Rumor - Wii2 specs leaked / Blu-Ray enabled / 1080p support / Q3 2010

[eastmen]

This rumor doesn't seem to make any sense.

The only way it makes sense is if it's a slight upgrade, aka DS lite to DS, DSi to DSL.

Nintendo is trying to follow Apple's footsteps of selling you new slightly upgraded hardware every year, no doubt about that.



Why?

because by thsi time next year not only will the 360 be $150 (99% chance) buti t will also have natal and a huge libary of games. The wii hd or wii 2 will not have that large libary of games that take advantage of it. It will be like a new system for everyone .

Who says the only new feature of a Wii 2 would be HD graphics? The controller is already confirmed to be under revision. The input interface could get a complete overhaul, for all we know. The Wii could certainly stand to be simpler. My mom is afraid to even eject the Wii Fit disc to put in Wii Sports.

MS and sony will both have their own motion controllers at the point wii 2/hd will launch. Having worse graphics wont help them at all esp if they want to charge a decent price for the system. The 360 will most likely be $150 or under and the ps3 will most likely be at the $250 mark . So unless nintendo is going to match MS its going to be a huge up hill battle. Then a year or so later MS can release a xbox next and price it slightly over the wii but of course have another year worth of graphical inovations to put into it

2011 would be a good time to introduce a dx 12

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Having worse graphics wont help them at all esp if they want to charge a decent price for the system.

I don't think that's the question.

I think the question is if having better graphics will help that at all.

The consumer base that bought the Wii already decided that graphics weren't a concern of theirs.

So what market would a WiiHD cater to? This is, in fact, the very issue that was discussed awhile ago in the 'How does Nintendo follow-up the Wii success' talks.

Introducing a WiiHD, with all the features of the Wii plus HD functionality, would either immediately kill the existing Wii sales or fail to hit its target audience.

 

[Teasy]

When the Revolution was first announced there were tons of rumors (most of them with very little resemblance to the final specs)

That's because Nintendo had multiple systems in early development before deciding on Wii's final spec. Whether this system will end up as the final Wii 2 or not I've no idea but I also wouldn't necessarily put it down as a fake either.

 

[Teasy]

I don't think that's the question.

I think the question is if having better graphics will help that at all.

The consumer base that bought the Wii already decided that graphics weren't a concern of theirs.

So what market would a WiiHD cater to? This is, in fact, the very issue that was discussed awhile ago in the 'How does Nintendo follow-up the Wii success' talks.

Introducing a WiiHD, with all the features of the Wii plus HD functionality, would either immediately kill the existing Wii sales or fail to hit its target audience.

Firstly the fact Wii owners didn't see worse graphics as a reason not to buy Wii does not mean they have no interest in better graphics. Second there's no reason why any new system would need to be only a Wii with better graphics. Obviously other innovations could be made to keep the game play fresh.

 

[Eteric]

Firstly the fact Wii owners didn't see worse graphics as a reason not to buy Wii does not mean they have no interest in better graphics. Second there's no reason why any new system would need to be only a Wii with better graphics. Obviously other innovations could be made to keep the game play fresh.

This is true.

I think the problem that Nintendo is facing right now is that due to their system's lack of power, they're missing out on a lot of key multiplatform games this generation. Games like Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Fallout 3, etc, are absent on the Wii.

This is likely leading to a degeneration of the core base that the Wii originally had in it's first year. It's also causing the Wii's reputation to turn sour among core gamers. Hell, if you go to any big gaming forum, the hate for the Wii is pretty immense, and this is a big problem for Nintendo.

While you might feel that Nintendo doesn't care about what's happening with the third parties. I think Nintendo DOES care to an extent, as the more games that sell on their platform, the more money they make. Also, the lack of third party games is hurting their word of mouth pretty badly.

As for the trade in, I could kind of see Nintendo doing this to sort of bring the casual owners who like the Wii ___ line over.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

I dont think lack of power is the real problem. It might be to some extend as you cant just port your games over, but Nintendo has sold 56million wii's. Isnt that about the same as the ps3 and x360 together? So the potential userbase is equal and with lower dev costs it shouldnt be the case that you cant make a RE5 or FallOut3 because there isnt a large enough market.

I think the real problem is a collection of situation from the past 3 years and maybe even from back in the GC era.

Back in the GC era there was already a lack of 3rd party support. Than Nintendo came up with Wii. I doubt they took it to devs long before the release and try and make them support the platform. When it was announced, I dont think a lot of devs thought it would take off. Then it did, but devs missed the boat. They released utter shit for about a year, released a little less shit the year after and right now its decent at best but still no 3rd party dev really tried to make a real AAA title with AAA budget, AAA dev teams and AAA marketing budget.

They keep saying that their games dont sell on Wii. Well its obvious. Why buy Dead Space on rail or RE on rails? Other platforms have the version how it should be done. People dont want to cheap versions, they want a real full all out version. Its not a case of cant be done. Yes wii has less power but its not a freaking snes. Last gen they did full 3d shooters and whatever so wii can easily do that too. Still where is the RE4 for wii in terms of GFX? Bit better lighting, bit more poly's and better textures, all which should be very possible on Wii and you would have a game that wouldnt look bad at all, just not as good as the other consoles.

And ofcourse there is a case of nintendo not giving a damn. They spend tons of time and marketing money on stuff like Wiifit and they completely forgot that what makes them live are the ''core'' gamers and not the people that might buy a few of those none games and might not even be there anymore in a couple of years time. What did nintendo themselves release in terms of wii specific build core games that had AAA quality? only Brawl and Mario. There is also MP3 but that is 2nd party I think.

We can pretty much give up on any 3rd party making a good wii game. If they didnt bother to do so after 3 years than they will never do.

So there is Nintendo left. They got some things like the 2 new mario's but I'm scared they will be very thumbed down and too easy. Galaxy was already too easy I think and with all the help play in NSMB wii I dont know where that will go. So that basically means there might only be zelda left. All pretty thin if you ask me.

One thing I do know is that I wont be buying the next Nintendo console untill well after Nintendo and 3rd party showed they will be releasing good games because most of my wii games are ports of last gen and I'm not happy with the quality of the wii only games. My wii is gathering dust for a year now.

 

[fearsomepirate]

No. Adding movie playback isn't going to rocket them back to where they were. Wii didn't become #1 by being a set-top box, and its momentum didn't slow because of not having Blu-Ray playback. Its momentum slowed because the software in the last year hasn't been compelling. Unless they've all had brain transplants at Nintendo leadership, or all had some kind of religious conversion, switching from selling machines based on compelling, accessible games to trying to sell them based on HD movie playback isn't happening.

. They spend tons of time and marketing money on stuff like Wiifit and they completely forgot that what makes them live are the ''core'' gamers

Would these be the same core gamers that didn't buy the N64 or Gamecube? The same core that has failed to make either PS3 or 360 the success that PS1 and PS2 were? If Nintendo kept trying to appease the insatiable "core," they were going to be run out of the console business entirely. Going back to the market fundamentals of the NES (kids, non-gamers, new gamers, lapsed gamers, "for everyone") was the smart thing. They simply dropped the ball last year when they decided user-generated content would be the next big thing.

I think Nintendo's Achilles heel is content. For over a decade, they've pretty much been recycling their own content over and over. Rare was basically their "fresh content division" on the N64, and they don't have that anymore. Even Mario Kart Wii, which is the best MK in a long time, is about half recycled tracks. Animal Crossing Wii had mostly the same content as the DS game. They're beating Metroid to death. Link keeps going to Kakariko village and fighting Ganon.

 

[obonicus]

There's also a problem with NoA. Compared to the US, there is a lot more fresh content being generated in Japan. Not a lot of them are hits in Japan, but you'd figure that with the sort of cash Nintendo has they'd be a little more adventurous with trying to reach other markets.

 

[Zassk]

A Wii 2 with an ATI 5750 would destroy X360 and PS3.

Let's be realistic: it is the X360's successor that will probably contain a 5750 in it, not the Wii's successor.

Nintendo will go for just enough power to make Zelda look ok in 720p HD, they won't spend a cent more than that.

They were unwilling to pay the license to play DVD movies, so I simply can't see them paying the license for BD movies. And it's certainly not likely that they need more disc capacity than the current XBox.

 

[KongRudi]

Assuming this leak is true, it's not necesarilly planned for release in 2010/11.
Bluray seems reasonable, it's better than DVD - and better piracy-protection, and probably won't cost much more than DVD when it releases, just fewer corporations getting the more licensing-money from Nintendo. :-/

 

[wco81]

What is Nintendo going to have to do to make current Wii owners upgrade? Graphics might be one area. It won't be hard to improve on Wii's graphics, or at this point, the X360/PS3 graphics.

But will they have to aim to be competitive with the next-gen MS and Sony products too? Not best them but be in the anticipated ballpark, especially if MS and Sony especially try to reach a more competitive price-point at launch?

Wii's success is something of a fluke, the first time in console history that a product with vastly inferior tech won by such a huge margin. Can Nintendo count on history repeating itself?

If graphics have become so secondary -- despite the big change in the market, i.e. much higher installed base of HDTVs -- why would the Wii gamers upgrade? They could just as easily decide to keep playing Wii Sports for the next 5 years, with its cartoony graphics and brain-dead depth.

It'd be good to see them or either of the other companies push out new consoles sooner than later. Not likely but tech presses on. Other electronics products see incremental but substantial improvements almost on a yearly basis, while consoles try to take a bigger jump ever 5-6 years.

Last time though, the jump wasn't as big as in previous generational transitions. In Nintendo's case, it was more of a hop than a jump, yet it worked out well for them. We should be more concerned that MS and Sony try to imitate Nintendo's strategy than what Nintendo may do. Someone has to move the state of the art forward.

 

[Love_In_Rio]

Let's be realistic: it is the X360's successor that will probably contain a 5750 in it, not the Wii's successor.

Nintendo will go for just enough power to make Zelda look ok in 720p HD, they won't spend a cent more than that.

They were unwilling to pay the license to play DVD movies, so I simply can't see them paying the license for BD movies. And it's certainly not likely that they need more disc capacity than the current XBox.

Yes, realistically so i said it would have something like a mobility radeon: 5650 or so that is already two times powerful than Xenos or RSX. Cost and wattage of a 5650 derivative would be doable for a Wii 2.

 

[fearsomepirate]

Wii's success is something of a fluke, the first time in console history that a product with vastly inferior tech won by such a huge margin.

The NES basically competed against home gaming computers, which all were much more powerful.

 

[Schaden]

The NES basically competed against home gaming computers, which all were much more powerful.

NES was a good value, the Amiga or ST were out of reach for many kids. The nintendo outperformed the Apple II/C64, even my IIGS in many action games. It had the dedicated scrolling/sprite hw.

 

[FirewalkR]

I believe in 2010 because all consoles will basically be at the same level, HD + Motion (even if MS's solution is more advanced, though it may be more difficult to implement some games with it).

If all they want in terms of graphics is the same as the other two consoles, something like a Nvidia 8000 series or equivalent ATI hardware should be enough to run rings around them. I hope they go for something more recent. This gen disappoints me, I need more POWER.

 

[fehu]

Yes, realistically so i said it would have something like a mobility radeon: 5650 or so that is already two times powerful than Xenos or RSX. Cost and wattage of a 5650 derivative would be doable for a Wii 2.

what is the tdp of hollywood?

 

[Love_In_Rio]

what is the tdp of hollywood?

The full Wii consumption peak is under 25 watts. But I think a cpu upgrade ( let´s say two cores like Broadway ) and a 5640-alike GPU would be near 75 watts. Doable and less than PS3 slim and X360.

 

[Mobius1aic]

Yes, realistically so i said it would have something like a mobility radeon: 5650 or so that is already two times powerful than Xenos or RSX. Cost and wattage of a 5650 derivative would be doable for a Wii 2.

2x? The 2900/38xx/46xx series cards were at least 1.5x + more powerful than Xenos, and could handle much higher resolutions to boot. If the 56xx is going to be based upon/built off of the RV730 or RV740 configuration (640 SPs), then I'd consider it 3x more powerful, maybe even 4x if the clock speed is high enough.

 

[obonicus]

No mention of specs, but David Ellis from 1up mentioned that it seems that there are 'Wii HD' devkits out in developers' hands. I brought him up last for the 'Natal without processor' rumor; at this point I think it's clear that he has a developer friend or two who like to blab to journalists.

 

[liolio]

Well the more interesting part of this news is the timing (if true obviously). This is a bad bad news for Sony imho. They are likely to suffer a lot more than Ms from this launch: they have a lot to lose in Japan, they can't price their system as low as Ms will to somehow resist the storm till their respective next-gen systems are out.