Source:
https://scmp.com/tech/apps-gaming/article/2038622/nintendo-offer-glimpse-its-nx-game-console
Tech

Nintendo to offer a glimpse of its NX game console

Trailer to be released to night ahead of NX’s expected release in March

An actor dressed as Nintendo’s famous video game character Mario. Photo: AFP

Japanese gaming giant Nintendo on Thursday teased a glimpse of its new NX video gaming system via Twitter.

Nintendo of America, the company’s stateside business, tweeted to say a preview trailer about the NX will be available on October 20 at 7 am PT (10am ET/10pm HK/SIN).

The console was expected to be released around the world in March 2017, but official details have been limited, with Nintendo describing it as a “brand-new concept” without further explanation in its April-June quarter earnings report.

In July, some rumours about what the system would look like surfaced, when Eurogamer , a gaming news website, reported that the NX would be aportable, hand-held console with detachable controllers.

The report, citing sources, said the system could connect to a television for gaming on the big screen. To be sure, Nintendo told Eurogamer it was unable to comment on various rumours and speculations.
The NX could provide Nintendo’s gaming console business a boost, after the company reported dedicated video game hardware sales fell to 43.66 per cent on-year to 25.1 billion yen (US$242.54 million) in the three months ended June 30.

Over the last two years, the company has also been developing its mobile strategy after being vehemently resistant towards it in order to protect its legacy console business.
Nintendo yielded in 2015 by partnering with mobile firm DeNA to push into smartphone apps and games; earlier this year, it enjoyed a resurgence in popularity following the successful launch of the Pokemon Go mobile game - Nintendo is a stakeholder in both the Pokemon Company and the creators of the game, Niantic.

In September, Nintendo also announced the release of a mobile game, Super Mario Run, in December, featuring one of its most popular gaming characters.

Analysts said previously the company had a tremendously valuable intellectual property line-up to choose from in developing mobile games. Also in the pipeline are mobile game titles for other series such as Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem by March 2017.

Nintendo is also set to release its second quarter earnings on October 26, and there is some optimism among analysts.

Nomura analysts, earlier this week, lifted earnings forecasts and raised Nintendo’s rating from “Neutral” to “Buy”. They said the success of Pokemon Go and the announcement of Super Mario Run “heralds a change in earnings structure.”

“We think the company’s longer-term profit structure will be one in which operating profits from the online business provide support to medium-sized hits at the console business, which has a five-year cycle,” the analysts said.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.