Next-gen Nintendo Wii U Announced

[$3@N]

Originally Posted by Reaper

Oh I hope that's just rumor. Seriously, why keep using junk? In the sense of next gen that is.

The CPU/Mobo they are using is not junk, PowerPC processors and chipsets are in alot of good hardware.

I agree about the GPU though, its very outdated but not rubbish.

DX10.1 only misses out on tessellation (more advanced/easier to impliment versions anyway) and multithreading.

[TheChemist]

Originally Posted by Annihilator69

My dad has an old LG 480p Plasma and the Wii looks so slick on it.

Yeah, and still will for a long time to come. 480p on a 1080p TV though... not so much.

The Wii HD totally has a market for those of us with full HD screens

[elvis]

Originally Posted by stmok

IBM is making a serious killing in the game console market.

That's been their goal for a long time.

The problem with CPU manufacturing is that in small batches, they are horrendously expensive. By commoditising CPU fabrication through console CPUs, IBM can then get the manufacturing costs down (as well as the error rate) so that they can make even higher profits from their enterprise kit.

The Cell processor is a marvel of modern engineering. And before any PC fanboys jump up and down about how the PS3 looks crap compared to a modern PC, do remember that what we see in most PS3 games represents only a fraction of what Cell can really punch out (thanks entirely to lazy programming and rushed multi-platform ports). Cell's sales in the supercomputer and high performance cluster markets are huge, because when properly utilised then can punch out roughly 30-50 times the floating point power of a standard Intel CPU (making it not only a fantastic general purpose CPU, but also a direct competitor to the GPGPU market).

The problem IBM faced early on in Cell's lifetime was the cost per unit. By approaching Sony with a deal to put them in the PS3, it meant that IBM could get manufacturing up, and cost per unit way down. Now the CPU costs them bugger all to make, but they can still sell it for 5 digits per blade in the biggest cluster nodes they have.

POWER (the big brother to PowerPC - think Xeon is to Pentium) is IBM's big seller in system i (aka "AS/400") and system p (AIX and Linux) hardware that powers some of their biggest (non-mainframe) servers. Again, every Wii that puts in a low-end PowerPC chip means that IBM's cost per unit even in their higher end chips comes hurtling down, and ensures them more profits out of the high end sector.

All up, it's a very clever business approach. And quite frankly, a lot better for consoles (IMHO, POWER and Cell architecture are much better than x86 and IA64 architecture, and I only wish PowerPC had caught on more in consumer desktops).

[stmok]

Originally Posted by elvis

The Cell processor is a marvel of modern engineering. And before any PC fanboys jump up and down about how the PS3 looks crap compared to a modern PC, do remember that what we see in most PS3 games represents only a fraction of what Cell can really punch out (thanks entirely to lazy programming and rushed multi-platform ports). Cell's sales in the supercomputer and high performance cluster markets are huge, because when properly utilised then can punch out roughly 30-50 times the floating point power of a standard Intel CPU (making it not only a fantastic general purpose CPU, but also a direct competitor to the GPGPU market).

That's true. I talk to someone who codes on the Cell architecture for a living. (He gets to play with the more powerful PowerXCell 8i.)

The first batch of games for PS3's initial release were mainly using the PPE. Game devs never bothered with the SPEs because it actually requires one to approach programming in a slightly different way. (One needs time to acclimate themselves in taking advantage of the SPEs.)

On the GPGPU side, it sits right between a general purpose CPU and full blown GPU. (It has the best of both worlds in terms of flexibility. Very good bang per buck on the supercomputing side. Able to reach much closer to theoretical float performance compared to general CPU. ie: 90%+ vs 70%+)

Originally Posted by elvis

POWER (the big brother to PowerPC - think Xeon is to Pentium) is IBM's big seller in system i (aka "AS/400") and system p (AIX and Linux) hardware that powers some of their biggest (non-mainframe) servers. Again, every Wii that puts in a low-end PowerPC chip means that IBM's cost per unit even in their higher end chips comes hurtling down, and ensures them more profits out of the high end sector.

Dept of Education here in Sydney used AS/400s (They've been upgraded to more modern POWER hardware in the last few years). My dad was part of the dev team that created the teacher's salary system...Every time they go on strike, those servers get a good workout.

Originally Posted by elvis

All up, it's a very clever business approach. And quite frankly, a lot better for consoles (IMHO, POWER and Cell architecture are much better than x86 and IA64 architecture, and I only wish PowerPC had caught on more in consumer desktops).

Would be awesome to buy a POWER7-based (4-core at 3.0Ghz+) desktop or workstation running Linux.

Or maybe have variant of game console that serves the role?

[Zee]

Originally Posted by gregpolk

...How nice would it be to chuck in your Wii copy of Skyward Sword and have it run in native, not upscaled 1080p. Emulators can do it, maybe a console could.

Originally Posted by gregpolk

Do you think it would be possible for a new console to run Wii games in native 1080p, not upscaled from a lower res?

If the graphics were done in 480P, they will never run native 1080P. They will always be up-scaled, no matter what sort of emulation/up-scaling/up-conversion you use, it's all a form of processing that converts X pixels in to Y pixels.

Not saying it wont look awesome, just saying it can't be native if the original coded format is not the same to begin with.

On a side note, the chances of a Wii HD have a "Really good" scaling chip - QDEO Kyoto G2? IT would drive the price up, and all for backward compatibility? Personally, I think that is a waste of time. Generally when these consoles hit the market, the old one you have on your shelf will be lucky to sell for $100 - so why bother? Just keep it, let the new console that has been designed for new gen gaming not be compromised with the need to play old games.



Z...

[$3@N]

Its a shame Sony killed any possibility of the average consumer using PowerPC when they officially scrapped OtherOS.

And Mac stopped using PowerPC in their Desktops and laptops since 2005~

Originally Posted by elvis

And quite frankly, a lot better for consoles (IMHO, POWER and Cell architecture are much better than x86 and IA64 architecture, and I only wish PowerPC had caught on more in consumer desktops).

I agree.

I know how you said the PS3's real power is not really being utilized fully, but thats not true, just look at the exclusive games from decent developers

Naughty Dog's Uncharted series - Sure they all run at 720P but they all look gorgeous, especially Uncharted 2 and 3 (Uncharted 2 had AA,realtime tessellation and parralax texture mapping, god knows what U3 will have)

Evolution Studio's Motorstorm series - Motorstorm 1 and 2 where 720, but MS3 Apoclpse was native 1080p and looked and ran gorgeous.

Now if the Wii 2 HD 'Project Cafe' can manage to capture some old and new 3rd party developers with their new console it would be fantastic.

the games would be 1080P at least and would look gorgeous

[elvis]

There also used to be these guys in the PPC desktop market:
http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/opendesktop
http://www.genesi-usa.com/products/pegasos

And they ran this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MorphOS
http://www.morphos-team.net/

But yeah, pretty much all dead these days. I was hopeful that Amiga would make a comeback and bring PowerPC back to the mainstream, but not so.

For a while there, Terra Soft (who aquired Yellow Dog) made mini PowerPC devices that could slide into a 5.25" bay on your workstation. That's now all gone, and the new owner FixStars just on-sells Cell chips on a PCIe board (which cost a fortune).

The only hope left for PPC fans is now this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmigaOne_X1000

But given the past history of PPC on the desktop, I'm not holding my breath.

Anyways... way off topic! Back on topic...

Originally Posted by $3@N

Now if the Wii 2 HD 'Project Cafe' can manage to capture some old and new 3rd party developers with their new console it would be fantastic.

the games would be 1080P at least and would look gorgeous

I think the "Wii HD" will be a killer platform for console FPS. FPS on Xbox360/PS3 sucks thanks to the gamepad. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy / 3 and Conduit have both shown FPS on Wii can be fun. If the console gets a power boost, I think it'll be the prime candidate for FPS fans who want a console, but don't want nerfed controls.

[$3@N]

Originally Posted by elvis

I think it'll be the prime candidate for FPS fans who want a console, but don't want nerfed controls.

As interesting as the part of your post about PPC's was, i disagree about the 'Nerfed' controlls on the 360 and PS3.

Sure the FPS games that have Auto-aim enabled by default and unable to turn it off is 'nerf'

But then there are games like M.A.G. on the PSN which has no Auto Aim by default and you can completely turn it off, the controls are quite good.

I just dont see a gamepad or a motion control hybrid controller like the Move or WiiMote (and whatever Nintendo has planned for this new Wii) a serious competitor too the keyboard and mouse (which Nintendo never supported, at least the PS2, PS3 Xbox and 360 had 1st/3rd party support in games)

Unless the Wii 2 HD has native support for KB/M, HDMI 1.4/3D, serveral USB Ports and a HDD/SSD, the console cant be taken seriously.

Lets face it the Wii was a complete joke, it was a gussy'd up gamecube with gimmick controllers.

[FOXH0UND]

Heres hoping a better Meteroid Game get's released.

[d.Mac]

Originally Posted by $3@N

Lets face it the Wii was a complete joke, it was a gussy'd up gamecube with gimmick controllers.

Joke or not it sold far better than PS3's and xbox's.

So i guess the jokes on Nintendo...

[FOXH0UND]

Originally Posted by $3@N

Lets face it the Wii was a complete joke, it was a gussy'd up gamecube with gimmick controllers. And it was entertaining

Fixed it for you.

Isn't that what a video game console is designed to do?

[elvis]

Originally Posted by $3@N

Unless the Wii 2 HD has native support for KB/M, HDMI 1.4/3D, serveral USB Ports and a HDD/SSD, the console cant be taken seriously.

Lets face it the Wii was a complete joke, it was a gussy'd up gamecube with gimmick controllers.

As others have already said, Nintendo took it pretty seriously and made a tonne of money out of it.

Considering both Sony and Microsoft had to run at a loss for the first few years, Nintendo was in the black from day one. As far as actually being a functional business unit, Nintendo are probably the only hardware company left making a profit from video games. Everyone else has to subsidise their consoles from other non-gaming parts of their business.

And asides from that, I personally "took the Wii seriously". I quite like the console, and have more games on it than either my PS3 or XBox360.

[Tiberio]

http://www.maxconsole.net/content.ph...and-controller

[FOXH0UND]

Shit just got real, literally.
http://www.kotaku.com.au/2011/04/nin...wii-successor/

[AthlonMan]

Any idea if this will be called the Poo?