Nintendo NX release date news update: New console deviates from Wii and Wii U; slated for March 2017 launch?

Nintendo's upcoming new console, the Nintendo NX, will be unlike the company's previous offerings, the Wii and the Wii U.

The much-anticipated NX, the console that could make or break Nintendo, will reportedly not be at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), which will take place on June 14–16, and is said to be slated for a March 2017 release.

While Nintendo's Wii had a broad fanbase and dominated the console market during its time, consumers were somewhat indifferent to the company's next console, the Wii U. The mixed reviews and lackluster reception to the Wii U has reportedly put the future of Nintendo's console business in a precarious position. According to rumors, it is hoped that the NX could be the product that saves the Japanese consumer electronics giant.

According to Tech Radar, while the company has mostly kept mum about the Nintendo NX, a recent earnings call has revealed that the console will be released in March 2017.

That the Nintendo NX will reportedly not be at this month's E3 means that gamers will be spending the months ahead speculating on the mysterious new console's features and design.

On top of that, the unveiling of the NX, far behind that of the Xbox One Slim and the PlayStation 4 Neo, has been making fans anxious about the device. Despite rumors that Nintendo is attempting to include virtual reality (VR) support for the NX, analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities told Gaming Bolt in March that the new console is a "backward-looking technology" and that it is "not going to be very good."

Nonetheless, in December, Nintendo's new president, Tatsumi Kimishima, opened up to Time about the Nintendo NX and was decidedly more optimistic about it.

"As far as NX goes, I've said it's different and obviously a new experience," he said.

"That being said, I can assure you we're not building the next version of Wii or Wii U," he added. "It's something unique and different. It's something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make it something that will appeal to our consumer base," he explained. 

Nintendo has yet to announce the official release date for the Nintendo NX.