Nintendo plans to gain back its lost footing in the gaming console market with the Nintendo NX. However, the Japanese multinational consumer electronics company has been eerily mum on any significant development on the unit as fans wait for more news about it.
Nintendo was once the name to beat when it comes to gaming a few decades ago.
Those days could return with the possible release of the Nintendo NX, which is speculated for release early next year.
Hopefully, more news will be available soon since everyone is eagerly waiting for the company's next move. Perhaps word will come at the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2015?
EEDAR video game analyst Kyle Lemmon believes the existence of the Nintendo NX is a tacit admission that the Wii U continues to underperform and won't have a long shelf life. This is despite the fact that Nintendo has said that it will continue its support for Wii U as well as 3DS.
Nintendo's current gaming console is the 2012-relased Wii U, which sold 10 million units so far. It is the lowest figure in comparison to that of competitors'. Some even go so far as to say that it was the release of the Legend of Zelda which helped boost sales. However, Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros U appear to be doing well in terms of following and response.
Possibly contributing to what some consider as a lackluster market performance, is the unit's specs. The Nintendo Wii U has an IBM Power-based multi-core CPU and an AMD Radeon 700 GPU with 2GB RAM (1GB of which is dedicated for games). It is capable of a 1080p Full HD output.
Nintendo revealed back in March during a press conference the existence of a work-in-progress next-generation console system, which they referred to as the Nintendo NX.
"As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business, let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand-new concept under the development codename 'NX'. It is too early to elaborate on the details of this project," Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said.
"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," he added.
Although not too many details were revealed, additional information about the existence and even the build of the Nintendo NX was the fact that chipset and processor manufacturer AMD said recently that the company was working on a design for a "next-generation console scheduled to be released in 2016."
While it is no assurance of the Nintendo NX's development, many have considered it to be a positive sign.
The NX will utilize "new membership service that encompasses smart devices and dedicated videogame systems". This includes upcoming smartphone and tablet games jointly developed with DeNA, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS family and PCs.
Time will tell if the Nintendo NX can bring back the glory days of Nintendo and get their marbles back together.
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