Finally, we have an NX report that isn’t just about its hardware, but its potential software as well. Most are coming to the consensus that the NX is some sort of portable console, but only a precious few games have been confirmed for the system to date.
A new report says that Nintendo is trying to avoid another Wii U situation where the console launches without most of its major franchises. According to MCV, Nintendo not only has The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild planned for near-launch, but also new Mario and Pokémon games. All three would supposedly be out within the first six months of console lifespan.
Huge, if true.
I’m not even being sarcastic. The NX is going to struggle with expectations as it will almost certainly be less powerful than many “core” gamers would want, but if it create an instantly must-have collection of games, that may not matter, at least not early on.
It would help to know more details about these games, but indicators are promising. We already known how amazing Breath of the Wild looks, and if the Mario game can be more “Super Mario Galaxy” than “New Super Mario Bros. U,” that will go back to the days when Nintendo debuted consoles with game-changing new titles in the series.
The Pokémon game in question might be the biggest news of all, if it ends up being confirmed. According to this report, it’s Game Freak, developer of the handheld games, that would be making the new game for the NX. Once everyone started believing the NX was a handheld console, the obvious question was whether the system would get a fully-fledged Pokémon game. Given that whatever Game Freak might be working on would be coming out less than a year after Sun/Moon, I’m not sure exactly what this game would be, but if it’s anything approaching a “normal” Pokémon game, that could be a much, much larger story and a bigger system-seller than even Zelda (it seems possible it could be an NX version of Sun/Moon, actually).
© Provided by Forbes Photo: Nintendo
This isn’t even the end of the good news in this sunshiny report from MCV’s sources. They also say that Nintendo has been shoring up third party support from Activision, Ubisoft, SEGA, Square Enix and WB. Also confirmed is everything Eurogamer laid out about the hardware last month, though this source says the graphics will be between “the PS3 and PS4,” which uh, sounds like the Wii U.
This is the ultimate question. Despite claims of the Wii U being underpowered, can Nintendo simply sprint in the other direction, possibly sacrificing even more power to make the system purely handheld and appeal perhaps not to “core” gamers, but the exploding smartphone/tablet market?
They seem to believe that the Wii U’s greatest flaw was that the gamepad couldn’t be taken on the go, but I’m not convinced that functionality would have redeemed the system. I am certainly very optimistic about these reports of having Zelda, Mario and Pokémon games at launch, however, I want to see how this portable console concept will work in practice. I have serious concerns about true portability and battery life, for one, never mind power.
© Provided by Forbes Photo: Nintendo This is what Nintendo needs to do in order to make a big splash in a 2017 that will also probably see the release of the PlayStation NEO and Xbox Scorpio. If they can debut three amazing games from their three most famous series within a six month span, they will almost certainly “win” the year, at least narratively.
One caveat about the software news would be that if Nintendo rolls out big games from their three top franchises, that could create a pretty large drought for those series for a while to come. We have seen how slow Nintendo’s production schedule has been for Wii U games, with one, maybe two or three truly major titles a year, and stacking this many together could result in long stretches of time with nothing of significance for the NX. But that’s why they have a zillion franchises, and why hopefully their overtures to third parties pay off.
The past month or so has me feeling quite a bit more optimistic about the NX than before, and it’s incredibly smart for Nintendo to focus on making sure it has a strong launch line-up. Questions about the fundamental concept of the NX remains, but through all these leaks we’re now seeing a lot of positives about the system, rather than negatives.
© Pok?mon Niantic and the Pokemon Go creators say potential cheating and hack prevention were at the core of the decision to remove the so-called "three-step tracking" system in last week's update -- and to shut down third-party trackers, like the popular Pokevision.
The change was criticized by players, but in a new statement released Thursday, Niantic says third-party sites may mean to help players, but they put a strain on the game's servers and allow cheating and even hacking.
"We wanted to shed some more light on why we did this and why these seemingly innocuous sites and apps actually hurt our ability to deliver the game to new and existing players," the statement reads. "There is a range of motives here from blatant commercial ventures to enthusiastic fans but the negative impact on game resources is the same. Of course, there are also outright hackers out there attempting to break into systems, hijack social media accounts, and even bring down the service."
Niantic says blocking third-party trackers served to free enough server resources to proceed with its launch in Latin America, including in Brazil, where the popular mobile game became available Thursday in time for the Rio Olympics.
