Patent leaks and rumors from last month suggest the highly anticipated Nintendo NX could be a handheld device with the option to hook up to the TV to become a home console.
Now, three new patent leaks recently surfaced to give us a better understanding of what the NX is, or at least what else Nintendo is up to. The first patent leak described "a portable game apparatus including a display and a camera provided behind the display.” A display on the device further reinforces the portability aspect of what we believe is the Nintendo NX.
The second patent leak suggests AR technology: "game devices obtain a captured image in response to a shutter operation by the user to analyze a characteristic portion of the captured image obtained and to display, on the display, an image obtained by superimposing a virtual character over the captured image based on the analysis results.”
The third patent leak, via user Disorienter on NeoGAF, shows an attaching accessory with physical buttons that docks to the device. However, instead of a USB connector, the accessory is designed to sync using infrared, not electrical connection, to read the button inputs. Nintendo calls the device an "information processing device” in its patent.
Much of the information regarding the Nintendo NX is still unclear and we won't know exactly what the Japanese gaming company is up to until its anticipated September announcement ahead of the console's March 2017 release date. Stay tuned as we expect to learn more from Nintendo, or at least its patent leaks, in the weeks ahead.
