Exaclty, im not buying the whole rumour. But lets assume this leak is real.
1)
3 of the 4 leaked wii u remasters are internally developed at NCL. Did NCL ever leak stuff besides Nikkei? I guess not. Who would know that they are having problems porting Mario Maker and Splatoon? Most likely just a few people at NOA or NOE. Theres no way these guys dont know about the NX, probably not every single detail but definitely the concept behind the NX. Why is there no information about this concept? What are the exclusive games? What about the controller or the handheld?
It sounds more like "Emily said 4 Wii U Remasters, Zelda and Smash are already known, lets add Mario Maker and Splatoon because this makes the most sense, according to LCGeek the NX is powerful, lets say its stronger than PS4, NDA´s are tight, yeah seems obvious, it supports our leak".
2)
Mario Maker and Splatoon imply there´s probably a Wii-U like gamepad. I know its possible that these games can be played with a standard controller but it would require a lot of work and lose accessibility and intuitiveness.
A Wii U 2.0 gamepad has the same weaknesses at their last console. It would be expensive, probably low power and have little benefit. I like my Wii U and the gamepad but there are just a few great uses of this gamepad. Most first party games completely ignore it. Nintendo failed to implement the gamepad as a new way to play. But why would they make a more refined Wii U again? Its by far their biggest failure. They should move as far as possible away from this concept IMO.
3)
No Information about the handheld. According to this rumour Nintendo is doubling down their weak console business and neglect their strong handheld part. They sold 13 Million Wii U´s and 60 Million 3DS but they are focusing on their next console?! It just doesnt make any sense business wise. This sounds more like a huge gamble than a solid business plan i would expect from a multi billion company.
I have my doubs and remain skeptical. (Sorry for the bad english)
Good post. I agree with most of your points.
1/ We barely got anything on NX since Iwata's first statement during the DeNA deal and the following shareholders briefing. And suddenly what is leaking? Ubi? Indies? Nooo, the only thing we never get leaks about (except recent Nintendo Direct), the holy Nintendo 1st party games. Fakers often goes straight to the sweetest things like a she-wolf on lemon cakes.
2-3/ Interesting points because that's a thing I'm trying to figure out. Between specs and Smash/Zelda NX, people don't discuss the controller anymore since the 3D printed hoax.
The gamepad was a failure, however, we and Nintendo shouldn't make a wrong statement about that. Two screens gameplay proved to be a good thing since the DS.
But how does the handheld come into that picture? Maybe two screens gameplay will only be allowed through the handheld, leaving the default NX home SKU with a more "traditional", and cheaper controller.
That would make the second screen truly optional, as we have seen with the Wii U 3rd parties had hard time dealing with it even for the most basic things.
One last thing, think about the "new concept" if the library is in some extent *shared* and NX home able to stream games on the handheld. Or vice-versa? Who knows.
Great points in both of these posts. BTW, Akki, your English is very good, no need to apologize for it.
Just a couple things.
One, I've heard it bandied about that if they have shoulder wheels they could build a good interface for SMM without a touchscreen. However, I think a touchscreen is going to be tops for that. I do think a touchscreen whatever shape it takes may be likely to have a place in the primary controller for the NX. I don't think they'll release a SMM port that requires an optional expensive controller. Basically, and this part is kind of in reply to Jackano, if the screen controller, be it secondary optional and/or optional handheld usage as a controller, is not packed in, I am skeptical they'd bother with SMM for the system unless they have an innovative and intuitive control screen that doesn't require one. I'm struggling to imagine that for grid-based level design, though.
Second, just FWIW, Akki, while I agree with you that the etiology of the rumors is questionable, Emily Rogers did tweet that those are the four Wii U ports she'd heard about. I don't have the tweet handy but I believe she said the Splatoon/SMM ones were more up in the air.
Jackano, I completely agree that the extent to which the library is shared for cross-buy and/or streaming from one device to another is potentially going to be a crucial piece of this puzzle.
Akki, as to doubling down on a console vs. a handheld, I do believe it's possible a HH will release this year in JP and a console in the West (I want to say Nintendo has hinted at such a possibility but I don't have the comment handy), or that we get a HH at the same time as the console or perhaps next Spring with the console this year. They may believe this year's 3DS games including Pokémon will be enough to hold off on the HH a bit longer. They may want to attempt to give their console business a huge shot in the arm this year, and to triage 3DS in the meantime as a system to replace soon after. As to doubling down on the screen idea, I agree a refined Wii U is a potentially concerning idea, so hopefully if they include a screen they've got a way to do it in a way that's cheaper and/or much more appealing to consumers.
