Blog: The next generation of consoles and Nintendo.
The “next generation” always has to be in the spotlight, at least in the manufacturers of anything. Even if you have just launched a new product, you can never rest on your laurels and try to live off the income, because it will happen to you like Ferrari in Formula 1 and they will pass you by. For this reason I have been encouraged to write this blog article to show you, if you are interested, my vision of what is expected in the next generation of consoles, with special emphasis on Nintendo because, as is well known, they have been left behind in the The last one that is already on the market.
Rest assured that both Microsoft and Sony have been preparing what will be their next generation of game consoles for months. Or did you expect them to stay on Xbox One and PlayStation 4? What is not clear is what they will equip, what they will be called, how powerful they will be, how much they will cost, when they will arrive and a very long etcetera. Not to mention Nintendo. They were stuck with the Wii U for a long time and are still there, watching as Sony and Microsoft have passed them by lifting the stickers and not being able to do anything about it. That they have something on their hands, beyond the rumors of the Nintendo NX, it is also certain.
The next generation of consoles
From the looks of it, AMD is already working on the next APUs that will power the next generation of game consoles, and according to those in red, they will have the new chips ready for 2018, a date that seems quite reasonable to give a ticket to the current generation of consoles. (5 years in total), a generation that, although it has broken all sales records, has not really provided anything new.
However, if you look at the news that we have been publishing for a few months, almost all major manufacturers are making an effort to finalize details regarding Virtual Reality, because without a doubt having a virtual reality system on our console and at reach of all users (and by this I mean that they have a reasonable price) it would be a real novelty and not only that, but also a revolution in the industry.
Sony is working on PlayStation VR while Microsoft is working on Hololens. Samsung has its own and AMD is quite committed to working with Oculus VR. What more clues do we want? I personally am clear that if we have to wait for 2018 to see a new generation of game consoles, they will not come with cameras that hardly anyone uses like Kinect, but will have their own virtual reality system. By the way, according to AMD, the APUs that the next generation of consoles will incorporate will have 5 times more performance per watt, which if we translate into our terms, we will have the same as now but without so much “capture” at 30 FPS and capable of running the titles in virtual reality (which you already know need just twice the power for what God was good enough to give us two eyes).
And what about Nintendo?
At the moment the Japanese company is not giving too many clues about what they have in hand. I have my own theories that I am going to tell you about now, but it should be noted that from the few leaks that we have been able to see, what is clear is that Nintendo is working on a new game console (Nintendo NX) based on AMD hardware, and with which I can surely get to compete with Sony and Microsoft.
But you already know that Nintendo is not supported by its powerful consoles or by presenting the latest titles on the market exclusively. Nintendo has been living on income for many years, basically for two things: the Nintendo DS (and its variants) and Pokémon. Yes pokemon. It is a title with hundreds of thousands of followers who not only buy the games, but also follow the TV series, buy their merchandising and in general everything that has to do with these little beings and their trainers.
And now my own theory: I firmly believe that Nintendo has a great ace up its sleeve and it is precisely related to Pokémon. The company has been exploiting that name for many years and has brought billions of profits. Why not take it to the limit? If Nintendo launches a Pokémon MMO, or a Pokémon VR (of which there is already a version for Oculus made by fans), exclusively for one of its video consoles, they would already have their lives resolved for another decade, as simple as that. Maybe I’m jumping into the pool with this theory, but you will recognize that it makes a lot of sense, right? Can you imagine being able to swarm through the world of Pokémon in the first person with virtual reality glasses? Time will tell.
This is an opinion piece by @RodrigoAlonsoHZ.
