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Is 2016 the Year of the Perfect Nintendo Console?

Is 2016 the Year of the Perfect Nintendo Console?

2016 means different things to different people. Heck, 2016 means different things to different gamers. For some, 2016 is the year of virtual reality. For others, 2016 is the year that console gaming reaches an unprecedented apex of popularity and quality. For me, 2016 is the year of NX. Call me a fanboy, I don’t care; more than anything else happening in the industry this year I’m excited to get all of the juicy details about Nintendo’s new home console. The late Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo wouldn’t be talking specifics about the NX until 2016, and now the time has come. Every trade show, every conference, every Nintendo Direct I’ll be listening and waiting for the bomb to drop.

We know next to nothing about the NX. All we have to go on is a small collection of registered patents that hint at various features and designs. Will this be a console / handheld hybrid? Will digital games take the place of physical discs for good? Will the majority of processing take place in the cloud, meaning that those with the best internet connections have the better consoles? We can’t say anything for sure, but I don’t think I’m the only one with ideas about what the NX should be. In a perfect world, what details would Nintendo reveal about its NX? I have a few ideas…

A use for your Wii U:

One of the patents suggests that you may be able to connect other devices to your NX to take a load off the main console’s processor. It’s been speculated that if this is a console / handheld hybrid, that when you’re at home you may hook up the handheld portion of the NX to the main console to give it a boost. Now I know this wouldn’t look pretty, but what if the NX was designed in such a way that anyone who previously owned a Wii U would be able to hook it up to the NX for some additional processing power or storage? It’s not a big device, so you could probably figure out a configuration that doesn’t clutter your entertainment system. That’d be better than the usual song and dance of trying to find potential buyers for your old console on Craigslist or trading it in at Gamestop for ten bucks of store credit and a handshake.

Omni-Compatibility:

Screw backwards compatibility. What if we got a console that was “omni-compatible” (I’m coining that term right here, right now)? What if Nintendo announced that between the NX and its handheld, you’d be able to play every Nintendo game ever released? They’d develop a process of up-scaling and porting older games quickly and easily, and any save file linked to your Nintendo account would enable you to download the respective game from their servers.

Streaming and sharing:

One of the things that has made the PlayStation 4 such a success is the “share” button. Being able to easily stream, save, edit, and share your gameplay makes even single-player gaming feel more social. With Nintendo’s new integrated, multi-platform Nintendo account, they really need to make sure that sharing gameplay and awesome moments is easy and seamless on the NX, even for virtual console games. While taking a break from Dragon Quest XI, I’d love to watch a “let’s play” of Earthbound while I cook dinner.

Is 2016 the Year of the Perfect Nintendo Console?

A remote play feature that works:

This is the most obvious feature I’ll be hoping for if the NX has a portable component. Remote play of PS4 games on the Vita is nice, but if you’re not right next to your PS4 or connected to a great network with a perfect signal it can be really tough to play for long stretches without experiencing crippling latency or frequent disconnects. If Nintendo can implement a remote play functionality that works well, offering a unified gaming experience whether in front of your console or on the go, that will be a game changer.

What am I missing here? I intentionally didn’t mention “better graphics” or “third-party support” because we know those are in the bag and, frankly, we hear that enough from the trolls. For all of you sober-minded hopefuls, what is the one feature or announcement that you’re waiting for most anxiously this year?

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