Nintendo hasn’t confirmed a lot of details about its next-generation console but it appears that something that has been rumored in the past might actually be true. A big news outlet has reiterated reports that instead of using discs, the Nintendo NX consoles will use cartridges much like the company’s existing Nintendo 3DS handheld console. Nintendo has obviously not officially confirmed anything about the console and we can’t expect it to before the launch event.
Other reports suggest that the Nintendo NX is actually going to be more of a powerful handheld console that has detachable controllers and can be docked to extend the gameplay experience on TVs.
Quoting “people familiar with the matter,” The Wall Street Journal reports that Nintendo NX is going to use cartridges instead of discs. It’s likely that we could see a solution similar to what Nintendo has employed for the 3DS handheld.
One obvious difference between discs and cartridges is that the latter carry less data. For example, discs for consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 can hold as much as 50GB of data and even then some games require players to download further content on the console’s hard drive, so it can’t be said with certainty how much data the NX’s cartridges will hold.
Nintendo hasn’t provided a confirmed release date for the NX as yet but it’s expected that the console will be released in March next year.