What's
Bobby Mills-Thomas
NXT?
Nintendo are set to reveal their new
console, the NX, later this month. It's due
for release early next year - here's what
we know so far.
A hoax controller design released in march.
Image: Idriss2Dev
12
The legend of
zelda: Breath of
the Wild is coming
to Wii U and NX next
year
F
ew home consoles
in recent years have
been shrouded in as
much mystery as the
NX. Heralded as a
chance to redeem the
(sadly faltering) Wii U,
Nintendo’s latest was
officially
confirmed
as far back as March
2015; and yet here we
are, over a year later,
and we still know next
to nothing about the
device.
So let’s whittle it
down a bit. What do
we know for certain?
Well, for one, we do
know when it’s coming out – March 2017
– and this leaves us in
the rather unique position of quite possibly
entering pre-order territory before we even
get a proper look at the
console.
Indeed, it’s quite bizarre that we already
have a partial NX
launch line-up established before we’re
allowed to clap eyes
on the machine that’ll
run them, with such big
IPs as The Legend of
Zelda and Sonic the
Hedgehog confirmed
to be spearheading
from day one. It’ll remain to be seen, however, whether Zelda:
Breath of the Wild will
prove to be sufficient
impetus for consumers
to drop around £200
on the NX, since even
though it promises to
be one of the biggest
titles of 2017, it’s also
coming out on Wii U.
Much like the earlier
entry Twilight Princess,
which received both
GameCube and Wii
releases, this lack of
exclusivity may split
sales between the
platforms. The logic is
sound: why sink hundreds into a new sys-
will probably unveil
some more compelling
incentives to jump ship
later this year.
Secondly, we have
some idea of what
form the console will
take. It’s been restated
"with just over 6 months to go
before release, they’ve a lot of
ground to make up and past mistakes
to rectify"
tem with an uncertain
future when a used Wii
U can be picked up for
significantly less, and
can be used to play the
big blockbuster game
into the bargain?
Fans can at least
take solace in the fact
that it’s likely Nintendo
are aware of this and
time and time again,
and backed up by patent applications, that
the NX will be a handheld/home system hybrid – building on the
concept of the Wii U’s
GamePad – which, in
an industry dominated
by smartphone games,
seems an ideal path to
take.
According to president Tatsumi Kimishima, though, it’s “neither the successor to the
Wii U nor to the 3DS,"
which would suggest
an entirely fresh angle for the company
(as well as an indication that they don’t
intend to immediately
drop support for their
current-gen systems).
Kimishima’s
claims
carry the ring of truth
when one examines
the supposed design
for the console that has
recently emerged on
social media; strongly resembling an iPad
with two detachable
controllers stuck on either side, it’s certainly
unlike anything Nintendo have produced