Yet another hint that Nintendo’s NX is a handheld/console hybrid

Kyle Orland

We're pretty sure this supposed "leak" of an NX design is fake, but it's still a good mock-up based on the rumors we have heard about the supposed console/portable hybrid.

EGMNow

With the NX just over six months away from launch (if Nintendo's "March 2017" launch roadmap is still to be believed), we're still stuck grasping at straws when it comes to official info about the system. The latest detail drip comes from The Pokemon Company (TPC) president Tsunekazu Ishihara, who seemingly confirmed the 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 hand-held device [emphasis added]," Ishihara said in the interview. "We will make games for the NX."

The wording of the quote leaves a little wiggle room for interpretation—perhaps Ishihara was guessing at the NX's existence as a console or a hand-held as an either-or proposition. It's also unclear if Ishihara has any specific, insider knowledge of the NX or its development process. The Pokemon Company is partly owned by Nintendo (in conjunction with game developers Creatures and Game Freak), so maybe there has been some hardware information sharing going on between the two companies. But TPC largely operates as its own entity, and Ishihara might have simply been speaking based on previous reports suggesting the system's hybrid design.

In any case, add this small pebble to the very small pile of semi-reliable information we have regarding the still-mysterious NX nearly 18 months after its first announcement. As Daniel Ahmad recently pointed out on Twitter, it was only 191 days from the May 2013 unveiling of the Xbox One to its November 2013 launch. As of this writing, there are 192 days until March 31, 2017. Tick tock, Nintendo.