Topic: If the NX IS a console/handheld hybrid do you think people will bother using it on their TV?

You know, I like the whole hybrid (a handheld that can function as a home console, possibly by projecting the image onto your TV using an HDMI dongle or microconsole) idea. It's exciting, and something Nintendo sorta has experience with (the Wii U, GBA/GC link system, and the gameboy player for GC) It makes some sense considering the Japanese market's preference for mobile gaming and it could also lead to getting the 3rd party support that the 3DS enjoys.

Admittedly, there are some issues with this idea though.

First of all.. do you think people would just end up using it as a handheld and mostly ignoring its functionality as a home console?
How about local co-op? Which I think is one of Nintendo's strengths. If they released controllers that would sync up to microconsole/hdmi dongle or stick, would people invest in them so they could play with family and friends? Or would that just be ultimately undermined by the console's design?

I don't know if people would ignore it's ability to link to the TV, but it wouldn't compete in the home console space any more than the iPhone or iPad competes in the home console space.

So people may occasionally play on the TV, but they will likely stick with the handheld for most experiences, and go to a real console when they want that kind of experience.

A hybrid would be a pretty average home console. Likely less impressive than the Wii U in terms of specs. So yeah, I'm almost 100% certain that most people would ignore the "TV" functions entirely. Which is why I think the whole idea is broken. When people say "hybrid" basically what they're talking about is a portable.

Thinking of the disaster that was the PlayStation Vita TV....shudder.

True. But the TV could have an extended element to it with its own processing power. That would make it a modular hybrid thing and would actually work. I must admit hardware agnostic devices seem more likely though. If the software on every form factor is the same and people just buy the form factor they like out of a multitude of options ranging from portable to tv hookup, all of a sudden everybody is right.

Cross device play will increase sales a lot in that case.

Sega Nomad.

But just think of all the commercially successful micro-consoles in the past, guys!

Well, that's even less likely I'd argue. A portable device that you can plug into your TV, while kinda pointless, is at least something that's feasible. The docking idea? Well it has been done but it's even less practical. The one laptop on the market ATM that has a docking station for a desktop graphics card? It costs as much as a decent laptop and an equivalent gaming PC separately.

I could see them making it so that the portable becomes the equivalent of the GamePad. As an optional thing just for off-TV play that also plays their portable games. But beyond that I don't see how this idea could work. It's far more practical and cheaper to have them as their own separate thing.

If it works like the aienware graphic accelerators then yes people would use it on their tv. Being a hybrid doesnt just mean outputting to a tv. Think attaching it to a docking station which then lets you use different controllers and increases the power of the system by having a much better apu or even seperate gpu/cpu. Games will basically work like pc games where you can change the settings..so when its in handheld mode it lowers the resolution and texture quality and such. Then when its attached to the docking station it increases everything.

Doing the hybrid any other way means the system wont be close to the xbone or ps4. But who knows, maybe nintendo is fine with this. At this point I think everyone has to agree nintendo has to make a hybrid system or give up the handheld or the home console market. They just cant do both without huge 3rd party support. And 3rd party support isnt coming back.

@jasonbrr: The problem with those "docking" solutions, ignoring the cost and clunky nature of the thing, is that you need a powerful enough base system. If it was to work the portable would need the CPU horsepower and enough RAM to drive the external GPU. You'd presumably also need to have the optical drive on the "base station" right? Probably also a HDD. And I guess the portable would need some flash to store its games. Also the screens, probably a smaller GPU for the portable gaming stuffs....

See what I'm getting at? I mean it sounds nice in theory but then you actually think about it. Basically you're talking about two entirely different systems anyway. Why not just keep them as two entirely different systems?

@skywake: well yeah, a dock of that nature would be stupid, even plugging the potrable into the TV via cables is a bad idea. Only way a TV/handheld will work is if it connects your handheld wirelessly like a chrom cast dongle, but if it were just that it wouldn't be a hybrid. It would need to be a box thet connects multiple devices allowing shared gameplay from one game cartrage as well as a host of other features.
Having a game controler fora console that can play mobile games by itself is also a neat idea but it would be like buying both the WiiU and a 3DS and using the 3Ds as a controller. It would just cost too much to be feasible.

Lol no docking is necessary, the system that provides extra power is already plugged in. Forget concepts we have today.

Oh well, there's a catch to everything.

Except the reason those solutions dock in the way they do is because of the bandwidth you get out of it. We're talking 10Gbps+, easily, the laptop I was talking about had an interface that was in the 100Gbps+ range. If you think that it'll somehow work like the Wii U GamePad? That's even more far fetched. Even on a good day with wireless we're talking maybe 500Mbps, more likely somewhere around 200-300Mbps. Not even in the same state as the ballpark.

I mean you can render a scene and then send it to the portable. You could even set it up so it renders part of the scene or just simply takes over when you get in range. Playing the same games but at a higher spec. But at that point you've created two separate consoles again. I don't see how it can work.

As I've said a few times, the only way a hybrid could work would be if the portable was the spec. And if that was the case then I don't see it as being a particularly good home console. Simple as that. I mean maybe they'll prove me wrong but I doubt it because I can't see them getting over the technical hurdles. But sure, maybe there's some crazy way of doing it nobody has even thought of yet. But if that's the basis of the theory? I'm not buying it.

Honestly the only way a hybrid could work in my opinion is if they create two new consoles and try to improve what sony did with the vita/ps4

Isn't it becoming more and more obvious that Nintendo can barely fully support 2 platforms?! We should just focus on one!

That's the really cool thing about unifying the architecture and/or OS though. You can have one system that supports multiple form factors, like Android or iOS. Apple doesn't "support" both the iPhone and iPad, per se. They support iOS, which runs on both iPhone and iPad, and thus any apps or games that works on one will work on the other, provided that the specs are good enough.

I don't know if this is directly applicable to Nintendo's design philosophy, but it's an interesting thought. I would love to see Nintendo design an interface that scales and runs on whatever form factor the end user prefers, with software compatible with all. Handheld? Yes. Home console? Yes. Some 3rd thing that we haven't thought of? Why not?

In other words, there's no reason that Wonderful 101 had to fail just because it's on a console that failed. If Nintendo was able to sell software to its entire userbase, not just the portion gated behind one particular piece of hardware, games have a much higher chance of being successful. Even a bomb like Wonderful 101 could have been successful if it was available to Nintendo's combined user base of 65 million instead of just the 10 million user base of Wii U.

(Wonderful 101 wouldn't run on 3DS hardware, but a game like it should run just fine on Nintendo's next gen handheld)

Yeah no....

It depends on the game, if we want to play little puzzlers and pocket sized games then the hybrid will be used in handheld mode the same as we use our phones.
However, for instance lets say "Bayonetta 2", i really look forward to getting home and playing it on my big screen tv, so it depends on the game.
Although off screen play is good if my wife wants to watch stuff on tv!

What is the benefit of your hypothetical console over xbone/ps4/pc + mobile phone? To me it seems actually worse, since in your presumed console the base is worthless if the handheld is gone.

Skywake is right. Most if not all of the processing power must be in the handheld part to get it to work as people seems to want it to work. Sure, you could have a beefier gpu in the "base", but then you also need to have both low and high res art/sound in the game. Which means higher development costs and more disc space being used. It doesn't seem like a good plan.

Well sure, and I'm talking about it purely from a hardware point of view here. But at the end of the day they can't do it without the hardware so the hardware has to work. The solution to the problem of having two separate platforms can't work if it doesn't make sense as hardware. The way I see it a "hybrid console" is either a clunky and expensive accessory that should really be it's own system or just a clever way of saying that they're only going to make portables from now on.

If people think they should only make portables? Then that's fine, there's a good case to be made. And I'm one to kinda agree with that point of view even though I wouldn't really like it. But don't try to pretend such a device would be a "hybrid" that "bridges the gap". Because it won't.