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[watershed]

Okay, late April, early June.

I really think they're looking to release 1H next fiscal year, and earlier rather than later. If they weren't, the thing wouldn't be playable this E3. They'll also want to get as much time as possible on market to build base before Microsoft and Sony can get their next gen consoles out.

Yeah but the system also needs time for all the system features to be developed/ironed out and for all the games to be made, 1st and 3rd party. 3rd parties might fair better because they can just port stuff but Nintendo will need time.

If the cafe launch is anything like the 3ds launch that could really hurt the system. A soft launch for a console can be like a death nail. And without knowing anything about the system yet, I think launching in april would be a bad idea. Also April is not a traditional buying season. At least waiting till June when people are getting out of school is a better idea. But does anyone think the cafe will get 2 E3s before launch?

 

[herzogzwei1989]

What about your soul?

Burning ready!

Spoiler

for Soul Calibur V on Cafe that is!

 

[lunchwithyuzo]

Yeah but the system also needs time for all the system features to be developed/ironed out and for all the games to be made, 1st and 3rd party. 3rd parties might fair better because they can just port stuff but Nintendo will need time.

If the cafe launch is anything like the 3ds launch that could really hurt the system. A soft launch for a console can be like a death nail. And without knowing anything about the system yet, I think launching in april would be a bad idea. Also April is not a traditional buying season. At least waiting till June when people are getting out of school is a better idea. But does anyone think the cafe will get 2 E3s before launch?

The biggest platforms all survived softer launches actually (PS1, PS2, DS). I'm not really convinced it does hurt a platform, I mean Dreamcast, GameCube and PSP all came out swinging and look where that went.

I think a push for April in Japan maybe because of Golden Week, but a summer launch everywhere is probably a safer bet.

 

[Jackano]

Nintendo should not repeat the early 2011 launch of 3DS.

A late 2012 release for Cafe would mean more games ready, more hype because of the holiday season.

True, it was generally admitted for the last systems launchs before 3DS that an holiday release give a super boost as soon as possible in the system life (and it's a good message for the market: "hey look we already have this milestone!"). Regarding games, we can't really tell. For Café, you're right if you consider a november 2012 release, but you're wrong if you consider a november 2011 release, see?

Now Nintendo consider that with an early release in the year, they have time to build stock for the first holiday period, they have time to have more first and third party games released before and during the first holiday period, and they have time to sell systems to their fans/ to geeks before selling to the more tradiotionnal mass market, during the first holiday period.

The main point of which strategy is the best is to provide enought games between the early launch and the holidays. I think the 3DS does this pretty well, despite what GAF think about it. Japan earthquake delayed most of them, but in US/EU, we still have merely one release a month from Nintendo, plus DoAD and some Legos.
Café is likely on road to do it again, with more third party ps360 games. I can't wait to see the games!

 

[AniHawk]

But does anyone think the cafe will get 2 E3s before launch?

if it's playable now then i don't think so. there have been some systems that have seen two e3s before launching in some part of the world (i think e305 was when some people got a behind-the-scenes look at it, and the same might've happened with the ps3 that year too).

 

[herzogzwei1989]

I'll admit, Cafe having two E3s before launch would be kinda weird, but then, this has been a weird generation, hasn't it?

 

[Lupin the Third]

if it's playable now then i don't think so. there have been some systems that have seen two e3s before launching in some part of the world (i think e305 was when some people got a behind-the-scenes look at it, and the same might've happened with the ps3 that year too).

Do you mean Xbox 360?

I think two E3s is entirely possible, but I think a summer launch for 2012 looks plausible at this point. So, it would make an E3 appearance but not far off from launch, so there might be some launch-title overlap with new announcements at E3 '12. Such is my assumption, anyhow.

 

[TekkenMaster]

Is a surprise Holiday 2011 release for Cafe completely ruled out? What if Nintendo pulls a Saturn?

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Do you mean Xbox 360?

Xbox 360 only had E3 2005, I believe. 360 wasn't at E3 2004, unless I'm mistaken.

I think two E3s is entirely possible, but I think a summer launch for 2012 looks plausible at this point. So, it would make an E3 appearance but not far off from launch, so there might be some launch-title overlap with new announcements at E3 '12. Such is my assumption, anyhow.

I guess that's possible. Too many factors for me to think about though.

Is a surprise Holiday 2011 release for Cafe completely ruled out? What if Nintendo pulls a Saturn?

That's soooooooo not gonna happen

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Is a surprise Holiday 2011 release for Cafe completely ruled out? What if Nintendo pulls a Saturn?

I have too much other shit to buy, so getting a new console with 3 months warning is not good for me.

 

[JonCha]

Is a surprise Holiday 2011 release for Cafe completely ruled out? What if Nintendo pulls a Saturn?

In my opinion it should, because chances are MS and maybe Sony will be revealing details next year. If Nintendo launched this year then they could really gain an advantage, though I guess there will be almost no games at launch to support it.

 

[TekkenMaster]

In my opinion it should, because chances are MS and maybe Sony will be revealing details next year. If Nintendo launched this year then they could really gain an advantage, though I guess there will be almost no games at launch to support it.

All Nintendo needs is Smash Bros, New Super Mario Bros or Mario Kart, and they'll sell lots of consoles.

And I agree that Nintendo needs to release "soon" (earlier than June 2012, preferably Holiday 2011) to gain any kind of foothold. I think either Sony or MS will release their new console Fall 2012.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

This will be the first time (perhaps in a long time) that Nintendo has the most powerful console around. I hope they run with that, making the most out of it. Nintendo should trumpet this loud and clear at E3. At least for awhile, Cafe will be the most powerful console on the market.

 

[Lupin the Third]

Xbox 360 only had E3 2005, I believe. 360 wasn't at E3 2004, unless I'm mistaken.

So you're saying he meant the Wii? He didn't say the name of the non-PS3 console, he just said "it." So I'm guessing he meant Wii.... Thanks for the clarification (obviously, if the 360 was shown publicly at E3 '05, it didn't need to be introduced privately).

 

[herzogzwei1989]

So you're saying he meant the Wii? He didn't say the name of the non-PS3 console, he just said "it." So I'm guessing he meant Wii.... Thanks for the clarification (obviously, if the 360 was shown publicly at E3 '05, it didn't need to be introduced privately).

Well, lets see, the Revolution casing was shown at E3 2005 along with a short Metroid Prime 3 demo, maybe he did mean Wii, I dunno, it's 4:10am here and I'm getting a little tired

 

[watershed]

In my opinion it should, because chances are MS and maybe Sony will be revealing details next year. If Nintendo launched this year then they could really gain an advantage, though I guess there will be almost no games at launch to support it.

Yeah I think Sony and Microsoft will both announce at the 2012 E3 so Nintendo would be smart to have the cafe on the market before then, preferably 2 months before then. Either way, it would be really odd if a brand new console suddenly looks dated due to the reveal of 2 newer consoles that are in some way better.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

On another note, I hope SEGA's support for Cafe is good. My wish would be to see Sega Racing Classic (Daytona USA in HD) on Cafe's Virtual Console/Virtual Arcade service. Oh and how about a proper Phantasy Star V RPG that's turn-based.
I'd be happy then even if Cafe is severely underpowered.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Just read this bit:

http://www.nintendojo.com/news/roundups/weekly-news-roundup-05-29-2011

In what has turned into a very interesting story, Infinity Ward won’t comment on Modern Warfare 3 on Wii.]

It hasn’t been announced for Wii, because it is going to be on Project Cafe instead. It’s a wild guess, but we’ll find out the truth at E3.

Hmmm

 

[Raide]

Just read this bit:

http://www.nintendojo.com/news/roundups/weekly-news-roundup-05-29-2011

Hmmm

Really odd. Why would you want to wait for MW3 a year or so after PS3/360? Damn, by the time Cafe comes out we will have BlackOPS2 or something.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Really odd. Why would you want to wait for MW3 a year or so after PS3/360? Damn, by the time Cafe comes out we will have BlackOPS2 or something.

Oh I dunno, perhaps we'll see a Modern Warfare collection on Cafe.
I loved the MW games, hated Black Ops. I wouldn't mind playing CoD4: MW, MW2 and MW3 in 1080p on Cafe.

 

[watershed]

Oh I dunno, perhaps we'll see a Modern Warfare collection on Cafe.
I loved the MW games, hated Black Ops. I wouldn't mind playing CoD4: MW, MW2 and MW3 in 1080p on Cafe.

This is the route I think all third parties should go on the cafe when doing ports. We should get things like COD collection, Assassin's Creed Anthology, Mass Effect Complete, and stuff like that at $60 for a single bluray/bluray disc thing. But I highly doubt publishers will be so generous with their content.

 

[Dabanton]

Oh I dunno, perhaps we'll see a Modern Warfare collection on Cafe.
I loved the MW games, hated Black Ops. I wouldn't mind playing CoD4: MW, MW2 and MW3 in 1080p on Cafe.

The chances that Activision are going to release 5 of their biggest games some of which still sell for full price in a single collection is highly unlikely.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

Have we established yet (in theory) how the supposed streaming will work on the Cafe? Even if we isolate the function to one controller per system (which i strongly believe to be), is it even possible with the current technology to stream entire games from a terminal (console) to a receiver (LCD screen on the controller) without major hiccups depending on connection speeds?


I don't want to even think that Nintendo's big idea is a controller with a glorified VMU, that would be massively disappointing.

 

[watershed]

Have we established yet (in theory) how the supposed streaming will work on the Cafe? Even if we isolate the function to one controller per system (which i strongly believe to be), is it even possible with the current technology to stream entire games from a terminal (console) to a receiver (LCD screen on the controller) without major hiccups depending on connection speeds?


I don't want to even think that Nintendo's big idea is a controller with a glorified VMU, that would be massively disappointing.

Honestly the more I think about it the less confidence I have in it being worth while. For me, I'm just trying to forget the rumors and be surprised by whatever Nintendo shows at E3. Doesn't really answer your question tho ;P

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

Yeah it REALLY doesn't

 

[herzogzwei1989]

The chances that Activision are going to release 5 of their biggest games some of which still sell for full price in a single collection is highly unlikely.

Probably so, but one can hope & dream.

 

[Darryl]

The chances that Activision are going to release 5 of their biggest games some of which still sell for full price in a single collection is highly unlikely.

Well, it's not like they haven't released collections before. Only their newest versions actually sell at retail anyways, and this would be a great way to encourage new sales.

 

[Jocchan]

Just read this bit:

http://www.nintendojo.com/news/roundups/weekly-news-roundup-05-29-2011


Hmmm

Wishful thinking. Café will be out next year, they probably just don't want to announce the Wii version (likely made by Treyarch) yet.

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Wishful thinking. Café will be out next year, they probably just don't want to announce the Wii version (likely made by Treyarch) yet.

Probably. Anyway I suppose Battlefield 3 would be a better fit for Cafe, it's a cutting-edge game releasing in late 2011, but it stands to be expanded I'm sure. I just hope Cafe is upto producing a decent fraction of what is sure to be an amazing PC experience.

 

[dwu8991]

Good to see Nintendo rolling out new Mario Kart ads adhead of E3.

 

[WrathOfOtaibah]

I'd love a summer release for my own personal reasons, but in all honesty if its not by some miracle fall 2011 it's going to be fall 2012.

 

[Krev]

I'd love a summer release for my own personal reasons, but in all honesty if its not by some miracle fall 2011 it's going to be fall 2012.

Do Nintendo really want to launch with 13 million units on the market?

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

Noone to answer my question ?

 

[herzogzwei1989]

I'd love a summer release for my own personal reasons, but in all honesty if its not by some miracle fall 2011 it's going to be fall 2012.

Last time Nintendo launched a console in the summer was N64 in Japan, IIRC.

 

[Dabanton]

Well, it's not like they haven't released collections before. Only their newest versions actually sell at retail anyways, and this would be a great way to encourage new sales.

Interesting have never seen these before.

 

[Krowley]

Noone to answer my question ?

One of the french articles from the site that broke the original cafe rumors (one.net i think) mentioned that the tech wasn't actually streaming video to the controllers. Instead, it was streaming pre-compiled code to display images on the screen, which supposedly would be tiny, and thus easy to stream. At least that's the way I understood someone's translation of the article.

I think it was in the article where they mentioned which fan-made controller mock-up was supposed to be the most accurate according to their source.

I'll go look for it.

edit: This user translated the article .

Here is the relevant bit...

The console and its controllers could work using a principle of "virtualization", where most of the processing is done on the console and the controllers act as display terminals, displaying pre-computed content [TN: code in the original article]. This system could broadcast high quality games on the controllers, with no noticable latency and without using compressed video streaming, which requires large bandwidth.

So it sounds like they have specialized streaming tech in the system just to make this function work well.

 

[Darryl]

Interesting have never seen these before.

Ya, they weren't very big. The biggest problem with this was probably the price point. Collections like this are absolutely pointless when it's cheaper to buy the 2 versions separate used than it is to buy the collection full. It would probably sell like hotcakes if they were released with a lower price, like $29.99. At that point, not many people would care how much it costs used. I hate CoD, but I would probably buy a cheap collection of it for multiplayer. Everyone seems to have their own version preference with that game. :/

If they were released on a new console, I could easily see a CoD collection getting some fast sales, especially if they somehow found a way to make it look even better (1080p).

 

[dwu8991]

One of the french articles from the site that broke the original cafe rumors (one.net i think) mentioned that the tech wasn't actually streaming video to the controllers. Instead, it was streaming pre-compiled code to display images on the screen, which supposedly would be tiny, and thus easy to stream. At least that's the way I understood someone's translation of the article.

I think it was in the article where they mentioned which fan-made controller mock-up was supposed to be the most accurate according to their source.

I'll go look for it.

The french article had some good info such as the code name and screen size but thats about it. The streaming video is mere speculation.

 

[swerve]

I love Nintendo. They are the only console manufacturer where I do not need to look at the specs at all. I dont even care. Bringing out a new console? Sold. Nobody makes games like them.

Awesome honesty. Don't listen to this man...

I like nintendo too but this is just blind fanboyism.

Nintendo have earned my loyalty by consistently making stuff I enjoy. Same with Valve. Used to be the same with AM2 and Amusement Vision and UGA. Same with Revolution Software and Westwood Studios and DMA design and Psygnosis and it goes way way back. The specs have always been insignificant to me in comparison to the developers making games on the system.

No reason to say it's fanboyism to buy things I like. I do it every week at the supermarket. When they make things that I don't enjoy (Mario Sunshine) then I will stop and re-evaluate for a while, but give them a chance to redeem themselves (Jungle Beat) and carry on buying.

 

[rpmurphy]

Noone to answer my question ?

If you're thinking about the performance issues of video streaming to your PC over the internet, that's because it's a lot more complicated. They can optimize the Cafe's hardware and firmware to have good streaming capability.

 

[Krowley]

The french article had some good info such as the code name and screen size but thats about it. The streaming video is mere speculation.

You seem awfully sure about that. This translation does not sound like they're speculating... and I'll repost it again, just so nobody misses it. They seem to be right about most things according to the buzz on other sites, so I don't see why they would be wrong on this.

The console and its controllers could work using a principle of "virtualization", where most of the processing is done on the console and the controllers act as display terminals, displaying pre-computed content [TN: code in the original article]. This system could broadcast high quality games on the controllers, with no noticable latency and without using compressed video streaming, which requires large bandwidth.

and the main bit about the streaming

The streaming will have a central role for the attraction of this Project Cafe. The console will be able to wirelessly broadcast (stream) many type of streams (misc media, games) to the controllers. It will be possible to play games without turning on the TV, or begin an intense match on the TV and continue it in the bathroom. A true revolution.

They use the word could in the first quote, but it seems to me that they're saying it's a capability that can be used by developers, rather than something that might be true.. although I guess I could be wrong.

Anyway, regardless.. Streaming tech seems to be at the center of nearly every rumor about the console, so I imagine it will work well enough to be a worth touting for Nintendo.

Edit/// And another translation of the same bit.. this one with less uncertainty..

All the processing would be done by the console, so the controllers would only act as the command input and a display terminal. This, in theory, eleminates latency issues.

I don't read know french so it depends on whose translation is more accurate I suppose.

 

[Graphics Horse]

If you're going to display 'high quality games' on the screen, you either need a high quality graphics processor in each controller or a video stream.

I could see it having a 2D mode where the terminal is not entirely dumb, but something like this seems like the best bet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF8omefUZik

Some kind of remotely controlled 3D graphics processor sounds both expensive and limiting compared to a simple video stream.

 

[antonz]

If you're going to display 'high quality games' on the screen, you either need a high quality graphics processor in each controller or a video stream.

I could see it having a 2D mode where the terminal is not entirely dumb, but something like this seems like the best bet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF8omefUZik

That could be a real possibility technology wise.

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

That could be a real possibility technology wise.

I think it's too advanced for Nintendo's standards. I guess we will see soon...

 

[swerve]

Some kind of remotely controlled 3D graphics processor sounds both expensive and limiting compared to a simple video stream.

Hm, expensive I can see, but not limiting. I don't know, I fear dumb terminals, and it would surely be more efficient from the overall processor load point of view for the sub-terminals to be processed within the sub-terminals themselves, rather than everything sitting on the main unit. *Especially* as they are taking input back to the main unit including touchscreen feedback. For gaming, all this needs to be instant, not near-instant.

Then again if it's OCTO-CORE or something, it can have one core per controller and still have three for games and one for the OS.

 

[max-pain]

september, 2012

That's my guess.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Hm, expensive I can see, but not limiting. I don't know, I fear dumb terminals and it would surely be more efficient from the overall processor load point of view for the sub-terminals to be processed within the sub-terminals themselves, rather than everything sitting on the main unit.

Then again if it's OCTO-CORE or something, it can have one core per controller and still have three for games and one for the OS.

Yes it would ease your console processor load but that's got a big power cable plugged into it
By limiting I mean you'd be limited to telling the controller where the position of each object is per frame and things like that, and what you could display would be limited by the RAM in the controller.

 

[Kafel]

So with Cafe in the same waters than the 360 and PS3 so ports can go there, someone wanna bet against Nintendo achievements/trophies ?

I know a lot of persons who choose a specific version of a game because of those. If Nintendo forgets about this then they're clearly out of the loop.

 

[AniHawk]

Do you mean Xbox 360?

I think two E3s is entirely possible, but I think a summer launch for 2012 looks plausible at this point. So, it would make an E3 appearance but not far off from launch, so there might be some launch-title overlap with new announcements at E3 '12. Such is my assumption, anyhow.

oops, yeah. meant the wii. i had typed 'wii' in there at some point too, but must have deleted that part without realizing.

my question is, why even show it in america now then? it's obviously far enough along that nintendo's got their own shit for demo purposes, namely high-profile games that they hope will sell the system. how much more do you plan to reveal?

 

[Annoying Old Party Man]

Ah yes, the battery is a factor as well. God damn it, I really don't understand how they will do it.