The device will resemble a tablet, able to switch between handheld, detached screen, and home console mode.
September brings with it a first reveal of Nintendo's next home console, and a new report indicates that it will be a tablet-style affair with big screen capabilities.
The Nintendo NX will combine handheld and stationary console design standards, with each controller comprising a display "bookended by two [detachable] controllers on each side," according to a new report. The report, published by Eurogamer, corroborates previous suggestions based on patent filings and insider talk.
At home, a "base unit, or dock station" connects the NX controller display to a TV, and the two controller parts detach. So the NX would be a portable, tablet-style device that provides added benefits when paired with a larger display.
Meanwhile, games bought at retail would be stored on cartridges rather than discs, sticking with Nintendo's preference for portable consoles since 1989's Game Boy first emerged. As a result, Nintendo would be able to converge its handheld and home console lines, providing a single successor to both the 3DS and 2DS handhelds as well as the Wii and Wii U home consoles. With the company having found success on smartphones with social app "Miitomo" and the explorative hit "Pokémon Go," it would then be able to focus on a single console platform in addition to mobile devices.
The detachable controller concept bears comparison to an early prototype for the eventual Wii U Gamepad, albeit with the NX's pad containing all the relevant hardware -- plus, presumably, the appropriate amount of battery power -- within its own bounds. Its experimental version was "a monitor and controllers stuck together by double-sided tape," design director Takayuki Shimamura had said jovially during a July 2012 edition of corporate show & tell discussion "Iwata Asks."
Much earlier in Nintendo's history, the Japanese entertainment company introduced the Game & Watch Micro Vs. System in 1984. It was a single-game affair with an LCD display, but two controllers were stored within the body of the small console.
More recently, accessory manufacturers have been manufacturing extendable gamepad controllers that can accommodate smartphones and tablets; some hardware manufacturers, such as Archos and Razer, even built them into some of their tablet designs.
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 "console gaming, handheld gaming, Nintendo, Nintendo NX, Pokemon Go, Legend of Zelda, Wii U")
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