During a news conference this week, Nintendo’s new president Tatsumi Kimishima has revealed that they are indeed researching into VR products. There was no confirmation that anything would be made anytime soon, though the rumors are it may be tied to the new console in development, the NX.
For those who may not remember, Nintendo was at one time, a pioneer for VR tech back in the mid 90’s when they released the Virtual Boy. Unfortunately, with it’s extremely high cost, and a monochromatic screen that gave nearly everyone eye strain and dizziness, the ambitious project tanked within months for both Japan and North America.
Now that modern VR has become efficient enough to become a viable (and veritable) commercial product, it makes sense that Nintendo would try and product their own solution to it – especially given the fact that their two primary competitors, Sony and Microsoft, have the Playstation VR and Hololens, respectively.
Another good hint was that back in October, leaked sources stated Nintendo was aiming to have ” Industry-leading chips” for their new console. This suggests they may be planning to have the top console in terms of graphical horsepower; necessary for VR as the Wii-U is severely underpowered for the requirements it’ll need.
This is shaping up to be an exciting year for new tech.