Topic: Successor to the 3ds?

According to wiiudaily nintendo confirmed there will be a successor to the 3ds.

Does that make any sense in light of the switch reveal?

Could this be in regard to dual screen gaming?

I assume this is the article you are talking about? Anyway, here's the original source: http://www.famitsu.com/news/201610/21118771.html and it doesn't seem to mention a 3DS successor anywhere. They talk a bit about whether it's a successor to the Wii U or 3DS, Nintendo calls it neither, but also calls it a ''home console'', there's a bit about what comes in the retail box and a whole bunch of ''please understand, more details will follow''.

The Switch is most likely the successor to both 3DS and Wii U. I highly doubt there'd be another handheld announced, it'd sort of defeat the purpose.

The Switch is Nintendo's Universal Platform. It is simpler this way for them and for us. Unless it backfires and goes down in flames, there is no way Nintendo will want to maintain two separate platforms any more.

Would seem weird for the switch to be the 3ds successor, the DS family always had a reliance on duel screen in order for their games to work. Most Wii U title could've been played without the screen and just the controls.

I doubt the NX will cancel out another handheld system. Something has to be able to run 3ds games and the NX isn't even backwards compatible.

@MegaBeedrill Why do you think you're getting backward compatibility with 3DS on anything past current gen? It's not a given fact.
There are plenty of 3DS, 2DS and New 3DS systems to choose from to play those games.

@Samurai_Goroh

DS offerered GBA backwards compatibility
Wii U offered Wii backwards compatibility
3DS offered DS backwards compatibility

Switch doesn't seem to support wii u games but the wii u had a very specific mechanic that didn't work, it would be like making something backward compatible for virtual boy.

The 3ds successor not having backwards compatibility for 3ds doesn't have an excuse if the one gimmick, 3D, has been proven to be left behind with the 2DS. The switch not being able to support the 3DS and being the successor for it doesn't sound logical.

The massive line of 3DS consoles doesn't substitute anything unless nintendo plans on making 3ds games for the next ten years.

The Switch likely has a different system architecture from Wii U and 3DS, it pretty much has to to get the third party support it needs.

The main thing I'd be wondering about with the Nintendo Switch is how hot it gets. It's obviously going to be more powerful than the 3DS but if it gets as hot as actual game consoles which aren't meant to be held, that could make it an uncomfortable device to hold. Unless of course... It's well cooled or underpowered.

@AstralPhaser
Numbers for power consumption (and thefore heat/battery drain) from a variety of sources:
3DS: ~2W playing games
Shield Tablet: ~9W under simulated load, ~2W video playback (basically what the Switch is)
Wii U: ~35W playing games, ~30W video playback
PS4: ~140W playing games, ~90W video playback
XBOne: ~110W playing games, ~70W video playback

Interesting, thanks for that @skywake

@Bolt_Strike The architecture isn't the problem with the 3DS. It's the lack of a second screen that's the main issue. And the lack of a 3DS cartridge slot.

The #1 argument for why the Switch is the successor to both the Wii U and the 3DS is that Nintendo have been talking for two years now about how hard it is to support two different platforms at once in the modern game industry. HD game development is expensive and they cannot afford to have their limited talent pool divided between two completely different platforms. This is why Nintendo and Sony are both giving up on having separate home and handheld systems.

Having said that, the Switch is rather big for a portable game machine so I have no doubt that there will eventually be another form factor that is smaller and aimed more at kids and dedicated handheld fans. It will have a smaller screen and longer battery life but will still play the same games and still be able to output to a TV.

I agree that despite what Nintendo says at the moment - the Switch looks like it will act as the 3DS' successor. But i do have a question for those of you who know more about the industry than me (I'm an extremely casual gamer at the moment):

The 3DS is the first generation that I've pretty much only bought digitally - I love having a back-catalogue of old virtual-console favourites in my pocket at any time I want to give them a spin. I realise that it isn't common practice for companies to offer unified accounts where you can transfer your data - but if I'm not able to (at least to the same degree as the Wii>WiiU) then I'll be pretty bummed out.

There are two issues here:

I don't like owning old consoles (I know I'm in the minority here) - but if I don't use something habitually, then I don't like to keep it. I'm the same with everything really - and it's just personal preference. So if Super Mario Bros is available on the Switch (which no doubt it will be eventually) - I don't want to have to go and dig out an old console when i could be playing it all on the one system.

Now, if the Switch was announced as the successor to the 3DS then fans would obviously be more vocal about wanting some form of transferability - my concern is because this succession is being done with no acknowledgement - then Nintendo will almost certainly not offer any sort of system to 'switch' things over - as they won't want their new console to seem like a replacement for the portable that they're still selling.

Sorry for the long post - but am I expecting far too much from a unified account system that can work across systems? I don't see why this isn't a thing yet. Surely Nintendo should want to create and foster a 'culture' of Nintendo gaming that has continual easy access to its really rich and impressive history.

If it offers that then I'll buy it day one.

I think the Switch will be the sucessor to the 3DS. If it isn't, then why would Nintendo unify their development teams? There isn't a team dedicated to handheld development anymore, and that doesn't speak well of the chances of a new handheld.
Support will be for the Switch, to avoid the droughts that the Wii U had. the 3DS was just caught in the crossfire.

i think their successor to 3ds will be mobile games on ios and android.

Remember ds?

It was a third pillar. Game boy was never gonna go away.

Watch the switch sell and 3ds fade into oblivion.

Depending on Switch pricing, and assuming it will launch and hold a price around $300, I strongly suspect Nintendo will release a cheaper device within about 2 years of the Switch, and that prioritises portable gaming, otherwise many younger consumers could get priced out of Nintendo.

But the new portable will likely be much closer to Switch in architecture and OS so that porting games from one device to the other will be far more straight forward for them than it has been with the Wii and DS lines.