Wii 2 Rumors

[CentralDogma]

Rumor is that it will use AMD?s Trinity. Which would be quite something, seeing the console makers move from PowerPC to x86. The only recent console that I recall as being x86 based was the original Xbox.

[Ayepecks]

More controller rumors:

In the week since reports about Nintendo's next home console began appearing in the gaming press, several aspects of the controller of the system's controller have become more clear.

Its main controller, as rumored, will include a touchscreen, two analog sticks and a camera, we've confirmed with our own games industry sources who are familiar with Nintendo's plans for the machine.

That new controller's screen will measure 6.2 inches and the controller will also include eight buttons. It won't necessarily be, however, the controller that every Wii 2 gamer uses. It isn't even being positioned as a replacement for the famous Wii Remote.

The new Nintendo console, which some have been referring to as Project Caf?, will also support Nintendo Wii remote-style controllers.

We're not clear on whether the new console will simply use the current Wii remote tech or if Nintendo will offer a remote that improves upon the already-improved and more motion-sensitive Wii Remote Plus that launched last year.

What we are clear on is that Nintendo intends for many games on its new console to be controlled with the same kind of arm-swinging and controller tilting made capable by the Wii Remote. Think of it this way, hypothetically speaking: a new Wii Sports could use the Remote; a new Zelda could use the screen-based twin-stick controller.

The more intriguing option, which we've been hearing in bits and pieces from our sources since last week is that two people playing a Caf?/Wii 2 game could be using different types of controllers. One could operate the Remote; the other use the more traditional twin-sticks of the screen controller.

The more intriguing option is that two people playing a Caf?/Wii 2 game could be using different types of controllers.

While a twin-stick controller doesn't sound like the kind of Nintendo gizmo that would charm talk show hosts the way the Wii Remote did, the capabilities of the the screen controller do have people buzzing. The 6.2-inch screen will receive data wirelessly from the Nintendo console and presents an array of options, from putting the player's inventory or map on the controller screen, to allowing players to combine it with the controller's camera to snap photos that could be imported into a game or even turning it into some sort of glorified viewfinder (we're unclear about whether the camera on the controller points at the player or can be outward-facing; we've heard both ? maybe it swivels?).

The controller screen could even run a separate app. Consider a bad co-op idea from us as an example, though not a recommendation: one player zips through mini-games that run on the screen-controller. Succeeding in each keeps the player using the Wii Remote alive ? in a game running on the TV in the same room.

A touch-sensitive inventory screen right near your thumbs would be handy, of course. A variation on that concept will be seen in Nintendo's June re-make of The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time for the company's newest two-screened handheld system, the 3DS. The Zelda game's original designers have said that players of the remake will greatly benefit from being able to tap the items they want to use on one screen while being to allow a different screen show, without clutter, the game's action. Clearly the new Nintendo console affords the same option, so the odds are that they'll take it. In fact, you could think of the new Nintendo console as turning your living room into a glorified mega-DS.... your TV is the upper-screen; your controller is the lower touchscreen.

The screen-in-controller idea isn't new to the games industry or Nintendo. Sega's 1999 gaming console, the Dreamcast, included simple monochromatic screens that were used for things like virtual pets. Nintendo pushed the concept in the early part of the previous decade, developing a handful of games that allowed players to link their Game Boy Advance portables to a GameCube console. That idea was used in a multiplayer Zelda game that allowed four players to share an adventure on a TV but occasionally duck into caves on their GBAs. Some iPhone developers have allowed people to use their iPhones as controllers for games running on iPad and PC. None of those executions compare to the idea of Nintendo pushing a screen controller as a principal innovation in its new console, a push that could transform the concept from an exception to a standard.

Nintendo isn't commenting publicly about its new console or its controllers, but the parts of this elephant are becoming more clear. We expect to see the full thing during Nintendo's presentation at E3 this June.

Source: http://kotaku.com/#!5794424/fresh-details-of-wii-2s-unusual-controller-and-why-it-wont-kill-the-wii-remote

[threetonesun]

Yes, screen on the controller, please. The Dreamcast started it with the memory unit, and there were quite a few games that made great use of it, NFL 2K series being the best. With a hi-rez touch screen you could do all kinds of awesome things.

[Smashing Pumpkin]

If that above rumour is true, it sounds horrible.

A really wide handheld controller with an inventory, so when you look at it you're not looking at the screen, unless it pauses. The features above suggest that combinations of controller type are a massive revolution.

Well, maybe not horrible, just, that controller would be wiiiide.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

If that above rumour is true, it sounds horrible.

A really wide handheld controller with an inventory, so when you look at it you're not looking at the screen, unless it pauses. The features above suggest that combinations of controller type are a massive revolution.

Well, maybe not horrible, just, that controller would be wiiiide.

Well idk about but thanks to Band and reading sheet music i think I could easily keep the touch screen and TV screen in my vision at most times. Gotta love peripheral vision.

[Smashing Pumpkin]

Well idk about but thanks to Band and reading sheet music i think I could easily keep the touch screen and TV screen in my vision at most times. Gotta love peripheral vision.

Oops! :pinch:

[Ayepecks]

Is this the Wii's successor?

We're getting so many images, movies and epic poems that purport to depict Nintendo's rumored new HD console, which goes by the (also rumored) codename of Project Caf?, that we figured it's time to start throwing them at the wall and seeing what sticks. Today's artifact has popped up on several forums and blogs (we saw it on Destructoid, but you may have caught it elsewhere).

It's a slide from something that reads "Project Caf? is simply the most developer friendly SDK the industry has ever seen. Deliver unparalleled next generation performance at current generation costs. It doesn't get any easier than this." Also, there's a picture of a box. Is it the Wii 2? Probably not.

If pressed, we'd give it a ... 5/10 for believability. The form factor seems like an evolved Wii, so that's about right, but the wording off the slide feels ... off. What do you think?

Joystiq says it's 50-50 but the poll indicates they almost certainly think it's fake. Honestly, though, I wouldn't be too surprised if it were real, and I seem to recall this kind of stuff (even a slide or two) leaking about the Wii beforehand.

The motion controller better be much more intuitive than it sounds, though, because otherwise it just sounds like the Xbox 360 or PS3. And if people already own one of those, what's the point?

[OOOOOOOO]

Actually, it's pretty much only the Wii and its handhelds that haven't been up to par. The GameCube was more powerful than the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast (less powerful than the Xbox), and the N64 was more powerful than the original Playstation.

The Gamecube could do graphical things the Xbox wasn't capable of. Some of the texture work in Star Wars was utilising up to 8 texture layers to achieve the effects they did ... Xbox couldn't do that. The power debate contains too many variables.

I just don't see why people care. Graphics are great and as an artist I love them, but the graphics don't make the game.

[Ayepecks]

Not sure if I should post this in the announcement topic or this topic, but this topic seems more relevant since it's been dealing with the rumors all along. Anyway, here's a potential leaked picture of the device, or it could simply be a fake. It looks like the previous picture I posted, however.

Source: http://kotaku.com/#!5795286/is-this-a-wii-2-project-cafe-prototype-or-yet-another-photoshop

I think this is what the console will end up looking like, personally. This looks like a non-working prototype, if I had to guess. Could be an elaborate hoax, though.

[iamawesomewicked]

I dunno man... Someone would have to go through a lot of trouble for this to be a hoax... I mean.. look at this, which came out days ago..

and now we have 3 images of the actual thing that was in the image above.

[threetonesun]

Working prototype, maybe, but there's no way Nintendo releases a box with blue-yellow-green-green lights on the front. Also, it seems to be missing any sort of power connection in the second picture.

[Ayepecks]

I dunno man... Someone would have to go through a lot of trouble for this to be a hoax... I mean.. look at this, which came out days ago..

No, I completely agree with you. I'm saying it's possible it could be a hoax, but since that first leaked image was posted a few days ago (I linked to it above), I've thought it's been legit. I seem to recall this exact same thing happening with the Wii (literally, information about it including shots like these leaked before it was revealed) and a few other consoles, and people were crying "FAKE!"

I think the most recent two images are clearly non-working prototypes to give people an idea of how it will look.

[iamawesomewicked]

No, I completely agree with you. I'm saying it's possible it could be a hoax, but since that first leaked image was posted a few days ago (I linked to it above), I've thought it's been legit. I seem to recall this exact same thing happening with the Wii (literally, information about it including shots like these leaked before it was revealed) and a few other consoles, and people were crying "FAKE!"

I think the most recent two images are clearly non-working prototypes to give people an idea of how it will look.

I'd say so, and if it's not the final design, it wont be far off.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

I am excited that Nintendo said 2012 because I couldn't afford the games in the fall and a new console. Following the pattern of the 3DS I would not be shocked to see a similar release with japan in feb and everyone else in march.

I feel like those pics are real or someone worked their ass off to make a hoax. There is a pic of the controller too floating around somewhere that also looks legit.

[The Teej]

Seen as this the rumour and speculation version of the new console thread - I'm gonna throw this out here. A long time ago (over half a decade ago) Nintendo filed and successfully got awarded a patent for efficiently using displacement mapping technology. Displacement mapping, for those who don't know, is basically a way of taking a very basic polygonal model (say, no more then a few hundred polys, a la Ocarina of Time's Link) and turn him into a model that looks it came from Demon's Souls using nothing but a high resolution texture. Here is a page that goes into it in more detail. Usually the problem with displacement mapping is that it's costly in real-time and takes too long to really do anything that will make you say "wow" -- so to speak. However, this patent here filed by Nintendo allows displacement mapping to happen in real time, quickly and efficiently.

Now, I'm not saying they'll forego better graphics hardware for this, but instead, combine the best of both worlds. Great graphics technology, with games using DM in real-time. With models taking up less processing power to render, this saves of processing power which could be used for other things such as unified shaders or using GPGPU for routine AI tasks. Definitely worth something reading about anyway, the possibilities of this are very real.

[S00N3R FR3AK]

Seen as this the rumour and speculation version of the new console thread - I'm gonna throw this out here. A long time ago (over half a decade ago) Nintendo filed and successfully got awarded a patent for efficiently using displacement mapping technology. Displacement mapping, for those who don't know, is basically a way of taking a very basic polygonal model (say, no more then a few hundred polys, a la Ocarina of Time's Link) and turn him into a model that looks it came from Demon's Souls using nothing but a high resolution texture. Here is a page that goes into it in more detail. Usually the problem with displacement mapping is that it's costly in real-time and takes too long to really do anything that will make you say "wow" -- so to speak. However, this patent here filed by Nintendo allows displacement mapping to happen in real time, quickly and efficiently.

Now, I'm not saying they'll forego better graphics hardware for this, but instead, combine the best of both worlds. Great graphics technology, with games using DM in real-time. With models taking up less processing power to render, this saves of processing power which could be used for other things such as unified shaders or using GPGPU for routine AI tasks. Definitely worth something reading about anyway, the possibilities of this are very real.

wow that would be interesting to see them combine this type of graphics.

[Ayepecks]

Wii 2 to feature just 8GB of flash memory and 25GB discs?

http://kotaku.com/#!5797890/nintendos-next-console-will-enter-the-hd-era-but-not-the-hard+drive-era

[Rudy]

Wii 2 to feature just 8GB of flash memory and 25GB discs?

http://kotaku.com/#!5797890/nintendos-next-console-will-enter-the-hd-era-but-not-the-hard+drive-era

I'll still buy one, I played my Wii the most out of my consoles

[The Teej]

Wii 2 to feature just 8GB of flash memory and 25GB discs?

http://kotaku.com/#!5797890/nintendos-next-console-will-enter-the-hd-era-but-not-the-hard+drive-era

The 25GB disks would be nice, but a paltry 8GB would be a real shame - unless of course they introduce the ability to save to external hard drives. That would be great! The 4GB 360 Slim did a very similar thing to this, so it's not exactly a crazy idea.

[majortom1981]

Keep in mind nintendo does not have the resources microsoft and sony do. HDDs die pretty easily and nintendo likes their consoles to try to last. I do not think they would have the resources to handle all the hdd's replacements they would have to process if they included one in the console.

[threetonesun]

The 25GB disks would be nice, but a paltry 8GB would be a real shame - unless of course they introduce the ability to save to external hard drives. That would be great! The 4GB 360 Slim did a very similar thing to this, so it's not exactly a crazy idea.

Nintendo still isn't big on the online aspect of consoles, nor local downloadable content, and I don't expect them to change any time soon.

[Rudy]

Nintendo still isn't big on the online aspect of consoles, nor local downloadable content, and I don't expect them to change any time soon.

So far the only game (on any console) I enjoyed playing online is Mario Kart :p

[Xilo]

No hard drive + custom disc format = Fail

Seriously, Nintendo can never get anything right.

[The Teej]

No hard drive + custom disc format = Fail

Seriously, Nintendo can never get anything right.

oh lol

And who says it's a custom format? I instantly thought of Blu-Ray when it said it would be using 25GB disks.

[Ayepecks]

The 25GB disks would be nice, but a paltry 8GB would be a real shame - unless of course they introduce the ability to save to external hard drives. That would be great! The 4GB 360 Slim did a very similar thing to this, so it's not exactly a crazy idea.

You can utilize SD cards just like you could with the Wii.