• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Wii U Speculation Thread 2: Can't take anymore of this!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
Can't wait till around april/may when 01net spills the beans on EVERYTHING.

That would irritate me beyond belief.

We'd already be a month or so away. Just let the surprise be a surprise.
 

AzaK

Member

Glass Joe

Member
If people could understand that the Playstation 2 was another generation, they shouldn't have problems understanding the Wii U is another generation. At least not the kind of people that is allowed to walk alone. Or the kind of people that doesn't want to be confused.

Hey, I didn't intend to argue FOR Nintendo changing the name, but when I think about it, I guess I do feel they should.

For example, if DSi is simply a revision of the DS, then I can see why Wii U logically sounds like a revision of the Wii.

Meanwhile, "Super," "Advance" "2, 3, etc" are all pretty uninspired naming conventions. However, they are more clear to the average consumer IMO.

Personally, I'd like them to draw attention to the features of the console in the name. Nintendo "Stream," "Touch," "HD," "Tablet," or hopefully something more creative. But that could just be me.
 

Hiltz

Member
E3 2012

Iwata: We gave it some thought and we decided that...

Audience: ...

Iwata: Wii U will be called ....

Audience Come on. Come on! *crosses fingers*

Iwata: Wii U.

Audience: No !!

Iwata: Enjoy the show.
 
E3 2012

Iwata: We gave it some thought and we decided that...

Audience: ...

Iwata: Wii U will be called ....

Audience Come on. Come on! (crosses fingers)

Iwata: Wii U.

Audience: No !!

Iwata: Enjoy the show.

I would love it if Iwata did this.
Just because it would be such a perfect troll for no reason.
 

Hiltz

Member
Iwata will probably say that their decision to keep it as Wii U was entirely up to Miyamoto. Then Miyamoto comes out and reveals Pikmin 3 and that orignial IP he's been working on. Crowd goes nuts but still holds a grudge against him.
 

Instro

Member
I'm super excited for whatever Monolith is cooking, hopefully whatever RPG they may be making, will follow in Xenoblade's footsteps.

Well I remember their comment from Iwata asks basically saying they wanted to compete with Bethesda. Truthfully I want a BK sequel, but I will take that on 3DS if I have to.
 
I hate when I seen Xenoblade posted and I have yet to play it :(

I want it in HD on my WiiU
LLShC.gif
 

Vinci

Danish
I really hope there is some extra secret functionality to the WiiU that we havent heard about because as cool as the tablet controller is, I cant see it taking off like the Wii did.

I'd imagine any 'secret functionality' would have a great deal to do with the touchscreen controller... which is to say that mitigating its appeal before seeing the full extent to how it could be utilized is probably not wise.

FWIW, I think the Wii U controller could be huge depending on how Nintendo handles it.
 
I'd imagine any 'secret functionality' would have a great deal to do with the touchscreen controller... which is to say that mitigating its appeal before seeing the full extent to how it could be utilized is probably not wise.

FWIW, I think the Wii U controller could be huge depending on how Nintendo handles it.

Actually, I bet any secret function would be part of the Nintendo Network.
Like the previously mentioned ability to watch your friends play a game from across the country.
 
All major regions will have gotten Xenoblade one way or another by E3, so I expect MLSI's Wii U project to be properly announced then. I won't be devastated if it's absent though.
 
Actually, I bet any secret function would be part of the Nintendo Network.
Like the previously mentioned ability to watch your friends play a game from across the country.

I still think this would be totally awesome. I'd love to be able to be playing a single player game on the TV and having a friend's game streamed to the controller. If Nintendo can create a good cross game voice chat solution, we could each be talking about the games we're playing and I could look in on his whenever there was a boss battle or something.

I will be elated if this is possible.
 

LOCK

Member
I would also love to see a Xenoblade game of some sorts at E3. Also the console needs to be redesigned....its just boring.

We should hear info at GDC, at least OS wise.
 
I think we're very likely to see two separate SKUs with 2 different colours if the 3DS is anything to go by. My money would be on black and white or black and gray personally, and if so I'll be buying the black one.

And we might have the addition of clickable sticks and analog triggers if Nintendo have been paying attention to feedback from just about everyone after last years E3. I'll be very surprised if they don't anyway.
 

Mlatador

Banned
I would also love to see a Xenoblade game of some sorts at E3. Also the console needs to be redesigned....its just boring.

We should hear info at GDC, at least OS wise.

That will definitely not happen. 100% not. It takes time to make a game of the caliber of Xenoblade or even a Xenoblade 2. We won't see such a game as a launch title.
 
I've said it before. Clickable sticks, or really any feature, will only be added if third parties deem it important.
Nintendo doesn't care what forum dwellers have to say.

That will definitely not happen. 100% not. It takes time to make a game of the caliber of Xenoblade or even a Xenoblade 2. We won't see such a game as a launch title.



No, but it's been like two years since XB has been completed.
They likely have something to show.
 
That will definitely not happen. 100% not. It takes time to make a game of the caliber of Xenoblade or even a Xenoblade 2. We won't see such a game as a launch title.

It took three years for Xenoblade. Monolith has currently been working on something for two.

While a launch title is out of the cards, it'll most likely be in a presentable state by E3.
 

JJConrad

Sucks at viral marketing
Why do all these people thinking that Nintendo should change the Wii U's name because it might be confusing don't realize that changing the name would only compound the problem?
 
Why do all these people thinking that Nintendo should change the Wii U's name because it might be confusing don't realize that changing the name would only compound the problem?

In what way?
The vast majority of people that are going to buy the system don't even know it exists yet.
And the people that do, would know about the name change within days.
 

z0m3le

Banned
There's a difference in having a base where the CPU is based on an existing line of their processors, which is what normally happens, and a base where they already started making something for consoles before getting any input from what the console makers might want. The latter doesn't happen nor needs to since the console CPU is going to be based on existing architecture. That's an unnecessary cost to start something in general and then modify when you can just modify or build something based on what you already have. And I couldn't disagree more with Nintendo not doing much customization to the CPU. All signs point to the CPU being based on POWER7. That chip itself is too big and hot for a console. They are either going to heavily modify it to work in that case, or what is most likely to happen is build something from the ground up based on POWER7 since the POWER7 CPU is only made with eight cores.

It's not just about lowering clocks as I expect Nintendo to be picky about the clock speeds to the point where I see them sticking with multiples like with GC/Wii. And considering the heat the GPU puts out, I'd see them focusing on much lower clocks.

And the reason why I said you can't ignore the RAM's power draw is because you have to look at the console's total TDP so it still has to be factored in.

Actually the 360 wasn't quite like that. It used unified shaders, but apparently was not VLIW-based like future ATi GPUs. So from what I recall that wasn't based on anything in existence. With Wii U's GPU, I doubt it starts from those two unless when you say 6700 you mean Barts instead of Juniper since they could have just put a Juniper in the dev kit if that were the case. But referring back to Xenos, it's not guaranteed that Wii U's GPU will be VLIW-based either essentially eliminating all Radeon lines from consideration. AMD said themselves that VLIW5 saw poorer utilization once DX10 came into existence. We could very well see something not VLIW-based with the GPU to overcome that issue.

IMO 40nm or 28nm makes the most sense if you are looking at it from a PC perspective. This isn't something with interchangeable components so it doesn't have to have those "standard" processes. At the same time using TSMC doesn't sound like a Nintendo move for the reason I mentioned before. That to me would have played into why they used NEC the last two gens to make their GPUs. As for your argument against using 32nm, I think it really underestimates AMD's capabilities. If they haven't done it before and in turn couldn't do it now, then I would question their ability as a processor maker. At the same time while looking up to see how old the 32nm process is, it is also considered in the "mainline" of process shrinks while 28nm isn't. 32nm is a more mature process than 28nm and still gets them the benefits of a much cooler GPU compared to the 55nm GPU in the dev kit.

But you are right though. In then end it will be powerful and won't blow up your house.

I find it funny that you and I are arguing the CPU and GPU side completely opposite, you think the CPU will be based on Power7 but think the GPU won't be based on anything, you also believe that they will create a brand new gpu process (a tick and tock in one cycle) where you have new architecture going into a new process for AMD GPUs at least, usually they wouldn't touch a new process without extending their existing architecture, GPUs are very complicated after all, and can have major problems if they take a chance like that.

I think you could be right about everything, but I think it's more likely they will use a 40nm or a 28nm, if they used a 32nm, it will be HD4000-HD6000 based, shrunk into 32nm, but it would be more expensive than using HD7000 at 28nm, so either it will be a new architecture at 40nm, or something more a long the lines that I am saying, and 360 is R500, it's part of AMD's GPU architecture, it fits in between HD1800-HD2900 it's highly customized and HD2000 series which i believe is R520 was highly based on the advances we saw with it. Also VILW5 was not used as much in Dx10 because people weren't coding for 5 threads anymore, so 20% of the gpu was hardly ever used.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/4
there is an excellent review that talks about why they went VILW4.

I think that there is little chance AMD and Nintendo will come up with a brand new architecture, about the only reason they would is because ArtX former employees have some sort of design, but I think their time would be better spent customizing a HD6000 or HD7000 chip, now you could be right with AMD shrinking an HD6000 design down to 32nm, but it would be better for them to shrink it down to 28nm, if we are talking about 6 months from now, I doubt TSMC's problems will be a big deal at that time.
 

Mlatador

Banned
I've said it before. Clickable sticks, or really any feature, will only be added if third parties deem it important.
Nintendo doesn't care what forum dwellers have to say.





No, but it's been like two years since XB has been completed.
They likely have something to show.

That implies they would have gotten Wii U devkits 2 years ago, which they most likely havent - and I even doubt they exicsted in 2010. Xenoblade didn't do that well when it first came out in Japan, so I even doubt Monolith were thinking about a sequel during that time.

Though things have changed. The game got popular, got lots of hype and even triggered some additional sales in Japan. It even gets a release in NA now. Operation rainfall didn't go unnoticed.

A game like Xenoblade 2 would definitely be a great fit for the Wii U, to show off some of it's power. And Monolith showed with the frist game that they are very capable of producing an epic RPG with a huge world regardless the "weak" hardware. So imagine what they'll be able to do with a machine several times faster than the Wii.

If anyhing, Monolith and Nintendo probably have gotten fond of the Idea of another huge game not too long ago (not before OP Rainfall probably), so that a potential development may just be in it's very early stages. If that's true, we'll be seeing such a game not earlier than 2013 or 14.
 
Well, I never implied they were making a sequel.
And they didn't need Wii U dev kits to start a project.
They actually did a couple of things about how they are doing HD development.
They'd just need some normal PCs to start with like artwork and models and such.
Then start actual programming once they got devkits (which probably DID exist in 2010, given that they had playable stuff at E3 2011...)
 

Alrus

Member
It would be a huge missed opportunity not to make a sequel to Xenoblade, it's one of the best received jrpg this gen, a possible sequel could do much better than the original.

And this time mandate a simultaneous release between america and europe so we don't end up with the same stupid situation as the first one.
 
Well, I never implied they were making a sequel.
And they didn't need Wii U dev kits to start a project.
They actually did a couple of things about how they are doing HD development.
They'd just need some normal PCs to start with like artwork and models and such.
Then start actual programming once they got devkits (which probably DID exist in 2010, given that they had playable stuff at E3 2011...)

This.
I get the impression sometimes that people assume programming for video games begins day 1 of development while art, levels, story etc are frantically added in like tracks being laid before a speeding steam train.

And this time mandate a simultaneous release between america and europe so we don't end up with the same stupid situation as the first one.

Mandating simultaneous releases is just as stupid.
 

Mlatador

Banned
Well, I never implied they were making a sequel.
And they didn't need Wii U dev kits to start a project.
They actually did a couple of things about how they are doing HD development.
They'd just need some normal PCs to start with like artwork and models and such.
Then start actual programming once they got devkits (which probably DID exist in 2010, given that they had playable stuff at E3 2011...)

Yes, but concidering how devs said that Nintendo has made some significant changes to the devskits they just got month ago, I doubt the very early ones did help them very much.

My specualtion is that they may had another project/or at least some ideas going right after Xenoblade, but not necessarily a sequel to Xenoblade. Somehow, however, I have the feeling that after the events of OP Rainfall, the idea of a direct sequel has become much more attractive to them as well as Nintendo, but like I've said, not before.
 

LOCK

Member
Though sequels to existing franchises are going to be great, I'm more excited about the new stuff Nintendo will bring to the table.

Look at Wii Sports for example, genius game development right there, and the Wii interface is actually really cool. So this makes me more hyped than anything.
 
Yes, but concidering how devs said that Nintendo has made some significant changes to the devskits they just got month ago, I doubt the very early ones did help them very much.

I just ... I don't even ... What?

My specualtion is that they may had another project/or at least some ideas going right after Xenoblade, but not necessarily a sequel to Xenoblade. Somehow, however, I have the feeling that after the events of OP Rainfall, the idea of a direct sequel has become much more attractive to them as well as Nintendo, but like I've said, not before.

Operation Rainfall likely had about as much effect on whether there'd be a sequel as my hat did.

Also, Monolith is a Nintendo subsidiary - they are not separate.
 

Mlatador

Banned
Operation Rainfall likely had about as much effect on whether there'd be a sequel as my hat did.

Also, Monolith is a Nintendo subsidiary - they are not separate.

I know, but does it mean that they have to dictate Monolith every future game or even game idea? It doesn't mean they can't come up with something they themselves have thought about or make any suggestions, so like I've said, IMHO it's likely both sides - regardless of what else may have been on the table - had a sudden consensus that Xenoblade 2 might be the next right thing to do, after all the OP Rainfall fuss.
 
I know, but does it mean that they have to dictate Monolith every future game or even game idea? It doesn't mean they can't come up with something they themselves have thought about or make any suggestions, so like I've said, IMHO it's likely both sides - regardless of what else may have been on the table - had a sudden consensus that Xenoblade 2 might be the next right thing to do, after all the OP Rainfall fuss.

30,000 people (?) causing a bit of fuss on the internet for a few weeks over titles they 'hadn't played yet' is unlikely to have been a deciding factor in anything, especially whether or not to sink a few million dollars into a sequel.
 

Instro

Member
I'd be genuinely surprised if the next console Monolithsoft game is not Baten Kaitos.

I'd certainly bet that is what Honne is working on. As Ace mentioned, the card system in conjunction with the two screens would be fantastic. At the same time, a XenoBlade style game seems like the way forward for them in terms of sales. Baten Kaitos in its previous forms is certainly a tough sell, domestically and internationally. Then again...there's nothing stopping BK3 being open world, or incorporating things that would help boost sales.

More so than any other studio, I really want to know what they are working on.
 
Well, they don't have to call it BK3 (and likely won't).
And new console means a new userbase to sell a series to, so making it successful it just a matter of marketing.
 

royalan

Member
It would be a huge missed opportunity not to make a sequel to Xenoblade, it's one of the best received jrpg this gen, a possible sequel could do much better than the original.

And this time mandate a simultaneous release between america and europe so we don't end up with the same stupid situation as the first one.

I'd be surprised if Xenoblade got a sequel, to be honest.

Not that it wasn't a great game, but now that Monolith has more than proven that they can produce critically acclaimed, AAA-tier games, I think it would be better for them to produce a new game, instead of a sequel to a game that not too many people played.
 
I find it funny that you and I are arguing the CPU and GPU side completely opposite, you think the CPU will be based on Power7 but think the GPU won't be based on anything, you also believe that they will create a brand new gpu process (a tick and tock in one cycle) where you have new architecture going into a new process for AMD GPUs at least, usually they wouldn't touch a new process without extending their existing architecture, GPUs are very complicated after all, and can have major problems if they take a chance like that.

I think you could be right about everything, but I think it's more likely they will use a 40nm or a 28nm, if they used a 32nm, it will be HD4000-HD6000 based, shrunk into 32nm, but it would be more expensive than using HD7000 at 28nm, so either it will be a new architecture at 40nm, or something more a long the lines that I am saying, and 360 is R500, it's part of AMD's GPU architecture, it fits in between HD1800-HD2900 it's highly customized and HD2000 series which i believe is R520 was highly based on the advances we saw with it. Also VILW5 was not used as much in Dx10 because people weren't coding for 5 threads anymore, so 20% of the gpu was hardly ever used.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4061/amds-radeon-hd-6970-radeon-hd-6950/4
there is an excellent review that talks about why they went VILW4.

I think that there is little chance AMD and Nintendo will come up with a brand new architecture, about the only reason they would is because ArtX former employees have some sort of design, but I think their time would be better spent customizing a HD6000 or HD7000 chip, now you could be right with AMD shrinking an HD6000 design down to 32nm, but it would be better for them to shrink it down to 28nm, if we are talking about 6 months from now, I doubt TSMC's problems will be a big deal at that time.

Hold on there for a moment. I didn't say the GPU won't be based on anything. I said it's possible that it might not be based on VLIW. I also said that I don't see the final GPU having really anything in common with an R700 other than ALU count. Also looking at the GC and 360 GPU, I can't agree with your assessment about the usage of new architecture. I also still believe you are underestimating their capabilities based on that. I'd like to believe they are smart enough to make it work if they choose that direction.

I don't see 40nm being cool enough and I don't see 28nm being stable enough on top of not being main nodes, though I originally felt 28nm would be something they might try for. Considering process history and Nintendo's history in choosing those processes, 32nm is the most likely choice. 45nm and 32nm are main ITRS nodes. We already know the CPU is using 45nm. 32nm would be the most likely choice for their GPU. At the same time 180nm and 90nm are main nodes and were using in GC and Wii respectively.

Also I'm very familiar with that article you linked to and at one point I even had a "Cayman Jr. hypothesis" about the GPU. But seeing how VLIW4 doesn't seem to make the cut for the 7000-series I let it go. And as I said the 360 wasn't VLIW-based so it can't really be compared to any Radeon GPU other than maybe the amount of unified shaders. Here is the article where someone from ATi said Xenos is not VLIW-based. Although the article seemed to make a mistake and said each shader had 4 ALUs when it had 5 per shader making for 240 ALUs.

And considering Nintendo has no history with TSMC and good history with IBM and NEC, one of that latter would be more likely to make the GPU and at 32nm, though they are also supposedly able to make 28nm as well.
 

Instro

Member
Well, they don't have to call it BK3 (and likely won't).
And new console means a new userbase to sell a series to, so making it successful it just a matter of marketing.

Yeah, it certainly has a shot of doing well as an early title for the system. It definitely won't be called Baten Kaitos 3, and I honestly wouldn't even expect many story connections either. It would be amazing if their Wii U game was already that far along though, but I dont want to get myself hyped about something like that.

Maybe they can call it XenoBaten.
 

Instro

Member
Judging from Honne's comments, he's been working on his project since before XenoBlade was done. So your definitely right that they have probably had quite a bit of time on whatever they are working on, in terms of planning and actual work being done.
 
How did Nintendo go about owning Monolithsoft anyway?

Now that a WiiU launch window game seems so likely I wonder who else could surprise us this gen as far as JRPGs go
 
How did Nintendo go about owning Monolithsoft anyway?

Now that a WiiU launch window game seems so likely I wonder who else could surprise us this gen as far as JRPGs go

We just got a press release one day that said they bought a majority stock in the company.
This was I think in 2007.
It was kind of assumed to be happening, once we found out they were making Disaster, though.
 

Instro

Member
Maybe Monolith is hooking up with SE and Mistwalker for a new Chrono game. :p

Iwata promised 3rd party partnerships remember!
 
Disaster did not seem to go so well as an early Wii title and Xenoblade was handled poorly by Nintendo

it seems to the fans Xenoblade was the better game when you take Zelda SS into account, at least from the hype surrounding it.

So Monolithsoft is what I am most curious about when it come to WiiU software
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom