Nintendo's new NX hardware is believed to be a mobile-based handheld hybrid that's lacking in power, but recent patents hint the NX could leverage external hardware to boost performance. The external box is called a Supplemental Computing Device, and hooks up to Nintendo games consoles to provide various improvements like "increased processing and/or storage resources to games consoles to assist in executing a game."
Based on the deluge of information in the patent filings, Nintendo's Supplemental Computing Device (SCD) is a huge game-changer. There's a ton of applications apart from the obvious hardware processing boost, but don't think of this a console version of Razer's external Core GPU enclosure.
The SCD likely won't be that dramatic, and apparently won't affect graphics at all, just processing speed, network latency, and storage. It does, however, keep with Nintendo's penchant for uniqueness and incorporates some very interesting applications.
The most interesting SCD applications revolve around users being able to sharing their SCD's with others via online or remote access, meaning you can let other people use your hardware for an in-game boost. The patents make this out to be a kind of user-to-user service and even mentions compensation for those who share their SCD--you could get free games/discounts/ and even time on other people's SCD's.
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