Nintendo NX Is Xbox One Crossed With Android And 2DS

Nintendo has been crazy secretive about their newest console, the Nintendo NX. From what we know, Nintendo will be releasing information, finally, about the Nintendo NX this coming E3 2016, or some big gaming conference sometime this year. But for a huge console like the Nintendo NX to stay mum about the device this close to its release date, we wonder, is it really worth it?

In fact, we would understand if Nintendo kept the information from the prying eyes of the consumers. But to keep it so painfully difficult for devs who are supposed to be making games for the device, then that’s another story.

Earlier this week, GameSpot highlights the frustrations of the chief executive of Moon Studios, Thomas Mahler, regarding the Nintendo NX. Moon Studios is the developer behind the very fresh Ori and the Blind Forest, and Mahler is the director of the aforementioned game.

Ori and the Blind Forest was very well received by the gaming community when it was released in 2015, and it seems the Nintendo NX eyed Moon Studios, too, to produce a game for the upcoming console. However, like what happened with Unravel’s developer, Coldwood Interactive, Nintendo won’t show or even reveal what the devs should be building for.

Coldwood Interactive’s Martin Sahlin, when asked about the Nintendo NX, reveals that he has been approached by Nintendo about making a game. But until now, he remains as clueless about the NX like everyone else.

“[Nintendo] wanted me to pitch something for the NX, and then he could tell me more about what it was. But basically, it’s kind of hard to pitch something when you don’t even know what it is!”

Mahler did not find the matter as trivial as Sahlin did, and posted at the NeoGAF forums his thoughts on the Nintendo NX.

“This is actually the singlest most annoying thing for every dev out there. We also talked to Nintendo and got absolutely nothing — I’ll never understand that… It’s not even that the hardware isn’t finished (duh), but you could at least give me the g*****n specs, so we’d know what to build shit for! What’s needed to sell hardware is g******n good software. With Nintendo not having any devkits out there at this point and probably even wanting to sell it in 2016, I can already guarantee that they’ll just not have any software support, since nobody can just jumble games together in less than a year. I mean, you can, but it’ll be garbage.”

While Nintendo’s annoying secrecy about the Nintendo NX continues to befuddle gamers and irritate devs, there are still people who find ways to leak information about the Nintendo NX. Dual Pixels’ source, Geno, who is a rather credible leak source based on his track record, is once again bringing gaming news — and this time, it’s leaks about the Nintendo NX.

Here is a summary of the information Geno revealed about the Nintendo NX.

1. The Nintendo NX will have a wireless HDMI dongle that attaches flush to the back of the device, which can then be connected to an HDMI output.
2. The analog controls for movement has small motors in them for full haptic feedback to simulate running head first into walls or for firing guns.
3. It can literally Bluetooth sync with everything, especially smart phone and tablets to the point where one feature is that it can answer phone calls and display text messages from your phone onto the screens itself so you don’t have to stop and answer your smart device.
4. The closest in terms of “power” it gets to is the Xbox One, but an app idea is Wii U x50 and Playstation Vita x100. The key is that all the tech is exactly the same hardware layout as the PS4 and Xbox One which then combine it with the OS’s strong emulation functions and compiler means that any game that can run off a Playstation 4 or Xbox One can easily run on the NX with near-zero modification to the original source code, especially if it runs in Android OS or Unreal Engine 4.
5. Social features of the Nintendo NX is hugely similar to the Pokemon GO’s.
6. Visually and functionally, the Nintendo NX is described by devs as if Samsung and the Nintendo 2DS had a baby.
7. Nintendo NX will run on NintendOS, which is very similar to Android, but aims to create an ecosystem, much like Windows 10.

With regards to the secrecy of Nintendo towards devs, we turn to Geno’s claim that Nintendo NX will have the same hardware layout as the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4. It seems Nintendo NX is confident that devs who have created games for the newest consoles will not find it hard at all to develop for the new Nintendo NX since it’s basically just a better-dressed Xbox One.

While Geno’s claims could be true, given his hits on Pokemon and Microsoft, we just have to wait and see for ourselves what the Nintendo NX really is come E3 2016.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]