Topic: The OFFICIAL Big N rumor thread *bring your own salt*

[Ceric]

Probably what happened was that the retail chains saw how low the price was compared to the other consoles and wanted a bigger margin because they knew people would buy at an only slightly reduced rate with the extra $50.  Thats probably why we are also getting the Opera browser for free for the first bit.  Another reasoning is that the relatively slight increase in price will also bring down demand enough to make sure that there are enough people who want it to keep it sold out throughout Christmas but in such a manner that they could keep getting resupplied so that it still be relatively easy to find with a little looking.
Also I heard that there was a problem with the production of the Wiimotes.  Which would explain why some places have ran out of pre-orders of controllers.  That could also be a  factor in that regards.  Trying to keep it so that most don't notice.
Also but yielding to this sort of demand it makes the retailers the bad people on this and make them more inclined to accommodate or entertain some of Nintendo's requests.

[zakkiel]

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Hm, CNN is kinda neat, but I'd prefer something a bit more generic, like "TIME" or something.

Time has at least its share problems, but as a serious news source it beats the living $#!^ out of CNN. This is the first time I've heard anyone accuse CNN of being too deep for anything. Its coverage could not penetrate a brown paper bag.
/rant

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Although Nintendo has removed DVD movie playback from the Wii, it plans to launch in Japan next year an enhanced Wii capable of such a feature

Uh-oh. I smell the approach of... Ian Sane!

[Myxtika1 Azn]

Two of my friends -- they don't know each other -- told me that Game Crazy and GameStop stores will be getting Wii demo units in by the end of this month.  That is two days from now.  One friend found out online (so it must be true lol), and the other friend works at GameCrazy.  Apparently this information came from the Nintendo rep.

I want this to be true, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: Myxtika1 Azn I want this to be true, but I don't want to get my hopes up.

That would mean Nintendo has until tues to get these into stores.

Truthfully, I think they're a bit late already. It's 21 days until Wii launch and still no kiosks, and this is for a system that needs to be PLAYED to be believed...

[BlkPaladin]

Well I still haven't seen a PS3 kiosk any where yet ether so they are not the only ones "late".

Putting a little resoning behind this. You don't want to have a console out too early (the kiosks) if it breaks it will no look good when it released and there is a broken one out for demo. (Xbox 360)

[Smash_Brother]

True, but I'm sure Nintendo has already taken steps to ensure the stores know how to properly care for the Wii setup.

God knows, they must have already paid Best Buy to get them to do what they've done for the Wii.

[couchmonkey]

Like they ensured proper care of DS setups?  "Please tell your customers that the screens only work if you scratch them extra-hard!  In some cases keys work better than the stylus."

Hurr, sorry, couldn't resist.  I actually agree that the demo systems should hit stores pretty soon here.  Damage may be a concern, but I don't think it will be that big...controllers are cheaper to replace than entire units as in the DS case.

[Strell]

Gonintendo.com is reporting that "there is another big secret with the Wii that will be revealed at launch," citing a supposed comment directly from God himself - Reggie - at a recent Gamestop workers meeting.

I personally don't believe it.

[JonLeung]

^I was going to say that too, Strell.  The rumour of "one last secret" also made its way to Infendo.

I'm hesitant to believe that there could be more.  Not that I wouldn't welcome it if there was more!

If it's anything at all, it's likely not hardware-based.  I would guess it has to do with online functionality, another Wii Channel, perhaps, or something like WiiPlay coming to North America after all...but maybe something like it's broken up into individual downloadable parts to get people used to the idea of downloading new games from the Virtual Console.

[Strell]

The most possible candidates are:  Wii Play bundled, Wii Channels/WiiConnect/Online functionality is explained or fleshed out, or the VC is getting beefier.

It can't be hardware related at this point, and I see no reason for a lot of the other big speculations to be pertinent, as there would be no reason for Nintendo to keep stuff like this under wraps at this point.  What more can they lose?

[Smash_Brother]

The Wii...makes toast.

...

MEGATOOOOOOOOOOON!!!!!!

[Ceric]

I believe it will be channel related.  For the sole reason that as Matt pointed out Nintendo isn't giving Press Demo Units and that the Developers ones still don't have any of the channels.  Also am I the only one who thinks central Sound and Screen Preference settings are cool and about time?

[Requiem]

You guys are all forgetting something that Nintendo, even after revealing it, has tucked away and never spoke of it again.


I'm talking about single-disc LAN multi-player. It's genius if it can be accomplished.

[Ceric]

No reason why not.  You just have to keep the game under 512.

[Smash_Brother]

That would be kinda...difficult.

The best you could do then is have the same situation with the DS where it can offload a watered-down version of the game to nearby Wiis.

Personally, I wouldn't get excited about that at all.

[Spak-Spang]

I think there may be a few secrets left with the Wii...or more accurately a few more details.

The two most believable possibilities are some sort of portability.  Hinted at in early SquareEnix interviews commenting that the system is a combination of a home system and portable device.

And the other possibilities that is even bigger than the portability is an idea of mine that comes with support from IGN.  Virtual Console tools available cheaply for ALL inspiring game developers.  

This would open up the ability for ALL potential developers and small development houses to develop virtual console games, and a business structure can be formed for virtual distribution of the system which Nintendo and the developers get to share profits.  In the end, this will help pay for online games and all servers needed, and at the same time open up the Nintendo Wii to truly be the system for independent games.

[Requiem]

And why not?

It could do wonders for FPS's. And what about something like Fight Night?

[Smash_Brother]

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Originally posted by: Requiem
And why not?

It could do wonders for FPS's. And what about something like Fight Night?

Provided it can do more for multiplayer than the current one cart DS games do, then sure. Otherwise, it'll just be a preview situation where you can get a taste of what the game would be like multiplayer and basically be encouraged to go buy more copies.

[Ceric]

Exactly.  Get a taste and then go buy your own copy.  Thats all a feature like that is truly for.  Especial with a console.

[Smash_Brother]

What with loading textures, models, sounds, etc., I just can't imagine you'd get the FULL multiplayer experience unless you had multiple copies of the game, especially when that 512 MB will be filled with other data already.

[Ceric]

Ok.  Lets just say for the sake of argument you have 16 self contained levels in your game.  A Dual Layer DVD can hold about 8 gigs so thats 8192 bytes so now lets divide that up into my 16 self contained levels.  So we get 512 megs per self contained level.  Code itself is relatively small and easy to compress.  Now sounds and graphics can be huge, the assets.  You could get a pretty good experience with 512 especially if there is an efficient why to do decompression.

Actually I cool idea would be single disc multisystem Co-op play.  You stream the data you need across the network as you play.  some clever design and it play the same.

[Nick DiMola]

I think single disc multiplayer is very unlikely for a fairly complicated game. There is alot of data to send across, very much unlike the DS where all of the games in their entirety are a few megs. I guess we will have to wait and see.

Personally I hope Nintendo announces the WiiPlay package for America. Damn Nintendo for making this 3 week wait even more unbearable!

[JonLeung]

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Originally posted by: Mr. Jack
Damn Nintendo for making this 3 week wait even more unbearable!

It's actually less than three weeks now, and though I curse the fact that there are too many good games to play on the DS that were released recently, that is actually quite a blessing.  Pick up a few games and focus on those and the three weeks will be over with soon enough!

Maybe that is the secret...a Wii Channel called the "DS Channel".  No longer would we need a Super Game Boy/Transfer Pak/Game Boy Player to play our handheld games on the big screen!

(Okay, maybe not.  That would still require a DS for the touch screen, and you'd have to look where you're touching.  Though I'd always hoped for some way to output DS video to a big screen, so I could do a proper presentation of Brain Age at work, for example, or other instances where you want to show people what you're doing.)

Yeah, the secret's probably some channel.  But what kind of channel?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Nobody thinks it could be big exclusive game announcements? (DQIX)
or maybe an earlier than expected release? (Nov. 2nd) (i know its not gonna happen)
isn't there a Nintendo Show for Wii coming up sometime this week or next?

nah you guys are probably right, I'm sure its some new Wii Channel or softrware feature that was never elaborated on. I could almost guarantee that its nothing to get worked up about.

[IceCold]

DivX playback capabilities on the video channel. I can dream..