Could Nintendo's next home console entice the early adopters/graphic whores?

[WCP]

Hmm. Interesting. Rumors are swirling pretty heavily now. Nintendo's presser is on June 6th I believe. The thing is, everybody is talking about a Fall 2012 announcement, and I just wonder if Nintendo will want to do that, from a standpoint of affecting their current Wii sales this year. Why buy a regular Wii (even at $150), if a Super Wii is just around the corner?

Sure, I know that most console companies will talk about their next console more than a year away from it, but they normally don't give very concrete info about it. It's more like just discussing some of the possibilities for the new console. I'm still holding out a tiny bit of hope for a launch this November. I know it's super doubtful, but ya never know...

[Greg2600]

Nintendo, 5 years late to the party.

[Cobra Commander]

Kotaku says it'll be more powerful than the PS3 and 360. Really?

[heybtbm]

Kotaku says it'll be more powerful than the PS3 and 360. Really?

Think "Dreamcast".

Prettier than the PS and N64 at launch, but woefully inadequate when compared to the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox. Kind of an in-between generation...a bridge between the two. Unlike the Dreamcast, the Wii 2 probably isn't going to die an early death. It'll rake in the billions like everything else Nintendo does.

I can't wait to see this thing. HD Mario, Zelda, etc...very cool. Just keep the nauseating, unwanted, and ultimately unused 3D bullshit to a minimum, please.

[WanganRunner]

IGN doesn't tend to post up stuff like this unless they're reasonably sure it's true.

At least not something this specific.



This "screen on the controller" idea seems goofy and expensive, but who knows.

[WCP]

This "screen on the controller" idea seems goofy and expensive, but who knows.

Yeah, I was reading somewhere that the screen could be 6 inches, which just seems crazy. It would be like if the Samsung Galaxy Tab was the controller. Just way too damn big, imo. The Samsung Galaxy is a 7 inch screen right? If this is 6 inches, plus has some buttons and a d-pad, then it has to be at least as big as a Samsung Galaxy. Seems kinda crazy to me, but I can totally understand why Nintendo would want to come out with something unique like that. Basically, the way they are looking at it, is that they still want everybody that bought a Wii to buy one of these, and they know that it needs to have a special gimmick to become a runaway hit like the Wii did.

Nintendo is a victim of their own success. After climbing the top of the mountain, investors want to see nothing less than that top of the mountain again. The pressure is on Nintendo to knock it out of the park again, and I must say it's going to be a difficult task for them. They need another miracle gimmick that works. I think what they thinking, is that people love their ipads, and this is going to be like a mini-ipad that they will use to control games. It will allow them to do touch sensitive games, while using their big TV screen. It's also going to have buttons, a D-pad and Wii-mote sensing with no need for a sensor bar, or something like that. I think it's also going to have a camera on the controller, allowing for augmented reality to be used.

My problem is.... where are the dual thumbsticks ? Where is the rumble ? (have a hard time believing it will have rumble if it's going to have a screen built into it) Why is Nintendo allergic to the idea of dual-thumbsticks?

[Tupin]

I heard that it was going to have dual thumbsticks. Hopefully they aren't right next to each other.

[Rickstilwell1]

That controller is starting to sound like a PSP2 swallowed a Wiimote...

[Swamperon]

I really doubt a 6 inch screen in the controller, especially a HD one as some places are touting.

I don't even really see the point... it didn't work out great for the Dreamcast (Though I did love the feature) and will force the price of controllers up, and Nintendo is all about gaming together in the living room these days.

Of course it could always come with two controllers by default. An advanced version of the GC controller and then also a motion controller as well.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Sounds like an update to the VMU - All grown up...



It's a mock-up, of course.

[heybtbm]

This screen on the controller business reminds me of the GBA/Gamecube link cable. Never really understood the point...not to mention how uncomfortable it was to hold.

I'd like to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt...but then again look at the 3DS and it's "you must hold it just perfect" 3D effects. I can totally see them releasing the main controller as a hand-cramp-inducing rectangle with virtual touch screen buttons. Even Sony was completely invested in and set to release the "Bat-a-rang" controller up until the last minute when they chickened out. Huge, successful companies do stupid things all the time. Especially when they see themselves as the elite innovators of their particular business.

[Greg2600]

Sounds like an update to the VMU - All grown up...



It's a mock-up, of course.

Can't wait to see the price tag on that.

[NayusDante]

So for the recent batch of rumors regarding the hardware...

I like the controller. As long as it has as many buttons as an SNES pad and at least one analog stick, I'll be happy. Right analog can be replaced by touch screen, and FPS would aim with gyro sensors or something else. NGP-like rear touch pad would work too. I'm also anticipating the ability to use a DS or 3DS as a controller, because that's what this thing sounds like. You can make the controller more expensive like this if the consumer already has something they can use while they save up for one.

The supposed hardware specs, though, aren't substantial. Three-core IBM PPC chip and an AMD R700. That's right, it's the equivalent of an overclocked 360. The PS3 showed us that more cores isn't always better, so I understand sticking with three cores, but I was expecting at least four. This thing is going to have to run at over 3ghz to be a "Dreamcast" step forward. As for the GPU, it's equivalent to a Radeon 4800 or so. I just replaced my trusty 4850, which has been my favorite card since the GeForce 4, but it's definitely an aging card. To put it in perspective, the 360 is something like a Radeon 3800, or maybe even one series older, I can't remember. PS3 RSX is based on the nVidia 7800, and that's about the same.

How much RAM were they saying? 512? Phones have more than that. RAM is cheap, give us 16gb and cache a whole Blu-Ray ISO.

For what Nintendo does, however, this would be a nice console. Their games are really stylized and heck, they could get by with gourad shading if they tried. There's an old saying about how "Japanese devs don't know how to use pixel shaders," and that describes Nintendo's strategy pretty well. Their strength is the content, not the effects. If they went forward with the rumor specs, they'd have at the very least, another GameCube or N64 in terms of success. No danger of Sega-level failure whatsoever.

[Zap!]

I'm so excited for this I created a Facebook Page for it.

[WCP]

The supposed hardware specs, though, aren't substantial. Three-core IBM PPC chip and an AMD R700. That's right, it's the equivalent of an overclocked 360. The PS3 showed us that more cores isn't always better, so I understand sticking with three cores, but I was expecting at least four. This thing is going to have to run at over 3ghz to be a "Dreamcast" step forward. As for the GPU, it's equivalent to a Radeon 4800 or so. I just replaced my trusty 4850, which has been my favorite card since the GeForce 4, but it's definitely an aging card. To put it in perspective, the 360 is something like a Radeon 3800, or maybe even one series older, I can't remember. PS3 RSX is based on the nVidia 7800, and that's about the same.

How much RAM were they saying? 512? Phones have more than that. RAM is cheap, give us 16gb and cache a whole Blu-Ray ISO.
.

Yeah, the GPU is disappointing. Nintendo must really be saving a ton of money with going with such an old GPU. I wasn't expecting a state of the art GPU, but I was hoping for something that is at least the equivalent of a 5770 or so.

As for the ram, the 360 and PS3 both have 512, and I thought that 4 gigs was an ABSOLUTE given. But who knows.... I think the CPU will be decent enough.

[kupomogli]

I don't think people are going to throw money down on something that's slightly more powerful and they're really not going to notice much of a difference. Unless the new Nintendo has some exclusives to pull people towards it, it's not going to do as well as the Wii. People are going to think twice when throwing money down on the system as just like the Wii they might never even use it, especially those casual gamers who don't even play video games and bought the Wii to mess around with for a week or two.

I'll buy one if it has Wii and GC backwards compatibility. If not then it's going to have to have some amazing set of exclusives to make me think about it. I don't own a Wii because the amount of good exclusives don't even match that of the Gamecube which already has a pathetic exclusive line up.

I would like to see Nintendo make a Wave Race HD. Many have tried, but no games that are similar even get close to being as good as either the N64 or Gamecube Wave Race titles. Or atleast those that I've played.

[Zap!]

I don't think people are going to throw money down on something that's slightly more powerful and they're really not going to notice much of a difference. Unless the new Nintendo has some exclusives to pull people towards it, it's not going to do as well as the Wii. People are going to think twice when throwing money down on the system as just like the Wii they might never even use it, especially those casual gamers who don't even play video games and bought the Wii to mess around with for a week or two.

I'll buy one if it has Wii and GC backwards compatibility. If not then it's going to have to have some amazing set of exclusives to make me think about it. I don't own a Wii because the amount of good exclusives don't even match that of the Gamecube which already has a pathetic exclusive line up.

I would like to see Nintendo make a Wave Race HD. Many have tried, but no games that are similar even get close to being as good as either the N64 or Gamecube Wave Race titles. Or atleast those that I've played.

Well, Nintendo fans will. Lets say it's only slightly more powerful than the PS3/360. That's mega times more powerful than the Nintendo Wii, and something many of us fans have been wishing for for years. Personally though, I think it will be vastly more powerful than the PS3/360, but we shall see.

[WanganRunner]

I don't expect it to be a full generational leap, but even if it's just a somewhat faster 360 but with tons more RAM, that's still appealing.

[fishsandwich]

Think "Dreamcast".

Prettier than the PS and N64 at launch, but woefully inadequate when compared to the PS2/Gamecube/Xbox. Kind of an in-between generation...a bridge between the two.

Is the gap between the DC and the PS2/GC/XB really that vast? I always thought that the four consoles were generally on equal terms.



?

[Icarus Moonsight]

I think the comparison would have applied better if you take the DC/PS2 roles and swap them for Nintendo this cycle. As they've whooped ass against the 360 and PS3 with what can be derogatorily put as a Gamecube with wiggle sticks on 'roids. Either the Wii is that neat, or the other boxes are that awful... Insert your own story at will. If they can go 4 1/2 years underweight and stay in the good side of things, consider when they beef up and what that'll mean for the whole dynamic.

Pretty much, they have to screw up all over massively to take it in the can. N64/Virtual Boy screw up. So, you see, it is possible.