With the NX just over six months away from launch (if we’re to believe Nintendo’s “March 2017” launch roadmap), we’re still tied to straws when it comes to official information about the system. The latest details come from The Pokemon Company (TPC) president Tsunekazu Ishihara, who seemingly confirmed long-standing rumors about the system’s console/hybrid design in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.
“The NX is trying to change the concept of what it means to be a home console device or a handheld device [emphasis added]Ishihara said in the interview. “We are going to make games for the NX.”
The wording of the quote leaves a bit of leeway for interpretation – perhaps Ishihara was gambling on the NX’s existence as a console or a handheld as an either-or proposition. It’s also unclear if Ishihara has any specific prior knowledge of the NX or its development process. The Pokemon Company is partly owned by Nintendo (in partnership with game developers Creatures and Game Freak), so maybe some hardware information was shared between the two companies. But TPC largely operates as its own entity, and Ishihara might have simply spoken based on previous reports suggesting the system’s hybrid design.
If anything, add this little tidbit to the very small pile of semi-reliable information we have about the still-mysterious NX almost 18 months after its initial announcement. As Daniel Ahmad pointed it out on Twitter recentlyit was only 191 days from the May 2013 unveiling of the Xbox One to the November 2013 launch. At the time of writing, there are 192 days left until March 31, 2017. Tik tok, Nintendo.