Ubisoft CEO says NX could put Nintendo "back in the race"

[Shawn Knight]

Nintendo for a period of time in the ‘80s and ‘90s ruled over the relatively young gaming industry. It found success once again with its motion-sensing Wii console a decade ago but struck out swinging with its follow-up, the ill-fated Wii U.

With Microsoft and Sony prepping a historic mid-cycle console refresh in Project Scorpio and the PlayStation 4 Pro, respectively, it’s easy to forget that Nintendo also has a new gaming machine waiting in the wings in the NX (and even more so considering Nintendo has remained tight-lipped about it thus far).

According to one developer and publisher, it’ll be hard to overlook Nintendo’s new system once it arrives.

During a recent meeting with investors, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said he believes the NX will put Nintendo back in the race. That’s in addition to statements given earlier this month in which he praised the NX as being a fantastic machine with a genuinely new approach. It’s Nintendo coming up with something new again, he said, and Ubisoft loves it.

Whether or not Guillemot’s praise is more than just business talk is unclear. As Venture Beat correctly highlights, it’s in the company’s best interest for Nintendo’s upcoming console to strike a chord with gamers seeing as Ubisoft is in the business of selling software that’ll run on it.

The new Legend of #Zelda will be the focus of #E3 2016. It will launch simultaneously on both Wii U and NX in 2017 pic.twitter.com/FGqEdakXkt

— Nintendo of Europe (@NintendoEurope) April 27, 2016

Gamers shouldn’t have to wait too much longer for details on the NX as Nintendo said earlier this year that it plans to release it globally in March of next year. All we really know – or rather, all we think we know – is that the machine will be a hybrid portable / living room console that may use cartridges.

Lead image via Yuriko Nakao, Reuters

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https://www.techspot.com/news/66527-ubisoft-ceo-nx-could-put-nintendo-back-race.html

 

[Fobus]

I don't think Nintendo following the lead of Trump is good... When is keeping a console that's gonna launch in 7 months in secret ever a good thing? Unless it's gonna be later

 

[stewi0001]

I'll believe it when I see it. I've been burnt by Nintendo way too much.

 

[BlueDrake]

I can understand Nintendo's shyness, especially when other companies tried to adopt the motion. Of course that met with very limited success on their part, while it was pretty much the core feature. They later improved it with the MotionPlus, either integrated or an add-on piece for games that used precise movements. Wii U wasn't so much a bad console, as trying something out that.. didn't really make sense in terms of name marketing. Also the power was very much like Nintendo, a middling CPU with a beefy GPU in the Wii U to drive things which.. didn't sit well with everyone.

I imagine with moving away from PowerPC to the rumored ARM architecture, which is more or less being confirmed at this point. Nintendo might have a fighting chance in something useful, that could serve the needs they want to try and solve. Only thing I'm hearing as a serious issue is battery life, which is similar to the gamepad's battery issues. You can always swap it with a larger one from Nintendo, which I've seen but even then it might only last another hour or two.

There's a lot happening and I never got an N64, which is a great console of it's time. Gamecube I also passed up and feel bad about it, I jumped on the Wii pretty much end of lifecycle. I grabbed the Wii U mid-cycle and enjoy it, when I have those who want to play games together. Sure there isn't the 300+ game library that people expect, but there are games that have been indeed fun to play. Not to mention things were exclusive and I doubt they will abandon their platform, to dump basically everything on another console or PC anytime soon.

I appreciate them branching out, and trying to find alternatives for revenue. Especially since 3DS is starting to slow down now, and Wii U sales have "mostly" come to an end as of late. People are sitting back and waiting for the NX to make a reveal, because it's getting in the console pretty much end of life seems kinda silly. Unless there's games on the platform, people want to play and can't find anywhere else.

 

[Reehahs]

Nothing beats a Nintendo console for offline multiplayer. Only ever managed to play in pairs on PS/Xbox, nothing 4 player really appealed except for LBP and Halo. Can't say the same for Nintendo where there was always Smash, Kart and lot of other Mario titles.

 

[Fobus]

Nothing beats a Nintendo console for offline multiplayer. Only ever managed to play in pairs on PS/Xbox, nothing 4 player really appealed except for LBP and Halo. Can't say the same for Nintendo where there was always Smash, Kart and lot of other Mario titles.

PC?

 

[Bigtruckseries]

3rd party developers are getting lazier and more efficient. They want to develop for the PC and port down to the consoles - or vice versa.

What they don't want to do is have to rebuild their product - from scratch - for some underpowered gimmick hardware.

Nintendo needs to DROP OUT of Console production and double down on software for other systems. Pokemon Go for Android and iOS was a CASH COW.

When they put Metroid, Castlevania, and their other IP on the mobile platforms they'll see...

 

[Evernessince]

Nothing beats a Nintendo console for offline multiplayer. Only ever managed to play in pairs on PS/Xbox, nothing 4 player really appealed except for LBP and Halo. Can't say the same for Nintendo where there was always Smash, Kart and lot of other Mario titles.

I think you mean "for family games", pretty much every other console has better multi-player games

 

[amghwk]

Cartridge is not a good news.

 

[J spot]

Cartridge is not a good news.

Cartridges sound amazing.

 

[Pewzor]

Hmm nice 720p screen as well. I am totally dazzled.

 

[Puiu]

Not gonna happen. Zelda won't save this console.

 

[Misagt]

I'm sure glad I play on PC. Built my latest rig 5 years ago, it's still more powerful then the consoles and these mid cycle refreshes. I'd be really annoyed to by a console only to have to start replacing it everything couple of years.

 

[Reehahs]

I think you mean "for family games", pretty much every other console has better multi-player games

I am specifically talking about offline multiplayer. It doesn't exist on PC with the exception of some indie titles. 2 player cooperative doesn't count. It always bugged me that you could do 4 player local gamewith Killzone, Burnout, and Ratchet 'n' Clank on PS2 yet can't do the same on later console. Online is fantastic for games with lot of player per match but playing with people you know is always better.

 

[Fobus]

I am specifically talking about offline multiplayer. It doesn't exist on PC with the exception of some indie titles. 2 player cooperative doesn't count. It always bugged me that you could do 4 player local gamewith Killzone, Burnout, and Ratchet 'n' Clank on PS2 yet can't do the same on later console. Online is fantastic for games with lot of player per match but playing with people you know is always better.

Dude, I didn't write PC for no reason. Practically every PC game supports local multiplayer. Why do you think LAN parties were popular?

 

[risc32]

I am specifically talking about offline multiplayer. It doesn't exist on PC with the exception of some indie titles. 2 player cooperative doesn't count. It always bugged me that you could do 4 player local gamewith Killzone, Burnout, and Ratchet 'n' Clank on PS2 yet can't do the same on later console. Online is fantastic for games with lot of player per match but playing with people you know is always better.

Dude, I didn't write PC for no reason. Practically every PC game supports local multiplayer. Why do you think LAN parties were popular?

"were" being the operative word here. as for having a couple friends over to play in a game together, well, I guess my friends and I are just to old to even consider lugging our pcs around.

 

[Fobus]

"were" being the operative word here. as for having a couple friends over to play in a game together, well, I guess my friends and I are just to old to even consider lugging our pcs around.

Yeah, but only because of ubiquitous internet now and well baked in online multiplayer as well as supporting services like TS, hamachi then or Discord now. It's because there are better options now, not because it didn't exist/was worse on PC than consoles, like that ******* claims. In fact, it was much more advanced than anything on consoles.

 

[treetops]

I actually like my wii u way more then my xbox one. It seems to be the only co op couch console left. Iv even bought a few nes titles on the wii u. The wii u is highly under rated.

 

[theruck]

Nothing beats a Nintendo console for offline multiplayer. Only ever managed to play in pairs on PS/Xbox, nothing 4 player really appealed except for LBP and Halo. Can't say the same for Nintendo where there was always Smash, Kart and lot of other Mario titles.

PC?

you ever played with 4 people on the same PC and same screen?

 

[Emexrulsier]

Cartridge is not a good news.

Why isn't it good news. With access speeds faster that disk based solutions it could offer a far superior solution. Also remember in essence a cartridge could simply be a a nice fast SSD drive. No need to perform system game installations so no need for massive store on the device itself.

 

[Reehahs]

Yeah, but only because of ubiquitous internet now and well baked in online multiplayer as well as supporting services like TS, hamachi then or Discord now. It's because there are better options now, not because it didn't exist/was worse on PC than consoles, like that ******* claims. In fact, it was much more advanced than anything on consoles.

Hamachi was awesome.

 

[Reehahs]

you ever played with 4 people on the same PC and same screen?

Yup, it was harder because the monitor was much smaller then the TV. Though you could play Smash like game without struggling on screen but had to fight your corner on the keyboard.

 

[Reehahs]

Dude, I didn't write PC for no reason. Practically every PC game supports local multiplayer. Why do you think LAN parties were popular?

It is easier to lug controller around or a console then a whole PC until laptop came along to be decent. Though school lab are fantastic substitute for LAN parties for UT, CS and Quake running off from USBs.

 

[mbrowne5061]

Nothing beats a Nintendo console for offline multiplayer. Only ever managed to play in pairs on PS/Xbox, nothing 4 player really appealed except for LBP and Halo. Can't say the same for Nintendo where there was always Smash, Kart and lot of other Mario titles.

PC?

...when was the last time you saw any offline multiplayers for PC? At all? They all require networking and multiple machines of some kind.