UPDATE: More NX "Pad" Pics Appear

So last week a picture of a supposed NX pad appeared online. It was investigated by Destructoid to see if it was Photo-shopped and it passed but was widely disregarded (even by us) as it was stunningly similar to the patent. Electronics patents rarely look like the final product and only show whats needed to show off the tech being patented.

UPDATE 4: which is hopefully the final update for this news story. I mentioned the 2nd pad wasn't claimed by the first Hoaxer and now we know why. The 2nd pad was the work of Frank Sandqvist who saw the original leak/Hoax and decided to make the damn thing. Of cause here's a video showing how he did it. I suspect these two guys have probably just increased their career prospects ten fold, and that soon we'll see these NX fakes for sale.



UPDATE 3: In yet another twist, an YouTube user ID 2DEF has released a video showing how he made the first image of the white pad. I'll post the video after this update. Whats interesting is the Hoaxer isn't claiming the black pad is his work at this time but seeing as the black pad is exactly the same odds are its an 2nd fake based on the first one. I also thing Destructoid needs to give there "photoshop check" program an once over.

 Any way check out the video its pretty interesting look at the process.


UPDATE 2: in an sudden twist Liam Robertson (part time Nintendo Life) is saying the "leaked" pad is are "completely faked" according to his NoE source.

This is a public figure who I will not name, but does know all about NX (I won't be asking them about it though).

— Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) March 23, 2016

Liam Robertson also is quick to point out that there are so few dev-kits in the wild it would be easy enough to track the source down. He even goes on to say...

People at Nintendo are so secretive about NX. Most of them won't even tell me what they think of it, fearing it could be traced back.

— Liam Robertson (@Doctor_Cupcakes) March 23, 2016

It's worth pointing out that Liam Roberston has had some... "distinct" hints about the NX such as the console will be "no where near as powerful as the PS4".

Update: First up GameInformer's editor Andy Mcnamara has confirmed this pad "matches" what he has heard from his sources. Secondly the original poster states that the design is just for the dev-kit and is certainly NOT the finally design.


Original Story: Well here we are a week later and new pictures have appeared that means we have to cast a 2nd look over the whole affair. First lets look at the two patents at the center of this leak.

The patent on the left is for mouse wheel like scroll-able (and clickable) shoulder buttons. Whilst the one on the right is for a controller sporting a "freeform screen" with only two physical control sticks and two shoulder buttons, with touch controls replacing traditional buttons. 'Fun' side note: I had an similar idea back when Nintendo was being coy about the revolution's (Wii) pad, where the game would produce the buttons and layout.


Next up lets look at last weeks "not photo-shopped" and supposedly leaked dev kit version which for reasons that will become clear later "white".

As you can see it looks an awful lot like the patent pad but with what appears to be speakers and what appears to be a camera and maybe a IR sensor. It also appears to be without the typical controller horns. If you look closely around the R stick you can see  A/B buttons on the left and two others on the right. We wrote this off as a clever physical forgery. However now we have some new images.

Now this is damning evidence against our dismissal of the previous pad. Despite being a different colour this pad appears to be identical to the previous pad, though this one dose give us a glimpse of the mouse-wheel like shoulder buttons. These pictures also help us put the pad to scale, with it appearing to be roughly the same size as the Wii U gamepad's screen, This 'leak' also came with some additional details too.

• Only the upper ‘nubs’ of the sticks move. The bottom part is static (kind of like the circle pad, but it moves along the bottom ‘sphere’.
• The rollers on the top feel and look pretty much identical to a mouse scroll-wheel. Though I do don’t believe this will be the final design.
• Haptic feedback is feels like Apples ‘taptic’ engine. Not like regular rumble.
• 3.5mm headphone jack on the bottom

So here is the two side by side and from what I can tell they appear to be the same. Now we're presented with three possible explanations for these pictures; 1) the black pad is a duplicate created to "prove" the white one, 2) these are other device prototypes being used for false leaks and 3) the pads are genuine.

Abe's Take
I really wish Nintendo would announce the NX all ready, as I am getting tired of typing the phrase "We still don't actually know what the NX is" and this "pad" could easily be a handheld too.

I'm intrigued by the concept of the pad, I like the Idea of each game having its own preferred layout/number of buttons but at the same time it dose create two worries. Number 1) I have never used an touch screen button that was as reliable as a physical button, and number 2) the (seeming) lack of triggers basically kills third party support, whilst players and devs could adapt to touch buttons it seems unlikely they'll accept non triggers for firing guns or accelerating.