I came up with this idea for a game in 2009, and this system seems like the perfect platform for it. So hopefully I can start working on it after I've got a solid knowledge of C++. It's like a dream console... It's definitely real, just Bob is a madman (and yes, he pretty much is in charge of making it), so it might never come out.

hmmm I kind of want this want to make games based off my animation series in the future and this would be my place to start.

@Jumbif
Aren't you 12? And you're already making games? Wow.

Ooooh. This product is interesting, just work on a better console design.

A handheld that's built only for digital distribution?

Hmm... where have I seen that before?

EDIT: So if this nD thing is a success, then I bet Apple, Sony, and Nintendo are going to scramble to make $20 competing systems right? Ha!

Given how old this thing is now, and still hasn't managed to secure an investor, I'm going to say that it's not going to happen.

Just looking at the website - this is what happens when an avid gamer and/ or passionate game developer fool themselves into thinking they have business sense. Even if I had a billion dollars I wouldn't through this guy a $100 note. He's less professional than my 4-year old niece.

I checked the site's forums, and they say the nD is still in prototype phase. They are planning on distributing it through their site, and later on they will branch out to retail distribution. It could happen, eventually.

"Prototype" means it isn't in production. The guy's website is plastered with "please finance me." It's been over a year in this state. In other words he hasn't got the money to make it himself, so he needs to find a business partner. Given how utterly amateur his website is, and how cheap and nasty the console looks (remember, it's going to compete with the freaking iPhone, Vita, iPad and 3DS), no venture capitalist is going to pull the wallet out for it.

If it happens it's a miracle, or the dude has found the one business partner in the world even more nuts, and even less business savy, than he is.

The one good idea he had was allowing indie developers to OEM it. That would have been a neat marketing point in the hands of someone competent.

Well, it looks like a cheap toy, and that's exactly what Bob's saying it is. So if it was going to really take off, it would probably be big for a couple months... plus it would be bought by those bizarre people called indie gamers. XD So it's actually not really competing with the main gaming systems.

What Bob really needs to do now is just update the site!! Although, as I've said on the forums, even though every sign is pointing to it disappearing, people like me who are obsessed with the console will keep on discussing it long past any reasonable point.

@HeroofWaffles Right now I'm just in the concept stages and art design, so I probably won't be done for at least a year or so, so no, not quite yet.

Parts of the ND sound cool - what if it did replace those Tiger electronics LCD games? I wonder if, for the price of those LCD games, one could make this gadget with a single game on it.

Obviously, it will never happen. Has anyone looked at the pledged titles? ( http://the-nd.com/games/ ) My favorite is forehead block guy. This, of course, is not to mention Bob's Game's steaming pileness. This guy doesn't realize that being a ~30 year old self taught programmer is hardly anything new, and that plenty of great games have been released by single programmers that don't reek of the immature sentiments of a bullied suburban kid. If his lame "game" were worth playing at all, it would have been released on any number of fairly indie-friendly channels by now. Heck, set up a website with a Paypal button on it if you're THAT confident in the quality of your game.

I have to admit, I have been intrigued by the idea of the ND much more than Bob's Game. I kinda wish that Yoyo games, the guys behind Game Maker, would release a device like this that interfaces with their Game Maker software. THAT I would buy in a heartbeat, $20 or $200.

@Jumbif have you ever tried Game Maker? I think you should give it a shot rather than attempting to start from scratch in C++. Obviously, C++ or C# or something like that is more flexible, but the hurdles you need to clear just to do simple things, like setting up the display or just saving data, are enormous. I started with Game Maker in November, and I am about a month from releasing my first build on an arena-based platformer with a functioning level editor at 60 fps on my netbook. Its not award winning by any means, but as a gaming enthusiast, it has been fascninating to try my hand at designing and programming without necessarily worrying about piles of technical mumbo-jumbo.

Yes I have, in fact, when I first started working with my current project, it was in Game Maker. All I had made was an intro (my friend made music, and I'm hoping that he'll do the same with this new version), though, and a very glitchy demo room. Development just felt kind of fake, manufactured, and overall too easy though, so I decided to start learning how to program, and then make the game. It would probably play better with Game Maker, as I'm kind of a sloppy programmer (I'm getting better though), and development would be faster and really everything would just be better, but I simply have a better time typing away in Dev-C++ than dragging and dropping tiles in Game Maker. Also I get better bragging rights.

@jumbif I started learning a more simple method of coding around your age. Its commonly called Ruby scripting. Its fairly easy to use and gave me the confidence to start learning C++. I now am pretty good at using C++ at age 16. Now Ruby isnt that popular, but i found it easy to grasp. if you want practice using it you could find some tutorials online. also there is a program called rpg maker xp/vx. They both use Ruby scripting for their more advanced features. Actually i'm not sure about VX, i only used it on XP. These RPG makers have the basic structure of Game Maker, but with the scripting tools you can get much more in depth. The program is limited with no scripting knowledge, but limitless if you know it. After i made my first full game using my scripting knowledge on it, and distributed it to my school i felt very accomplished. I saw how much they liked it and that i should continue with making games. Shortly after that i started learning C++. I am in no way ready to make a full game using C++, but im working towards it, and eventually it will become a reality.

Best of luck to you fellow game designer!

If it ever does land on the market, I'll be buying it day one! I love old school platformers and I'd love to have something like this.

Absolutely destined for failure. Cute but flawed in almost every aspect. The one vaguely interesting game is the (absurdly controversial) Bob's Game, the infamous author of which will rather quickly polarize people on whether they want to play a game made by that ADHD sulky lunatic. The rest are Game Maker/MMF2 vendor trash quality at best, going the full range of woeful Paint graphics, blatant copyright infringement, and "lets filter out everything in a game I like until I onl.... The majority of those games I'd honestly skip straight past the opportunity playing (for free) in my browser.

A wonderful start that's never going to improve - most likely it'll be promptly forgotten about by the game making community. Alternatively it'll be swamped with hundreds of similarly craptastic titles. You know why Steam works so well as a digital distribution platform? Because they don't let Just Anyone pile all their games onto the service. Just Anyone kills projects and distribution platforms. It's a cute kum-ba-yah logic that just doesn't work in the real world.

Would it be awesome if the likes of Cave Story, VVVVVV and so on were launched on it? Of course. Would it ever happen, realistically? Of course not.

I don't even find this interesting - again, if this guy had a decent game in his hands, it would've been on IOS or android by now. What IS interesting, though, are the statements he makes about, essentially, handheld GameBoys being so cheap that they are given away like watches or Game and Watch games.

The device itself basically seems like one of those handheld emulators (google the Dingoo) in terms of features and CPU strength. However, these are actually pretty expensive - usually around $80 on the cheap end. I actually have a Dingoo which I put a linux build on, and it's an interesting little device. I imagine with decent firmware that it could actually be impressive. Still, as amusing as it is to discuss, this gadget is a pipe dream.

Bob's back, apparently.
That's definitely a filtered livestream - he's been seen coming into the picture and sitting down at random times. Even if it's not, this is still an update on the site, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. In the nD forums some guy predicted a special event at 12/12/12 at 12:12, which makes sense.
Thoughts?