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Nintendo didn’t do so hot in 2013. Their sales projections for the Wii U were way off and the subsequent stock drop caused every gamer with an opinion to scream that the company’s fate is written on the walls in Mario’s blood. It also lead to wild (and often baseless) theories and rumours speculating what the future of the company holds. Especially after President Satoru Iwata told shareholders about Nintendo’s “new business structure”:

“We are thinking about a new business structure. Given the expansion of smart devices, we are naturally studying how smart devices can be used to grow the game-player business. It’s not as simple as enabling Mario to move on a smartphone.”

One particularly insane theory has emerged thanks to a report published on Gamin Realm a few weeks ago pertaining to Nintendo’s next home console. Considering the level of detail that their “inside source” was able to deliver, it is either too specific to be fiction or too insane to be real.

The anonymous report claims that Nintendo’s next console will is codenamed “Fusion,” which is certainly a lot better than Dolphin, and might even carry that name after it is released. The “Fusion” name is a clever bit of wordplay because Gamin Realm’s source states that the machine will merge the home console and handheld markets into one device. A similar device was suggested by GamesIndustry International last week, though it seems to have been written without any knowledge of Gamin Realm’s report.

The report includes a barrage of technical info, but essentially, the Fusion’s GPU is said to be capable of four times the number of teraflops as the PS4, while the CPU would be based on IBM’s POWER series, which in theory could mean backwards compatibility for Wii and Wii U titles. As well as supporting four “Fusion DS” handheld units, the machine would be backwards compatible with the Wii U’s GamePad. And not only would it be 4K-compatible, but it would also be available in two models: A 60 GB version with a Holographic Versatile Disc drive or a 300 GB version without a disc drive.

While it sounds like fan fiction and should be read while swimming in a lorry full of salt, it also sounds remarkably Nintendo-esque. The Fusion DS screen would still be sub-HD with a 960×640 DVGA capacitive touchscreen. Those in power at Nintendo have often commented that work on a new machine starts one year after the launch of the last, but this seems to be jumping the gun, even with the sad state of the Wii U. However, while Microsoft and Sony are busy slugging it out in the long term, with both companies betting on Cloud computing to elongate the next-gen’s life span, Nintendo could easily launch a new console within four years. The GameCube, which the Wii U resembles in projected sales figures, had a five year run before the Wii emerged.

Whether it is an actual leak of a possible design or just some blogger’s big lie, the predicted specs of the Nintendo Fusion can be found after the break. (more…)