Topic: Wii U - e3 is over... now what?

[MorbidGod]

I'm more worried about the wireless technology's ability to support streaming graphics to multiple tablets than the gpu's.

Thats been my belief all along. That it was the way Nintendo is streaming the feed and not the actual hardware guts. Maybe they are saving money by keeping one feed only? Who knows...

[Kairon]

The idea is that if you want to play a movie, don't stop playing the Wii U. Just switch the screen to the controller.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Iwata: Multi-Room Gaming Is An Option
We will be able to take our uScreens into a different room and keep playing after all
http://techland.time.com/2011/06/09/e3-2011-interview-nintendo-president-satoru-iwata-talks-about-wii-u/

Q: So you're saying there needs to be an option to separate away from the living room, that it allows people to continue their game experience or have it on their own schedule on their own terms?

Iwata: Well, for example, we are not saying we can get away from the living room at all. What I'm saying is that we shall be less dependent on the home TV set; more specifically, the images and all the others are processed within the inside of the console of the Wii U, not in the controller. So, for example, you cannot just take away the controller and continue playing.

Q: It'll have a range that it works within, then?

Iwata: Yes. A certain range. Also, it is possible for you to be in a separate room from the living room where the console of the Wii U will be located. However, dependent upon the thickness, for example, of the wall, we cannot tell if you will be able to smoothly play on that.

I hope there is an expansion for a range booster so you can extend your invisible streaming bubble.

Iwata also doesn't commit to the one uScreen per console, but doesn't shoot it down either.

Q: Will the controller be available a la carte if you want to add a separate one into your home experience?

Iwata: First of all, for the SKU, we believe that one controller, the new controller, has got to be included in the package whenever we are going to sell the Wii U console. And as you can guess, this new controller for Wii U is going to cost more than the other controller does, and that's why, most often, our focus on the software shall be the ones that can be enjoyed with the one Wii U controller.

Now keep in mind that a Wiimote + cost Nintendo around $6 to manufacture, so if you add the cost of a screen ($25-$30) and AMD WirelessTV reciever (?$15-$20?) we are still looking at a $60-$80 controller here once all the packaging and profit margins have been sorted out.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Could Wuu be pulling 145watts!?
For reference, I believe the Wii uses 24watts and the 360Slim uses ~100watts


notice how the front of the sticker is torn off leaving only 45 showing under what appears to be a wattage sticker.

- There are 4 USB ports, 2 in the back and 2 in the front under disc bay, so 4*5W = 20W
- There's a Blu-Ray-esque disc drive, so another 5W at least (only recently has samsung started to ship "low-power" Blu-Ray drives that are USB 2.0 powered)
- Full sized SDHC cards can peak at ~1.5W
- 5GHz Wifi 802.11n could go up to 18W for full-speed MIMO 3x3, but let's assume the typical 8-10W (unless Nintendo is using something else for the controller, in which case could be controller comm + 802.11g, possibly consuming higher than that)
- 5 device Bluetooth could be up to 0.5W
- Assuming slow and low-power internal flash memory, let's say another 1.5W for internal storage

Sum all that and we have 20+5+1.5+8+0.5+1.5 = 36.5W

[BNM's edit: that doesn't even factor in the following yet]

- CPU
- eDRAM (already confirmed)
- GPU
- RAM
- Sound DAC

And I'm even assuming the GPU or the GPU have north\south bridge functionality included, or you'll need an external bridge chip for that.

If it is indeed pushing 145 watts (as of right now), then it must pack some power as Nintendo is all about keeping the wattage low as the Wii is only plling about 20-24w during heavy usage.

The original PS3 was pulling about 209w @ release and is currently down to about 80w with the slim model.

A launch 360 was pulling about ~160w and is down to under 100w with the 360Slim.

[MegaByte]

I don't know why you'd think that's a wattage sticker.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It's 100% conversative speculation on my part based on conversation at B3D and minimal research into PSWii60 wattage.

But what is it then?
and why is part of it torn off?

[King of Twitch]

THERE. ARE. FOUR. USB SLOTS!

[UltimatePartyBear]

http://kotaku.com/5812090/the-wii-u-will-not-play-dvds-and-blu+ray-discs
 
The Wii U won't play Blu Play or DVD dics.

Dear Iwata,

eShop + Apps = opportunity for consumer to pay licensing fee for DVD and/or Bluray playback should they want an extra DVD and/or Bluray player.
If you don't allow if officially, you are only giving further reason for the system to be hacked to allow it unofficially. Please make it happen as capable Bluray players are expensive and it just makes sense.

Sincerely,
The Entire Internet, Gaming Community & General Populace of the planet Earth.

Being able to watch a movie playing on the Wii U streamed to the controller in another room would be reason enough to pay for it.  In fact, I'd really, really love to see an HDMI input on the thing so that I could watch anything at all, including live TV, on that controller in another room.  By freeing us to make sandwiches without missing anything, Nintendo could defeat living room hunger forever.

It's 100% conversative speculation on my part based on conversation at B3D and minimal research into PSWii60 wattage.

But what is it then?
and why is part of it torn off?

Purely a wild guess, but maybe a covered up RJ45 jack?

[ThePerm]

Blu-Ray is a Dinosaur, but more like a Stegosaurus than a T-Rex, maybe not even a Stegosaurus, maybe an Apatosaurus. Online downloads and streaming and SD cards and external hardrives are ike Raptors

[BlackNMild2k1]

It's 100% conversative speculation on my part based on conversation at B3D and minimal research into PSWii60 wattage.

But what is it then?
and why is part of it torn off?

Purely a wild guess, but maybe a covered up RJ45 jack?

You could be right
http://www.exw.com.tw/

So WiiU could have wired internet this time around. That is also good news for those of us that were looking for that option.

[nickmitch]

That would be GREAT news.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It's 100% conversative speculation on my part based on conversation at B3D and minimal research into PSWii60 wattage.

But what is it then?
and why is part of it torn off?

Purely a wild guess, but maybe a covered up RJ45 jack?

You could be right
http://www.exw.com.tw/

So WiiU could have wired internet this time around. That is also good news for those of us that were looking for that option.

then again... maybe not


Ex-WL 2
I have no idea what that sticker is supposed to mean.... perhaps a way of keeping track of specific units on display?

[EasyCure]

There are four USB slots, where are the other two?

Perhaps under the front flap? In pictures it looks to be larger and wider (the slot) than that of the Wii

[UltimatePartyBear]

Ex-WL 2
I have no idea what that sticker is supposed to mean.... perhaps a way of keeping track of specific units on display?

Maybe, but there's a bar code that's also different between the two pictures, and that would be a better way to keep track of them.

[SnakePlissken]

There are four USB slots, where are the other two?

Perhaps under the front flap? In pictures it looks to be larger and wider (the slot) than that of the Wii

They are definitely under the front flap. In fact, there are a few pictures of it floating around somewhere. There are 2 USB ports and a SD card slot under the flap.

[EasyCure]

There are four USB slots, where are the other two?

Perhaps under the front flap? In pictures it looks to be larger and wider (the slot) than that of the Wii

They are definitely under the front flap. In fact, there are a few pictures of it floating around somewhere. There are 2 USB ports and a SD card slot under the flap.

Where's my cookie

[MegaByte]

Ex-WL 2
I have no idea what that sticker is supposed to mean.... perhaps a way of keeping track of specific units on display?

Probably. I see those types of labels on dev units all the time.

[BlackNMild2k1]

There are four USB slots, where are the other two?

Perhaps under the front flap? In pictures it looks to be larger and wider (the slot) than that of the Wii

They are definitely under the front flap. In fact, there are a few pictures of it floating around somewhere. There are 2 USB ports and a SD card slot under the flap.

Where's my cookie

It's been tracking you for weeks now. :evil grin:

[stevey]

http://kotaku.com/5812090/the-wii-u-will-not-play-dvds-and-blu+ray-discs
 
The Wii U won't play Blu Play or DVD dics.

If you don't allow if officially, you are only giving further reason for the system to be hacked to allow it unofficially.

The probability not happening. The only reason it happened it the wii was they were considering it and were too lazy to remove support from the hardware. They also were too lazy to remove the DISABLE_ALL_WII_SECURITY() system call too....

[Kytim89]

The sensor bar port on the back of the WiiU must be there for Wii games to use and might be there for the Wiimote 2.0 sensor bar as well. Who knows?

[Chozo Ghost]

4 USB ports in the front would have been nice because then they could be like controller ports where you could hook up 4 usb controllers of your choice, but I suppose that's what USB hubs are for.

[Oblivion]

But weren't you bitching about having a external HDD being a "sight for sore eyes" in a house setting? This way, you can jack one in the back, thus keeping it away from your view.

[Chozo Ghost]

But weren't you bitching about having a external HDD being a "sight for sore eyes" in a house setting? This way, you can jack one in the back, thus keeping it away from your view.

I didn't mean to take away the two in the back. Just have there be 4 in the front (6 total).

[BlackNMild2k1]

Report: Developers Working With ‘Underclocked’ Wii U Hardware
http://kotaku.com/5812391/report-developers-working-with-underclocked-wii-u-hardware

There's a good reason that Nintendo showed off video game footage culled from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of third-party games, not the Wii U, at last week's E3 unveiling of the console.

According to a Wii U white paper published by Hit Detection, the consulting company founded by former Newsweek journalist N'Gai Croal, the kits in developers' hands are just not up to current-gen snuff, but they are working.

Developers have underclocked development kits, and worked hard to deliver titles running on that hardware to demonstrate live at E3. However, due to titles not looking much better than what is currently available on Xbox 360 and the PS3, Nintendo decided late in the game to not show those titles and focus instead on tech demos. In particular, THQ stated that Darksiders II was running on development hardware and could have been shown.

It's potentially promising for Nintendo fans that some third party games may look close or on par with current console competition at this stage of development.

So Devs are reporting leaked info from underclocked/underpowered Dev kits which would mean they are working on lesser version of hardware than what we will see in the final kits. But atleast WiiU games in early kits look like PS360 games, I guess it can only get better from there.

[Chozo Ghost]

I guess it can only get better from there.

But not by much due to the law of diminishing returns. The graphical wall has been hit and improvements from here on out will be trivial up until whatever point in the future where holodeck technology becomes a reality.