Wii 2 Specs and Details Leaked.

[Peekachu]

Sounds interesting. But processing power comparable to consoles 5-6 years old at this point is a bit of a letdown (supposed to be between a 360 and PS3). I imagine they'll have some interesting gimmicks with the touchscreen based controller then. It'll also be substantially outdated by whatever Sony and MS release next. A generational push that will probably happen sooner rather than later now, as MS hasn't forgotten the advantage they gained by going first (Sony is likely to take note, as well). Still, I think its cool that all the manufacturers seem to have found a measure of success and profitability this gen (some more than others) and the division is more evenly split - gives more power to the consumers this way.

Anyhoo, this leak was sourced from the same people who spilled the beans on the NGP, so its likely legit.

http://wii.ign.com/articles/116/1162045p1.html

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...tails-claimed/

[yuki-chan]

I don't have a Wii(I'm planing to buy one this summer in New York) and I think that when sony release a PS4 and Microsoft a XBOX 720 the Wii is going to be beated again.

[Chaosblade]

I find it really, really hard to believe Nintendo would go with tech that would be totally eclipsed by the competition. That was the Wii's biggest weakness, since development had to be completely separate from PS3/360 development. It couldn't really get ports without a ton of extra effort, a lot of middleware for those consoles didn't support the Wii, and after a poor showing up front by a lot of third party devs almost anything but Nintendo games kind of fell off the radar.

It's also hard to completely believe the idea that it's "just a notch above the 360" when it seems the consensus is that it is based on AMD/ATI HD4000 tech. Even a midrange chip like the 4670 customized for a console should be a comfortable leap over the PS3 and 360, especially when you factor in optimization. As for a 3 core PPC for the processor, I don't think that's totally unreasonable, and I don't think a more powerful processor would really make much difference. Especially if they are spending the "savings" on more/faster RAM.

The controller and "other big surprise" are what I'm really curious about.

[Peekachu]

I find it really, really hard to believe Nintendo would go with tech that would be totally eclipsed by the competition. That was the Wii's biggest weakness, since development had to be completely separate from PS3/360 development. It couldn't really get ports without a ton of extra effort, a lot of middleware for those consoles didn't support the Wii, and after a poor showing up front by a lot of third party devs almost anything but Nintendo games kind of fell off the radar.

It's also hard to completely believe the idea that it's "just a notch above the 360" when it seems the consensus is that it is based on AMD/ATI HD4000 tech. Even a midrange chip like the 4670 customized for a console should be a comfortable leap over the PS3 and 360, especially when you factor in optimization. As for a 3 core PPC for the processor, I don't think that's totally unreasonable, and I don't think a more powerful processor would really make much difference. Especially if they are spending the "savings" on more/faster RAM.

The controller and "other big surprise" are what I'm really curious about.

Yeah, the GPU is definitely a step up from the PS3/ 360, though I wager it'll be closer to a 4300 series than a 4800 (which is still a decent card by today's standards). Still, it would be enough to crank out proper 1080p, which both the PS3/ 360 struggle with (according to Beyond 3D, there's like 20 some odd PS3 titles at that native rez and 3 on the 360, plus a few PSN/ Live titles, but nothing worth mention). Its going to be mobility sized, to keep heat and power consumption down, so again I see the GPU as being mid 4000 seriesat best. Keep in mind too, that processing power will likely be used/ reserved for the controller too - I don't see Ninty going all out with a fully, functional tablet/ controller. It should have more than 512 MB RAM, but I suspect it won't.

And yeah, the "surprise" (gimmick) will be the deciding factor.

Personally, I just wish that they would invest in some mid range PC/ notebook tech (which is all that console are, and are aspiring to be - closed system PCs) and bundle a tripple core, 2 GB RAM, 4670 GPU piece of kit. Price: $369.99 and I'm sold. You can get netbooks with those specs for less.

That won't happen, I guarantee, but it would be the sensible thing to do.

[Chaosblade]

Eh, a 4300 was barely a step above integrated video a couple years back when it launched. Using something roughly that "powerful" would still be a generation behind the PS3/360, which use chips based on the 7900GTX and X1900GT, respectively (I think, I might be off on the specific models, it was definitely a nVidia 7900 and ATi 1900 though). Direct comparisons show that it would need to be roughly a 4770+, but that's not totally accurate since the R700 will deal with modern effects and higher resolutions with less effort, plus the chip will be heavily customized.

I'd also be surprised if they went with 512MB RAM or less. I think 768MB-1GB of fast unified RAM is entirely reasonable, with maybe 16 or 24MB eDRAM alongside it. With only 512MB they will really be limiting developers, even with additional eDRAM and fast RAM. 768 would still be pushing it, but I think they could possibly get away with that provided it's really fast, unified, and the OS footprint is <30MB or separate.

I agree that whatever the touch screen is, it won't be a full tablet. Apparently the controller will also have analog sticks+triggers+dpad, and the touch screen isn't multitouch so having that replace the standard buttons seems out of the question. I have no idea what it could be for, honestly.

And WipeoutHD is absolutely worth mentioning! Unless you don't count it since it uses a dynamic framebuffer and scales horizontally and doesn't technically stay at the 1080p spec...

I wish Nintendo would just make PC games and portables, that would make life easier.

[Shizuka]

If Nintendo keeps getting left out from third-party developers, I won't be getting this one as well.

[Chestnut Bowl]

I've been burned by the Wii and its relatively pitiful library and find some of Nintendo's decisions towards game development disagreeable. I won't be purchasing the Wii 2, or whatever it will be called. I can already predict that two or three years into this new console's life its third-party support will be rapidly dwindling.

[NorseFTX]

Oof, I wasn't really much for the original Wii's motion control thing--it was a lot less precise than an actual control pad, which was what made playing the Wii a lot more uncomfortable.
If they can tighten the responsiveness of this whole motion control shtick, or if this new control scheme turns out well, I think I might be interested.
It's nice to know they're going with a classic control style.
I will be watching the "Wii 2" cautiously from the sidelines. Maybe I'll be crossing my fingers.

EDIT: Wait, they are keeping the motion control thing, right?

[PurpleDoom]

I've been burned by the Wii and its relatively pitiful library and find some of Nintendo's decisions towards game development disagreeable. I won't be purchasing the Wii 2, or whatever it will be called. I can already predict that two or three years into this new console's life its third-party support will be rapidly dwindling.

They've stated before that they felt their handling of third-party support on the Wii was not good enough and that they would try to step up their game in that regard starting with the 3DS, so even if something like that does happen, I doubt it would happen as quickly.

As for my opinion on the system? This may sound extreme/bizarre/irrational, but I don't care about the hardware. At all. Give me a price and some software and I'll make a decision then.

[AweOfShe]

the Wii and its relatively pitiful library

I don't know what you're talking about. My library is pretty awesome. ;]

As for my opinion on the system? This may sound extreme/bizarre/irrational, but I don't care about the hardware. At all. Give me a price and some software and I'll make a decision then.

I'm with you on this. And no, I don't think it's extreme/bizarre/irrational.