The Shrine

A few things on the new platform:
* Just the codename was announced: NX. No hardware details.
* More details will be unveiled next year, my opinion is that he means the next calendar year of 2016; and my speculation is that it will be in January or February with enough time to have some talk occurring leading up to the end of the upcoming fiscal year.
* This is a dedicated videogaming platform.
* The primary goal of the early announcement was to let people know that Nintendo is underway with the development of new "dedicated videogame devices" as the main reason for the announcement of a new mobile strategy with DeNA.
* The goal of the mobile strategy is an expansion of services and software onto mobile platforms and PC in order to support and compliment their dedicated videogame platforms, as well as reach out to new potential customers for their console market. New marketing strategy? A graphic was shown with an image of a tablet, a mobile phone, a PC, Wii U, 3DS, and then the "Codename NX" text, indicating some sort of between these different devices.
* DeNa will be co-developing a new service that looks to be the next evolution of a combined Club Nintendo and Nintendo Network; and possibly even incorporates the Miiverse. This one will include. This implies that Nintendo is not abandoning touchscreen tech any time soon, since it is likely that is going to be the interface this new service centers on.
* The codename "NX" also implies the name "Nintendo Cross" - which is a strong indication of a cross device focus being the primary focus for the new hardware.

Video of the NX and DeNA announcement:


Additional sources:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015- ... ew-concept
http://www.siliconera.com/2015/03/17/ni ... enamed-nx/
http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/0 ... denamed_nx

The implication of the last few points add credibility to the January 2014 rumor of the Nintendo Fusion Terminal & Fusion DS: http://nintendonews.com/2014/01/nintend ... ware-name/

This is the direction I would like to see Nintendo go in, a unified platform which allows for multiple devices to access content. Tiered software is another direction I would like to see Nintendo consider, so for the mobile platform, they would have access only to a casual companion app or portion of the main title. The handheld would have the lower tier version of the software, and the home console the higher tier - which can be accessed by the handheld when in proximity for a higher quality streaming experience in a similar way to how the Gamepad works.


...and yes, I had to update this post multiple times because I posted as the story broke, and more information kept becoming available...

Neogaf is in a bit of a panic.

Nintendo Going Mobile: Smartphone Game Deal with DeNA http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/17/82304 ... nouncement

Nintendo has long resisted the call of mobile gaming, but today it entered the space in a big way. The company has announced that it will team up with DeNA, a major Japanese mobile gaming company, to make smartphone games featuring Nintendo characters. The two companies "intend to jointly operate new gaming applications featuring Nintendo IP, which they will develop specifically for smart devices," Nintendo said in a statement.

Nintendo has flirted with mobile gaming before. In a tie-up with GungHo, the company will release a Mario-themed version of Japanese mobile smash hit Puzzle & Dragons for 3DS next month, and recent experiments like Pokémon Shuffle have adopted similar free-to-play business models.

We're at a hastily convened press conference in Tokyo that's due to start soon, and will bring you any further news as it happens.

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/corporate/rel ... index.html

Iwata： Of course, Nintendo will utilize smart devices as communication media for Nintendo IP. In addition, so that our consumers will be closely connected with them, we will deploy a game business which takes advantage of Nintendo IP.

Iwata： Quite a few of you must be wondering why Nintendo, which has never deviated from its cautious stance in regard to the possibility of deploying its game business on smart devices, has now changed its policy. Please note, however, that I was not dismissing the idea of making games for smart devices per se as I stated at the January 2014 Corporate Management Policy Briefing that a development team of Nintendo would create a smart device application, and please also note that I had not ruled out the possibility of making games when we make use of these devices.

Iwata： Nintendo and DeNA will jointly develop and operate gaming applications for smart devices in global markets. With this alliance, new entertainment that utilizes Nintendo’s IP will be provided globally via smart devices.

Iwata： Needless to say, now that we are challenging ourselves in this new business area, we hope that hundreds of millions of people will use and enjoy these products.

Iwata： As for which Nintendo IP will be used, we do not intend to make any exceptions. Potentially, any Nintendo IP could be used in our smart device software. On the other hand, as I just said, games on smart devices require ever-evolving services rather than just being a finished product. A combined effort will be necessary to operate them. People’s attention would only be dispersed if we simply increased the number of the titles we simultaneously released, and we could not expect to expand our business. Accordingly, we will narrow down the titles for development and operation to some extent.

Nintendo and DeNA also plan to develop an online membership service that is accessible from smart devices, PC and Nintendo systems, such as the Nintendo 3DS portable system and the Wii U home console. The membership service, which is targeted to launch in the fall of 2015, will be built on DeNA's extensive experience and capabilities in online membership services.

Looks like they're finally getting a proper account system up and running!

Nintendo just dropped a small bomb which is now causing a shockwave across the internet Nintendo fanbase

Although it doesn't look like anyone has picked up on the Japanese meaning of "X" which is translated as "Cross" similar to how Xenoblade Chronicles X is called Xenoblade Chronicles Cross in Japan. Yet people are skipping that part and making the logical leap to "Nintendo Fusion" all the same - missing the ammo for their statement which is NX probably stands for Nintendo Cross, which is synonymous with Nintendo Fusion.

Julius Seeker wrote:Nintendo just dropped a small bomb which is now causing a shockwave across the internet Nintendo fanbase

Although it doesn't look like anyone has picked up on the Japanese meaning of "X" which is translated as "Cross" similar to how Xenoblade Chronicles X is called Xenoblade Chronicles Cross in Japan. Yet people are skipping that part and making the logical leap to "Nintendo Fusion" all the same - missing the ammo for their statement which is NX probably stands for Nintendo Cross, which is synonymous with Nintendo Fusion.

Omg, this means Metroid Fusion 2 coming?! Sweet mother of mercy.

Another nugget from Iwata.

“However, if you only expand upon existing hardware, it’s dull. In some shape or form, we’re always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person’s video gaming life.”

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/0 ... ming_lives

Julius Seeker wrote:Another nugget from Iwata.

“However, if you only expand upon existing hardware, it’s dull. In some shape or form, we’re always thinking about how we want to surprise players as well as our desire to change each person’s video gaming life.”

http://www.nintendolife.com/news/2015/0 ... ming_lives

Unless it's a portable, in which case you can do it half a dozen times within a generation.

People have speculated that it could be a portable system. My opinion is that it's going to be a handheld + terminal.

Although it would be interesting if they had more significant year over year upgrades to their hardware; even bi-annual. Right now Nintendo does release a new handheld every year or two, but usually it's a clone of the other with some additions, and then towards the end of the generation they'll come out with something like GBC, GBA SP, DSi, and new3DS. It would be interesting to see Nintendo taking a more Apple/Samsung approach with much more frequent hardware updates and tiered software releases - it's been done on PC for ever now, and scaling is relatively simple these days. In a closed console environment, there will be much higher standards as well, so you won't get a bunch of games released that are ridiculously slow or broken on the lowest end hardware like you get on PC.