Nikkei Rumour: Nintendo’s NX will use Android for its operating system
Japanese news source the Nikkei are at it again with another rumour about Nintendo and the NX. Nikkei rumours are often reliable but they can also be completely wrong, none the less here it is.
The Nikkei today posted a editorial about Nintendo’s relationship with DeNA, the company helping Nintendo get mobile and have a all encompassing account system. The paper claims to have a source inside Nintendo that says the NX, the codename for Nintendo’s next platform will run Google’s Android operating system.
They believe that Nintendo has had a ‘paradigm shift’ in its philosophy since the failure of the Wii U to attract third parties. Nintendo previously have developed their own software and hardware concepts but are allegegly now prepared to embrace a more open platform with Android. This will allow developers to make content that can appear on the console, tablets and smart phones.
We don’t usually report on rumours at Vooks unless we’re certain they’re going to be true, the Nikkei is a big source for this kind of news and we think it warrants reporting. Whether or not this pans out only time will tell.
Source: Nikkei via NeoGAF
Ummm… Please don’t?
I heard someone talk about this on a podcast a few months ago and after thinking about it for a while it really makes sense.
I don’t think its something to be upset about; they probably won’t have candy crush or anything. Running android means they’ll be able to run their mobile games and ‘full’ console games on the same system.
Its actually exciting thinking of the possibilities.
I see that you haven’t played Pokemon Shuffle…
(having said that, I don’t mind the free to play games as long as they make them alongside other games, not instead of…)
I’m talking about the mobile games that they’re already making right now. The ones that are meant to give you a taste of the franchise and encourage you to play the full games on your console, not make kids beg parents for money to buy more hearts in pokemon shuffle. (Unless I’m interpreting their mobile strategy wrong)
Nintendo investing into these mobile games and having them playable on their own hardware just makes sense to me.
Although If they end up only releasing free to play mobile games like pokemon shuffle, ugh, let’s not go there.
yes, because the other home android console, Ouya was a success, the likes of which we have never seen.
Look it makes sense to use another companies OS to run your hardware, Sony and Nintendo are both behind there, but I don’t like the idea of an android based OS on a home console, mostly because Android as a whole is so restricted by Google now, imagine the requirements they attempt to impose when it comes to Nintendo.
That being said, Nintendo and Google have been playing it close of late, custom map program, youtube intergration into Mario Kart 8. I would like Nintendo to make their own things, perhaps using Google as a development partner, rather than just taking Android. Though I hope whatever happens, all digital eshop titles will carry across, doing that would make people happy.
The irony of this story is the picture shows Mario leaping out of an iPhone.
They would just be using Android for its base OS and libraries. Basically, the Linux kernel with the Android libraries and application framework. It would save them reinventing the wheel as far as libraries go, and would allow easier cross-platform development. It’s not a bad idea.
It would make no difference to anything users could see.
I mean, the PlayStation 3 and 4 run FreeBSD, and the XBox One uses a Windows 8 variant along with Hyper-V.
Nintendo is the only console maker that hasn’t embraced an existing, proven OS stack for their console system software. Instead, they’re using a custom system built upon a proprietary RTOS as the basis for the Wii U system software. This is a waste of engineering resources when there are perfectly good open source alternatives.