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

[Rodéric]

I know the PS4 will more than likely have a graphics card that's more than likely twice or three times as fast as the Nintendo Wii U, but I don't have a console and I'm not buying a PS3 or Xbox 360 now and I don't want to wait until 2013 or 2014.

Difficult to say without any data to back that up.
We have no final spec for either console, the difference could be lower than expected.
Even if it is that high, it's about time gfx stop trying to be photorealist and go back to being art.
I can still play a SNES game today, it looks fine, a PS1 3D game ? no way.

 

[hoho]

Even if it is that high, it's about time gfx stop trying to be photorealist and go back to being art.

Biggest thing I want is more interactive game world and that will definitely need quite a lot of power from the consoles. I was actually rather amazed how static the world of Skyrim is.

 

[KKRT]

. I was actually rather amazed how static the world of Skyrim is.

Actually i dont think is static at all, everything is moving - fogs, trees, foliage, water, all cloths and flags, many bugs flying around, animals running around etc.

 

[hoho]

Actually i dont think is static at all, everything is moving - fogs, trees, foliage, water, all cloths and flags, many bugs flying around, animals running around etc.

How about furniture, branches and stones on ground or rope fences? What you describe is mostly just particle effects and npc's. I was really surprised to see that the ropes on top of the first city walls were completely static, I was fully expecting for them to sway around when touched.

 

[Dominik D]

I'd start with asking: who's claiming that Wii U is going to be less powerful than X360/PS3? I'd love to see some links as I haven't seen *anyone* claiming this. There's a huge disparity on the other side: whether it's 1.5x faster than PS360 or perhaps 3x, 4x, 5x and so on.

 

[Arwin]

I could see something like a weaker CPU, and a stronger GPU. I also don't know how they are going to work with streaming display to the, now two?, tablets, and what kind of concessions they are preparing to make.

On the one hand it would be hard to imagine them selling 'weaker' hardware so long after the release of the 360 and the PS3, but on the other hand, they have to make a system that includes a tablet for a competitive price (they always aim for 299 or less at launch, as far as I remember). That it has to render to multiple display targets further dilutes the processing power available to games. They also want a small, attractive form factor so they will be very conscious about power use. Try and see what you can make for a PC that uses 100Watt or less ...

 

[Legendary]

So everyone here on B3D thinks Wii U will have no problems getting scaled-downed ports from PS4/720 and PC next gen? Because that's the only thing that I'm worried about.

I'm already sure Nintendo will make a modestly powerful console for 2012, that the tablet will make for interesting game interaction and it'll all come at a good price.

Third party support alongside Nintendo's first party and whatever 3rd party exclusive Wii U gets is all I need for this console to rock for me next gen.

 

[hoho]

So everyone here on B3D thinks Wii U will have no problems getting scaled-downed ports from PS4/720 and PC next gen?

Depends how big market share it'll get and what kind of FPS/resolution will others target. I wouldn't be surprised if games running on sony-ms boxes at 1080p and 60FPS get downscaled to 720p@30fps for wiiu. Games that already are at 720p@30fps on the other two will be having quite a bit of trouble fitting to wiiu.

Basically the question will be decided by how many boxes can Nintendo sell before the other two come up with theirs.

 

[kagemaru]

So everyone here on B3D thinks Wii U will have no problems getting scaled-downed ports from PS4/720 and PC next gen? Because that's the only thing that I'm worried about.

I'm already sure Nintendo will make a modestly powerful console for 2012, that the tablet will make for interesting game interaction and it'll all come at a good price.

Third party support alongside Nintendo's first party and whatever 3rd party exclusive Wii U gets is all I need for this console to rock for me next gen.

As it's been mentioned before, it will most surely be closer to the 720 and PS4 than the Wii is to the current 360 and PS3.

The problem with the Wii is it's ~DX7 GPU didn't have programmable shaders and it didn't have a multi-core CPU which made it extremely hard to scale games down to the system. Next gen though, all the systems will have multi-core CPUs and it'll more than likely come down to WiiU having a DX10.1 GPU while the PS4/720 will end up with a DX11 GPU. We'll have to wait until all the systems are out to see how big of a gap there is between the WiiU and the 720/PS4.

So really in the end, the WiiU should be able to receive better port support. Now the key word there is "should" because if Ninty really doesn't do a better job catering to the 3rd party studios, or if 3rd party sales just aren't there, we may see publishers abandoning the platform (again).

 

[bgassassin]

I could see something like a weaker CPU, and a stronger GPU. I also don't know how they are going to work with streaming display to the, now two?, tablets, and what kind of concessions they are preparing to make.

On the one hand it would be hard to imagine them selling 'weaker' hardware so long after the release of the 360 and the PS3, but on the other hand, they have to make a system that includes a tablet for a competitive price (they always aim for 299 or less at launch, as far as I remember). That it has to render to multiple display targets further dilutes the processing power available to games. They also want a small, attractive form factor so they will be very conscious about power use. Try and see what you can make for a PC that uses 100Watt or less ...

Considering how Nintendo is I see them going in a slightly opposite direction with their CPU/GPU. They like balance and with how much heat a GPU can put out I can see them sticking with that direction. I would also assume that since they aren't targeting a resolution above 1080 that they would want to make sure the CPU can hold its own.

As for the controller the performance shouldn't take a hit since at worst they'll be using a single-core ARM chip (quad-core at best) to help with that. They also have a hardware codec in the console and controller for the streaming so I don't see much burden being placed on the CPU and GPU.

And as for cost, Wii and 3DS were the highest priced consoles they launched ($249). The early rumor was that the BOM was $350-$400. And Iwata recently said they are debating whether or not they will sell at a loss. I'm expecting it to launch at $349.

As it's been mentioned before, it will most surely be closer to the 720 and PS4 than the Wii is to the current 360 and PS3.

The problem with the Wii is it's ~DX7 GPU didn't have programmable shaders and it didn't have a multi-core CPU which made it extremely hard to scale games down to the system. Next gen though, all the systems will have multi-core CPUs and it'll more than likely come down to WiiU having a DX10.1 GPU while the PS4/720 will end up with a DX11 GPU. We'll have to wait until all the systems are out to see how big of a gap there is between the WiiU and the 720/PS4.

So really in the end, the WiiU should be able to receive better port support. Now the key word there is "should" because if Ninty really doesn't do a better job catering to the 3rd party studios, or if 3rd party sales just aren't there, we may see publishers abandoning the platform (again).

I agree though I think when it's all said and done the final GPU in Wii U will be a DX11-equivalent GPU. I say equivalent since Nintendo obviously won't be using DX.

 

[Arwin]

I wouldn't be surprised if we'll see something like a 5570 equivalent, if we're lucky coupled with GDDR5, or probably more likely DDR plus some EDRAM or equivalent. That should be enough to keep up with the 360 and PS3 for the multiplatform titles. For the CPU I would actually expect something PPE based, because the Wii U should want to get good, easy to port versions from the 360 and PS3. Perhaps more PPE cores, or higher clocked ones, to make life a bit easier for porting, and/or more total memory (like 1GB).

That's very much conjecture though. It's entirely possible we'll see something much more outlandish. Hard to tell with Nintendo.

 

[bgassassin]

I agree. They do like to get fancy at times.

Although I don't see Nintendo using PPEs. Since Gekko (limited), Broadway (limited), and POWER7 are all OoOe I don't see Nintendo switching from that. So far based on what we've heard, I get the feeling they are going for the 3.5Ghz OoO Xenon that MS originally wanted but couldn't get. That's kind of inline with the leaked info on those early kits of a 3-core processor clocked slightly higher than Xenon while sticking to what Nintendo has done with their past CPUs. I expect the clock will be different though as well.

 

[Butta]

Does this not seem lower than expected spec wise?

http://wiiudaily.com/2011/12/wii-u-has-quad-core-3ghz-cpu-768-mb-of-ram/

 

[AlNom]

768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU

lol

 

[onQ]

Does this not seem lower than expected spec wise?

http://wiiudaily.com/2011/12/wii-u-has-quad-core-3ghz-cpu-768-mb-of-ram/

seems good enough as long as the TV standard don't make a jump to 4K in the next few years, most people will be happy with Nintendo games just above PS3/Xbox 360 & there is a lot of games from this gen that could sell with a touch up & Wii U controller spin.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

Bleh, old rumours remixed, specially the part of the 50% more powerful.
"50% faster" is supposedly what they told the developers to count with when they started working on ports from other consoles, back in early 2011.
As they said themselves:

These were the specs that Nintendo showed developers around March 2011

And the "768MB embedded in the CPU" statement takes away every possible drop of credibility from the article.

Personally, I find the 768MB highly unlikely for a Q3 2012 launch, unless it's ultra-fast and ultra-expensive RAM. Maybe that amount of RAM made sense during the console's initial design stages in 2008/09, but I'd find it an aberration in 2012.

 

[onQ]

Bleh, old rumours remixed, specially the part of the 50% more powerful.
"50% faster" is supposedly what they told the developers to count with when they started working on ports from other consoles, back in early 2011.
As they said themselves:


And the "768MB embedded in the CPU" statement takes away every possible drop of credibility from the article.

Personally, I find the 768MB highly unlikely for a Q3 2012 launch, unless it's ultra-fast and ultra-expensive RAM. Maybe that amount of RAM made sense during the console's initial design stages in 2008/09, but I'd find it an aberration in 2012.

well they did say it was Embedded in the CPU, also I remember IBM saying something about a large amount of Embedded ram.

 

[3dilettante]

There are high end server processors that cost more than a small car that have nowhere near that much embedded memory.

 

[onQ]

There are high end server processors that cost more than a small car that have nowhere near that much embedded memory.

but what if it's a APU & this ram is Embedded for the CPU & GPU?

 

[3dilettante]

What is that supposed to change?