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

[Ian Sane]

Nintendo "leapfrogged" before. Back when they made the transition from the SNES to the N64 they went from 16bit straight to 64bit and they never released a 32bit system.

I don't think that counts.  If anything the N64 exposed how stupid it was to focus on bits because it and the Playstation were clearly comparable despite the PS1 having half the "bits".  The Xbox was 32 bit and it wasn't a generation behind.
 
The Wii was more like Nintendo releasing a slighty beefed up SNES to compete with the Playstation and then had to jump right to the Gamecube to catch up.
 
Of course while jumping ahead two gens is unheard of, staying a gen behind and relying on a new controller to justify the new system is pretty unheard of as well.  The Wii was uncharted territory so maybe Cafe will be as well.

[Ceric]

This is why Nintendo needs to return to cartridges:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCLOxK6FpfA&feature=feedrec_grec_index

Thats awesome.  Makes me want to find the vids of PS2 VS Xbox VS GCN for being beaten tests.GCN Wins.

[Luigi Dude]

But the thing is this is what Nintendo HAS to do.  If they do this they are doing it right.  They're a generation behind on hardware and a generation behind on online gaming.  They have to do a leapfrog at some point if they are to ever catch up.  So this would be the correct thing to do.  I have serious doubts that they will, but if Nintendo knows what they are doing then they WILL leapfrog a generation.  It isn't really exceptional for them to do it.  Sony and MS would jump to the same level, the only difference is they didn't "skip" a gen like Nintendo did.

You have to remember Ian that it's not that hard for Nintendo to be almost a generation ahead of the 360 and PS3.  As the rumors have said, the system is more then likely using 2008 level technology, which would already give the system a huge boast over the 360/PS3 that are currently a lot of 2004 level technology.  Not to mention the type of 2008 level technology the Cafe is said to have is suppose to be very good and would make the system about 5 time more powerful then the 360.


Oh and everyone has to remember that even if Nintendo is using 2008 level technology, if Microsoft releases a new system in 2013/2014 they won't be leapfrogging the Cafe by that much.  The shareholder of Microsoft have made it very clear that they're pissed off at the fact the gaming division hasn't made up for the billions of dollars they lost.  This means the gaming division of Microsoft isn't going to be able to release a system like the 360 again that's so cutting edge, it losses them billions of dollars at launch and then losses another billion dollars because they slapped it together so quickly, half the systems die and they have to then go back and fix the problem.

Since the gaming division of Microsoft has to be more profitable this time, more then likely any Xbox successor will use several year old technology as well which mean any gap between the Cafe and the next Xbox won't be that great.  Sony on the other hand might go for cutting edge again since the NGP shows Sony has no problem losing billions in order to be more powerful.  Of course it'll probably cost $600 again which well, we know what would happen then.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Looks like Rune Factory Oceans might be getting announced for a N.A. release @ E3
http://scrawlfx.com/2011/05/natsume-to-announce-highly-anticipated-ps3-and-wii-title-at-e3

Natsume will reveal a “a highly-anticipated unannounced title for PS3 and Wii,” the company has said. Revealing their E3 lineup — which consists of Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns, Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove, and Reel Fishing Paradise — the company teased an E3 unveiling for the unannounced game.[/size][/font]
Like our friends at Siliconera, when we think ‘PlayStation 3 / Wii’ and ‘Natsume,’ the only game that comes to mind is Rune Factory Oceans. Given the publisher’s association with the Harvest Moon series — of which Rune Factoryis a spinoff — and their relationship with Marvelous Entertainment, we’d sayOceans is pretty much a given for the reveal.

Rune Factory Oceans was just announced for N.A.:
http://www.siliconera.com/2011/05/16/rune-factory-tides-of-destiny-crossing-ocean-lands-in-north-america-this-year/

[Chozo Ghost]

it and the Playstation were clearly comparable

No, it wasn't. Actually, the Playstation games were more comparable to the late era SNES games such as Killer Instinct, DKC, Super Mario RPG, etc. N64 games at times came close to the level of the Dreamcast (a 128bit system).

The Wii was more like Nintendo releasing a slighty beefed up SNES to compete with the Playstation and then had to jump right to the Gamecube to catch up.

I assume you meant to say N64 and not the Wii. But that's very wrong. If anything, the Playstation was a glorified SNES. The only remarkable improvement the Playstation offered over the SNES was the CD based media. It is no coincidence that the PS1 and its controllers are similar in design to the SNES because the PS1 is actually based on the SNES CD-ROM addon which Sony worked on but Nintendo ultimately pulled the plug on. So the fact of the matter is the PS1 was nothing more than an SNES and a CD-ROM drive fused together.

The PS1 may have been a more powerful system, but the leap from the late era SNES games to PS1 is miniscule and very much comparable to the leap from the GC to the Wii. Many late era SNES games actually looked better than the majority of PS1 games. So yeah, the CD drive was the only remarkable improvement there.

[Louieturkey]

The PS1 may have been a more powerful system, but the leap from the late era SNES games to PS1 is miniscule and very much comparable to the leap from the GC to the Wii. Many late era SNES games actually looked better than the majority of PS1 games. So yeah, the CD drive was the only remarkable improvement there.

Please site examples of late SNES games that looked better than PS1 games.  I can't recall any to that effect.
FYI, in regards to n64 vs Dreamcast, Sonic Adventure could run rings around anything on the N64.  I have never seen a game run on the N64 that looked better than the first Sonic game made on the DC.

[Ian Sane]

No, it wasn't. Actually, the Playstation games were more comparable to the late era SNES games such as Killer Instinct, DKC, Super Mario RPG, etc. N64 games at times came close to the level of the Dreamcast (a 128bit system).

Both systems offered 3D games with blocky graphics that look like complete piss today.  If the N64 was so many light years ahead of the PS1 then Nintendo sure did a shitty job of demonstrating it.  In comparison there is a clear difference between Xbox and Xbox 360 games while Wii games look like Gamecube games.  No Wii game impresses graphically in comparison to PS3 or X360 games but it was normal for both Playstation and N64 games to look impressive compared to each other.
 

I assume you meant to say N64 and not the Wii.

No I mean the Wii, as in the Wii is the equivalent of a hypothetical N64 that was pretty much a SNES with the Super FX chip built in.  The Wii is a slighty enhanced Gamecube instead of a full on upgrade.  It's like the GBC.  So the Wii successor has to leapfrog the other consoles to "catch up".  No one has ever done that before because there was never a reason to have to do that.
 
I used to think some N64 games like Conker compared to the Dreamcast.  That's because I was an idiot.  Go back and play your N64.  Every game looks TERRIBLE.  Just ugly, muddy, blurry, blocky models.  Dreamcast games however match up okay with PS2 games.  Last gen was the first time polygons actually looked GOOD and the Dreamcast was the first one out of the gate.

[Chozo Ghost]

The PS1 may have been a more powerful Please site examples of late SNES games that looked better than PS1 games.

I did. As a matter of fact I did it in the same post you quoted.

Actually, the Playstation games were more comparable to the late era SNES games such as Killer Instinct, DKC, Super Mario RPG, etc.

[Stogi]

I think we can safely assume Nintendo won't go for all out power. They may be concerned with being "leapfrogged" but I am positive that they have bigger concerns, like for instance, how do they entice current Wii owners to buy their next system? Power isn't the answer, in fact, I'm sure its main function is to keep the competition at bay, if anything.

[Chozo Ghost]

So the Wii successor has to leapfrog the other consoles to "catch up".  No one has ever done that before because there was never a reason to have to do that.

It may not be something anyone has ever done before, but there's no technical reasons why it should be a problem. Nintendo uses components designed and manufactured by companies like IBM and ATI and its those companies' job to stay up to date and cutting edge with that sort of stuff. Nintendo just takes those components and builds the console using them. If Nintendo had to make those components themselves then they would be in some serious ****, because then they would have to do some catching up, but their work is essentially no harder than ordering the parts and piecing them together.

The components Nintendo is working with may be more advanced, but the process of fitting them together has changed little over the last few generations.

[ThePerm]

voxel processor! now!

[MaryJane]

I think we can safely assume Nintendo won't go for all out power. They may be concerned with being "leapfrogged" but I am positive that they have bigger concerns, like for instance, how do they entice current Wii owners to buy their next system? Power isn't the answer, in fact, I'm sure its main function is to keep the competition at bay, if anything.

Agreed, but they are also trying to attract western developers, and try to stay relevant in the multi-platform arena which is something they haven't done since the SNES.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I think we can safely assume Nintendo won't go for all out power. They may be concerned with being "leapfrogged" but I am positive that they have bigger concerns, like for instance, how do they entice current Wii owners to buy their next system? Power isn't the answer, in fact, I'm sure its main function is to keep the competition at bay, if anything.

Agreed, but they are also trying to attract western developers, and try to stay relevant in the multi-platform arena which is something they haven't done since the SNES.

If they are truly going with a customized 4850, then power is not really the issue as long as they don't gimp the chip and instead do like they did with the 3DS, add more recent features.
3DS chip was OGL 1.1 compliant, but Nintendo gave it some hardcoded OGL 2.0 features. The 4850 is a DX10 chip, but if they tweak it to add some hardcoded DX11 features while actually upping the speed of the chip and giving it(the GPU) a full GB of RAM, then there is likely no chip that Sony or MS can release with, even in 2014, that will significantly outdo the Café to the point where we are not looking at a PS2 -> GC/Xbox situation power-wise.

Given what has been told to us and assuming it's all true, then the only reason Western Devs would not at the very least port to Café (or use it as lead console) would be because they have something against Nintendo or are being paid off by MS or Sony.

[stevey]

Nintendo "leapfrogged" before. Back when they made the transition from the SNES to the N64 they went from 16bit straight to 64bit and they never released a 32bit system. Unless you count the virtual boy, because I believe that was 32bit.

Except that both the GC and the Wii are 32 bit (Their processors anyway). That's also why N64 VC sucks since they have to rewrite parts of the code to make the games work.

it and the Playstation were clearly comparable

No, it wasn't. Actually, the Playstation games were more comparable to the late era SNES games such as Killer Instinct, DKC, Super Mario RPG, etc. N64 games at times came close to the level of the Dreamcast (a 128bit system).

128 bits of what? The deamcast has a 32bit processor, 64 Bit Ram, and a 128bit graphics card. You can't compare the numbers of different parts...

[BranDonk Kong]

He's talking about the GPU, which is how consoles have basically always been ranked when talking about "bits."

[BlackNMild2k1]

Someone is either really dedicated at passing off a fake or....

Fake or not, this one keeps popping up

I'm also sure that this next pic is a fake, but this rumor thread don't discriminate.

http://i.imgur.com/zuH7x.jpg

That screen doesn't look 6", but I like the ideas behind the screen in the controller.

Another pic
http://i.imgur.com/ZzLcf.jpg

Innovation Reinvented

Project Cafe is simply the most development friendly SDK the industry has ever seen. Deliver unparalleled next generation performance at current generation cost. It doesn't get any easier than this.

-easy portability from PC, Xbox 360
-anytime live update past release
-Integrated Ai-Live framework

http://i.imgur.com/6BVpS.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/yNj6o.jpg

Looks a little small in those pics according to the IGN rumor (about the size of the Original Xbox).
Actually it looks a little small regardless of what size IGN said. That thing looks to be a little smaller than a Wii.


These are obviously fake and the reflection looks very photoshopped in the first pic, but the light is on in both pics and the console is not even plugged in.

http://wii2blog.com/another-leaked-image-of-project-cafe/
http://i.imgur.com/pfwYM.jpg

They are really dedicated to passing off a fake

Look at the size of the cables in comparison to the disc drive slot.
Either this thing takes mini disc, or those are some super duper shielded cables.

Seriously, If this thing is fake (and I believe it is) then someone is really dedicated to passing it off as real

Developer "Project Café" demonstration.....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgjES1oOTlc

Or maybe it's real and we all just want to believe it's fake....


pretty sure it's fake though.

[nickmitch]

What's weird about al the leaks is that the console looks the same, but the controller has been varying in shape with only a few consistent features (aside from the obvious).

[BlackNMild2k1]

Also that screen has to only be about 3-3.5" because otherwise those analog sticks are freaking HUGE!!!

[nickmitch]

A six inch screen was an asinine idea anyway.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Not if Nintendo was truly trying to block the tablet market from taking over their target demographic of casual and core gamers.

[nickmitch]

I'm still not convinced that there's a significant overlap in those markets.

Anyhow, the video actually says the screen is 6in if you stop it at the right time.

Between 29 and 34 seconds it comes in to focus.

[MegaByte]

Even if Nintendo was doing presentations like this, I doubt the hardware is finalized enough to fit inside a retail casing.

[bustin98]

Please. Anyone can go rent a room in a coffee shop or hotel with a projector and throw a home made power point presentation on it. Its a project that someone put a lot of time into, that's for certain.

[Chozo Ghost]

A lot of effort went into hoaxing bigfoot and crop circle formations, so I wouldn't rule something out as a hoax just because a lot of effort went into it.

[Lithium]

At any rate it wont be too long until we get to find out for certain.