Here is an interesting piece of information pulled up by Bgassassin from Neogaf. The article in question is from earlier in the year and was apparently not looked at closely previously outside further confirmation along with other sources that the GPU within the Alpha dev kits was a Radeon HD 4000 series card. If the article is correct the GPU within the Alpha dev kits may of pushed beyond 1TFLOPS. Basically the card within the early dev kits would of had to been a Radeon HD 4870 at least to reach that level of performance and that certainly would of explained the over heating issues rumored with the first dev kits.

http://translate.goo...611_452478.html

Thread regarding the Wii U from Neogaf where Bgassassin posted this info: http://www.neogaf.co...434824&page=178

The WiiU has some specifications, ie significantly more RAM than ps3 or Xbox (for the record ps3 is more powerful but xbox has more RAM). This gets people excited and they think the WiiU will step up past the other consoles in power, but really that RAM is used to stream video audio and touch programming (well you know what i mean) to the controller. So we aren't sure what the console has but i remember Iwata saying when he first announced it in mid-spring, that the power is great but that that wouldn't matter once you see the console (which is evident when seeing the controller). I'm assuming this means Iwata doesn't want us to focus on the power (unsettling). Though i still expect a lot from this console and even if the power equals that of the ps3 (not taking into account the power used to stream) i hope it makes enough unique , fun games to bring a whole new kind of game to the table that isnt as hard to come up with good uses as the Wii (sooooo much shovel-ware). This Ninovation has a more obvious hardcore or classic gaming use unlike the Wii's motion . The power is important but i can see many uses for a ps3 power level wiiu controller......... and i know Sony has the PSVita but that doesnt come with the console and connects differently so developers wont be as open to it as the wiiu. In summary to this ridiculously long and repetitive post: I feel the power is equal to or greater than the ps3 with greater RAM than the xbox. But the design of the wiiu seems to easily overcome any worries..... although i see MANY uses for a super powered, online integrated wiiu......... mmmmmm, open world MMO action...... yoshi.....?

The Wii U won't be overly burdened by streaming to the controller. Going off of sources such as the Wii U tablet patents, the speculation regarding Nintendo using Eyefinity technology, and the current supposed specs of the Wii U kets from leaks and rumors streaming to the controllers won't be much of a burden. The big unknown currently is focused more primarily toward bandwidth, which would determine how many Wii U controllers can be used at one time. Your spinning Nintendo merely being Nintendo negatively. Nintendo is still very much carrying forward the marketing strategy of the Wii and DS with the Wii U. At the same time Nintendo has been burned by being too open and honest about specs before and the Wii U is likely still not completely taped out.

And where this at?

That comment is likely from speculation from Neogaf or somewhere else. We already know if they stick with R700 architecture it will be custom to some degree because of the likely hood of Nintendo using Eyefinity technology. They also may switch from VLIW5 architecture to VLIW4 architecture basically lowering transistor count and TDP while keeping the same performance. In the end the final chip may be an altered low end 7000 series card. AMD's latest architecture easily could of been on the table back when alpha dev kits started being produced and sent to developers, but according to the time line within an article from around the pre and post E3 leaks all that would of been available to mimic the performance of lower end 7000 series cards was 4870-90 and the 5770, which was rather new on the market.

I wouldn't expect that. Rumors of the Xbox "Loop" are pointing to a smaller, cheaper Xbox Next with ARM 6-core processor. For those who don't know, ARM is whats in most smartphones and tablets. These processor by 2013 are said to have power just as good as Xbox 360.

If this rumor holds true, this would mean the Xbox "Loop" is going to be on par with the IBM Watson CPU and the ATI/AMD RV770 inspired GPU.



Where have you heard it was from the 48xx series? And the RV770 is the base for all newer cards, or most, from AMD. Which means Nintendo might have started with the RV770 and AMD has been updating it since. Also all rumors point towards the GPU pretty much being done, if I remember correctly, and CPU still be worked out. Or that could be swapped.

My statement was based on a supposed leak regarding the GPU being a RV770 in the alpha devkits. Since alpha devkits are usually made using of the shelf parts that limited the range in power of the GPU realistically from 3x to 5x the power of Xbox 360 based on the commercially available cards. A statement from an article around or shortly after E3 pointed to the alpha devkits having 1TFLOP of performance or more. This moves the alpha devkits more toward 4 or 5 times the power of current hd consoles. The HD 5000's where in principle based on 4000's. AMD often reuses designs between card gens gradually introducing new hardware designs.

Don't simply look at the capabilities of mobile devises when considering the power of the rumored Xbox Loop even with an ARM processor it could easily out perform Wii U. However if the rumored Xbox Loop is the next xbox and ARM based it certainly would improve the possibility that Wii U and Xbox next would relatively close in capability.

This seems relevant.



It says Nintendo Wii vs PS360, but he just made a typo.

This merely goes along with the rumor that the Wii U uses a GPU based on the RV770 series of ATI Radeon GPU. This narrows the expectations down to a specific range, but still were talking about a GPU from about 3 to 5 times as powerful as current HD consoles, but with developers earlier pointing toward the Wii U's GPU being around a Radeon HD 4850 and more recent rumors of it being around a Radeon HD 4870 in power we can at least hope that the Wii U is around 4 to 5 times as powerful as Xbox 360.

Well, no doubt Nintendo are trying to hit a sweet spot, between making the current gen consoles obsolete, thus forcing Sony and MS to bring out new machines, and having a console with enough power so that if the competition does bring out those machines anyway, the Wii U itself does not become obsolete.

With all the hysteria about console wars online right now, it is difficult to predict who will do what, but it is hard to see why Sony and MS would launch their next gen machines now. They can more easily keep in touch with the Wii U by adding more ram and, in the case of the Xbox, a higher capacity disc drive, to their current consoles.

Only time will tell, but we can be sure, whatever the competition do, the Wii U will be relevant for some time to come.

Outside trying to keep the Wii U relatively affordable while remaining within a level of improvement over the current HD consoles that would stop PS4 and Xbox Next from completely overshadowing them I don't think Nintendo cares much what Sony and Microsoft do. Nintendo's strategy going forward still has itself firmly rooted in their blue ocean strategy with the Wii. They'll be competing far more directly with their rivals' systems true, but the focus in on differentiating themselves from Sony and Microsoft and giving unique experiences that don't exist outside their own hardware. This is why 3D was added to the 3DS and why Nintendo is going forward with the tablet controller. The rumored power of the system already makes the PS3 and Xbox 360 obsolete anyway.

I really doubt it will be F-Zero. I'd like to see a franchise like F-Zero have a reboot from Retro, but to me F-Zero doesn't make much sense based on Retro's experience though neither did Donkey Kong. Star Fox doesn't sound all that impossible I could envision a space fighter combat/first person shooter reboot that could borrow extensively from Retro's experiences with Metroid. That said I think there was a reason Retro created Donkey Kong Country Returns. Its specific existence likely comes down to needing another quick release while Retro was if I was to speculate working primarily on next gen engines, but it may of been testing the market for a Donkey Kong Country reboot. This perhaps isn't what majority of fans would want Retro to work on, but I find it likely Retro's next game for the foreseeable future is Donkey Kong. As a launch game Donkey Kong even makes sense instead of a Mario or Zelda. Its not currently really an overly powerful franchise and wouldn't completely overshadow 3D party efforts, but give a reason for Nintendo fans to buy the system right away instead of waiting.

Hopefully not to close

So far to my knowledge the only limitation is that you more or less have to be in the same room, but otherwise you don't have to be too close to the console

Feldo's prediction of $350 to $400 may end up being in the ball park. With 3DS launching at $249.99 merely eight days from now in the U.S. an odd thought came to mind to gauge how expensive Wii's successor possibly could be come it's eventual release that I didn't think of earlier. I decided out of curiosity to compare the prices of Nintendo's handhelds at launch to the corresponding consoles.

The Game Boy Advance launched in North America on June 11, 2001 at $99.99. The GameCube launched in North American on November 18, 2001 at $199.99. The original DS launched on November 21, 2004 in North America at $149.99. The Nintendo Wii of course launched in North America on November 19, 2006 at $249.99. A pattern emerges though perhaps a little shallow only going back two generation cycles, but I likely could argue to extend it to Game Boy which released in 1989 and SNES released in 1991.

The resulting figure is beyond the sort of prices I expect from Nintendo, but if this interesting pattern holds true for another generation Wii's successor could be as expensive as $349.99. I bought a PS3 at $599.99 so I more than likely would still buy Nintendo's next console at launch even if it was $349.99, but some maybe reluctant if this prediction is correct.

Well the current price of the Wii is $149 and Reggie has said it won't be around there- I think we all know that.

The CURRENT price of the PS3/Xbox is $249/$199, that could be down $50 at the end of the year, or including some games. I just don't see how Nintendo expect to have a successful launch of a console that is priced at $350-400 which will be competing against consoles that play the same games, barring a few Nintendo 1st party games, but cost 1/2 the price.

Wii U will not be competing with the PS360 consoles. For the love of god get that through your skull right now. We're not completely certain on the consoles capabilities, but enough points towards it being a arguably significant upgrade over the current HD consoles. The Wii U's competition isn't out yet nor are they in the public mindshare yet. No doubt Microsoft's and Sony's next consoles will be more powerful, but if your expecting truly night and day differences your going to be disappointed.

Well I have heard a rumour from someone who's brother works for a big game developer and he told me the the price in the UK will be £250-299....Of course I can't say this is definite...but his brother has worked for this company for many years on Xbox,360 and PS2,PS3 software and they working on Wii-U now too.
The Wii-U looks great and is...but its not really next gen.A lot of it is of the shelf parts that have been around a while.
The days of massive profits are over (for now) and adaptability is the name of the game.
My friend did stress this is a rumour within the company but I think this sounds about right.

It wouldn't overly surprise me if PS4 is heavily based on off the shelf parts with their direction with PS Vita, but I highly doubt this will be the case with Nintendo's Wii U. Its highly unlikely that the final chips will be off the shelf parts especially with Nintendo's history. Early dev kits often are made using off the shelf parts, but early dev kits don't usually represent final components. First, second, and maybe even third generation dev kits for Wii U no doubt use off the shelf parts, but the final components will be heavily customized.

I'm guessing it is going to be around 300 or 400 dollars, because the technology is stronger than the ps3 and xbox 360 apparently.

Its not overly expensive to buy chipsets for a console at mass production levels that is superior than the PS3 and Xbox 360. When matter of cost comes to play is what manufacturing die size Nintendo ends up utilizing and what transistor count the chipsets will end up with. There are options commercially available that could utterly destroy the PS3 and Xbox 360 yet Nintendo would still come in under the manufacturing costs of those consoles as they where originally. Specifically those options would merely mean Nintendo has to spend a little more than twice the money it originally did on silicon. Current statements point to the possibility of the system being higher end than I and many others originally expected, so I'd be shocked if this console launches under $350 U.S.

The Wii's successor will likely be more expensive at launch than the Wii. Like the 3DS I expect Nintendo to have a larger hardcore focus next gen and focus on getting third party support early on. Just how more expensive is anyone's guess, but in my opinion it could range from $279.99-$299.99. I don't expect it to be anymore expensive than that. Nintendo is likely going to try and keep the Wii's successor being marginally cheaper than what they expect the price of their competitors new consoles to launch. Truthfully as long as its cheaper than $400 I'm likely to be an early adapter.

If we go according the rumors based on my own estimates Nintendo should be able to manufacture the Wii U even if the chipset is on the high end of the previous rumors for $250-290 dollars US. $299.99 looks to be completely within the realm of possibility even with profit at the beginning. The issue is that some rumors and speculation I've read at Neogaf would mean that the Wii U is going to be noticeable more expensive than the previous GPU rumors would paint it. Still I doubt it will be more expensive than $349.99 US.

I think it will cost $350 in America and £319.99 but it will probably be dropped to about £300. Hopefully there can be another retail battle that will drive the price down like with the 3DS.

That all depends on how much room Nintendo has to at least break even from each console sold. Nintendo unlike Sony or Microsoft aren't going to look at loosing money at launch, so if it costs $300 U.S. to manufacture or more its unlikely the price of the console will go down for a year after launch. That's about how long it takes to launch a new version of the console with its chipsets shrunken one die size down to lower costs.

That would be £212 to £243. I hope Nintendo won't make it more expensive in Europe as they have with the 3DS. On the topic of price, I wonder how much additional controllers will cost. With the rumoured HD touchscreen they could be very expensive.

Based on the rumors IGN asked a manufacturer how much such controllers would cost to manufacture and the guess was around $25 U.S. Whether its more than $25 to manufacture depends on the capability of the screen and how much internal guts the controller has (enough to decode video or enough for some functions without streaming power from the console). Retail my guess is $80 dollars.