According to the Wall Street Journal, The NX, Nintendo’s successor to the maligned Nintendo Wii U, will serve as both a handheld and home console in tandem. According to the Journal:

The exact shape of the NX hardware isn’t yet clear. People familiar with the development plans said Nintendo would likely include both a console and at least one mobile unit that could either be used in conjunction with the console or taken on the road for separate use. They also said Nintendo would aim to put industry-leading chips in the NX devices, after criticism that the Wii U’s capabilities didn’t match those of competitors.

Also according to the report, NX dev kits are already being sent out to software producers. This is all very exciting stuff. Nintendo announced the existence of the NX back in March, though they said that they would not be delivering any more information about the system until 2016. It is likely that numerous Nintendo titles currently announced but not set for release until 2016 will be both Wii U and NX titles, including the next home console version of The Legend of Zelda.

On a personal level, I never hopped on the Wii U bandwagon (empty as that wagon may be). It was not until the later years of its life that Nintendo started delivering titles that i wanted to play, but with the early announcement of the NX, it became hard to justify the purchase of a dying system. My hope is that the NX will have backwards compatibility so that I will finally be able to enjoy some of those great Wii U exclusives.

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