Rumored Tech Specs Give Wii 2 More Power Than Xbox 360

[DanDeFool]

Hell, the Wii should have had as much power as the X360 WHEN IT CAME OUT.

This new one had BETTER have as much power, or we'll see if third-party devs and publishers are sick enough of breaking the bank on new graphics tech that they'll actually welcome a system that's a generation behind in terms of hardware.

Also:

The controller is not only said to have a 6-inch HD touchscreen embedded...

Spoiler: This reminds me of something else...

http://homepage2.nifty.com/shinu/pic/bleemdc02.jpg

Let's hope Nintendo isn't trying to innovate it's way out of a death dive like their ex-biggest competitor.

 

[Seagoon]

GO HOME MOTION SENSING

 

[Corpse XxX]

They call this a upgrade?

Having slightly better hardware than a machine that is like what.. 7 years old??

Nintendo.. Im dissappoint!!!!

 

[Wieke]

It reportedly includes a three-core custom IBM PowerPC CPU, an ATI R700 GPU, and 512 MB of RAM.

Please let this just be a rumour, that is some woefully atrocious hardware. Only 512 mb and an old graphics processor. (Seriously, the R700 was two generations ago.) Personally i'm hoping it contains some of that sexy new AMD Fusion hardware but it's probably to early for those.

The problem with current Fusion APUs is that they're aimed at low to medium end general purpose and multimedia systems.. which is to say the netbook, low end laptop, office desktop and HTPC markets. Excellent for those markets (and profitable, too) but not really something you'd use for HD gaming. Also, there's no way AMD would let any of their Fusion tech be put on an IBM custom CPU.

I do have to wonder why Nintendo would use a custom CPU when using off the shelf served them so well for the Wii, though.

Well the Llano runs AvP [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxATxZbiD_A&feature=related], in a windows environment, without all the "close to the metal" style efficient programming they can do on the consoles. So i would expect it to be powerful enough. Also in an interview [http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/amdfusion-2011-neal_8.html#sect0] with Neal Robison it appears that AMD sees a future for the Fusion as console hardware.

That said I am a bit of an AMD fanboy, so this would hardly be an objective view.

 

[The.Bard]

Nintendo was so close to success, but they have failed on so many counts. The wii was powered by grandmas and mothers. The kinds of people who are going to look at a Wii 2 and say "... but I already bought one." Last time I checked, their attach rates were pathetic, so not only do they need to get those casual people to buy again, but they need them to actually do more with the system than shove it in a closet and pull it out in a gimp suit to dance for parties once a year.

They screwed over the hardcore by releasing very few games for them, making very few deals to bring the really popular games (in some part because the system was too weak to handle it, I'm sure), and everything else was shovelware. In true Nintendo fashion, when they are making money, they pretty much ignore developers and wipe their nose at them.

I don't see Wii2 pulling in the #'s of Wii1. I think they need more than a gimmicky add-on to draw people in again. They need to show some genuine support for 3rd parties and release games that don't just feature shallow motion controls.

I wouldn't say they CAN'T succeed with this, but I see nothing in their current strategy that leads me to believe they are capable and/or willing to pull it off... but this is just my opinion, and I'm a highly outspoken anti-Nintendoist.

 

[tehannihalator]

What type of media will it use though? You'll need to use something more advanced than dvd's or its back to the old days of the ps1 needing 4 discs to run final fantasy IX. Blurays loading times are going to be long.Somehow I don't think nintendo will go down the root of digital distribution just yet.Also how much capacity will the hard drive have? keep in mind when the ps3 launched with 20gb to 60gb and now has 160gb to 320gb. But if you so wanted you can take it up to 2tb. how big will the hard drive be?
EDIT: Ign has just said that "project cafe" will be able to play games from the controller's screen making it a handheld only you can't take out of your house and useless because a lot of people have 30 inch plus screens.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

The Information on the French site for Ram and GPU are speculation with no basis of reality and they even say as such.

Problem is Gaming Journalism at it's finest takes speculation and says Confirmed!

 

[tinkyyy]

Trying to play quite a lot of types of games (sports, fps, action, beat 'em up) I struggle to use a touchscreen for, just find that things don't tend to work as smoothly as having buttons there.

Then again it might be different on a 6 inch screen, if it is actually true. I'm just not overly comfortable playing touchscreen games any more complex than Peggle/Cut the Rope/Plants vs. Zombies. I can't imagine trying to play something like Zelda or Mario using a touchscreen, I feel like it would be a painful experience for me.

I hope nintendo don't bother with a touchscreen and this is just a rumour. Regarding hardware, I'm not overly bothered about how good the games look, that's definitely not the most important thing although it is an added bonus.

 

[FoolKiller]

Slightly more powerful 7 years later. Oh no. I'm sure Microsoft and Sony are trembling. The touchscreen controller seems gimmicky and stupid to me. The point of a button is to have texture for your fingers to feel them. Touchscreens provide homogenous sensation so you would have to look down to know what you are pressing.

On the plus side, if the controller has a touch screen, maybe we could see a DS Player to follow up the GameCube's GameBoy Player?

Honestly, I don't need that because the point of the GameBoy Player on GameCube was to play the games on the TV and not the little screen. The touch sensitive screen would mean you would be playing the games on the small thing in front of you on the controller. I don't need that since I already have something to do that: a DS.

 

[Luthir Fontaine]

God damn it Nintendo! I was hyped bout a new system hoping to reclaim the brand to the gamers system. Now it has touchsrcreen. boooo

I know i can get kinda of pissed when i play my games now ive got a touchscreen to worry bout on the damn thing >:-(

 

[Rigs83]

I remember my Dreamcast had a powered black and white screen and the battery pretty much died after a day because the damn thing would not shut off alongside the console. It was annoying and the console died before anyone really utilized the tech. If Nintendo can overcome the battery limitations the must also contend with the fact that they may well have the most expensive game controller on the market and it will have to be built like a tank to survive the harsh treatment experienced by overly violent gamers who rage on a dime. i worry if this is true this will price the console out of the hands of poor gamers like me and impede the very young or weak wristed from enjoying the games

 

[PseudoDuck]

While the thought of all of the Wii's current crop of games in full HD is mouth-watering (can't help but think of a Zelda game made with the Unreal engine, however unlikely), it's going to take more than sheer power to make Nintendo's next console a force to be reckoned with.

You think a "Gamecube 2" would have been half as successful as the Wii was? It was the novelty of motion controls that made the Wii sell, and it was innovative use of those controls with first-party games that produced some true classics on the console.

If there's not enough innovation between the Wii and their next console then what exactly is it going to offer people?

Edit: I don't seem to make it clear that, while I also think the rumoured spec is atrociously low, it won't matter how powerful it is if it doesn't bring anything new to the table.

 

[Xanthious]

Ok I think we can all take the "it's not a gimmick" line and have a good laugh at it's expense now. Sorry Nintendo, when you take a controller and cram a six inch screen, motion sensing, AND a camera into it that's pretty damn gimmicky. Holy hell, how much are these damn controllers going to cost? Furthermore, with a six inch screen I can't see how playing games won't be anything but awkward and unwieldy.

If all the specs and "features" of this abomination hold true hardcore gamers aren't going to want to go near it at gunpoint and Wii owners will still be content with their Gamecube Move. Sure you will have hardcore Nintendo fanboys like that idiot who wears his Power Glove in public but I can't think they account for all that many people.

This is just more proof Nintendo is unable to compete without some attention garnering gimmick to get their hardware over. Again, assuming the rumors are true, this thing won't even be as powerful as the PS3. But hey, at least we will be able to play the thirtieth incarnation of Mario, Metroid, and Kirby on our controllers and photograph ourselves while doing it. . . . .

 

[Kroxile]

Put any hardware you have in a low to mid-range PC into the new Wii and there you have it, better than the 360.

fix'd.

 

[Rhedd]

Ignoring the fact that this is all pure speculation, this strategy seems pretty sound.

A console that is at least as powerful as the 360, maybe more powerful than the PS3 (depending on which rumour you're going off of)? Package it cheap enough and it sounds pretty good to me!

Sony and MS have both said 2014-15 for their next consoles, that gives Nintendo 2-3 years with the newest, shineyiest, (possibly)most powerful console.

And when Sony and MS do release their next consoles? Well, I'm curious to see how big the graphical difference between this generation and the next will be anyway. Sure the next gen will have it's Uncharted 5 and it's Gears of War 5, but without 3 year devlopment time and a budget in the hundreds of millions, the average developer is struggling to make even a dent in the current gen's capabilities, let alone a further step up. At any rat, it's not going to be the same kind of awe-inspiring leap; certainly not as obvious to the average gamer. If the Wii2 has a large storage medium, can handle high-res textures, and can output 1080p as standard, the difference between the next PS/Xbox and this possible Wii2 will be a lot less noticable than during this gen.

And the controller? So they box a standardish controller in with the new console and they'll have ports of all the big third-party multiplatform titles as well as exclusives to take care of 'hardcore' gamers. If they make it backwards compatible with the Wii and it's controller then they could keep many of the Wii's 'casual' gamers happy as they wouldn't need to buy or learn a new control system. As for the touchscreen, I dunno what to make of that, but if it's true, it could attract many of the angry bird crowd/even more 'casuals'... which if the latest Extra Credits is anything to go by, would be a good thing for consoles.

Anyway, that's a positive outlook for the next Ninty console, they could just as easily screw up big time, or they could surprise everyone, i'd say it's 50/50 chances; Nintendo are just like that. Lol.

 

[Quellist]

So ? in a year Microsoft will probably release a new Xbox by 2013 so it really doesn't matter.

First comment pretty much sums it up. By the time Wii 2 is out so will Xbox 720 and PS4 (or whatever they will be called) and Nintendross will just have a new second-string system filled with even more shovelware, nothing to see here...