=x86_64

I don't buy it because this is something I would want.

I'm pretty sure most of the popular middleware used in game development supports ARM/x86 inter-compatibility. Wouldn't that make the hardware platform here a non-issue?

@Legend002: It does, seems almost too perfect.

@waahahah: Yes the compiling part is trivial, the point was that the "actual" development takes longer when you have to throw ARM in the mix, given how similar PC/Xbone/PS4 are to eachother atm, I'm not saying it's going to be a lot of extra work as I have no access to NX devkit, but it's still more

NX's SDK will complicate things, not ARM though. How they debug, whether or not something like Visual Studio is supported for all of the platforms means developers can just look at all 3 consoles like remote targets. Bigger differences would be like supporting voice chat, all 3 platforms have a difference service behind it...

PC/Xbox/PS4 simplicity have nothing to do with the x86 processor, both xbox/PS4 have a high level API similar to DX11 and now with DX12 PC also has a similar low level API like consoles. The processor is bascially a platform choice to pretty much every compiling tool in existance. There is no extra complexity because of the CPU.

@charizard1605: Yes it may do but its a feature which has been on Handhelds since the GAMEBOY (maybe earlier but GB was my first handheld). Ok, I hate the sound quality on my 3DS, The WiiUs Gamepad is quite alright though but quiet for me as funnily enough im half deaf lol. It just seem a step backwards in one regard. Besides a loud speaker isnt exactly expensive of a item to add as when i use to fix Mobiles they where like a couple of pound to purchase.

If worried about power consumption then why go with a 1080 Screen rather than something lower? This would surely kill the battery life more so than a speaker.

@charizard1605: @waahahah: When you compare Xbox one and PS4 hardware you see they are extremely close, one has slightly stronger gpu one has stronger cpu(albeit different kind of memory architecture, both provided by AMD making it quite easy to do performance optimization. Again it's not massive amounts of extra work for the NX version, but it's some.

For all we know the NX SDK may be a treat to work with

It has to be more powerful than the ps4 tbh, releasing a console that isn't in the middle of this gen would be like shooting themselves in the foot. And I just take all these rumors now with a grain of salt, just hyping the fans and getting them excited with rumors that are far out there and then whenever they do announce the NX and it turns out all of that is bs, well let's just say it'll be fun to see the rage.

But I am excited.

You have to optimize for performance differences, ps4 to xbox one has performance differences even in the cpu. The fact that they are both x86 doesn't help in any way. Same with the performances differences in an ARM chip, it doesn't make it any more complex. You still have to optimize for difference performance characteristics of each platform.

Again the SDK is what matters here for porting. None of the platforms in question are binary compatible, you can't drop an xbox game on a ps4... so the processor architecture really doesn't matter when you're already compiling for 3 different targets and optimizing for 3 different performance characteristics.

Bit rich that you tell other people to not be a fanboy when you spout some of the most stupid fanboy drivel Ive read on this forum.

a bit of disappointment imo. A bit more powerful than Ps4 and Arm architecture dont sound all that exciting. I was hoping for x86 architecture so will be easier to port 3rd party games and something that will be quite a bit more powerful than 2012 technology ( considering a 2017 release ).

Everything else though looks good and if it ends up been decently more powerful than ps4 at a similar price that would be good

Disappointed to hear the "a little bit stronger than ps4". Ps4k will be released this year or 2017, how is it that its only a little bit stronger than a 2013 console? At least its not on par with Xbone specs as previously rumored, now that would be shameful.

i see what you did there. very dirty.

Not believable at all.

Nintendo is not releasing this after the holiday, and I don't see this being marketed as "traditional" at all. They'd be goners from the starting line if they did that.

Marking this as false.

Slightly more powerful than a console that released in 2013? With the advancements that GPU's have made, this thing should be twice as powerful in both the CPU and GPU when being compared to the PS4 and X1. It'll be releasing at least 3 years after those consoles, but they aren't trying to move the hardware forward like they should be doing. Right now it sounds like an evolved Wii U. Slightly more power than already dated tech with a touch screen controller. If it turns out well, I'll buy one, but this isn't getting me hyped for it. I really want Nintendo to wow me with this thing. My plans are to go Nintendo/PC in the future, but that could change if Nintendo doesn't impress me.

I really just want Nintendo to come out and say what the machine is. All these rumors are all over the place and I don't know if I should believe any of it.

Hope that's true, no interest in upgradable consoles, MS and Sony can go and **** themselves.

I'll have to see how they use it I think, in my mind it just feels unnecessary

The touch and blow pad was not optional for Mario 3D World or Captain Toad. These games are blemished because of the forced implementation. I can guarantee that it would be mandatory for the first batch of games just like it was on WiiU. And its much easier to use onscreen elements than gamescreen elements because the game screen requires the user to look away from the main screen. Most gamers don't buy HD screens to look at a punny screen in the palm of your hands. So its a bit naive to think that they would not force implement it just as they did with their other gimmicks on the Wii and WiiU.

While true, I want to think that since this isn't a new gimmick, they will actually use what they learned from the Wii U and keep those lessons in mind as they build NX games.

Basically, I am thinking of this in terms of how the second screen was approached on the DS's first batch of games versus the 3DS's first batch of games.

EDIT: I may be remembering wrong (although I am pretty sure I am not) but Mario 3D World neverforces the touch screen and mic on the player- there are I think three or four courses that are built around these inputs, but they are optional ones. You could finish the entire game using just the Wii U Pro controller.

Fake. Stop believin these "leaks."

Not saying that doesn't sound reasonable, but I don't believe it is legit.

Sounds interesting. Too bad I dont care about Nintendo games anymore. Also this machine is launching right in the middle of the PS4 and Xbox ONE. It is going to be MORE expensive with LESS on the shelves. Most games will be ports. It will be interesting but I predict it will not do well.

I would rather waste my money giving sony VR a chance than waste it again with Nintendo.

So, you think Nintendo should be aiming for a $400-500 price tag?

@techhog89: You consider that those counterpats were not 500 and came out that long ago, one would think that you can reach higher level of performance w/o increase in cost, the cost of the level for that performance is not same as it was more than 2 years back

This would be true if this was entirely gimmick free. However, we all know a Nintendo system will never be entirely gimmick free, and those gimmicks will always add to the cost, too.

"more powerful than a ps4"

ok, sounds good

"the entire controller surface is a screen, shoulder buttons are a mouse wheels"

ok, nevermind

I am not entirely sure if you can or cannot finish the game with just the pro controller but I know the stages that uses the mic and touch cannot be completed without the WiiU pad. If the screen is ALWAYS optional then I have not quibbles, everyone is happy.

@charizard1605: Yes obviously the controller f.e is going to be pricier than the competitors, if it's truly 1080p screen on it esp and Nintendo consoles have never been powerhungry which limits the performance options as well

Yes, you would think that; however, Moore's Law is dead. This year will be the first process node shrink since 2012. Those used to happen every year. AMD has been using basically the same architecture since then as well. The new GPUs coming this year make a difference, but those will not be cheap or plentiful due to new technology. Realistically, $400 could maybe give you ~50% more performance than PS4 now (while still using significantly more power and putting out much more heat), and maybe twice the performance in the first half of 2017. If Nintendo wanted to hit, say, a $300 price point though? They would not be able to use much more advanced tech than what's in the PS4 right now. 10-20% better at the absolute best (PS4's price/performance is still on-point even now, as ~$60-70 is how much the costs have decresed since then and PS4 is $50 cheaper than at launch), and that won't change until the second half of next year. That's why the PS4k rumors only seem to indicate a doubling of performance when you might expect 4-5x by now (and why it won't have many "4k" games). So, Nintendo has to pick a battle: current consoles, or upcoming revisions? It's a matter of which has the better risk/return.

And then a year or two later Sony and MS release new systems that destroy this thing I assume.

Too good to be real.

But if it's real...