Rumor: Wii U final specs

@TwoTribesGames
Today we discovered a new hardware feature of the Wii U that shaves off 100 megabytes of texture memory usage in Toki Tori 2!
 
Microsoft and Sony are trying their hardest to try and cram the features of a full-blown gaming PC into their consoles. Nintendo knows that a games console should be used for playing games (as is their title). Besides, why would you need a DVD/blu-ray movie player built into your console when most people have at least two DVD players in their homes and one Blu-ray player? It's like expecting your Blu-ray player to do your goddamn dishes.

Laziness. Not wanting to change channels or hook and unhook cables in the back of TVs. Hell, you have to get up to switch the disc anyway, might as well go all out while you're up. Of course this is just my opinion.

Honestly, NintendoTVii was made for people like this. Now you don't have to get up, the gamepad and WiiU does everything, including Tevo interaction. Honestly I'm excited for it.
 
Microsoft and Sony are trying their hardest to try and cram the features of a full-blown gaming PC into their consoles. Nintendo knows that a games console should be used for playing games (as is their title).

Just as long as you do it on Wi-Fi. And you don't mind plugging your mic into another controller. And only talking to people within that specific game.
 
Microsoft and Sony are trying their hardest to try and cram the features of a full-blown gaming PC into their consoles. Nintendo knows that a games console should be used for playing games (as is their title). Besides, why would you need a DVD/blu-ray movie player built into your console when most people have at least two DVD players in their homes and one Blu-ray player? It's like expecting your Blu-ray player to do your goddamn dishes.

Might be different in the states but i don't know anyone who has a blu-ray player which isn't a PS3.

Like it or not consoles are entertainment centers and the more they do the better. I use my PS3 for DVD's/Blu-ray/music/streaming etc. Still on the plus side having that amount of space saved under my TV as a result i have space to fit a Wii U as well.

The whole argument on games consoles being used solely for games is becoming a bit more redundant over time.
 
Really, the Wii U is a solid system, not a current gen one, if this precision was still needed.

I'll believe it when I'll see it. So far, nothing I've seen looks anything else but current gen.
 
Microsoft and Sony are trying their hardest to try and cram the features of a full-blown gaming PC into their consoles. Nintendo knows that a games console should be used for playing games (as is their title). Besides, why would you need a DVD/blu-ray movie player built into your console when most people have at least two DVD players in their homes and one Blu-ray player? It's like expecting your Blu-ray player to do your goddamn dishes.

So expecting a game system to play media on a disc format that's already built into the system is like expecting my blu-ray player to do my dishes? Do you not realize how far off that really is?

Other than the licensing fees, which MS and Sony eat up, I don't see any reason not to include what's basically a free feature. If we're spending $300+ for these systems, why would anyone argue against having more features? Contrast to what some here think, multi-media features does not have to come at the expense of gaming features in a game console.
 
I'll believe it when I'll see it. So far, nothing I've seen looks anything else but current gen.

PS2 launch titles, 360 Launch titles, PS3 launch titles. These games looked awful, or not very far from the previous generation of hardware. In motion, Kameo and Conker's Live and Reloaded are comparable. Same with Perfect Dark Zero and Chronicles of Riddick, Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Oblivion and Fable (though people complained about Oblivion's graphics quite a bit so not sure if counts). Point is, developers can't just pop out with the best of a new console, it takes a while of understanding it and making the best out of whats there. You're expecting too much too soon, when most of the games on Wii-U right now are just straight ports.

So expecting a game system to play media on a disc format that's already built into the system is like expecting my blu-ray player to do my dishes? Do you not realize how far off that really is?

Other than the licensing fees, which MS and Sony eat up, I don't see any reason not to include what's basically a free feature. If we're spending $300+ for these systems, why would anyone argue against having more features? Contrast to what some here think, multi-media features does not have to come at the expense of gaming features in a game console.

1. MS and Sony are much bigger corporations than Nintendo, so a licensing fee is cheap for them, but not for Nintendo. If the WiiU played Blu-Ray movies, they'd probably have to charge an extra $150 for it.
2. Nintendo TVii IS free and more people have digital on-demand accounts (ala Hulu-plus, NetFlix etc..) than they do a blu-ray player. So that was a smarted move business wise for Nintendo.
 
So expecting a game system to play media on a disc format that's already built into the system is like expecting my blu-ray player to do my dishes? Do you not realize how far off that really is?

Other than the licensing fees, which MS and Sony eat up, I don't see any reason not to include what's basically a free feature. If we're spending $300+ for these systems, why would anyone argue against having more features? Contrast to what some here think, multi-media features does not have to come at the expense of gaming features in a game console.

Microsoft and Sony have a vested interested in those features, hence why they invest in them. You don't think PS3 plays bluray movies out of the generosity of Sony do you? No, it's so they can push their format and their movies.
 
PS2 launch titles, 360 Launch titles, PS3 launch titles. These games looked awful, or not very far from the previous generation of hardware. In motion, Kameo and Conker's Live and Reloaded are comparable. Same with Perfect Dark Zero and Chronicles of Riddick, Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Oblivion and Fable (though people complained about Oblivion's graphics quite a bit so not sure if counts). Point is, developers can't just pop out with the best of a new console, it takes a while of understanding it and making the best out of whats there. You're expecting too much too soon, when most of the games on Wii-U right now are just straight ports.

360 and PS3 launch titles did look bad because devs had no clue about multicore cpus and proper shader usage (ps2 had no pixel shaders, gamecube none at all) and because they had to build new graphic engines. The Wii U has nothing in it which is revolutionary new, current engines should already make good use of the Wii U's hardware. You are expecting too much when you think Wii U games will make a big jump at some point in the future.
 
PS2 launch titles, 360 Launch titles, PS3 launch titles. These games looked awful, or not very far from the previous generation of hardware. In motion, Kameo and Conker's Live and Reloaded are comparable. Same with Perfect Dark Zero and Chronicles of Riddick, Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Oblivion and Fable (though people complained about Oblivion's graphics quite a bit so not sure if counts). Point is, developers can't just pop out with the best of a new console, it takes a while of understanding it and making the best out of whats there. You're expecting too much too soon, when most of the games on Wii-U right now are just straight ports.

Even then, most games of the PS3 or 360 launch looked at least as good as top tier games from the previous generation, and that included a notable resolution buff.

I've yet to see a Wii U game that looks as good as Uncharted 3 or Halo 4. Or hell, even Uncharted 2.

Besides, the Wii got a game early on that looked like a decent increase from the previous gen (Super Mario Galaxy) and it's still arguably the best looking game on the system, along with its sequel.

It's just a bit concerning that despite all these claims of it being a decent leap above current gen, we aren't seeing it. At all.
 
is this not a bit late to discover a feature like that? don't they have to hand this game in for cert?

Probably plenty of time for it, only takes a couple weeks. Hell, even if the game HAS gone through cert and even approved it doesn't mean that they can't go ahead and do more testing with their own games (or preparing a post-release patch)
 
Gemüsepizza;43468633 said:
360 and PS3 launch titles did look bad because devs had no clue about multicore cpus and proper shader usage (ps2 had no pixel shaders, gamecube none at all). The Wii U has nothing in it which is revolutionary new, current engines should already make good use of the Wii U's hardware. You are expecting too much when you think Wii U games will make a big jump at some point in the future.

Assuming I said big difference.

Going from something based on OpenGL 2 to something based with OpenGL 3.3 (which does allow for some of the features of OpenGL 4.0) will produce a leap, NOT A BIG LEAP, but a leap. I'm not sure why you feel the need to attack people who think that, but you need not do it.

Even then, most games of the PS3 or 360 launch looked at least as good as top tier games from the previous generation, and that included a notable resolution buff.

I've yet to see a Wii U game that looks as good as Uncharted 3 or Halo 4. Or hell, even Uncharted 2.

Besides, the Wii got a game early on that looked like a decent increase from the previous gen (Super Mario Galaxy) and it's still arguably the best looking game on the system, along with its sequel.

It's just a bit concerning that despite all these claims of it being a decent leap above current gen, we aren't seeing it. At all.

What games are being made by 3rd parties on any of the consoles look close to those games? Again, these are straight ports, now Nintendo could've made a game that looks close to those, but Nintendo themselves haven't really made anything for launch that would make those graphics seem necessary.
 
Here's the interesting part of conversation

twotrib06kgo.png
 
Microsoft and Sony have a vested interested in those features, hence why they invest in them. You don't think PS3 plays bluray movies out of the generosity of Sony do you? No, it's so they can push their format and their movies.

No, I completely understand that. This type of internal corporate agenda has actually hindered the PS3's profitability this gen IMO. However it looked like Smurfman was set against these additional features as if we're expecting these machines to do more than they are capable of doing.

I can understand being against additional features if the gaming aspect suffers because of it. I thought the amount of memory used by the PS3's OS early on was overboard, I feel the same about the Wii-U's OS and the rumored amount we're reading about the 720 OS size. Setting aside 256MB or so for the OS sounds like it could be enough considering how much MS has been able to pull off with just 32MB. I really don't care to have netflix or an internet browser running in the background while my game is playing. Now that sounds like a poor use of resources if you ask me.

However it looks like some don't want any features no matter if it comes at a cost or is free.
 
Just as long as you do it on Wi-Fi. And you don't mind plugging your mic into another controller. And only talking to people within that specific game.

Except there is a wired solution available and the primary controller has a headset input and...and...I've got nothing.
 
No, I completely understand that. This type of internal corporate agenda has actually hindered the PS3's profitability this gen IMO. However it looked like Smurfman was set against these additional features as if we're expecting these machines to do more than they are capable of doing.

I can understand being against additional features if the gaming aspect suffers because of it. I thought the amount of memory used by the PS3's OS early on was overboard, I feel the same about the Wii-U's OS and the rumored amount we're reading about the 720 OS size. Setting aside 256MB or so for the OS sounds like it could be enough considering how much MS has been able to pull off with just 32MB. I really don't care to have netflix or an internet browser running in the background while my game is playing. Now that sounds like a poor use of resources if you ask me.

However it looks like some don't want any features no matter if it comes at a cost or is free.

Understood and agreed. There is definitely no problem with wanting and even expecting more from Nintendo, but I guess I'm just too laid back or something, it doesn't bother me too much. Then again, most of the features people really want out of the system I can get elsewhere so that's likely why it doesn't bother me as much.
 
PS2 launch titles, 360 Launch titles, PS3 launch titles. These games looked awful, or not very far from the previous generation of hardware.

There are exceptions to that rule on the PS2, Ps3 and 360 side of things. PS2 launched with The Bouncer, which blew minds back when slow-mo, depth of field, specular lens effects, flares, and fast action blur were new effects in the console space.

360 and PS3 had lots of titles that did look a generation ahead of what they left behind, but what we're doing is looking back, comparing them to what we have now, and making an assessment based on how far they've come. Wallguy is a popular meme, but the final product doesnt look quite that bad, and even then it has things going on in game not possible on the Xbox. GAF even consented to that once it came out.
 
Microsoft and Sony have a vested interested in those features, hence why they invest in them. You don't think PS3 plays bluray movies out of the generosity of Sony do you? No, it's so they can push their format and their movies.

Exactly, not to mention Sony is a founding member of the Blu-ray Disc Association. I don't think they are paying all that much for licensing, if anything.
 
New hardware features a month before launch? Interesting. Kinda figured Toki Tori 2 was close to gold at this point.

Projectjustice/D-e-f braved the trolling all this way only to get clipped moments before the Wii U launch huh? Pity. It was fun watching them bash their heads against the wall trying to get haters to stop hating.
 
1. MS and Sony are much bigger corporations than Nintendo, so a licensing fee is cheap for them, but not for Nintendo. If the WiiU played Blu-Ray movies, they'd probably have to charge an extra $150 for it.

I thought the Blu-ray player licensing fee was like $10 per player.
 
<snip apologist rant>

If the tech capabilities of WiiU were comparable to the next generation of hardware then it shouldn't be a problem for devs to demonstrably show graphics that easily outstrip the current HD twins capabilities.

More polys, better textures, more shaders, higher resolution and higher frame rates.

I'm pretty sure that when we see the launch games for PS720 they'll look way ahead of what's currently possible.
 
There are exceptions to that rule on the PS2, Ps3 and 360 side of things. PS2 launched with The Bouncer, which blew minds back when slow-mo, depth of field, specular lens effects, flares, and fast action blur were new effects in the console space.

360 and PS3 had lots of titles that did look a generation ahead of what they left behind, but what we're doing is looking back, comparing them to what we have now, and making an assessment based on how far they've come. Wallguy is a popular meme, but the final product doesnt look quite that bad, and even then it has things going on in game not possible on the Xbox. GAF even consented to that once it came out.

I am aware of that. It's why I used the word comparable, rather than look exactly like. Then again, a lot of these games were made specifically for these consoles. The Wii-U isn't receiving the 100% ground up for the console treatment. Even ZombieU started on the 360. I do wish people would give NintendoLand"s lighting another look though, it's actually pretty fucking amazing.

I thought the Blu-ray player licensing fee was like $10 per player.

Really? I heard it was MUCH more than that.

Is it even that high? I know the base codecs that bluray uses is only like $2.50 per license. MPEG2 I know is still pretty ridiculously high like $5 per device.

Man, I got my data all wrong on that. Though i can still see Nintendo charging well over that for profit sake.
 
Is it even that high? I know the base codecs that bluray uses is only like $2.50 per license. MPEG2 I know is still pretty ridiculously high like $5 per device.

I remember looking into it ages ago and I remember it was around $10 at that point. An extra $150 per console is ludicrous, though. There are sub $60 players on the market from smaller companies than Nintendo.
 
No, I completely understand that. This type of internal corporate agenda has actually hindered the PS3's profitability this gen IMO. However it looked like Smurfman was set against these additional features as if we're expecting these machines to do more than they are capable of doing.

I can understand being against additional features if the gaming aspect suffers because of it. I thought the amount of memory used by the PS3's OS early on was overboard, I feel the same about the Wii-U's OS and the rumored amount we're reading about the 720 OS size. Setting aside 256MB or so for the OS sounds like it could be enough considering how much MS has been able to pull off with just 32MB. I really don't care to have netflix or an internet browser running in the background while my game is playing. Now that sounds like a poor use of resources if you ask me.

However it looks like some don't want any features no matter if it comes at a cost or is free.

Remember the 720 will also purportedly be making a HD recording of your gaming session and or recording TV shows in the background as well. Allocating 2 out the 6 or 8GB of RAM for those features seems reasonable.
 
Remember the 720 will also purportedly be making a HD recording of your gaming session and or recording TV shows in the background as well. Allocating 2 out the 6 or 8GB of RAM for those features seems reasonable.

Not to go too OT but I much rather have more memory for my games than to record TV in the background. To be more OT, I feel the same about the Wii-U. I have my smart phone, and hopefully a new PC soon, to check the internet while gaming. I think it's a waste to allow a browser to run in the background while I'm gaming on that system. IIRC the Wii-U will also allow you to take screenshots of the game and send it to people, that's another feature I can do without.

I'm not sure how either company has the memory set up in their respective systems, but I hope the OS footprint is optimized and lowered over the course of the next console cycle.
 
I remember looking into it ages ago and I remember it was around $10 at that point. An extra $150 per console is ludicrous, though. There are sub $60 players on the market from smaller companies than Nintendo.

I don't think it's a flat fee per device. I think some component of the cost scales with the overall MSRP of the device. I'll look it up later if I have time.
 
If the tech capabilities of WiiU were comparable to the next generation of hardware then it shouldn't be a problem for devs to demonstrably show graphics that easily outstrip the current HD twins capabilities.

More polys, better textures, more shaders, higher resolution and higher frame rates.

I'm pretty sure that when we see the launch games for PS720 they'll look way ahead of what's currently possible.

let's not start this dumb argument again. the WiiU is the first home console of the next generation. it *IS* next gen hardware. don't talk about it like it isn't.

i hope to see 'PS720' games looking a lot better than what we have currently too, but the Wii was not in the same generation as PS2, and the Wii U will not be in the same generation as the Xbox 360. that's why we said 'the Wii isn't as powerful as the HD twins' rather than 'the Wii isn't as powerful as current gen systems'.

the Wii U is more powerful than current systems. the systems that follow it will be more powerful than the Wii U. we can argue ballparks if you like, but that much is fact, backed up by a shedload of dev comments and by the specs we do know.

Rayman Origins looks better than Rayman Legends. Trine 2 on Wii U looks better than Trine 2 on Xbox 360 and PS3. Nano Assualt on Wii U looks better than Super Stardust HD on PS3. and so on. small differences/large differences? completely debateable.

but we are seeing better textures, more shaders, better IQ and what have you. a substantial leap? no. but the Wii U is more powerful and it shows. it is next gen.
 
I remember looking into it ages ago and I remember it was around $10 at that point. An extra $150 per console is ludicrous, though. There are sub $60 players on the market from smaller companies than Nintendo.

Wow, it's just that, i remember seeing somewhere that if the WiiU had a Blu-ray player that played blu-rays inside it, that it would bring up the cost of the console over $100. This was before the price was announced though. So maybe they were wrong.
 
Wow, it's just that, i remember seeing somewhere that if the WiiU had a Blu-ray player that played blu-rays inside it, that it would bring up the cost of the console over $100. This was before the price was announced though. So maybe they were wrong.

i'm pretty sure they have to be, given that you can get blu-ray players cheaper than $100.

still, how many people would actually even happily spend $10 more for blu-ray playback? i wouldn't. i think way more people would rather save the $10 than would want blu-ray playback.
 
It sound like the differences between PS2 and Xbox.

i don't know that i'd go that far actually, as you're comparing no shaders to shaders, and (basically) 480p as a max VS 1080i as a max (GT4 runs at '1080i' but it's really 540p as i remember right, and it's the only PS2 game that did so, i think might be wrong).

but both released in the same generation, unlike the 360 and the Wii U. they released a year apart. the Wii U is the first major home console in six years, hence next generation.
 
i'm pretty sure they have to be, given that you can get blu-ray players cheaper than $100.

still, how many people would actually even happily spend $10 more for blu-ray playback? i wouldn't. i think way more people would rather save the $10 than would want blu-ray playback.

I'd rather have bluray playback than stupid NFC.
 
PS2 launch titles, 360 Launch titles, PS3 launch titles. These games looked awful, or not very far from the previous generation of hardware. In motion, Kameo and Conker's Live and Reloaded are comparable. Same with Perfect Dark Zero and Chronicles of Riddick, Call of Duty 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and Oblivion and Fable (though people complained about Oblivion's graphics quite a bit so not sure if counts). Point is, developers can't just pop out with the best of a new console, it takes a while of understanding it and making the best out of whats there. You're expecting too much too soon, when most of the games on Wii-U right now are just straight ports.



1. MS and Sony are much bigger corporations than Nintendo, so a licensing fee is cheap for them, but not for Nintendo. If the WiiU played Blu-Ray movies, they'd probably have to charge an extra $150 for it.
2. Nintendo TVii IS free and more people have digital on-demand accounts (ala Hulu-plus, NetFlix etc..) than they do a blu-ray player. So that was a smarted move business wise for Nintendo.

Apologies, I didn't realize you replied to my post earlier.

1. Sorry but you need to have your eyes checked if you think even late last gen games were comparable to current gen launch games. =p It is not just my opinion, but a fact that even current gen launch games were way above last gen in technical terms. Whether you could see that or not is irrelevant to reality. One of these days, when I have the time, I hope to make a thread detailing how this view is flawed.

2. I completely understand that Nintendo needs to work more towards profit from their hardware than the other two companies who have multiple divisions to offset said cost. It's one of the reasons why I defend Nintendo for not continuing in the tech-race and don't blame them at all for how the Wii-U turned out. However that doesn't mean they don't have options. They could have sold a controller kit, to help cover for the licensing cost, similar to what MS did with the first xbox.
 
i don't know that i'd go that far actually, as you're comparing no shaders to shaders, and (basically) 480p as a max VS 1080i as a max (GT4 runs at '1080i' but it's really 540p as i remember right, and it's the only PS2 game that did so).

but both released in the same generation, unlike the 360 and the Wii U. they released a year apart. the Wii U is the first major home console in six years, hence next generation.

I am with you in the fact that Wii U is "next gen".
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbazWEWTZC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA7Sefkwsqs

Ignoring the frame rate of Kameo and quality of Conker in these videos (obviously fault of the recording, not the hardware), they are comparable. At least in my eye.

You are talking absolute rubbish. Honestly. It's one of the most shameful examples of trying to put down another systems launch game to make your machines launch games seem better.

Relative to your laughable comparison. There are a ton of extra shader effects on Kameo. Some of them still looks great even to this day. Add in the bucket loads of extra geometry and detail plus the huge increase in texture resolution and finally a big bump in final render resolution and frame rate. The two are not even close in terms of performance.
 
If this is true, they should be able to sell a controller kit for $30 to allow owners to play blu-ray movies. However is it true the largest disc size is 25GB? If so, would that mean the system lacks support for dual layer discs?

Nintendo also said 3ds cards could only go up to 2gb but we've got 4gb games already
 
I have both and I can say, depending on the TV. On an HDTV, yes. You can see a difference, but they are still "comparable". On a SDTV, they look closer. I say comparable, not a like for a reason.

I have both, Kameo on a HDTV is another game. The same for PGR3, even CoD2 have some very nice effects not seen on Xbox/PS2.
 
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