Topic: What if Iwata Wasn't Lying About Project NX?

Remember when dear, departed-to-soon Iwata was quoted to say the NX wasn't a simple replacement of Wii U and 3DS? And then everyone seemed to respond by saying that's just a lie Nintendo tells every so often about hardware in planning, GBA...DS...yadda, yadda... But what if that statement was absolutely true and this project NX is not a simple reacement of existing hardware? I've seen few discussions about NX that account for that being a reality.

One thought is if it's not a lie then looking at hardware cycle trends, i.e. reveal - launch, doesnt necessarily apply to NX. Therefore, it could release any day next year as it would be something extra to the traditional console/portable offering

If for, whatever reason, it is a "third pillar" that they actually WILL treat as its own separate thing, then I worry for them. They can barely support 2 consoles sufficiently. Adding in a 3rd and trying to support all 3 without 3rd party support would just spread them even thinner than they already are.

But of course, that's probably not going to be the case. Either the 3DS or the Wii U will be dumped for the NX. I'd bet money on it.

I think people read into that quote way too much. If you quote the whole thing in context:

The way I understood it in this paragraph he's simply saying:
1. It's still early days and they only announced it to tell investors they're not "going third party"
2. They're not ready to actually tell us what it is or when it'll come out
3. His only "hint" about it is that it's a "brand new concept"

So when he said it wasn't simply a "replacement" and before I read the speculation about it? I took it to mean that it wasn't going to be just a spec upgrade. That it wouldn't be a simple replacement for 3DS or Wii U in the same way that the Wii U wasn't just a Wii with HD visuals. Or how the Wii wasn't just a higher spec Gamecube. Or even the 3DS which tried to push 3D gaming. In contrast to the PS4 which is "simply a replacement" for the PS3. Why do I think that's what he meant by it? Well for a start because that's litterally what he said... but also because Iwata has always said that and Nintendo always did that while he was CEO.

@skywake: so what you're saying is that NX should certainly be successor hardware like any system before it, but Nintendo has come up with a way of saying they've shifted internal support to a new platform without "simply" saying it?

No, I'm saying that Nintendo doesn't create successors that are "simply replacements" to their existing platforms. They come up with new concepts. The Wii wasn't just a replacement for the Gamecube, the Wii also introduced motion controls. Miyamoto said a similar thing before the Wii U was announced. From memory he was asked when Nintendo would release a HD console and he responded by saying that HD alone wasn't enough, that their next console would have to be a brand new concept.

Like it or not they've been saying this for a while about all of their platforms. They even said it about the Wii U. Read what he said again. He didn't say that the NX will not replace the Wii U or 3DS. He said "we do not intend it to become a simple replacement". He didn't accidentally say "simple" especially after he had just finished saying that it would be a brand new concept. And if he meant to say that it wasn't going to replace either he wouldn't have qualified it by saying "simple". What he said was more along the lines of saying that not only will it replace one of them but it'll also be more than just that.

edit:
When Boromir said "One does not simply walk into Mordor" he wasn't saying that you can't do it. Not directly anyways. He was saying that getting to Mordor involves more than just stepping through the front gate. That if going to Mordor is the goal they need a damn good plan. That it's not "lets walk into Mordor" it's more "lets walk*** into Mordor". Iwata is saying a similar thing. He's not saying "the NX will replace the Wii U or 3DS", he's saying "the NX will replace*** the Wii U or 3DS"

Okay, I'm out of the loop a little. What is the NX supposed to be or going to be?

At this point I've thrown out the word 'replacement' and, like I said above, I've chosen a much more time-honored word as far as Nintendo products go: 'successor'. But I figure the company's PR speak would want to avoid that word too, pre-launch because like 'replacement', 'successor' might suggest carry-over as well. I understand what you're saying with new concepts that differentiate enough so that one could say the new product is no simple replacement, but I think that's just the marketing of the thing. As far as the consecutive-console-buying consumer's prime spot in the entertainment center is concerned, it's a replacement. Especially in the case of backwards compatibility like with the Wii and Wii U, there was no need to keep out the GCN and Wii if you didn't want to. In fact, Iwata said in another quote that he hoped for new hardware to absorb Wii U architecture. If that also comes to pass, marketing the new feature aside, the system can roughly or smoothly be considered by the consumer as a replacement, as far as their intents and purposes are concerned.

edit:
I accept Iwata's hype-version of replacement as per Boromir

Despite what people will tell you, no-one knows

Well, as we've established, per Iwata, it's going to be hype. Need we know any more?

Let me rephrase a little with what Iwata might alternatively be saying, 'simple un-replacement' jazz aside. What do we think of this future Nintendo hardware range: NX / Wii U successor / 3DS successor

Not impossible even if you're inclined to fire a sentence starting with "Not in all Nintendo's 126 years..."

It will be a replacement, for both current consoles.... They can barely support them at the moment, how so you think it will be possible to develop software for 3 of them?

It could be a stand alone Gamepad for Wii U, that can play the DS family of games as a portable and act as an extra controller for Wii U software in the future. That way it will be a similar power to Wii U. It will be what some misguided folk thought the Wii U was, an optional add on.
They'll predict 20 mil sales based on the 10 million Wii U owners buying one so they can play the newer games that support multi screen Asymmetric multiplayer. Maybe a port of Evolve as a launch title? the machine is still a perfect fit for it. Also Zombi 2 with the full 4 player Multiplayer they wanted.
Maybe we'll finally see the 'good' Wii U game ideas. For now it's just all rumour.

Again, I don't think he's at all saying that it won't be a replacement. I'm fairly sure he's saying that it will be a replacement for either the Wii U or the 3DS. When I first read the quote I assumed he was saying that it was more than just a replacement.

That is also why they've got DS software running on Wii U and the ability to change how the screens are displayed in a wide variety of ways. It will ship with a dongle to plug into TV's when your at home for dual Big screen play, an therefore tap into the hugely successful DS library, acting as a portable outside the house and a traditional home console indoors. This coupled with being able to play multiplayer with DS and 3DS owners (compatible with the same software). If it gets a similar power as Wii U it can facilitate those games too by transmitting the main screen image when at home, and playing in gamepad only mode when outdoors.
It isn't what I want personally, however it makes perfect sense, because it'll be cheap for Nintendo, supports and reinforces their current products and has 'the best of both worlds' kind of vibe( it doesn't throw away all the emulation work they've done in the past 4 years away either).
I doubt it'll be the hardcore PS4 esque games machine people are hoping for, that space has been lost to Nintendo, it's better they go a different way and have another side console 'everyone' can enjoy. At least with the product above it'll launch with a bucket load of games, day one.

This could be another reason why Nintendo are Unifying accounts, you enter your NNID on the new Gamepad and voila, you have access to all your downloaded, Wii, DS, 3DS, Wii U games. You can transfer these to High capacity SD cards (64Gig an up, they are still cheap). They will likely try and implement a cloud save system, so you can upload saves to your NNID account, an download the saves as an when needed depending on the machine your using.

I can be down with this but I side with skywake. I think people are reading into it too much.

If it does end up having a different CPU arch, the Wii U would need to be supported for quite a whle

Lol don't listen to the angry man - nobody knows what it is, but nobody is pretending to know what it is, either. We're just having fun thinking of what it COULD be. Some people seem to find that annoying, though. Yet they insist on hanging out in forums titled "NX."

A question was asked, a question was answered, however there ARE people around here telling us what it is. Okay so the NX is probably a device you get implanted into your chest that shoots lazors and gives out money. Anyone who tries to disprove this idea is a killjoy!

I am going to drop my idea of a micro-console in favor of this.