The demands of modern gamers are different now than they were five years ago.

They are different than they were one year ago.

In the modern world of gaming, most people don't play games with a large surround sound system in their living room. Some do, but not the majority.

A majority of serious gamers now playing their games in surround sound. And they don't use home surround loud-speakers, but rather use surround-sound headphones to deepen their experiences, such as Astro Gaming headsets, and Turtle Beach.

With systems as early as the original Xbox, gamers have been able to use their headsets freely with Dolby Digital, enabling their headsets to achieve surround sound.

It is now how most gamers, on platforms like Xbox One, PS4, and PC, choose to game.

On Nintendo's latest systems, however, no such option has been available.

With the Wii U, the only way to enjoy 5.1 surround sound is through the HDMI port: this means that one would need to have an HDMI home sound receiver to accommodate this, leaving all other surround-sound gamers out in the dust.

Instead of getting true surround sound in their headsets, Nintendo gamers have had to deal with inferior stereo sound, and as a result, many haven't been able to receive the same sort of audio experience available on the other platforms.

It's time for Nintendo to step up with its NX hardware, and let gamers finally experience true surround sound, by including Dolby Digital (if not Atmos) support, and an optical audio output built into its latest system.

If Nintendo is to meet the needs of modern gamers, it needs to include standard features of audio: native surround sound through optical.

Including this would finally bring Nintendo's latest console on par with the others, and would allow Nintendo to not only compete with, but surpass, the competition.