Nintendo Wii (codename Revolution) revealed

[Tidus Andronicus]

I'm pretty sure that they've said, yes the nunchaku would be included with the system in box...

But in the most recent interview with Perrin Kaplan, she said that Nintendo is still unsure what exactly they will give us right out of the box.

http://media.revolution.ign.com/arti...93/vids_1.html

[Ashley Schovitz]

Will this system finally be capable of playing DVDs?

[Tidus Andronicus]

Will this system finally be capable of playing DVDs?

Yes, but not exactly out of the box... its likely you'll have to buy a cheap usb dongle to plug into the back of the Wii... or just download a program off Nintendo's network service... or something.

Meh, with DVD players now like $30... its just not as important of a feature anymore.

[Fantasy Fan]

the new SSB is going to be so cool!

[Tidus Andronicus]

Playing = Believing
Very good post on the Nintendo forums. ^_~

[ljkkjlcm9]

Playing = Believing
Very good post on the Nintendo forums. ^_~

I thought that was good, but was kinda upset about this part

Peter Molyneux: Loves it.
Famous for: Black & White, Fable, Theme Park, The Movies
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/news.php?aid=11002

"There is a line at the end of the book 'Game Over' and it is: 'Never underestimate Nintendo'"

because the quote is, "It would be a fatal mistake to underestimate Nintendo."

Yes I have the book, and it's quite good and informative actually.

THE JACKEL

[Tidus Andronicus]

Playing = Believing
Very good post on the Nintendo forums. ^_~

I thought that was good, but was kinda upset about this part

Peter Molyneux: Loves it.
Famous for: Black & White, Fable, Theme Park, The Movies
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/news.php?aid=11002

"There is a line at the end of the book 'Game Over' and it is: 'Never underestimate Nintendo'"

because the quote is, "It would be a fatal mistake to underestimate Nintendo."

Yes I have the book, and it's quite good and informative actually.

THE JACKAL

hehe :rolleyes2
A friend of mine was really doubting how the motion detection would catch on... so I showed him that post, which basically shows how many devs Nintendo is attracting, and how much everyone that tries it, loves it. and he's much more, at ease now... lol
But of course, this probably wouldn't convince anyone against it all together... >_> still its nice to know people like it so much.

[ljkkjlcm9]

http://www.planetgamecube.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=11628

Nintendo says Wii's price "will not exceed $250". The company plans to ship six million systems between fall and March 2007, along with seventeen million games.

Nintendo News: Nintendo Announces Wii Information, Worldwide Shipments

REDMOND, Wash., May 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Following its overwhelming debut at E3 2006, Nintendo today announced the current fiscal year unit shipment forecast for its new home game system, Wii(TM). Nintendo also confirmed that the price of the Wii system, which incorporates unique freehand control, will not exceed $250 in America, or 25,000 yen in Japan. The company plans to ship 6 million systems to retailers around the world between its launch in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2007.

The projections are part of a full-year financial forecast that sees growth of 18 percent in sales globally, based on anticipated continuing strong demand for the Nintendo DS(TM) portable game system, as well as a successful launch for Wii.

The company also said it expects to sell 17 million Wii games in the period. Exact launch dates, identification of the launch library of titles and details on the unique Virtual Console aspect of Wii will be announced soon.

Daniel says: My guess is that Japan will get the system for 25,000 yen and the US will get it for $199.

David says: I believe that they are considering a package with two controllers and a pack-in game like Wii Sports. That would cost $249.99. The intention would be to make things simpler for non-gamers who would be wary of adding additional games and controllers. The alternative is to stick with a traditional bare-bones system with just one controller and no game for $199.99. I'm fairly certain they don't want two retail packages though, so they will have to choose one or the other.

Well, sounds great to me, especially if what David says is true for the 250 package...

THE JACKEL

[Agent Proto]

$249 for a Wii, two controllers, and Wii Sports? Sounds like a very good deal to me.

[Crossblades]

$249 for a Wii, two controllers, and Wii Sports? Sounds like a very good deal to me.

Correction. It's an awesome deal

[KentaRawr!]

Well well well... It's already sounding like a good price. I wonder if they are just waiting for the right time to announce it? Maybe they are saying it won't exceed $250 so that when they do announce the price, it will be cheaper, and we'll be all "OMGWOW!!!"

Of course, $250 is a good price to me. :rolleyes2 But I hope I get to actually use the controller before I buy it, just in case it actually stinks. :O

[Rase]

But I hope I get to actually use the controller before I buy it, just in case it actually stinks. :O

I was just thinking, it'll be interesting to watch people play the Wii at those demo stands in Target or wherever. But yeah, hopefully there will be ample opportunities to try out the controller, and if not, well, that's where friends who will buy it "no questions asked" come into play.

[NeoCracker]

The Wii seems to have the best launch titles of any system.

[KentaRawr!]

I wonder though... will the Wii offer a really exclusive experience? If developers just use the controller in ways that can be done already with normal controllers (Such as Excite Truck, using the remote as a Steering Wheel), the Wii might not have as much magic as we'd hoped. Of course, the controller itself really does offer a new experience. True, you could use an analog stick for excite truck, but a steering wheel really does offer a different experience. Or at least, I'd imagine it would.

I hope Target has demos. >_>

[Tidus Andronicus]

Found some interesting... leaks/rumors. Now remember they are just rumors at the moment.

Source:
http://www.2amupdate.com/readarticle.php?article_id=3

Wii Rumors Abound
These were originally on Nintendo's forums but were quickly deleted.

-First off let me say that the full scope of the Wii controller details has yet to be revealed by PixArt and Nintendo. Although I cannot elaborate any further let me say that the Nintendo should show that the movement in 3D space will allow experiences outside of just the TV screen. And its not 3D projection related.

-The official launch date has yet to be set in stone but will indeed launch before Sony’s PS3.

-Ironically enough, the first game that will be shown to the public that demonstrates the full scope of Wii controller potential will be Dragonball Z Budokai 4.

-When Nintendo first showed the controller at Tokyo Game Show late 2005 they were very hesitant to show it full usage. I will allow one more clue to my finding that the Wii controller can function exactly as we all have seen demonstrated WITHOUT the sensor bar. So ask yourselves, why need a sensor bar?

-The sensor bar was in all actuality in no use at E3 2006. What is will allow hasn’t been shown yet.

-According to people who are working close to everyday events at Nintendo R&D, Nintendo Wii specifications were far and away developed solely for that machine.

-IBM and ATI have been working on Broadway and Hollywood for quite some time now. And according to many people Wii’s specs could go up or down at this point in the CPU/VPU departments. Apparently Nintendo has spent quite a lot of money having IBM and ATI fabricate many iterations of Broadway and Hollywood. Which range from a 3.4GHz-730MHz Broadway CPUs, and 1.2GHz-553MHz custom ATI/Nintendo Hollywood VPU. From what we hear Hollywood is key to the Wii’s power. The architecture is all about eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing performance, upgrade of the CPU with the slight downgrade of the graphics processor compliments this philosophy, striking a great balance for Wii. However, it was also indicated that since Hollywood is a truly extreme “Flipper II” and Broadway is a massively upgraded “Gekko II” at least in architecture. That early on Nintendo R&D took a good look at what GameCube did good and what it could have done better. It was mentioned that GameCube’s Flipper was an extremely powerful chip far more capable than even the Xbox’s. The Gekko design meant for balance, though was not able to support but about 50% of the ArtX’s Flipper’s power. This particular bottleneck has been ironed out allowing Broadway to fully complement Hollywood to its maximum potential and vise-versa. The initial estimates we got concerning final hardware spec was Broadway at around 1.5GHz and Hollywood at 555MHz.

-There is also word that Nintendo in private sessions has big plans for the Wii headset. Talk is, that Nintendo wants to lean away from having the headset only for online capability. They are wanting to go further. Having the headset of course include a microphone for use in games is a given. But there was also talk of a late to launch release of this “gyroscopic headset” that would be supported by the sensor bar as well. To sum up the theory we were privy to. The headset would be somewhat sensitive to movement that could be translated into the game. Such as if you get up and move to the right of your television something might correspond for that in the game. Such as dodging things, looking around corners etc. It was also mentioned that it might have a unique look and non-obstructive lightweight design.

-Our latest discovery concerning Wii software is that developer Nibris (Raid Over the River, Sadness) has received Wii development kits and has partnered with publisher Majesco.