At a press conference announcing their big mobile gaming deal, Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata has also spoken briefly (and surprisingly) about Nintendo's next piece of dedicated hardware.


Seeking to put off questions that Nintendo's future would be entirely mobile, Iwata says that Nintendo is still very much in the "dedicated video game system market", and that their next piece of gaming hardware is code-named the "NX".


"Nintendo has decided to deploy its video game business on smart devices, but it is not because we have lost our passion or vision for the business of dedicated video game systems", he said.

"On the contrary, because now we have decided on how we will make use of smart devices, we have come to hold an even stronger passion and vision for the dedicated video game system business than before."

"As proof that Nintendo maintains strong enthusiasm for the dedicated game system business", Iwata adds, "let me confirm that Nintendo is currently developing a dedicated game platform with a brand new concept under the development codename 'NX'."

And...that's it. Iwata says Nintendo will share more information about the new hardware "next year".


While it's easy to suspect that this new device will be a replacement for the ailing Wii U, the fact this is Nintendo using the words "brand new concept" mean it could be anything.