Nintendo chief says NX console will be "unique and different"

[Shawn Knight]

Recently appointed Nintendo President Tatsumi Kimishima has ensured fans that the company’s next console – codenamed NX – won’t simply be the next version of the Wii U.

In a recent interview with Time, Kimishima said he can assure readers that they’re not building the next version of Wii or Wii U. NX is something unique and different, something where they have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to their consumer base.

Translation – the NX probably won’t be backward compatible with the Wii or Wii U.

Kimishima also commented on the codename, saying that he didn’t believe there is any real meaning behind it and to be perfectly honest, he doesn’t even know where it came from. The executive didn’t dismiss the possibility that the late Satoru Iwata meant to tell him where the name came from but never got the chance.

Iwata, if you recall, passed away somewhat unexpectedly over the summer. Kimishima was named as his successor in September.

Later in the interview, Kimishima cleared up a misconception regarding a quote he gave to Japanese newspaper Nikkei that suggested he thought the Wii U was a failure.

When asked why the Wii U was not selling as well as the Wii at this point in its lifetime, Kimishima said the Wii had sold over 100 million units worldwide and that it simply might not sell as well – not that it wouldn’t sell or that it was a failure. His point was that it wasn’t going to be easy to make Wii fans leave that system and come to the Wii U.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/63022-nintendo-chief-nx-console-unique-different.html

 

[oldikes]

Lets hope "unique" doesnt mean "the controller costs as much as the console itself and raises the price to a point where I dont want to buy it" or "lol gimmicky motion controls that are frustrating to use"

 

[umbala]

I grew up with Ninteno and Sega. I was pretty sad to see Sega exit the hardware arena and disappointed with Nintendo restoring to lame gimmicks in the past few console generations. I have a feeling "unique and different" is just code for "underpowered with new gimmicks" this time around too. Nintendo is sitting on a good amount of cash thanks to the success of the Wii, but this next generation is probably the last chance they'll have. If this NX thing flops, that will probably be it for them too. If they're smart, they'll move to a full x86 architecture like Sony and MS did, or perhaps ARM instead. Anything else and they're almost guaranteed to fade into oblivion.

 

[davislane1]

I would like to see a return to the SNES and N64 strategy: a contemporary console with a full library of games. I understand their desire to be family-oriented, but that approach is what allowed MS to get a foothold with the Xbox.

If they don't bring a serious contender like that to the battle, Sony is going to be the only show in town down the road.

 

[Jibberish18]

I grew up with Ninteno and Sega. I was pretty sad to see Sega exit the hardware arena and disappointed with Nintendo restoring to lame gimmicks in the past few console generations. I have a feeling "unique and different" is just code for "underpowered with new gimmicks" this time around too. Nintendo is sitting on a good amount of cash thanks to the success of the Wii, but this next generation is probably the last chance they'll have. If this NX thing flops, that will probably be it for them too. If they're smart, they'll move to a full x86 architecture like Sony and MS did, or perhaps ARM instead. Anything else and they're almost guaranteed to fade into oblivion.

Sad doesn't begin to describe my feelings of SEGA leaving the hardware business. I still until this day think the Dreamcast was the best console ever released. Best games. Everything about it was amazing. Ahh well.

 

[gamerk2]

I would like to see a return to the SNES and N64 strategy: a contemporary console with a full library of games. I understand their desire to be family-oriented, but that approach is what allowed MS to get a foothold with the Xbox.

If they don't bring a serious contender like that to the battle, Sony is going to be the only show in town down the road.

The N64 didn't have that big a library, and really, outside of Rare, third parry support was a barren wasteland.

Nintendo, frankly, has burned it's bridges by how quickly it abandoned the Wii U. This is just too similar to the Saturn-Dreamcast, and likely ends the same way. No one really cares about Nintendo consoles anymore, it's just the games. Nintendo should just third party and leave hardware development at this point.

 

[stewi0001]

I would like to see a return to the SNES and N64 strategy: a contemporary console with a full library of games. I understand their desire to be family-oriented, but that approach is what allowed MS to get a foothold with the Xbox.

If they don't bring a serious contender like that to the battle, Sony is going to be the only show in town down the road.

The N64 didn't have that big a library, and really, outside of Rare, third parry support was a barren wasteland.

Nintendo, frankly, has burned it's bridges by how quickly it abandoned the Wii U. This is just too similar to the Saturn-Dreamcast, and likely ends the same way. No one really cares about Nintendo consoles anymore, it's just the games. Nintendo should just third party and leave hardware development at this point.

I pretty much agree with you. Although Nintendo said, in the past, that they never would leave the console development. Really they only thing that has kept them alive is their hand handle line.

 

[davislane1]

The N64 didn't have that big a library, and really, outside of Rare, third parry support was a barren wasteland.

Hence "full"'and not "large". PS1 and SNES both had a much deeper rosters, but N64 still had enough products in its library to offer something to everyone. GC, Wii, Wii U deviated from that sharply.

Rare was their money maker. But unlike subsequent platforms, you weren't stuck with Mario and Zelda, figuratively speaking.

 

[Mandark]

If Wii-U isn't selling, and this won't be compatible with old stuff, I can't see people flocking to it. Also, I HATE THE CONTROL SCHEME for Wii. Waggle can go #@@! off. I don't want unique, useless junk. If it's not better than XBONE or PS4, forget it. Go home Nintendo. spit up your cash and go away.

 

[Adhmuz]

"Translation - the NX probably won't be backward compatible with the Wii or Wii U."

That's a bold assumption to be making this early in on, they've only just announced the thing, wait till they come out and admit it won't be backwards compatible, the Wii and Wii U aren't power houses of machines, how hard could it be to emulate them with superior hardware and processing power.

It would have been nice to see some new young blood take over Nintendo and push change for the better, I'm afraid Kimishima is going to keep Nintendo on the same path to oblivion if they don't allow third party development or start some new IPs to bring in new players. I'm sorry, but relying on Mario and Zelda as your main bread makers is absolutely ridiculous, they don't have the same impact as they use to and most people I talk to who are fans prefer the older games and shun a lot of the new stuff being released. I understand Nintendo wants to keep it a family oriented system but by doing so they're alienating a huge market share and loosing a lot of potential revenue which in turn would allow them to develop a decent console for once.

Perhaps the uniqueness they're talking about is going to be VR, jumping on that bandwagon seems like the only thing that could potentially impact sales positively. This could finally be the make or break point for Nintendo, it would be sad to see them go the way of Saga.

 

[risc32]

I wasn't sad to see sega leave the hardware market. I bought a game gear, I bought a genesis, I bought a sega cd, I bought a 32x. good riddance, I say. besides, the saturn's controllers had the worst cable attachment point ever. I have a Wii and other than it being underpowered I don't see what's wrong with it. The wi U, I like most don't even know what that is. is it a companion tablet for the wii, does it replace the wii, just what the heck is it? anyway give the wii some muscle, HD output, offer a wider range of games, and I'd be good with that. also, why is it that the nintendo consoles get so few leading title games like a "mario"? weren't there 3 mario games for the nes, but then we were only getting like one per generation. I like playing games, not buying consoles. I had an N64, but I remember at the the launch they said how the very hardware of the system was deigned around the mario game. I thought, that's pretty short sighted. well, not if you are just going to one and done the thing anyway...

 

[J spot]

I grew up with Ninteno and Sega. I was pretty sad to see Sega exit the hardware arena and disappointed with Nintendo restoring to lame gimmicks in the past few console generations. I have a feeling "unique and different" is just code for "underpowered with new gimmicks" this time around too. Nintendo is sitting on a good amount of cash thanks to the success of the Wii, but this next generation is probably the last chance they'll have. If this NX thing flops, that will probably be it for them too. If they're smart, they'll move to a full x86 architecture like Sony and MS did, or perhaps ARM instead. Anything else and they're almost guaranteed to fade into oblivion.

Nintendo has so much money that they can flop for the next 5 generations. Also, it would kind suck to just have another system that's is just a more powerful version than a previous generation. I love the gamepad.

 

[treetops]

Back to cartridges!

 

[charlesdjones1]

Glad Nintendo continues to innovate, if it weren't for that innovative spirit Msoft nor Sony wouldn't be what they are as game console makers. Got a bunch of pansies today crying over graphics who only care about the next lame fps.