Rumor: Next Nintendo Handheld to Use Nvidia Tegra Chip

Continuing today’s console chip rumor-fest (a technical term) it looks like Nintendo’s successor to the DS will be using an Nvidia Tegra chip. According to Develop:

Anonymous sources said to be close to the matter insist that the new Nintendo handheld — apparently set to be revealed late in 2010 — will be powered by Nvidia’s system-on-a-chip device, known as Tegra.

Tegra is an ARM-based processor with integrated Geforce graphics, and has been developed by Nvidia for use in smartphones and other mobile devices such as Microsoft’s Zune HD.

Tegra devices are starting to pop up in the personal music player (PMP) space and phones using the chip will be out shortly. While Nvidia is struggling in several other areas, it has a great chance at succeeding in the mobile market. Getting Tegra into a Nintendo handheld would be a tremendous win for Nvidia.

The move could also put Sony in a tough position. Tegra is a capable chip with a fairly low cost. Judging from Nintendo’s history, its next handheld system should have an accessible price. While I doubt (or at least hope) the PSPgo will not cost $249 next year, a new Nintendo portable will put the Go in a tough spot.

Incidentally, what features do you want to see in Nintendo’s next handheld system?

Source

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

15 thoughts on “Rumor: Next Nintendo Handheld to Use Nvidia Tegra Chip”

  1. Man, it's good that i didn't pick up the DSi, great job *two thumbs pointing to this guy*

    I would love to see backwards compatibility. I don't see what else they could besides maybe like an app store, where you can view movies or other type of applications.

  2. No thumbs pointing at this guy :/ I just recently bought a DSi

    What happened to we're going to start making games exclusively for the DSi Nintendo?

  3. just not a handheld gamer myself. I game for a depth rarely found on handhelds. that said since I have an iphone there are a few games I like to play but usually I get only 2-3 hours out of a really good game

  4. @Shockwave562 There are plenty of handheld games with depth. Look at something like FFT: War of the Lions, Pokemon, Crisis Core, Super Mario RPG, etc. Really depends on what genres you like.

  5. I'll give you that ray. one of my favorite games for iphone was Zenonia and I put in well over 30 hours on that game (even though it was a lot of grinding)

    I would really like to get my hands on Chinatown wars too

  6. So does that mean the graphic on the ds will soon be better than the psp or close to it?

  7. @Shockwave562 There are remakes and new ones available. Great stuff!

    @Xsnipe2KillG4Feed The jury is still out on that. Nvidia promises that Tegra will be a super powerful mobile chip that, on paper, can help produce graphics better than the PSP. Tegra devices are capable of HD playback, but video playback and game graphics are two different things. I'll wait until real-world applications are available.

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