There are a lot of rumors floating around about Nintendo’s next console, code-named NX.  I normally don’t pay that much attention to Nintendo’s consoles since they went away from the more traditional console to the Wii.  I did have one for a short time, but the motion controls just seemed gimmicky to me and I preferred to play more traditional games.  I think motion can add a lot to a game, such as with the Kinect, but I don’t want to be forced to use it on every game I play.  Kids seemed to eat it up, though.

Next came the Wii U, which was innovative, but has just flopped with consumers.  It offered a tablet as a controller, which is a cool idea, but I guess the execution just wasn’t there.  They are discontinuing this in November, which is a very short life for a console.

The reason that I’m keeping an eye on the development project is because it may mean the end of the DS era.  The Nintendo DS was the second-best selling system right behind the Playstation 2.  Nintendo has always owned the handheld market, and the 3DS hasn’t been a slouch, either.  It has sold nearly 60 million units, which isn’t too shabby.  The rumor mills are spouting a potential handheld and console rolled into one.  It is also speculated that they will be going back to the cartridge format, which isn’t so crazy when you consider a tiny micro SD card can hold 256GB of data now, which is way more than necessary for a video game.  I actually prefer cartridges myself, as they seem to last a lot longer than DVDs and are just more collectible.

Nintendo itself has not released much about the system, but has said it will be released early next year.  I hope that they don’t completely discontinue the 3DS as it is a solid platform and the 3D is now really good with the New Nintendo 3DS.  I’m sure I’ll post more as official details are released.