There's a new rumor about the console Nintendo doesn't want to talk about until next year. The latest report, from an alleged insider, purports to expound on what the game maker has already teased.
Nintendo's next console, codenamed NX, will chain several pieces of hardware into an ecosystem with conditions favorable to cross play.
Nintendo shot down reports of Android adoption, but the company has yet to dismiss rumors asserting that its upcoming NX console will forego an optical drive in favor of flash storage.
What made the rumors about an Android NX intriguing were remarks from Nintendo asserting that its next console will be more than a console. It'll be a platform, the company said.
Now, an alleged insider, bound by a non-disclosure agreement with Nintendo, says the company is targeting a console that will pack power comparable to a PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Please note the keywords "clickbait" and "speskullations" in the source link. The company will offer its most robust experience on the Xbox-like NX, but the version of games will run on other hardware and support cross play.
Potentially, some PC and tablet players could compete against or team up with gamers on Nintendo hardware. Still, Nintendo hasn't confirmed cross play, so it's unclear just how widely the company intends to support cross-platform play.
Nintendo said it doesn't want to talk about the NX until next year, but it laid the framework, however rudimentary, for the type of ecosystem it would like to build. Cross-platform experiences will be a core element of Nintendo NX.
At the beginning of this year, the late Satoru Iwata, former president of Nintendo, tipped the company's hand as he detailed a deal to bring the game maker's popular IPs to smartphones and tablets.
Iwata announced that Nintendo intends to create a new membership service, broader than Club Nintendo, which extends to mobile devices, PCs, legacy hardware and "the new hardware system with a brand-new concept, NX."
"Unlike the Club Nintendo membership service that Nintendo has been operating, the new membership service will include multiple devices and create a connection between Nintendo and each individual consumer regardless of the device the consumer uses," said Iwata. "This membership will form one of the core elements of the new Nintendo platform that I just mentioned."
