Nintendo Unifies Hardware Divisions

According to a report published on Nikkei.com, Japanese video game giant Nintendo plans to combine the development divisions for its home video game consoles and handheld systems. If true, the move would see employees from both divisions merge and relocate to a new development building now under construction near Nintendo headquarters in Kyoto, Japan.

Here is a partial translation of the original report:

“Game system development projects are becoming larger and taking longer to complete as the machines become more advanced. Nintendo apparently has its sights set on speeding up these projects by sharing development processes for consoles and handheld devices where possible and by reassigning personnel depending on the situation. It sees interactions between engineers as a potential hotbed of new ideas.” 

This is exciting news. Perhaps the move is designed simply to cut costs and boost Wii U and 3DS connectivity. But maybe this is the first step in a process meant to produce Nintendo's first handheld-console hybrid, a brand new portable system that "docks" with a television.