Wii U speculation · DIGIT-ARC

Check the following link:-

InsideHW - Wii 2's official specs leaked

Graphics:
Custom AMD RV770 Chip “WOLF” @ 766Mhz on 32nm process
1398 Gflops

CPU:
Custom IBM Power 6 Chip “FOX” on 32nm process
4 cores, each two way SMT-capable and clocked at 3.5 GHz
175.9 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance (single-precision)
87.6 GFLOPS theoretical peak performance (double-precision)

Memory:
512 MB XDR2 DRAM main memory
+ 1024 GDDR5 video memory
+ 16 MB eDRAM

Storage:
2.5-inch SATA hard drive with 250 GB / 320 GB capacity
Expanded storage via SD and SDHC card memory (up to 64 GB)

Media:
Custom Blu-ray Disc, up to 50 GB
Compatible with 7 cm Nintendo GameCube Game Disc and 12 cm Wii Optical Disc

Display:
Video output formats
Composite video: 480i, 576i (PAL)
S-Video: 480i, 576i (PAL)
RGB SCART: 480i, 576i (PAL)
Component (YPBPR): 480i, 576i (PAL), 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
D-Terminal: 480i (D1), 480p (D2), 720p (D4), 1080i (D3), 1080p (D5)
HDMI: 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p

Looks pretty good on paper. Hope developers will support the console and it would improve upon its previous generation motion control based system.

It sure does look good on the paper but RAM is lesser than my expectation and CPU and hard fisk is greater than my expectation.

So we are getting an hd 4850 class gpu . The visuals will definitely be impressive and has the potential to even surpass the ps3. Really impressive on paper.

@ gameranand

Buudy look carefully. Its xdr2 ram. Even xdr rams are faster than ddr3. So i guess nothing is getting compromised here and its enough for this kind of game console.

Yeah, it should be pretty fast and much beefier compared to the original one. Only concern is if Nintendo can successfully rope in the big developers this time.

It was expected to not too have really powerful specs but its actually little above expectation.

Also, interesting part is Custom Blu-ray Disc, up to 50 GB ..but what they will do with 50GB game disc ?

I would say. The specs are mediocre.

It sure looks great now. But, This is not a console for today. How good this will be after 5 years? Then again, hardware specs were never a Nintendo's strong point.

xdr2 rams are 8 times faster than ddr3
read an article on xdr2 an year ago

Only thing that will matter is if they can rope in Big developers or not.

Yeah, the main thing. More than hardware, its the quality of games which drive console business. Remember both Wii and PS3 in their early days, for contrasting reasons?

Oh OK. Didn't saw carefully that it was xdr2. Was using on my phone that time. But it isn't that great spec either as vamsi already said. Its not future proof.

gameranand said:
Oh OK. Didn't saw carefully that it was xdr2. Was using on my phone that time. But it isn't that great spec either as vamsi already said. Its not future proof.

Whether future proof or not will depend more on what specs will the next PS and XBox have. Wii seems to be one generation behind both Microsoft and Sony.

Just when do consoles start making future proof hardware??? Xbox 360 & PS3 rooted to DX9, next gen is said to be DX11 compatible and by the time they are in the market PC owners will be enjoying DX12 or DX13. So the RV770 chip is not losing much ground here compared to what we have now or what we are expecting to get in another 5 years time.
Granted, the specs are not eye-popping, jaw-dropping type but have enough oomph in them. As stated earlier, major concern of Nintendo should be to rope Big developers which they fail big time with the Wii. EA was there at the beginning, but that's all about it.

T

Impressive specs , looking forward to this. Thanks for posting this.

In all fairness, the DS had better quality games compared to the Wii . If they can deliver the same on the Wii 2, I'd totally buy it. The only Wii games that didn't suck belonged to the Mario / Metroid / Zelda franchise

(Ok , there were some other good ones, but I'm generalizing here , considering the shitload of shovelware on the wii).

Oh , and I do hope they launch it in India officially.

vamsi_krishna said:
I would say. The specs are mediocre.

It sure looks great now. But, This is not a console for today. How good this will be after 5 years? Then again, hardware specs were never a Nintendo's strong point.

Specs are impressive this gen but it might have a hard time competing against the next gen sony and microsoft console. But until they are released , nintendo will do great business and get a huge chunk out of the pie.

Right now , its competitors are ps3 and xbox 360 and i think it will deliver on par visuals or maybe surpass them. Nintendo's inhouse developers will make full use of the hardware.

What nintendo needs now is some good third party developers.

Games, games, games. We need innovative games and more shooters and yes, a proper cricket & tennis game.

T

Skud said:
Games, games, games. We need innovative games and more shooters and yes, a proper cricket & tennis game.

I remember a cricket game on the Wii , it sucked balls. EA Grand Slam tennis was playable with the Wii motion+ controller add-on.

So its not Wii 2 but Wii U, catchy name I must say.

See the details:-

E3 2011: Nintendo Wii U: Inside and Out - Features at GameSpot

Nintendo Announces Wii Successor - Wii U - Industry News - Overclockers Club

Pics:

*www.overclockersclub.com/vimages/news/news28467_1-nintendo_announces_wii_successor__wii_u.jpg

*www.overclockersclub.com/vimages/news/news28467_2-nintendo_announces_wii_successor__wii_u.jpg

Images taken from OverclockersClub.

POST ADDED
So some big games are coming, courtesy Ubisoft:-

Ubisoft have jumped on the Wii U ship announcing some of their major franchises for Nintendo’s new console: the Wii U. Assassin’s Creed, Rabbids and and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online are all coming to Wii U.

And some more from a band of developers:-

Wii U: This is what the developers think about it - GamingBolt.com: Video Game News, Reviews, Previews and Blog

Wow...now whats that. A real rival for Sony's PSP

They used the footage of PS3 and Xbox for their official unveiling.
But they accepted it and justified it saying the the experience would be similar on the Wii2 too.

source: engadget

Yeah right.

Skud said:
Just when do consoles start making future proof hardware??? Xbox 360 & PS3 rooted to DX9, next gen is said to be DX11 compatible and by the time they are in the market PC owners will be enjoying DX12 or DX13. So the RV770 chip is not losing much ground here compared to what we have now or what we are expecting to get in another 5 years time.
Granted, the specs are not eye-popping, jaw-dropping type but have enough oomph in them. As stated earlier, major concern of Nintendo should be to rope Big developers which they fail big time with the Wii. EA was there at the beginning, but that's all about it.

Not many people realise that something has changed between DX10 and 11.
Personally when I swictch over from the PS3 to my PC to catch an FPS game or Warcraft I dont realise all that.

Standardisation in consoles despite older hardware produces same results as in a PC. A consoles life is around 10years. For the first 7 years its is hard to notice any difference between a PC and a console.
Ofcource courtesy the side by side comparison of the quality by many reviewers online tells us the real picture. But in real life that does not happen. Unless something is drastically different one will not normally notice it.

Also shorter life cycles are possible but since game development runs into years now such a thing would be disastrous for the developers.

P.S. Will edit the post tomorrow for typos. No mouse now.

T

Skud said:
So its not Wii 2 but Wii U, catchy name I must say.

See the details:-

E3 2011: Nintendo Wii U: Inside and Out - Features at GameSpot

Nintendo Announces Wii Successor - Wii U - Industry News - Overclockers Club

Pics:

*www.overclockersclub.com/vimages/news/news28467_1-nintendo_announces_wii_successor__wii_u.jpg

*www.overclockersclub.com/vimages/news/news28467_2-nintendo_announces_wii_successor__wii_u.jpg

Images taken from OverclockersClub.

POST ADDED
So some big games are coming, courtesy Ubisoft:-

And some more from a band of developers:-

Wii U: This is what the developers think about it - GamingBolt.com: Video Game News, Reviews, Previews and Blog

To quote Duke Nukem , "Now this is a FORCE to be reckoned with!" . The new controller does look nice , kind of like an oversized DS. Now , how do you use that to play Tennis games?

Buy a Wii motion controller separately

T

Already have two of those , also...how does one play with their attention divided between the controller's screen and the TV? I hope some of you saw the Engadget hands-on preview, you'll see what I mean.

Probably that's depend on the developer - what they want us to do with the controller.

Well Satoru Iwata thinks that they should have unveiled Wii U differently. Don't what they mean I mean it looked good to me.
Source

Also Wii U don't have a analog stick so I guess boss meant that they should have provided that.

A pretty big news:-

Crytek: We're bringing our tech to Wii U | Game Development | News by Develop

Eyes closed, and I just see Crysis running on a Nintendo console. Try telling me that again.

Also see this visual tour if you want. Its fascinating.

Wii U: A visual tour

T

I heard the Wii U can only support one tablet at a time. I guess it's because it'd be too much for the GPU to stream data to the console. So, I guess 4 tablets at a time might be overkill.

EDIT : Looks like I was right , check the second link posted by Skud. In one of the screen shots, you can see 5 players playing the same game split screen (4 on wiimotes and one on the tablet). Guess it's true , only one tablet at any time.

This is next gen.

You might call the specs "mediocre" - but still from a PC perspective RV770 used to be easily more than 3x powerful than G70. (G70 = PS3) I'm not taking low level optimization into account, just giving a rough idea.

Rumour has it all the three next gen consoles will be powered by AMD GPUs.

List of Wii U games - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - seems like Nintendo is trying to lure core gamers back.

For me the hardware is just right for console gaming. It should support all the high-end PC gaming goodies except tessellation. Among the games these many are confirmed:-

Mii Chase
Battle Mii
Shield Pose
Lego City Stories
Super Smash Bros.
Pikmin 3
Super Mario Bros. Mii
Darksiders II
Ninja Gaiden: Razor’s Edge
Assassin’s Creed
Killer Freaks From Outer Space
Ghost Recon Online
Batman: Arkham City
Rabbids
An unknown Ubisoft sports game for the entire family

If Metro, Aliens Colonial Marines, Dirt, Battlefield, Bioshock and FIFA really make it to Wii U, that would be superb. But then Wii was also supported well by developers, particularly EA, in the first 2 years. Then they take away the most successful of the lot - Madden NFL, a game played much better on Wii than on any other platform. There's no guarantee it won't get repeated this time.

Some more insight to the upcoming console:-

WiiU Feature: Wii U: Why Ubisoft's is Nintendo's biggest supporter - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

Pretty interesting read. Hope developers will continue to shower their support on Wii U.

The base specs are a bit changed according to the recent rumors:-

Wii U has quad core 3GHz CPU, 768 MB of RAM | WiiUDaily

According to the source, the Wii U specs are:

Quad Core, 3 GHz PowerPC-based 45nm CPU, very similar to the Xbox 360 chip.

768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU, and shared between CPU and GPU

Unknown, 40nm ATI-based GPU

The source also mentions that Nintendo has been testing two versions of the console, one with 768 MB of RAM, and one with 1 GB. The RAM is also made by IBM and is embedded with the processor on the same die/silicon, which results in more bandwidth.

Wii U to Have More Non-Game Apps

The Daily reports that Nintendo will be implementing a full blown app store for the console. While most of Nintendo’s digital download stores tend to feature either games or basic applications, like calculators, the Wii U’s yet to be names store will reportedly go ‘far beyond’ that, offering a plethora of apps and goodies.

Apparently, those with a Wii U will be able to download apps that will work on the console, such as TV apps, as well as ones that will work locally on the Wii U’s controller. Taking the Wii U’s controller specs into account, we can probably expect lots of web browsing and social networking. It’s not yet known how payment will work, however.

Damn, this thread is almost dead, so little is happening.

This video is impressive, Wii U's panoramic view:-