Yesterday, Digitimes reported that Nintendo has pushed their NX manufacture back from the initial mid-2016 date. Their new console is now set to go into production in early 2017, which will be pushing their intended March release date. But why have Nintendo taken these extra few months to finalise plans? They argue it’s for virtual reality implementation.
Digitimes reported that the delays were in order to “enhance the game console’s video-game/handheld-game-integrated gaming experience” as well as add VR to the machine. So the NX is taking on the mobile market, the console market, and the VR market in what is feeling more and more like a desperate attempt to grab hold of any market share they can handle. Add to this the fact that they’ve already cut their number of units to be manufactured by half, and a struggle is beginning to emerge.
This all in one bundle can either turn out to be brilliant. Or we will see a jack of all trades emerging, the emphasis being that it’ll be master of none. It will be extremely difficult to develop games that take advantage of every aspect of this machine’s projected capabilities. Not only does this further lock anyone who doesn’t develop directly for Nintendo out of the NX’s title catalogue, but the games that will release for it will have to be sold at a much higher price. Nintendo is known for dancing around technologies that haven’t been looked at by the gaming industry yet. They foresaw a VR boom 20 years too early, exploded the motion gaming market with the Wii, and have released the only 3D console to be on the market. However here we see them scraping together everything everyone’s already doing, in an attempt to remain current. Where we used to see them in the front, with Sony and Microsoft picking up the trends in their wake, we now see them grabbing at the tails of their larger counterparts.
@MusingsTwit
Yes, there are so many rumours floating around that it’s difficult to say anything, I wish they would show it already…