Iwata interview @ Nikkei

[one]

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President interview @ Nikkei
http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20060512/237702/?ST=newtech&P=1

Since it overlapps what they said at the E3 conference, I pick up what I think new facts in the interview:

• It was 13 months ago we got the feeling that it'd be successful by playing the prototype
• We started the R&D about new UI 3 years ago, created the task force group 2 years ago, and the final shape was decided 1 year ago
• Wii uses the internal flash memory as a cache to speed up loading. Also, the data of a game previously played is left in the flash and reused when it's played again.
• Between the controller and Wii is Bluetooth. Infrared is used to point a TV screen. This is not IrDA, it's just a infrared pointer accepted by the sensor bar. Wii has wireless LAN too, it's used to connect to DS and the internet.
• When running a game Wii consumes 50W with a fan spinning. In the "Wii Connect 24" sleep mode in which it's connected to the internet to get data push from Nintendo, the fan stops and consumes only 5W.
• (Answering the last question about the CPU clockspeed) The CPU clockspeed number is meaningless to a user.

 

[NANOTEC]

That's interesting. So if I have a 4GB SD card, does it mean that space can also be used for caching? Or is caching only avaiable from the internal flash?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

That's interesting. So if I have a 4GB SD card, does it mean that space can also be used for caching?

Unlikely, seeing as he said Internal flash is used for caching.

 

[NANOTEC]

Unlikely, seeing as he said Internal flash is used for caching.

Well just becuase he didn't mention external flash doesn't mean it couldn't work hence why I asked. It was mentioned before that the internal flash can hold game downloads which an external flash can also do.

 

[Refreshment]

Doesnt the flash memory useful life deteriorate with use? More over when the use is constant, like in the case of caching.

So what happens when it stops working?

512 MB of flash, for caching, saving user data and downloads. Doesnt look like a good idea.

Maybe im wrong.

 

[Bobbler]

Well just becuase he didn't mention external flash doesn't mean it couldn't work hence why I asked. It was mentioned before that the internal flash can hold game downloads which an external flash can also do.

I doubt it would be much use, as when a game is made they are looking at the 512mb of flash and they can only use a portion of that (likely). There wouldn't really be a very feasible way to take advantage of a huge external card unless it was specifically allowed and assumed such things as a large external flash card are commonplace.

 

[NANOTEC]

I doubt it would be much use, as when a game is made they are looking at the 512mb of flash and they can only use a portion of that (likely). There wouldn't really be a very feasible way to take advantage of a huge external card unless it was specifically allowed and assumed such things as a large external flash card are commonplace.

Can't they just program the way PC games are programmed and scale with the hardware?

 

[Bobbler]

Doesnt the flash memory useful life deteriorate with use? More over when the use is constant, like in the case of caching.

So what happens when it stops working?

512 MB of flash, for caching, saving user data and downloads. Doesnt look like a good idea.

Maybe im wrong.

IIRC the life is pretty long on flash now days, and with some smart flash memory controller to take care of a lot of the issues (like balances things so that no bit gets used significantly moroe than any other -- so no bit is very likely to fail sooner than others), I wouldn't worry too much. We might not see as many working Revs in 20 years as we see NESs now days, but I don't imagine that'll be of much use with B/C actually becomming more standard. I think you'll find the DVD drive going out before the flash in most cases anyways.

 

[Bobbler]

Can't they just program the way PC games are programmed and scale with the hardware?

Sounds like dangerous territory there. Much of the benefit of a closed platform is that you know the hardware and don't need to plan on several different configurations. And in this case there wouldn't be much scaling going on, since the assets loaded are going to be the same regardless of how much flash you got.

I wouldn't put the type of situation out of question, but I don't forsee it being done by more than a handful of games if at all -- I think most games would be fine with just the internal flash caching, because they are, afterall, going to be made with that in mind. I don't think there is a big enough benefit for any dev to really worry about it.

 

[NANOTEC]

Well see this is the way I think it could work. Since GC games don't require much disc space being only 1.5GB in size, that means you could basically load the whole game into a 2GB SD card and have very fast loading. Looking at GC and the 16MB of ARAM, an external SD card can suppllement the ARAM which was used for buffering.

 

[Fox5]

Satoru Iwata, Nintendo President interview @ Nikkei
http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/NEWS/20060512/237702/?ST=newtech&P=1

Since it overlapps what they said at the E3 conference, I pick up what I think new facts in the interview:

• It was 13 months ago we got the feeling that it'd be successful by playing the prototype
• We started the R&D about new UI 3 years ago, created the task force group 2 years ago, and the final shape was decided 1 year ago
• Wii uses the internal flash memory as a cache to speed up loading. Also, the data of a game previously played is left in the flash and reused when it's played again.
• Between the controller and Wii is Bluetooth. Infrared is used to point a TV screen. This is not IrDA, it's just a infrared pointer accepted by the sensor bar. Wii has wireless LAN too, it's used to connect to DS and the internet.
• When running a game Wii consumes 50W with a fan spinning. In the "Wii Connect 24" sleep mode in which it's connected to the internet to get data push from Nintendo, the fan stops and consumes only 5W.
• (Answering the last question about the CPU clockspeed) The CPU clockspeed number is meaningless to a user.

So the Wii project started about 3 years ago, which was about the last time we heard about a high powered next gen system from Nintendo.
Flash harddrive eh? Neato. I wonder if it's like Xbox where the last 4 games played were left cached, or just the last game played.
Bluetooth! Usually Nintendo doesn't go for industry standards. How does the infrared detect where it's pointing? Angle and distance from the bar? How would the distance be determined? Or does it make you run a calibration thing first (Point at the corners of the screen)? I wonder if Nintendo will get the adhoc stuff working well, I've always found adhoc problematic on PCs.
50W was about the power envelope of the gamecube as well, slightly higher actually.
Lol, I like how open they are about things like power consumption, but then state CPU clockspeed is meaningless. Like the end user cares about caching data to flash or how the wiimote works?

I hope the flash memory is expandable/lets you use external flash, it would be nice for a speed boost (since newer flash memory is faster), plus to hold downloadable content.

 

[Rodéric]

How does the infrared detect where it's pointing?
Angle and distance from the bar?
How would the distance be determined?
Or does it make you run a calibration thing first (Point at the corners of the screen)?

Nintendo stated that within 5 meters the Wiimote can be used as pointer on screen, so I suppose the sensor bar is used for that at this range.
Dunno how it works exactly, don't really care that much, it works, and it works well according to people having tried it, that's all I care about ^^

 

[NANOTEC]

Dunno how it works exactly, don't really care that much, it works, and it works well according to people having tried it, that's all I care about ^^

But B3D is about tech so we need to investigate how it works.

 

[Rodéric]

But B3D is about tech so we need to investigate how it works.

[Warning : post made late at night being already tired the afternoon...]

Agreed, but we are more into 3D hardware.. even though I think it'll be nice to have CPU tech articles, but you'd have to kick Dave's butt ^^

 

[Fox5]

[Warning : post made late at night being already tired the afternoon...]

Agreed, but we are more into 3D hardware.. even though I think it'll be nice to have CPU tech articles, but you'd have to kick Dave's butt ^^

But...the Wii works in 3 dimensional space, how much more 3d hardware can you get than that!

 

[Thunder Emperor]

So the Wii project started about 3 years ago, which was about the last time we heard about a high powered next gen system from Nintendo.
Flash harddrive eh? Neato. I wonder if it's like Xbox where the last 4 games played were left cached, or just the last game played.
Bluetooth! Usually Nintendo doesn't go for industry standards. How does the infrared detect where it's pointing? Angle and distance from the bar? How would the distance be determined? Or does it make you run a calibration thing first (Point at the corners of the screen)? I wonder if Nintendo will get the adhoc stuff working well, I've always found adhoc problematic on PCs.
50W was about the power envelope of the gamecube as well, slightly higher actually.
Lol, I like how open they are about things like power consumption, but then state CPU clockspeed is meaningless. Like the end user cares about caching data to flash or how the wiimote works?

I hope the flash memory is expandable/lets you use external flash, it would be nice for a speed boost (since newer flash memory is faster), plus to hold downloadable content.

at gdc iwata metioned that storage was expandable, through usb. so meaning external hard drives for game storage. whihcis sweet