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Nintendo's next console to be an Android games machine?

By Luis D.

Updated: Jun 01, 2015, 6:56 AM

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Nintendo's next console to be an Android games machine?

Is gaming empire Nintendo about to become the next big huge thing in the Android realm? Let's put it this way - Nintendo's latest console, the Wii U, is a sales fiasco that exposed a company struggling to adapt to the modern games market. The console is too underpowered to play the same games that competing platforms have. Its unique gamepad failed to drive customer interest. The "casual player" audience, which made the original Wii a historical bestseller at more than 100 million units sold, has migrated to the abundance of casual games available in the App Store and Google Play.

All Nintendo has is the strength of its long-running franchises - Mario, Zelda, Xenoblade, Donkey Kong and the like, which was enough to drive 10 million Wii U sales among a devoted audience in the span of two years. But the competition is way ahead in sales numbers — the PS4, for example, broke 10 million in just 9 months — so Nintendo clearly needs to let go of its business traditions and embrace mobile platforms, if it doesn't want to challenge Sony and Microsoft head-on.

Third-party developers stepped in to encourage Nintendo to adopt Android as an open platform where content can be easily created.

Well, then! Word on the street is that the company's next console, the NX, will be an Android-powered device. This means ARM-based hardware, such as the gadgetry found in the powerful Nvidia Shield console/TV box, as well as a platform familiar to developers from all kinds of places. According to the original report by Japan's Nikkei business newspaper, third-party developers stepped in to encourage Nintendo to adopt Android as an open platform where content can be easily created.

The prospect of a Nintendo micro-console or gaming tablet probably doesn't sound supremely exciting for anyone but the casual gamer or Nintendo franchise lover, especially since the Ouya, which was the first notable product to introduce the concept of Android TV consoles, tanked so badly. However, this was rather due to its shortcomings as a product, such as an extremely unpolished operating system and hardware that quickly grew outdated.

We reckon Nintendo will have to think of a quality games service or a heavyweight library of original games to pull through with this one, as the truth is that any ol' Android stick with a paired Bluetooth controller is good for playing Clash Of Titans on TV these days. Nvidia, for example, has an enticing offering in the form of the GRID games streaming service, which could potentially let gamers play high-quality PC titles without investing in an expensive gaming rig.

via Hardcore Gamer