Now We Know –For Kinda Sorta Sure– What The Hell’s Going On With Nintendo NX

Oh, Nintendo. These family friendly effers have a reputation for forging their own path, for ignoring trends and just steaming ahead with whatever nutty idea they’ve come up with. I imagine their boardroom meetings being like a good ol’ heavy drinking session at a stag night, where one of your buddies suddenly bellows "LET’S GO POTHOLING IN CAMBODIA!" or something, everyone agrees this is the best idea anyone’s ever had, and you all barrel onto a minibus right then and there.  

They have themselves a reputation for the batshit, is what I’m getting at here. A handheld system with two screens, one of which was touchtastic? What the hell was that? It was the world-conquering DS, is what it was, but at the time it sounded ridiculous. The Wii? The Virtual Boy? ROB the goddamn Robot? Analog sticks? L-targeting? These guys have brought us to some strange, brilliant places over the years.

The Wii U was a misfire, true enough, but all eyes at the moment are on Nintendo’s next console project, codenamed NX. There’s been a lot of speculation flying around, and just about anything’s been fair game. After all, from Nintendo, nothing short of a VR-based system you insert in your butt enema-style would surprise us any more.

There have been rumors, fakes and mock-ups, but apparently Eurogamer finally have some cold hard facts to share about the console. A handheld/home console hybrid with detachable controllers? Why the hell not?

Here’s the skinny, according to ‘a number of sources’:

'On the move, NX will function as a high-powered handheld console with its own display. So far so normal - but here's the twist: we've heard the screen is bookended by two controller sections on either side, which can be attached or detached as required. Then, when you get home, the system can connect to your TV for gaming on the big screen. A base unit, or dock station, is used to connect the brain of the NX - within the controller - to display on your TV.'

Well, huh. Elsewhere, we’re told that Nintendo have come up with their own OS for the console, and that it’ll use chunky-ass cartridges like the game systems of yore. Interesting stuff, and we'd expect nothing less. Give the full report an ogle for yourself back at Eurogamer.