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Ubisoft CEO teases Nintendo NX impressions

Ubisoft co-founder Yves Guillemot

Though Nintendo is yet to formally unveil its March 2017 console, Ubisoft's Yves Guillemot appeared more than happy to sing the praises of a "fantastic machine" during a September 22 event.

Constrained by the fact that Nintendo had announced the console as well as its intention to release it in March 2017, and against the backdrop of the common assumption that the NX will blend traditions from handheld and home console gaming, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot was nonetheless effervescent in his praise for the in-development machine as it exists today.

It has a "very attractive" interface and is easy to use for all gamers," he said in conversation with IGN.

It "will give us a chance to really have a different experience from what exists today," which Guillemot identified as something "really Nintendo, coming with something new again... They come with something new that is adapted to what we actually want now."

It signals a potential change in home hardware fortunes for the Japanese console giant, which Guillemot acknowledged.

"All publishers learn from what they do," he said, in reference to the Nintendo Wii U, which could not live up to the Wii's wild success. "[Publishers] then come with something new and more attractive, which I think is the case here."

Ubisoft's own ongoing franchises include action games "Assassin's Creed," "Far Cry" and "Watch Dogs" as well as the broader-appealing "Raving Rabbids," "Just Dance" and the "Petz" and "Imagine" series.

So what of its plans for the NX? Guillemot was open to new approaches as well as gradual iteration.

"When [players] change machines, they consider that it's better to try actually what has been done for that machine, so it gives us an opportunity to either totally change [a franchise] that we have done before, or to create new experiences and new [franchises]."