Nintendo Wii

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Image:Nintendo Wii_thumblogo.png Nintendo Wii

Nintendo Wii
Manufacturer: Nintendo
Alternate Names: "Revolution" (development name)
Announced: 18 May 2005
Release date: JP: 2nd December 2006
NA: 19 November 2006
EU: 8th December 2006
AU: 7th December 2006
Initial Price: JP: Y25,000
NA: $250
EU: £179/Euro249
AU: $399
Discontinued: n/a


Contents

Description

Wii is the official name for Nintendo's fifth home console, the successor to the Nintendo GameCube. The system was unveiled at Nintendo's 2005 E3 press conference and will be released to consumers in 2006.

The Wii is backward compatible with Nintendo GameCube games through a dual-format front-loading disc drive. Additionally, Wii will have the ability to play Nintendo 64, SNES/Super Famicom, and Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom games. These Nintendo catalogue games will be run using emulation or straight porting to the Wii hardware. The Nintendo back catalogue will be available through their online download service. Downloaded retro games will receive a graphical update for the new service (Source).

An online gaming service will be provide for Wii and DS. At E3, Nintendo stated that the online gaming service for Nintendo DS and Wii would be free, with no subscription payments.

Nintendo has also announced that the system will contain Wi-Fi functionality for communication with input devices (controllers) and other peripherals or consoles (such as Nintendo DS).

Wii Nunchuk Controller
Wii Nunchuk Controller
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii
Nintendo Wii

Wii Launch Titles


Previous (E3 2006) Scheduled launch list

The following titles were confirmed by Nintendo (in May 2006) as being available for the 2006 Worldwide launch of Wii:

Wii Accessories

The following accessories and peripherals have been confirmed by Nintendo (in May 2006) as being available for the 2006 Worldwide launch of Wii:

Wii Online Features

The Wii will support online gaming through a managed service similar to Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection (WFC).

Nintendo has commented that the Wii is designed to be permanently powered, using a sleep mode in which the unit will become silent and use a small amount of electricity. In this mode, reportedly called WiiConnect24, Wii will maintain its connection to the Internet. This permits the unit to interact with Nintendo's online service as well as other Wii users. One example of this usage has been given using Animal Crossing. In Animal Crossing on the Wii, other players will be able to visit towns running on other Wii, even when the unit is in standby, or sleep, mode. The Nintendo online service will also be able to deliver messages, gifts, and change town residents while the unit is in this mode.

Nintendo has recently (June 2006, source British Gaming Blog) been quoted as stating that Nintendo DS demo software will be made available through WiiConnect24. Demos will be downloaded to the Wii over WiiConnect24, and then downloaded to local DS units using Wi-Fi.

The Wii will also be able to download retro Nintendo games from the WiiConnect24 service, along with other specially-developed 'indie' games. The pricing for these 'indie' games has been stated at ¥500 and ¥1,000, roughly US$4.50 to US$8.99 (reference).

Trivia

  • Before E3 2005, a fake trailer for Nintendo's new system appeared on the internet (Video available at www.nintendoon.com). The Nintendo On trailer was created by Pablo Belmonte, a talented Spanish art student who decided to use the excitement around the Nintendo Revolution to showcase has abilities.
  • It has been reported that the Nintendo DS can be used as a wireless remote control for certain games on the Wii console.[1] This feature will operate using the Wii and Nintendo DS Wi-Fi features.

Hardware Specification

Unconfirmed at the moment. Statements indicate that Wii will be 2-3 times more powerful than the Nintendo GameCube.

The console has been confirmed to support 802.11g Wi-Fi, play DVDs, have 512mb on board Flash memory for storage and an intergrated SD slot for memory expansion.

The Wii will also have a custom graphics card made ATI codenamed "Broadway" & a custom CPU designed by IBM codenamed "Hollywood". These companies are also making the graphics (ATI) and CPU (IBM) for the Microsoft Xbox 360.

Hardware Specifications

Processors:

  • CPU: PowerPC based processor codenamed "Broadway", fabricated using a 90nm process
  • GPU: ATI "Hollywood" GPU fabricated using a 90nm process

Ports:

  • Up to four Wii Remote controllers (connected wirelessly via Bluetooth).
  • One SD memory card slot.
  • Two USB 2.0 ports.
  • One Sensor Bar port.
  • Four Nintendo GameCube controller ports.
  • Two Nintendo GameCube memory card ports.
  • WiFi 802.11b/g wireless built in
  • Compatible with optional USB 2.0 to Ethernet LAN adaptor.

Storage:

  • 512 MB built-in flash memory.
  • Expansion available via SD card memory.
  • GameCube Memory Cards (for saving GCN games only).
  • Slot-loading disc drive compatible with:
    • 8 cm GameCube optical disc.
    • 12 cm Wii optical disc.

Video:

  • Up to 480p[60](NTSC) or 576p (PAL/SECAM)
  • Component (including Progressive scan), S-Video, or composite output.
  • 16:9 anamorphic widescreen support.

Audio:

  • Main: Stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II.
  • Controller: Built-in mono speaker.


Hardware Rumours

The following were the rumoured hardware specs during early 2006.

Specs of IBM Broadway, the Wii CPU and ATI Hollywood, the Wii GPU.

Four 2.5Ghz IBM G5 Custom cores with 128KB of level 1 cache and a 512KB shared level 2 cache.

ATI "Broadway"

GPU will offer a dual core RN520 chipset with a 16 MB on-board eDRAM frame buffer.

"Considering that the GameCube had 24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM when it first launched (2001) and the Wii being its successor 5 years (2006) later it would have around 256 MB of ram."

As there is no solid reliable source to back-up the above information it is still listed as 'rumour' and will be updated in due time.

This following is a quote from cubetoons.com (IGN affiliate) in the E3 wrap-up article.

"As far as the Wii itself is concerned, there has not been much to report. We did hear more about its tech specs though. While the 1.1Ghz PowerPC* CPU does not compare to the PS3s Cell processor in terms of power, it is much faster than I was initially expecting. I was thinking somewhere in the 750 MHz range. I agree with Nintendo in that it is true that tech specs do not really matter to the people who play the games."

cubetoons.com later posted an editor's note as below.

"Editors note: The 1.1Ghz PowerPC was not confirmed by Nintendo. The CPU speed is based on a rumor that I came across. So while I can not say what the confirmed CPU speed will be, I can say that I am hopeful it will be 1.1 GHz. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused."

Known specifications

Backwards Compatibility

The Wii will not only be able to load Nintendo GameCube discs in its DVD-Drive but it will also be able to emulate all the previous home consoles made by Nintendo. Nintendo will then offer games for these consoles via its download service, known as the Virtual Console. Games obtained this way are paid for with Wii Points, which in turn are paid for wither directly by credit card or indiretly by buying a pre-paid card.

Many see Nintendo trying to repeat the success that the music industry had with illegal music downloads. Since computers have been powerful enough to emulate past generation home consoles and the Internet provided an easy, fast and widely accessible distribution path for ROMs, (a file which contains the data for a game which can then be played via a program that emulates the console) illegal ROM downloading has be rampant. The music industries most successful method at reducing illegal music downloading has been to offer people a way of downloading music legally for a small cost. If Nintendo is successful in repeating this they will be able to reduce the rampant illegal ROM downloading and open up a new revenue stream.

Another reason is to out-do the competition, which will all be offering some form of backwards compatibility. The fact that many people have fond memories of playing the Super NES and NES in there younger days my be a big reason for them to buy a Wii. The NES and Super NES were both very successful consoles with huge game libraries can only be a good thing for Wii sales and will certainly light up the face's of 'old-skool' gamers and Nintendo fans.

In addition to Nintendo's home consoles (the NES, SNES and Nintendo 64), games are also available for the Mega Drive and TurboGrafx-16. A full list of Virtual Console games can be found on the Virtual Console Category.

External Links

Wii Ouendan (http://www.wiiouendan.com) Nintendo and Wii news, humour, and forum chat

Slashdot discussion of the Nintendo Revolution E3 presentation

Catharton discussion of the Nintendo Revolution

IGNcube's Nintendo "Revolution" FAQ 

This article uses source material obtained from Wikipedia
The original article can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Revolution
Retrieved from "http://www.gamerwiki.com/index.php/Nintendo_Wii"
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