Nintendo filed a patent for a video game console with no disc drive

[kdotj24]

 

What makes you think that the Wii U doing badly necessitates that every Nintendo console thereafter is going to descend in sales? Keep in mind that after the GameCube did relatively poorly against the PS2, the Wii came out & there's no way you could say that wasn't a success : S.

Nintendo has this connotation of being a "kiddy" brand. Maybe if they freshened the game up with some fresh IPs, pushed Metroid a bit more (Metroid Prime 4, 2.5D Metroid on 3DS/new handheld), and had equal ports of sports games, that'd get the kids wanting to buy their console (I'm a 13 year old, so I know what the kids at school want). Also, they have to advertise the hell out of it, and embrace online and third party support. With more kids in line for a new Nintendo console, the sales would increase.

Edited August 22, 2015 by kdotj24

[JaidynReiman]

Oh yeah, you've got a good point. I can definitely see this happening now. 

If Nintendo can do something like give us a 500GB or 1TB hard drive and make all the games packed onto these sort of storage cards then that'd be a pretty good idea on their part. The only thing that a disc-less console would be bad for is... well, backwards compatibility. Who knows how they'd pull that off whenever Nintendo's built a lot of goodwill off of it.. and it'd especially suck since the Wii U has had such a short life.

For backwards compatibility I can see you being able to transfer save files, and you'll just have to re-download your games. If you've got a copy of the game you can get a free download version of it for NX (you'd need to have a Wii U, though).

[Conando]

I'm skeptical about this as well.  If Sony and Microsoft haven't given up on physical copies of games, then I doubt Nintendo will anytime soon.  They're usually late for any sort of innovation these days.

I think the only real implication that can be gleaned from this, and it's not believable, is moving toward using game cards as their console physical media too. True enough flash and solid state storage has gone down by quite a bit in recent years, but I don't think it's at the point yet where it's more cost effective.

[JezMM]

A huge issue with a download only console is kids.  Like despite what we like to think, a HUGE amount of kids are just bought their DSes, given their games, and left to it.  My nephews-in-law were showing me stuff they had done on their 3DS (photos and videos etc) and I was thinking "something looks off here" before realising they were still running the original version of the 3DS user interface.  No Miiverse icon, no themes, no... anything.  Their consoles have never connected to the internet once because their Mum doesn't want them to.  A digital only console would cut out an entire chunk of their family audience when it comes to customers like this.

 

But yeah it's just a patent.  I doubt they'll go that way.

Edited August 22, 2015 by JezMM

[Milo]

I think the only real implication that can be gleaned from this, and it's not believable, is moving toward using game cards as their console physical media too. True enough flash and solid state storage has gone down by quite a bit in recent years, but I don't think it's at the point yet where it's more cost effective.

Flash memory cards are actually pretty cheap these days, you can get a 32GB SD card for less than $20 at a variety of places. And a fair amount of Nintendo games don't really take up a lot of space, most of Nintendo's Wii U games are about 10GB in size (so even a 16GB card would be ideal for Nintendo's games).

Edited August 22, 2015 by Gabe

[Conando]

The issue though is that bulk blu ray discs are like 50 cents per. I'm not quite sure if there's parity when it comes to solid state storage in bulk.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Conando

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

The issue though is that bulk blu ray discs are like 50 cents per. I'm not quite sure if there's parity when it comes to solid state storage in bulk.

ya, it's probably closer to $2, but that doesn't stop Nintendo from using them for 3DS games, which are now on average a mere $40 compared to the wii-u's disks for $60

With the higher base price put on console, there is parity even if it is more expensive for a console game. Also people forget about the larger memory card styles that tend to be cheaper as well

Edited August 23, 2015 by Mando

[Tornado]

The issue though is that bulk blu ray discs are like 50 cents per. I'm not quite sure if there's parity when it comes to solid state storage in bulk.

There will never be parity between optical storage and flash-based memory. Every time parity is approached a new type of optical media is usually invented to tip the scales on their head again, though this is I believe the closest it has ever been before.

 

The issue comes down to whether the costs increases are outweighed by the benefits posed by a cartridge-esque system. There are a lot of contributing factors to the idea in both ways (for example, optical drive unreliability is mitigated somewhat if Nintendo follows the PS4/Xbone approach of basically copying the entire damn game to the hard drive anyway; but cost increases over optical media shrink more and more as time goes on), but there's really no real reason to rule it out entirely. Plus remember that we're talking theoretically 2 years or so in the future rather than right now, and a flash memory or whatever based system wouldn't require using the biggest cards all the time anyway. The main issue would be publisher backlash, because a lot of the bigger publishers handle disc production and distribution themselves so Nintendo would have to be a lot less asshole-ish about things than they were in the N64 years.

[Candescence]

I'd say a cart is probably likely, given that Nintendo is blatantly going for a cross-compatibility angle in the iPhone/iPad style of things. It's way too early for a digital-only console.

Though I wouldn't be surprised if a disk drive add-on is also on the cards for BC.

[LATER BUDDY]

Psst, what if it's a new DS thing that bridges the console gap :v

but nah it's prolly just whatevers, I'm not holding my breath on anything until they show the NX off

[DiamondX]

Dont think that this will replace the Wii U.

They said that this wont be the wii u succesor, just another console.

[Salamander]

I think most people are having a hard time believing that, though.  Nintendo have had a hard enough time selling two consoles this generation, and the solution to that problem is not going to be selling three.  (Four if you count their mobile games!)  I think that remark, that NX isn't a "replacement" as such, is generally interpreted as indicating that they won't just drop the 3DS or Wii U or both like soiled handkerchiefs the moment NX appears on the horizon but will wind down gradually and gently (as I recall them doing with previous consoles), which shouldn't cost them anything so long as the NX retains some backwards compatibility.

Edited August 23, 2015 by FFWF

[DiamondX]

they said that the wii u wont stop getting games...

[Patticus]

If this system is a successor to the Wii U, and it uses a flash-based storage medium rather than an optical drive, wouldn't that put Nintendo in a position not unlike where they were with the N64 and GameCube? Using a proprietary medium that nobody else is using seems only to alienate many developers and publishers. They must either be supremely confident that this is going to be attractive to third parties, or they no longer have any fucks to give.

[shdowhunt60]

More likely for what it is, is for a console that either streams games, or downloads everything off the internet. Think of it like a PC without a disk drive, and just downloads everything off Steam.

[Patticus]

More likely for what it is, is for a console that either streams games, or downloads everything off the internet. Think of it like a PC without a disk drive, and just downloads everything off Steam.

The infrastructure to sustain such a console does not exist across the majority of the planet, unless Nintendo is going Japan and South Korea exclusive, which it won't. Nintendo is about accessibility these days, and is not about to put that kind of limitation on itself.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Patticus

[Candescence]

Keep in mind that the DS was also supposed to be a 'third pillar' before it suddenly become obscenely popular and basically replaced the GBA anyway. I think the NX is basically supposed to do the same thing, maintain some form of BC while also phasing out both the 3DS and the Wii U by being multi form factor.

Also, the patent mentions a controller with a screen on it, so I have a feeling the system is gonna have a Wii U Gamepad v2 of sorts, except with a widely-used tablet screen to greatly reduce costs (which would also increase screen resolution and quality). Also, the other big cost factor for the gamepad was the streaming tech, which is now much cheaper and much more widely used. We're not gonna see an NX screen gamepad jack up the price again.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Candescence

[shdowhunt60]

The infrastructure to sustain such a console does not exist across the majority of the planet, unless Nintendo is going Japan and South Korea exclusive, which it won't.

No, you're definitely right there. More likely, Nintendo is filing this patent to prevent such a thing from happening. Which, honestly, thank God. Not having any access to a physical media is the exact opposite of what anyone wants.

[Tornado]

If this system is a successor to the Wii U, and it uses a flash-based storage medium rather than an optical drive, wouldn't that put Nintendo in a position not unlike where they were with the N64 and GameCube? Using a proprietary medium that nobody else is using seems only to alienate many developers and publishers.

Potentially, but there is an order of magnitude difference between flash storage costs in 1995 and flash storage costs in 2015. Actual production costs are still much higher than the 15 cents or whatever it costs to make a disc, but Nintendo and any publisher or whatever wouldn't be the ones making the flash chips anyway so the wholesale price between the two probably isn't that different now in terms of actual dollar amount, nevermind in the future. Essentially, compare the couple bucks it cost publishers in the 1990s to press a CD professionally in huge quantities to the nearly same couple bucks it costs publishers now to press a Blu Ray professionally in huge quantities; then note the 15 or so dollars it cost to pay Nintendo to have Nintendo pay someone else to make a cartridge that was only a fraction of the size of a disc to the 5 or so dollars (guessing) it would probably cost for a publisher to work directly with whoever makes cartridges for Nintendo first party games to make a cartridge that is fairly close to the same size as a single layer Blu Ray.

 

 

The issue would really be if Nintendo would actively work with suppliers so all licenced publishers have access to the same production facilities (I believe how it has been done since the end of the GBA's life through today); or if they act as a required intermediary for all publishers to handle all cartridge production (the disaster that was the N64). It would still be a tough sell, but I don't think an insurmountable one.

[JaidynReiman]

No, you're definitely right there. More likely, Nintendo is filing this patent to prevent such a thing from happening. Which, honestly, thank God. Not having any access to a physical media is the exact opposite of what anyone wants.

That's... a very INTERESTING take on this... they file a patent, not act on it, and prevent other people from trying to go that route. I kinda doubt that's the case, but it is an interesting take on it nonetheless.

[Tornado]

Nintendo is probably the only one of the three that would ever consider doing it in the first place, though. Microsoft and Sony would be far more likely to just abandon any pretense of physical releases long before they went back to the flash memory well.

[JaidynReiman]

Nintendo is probably the only one of the three that would ever consider doing it in the first place, though. Microsoft and Sony would be far more likely to just abandon any pretense of physical releases long before they went back to the flash memory well.

True, but this patent says nothing about going back to cartridges, its could just as easily (and probably is) talking about an SD card slot, and that kind of thing isn't likely to go away any time soon.

[shdowhunt60]

That's... a very INTERESTING take on this... they file a patent, not act on it, and prevent other people from trying to go that route. I kinda doubt that's the case, but it is an interesting take on it nonetheless.

It happens all the time actually: companies will file a bunch of patents for things that don't exist yet, so they can try and curb any future competition. 

[Mando-Whirl-Wind]

They also filed a patent for a donut shaped controller/screen, I don't see people overacting about that

[Tails spin]

They also filed a patent for a donut shaped controller/screen, I don't see people overacting about that

I think they did