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[Instro]

I bet the new feature in devkit 5 that will make us all happy is this:

RUMOR - Wii U controller range may have gotten a serious boost - range shouldn't be limited to a single room - possibly not even just a single floor.

That rumor originates from this thread, wsippel or Alberto I believe.

edit

Beaten so badly.

 

[Like the hat?]

good news that everybody here and anywhere for that matter WILL love to hear

Gonna pointlessly guess bluray video playback, or optical out for audio

 

[?oe?oe]

"nurture the speculation", you can add after "as everyone on this thread". I already praised the participation of everyone here

I'm a firm believer of just getting the details and discussing them and not play a guessing game. Unless, you're a girl than I understand ;p

C'mon we had 90,000 posts of fluff, do you really want to read people discussing a new name for Wii U again?

 

[THE:MILKMAN]

Aren't you talking about the debug unit they send out to reviewers and such? Dev kits are usually not the form factor of the system. I'm just thinking of those Wii systems with a green front to them.

Anyway, delays usually means something went wrong so it's strange that your so positive about it Ideaman.

4 pads is rendering to five sources, going to need more than Oban for that! 2 at most.

No these dev kits are like big DVD player, or more old VHS recorder/player. Big bland box, far bigger than the Wii U case we saw at E3 2011.

And yes, it was implied in my post, the boxes changed between V4 and those ones, aesthetically (from the outside) if it's what you wondering

Excellent. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[MYE]

C'mon we had 90,000 posts of fluff, do you really want to read people discussing a new name for Wii U again?

We can always go back to comparing systems to Super Sayan rankings

 

[ffdgh]

We can always go back to comparing systems to Super Sayan rankings

duct taped gamecubes is better lol

 

[bgassassin]

What i found interesting also was the time delay between Nintendo internal tests on these final dev kits (which happened at the very least in the first-half of February, maybe earlier), and their arrival in May.

And third-parties were warned by Nintendo since late february/march (so not long after these internal benchmarks) that they will receive them soon (before april).

So there has been a postponing of 1 month+, and it doesn't seems it was because of shipping problems from what i know. It could be more time spent for their assembly, but it shouldn't explain 5 or 6 weeks of lateness. It really looks like Nintendo have been keeping their tweaking/tests/changes on these dev kits for longer that they expected and that they noticed foreign studios. Maybe some late arrival of a finalized component also ?

This is a rather positive news about the hardware performances imo, considering the V4 dev kits were already quite competent (a question of perspective of course, read my other entries in thread 3 or 4 to know it).

TLDR: It seems Nintendo tweaked (& built + shipped) those final dev kits from at least late january/february to late april/may, and for 5 weeks more than what they planned. It's promising about their power (nothing huge though) and above all what they include, their features, etc.

Tweaking is always a good thing and worth a delay.

Marvel vs Tekken lookin' kinda one-sided.

Well I have seen them in anime before!

It seems to make sense. SA's source simply heard about the AMD and IBM joint chip and jumped to conclusions.

As for the GPU, if it was taped out that late in the game, I see GCN as a very real possibility. Maybe I'm headed for a heartbreak, but the benefits in power consumption and predictable performance seem like something Nintendo would be interested in. The HD7770 has a 640:40:16 core config, which may make sense of the early dev kits. If they downclocked it to around 600 Mhz and used DDR3 instead of GDDR5, seems to me the TDP would be in WiiU's ballpark even with the slightly larger process node.

With it being 32nm I would say we can eliminate GCN. I think that was designed for 28nm and smaller. I agree with Thraktor's reasoning and synopsis as to why the rumor could apply to Wii U.

That rumor originates from this thread, wsippel or Alberto I believe.

edit

Beaten so badly.

wsippel

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

That rumor originates from this thread, wsippel or Alberto I believe.

edit

Beaten so badly.

Waffle Maker it is then.

 

[AzaK]

When i become a member and if i can create a thread about it

But the other, non-teasing part of my message (completed with a following one about this delay story) is already interesting

Are you saying the non-teasing part had some secret info in it? If so, all I can glean from that (I had 1 hours sleep last night) is that Wii U might be even more powerful than we thought??

Just my opinion, i already know all the hindrances/problems/bad marketing move/questions/XXX that it would generate, but i would love if Nintendo planned an advanced expansion pack including a boost of memory and a graphical processor (like those external graphic cards for laptops, etc.), scheduled for like 3 years in the lifespan of the system. The novelty will come from the fact that Nintendo would already charge the consumers for this expansion, from the Wii U price, and users would receive this piece of hardware automatically (if they choose to fill a request when they first go online with their personal address) or could go retrieve it at retailers with a ticket. All this to avoid the discrepancy implied by expansion pack only include in certain games.

Just a way to catch up some of the technical gap with their competitors while still launching first. They won't need to do it, Wii U is primarily an experience, and it will be power-wise efficient and powerful enough for Nintendo and a lot of third-parties needs, but my techie-me would like to see that.

I've posted about this myself a long time ago. A console that is expandable should not be considered such an anathema. Apple get away with yearly-ish upgrades of their hardware and devs just manage supporting systems a few generations back. I can see something like this working on a console. It would not be a PC situation as it would be tightly controlled hardware and integration.

I mentioned this before but the disc drive is probably around the same speed as a USB 2.0 HDD, which in itself is 2x faster than the 360 disc drive and 3x faster than the PS3 disc drive.

Ahh yes, I recall that now. So to me that means it would make sense just to keep it as USB 2.0. Then if the flash RAM can be used for cache (And it's faster than the HDD and optical drive) it's probably all good. 2x faster drive, and 2x-ish the RAM of the 360 could balance out.

 

[Dreamwriter]

That would be the extent I would want motion control to be like in the U Zelda.

Skyward Sword was fun when it came to combat, but the Wii was all about the remote where as the U is about the tablet. I wouldn't want to switch between the two every so often. I am perfectly fine going back to pressing a button to swing the sword.

Or just have the game use Wii Remote, and not use the tablet controller at all. Not all gameplay benefits from a tablet, and the combat in Skyward Sword was so awesome that it'd be a huge step back to replace that with button presses. I sure as heck hope developers don't use the tablet where it doesn't make any sense.

 

[Azure J]

Marvel vs Tekken lookin' kinda one-sided.

Man, it's the goddamned Hulk. If the Avengers taught me anything, it's to never ever get grabbed by him. His command grabs are fucking ridiculous. :lol

 

[Hero of Legend]

Yes, but are you an expert on it?

DAMN IT, I thought that very same thing! LOL XD

 

[guek]

Marvel vs Tekken lookin' kinda one-sided.

lol. If Hulk can squash harry potter, what chance does Kuma have?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

Are you saying the non-teasing part had some secret info in it? If so, all I can glean from that (I had 1 hours sleep last night) is that Wii U might be even more powerful than we thought??

pretty much (give or take a few hours

)

 

[guek]

With it being 32nm I would say we can eliminate GCN. I think that was designed for 28nm and smaller. I agree with Thraktor's reasoning and synopsis as to why the rumor could apply to Wii U.

Did you just stealth confirm that it's a 32nm gpu or are you just commenting on the rumor?

 

[GameplayWhore]

As for the GPU, if it was taped out that late in the game, I see GCN as a very real possibility.

If true, this would mean that for the third generation in a row, Nintendo can be described as using "GCN architecture" in their console.

 

[IdeaMan]

I'm a firm believer of just getting the details and discussing them and not play a guessing game. Unless, you're a girl than I understand ;p

C'mon we had 90,000 posts of fluff, do you really want to read people discussing a new name for Wii U again?

Let's be fair here
My post of the day is 90% of facts & explanations, 10% of a final teasing. Why the teasing ? Because i'm talking about something big that worth its own thread, and it's fun speculating about it

 

[AzaK]

If true, this would mean that for the third generation in a row, Nintendo can be described as using "GCN architecture" in their console.

Sshhh! Seriously! I guarantee if it was true 1/2 the haters would actually think that's what it meant.

Let's be fair here
My post of the day is 90% of facts & explanations, 10% of a final teasing. Why the teasing ? Because i'm talking about something big that worth its own thread, and it's fun speculating about it

Spoiler

MODS! GIVE THIS MAN HIS STATUS! (please don't ban me for backseat modding!)

 

[AceBandage]

Let's be fair here
My post of the day is 90% of facts & explanations, 10% of a final teasing. Why the teasing ? Because i'm talking about something big that worth its own thread, and it's fun speculating about it

Something worth its own thread.
Has to do with the hardware.

...

Icecream maker.

 

[HanShotFirst]

Something worth its own thread.
Has to do with the hardware.

...

Icecream maker.

Ice cream on waffles? Sold.

 

[AceBandage]

Ice cream on waffles? Sold.

Nintendo solves world hunger.
Stocks plunge.

 

[Linkhero1]

All this teasing is giving me a headache. Wish it were E3 already.

Something worth its own thread.
Has to do with the hardware.

...

Icecream maker.

I'll take two.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

- Teasing part: besides possible improvement of the system power (slight to moderate though), there is at least one additional good news that come with them. It's not necessarily the obvious ones

I'm calling USB 3.0 support.

 

[GameplayWhore]

I'm calling USB 3.0 support.

Heh, couple of us beat you to that punch. It would probably be the best of the reasonably realistic hardware surprises.

Well, aside from the Woohoo button also covered earlier.


edit: inserted a single word, because there's a bunch of reasonable software stuff that could be thought up

 

[?oe?oe]

Let's be fair here
My post of the day is 90% of facts & explanations, 10% of a final teasing. Why the teasing ? Because i'm talking about something big that worth its own thread, and it's fun speculating about it

Fun for you

So, post of the day tomorrow is the big news! Ok, cool, CONFIRMED!

Spoiler

Don't worry, someone can post a thread for you

 

[Linkhero1]

I'm calling USB 3.0 support.

I'd be content with this. I can't think of anything else at the moment.

 

[Boss Doggie]

If WiiU's releasing after 2012 wouldn't that mean the world has already exploded.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Heh, couple of us beat you to that punch. It would probably be the best of the reasonably realistic hardware surprises.

Well, aside from the Woohoo button also covered earlier.


edit: inserted a single word, because there's a bunch of reasonable software stuff that could be thought up

Awww man.

What's a Woohoo button? Is it like a Waluigi button?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

how about?
Self loading drive now supports mini dvds?
or would that not be considered good news?

 

[Mithos]

Let's be fair here
My post of the day is 90% of facts & explanations, 10% of a final teasing. Why the teasing ? Because i'm talking about something big that worth its own thread, and it's fun speculating about it

There is a new sticker on the hardware, saying "Powered by S...." >_<

 

[I Stalk Alone]

Something worth its own thread.
Has to do with the hardware.

...

Icecream maker.

The Idolmaster for WiiU confirmed. I knew the subscreen would be good for something....

 

[TheExplodingHead]

This rationale bugs me. Streaming complex 3D scenes to 4 different screens at once for splitscreen gaming on the far slower Nintendo 64 wasn't free performance-wise, either, but it had gameplay advantages that outweighed the costs.

I guess it depends on how complex the scenes are and the what console is rendering. If it's a expanded view of a game, or any type of asymmetric stuff going on it could very well be taxing to being rendering a 720p image on TV, and a four 480p images on controllers. Add to that touch screen functions, background OS/overlay (that also relies on some streaming), and any potential features and services running in the background. I mean it could be done on four screens, but it's certainly a lot more complexity to take into account than the N64/GCN did.

For simple games I don't think it would be a issue, but for simultaneous MP on four screens for say Crysis 3 or Doom 4, probably not. I'd even go so far as to say the more taxing the game is visually or service-wise (consistent background stuff) the less novel the DRC usages will be. It might be rare to see a game with bleeding edge visual/aesthetic tech use the DRC extensively and in heavy ways. But at this point all we can do is speculate because we know nothing about what the OS/overlay will be, how resource heavy it might be, and most importantly how taxing it will be on the GPU/CPU to stream complex scenes and retain advanced functions on the DRC.

 

[Linkhero1]

I finally figured it out. They're going to bring the GC startup chime to the Wii U.

 

[AceBandage]

how about?
Self loading drive now supports mini dvds?
or would that not be considered good news?

There's really no point in it. And it's likely slot loading anyway.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

Rewatched snippets of E3 2006 again. URRGGGHHHH. Nothing will ever be that great again. Really, it's because of where I was in life. I was 13 when that happened and nowhere near as cynical as I am now. Seeing those games on screen was amazing, my mind was racing with possibilities. I don't think I'll ever be as hyped for something as I was for Wii.

Also BIG DAMN TRUCK needs to make a comeback.

It's scary how much this post describes me and who I was when I watched E3 2006. My most hyped event for weeks. I knew Nintendo was going to blow the doors off and they didn't disappoint in any way, shape or form.

And yeah, it sucks nothing like that will ever happen again, if only because of who I was back then. Too cynical nowadays. I remember being extremely happy with their 2010 conference though, that one easily came the closest to 2006 IMO. 3DS hype and reveal, Kid Icarus, DKCR, Kirby Epic Yarn, Skyward Sword. That one was great too.

Last year fell short because of how muddled the Wii U stuff was. Half of it was tech demos, half of it was M-rated third party ports, both were great but I was looking forward to actual Nintendo games.

The 3DS part delivered though, Luigi's Mansion 2 announcement made my day.

 

[MYE]

I finally figured it out. They're going to bring the GC startup chime to the Wii U.

I'd rather have a modern take on the the two note GB nintendo jingle/sound thingy

Descending logo and all

 

[Effect]

I can't see a September launch if they aren't going to announce any release info at e3, to be honest

I don't see why that rules out September. They don't have to announce the price there. They'll July and August. Holding another event or another world wide Nintendo Direct is an option to them. They'll be the biggest news in those months. That's also when New Super Mario Bros 2 will be released and that's sure to get a big push. Would two or three months be to little notice for retail stores to start taking preorders and clear stock room space for inventory?

I would assume as soon as they finalized the last dev kit and started shipping them they started mass production. Is that wrong to think that?

I still feel they would do well to launch in Sept/Oct to get hands on impressions out there leading to Thanksgiving and Christmas. That way they are at the top of the gaming news and the media will pick up on the system and report on it. That way they can space out releases and have a steady stream instead of dropping them all at once, especially if there are going to be Wii U versions of games coming out in November and December. Get the ports of months old games out the way first so the Wii U can get same day releases as all the up coming games. This way they'll sell and won't have their sales affected by the older titles.

 

[ffdgh]

maybe its achievements. it would make people happy.

 

[Linkhero1]

I have a question for you IdeaMan. A simple yes, no question. Does this feature already exist on PS3/360?

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

There's really no point in it. And it's likely slot loading anyway.

I don't want to re-buy my gamecube games...

 

[MYE]

maybe its achievements. it wold make people happy

Unless its a reward system like the one in Brawl with figurines, tracks, stickers etc, i wont care :\

 

[GameplayWhore]

Awww man.

What's a Woohoo button? Is it like a Waluigi button?

It brews coffee.

I finally figured it out. They're going to bring the GC startup chime to the Wii U.

I'd prefer if they used the Famicom Disk System tune.

 

[TriGen]

maybe its achievements. it wold make people happy

I expect some form of achievements. Nintendo knows how crazy people have gotten over, trophies/gamerscore, it tempts some people to buy third-party games for whatever platform they play the most online, to show off to their friends list. I myself never really cared, but enough people do that having them matters. I have said before I could see doing different color stars, like Sony does with thier trophies.

 

[ThatObviousUser]

It brews coffee.

 

[BurntPork]

Fun for you

So, post of the day tomorrow is the big news! Ok, cool, CONFIRMED!

Spoiler

Don't worry, someone can post a thread for you

IM should become a member in just a few days.

Also, guys, it's not Oban. The chances of an SI GPU and six-core CPU in Wii U are less than zero.

 

[Linkhero1]

I'd rather have a modern take on the the two note GB nintendo jingle/sound thingy

Descending logo and all

It brews coffee.




I'd prefer if they used the Famicom Disk System tune.

Great ideas, but...I wouldn't mind if they swiped Rares old start up theme for DKC games.

I don't want to re-buy my gamecube games...

You're part of a minority. If we see anything related to GC, it will probably be downloadable games on the Wii U Shop.

This is one reason I never sell my gaming consoles.

 

[AceBandage]

I don't want to re-buy my gamecube games...

Then keep your Wii/GC.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

as long as we're going crazy..
updated wiimotes anyone?

 

[bgassassin]

Did you just stealth confirm that it's a 32nm gpu or are you just commenting on the rumor?

Nope. That fab size of the GPU has been one thing I've used nothing but speculation on.

I'm calling USB 3.0 support.

Welcome back.

 

[TriGen]

as long as we're going crazy..
updated wiimotes anyone?

I'd take updated Wiimotes, and Classis Controller Pro's. I don't see Nintendo doing that initially though, they want people to feel like they can save money by using thier old Wiimotes for local multi-player, on the Wii U. It will be a couple years, I think.