There’s more and more reason to believe Nintendo’s unrevealed NX console is going to be quite powerful. In fact, it’s been described as “incredibly powerful” utilizing “industry-leading” chips.
The primary source for this is Wall Street Journal correspondent Takashi Mochizuki, who was the source for the report that NX dev kits are now being distributed. Following up with a fan, the reporter shared this description of the NX’s power, particularly an NX demo:
Several people who said who have seen a demo said what they saw is impossible to run on a computer without a "industry-leading" or "cutting-edge" chips. Cutting-edge in what way, they refused to elaborate.
He also shares this tweet:
"Industry-leading" chip = more powerful than PS or Xbox? My answer is don't know. But that's how sources described: https://t.co/Kp6NpGSNrn
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) October 17, 2015
As Mochizuki reiterates several times, he does not know firsthand how powerful the NX is; and is relying on his own sources and their description. He cannot vouch if, as many fans hope, the NX matches or exceeds the PlayStation 4, or for that matter, the most high end PCs running chips like the Nvidia Titan.
Another, less verifiable source, has stepped forward to corroborate and expand on Mochizuki’s statements. Nintendoforums administrator crunchy claims to have been in contact with a US based developer as well, and he gets even more specific. He describes the console as having incredibly powerful processing capabilities, possibly faster than what Sony and Microsoft have in store. Crunchyg also refers to a demo, that uses so many polygons it could not run on a Skylake i7 with a top of the line graphics card (emphasis on not run).
On the same thread, forum member PixelShade claims to be an Ubisoft artist, and that he got a look at the NX SDK. If he is to be believed, the devs in his office were impressed with the demos, and confirms sentiment about processing power. He describes the mood in his office as pleasantly surprised with this focus from Nintendo.
Of course, we cannot vouch for the verifiability of any of these sources, and both crunchyg and Mochizuki reiterate that NX’s hardware specs have not yet been finalized yet. Still, these rumors regarding the NX’s power aren’t that much different from rumors regarding the PlayStation 4, when it was still in development and dev kits were first being spread around.
These comments are also consistent with earlier reports of a patent for a power efficient console without an optical drive from August. If that patent was for the NX, the console is advanced enough that its components can assess and control its own read/write speeds. Beyond brute force and processing power, the system could be efficient, meaning it spends less energy and is built to last longer than competitors.
Nintendo won’t be sharing final details for the NX until next year, so what do you think of all these rumors? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
