Wii Hardware Discussion

[James McGeachie]

O.K people ...senn the graphics? seen the shaders(galaxy)? seen normalmapping? Just a beefed up flipper? mmm don´t think so!

 

Oh come off it, it clearly is. Games like Galaxy and Red Steel are definitely above Gamecube in my eyes but they're definitely not THAT far above. Stop even thinking about the specs at all now, who cares.

[conzer16]

When they say "12 centimetre optical disks", what exactly does "optical" mean?

 

Also is 12 cm the sixe of a CD?

[SpinesN]

Optical means that the media is printed (or burnt) to have pits in it that are read with a laser. This is how CDs DVDs etc... work and yes 12cm is the size of a CD.

[gorrit]

conzer16,

optical, as in it is being read by a laser (ie, CD, DVD etc)

[conzer16]

God i am stupid.........didnt i study physics AND chemistry in college!!! Just completley did not understand optical for a minute.........

 

 

cheers spinesn and gorrit!!

[goku21]

Oh come off it, it clearly is. Games like Galaxy and Red Steel are definitely above Gamecube in my eyes but they're definitely not THAT far above. Stop even thinking about the specs at all now, who cares.

 

 

no it isn´t! it does normalmapping! gc, xbox, ps2 can´t do that(or @ least no game does it)! fighting against the octopus - look @ all those shaders, you can´t do that on current-gen...you will see and learn when you play! ( I´m making cg myself, so i can clearly filtrate those effects even on bad videoquality!)

[xernobyl]

no it isn´t! it does normalmapping! gc, xbox, ps2 can´t do that(or @ least no game does it)! fighting against the octopus - look @ all those shaders, you can´t do that on current-gen...you will see and learn when you play! ( I´m making cg myself, so i can clearly filtrate those effects even on bad videoquality!)

Gamecube has normal mapping. Just look at the stealth effect in Metal Gear Solid.

 

How! I've just noticed this: Sony wasn't able to put vibration on their controler because of the Wii rip, but Wii has vibration, acording to it's site!!!

[MindFreak]

I have one question: how do you save your games? Is that what the 512 mb flash memory is for, or what?

[catsamurai88]

The Flash memory's mostly for the VC games as far as I know. Game saves will be stored on SD cards. We just haven't seen much of them, but they were announced at one stage, probably E3 2005.

[SpinesN]

the internal flash is for saves, VC content, extra game content, etc... thus you can expand it with SD cards.

[Ten10]

I'm pretty sure you might be able to expand it through the usb ports too, at least the days when you brought your game and format of memory card to your friend's house lives on. Even if we had to bring the wii round to a friends house, it isn't heavy enough to put you off doing it.

[system_error]

News concerning the hardware:

 

 

Nintendo says both CPU and GPU are made with a 90nm process. Now DailyTech had an article about the hardware which is a bit more precise. Now please still take it as a rumour even though it sounds convincing:

 

CPU: 90nm SOI CMOS, the chip is a modificated IBM PowerPC 750FX. This means it is the "older brother" of the GameCube CPU. Featuring clockspeeds up to 1GHz+ with a rather big overall cache. Compared to the GC CPU the 750FX has about 25% of power at the same clockspeed. This is all my speculation so if it is wrong don't blame me. I guess the L1 cache will be 32kb whereas the L2 cache will have around 1MB.

 

 

GPU: 90nm build, R520 derrivate whic means a clockspeed of up to 500MHz, Shader Model 3.0, ... basicly in the range of a x1600 - x1800.

 

 

Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2227

[dazzybee]

News concerning the hardware:

 

 

Nintendo says both CPU and GPU are made with a 90nm process. Now DailyTech had an article about the hardware which is a bit more precise. Now please still take it as a rumour even though it sounds convincing:

 

CPU: 90nm SOI CMOS, the chip is a modificated IBM PowerPC 750FX. This means it is the "older brother" of the GameCube CPU. Featuring clockspeeds up to 1GHz+ with a rather big overall cache. Compared to the GC CPU the 750FX has about 25% of power at the same clockspeed. This is all my speculation so if it is wrong don't blame me. I guess the L1 cache will be 32kb whereas the L2 cache will have around 1MB.

 

 

GPU: 90nm build, R520 derrivate whic means a clockspeed of up to 500MHz, Shader Model 3.0, ... basicly in the range of a x1600 - x1800.

 

 

Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2227

 

Great!!!!

 

But what does it mean?

[system_error]

If it is indeed true it means:

 

Nintendo has again a efficient CPU which has about 3 times the power of the GC CPU but is also less energy consuming and good for backwards compatibility because it remains the same basic architecture.

 

 

The GPU is even more powerfull and would fullfill the DirectX9 standards.

 

 

So far I would say the performance gain in general is more likely to be 3-4 times compared to the GameCube. Also as far as I saw it in the RedSteel video there seem to be none or only very short loading times at all.

[Pit-Jr]

So my verdict on the Wii hardware thus far: Its capable of very satisfactory graphics (Red Steel, Disaster). I was super happy when Iwata came out and bitched about load times because i share in his disgust. Sorted. Always online? great! Will it look right sitting beside my TV? hell yeah!

Do i want to play games with a wireless remote? absolutely. Can i power down the Wii without getting my fat ass out of my recliner? check! Im also in the minority here but i like the shell, its perfectly adequate for the VC but im bummed to see a wire coming out of it. And though i dont like the dual analog setup, most of the games ill be buying for the VC are better with the D-pad in the primary position. It really feels like they had me in mind when they designed it

[Ten10]

The only thing that bothers me about the shell controller is the analogue sticks. On the ps2 I have trouble playing fps as they analogue sticks feel weirdly positioned. I think this controller might give me the same problems but:

 

A. I probably won't be using it that much

B. Don't know until you try.

 

Also it looks like the wii will be using the opera browser too, what for though is my question. Probably just an additional whistle/bell, even nintendo seem to be drifting from the dedicated games console ----> entertainment media machine now.

[goku21]

The only thing that bothers me about the shell controller is the analogue sticks. On the ps2 I have trouble playing fps as they analogue sticks feel weirdly positioned. I think this controller might give me the same problems but:

 

A. I probably won't be using it that much

B. Don't know until you try.

 

Also it looks like the wii will be using the opera browser too, what for though is my question. Probably just an additional whistle/bell, even nintendo seem to be drifting from the dedicated games console ----> entertainment media machine now.

 

fps are only gonna be played with your fhc! shell for cirtual console!( i use my gc-pad, i´m using it on pc too) operabrowser? perhaps preinstalled i think, but won´t use it alot, just perhaps to show my friends cool breakdancevideos or the like, cause boot-time is a few seconds on wii and a minute on pc!

[ndreamer]

opera browser you have to buy i think you can get it over vc, it was said in the nintendo press confrence that it was optional.

 

http://www.opera.com/products/devices/

 

^^ updated with wii press release.

 

nintendo is also demoing the web browser at the show floor tomorrow it's also ment to load in secounds (like said in the press confrence)

[mario114]

I don't mind how it looks, I'm just hopping it's comfortable. (the classic shell).

[DCK]

GPU: 90nm build, R520 derrivate whic means a clockspeed of up to 500MHz, Shader Model 3.0, ... basicly in the range of a x1600 - x1800.

 

 

Source: http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2227

That's great :shock:

 

This means that the Wii does have extensive shading capabilities (like we could've seen in the footage up to now) and that means first gen 360 games are well within the possibilities.

 

I also want to mention the speaker on the controller. That's just plain brilliant. And the Opera browser is such a good addition as well.

[Noodleman]

How! I've just noticed this: Sony wasn't able to put vibration on their controler because of the Wii rip, but Wii has vibration, acording to it's site!!!

 

thats not why Sony doesn have a rumble feature, its because the way they did it for dual shock 1 and 2 was ripping off another companys patent design, the other company sued Sony, the other company sued Sony and won.

[Smowza]

at least we are seeing nintendo games now are in widescreen. Zelda, prime 3 and red steel were all in widescreen (shame the live stream and some of the current vids have them streched thou). i just watched the zelda presentation in proper ratio by shrinking my monitor screen size down in height, i want that game now! now god damn it now!! (fat police man off die hard there)

[Hellfire]

Meh don't care, all I want is a console with the least loadings possible, with fluid graphics and the ablity to put it on sleep is very tempting too.

[ShadowV7]

Yea Sony got sued for the copying someone else.Copying is the only thing they can do.

[MunKy]

When are the games being shown on the floor? I want proper screenshots that havent been strectched and made all fuzzy.