Microsoft just released the Xbox One S and Sony is preparing to unveil the PS4 Slim, but in a few short months, Nintendo will launch the first truly new major video game console since 2013. The NX is currently scheduled to release next March, but we still know hardly anything about the console, as Nintendo has been predictably tight-lipped ever since the console was announced.
So in truth, we don’t know anything concrete about the NX, and likely won’t for a few more months. But at the very least, what do we think we know?
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The first major leak came just last month, when Eurogamer reported that the NX would be a portable console with its own display and a set of detachable controllers. Unlike the PS4, Xbox One and even the Wii U, the report also claims that the NX will use cartridges, possibly similar to what we see on the 3DS.
This report came just hours after noted insider Emily Rogers tweeted that significant reports regarding the NX would begin to appear in major publications soon.
Now, a month after that report, Rogers has followed up with her own report, which took the form of the following four tweets:
- 1) This article about NX’s detachable controllers supporting force feedback and motion controls has truth: http://letsplayvideogames.com/2016/08/report-detatchable-nx-controllers-support-motion-control-and-force-feedback/
- 2) NX prototype had a 6.2 inch 720p multi-touch touchscreen. Unknown if final product’s screen size will be larger / smaller than prototype.
- 3) Prototype for dock station has USB ports. I heard 2 usb ports, but I don’t know if this number will change in the final product.
- 4) MCV’s report about GameFreak being involved with NX has some truth to it.
A day later, Let’s Play Video Games followed up on its previous report with two new bits of information from anonymous sources: the current NX prototype features a split D-pad (like the one on the DualShock 4) and a ‘Share’ button.
Rogers also continued with an interesting follow-up tweet of her own:
- NX dev kit / prototype = 32 GB of internal storage/memory. Similar to Wii U. Final product may see increase, but prototype was at 32 GB.
All of these declarations come with a great deal of uncertainty, but a clearer picture of the NX is slowly beginning to form. Nintendo might be unwilling to share many details about the console, but in a recent interview, NoA CEO Reggie Fils-Amie was very candid about the fact that things need to change at Nintendo:
“One of the things that we have to do better when we launch the NX—we have to do a better job communicating the positioning for the product. We have to do a better job helping people to understand its uniqueness and what that means for the game playing experience. And we have to do a better job from a software planning standpoint to have that continuous beat of great new games that are motivating more and more people to pick up the hardware and more and more people to pick up the software. Those are the critical lessons.”
Everything here sounds great, but we’re less than eight months out from the launch of the console, and we still know next to nothing about it. If Nintendo wants to do a better job of communicating exactly what the NX is supposed to do and who it’s meant to be for, it might want to start soon.