Report: Nintendo NX is a tablet with detachable controllers
Eurogamer sources say the NX is a portable game console with an NVIDIA Tegra chip.
Remember those early reports that described Nintendo's next game console as a TV / portable hybrid device? According to Eurogamer, they were right on the nose. Eurogamer sources claim that the Nintendo NX is a handheld game console with detachable controllers, a TV base station and NVIDIA Tegra graphics. In other words, it sounds like a standalone Wii U gamepad dialed up to 11.
Specifically, Eurogamer describes the NX as a powerful, portable game console with its own display and detachable controllers on either side -- sort of like a mix between the Wii U gamepad and Razer's defunct Edge tablet. The detached controllers can apparently be used for multiplayer gaming (one side for each player) or possibly discarded for a more touch-focused tablet experience.
At home, users will be able to plug the device into a docking station and play games on the big screen, but the outlet's sources say the console will be marketed with the hook of "being able to take your games with you on the go," basically unifying Nintendo's home and portable markets with one device.
If true, however, the report reveals that Nintendo may, once again, be bringing a last-gen console to a current-gen market. Eurogamer's sources say that Nintendo is sacrificing power for portability, claiming that development kits use the NVIDIA Shield TV's Tegra X1. NVIDIA's mobile super-chip certainly isn't a slouch when it comes to power -- but it's not going to be able to keep pace with the PlayStation 4 Neo, either.
We're taking the report with a side of sodium -- but the console Eurogamer describes does sound familiar. The proposed portable meshes well with previous rumors and Nintendo patents that describe a console capable of using supplementary processors. It also echos reports that the NX would favor game cartridges over discs, and re-confirms Nintendo's own claims that the device won't be running Android, despite its mobile GPU.
Nintendo says it can't respond to "rumors and speculation," as usual -- but Eurogamer claims we'll know more in September, when sources say the NX will be officially revealed to the public. We're looking forward to it.