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

Maybe it's 768 Megabits, which equates to 96 MB. More reasonable but still large amount.

I am sure Nintendo want something similar to their 1T SRAM memory system, to make Wii U easy to develop for (or needed for easy backward compatible), maybe this eDRAM is it and you're right IBM did say large amount of eDRAM.

 

I don't know maybe they are doing things different since it's a console & the GPU & CPU will be using the same ram.

 

Humm...
Hollywood does contain 24MBytes of 1T-SRAM, and wikipedia says that 1T-SRAM is called as "eDRAM" among engineers:

Even then, according to the mm^2/MBit ratio using the latest 1T-SRAM-Q, 768MBytes at 45nm would amount to a total of ~860mm^2 of die area just for the "eDRAM".

768Mbits (96MBytes) would be realistic with 107mm^2 of die area, but it's just impossible that it would be used as the sole source of system RAM.. which takes us back to the starting point.



Nonetheless, these specs aren't DOUBLE CONFIRMED so I'm not trusting them that easily.

 

http://www.vg247.com/2011/12/02/more-rumored-wii-u-specs-surface-hardware-similar-to-xbox-360/

 

That's the same thing above.

 

I still think the CPU has its own eDRAM like what IBM said in their press release and that will be the main memory. The GPU will have its own RAM, probably 2-4GB GDDR5 for textures and buffers. I wonder if it will have something like A-RAM too, DDR3 is sort of cheap now, 1-4 GB DDR3 probably could help too.

 

2-4GB of GDDR5 for the GPU alone?

Not even in my wildest dreams have I thought the GPU would have that much dedicated memory.

 

that seems a bit optimistic

 

Just a wii bit.

ಠ_ಠ

 

Do what now?

 

It will be 1GB for the full system imo (and if Nintendo is generous since they are,apparently, testing two solutions, one with 768MB and the other one with 1GB ) and about the RAM, I wouldnt be surprised if they use DDR3.

 

I'm quite sure every single next gen console will use UMA (+ possible dedicated eDRAM for CPU and/or GPU) so no separated pools of memory

 

You seem to be referring to that silly rumour from WiiUDaily.com They're talking about eDram not standard memory so yes 768GB or 1GB would be amazingly generous. Its almost definitely a fake rumour anyway though. The only chance it could be true is if they're referring to 768Mb (96MB) and 1Gb (128MB), but even then its not believable.

There are far more believable sources out there and from those sources it seems the minimum amount of memory inside WiiU will be 1GB plus some eDram, with the maximum being 2GB.

 

Dev kits came with 2GB, was it? But most kits half was probably used for debugging. And those were the old kits, too.

 

If they really think they can get the hardcore market by releasing a 1GB 360+ with a gimmick in 2012 they are in a world of hurt. 360 and PS3 will still be in full swing with all the games and established online platform. This product is minimum two years late and i dont see very long life expectancy outside Nintendo 1st party. Current Wii only owners a migrating to Sony and Microsoft in drowes to actually get something to play. Wii U is too late late to stop them. Even the Nintendo fanboys have moved on if you look at the sales decline of Zelda vs boom of Skyrim.

The gimmick is not going to do them much in the casual market when stuff like Kinect is already in the market and much cheaper than a Wii U in 2012. Wii U is going to to do very moderate figures vs Wii.. this console is basically for the hardest of the hardcore that have to all consoles but barely relevant to most

 

Do you have real numbers supporting the view Wii owners are moving in droves to PS360? My guess is that Wii's are sitting in cupboards waiting for the next family event like Christmas, being treated more like a social boardgame than console. And as such I don't think there's any crossover interest between the larger part of the Wii owners and PS360 owners. There'll be families that own both to serve mildly different entertainment purposes, but not those who have ditched Wii Waggle to play hardcore FPSes and RPGs. At least not 'in droves' as you suggest (IMO, netight of us presenting supporting facts).

Your reference to Skyrim is not correlated to Wii owners migrated. That's just circumstantial evidence. It could well be that Wii owners aren't interested in more Zelda while PS360 owners are keen to play a top rated, epic RPG, with these populations being discrete and unrelated.

 

Seriously, what family of 4 has a disposable income of $60K? I know for a single person in the US to have that much disposable income you're looking at a salary of well over $120K. What level would that apply for a family of 4, somewhere well over $250K? (I know kids are expensive). The median income in Cuyahoga county in Ohio is under $63K.

Way to be completely out of touch there.

Since they're targeting the uber rich for the Wuu, does this mean system price of $599 with $130 controllers?

 

Clearly, Reggie meant himself.

 

$120K?! How come you assume that 60K of disposable salary means an income of >2*$60K??

What are those people spending more than $60K/year in? New car every year?!

Are you also assuming only the father has a job? Is that usual in USA nowadays?
Because it's pretty much prohibitive in Europe nowadays... Not economically, but culturaly (assuming both parents are healthy, of course).


Looking at Reggie's case, from my point of view it's not that far-fetched. If both parents earn ~$55K/year and they don't have huge house/car loans to sustain, I don't see why one would need to spend more than $30K/year on basic/functional needs.