[wsippel]

Still don't believe the "enhanced Broadway" part. The 750 roadmap ended years ago, IBM had no plans to ever implement SMP or shrink it beyond 90nm. If it's close enough to be mistaken for an "enhanced Broadway", it's probably a 470S with the defining Gekko/ Broadway features bolted on (L1d locking, write gather pipe).

[Basileus777]

The rest of the specs are pretty much what's been expected, but using Broadways in a 2012 console is just....I don't get it. Is backwards compatibility really worth it at this point?

[fluffydelusions]

If these specs are correct this will basically put it in line (generally) with current gen consoles and then when PS4/720 come out this thing will be obsolete and get down ports like PS2 was getting current gen sports games for a while.

[Relaxed Muscle]

CPU: “Espresso” CPU on the Wii U has three enhanced Broadway cores

Wii U is the equivalent of three Wii duct tapped together.

Seriously though...three enhanced Broadway cores?...isn't this...bad?

[x-Lundz-x]

Sounds strong enough to play next gen Mario in HD. Can't wait!

[zerokoolpsx]

Three enhanced Broadway cores? The same one from the Wii, but unenhanced? So three Wii cpu's duct taped together?
8gb storage. No DD future unless you're planning to use all 4 usb ports.
32MB for the OS is kinda small.

[Karsticles]

Wasn't the Wii U thread speculating more toward the 1.5-2GB range for RAM?

Three enhanced Broadway cores? The same one from the Wii, but unenhanced? So three Wii cpu's duct taped together? 8gb storage. No DD future unless you're planning to use all 4 usb ports. 32MB for the OS is kinda small.

We knew the storage would be small. That's just how Nintendo runs. Why would you need to use all 4 USB ports for DD? You can just swap cards. I have so many USB devices, they might finally have a purpose!

The "three Wii CPUs duct taped together" statement is funny, since people say the Wii is 2 Gamecube's duct taped together. If this logic continues, the Wii U's successor will be 4 Wii U's duct taped together, which is pretty impressive!

[Sethos]

To put the performance questions to rest, I made this easy to understand chart.

[FyreWulff]

That base model isn't designed with xbla in mind. When I had my 60gb ps3 and I filled it up I just stopped buying games until I was fully finished with the games I had. I couldn't even buy retail games that required an install for a while. They should swallow the cost and put something bigger in there.

Then they should stop calling it the Arcade model. XBLA games are capped at 2GB anyways. Any cross-platform game that's on XBLA won't be bigger than 2GB.

We need more space, but I'm fairly sure they've done the market research here and 8GB will be enough for a notable portion of owners. It doesn't make sense to burn money providing space that a significant portion of your users will never use, especially when the power users know how to upgrade anyway and it's flash memory.

Three enhanced Broadway cores? The same one from the Wii, but unenhanced? So three Wii cpu's duct taped together? 8gb storage. No DD future unless you're planning to use all 4 usb ports. 32MB for the OS is kinda small.

32MB for the OS versus around 6MB that the 360 dashboard has to play with, sounds about right

edit: and if that's the edram then even better

[gofreak]

What's doubly worse about the CPU is...iirc, it's supposedly not clocked particularly high either?

Still don't believe the "enhanced Broadway" part. The 750 roadmap ended years ago, IBM had no plans to ever implement SMP or shrink it beyond 90nm.

IBM's own plans are irrelevant. They'll meet whatever a client specifies.

[grimshawish]

Internal memory sounds like a good amount; am all for BYOM (bring your own memory).

[Nibel]

Disappointed about the CPU.. but it's just as we expected.

Nintendo won't have problems to create great visuals with such a machine, but I doubt we'll see the big important third-party games that are yet to be announced on Wii U.

[tiku]

1GB RAM for games is perfectly fine. Why would they need more for PS3 level tech? I'd be worried about the OS though if it only has 32MB.

That's edRAM ;)

[Sid]

The Wii should have taught everybody that raw specs will not push consoles out the door, and limitations do not prevent market success. Only a niche group of people give a shit about the raw numbers, and that's how it will always be. As for DX11, you're not going to see that in on a non-Microsoft licensed API.

According to you is the gamepad as revolutionary as motion controls for the wii were back in 2006?

What's doubly worse about the CPU is...iirc, it's supposedly not clocked particularly high either?

Yeah isn't it supposed to be ~ 2-2.5 GHZ?

[MadOdorMachine]

Nintendo should have just released this years ago with a less powerful GPU and Wii motion +.

[theDeeDubs]

Sounds perfectly reasonable for some HD Mario and Zelda. Strangely getting hyped for this now. Haven't had a Nintendo since the Gamecube.

[Horse Armour]

What's doubly worse about the CPU is...iirc, it's supposedly not clocked particularly high either?

Last rumour was 1.6GHZ.

[ThoseDeafMutes]

...They're still using Broadway? ...No DirectX 11 support? ...1GB RAM? Wow, I guess Nintendo's really counting on hype to sell this thing...

Dead serious question for you. Did you see anything at E3 that made any of these specs seem too low? What exactly were you expecting them to be, based on what we'd seen about it?

Their strategy is far more complicated than "hype". They have first mover advantage for the next round of consoles, and they have the Tablet Controller as a distinguishing feature. It's not very likely to "fail", even if it doesn't succeed to the same level that the Wii or DS did. Wii, DS and 3DS have shown that you don't necessarily need to compete graphically in order to succeed, as long as you can make up some consumer appeal in other areas. To write them off solely based on technical specifications given recent history is extremely naive.

[Azure J]

Wasn't the Wii U thread speculating more toward the 1.5-2GB range for RAM?

The consensus was (myself included) that there's more (leaning towards 2) but Nintendo opted to give a clean chunk of 1GB to devs for first round development as they optimized their OS (which is rumored to have 512MB to itself[!!]). However, as will all things, take it with your best grain of Nintendo specific salt.

[Dark FaZe]

Because they're not in it, they've made public statements exempting themselves. But they may have the best console GPU and memory on the market for a while, if you like that sort of thing.

Who's going to take advantage of the specs? Hard to imagine third parties will, and if NSMB U and Pikmin are anything to go by the 1st party devs themselves aren't that worried about it.

[Visualante2]

The whole discussion about internal storage hinges on the assumption that Nintendo's market place will serve up sizeable content regularly. I think people who are talking about hooking up external hard drives are going to be quite disappointed. Chances are an SD HC card will be more than satisfactory and a more elegant solution under your TV.

[Sho_Nuff82]

Yup, gonna need dbz comparisons. Or at least past console comparisons.

The Wii U is Nappa, the 360 is Picollo in the Saiyan saga. Wii U has more raw power, but is not so quick-witted, so it gets slapped around a bit early on. In the end, brute force wins out, and the 360 will die first.

Edit: Third party DLC and DD games are probably the biggest reason to invest in an external HDD.

[royalan]

The Wii should have taught everybody that raw specs will not push consoles out the door, and limitations do not prevent market success. Only a niche group of people give a shit about the raw numbers, and that's how it will always be. As for DX11, you're not going to see that in on a non-Microsoft licensed API.

I agree. It's just that the Wii U is so far missing that rabid hype component that sold the Wii. Eh, this isn't the thread to have that debate.

These specs just don't seem to be all that forward-thinking.

[Black_Stride]

What hype?

You havent noticed any WiiU hype?

[Basileus777]

To put the performance questions to rest, I made this easy to understand chart.

These charts were be a lot more useful if they were labeled. What is each axis representing?

[Graphics Horse]

Who's going to take advantage of the specs? Hard to imagine third parties will, and if NSMB U and Pikmin are anything to go by the 1st party devs themselves aren't that worried about it.

It's not about the games!

[gofreak]

Last rumour was 1.6GHZ.

I was thinking of suggesting a doubling of clockspeed over the Wii...but I thought it would seem trollish.

Good job Nintendo, if true!

[Strife91]

They better replace the Wii U after 4-5 years....

[EloquentM]

1GB RAM for games is perfectly fine. Why would they need more for PS3 level tech? I'd be worried about the OS though if it only has 32MB.

32MB of eDRAM is not for the OS. most likely it'll be used as a frame buffer.

[BGBW]

Nintendo should have just released this years ago with a less powerful GPU and Wii motion +.

Even better. They should have released this in 1981 with Donkey Kong Arcade HD version.

[EatChildren]

According to you is the gamepad as revolutionary as motion controls for the wii were back in 2006?

Not really, but I've made a point to not bother trying to predict the success and failures of Nintendo because I simply cant. The company and their strategy, and the success of said strategy, is too unpredictable.

My point was simply that number crunching does not push consoles into mass market success. Tech heads would like to think it does, but it doesn't. Such is life.

[Feature]

wow what a disappointment if true (unless it costs 200€ max).

[Sid]

That's edRAM ;)

So the OS will take a share of the 1 GB RAM?

[onQ123]

I think it's time to dig up some old post where I told people about the Wii U CPU being 3 overclocked Wii CPUs & they all said I was crazy.

[jokkir]

I think the real question is when will they unlock the hidden cpu core to make it have unlimited power?

[Ydahs]

Wii U is the equivalent of three Wii duct tapped together. Seriously though...three enhanced Broadway cores?...isn't this...bad?

Not really since we have absolutely no idea what it actually means. As wsippel mentioned, it may be a more modern CPU with some distinct Broadway functionalities, added to support BC.

[Karsticles]

The consensus was (myself included) that there's more (leaning towards 2) but Nintendo opted to give a clean chunk of 1GB to devs for first round development. However, as will all things, take it with your best grain of Nintendo specific salt.

Right, like 1GB for developers, 1GB for background processing, right? I'm just confused as to why these specs don't list something similar.

[Alextended]

Disappointed about the CPU.. but it's just as we expected.

So how fast is it?

wow what a disappointment if true (unless it costs 200€ max).

So how powerful is it?

Hint: you have no clue so I'm wondering why the disappointment already. Unless that'd be your response no matter what.

[Canis lupus]

Nintendo should have just released this years ago with a less powerful GPU and Wii motion +.

But the Wii was selling awesome back then.

[Busty]

You havent noticed any WiiU hype?

Nope. None.

And outside of the hardcore Nintendo crowd there doesn't seem to be any heat for it here on GAF either.

[Plinko]

Clearly made with a low price point in mind.

I'm now leaning toward $199 or $249.

[Ricker]

No 4k support?...I'm out ;) lol

Seriously,we should find out on the 13th I guess...

[Wolves Evolve]

Could someone explain what the significance of the eDRAM is?

[Interfectum]

CPU: Broadway cores GPU: DirectX 10.1 Memory: 1GB

[tkscz]

Well at the very least we can see what OpenGL 3.3 (DX 10.1) really has to offer. It died so quickly, no one got to use it. DX9 still get's more use than 10.

As for that CPU, as long as it has better cache and bus it's fine. The WiiU has so many other components taking the stress off of it. Also, broadway was a damned good CPU, very stable, and could stand on it's own. Just it was single cored and didn't have too much cache or wide enough bus compared to the 360 and PS3.

[ShineALight]

The whole discussion about internal storage hinges on the assumption that Nintendo's market place will serve up sizeable content regularly. I think people who are talking about hooking up external hard drives are going to be quite disappointed. Chances are an SD HC card will be more than satisfactory and a more elegant solution under your TV.

Hadn't it been confirmed that, as with 3DS, Nintendo wants to offer retail games as downloadable?

[wsippel]

IBM's own plans are irrelevant. They'll meet whatever a client specifies.

That's not entirely true.

[Nibel]

So how fast is it?' So how powerful is it?

Sonic fast

Captain Falcon powerful

[frankie_baby]

Hasn't there been some info from someone on here that clock for clock Broadway is actually far better than the cores in xenon and cell?

[Triple U]

The Wii should have taught everybody that raw specs will not push consoles out the door, and limitations do not prevent market success. Only a niche group of people give a shit about the raw numbers, and that's how it will always be. As for DX11, you're not going to see that in on a non-Microsoft licensed API.

It speaks to the feature set of the GPU though. Im pretty sure both the next Xbox and PS4 GPU's will be DX11 compliant.