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[stilgar]

Wait what? It was the reverse. Early 360 kits had the X800, like half as powerful as Xenos.

That was one of the main reasons most launch software looked like upresed Xbox games, and arguably nothing truly next gen arrived until Gears of War a year later.

I don't know what "truly next-gen" means, but Kameo says hi.

 

[Indyana]

Has this been posted?
Nintendo Gamer

“The controller of the Wii U is obviously where there is new opportunity for innovation in interactivity,” he says. “Meanwhile, our hope at Gearbox is that the final specification for the hardware is much more powerful than the current competitive consoles so that studios like ours can bring a better standard of high definition image not only to television, but to the controller’s screen at the same time.”

“Out of respect for our friends and partners at Nintendo, I think specific technical details regarding the hardware should come from them,” he says, adding that, “we’ve been intrigued by what we’ve seen so far and are encouraging Nintendo to go as aggressively as they can afford with the performance specifications. We imagine that performance specifications are within affordable reach that would provide undeniable performance advantages over competitive platforms. Nintendo have a lot more experience than we do in managing the balance between performance and cost with their hardware, of course, so I do not want to be presumptuous.”

 

[DrWong]

Yes. And it's old. From last year.

 

[Cmd. Pishad'aç]

Hey gaf, been out for some days, someone tell me whats goin' on.

Last time I checked, Wii U could apparently be powerful enough to run Samaritan tech demo @ 720p and now it is just on par or below 360 ?

 

[Rösti]

Speaking about memory, I wonder what manufacturer Nintendo has chosen this time around when it comes to that, not counting IBM with the EDRAM. For Gamecube and Wii they contracted MoSys to utilize their 1T-SRAM technology. For Nintendo 3DS an FCRAM solution by Fujitsu is used. I've read reports from several claimed insider sources the memory is quite slow, and will be/has been that of 768MB; this was reported by several outlets in December last year.

 

[Cmd. Pishad'aç]

Hey gaf, been out for some days, someone tell me whats goin' on.

Last time I checked, Wii U could apparently be powerful enough to run Samaritan tech demo @ 720p and now it is just on par or below 360 ?

 

[Xun]

HEY GUYS I HEARD THE DS IS AS POWERFUL AS A GBA

Haha wow, this was real?

 

[stilgar]

Haha wow, this was real?

Yep. So don't take any specs for granted

 

[Plinko]

Wait what? It was the reverse. Early 360 kits had the X800, like half as powerful as Xenos.

That was one of the main reasons most launch software looked like upresed Xbox games, and arguably nothing truly next gen arrived until Gears of War a year later.

I think he's talking about the original spec sheets that are floating out there. They were released to devs before the devkits arrived, I believe.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

EDIT: bg answered. GDDR is only for consoles. Gotcha. Thanks, guys.

Consoles and Video Cards. Since consoles tend to use a shared memory pool instead of a separated system ram and graphics ram, the tendency is to go towards having faster ram all around than slower ram all around.

 

[tkscz]

I think he's talking about the original spec sheets that are floating out there. They were released to devs before the devkits arrived, I believe.

Thought they were talking about Arkham and his information which the two most trusting people in the WiiU thread debunked.

 

[StevieP]

Thought they were talking about Arkham and his information which the two most trusting people in the WiiU thread debunked.

I wouldn't call it "debunked" - it just contradicts some of the other information we received through leaks in here or outside of the forum. It's possible the information is out of date, second-hand, incorrect, or misunderstood - sure.

But it *is* information. It is more likely that the machine is more powerful than a 360 (and by a decent distance, on memory alone) because it would be ludicrous to put together a system with new parts that can't outperform something that antiquated.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Wow posting year old news, this thread really is reaching to the bottom of the well lately lol. Anyway OT3 coming up I assume o_0

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Well lookee here (Yes, Kotaku)

Nintendo Flirted With 3D, HD Displays for Wii U Controller

Nintendo Flirted With 3D, HD Displays for Wii U ControllerThis holiday, the Wii U, Nintendo's upcoming game console, goes on sale. The Kyoto-based game maker revealed the machine last summer and continues to provide new details about the consoles; however, there is still so much that's unknown.

Nintendo's Wii U patent fillings recently surfaced, providing a look at what the company was planning. The documents are from Sept. 2011, and they do clearly point out "statements herein do not correspond to any particular actual product that may be eventually be made available to consumers." That means what Nintendo filed might not make its way into the final product.

The Wii U features a new controller that sports a built-in touch screen that can run games off the Wii U console. It also features a built-in mic, which was previously announced. According to the patent filling, the Wii U could be outfitted with voice recognition software and players could give voice commands in-game. Nintendo also states that "one or more additional microphones...may be provided on the front and/or back surfaces" of the controller.

The patent filings also mention facial recognition—a feature that Nintendo hinted at last summer. The tech could, according to the documents, enable the Wii U controller, which is outfitted with a camera, to recognize a face—specifically parts of a person's face. This data would then be stored in the Wii U's main memory.

Other details, such as the ability to browse the internet and parental-type controls, are obvious—and already featured on the Nintendo Wii. However, the documents also state that the Wii U cannot only communicate with external devices via network, it could be used as a videophone "exchanging images and sound".

Nintendo Flirted With 3D, HD Displays for Wii U Controller The patent filing does not specifically mention Skype (and this is merely an example), but it sure sounds like Nintendo was thinking of implementing it. Whether or not it makes its way into the final product remains to be seen—or maybe Nintendo's Wii U network will feature a video chat service of its own.

The Wii U is bound to have its fair share of peripherals—just look at how many the Wii has. In the patent filing, Nintendo gives two specific examples of what could be attached to the new controller: "a game-specific controller (gun-shaped controller, etc.) or an input device such as a keyboard".

One of the more interesting nuggets involves 3D and HD. The former might not have caught on like Nintendo, or other electronics companies, had hoped. The 3DS is making innovative use of 3D, but it's still not mainstream. In the patent filing, Nintendo noted that the Wii U "might" feature a 3D display. It also mentions it "might" feature a HD display on the Wii U controller, which so far has sported a sub-HD resolution of around 850x.

Unless Nintendo makes a surprise reveal before the launch, these looks to be features that ended up on the cutting room floor.

The full documents can be viewed in the links below.

Patent & Trademark link

Also

AdWeek's report did not indicate which media companies Nintendo is targeting for content distribution agreements. However, the news site's sources indicate that Nintendo is pursuing an online strategy similar to Microsoft's.

Thanks to its Xbox Live online platform, the Xbox 360 supports a variety of content from various media companies. These range from on-demand movie and television streaming services Hulu and Netflix to niche partners like Major League Baseball, HBO, and BBC. Microsoft has also signed deals with Comcast and Verizon to turn the Xbox 360 into a cable-box receiver.

AdWeek's report named only Comcast as a partner targeted by Nintendo, saying the company may be considering a deal similar to what the cable network has with Microsoft. Nintendo's outreach has reportedly extended to multiple cable networks, as well as online video producers.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Well lookee here (Yes, Kotaku)



Patent & Trademark link

Also

Nifty. I wonder if they would do that though. I thought they ran into issues with combining 3D and Touch. I'm so hard for E3 right now.

 

[Roo]

“we’ve been intrigued by what we’ve seen so far and are encouraging Nintendo to go as aggressively as they can afford with the performance specifications.”

I really hope Nintendo is open enough to listen what developers have to say and find a balance between what they want, making the system affordable with small losses and future proof enough.

How awesome would it be if Wii U were the main console of choice next gen =) Belive.

 

[Plinko]

Thought they were talking about Arkham and his information which the two most trusting people in the WiiU thread debunked.

He specifically mentions the 360. I was referring to the 360 spec sheets that were released.

I'm sure you couldn't wait to dive in and troll with misinformation, though. Arkam is just as reliable as the other two/three sources in here. Problem is, we don't know who is right.

 

[Maxrunner]

Didnt Tecmo said that the hardware was constantly changing???

 

[Endtroducing]

Hey gaf, been out for some days, someone tell me whats goin' on.

Last time I checked, Wii U could apparently be powerful enough to run Samaritan tech demo @ 720p and now it is just on par or below 360 ?

It can run the engine, but i'm doubtful it can run the demo at decent frame rates. The original demo ran on 3 gtx 580, and i don't even see PS4/nextX surpassing or equaling that. Samaritan on Wii U (if the final is like Arkam's kit) would have to be severely cut back to the point where it may be better to recreate/re-do certain assets if not all.

 

[radioheadrule83]

Well lookee here (Yes, Kotaku)

Patent & Trademark link

Also

"An input device such as a keyboard"....

I can imagine a keyboard dock now. I can't imagine many uses, but it'd be cool.

Has this been posted?
Nintendo Gamer

“The controller of the Wii U is obviously where there is new opportunity for innovation in interactivity,” he says. “Meanwhile, our hope at Gearbox is that the final specification for the hardware is much more powerful than the current competitive consoles so that studios like ours can bring a better standard of high definition image not only to television, but to the controller’s screen at the same time.”

“Out of respect for our friends and partners at Nintendo, I think specific technical details regarding the hardware should come from them,” he says, adding that, “we’ve been intrigued by what we’ve seen so far and are encouraging Nintendo to go as aggressively as they can afford with the performance specifications. We imagine that performance specifications are within affordable reach that would provide undeniable performance advantages over competitive platforms. Nintendo have a lot more experience than we do in managing the balance between performance and cost with their hardware, of course, so I do not want to be presumptuous.”

This is interesting. And I'm glad that there have been pro-active third parties trying to encourage Nintendo to be as aggressive as they can within cost... I'm hoping they've taken that on board, especially with the strategy to (seemingly) delay until everything was ready.

 

[Grampa Simpson]

Halfway there. Can we double it before GDC?

Will we run wild again?

 

[Roo]

Halfway there. Can we double it before GDC?

Will we run wild again?

Well, if you guys managed to post over 3000 times since last night in the Nintendo Direct thread, it's safe to assume reaching the 20,000 mark it's a given if Nintendo drops some bombs at GDC.

A single first party screencap will blow this place.

 

[OrangeGrayBlue]

Just had a thought... the Wii U has been renamed. They want to reveal the new name at E3. They aren't referring to the system at all right now because they don't want to enforce the "Wii U" moniker any more strongly than it already has been.

 

[Saint Gregory]

I would never doubt that Nintendo would release a console not much more powerful than this gen but the only lingering issue I have with the idea is the tech demos they displayed at E3.

Unless something big happened internally at NOJ to change their strategy with the U I just can't see them releasing the Zelda and Bird demos to the public. Neither of those could be run on a current gen system and Nintedo has never in my memory shown public demos that were not possible on their finalized system.

 

[StevieP]

Just had a thought... the Wii U has been renamed. They want to reveal the new name at E3. They aren't referring to the system at all right now because they don't want to enforce the "Wii U" moniker any more strongly than it already has been.

Doubtful. I think you're going to get "Wii U"

I would never doubt that Nintendo would release a console not much more powerful than this gen but the only lingering issue I have with the idea is the tech demos they displayed at E3.

Unless something big happened internally at NOJ to change their strategy with the U I just can't see them releasing the Zelda and Bird demos to the public. Neither of those could be run on a current gen system and Nintedo has never in my memory shown public demos that were not possible on their finalized system.

Well, they could run on current gen systems - just scaled down a bit (i.e. assets and/or lighting, etc etc). Anything can run on anything with modern engines/pipelines when scaling is involved. Wish more people would take that into account.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Most arrows right now are pointing to it being stronger than this generation of consoles by at least a decent amount if IGN, Kotaku, other site with the 2x/5x confusion info, lherre, and BG's estimates. So it's worthless to think that it would linger around the same at this point time.

Until more info comes out, it would be nice if that convo was put to bed.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Most arrows right now are pointing to it being stronger than this generation of consoles by at least a decent amount if IGN, Kotaku, other site with the 2x/5x confusion info, lherre, and BG's estimates. So it's worthless to think that it would linger around the same at this point time.

Until more info comes out, it would be nice if that convo was put to bed.

I'm just waiting for everyone to punch themselves out on this. It's a pretty ludicrous conversation not only for the fact that getting parts below 360 quality for pricing reasons literally makes no sense, but because we'll know something in a few months.

Which reminds me, I have to book my LA tickets for June. I keep putting that off.

 

[Saint Gregory]

Well, they could run on current gen systems - just scaled down a bit (i.e. assets and/or lighting, etc etc). Anything can run on anything with modern engines/pipelines when scaling is involved. Wish more people would take that into account.

That would work well in the Wii U's favor if it does turn out to be less powerful than most are expecting but the real point I was trying to make is that Nintendo has, in the past, been very conservative with their tech demos.

If the Wii U ends up not being able to match the visual fidelity of those two demos that would be very surprising to me.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

“The controller of the Wii U is obviously where there is new opportunity for innovation in interactivity,” he says. “Meanwhile, our hope at Gearbox is that the final specification for the hardware is much more powerful than the current competitive consoles so that studios like ours can bring a better standard of high definition image not only to television, but to the controller’s screen at the same time.”

“Out of respect for our friends and partners at Nintendo, I think specific technical details regarding the hardware should come from them,” he says, adding that, “we’ve been intrigued by what we’ve seen so far and are encouraging Nintendo to go as aggressively as they can afford with the performance specifications. We imagine that performance specifications are within affordable reach that would provide undeniable performance advantages over competitive platforms. Nintendo have a lot more experience than we do in managing the balance between performance and cost with their hardware, of course, so I do not want to be presumptuous.”

very interesting and hopeful.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

I'm just waiting for everyone to punch themselves out on this. It's a pretty ludicrous conversation not only for the fact that getting parts below 360 quality for pricing reasons literally makes no sense, but because we'll know something in a few months.

Which reminds me, I have to book my LA tickets for June. I keep putting that off.

preach it. I'm thinking of starting the controller lack of click sticks and nobody cares at motion shit storm again so people stop talking about this.

Also as for the bold, I hate you.

 

[Pocks]

very interesting and hopeful.

Where/when did this come from?

 

[cyberheater]

very interesting and hopeful.

It's an old article.

 

[cyberheater]

Most arrows right now are pointing to it being stronger than this generation of consoles by at least a decent amount if IGN, Kotaku, other site with the 2x/5x confusion info, lherre, and BG's estimates. So it's worthless to think that it would linger around the same at this point time.

Until more info comes out, it would be nice if that convo was put to bed.

Giving that this is the WiiU speculation thread. I very much doubt it.

 

[Daschysta]

Most of the recent rumours and speculation point to a sizable leap up from current gen systems... What happened to freak people out? Surely not just Arkam Ambivalent.

The system is made with modern parts, it will easily outpower the PS3/360. All new rumours (originating after the most recent devkits) point to it being stronger than originally presumed do they not?

Also do we know that it can run samaritan/ue4 at 720p, didn't epic say the system had to be around 4x as strong as 360 to do so? Nintendo is trying to get multiplats this time around, the system will be strong enough to run the most popular middleware there is and unreal is that. They've also been taking in alot of 3rd party input into the design of the console, likely with that purpose in mind. Nintendo isn't short sighted, they set out to make the wii precisely what it was, if they are courting 3rd parties then the system will be capable of running multiplats without too large of a headache over the next gen.

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

Giving that this is the WiiU speculation thread. I very much doubt it.

yeah but our speculation used to be rooted in common sense, now it's just getting insane.

 

[tkscz]

Giving that this is the WiiU speculation thread. I very much doubt it.

Given that this is NeoGaf I very much doubt it.

Also thanks NeoGaf, because of you I can't stop saying Bomba.

 

[Dreamwriter]

Most arrows right now are pointing to it being stronger than this generation of consoles by at least a decent amount if IGN, Kotaku, other site with the 2x/5x confusion info, lherre, and BG's estimates. So it's worthless to think that it would linger around the same at this point time.

Until more info comes out, it would be nice if that convo was put to bed.

But, it also depends on what you consider stronger. The first rumors stated that the graphics would look exactly like the current-gen XBox 360 and PS3's best games...but at 1080p and 60fps. So in one point of view, that would be "lingering around the same" - screenshots of the games wouldn't look any better at all, except for uncompressed 1080p screens.

 

[Forsaken82]

But, it also depends on what you consider stronger. The first rumors stated that the graphics would look exactly like the current-gen XBox 360 and PS3's best games...but at 1080p and 60fps. So in one point of view, that would be "lingering around the same" - screenshots of the games wouldn't look any better at all, except for uncompressed 1080p screens.

what rumors said that (or rather, what reputable source rumored this)? i doubt even the PS4 will output 1080p and 60fps let alone the Wii U.

 

[cyberheater]

Gaffers. I'm trying to find the source of the quotes that stated that WiiU would be "twice as powerful as Xbox360" and the only one I could find was this.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/39593/Wii-U-twice-as-powerful-as-Xbox-360

Where the only thing that was actually quoted from the source was:-

“I've heard [a project designer] complain it's underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced, resulting in people having to de-scale their plans,”

Has anyone actually got a better source of information that points to WiiU being demonstrably better the Xbox360 rather then wishful thinking?

 

[Daschysta]

Gaffers. I'm trying to find the source of the quotes that stated that WiiU would be "twice as powerful as Xbox360" and the only one I could find was this.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/39593/Wii-U-twice-as-powerful-as-Xbox-360

Where the only thing that was actually quoted from the source was:-



Has anyone actually got a better source of information that points to WiiU being demonstrably better the Xbox360 rather then wishful thinking?

"However, yesterday a separate insider source told IGN that the next generation Xbox will be “six times as powerful” as its predecessor – the key addition being that this will mean it yields a “20 per cent greater performance than Wii U”.
That unverified calculation, if true, echoes claims from the Develop source who claims the Wii U is far more powerful than current expectations."

from that same article, didn't that part you quoted also come from an older source, compared to ign's?

 

[fernoca]

Has anyone actually got a better source of information that points to WiiU being demonstrably better the Xbox360 rather then wishful thinking?

I think is in the same link/source you posted: IGN.
The same article/rumor about the next Xbox been "six times more powerful" also mentioned:

In real terms, the Xbox 720's raw graphics processing power is expected to be six times that of the Xbox 360 and will yield 20-percent greater performance than Nintendo's forthcoming console, the Wii U.​

Which is what caused some of the speculations, since it implied that the next Xbox had 20% greater performance. Since the next Xbox was 6 times more powerful than the current one; some just used math with "6 x Xbox 360" and the "20% more". ..and that whatever was the remaining 80% was the Wii U...or something like that.

 

[Forsaken82]

Gaffers. I'm trying to find the source of the quotes that stated that WiiU would be "twice as powerful as Xbox360" and the only one I could find was this.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/39593/Wii-U-twice-as-powerful-as-Xbox-360

Where the only thing that was actually quoted from the source was:-



Has anyone actually got a better source of information that points to WiiU being demonstrably better the Xbox360 rather then wishful thinking?

What in that quote makes you think it would not be "demonstrably" better? Just because someone states that they "may" have had to scale back, all of a sudden means they scaled back to this gen? Maybe, and this is assuming this guy knew what he was talking about, they scaled back to a point that is still superior to this gen? Seems far more logical to me.

 

[Roo]

what rumors said that (or rather, what reputable source rumored this)? i doubt even the PS4 will output 1080p and 60fps let alone the Wii U.

it was just wishful thinking from some users here.
I can see it happening with Nintendo titles tho. I really don't know what it takes to output 1080p and 60fps but a good amount of Wii games (if not all) run at 60fps at 480p. If they can do it on Wii (an underpowered console for many) I don't see why it would be impossible for Wii U.

Again, I don't know what it takes to do so but for Nintendo games than aren't super graphics, and you don't see a lot of things going on in the screen at the same time that requires tons of memory and power and all that stuff I think it's possible.

 

[cyberheater]

"However, yesterday a separate insider source told IGN that the next generation Xbox will be “six times as powerful” as its predecessor – the key addition being that this will mean it yields a “20 per cent greater performance than Wii U”.
That unverified calculation, if true, echoes claims from the Develop source who claims the Wii U is far more powerful than current expectations."

from that same article, didn't that part you quoted also come from an older source, compared to ign's?

Seems a lot of these quotes come from April or so of last year. Way to old to be deemed reliable. I'm trying to find something more definitive and up to date.

 

[ColdBlooder]

Has everyone gone in-freaking-sane in this thread?

Just because someone, who works at a studio but says is NOT a software engineer, comes in and says "uhh it only has xbox 360 power" evewryone jumpes to the conclusion that this is correct?

What does he do at that studio? Scrubb the toilets, clean the windows or god knows what... and yet you belive it?

Guys (and gals, of course!), WAKE UP! I have EYES in my head. the japanese garden demo ALONE is more than enough proof that it has quite a power advantage opver the xbox and ps3. Why? It already looks a ton better than anything ive seen on Xbox360 and/or ps3. and that demo was made on an early dev kit, wich even was underclocked due to heating problems... and now there even seems to be a "significant bump" in performance...

And yet you are whining that is may only have xbox 360 power? Seriously?

It HAS more power and there visual proof... what else do you need?

I even belive that no console manufacturer will build an "uberconsole" this gen. No one will risk a FIVE HUNDERET AND NINETY NINE US DOLLAR fiasco! These are diffrent times people!

 

[fernoca]

Seems a lot of these quotes come from April or so of last year. Way to old to be deemed reliable. I'm trying to find something more definitive and up to date.

IGN's date says January 24, 2012. and that developers are expected to receive final next Xbox kits by August.

Though it is unknown if IGN's source gave them info on Janaury, based on stuff from April 2011.

 

[cyberheater]

IGN's date says January 24, 2012. and that developers are expected to receive final next Xbox kits by August.

Though it is unknown if IGN's source gave them info on Janaury, based on stuff from April 2011.

Final dev kit in Aug. Pretty close to the wire then. Isn't WiiU meant to ship this year?

 

[tkscz]

Gaffers. I'm trying to find the source of the quotes that stated that WiiU would be "twice as powerful as Xbox360" and the only one I could find was this.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/39593/Wii-U-twice-as-powerful-as-Xbox-360

Where the only thing that was actually quoted from the source was:-



Has anyone actually got a better source of information that points to WiiU being demonstrably better the Xbox360 rather then wishful thinking?

Dude, that's where it originated from. That site started the hole 2x the 360 thing, and tried to change what they said in the comments.

 

[Roo]

IGN's date says January 24, 2012. and that developers are expected to receive final next Xbox kits by August.

Sorry, I have to ask this.
I haven't been following Microsoft thread close enough. So it is really happening? Is it confirmed Microsoft is already working on the next Xbox devkits/system?
And by confirmed I mean something like: "Yeah, we're working on it right now" from an official source

 

[Rhod]

I think it's wise to go by what Nintendo says about the console and no one else.