There are only 280 people working at Nintendo?

This is good news, I'd like to see more 3DS-Wii U connectivity and Miiverse/Nintendo ID infiltrate the 3DS.

I'm not clear on what this will do, but hopefully it means interesting 3DS/Wii U connectivity ideas. Maybe cross-platform play in the near future? Not sure if the 3DS can handle Wii U software, but the Wii U could easily play 3DS games (albeit in 2D).

...then maybe Stache would play 3DS games! If it gets Stache playing 3DS games, it's totally worth it.

Keep those console heathens away from my portables! They'll mess everything up!

It shouldn't mean anything concerning the "quality of their games", TBun, since these are the hardware divisions.

I think this is great news, and long overdue. It can only mean that future Nintendo consoles and handhelds will play nicer with each other. Yes, increased connectivity. And if it means that in the future, you'll be able to share content (VC games) between your Wii W and your 4DS, then I am ALL for it.

@anon_mastermind

280 people should be enough to produce new hardware every 5 years and revisions every 2 years.

Oh, right, this is just a hardware thing.

I agree, increased connectivity means increased versatility, and that is the future. Well, at least in Japan it is.

@Guillaume 4DS? My 3DS takes up enough of my time. I don't need one that actually dabbles in the fourth dimension.

Yeah, I read this as only good: more unified game systems. Imagine if all of our various Nintendo accounts could finally be linked together since the people working on the systems work together, and know how everything works. I also forsee a possible future when handhelds and consoles aren't that different. I imagine something like a laptop (but obviously smaller) which can be played on the go, but then can just be hooked up to a docking station or directly to a TV, separate controller as a peripheral, and there you have a console. I would love this, have been saying it for years. I hate that I can't play my portable games on the TV, and I hate that I can't take my console games with me. It is obvious that the most cutting edge graphics are not what is most important to Nintendo, nor should it be, so why should there be two separate game systems? If they could make something as powerful as a WiiU (or even moreso in the future) with all of the features, and build it in tablet-esque design, like a WiiU gamepad only more elegant and portable-friendly, but also make it dockable... I would be all over that.

I hope this doesn't mean that Nintendo forsakes consoles. I do hope that it means that games than can run on Nintendo handhelds will be able to run on Nintendo consoles and vice versa.

This adds more fuel to the thought that the next Nintendo "console" will also be a handheld.

And it's name will be Grant Jr.

Not for one second did I think this meant something as radical as Nintendo going handheld-only. Where do those rumors come from?

@Guillaume

I didn't mean handheld only. More of a hybrid console. Think of it as a Wii U gamepad that you can take with you.

@Guillaume

I don't think there's rumors, just speculation. And while being far from definitive proof, this news does make it more likely. I don't really think it's going to happen, but I don't think it's a completely crazy idea either, looking at the Japanese video game market these days.

So Let me get the rumors straight: Is Nintendo going handheld-only before or after smartphones destroy the dedicated handheld business?

:/

VickiL said:

@Guillaume 4DS? My 3DS takes up enough of my time. I don't need one that actually dabbles in the fourth dimension.

But with mastery of time comes the ability to take as much time as you want to play.


...And just imagine the implications of a true time travel device on something like a Majora's Mask sequel. Or a new Chrono Trigger game .


@kriswright

lulz.

Nintendo is slowly merging their console and handheld hardware it sounds like to me.

@WrathOfSamus777

*sigh*

Dammit Zero, what happened to the old forum data? Do you have any idea how infuriating it is to be right and not be able to prove it? I called this like 5-6 years ago .

So they can gimp their hardware more?

I'd only be down with this tech if it wasn't massively underpowered. Also, I wouldn't want the game library to suffer in any way. Like, would we still get handheld quality games AND console quality games?

@carlosrox

I'm sure the console guys won't get in the way of the handheld guys. Nintendo knows which side of their toast is buttered, and it ain't the console side.

@Shadowlink
Nintendo putting a giant screen into the controller of their latest console should have been a big clue for people. I was shocked when that was confirmed. It was like GCN/GBA connectivity all over again. Nintendo never lets an idea they like die. They just put it back on the shelf for awhile.

@WrathOfSamus777

I was clued watching the PSP release and seeing the quality of DS titles. The fact that handheld quality had already reached where consoles were just a generation or 2 prior, it meant the time was fast approaching when you'd get a handheld that could almost hold it's own against a full fledged console. Sure there'd always a bit of a gap, but I figured we'd get to a point where that gap became irrelevant. I'm sure Grant will argue that we're at that point already .

Combine the ever-increasing power of handhelds with Nintendo's already proven penchant for portable/home console connectivity (N64 Transfer Pack, GBA/GCN, DS/Wii), and it wasn't a huge leap to predict a convergence point where you'd simply have one powerful console that could double as both a home console or a handheld. As you said, the WiiU pad is a clear step on that evolutionary path. And this restructuring supports the possibility even more.