To try to be even more clear,
with a new info in it:
- My sources told me there is a huge amount of the total memory (at least 512MB) that they can't tap from for their games. They are developing their titles since a moment now, with X amount of the Y total system memory, whereas another pool of it, Z, is not available at all for them. I was told back then that this Z was for the system features, it INCLUDES the OS, the operating system, the "windows" of the Wii U, that will be loaded in the memory when you turn on the console, but it doesn't constitute ALL what Z is, i've heard a lot of things about multi-tasking, the possibility to store your progression in games (so the system must store quickly where you are, etc.), go do other things in the interface, then switch back when you paused.
Concretely, the OS could have a size of let's say 200MB, but there will still be 300MB not available for developers because Nintendo, in a v4 dev kit context (so it could change), need this room for the system functions, features.
- Another source, that you know well lherre (
) told me, and
this is the new tidbit, that the OS is stored in a specific flash, different than the other flash memory that will be built-in the system for downloading, saves, etc. Like a lot of other platforms actually (they need a specific type of flash dedicated for the OS, the firmware upgrades, etc.).
The size of this flash seems to be 512MB. Obviously, it doesn't mean the OS is 512mb, and that it will occupy 512MB once loaded in the RAM memory, because 1) the OS surely won't take 512MB and 2) the system won't need to load everything on the RAM memory. Again, they could have decided on this amount in advance and being large for it because the OS wasn't fleshed out at all at the time. The OS could actually take let's say 200 MB (i don't know it's amount) of this space. The fact is that i don't think we've ever seen such room reserved for OS storage, so it's clearly another hint, in addition to the first info, to a bigger operating system than on the other home systems, rich in features, in functions (functions that requires another space in the RAM memory, like the aforementioned multi-tasking).
I hope i was crystal-clear