Fact: Nintendo to release HD console + controllers with built-in screen late 2012

[patsu]

Port Metal Gear Solid 4 to WiiU. The pad may be interesting to control the little robot. Even better if it's autonomous.

It may also be fun to invent a tech to see and shoot around corners using the WiiPad. I believe that's what real world soldiers wanted when the tech companies did a survey years ago.

The espionage and elite soldier angle should also allow the devs to bring out super high tech weapons on the Wii pad. e.g., Satellite mounted laser cannon.

EDIT: Actually, KZ3 will work too. The Engineer's sentry, the Tactician's airbot, and the Medic's drone can have their own remote controlled screens. That would be superb !

For an alien shooter like Resistance, I wouldn't mind a super powerful, compound eyed monster hunting humans down. Like combine the pad and TV visuals to locate and identify humans.

I am certain the Nintendo wizards can come up with more terrifying/terrific concepts. 8^)

EDIT 2: I hope WiiU supports 3D gaming. It would match well with 3DS. The experience could be very unique with Wiimote+ although they may need to sync the WiiU pad visuals for 3D too.

 

[Kaotik]

the garden demo doesn't look anything like 4x the performance of ps360.

We don't even have direct feed of the latest version seen by public, as the direct feed shown in Nintendo presentation was older and uglier than the one shown on show floor, which also was interactable by viewers.

 

[RudeCurve]

Heh heh!

I just thought of something else that can be done on the Wii U that just isn't as viable without a screen in the controller. Card games.

I remember playing UNO with my nephew on the Wii and one of the things I noticed was that there is really no way around letting your hand be seen. With a screen in the controller, games that require such secreted information would be easily more playable..

Yeah I'm looking forward to spending $400 for controllers to play card games.

I think it makes more sense to just spend $5 for a real UNO card deck...uses no electricity and allow others to watch TV.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I'm pleased to report that extensive moron reduction techniques have restored this thread to normal operation.

 

[-tkf-]

I finally added the WII to my Console collection and the kids love it and daddy is impressed with the different ways that the Controllers are used, besides that he could not care less

Which makes me wonder, that WII U controller, they better make it very solid and durable since it´s bound to be dropped.

 

[patsu]

The US military adopted PSP for training purposes. In one of the interviews, the Sony guy flung a regular PSP at the wall to prove its durability. That thing has a UMD drive. It survived several oh-shit drops on concrete flooring for me.

I think a WiiU pad should be ok. Nintendo is old hand at kids product (saliva-proof too probably ! )

 

[sfried]

The US military adopted PSP for training purposes. In one of the interviews, the Sony guy flung a regular PSP at the wall to prove its durability. That thing has a UMD drive. It survived several oh-shit drops on concrete flooring for me.

I think a WiiU pad should be ok. Nintendo is old hand at kids product (saliva-proof too probably ! )

How about bomb proof? Gulf War Game Boy anyone?

I wouldn't worry too much about the controllers (although the news of stored profiles is intruiging). I'm still interested in how they will avoid they generation parity they now have.

 

[patsu]

Patents for WiiU controller:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20110190052.pdf

See all the sensors here:

 

[Megadrive1988]

I never noticed this Beyond3D article untill just now: A speculative look on the Wii U GPU

 

[patsu]

3DS Sells 200,000 Post Price Drop:
http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/08/16/3ds_post_price_drop_sales/

3DS sold 207,000 units in the week of its price drop, Nikkei reported today. The figure covers August 8 through August 14.

The site sources a market research firm without giving the name, but it's presumably Enterbrain.

This sales figure tops the 206,000 unit sales for the platform in the second week following its launch earlier this year.

 

[patsu]

While we are at it...

Nintendo Stock Jumps 10%, Could Rebound to Over $50 Per Share in Next 3 Years:
http://www.industrygamers.com/news/...rebound-to-over-50-per-share-in-next-3-years/

Nintendo hasn't been faring so well of late. The company had to slash the price on its 3DS and reduce its annual profit forecast. Meanwhile, the company's stock has been down 40% this year. Overnight, however, Nintendo's stock suddenly jumped 10%. What happened? Are investors now encouraged by the new low 3DS price?

Well, that may have helped, but the real explanation for the boost is actually that there are now expectations of Nintendo being included in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average. At the moment, Nintendo shares are traded on the Osaka Exchange.

...

 

[Rangers]

Shame no Wii U at gamescom.

 

[Megadrive1988]

Shame no Wii U at gamescom.

Yeah, although TGS is right around the corner.

 

[rendezvous]

Yeah, although TGS is right around the corner.

But it seems like Nintendo won't be present at the TGS 2011.

 

[Megadrive1988]

I'm sure there will be some Wii U presense at TGS with 3rd parties.

Anyway I wanted to get back to discussing the GPU. So 240 SP would only be equal to Xenos, so Wii U GPU needs at least more than that. I also really hope they use 16 ROPs and not 8.It will allow for PS3/X360 graphics at 60fps because of the fillrate situation.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Anyway I wanted to get back to discussing the GPU. So 240 SP would only be equal to Xenos
(...)

No, even if all the rest was equal, a 240-shader R7xx VLIW5 GPU would achieve higher "shader processor" utilization than Xenos' Vec4+Scalar.

I'm not an expert in this area, but it's safe to say that each "shader unit" in the VLIW5 architecture is more capable than each "shader unit" found in X360.

As a comparison, the RV630 (HD2600, 120 shader processors, 8 TMUs, 4 ROPs) has a higher transistor count than Xenos (eDRAM included, 16 TMUs, 8 ROPs) and came out later than Xenos.

Someone here (don't remember who) claimed that shader power in the VLIW5 R7xx architecture should be roughly 50% more powerfull "per shader processor" than Xenos' Vec4+Scalar.

 

[Megadrive1988]

No, even if all the rest was equal, a 240-shader R7xx VLIW5 GPU would achieve higher "shader processor" utilization than Xenos' Vec4+Scalar.

I'm not an expert in this area, but it's safe to say that each "shader unit" in the VLIW5 architecture is more capable than each "shader unit" found in X360.

As a comparison, the RV630 (HD2600, 120 shader processors, 8 TMUs, 4 ROPs) has a higher transistor count than Xenos (eDRAM included, 16 TMUs, 8 ROPs) and came out later than Xenos.

Someone here (don't remember who) claimed that shader power in the VLIW5 R7xx architecture should be roughly 50% more powerfull "per shader processor" than Xenos' Vec4+Scalar.

Okay thanks for the clarification!

 

[Butta]

Found this on a french site (www.01net.com)... not sure how reliable it is:

Wii U : when hardware goes into development hell

As we know, the Wii U is the result of a long engineering and refining process by its secretive R&D labs. But, according to our source, it seems that the final architecture has been rushed through the door, with undesirable consequences. Nintendo’s low cost policy, which has so far allowed the company to surf the tech wave in a distinctively offbeat way, all the while maintaining incredibly high margins, could be about to backfire.

Tethered so far
So far, the Wii U controller’s main chipset - that manages the device’s essential functions, including streaming and wireless – seems inadequate. This chip, described by our source as maybe a tad too cheap, has been the sources of many headaches in recent weeks. So far, the wireless functions simply do not work – at all. There have been so far three different prototypes, and a fourth iteration is expected by select developers at the end of the month.

Developers on the brink
So far, developers are working with a tethered controller: each one is fitted with a small black box with a tethered connection to the main unit. And even then, it still doesn’t work properly. Many developers are feeling lost, their progress impeded by a distinct lack of visibility, their working days paced by the quasi-daily software updates. In those conditions, many feel unable to properly exploit the system’s most innovative and promising features, those very features they haven’t been able to test properly so far.

What about the schedule ?
Ten months before the tentative release date – developers are still expecting a June 2012 release – the fact that Nintendo engineers are still struggling to make this supposedly final architecture function properly is worrisome at best. Could Nintendo have to make radical last-minute changes, and if so, what would be the cost? This unexpected development runs contrary to Nintendo’s reputation for carefully weighing all tech options long before any announcement. Inside the company, there have been talks of a delayed release, with September as a new tentative date. Being three months off-schedule doesn’t seem such a big issue, when compared to a home console’s life cycle. But this is not 2006 anymore. The industry is undergoing a radical mutation, and there is a growing amount of rumors positioning Microsoft’s next system to be unveiled during the 2012 E3 conference, and a relase in short order. If that was to happen, the Wii U would only enjoy a few months of “optimal run” alongside the Xbox 360, which would essentially moot the much-touted ease with which developers can port 360 code for the Wii U. To succeed in its incredibly audacious endeavour, Nintendo will have to walk a very tight rope.

 

[RudeCurve]

Future doesn't look good for WiiU...

 

[Rodéric]

It's not out yet, they have time to fix it.