Rumor: A Questionable Leaked Image of the Supposed NX Controller (or Handheld) Has Surfaced

This is one rumor that has me wondering what’s happening at Nintendo. Destructoid did a bit of legwork on a rumor reported by Dual Pixels that contained what they are claiming to be a leaked photo of the NX Controller. Their source, who goes by Idriss2Dev, has apparently given them enough confidence to come forward with the picture evidence. Idriss2Dev is over on Reddit right now talking just a little bit about the leak. Of course, that’s all well and dandy, but anyone can photoshop a controller concept, right? Especially one that looks almost identical to a prototype patent Nintendo filed – as typically versions out in the wild rarely if ever match the patent precisely. That was the first big red flag with this.

Destructoid is mentioned as doing some legwork, because the first thing to do, as someone who is not in contact with the source, is to try and debunk or verify any of the given information. Right now, it’s basically just that image. So, has that image been photoshopped? It appears unlikely based on Destructoid’s initial analysis:

“The first thing I did when we saw this image was run it through a program often used to tell if an image has been Photoshopped, based on highlighting aspects of an image that will be inconsistent in Photoshops.

While the image shows evidence of multiple times being saved over, this could be explained by the presence of the large black rectangle and date stamp on the image. It looks otherwise consistent, leading us to suspect that the image has not been Photoshopped significantly.

However, there are seeming inconsistencies with the lighting sources in the image, which mean this should still be taken with a decently sized grain of salt.”

Essentially, a lot of the typical signs it was photoshopped aren’t present, though some “slight” variance is there enough that you can’t rule it out. At best, the analysis was inconclusive. At this point while I could sit here and tell you this is fake and we’ve had some ongoing internal discussions, we can’t definitively call the bluff on this one. With some added support that can make a photoshopping unlikely, it’s time to show it to all of you and let you decide. June cannot come soon enough. Here is an image of the original patent for comparison’s sake:

Source: Dual Pixels, Destructoid