Latest Wii U tech details
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Digital Foundry has put together a comprehensive piece outing new technical details for Wii U. The information was deciphered thanks to reverse-engineering photos provided by Chipworks.
We’ve posted a few Wii U spec bits below. You can find Digital Foundry’s full report here, but if lack knowledge of hardware like us, you won’t understand most of it!
– Wii U GPU core: 320 stream processors, 16 texture mapping units, 8 ROPs
– GPU: close match to the Radeon HD 4650/4670
– Defecit in the number of texture-mapping units and a lower clock speed
– 550MHz clock speed
– “GCN hardware in Durango and Orbis is in a completely different league”
– RV770 does have 16 TMUs at 550MHz and texture cache improvements
– This puts it past Xbox 360’s Xenos GPU
– It’s 1.5 times the raw shader power
– 1080p resolution is around 2.5x that of 720p, so it’s unlikely that we’ll be seeing any complex 3D titles running at 1080p
– Some Wii U ports may be disappointing tecnically due to Wii U’s 1.2GHz CPU
– Nature of the second and third banks of RAM is currently unknown
Nintendo delays Scribblenauts Unlimited in Europe
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Scribblenauts Unlimited has been delayed in Europe, Nintendo has announced. The company said that the game requires “some changes” before launch. Nintendo apologizes “for any inconvenience this may cause and we hope to make further announcements on the European launch of these games very soon.”
Source: Nintendo PR
Sniper Elite V2 officially announced for Wii U
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
505 Games has shared the first details on Sniper Elite V2 for Wii U.
The shooter will feature new controls as well as “a level of interactivity only possible with the Wii U GamePad touch screen”.
505 also provided the following information:
“Players will enjoy the same thrilling, visceral experience as they guide American OSS agent Karl Fairburne around historical locations throughout Berlin and attempt to unravel the mysteries and dangers of the German V-2 rocket program but now with even greater tactical depth and flexibility thanks to brand new functionality through the GamePad – tag enemies and booby-traps, track enemy locations and activity, even monitor the blast radius of planted explosives – all with a glance at the touch screen and without leaving the battlefield for even a second.”
Sniper Elite V2 will also have the standard gameplay from the original release. It’ll feature the “kill cam” from the first Sniper Elite, and “skillful shots are rewarded with a slow-motion sequence of the bullet running its full trajectory before the target is rendered in graphic x-ray detail, showing the bullet entering the body and causing lethal damage.”
Jason Kingsley, CEO of Rebellion, commented:
“Sniper Elite is just the kind of mature game that is perfect for the different mechanics of the Wii U. It’s been a challenge to get it right, but thanks to our team and the fantastic support of our partners at 505 Games we believe we’ve brought the unique gameplay to a whole new platform.”
Sniper Elite V2 is hitting Wii U this spring.
Source: 505 Games PR
Injustice: Gods Among Us Bane concept art
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Images, Wii U | 0 comments
We’ll have to wait one more day to get a look at the big Injustice: Gods Among Us news teased a few days ago. In the meantime, the game’s official Facebook page has posted a piece of art featuring Bane to tide fans over. Take a look below:
2 hours of Aliens: Colonial Marines footage
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo’s full comments on Wii U visuals and architecture
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
This is another topic that we covered extensively during the weekend, but Nintendo has now made an official translation available. Read on below for comments from Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata, and Genyo Takeda regarding Wii U’s visuals, tech, and hardware powering the console.
Nintendo will probably show some Wii U NFC usage this year
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Satoru Iwata spoke a bit about the Wii U’s NFC feature during the Q&A session of Nintendo’s latest financial results briefing. Iwata noted that there are two ways of taking advantage of the technology.
First, NFC can be used for video games. It’s possible to make cards and figurines, and have either item be implemented with the NFC tech. Another aspect brought up by Iwata is “IC cards which can read and write data in order to record users’ scores and it is possible for Wii U games to connect with them.” Nintendo is “in talks with several software developers regarding such possibilities” and hopes to show “some output” this year.
Read on below for Iwata’s full comments regarding Wii U NFC, including talk about Japan e-money known as “FeliCa”:
“First of all, there are two main directions when it comes to the use of NFC. One is to use it for video games. For example, we can create cards and figurines with NFC and design our video games to work in conjunction with them. Also, an increasing number of arcade games are utilizing IC cards which can read and write data in order to record users’ scores and it is possible for Wii U games to connect with them. We are in talks with several software developers regarding such possibilities. We are making preparations and, by the end of this year, we will probably be able to show you some output, tell you about some more concrete examples of the possibilities or even let you try out some tangible examples. The other direction is e-money. In Japan e-money called FeliCa is widely used, and FeliCa is included in NFC. Technically, it is possible to settle an account by waving an e-money card over the Wii U GamePad. We are conducting research into this right now as one of this technology’s future possibilities. We will make an announcement when we are ready to discuss a more detailed plan. Since we have made a certain investment in order to install NFC, we will make efforts to at least receive a return on our investment.”
Iwata on the success of digital sales, retail has issues but not ditching packaged games
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in 3DS, General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo has seen great success with digital releases thus far. In Japan, almost 800,00 copies of Animal Crossing: New Leaf were sold through the 3DS eShop.
Now, even though Nintendo is experiencing positive growth in the digital space, the company has no plans to ditch packaged games. Iwata did, however, acknowledge that there are issues at retail during the company’s latest financial results briefing.
Iwata noted that there are difficulties in forecasting sales. In the end, retailers are typically left with a surplus of stock “which ends up being sold at a huge discount or, in contrast, software shortages could cause lost sales opportunities for retailers.” This unfortunately leads to hesitation on the part of retailers since they are “less willing to accept the inventory risk.”
This shows the digital download sales transitions. For the current fiscal year, we have just finished the third quarter, but the digital sales have already reached 11.1 billion yen so far, and it is certain that in this fiscal year we will see our largest digital download sales. Another peak in digital sales you can see around the center of this graph is when Wii was widespread and Nintendo DSi had just been launched. In spite of the fact that the current installed base of Nintendo 3DS is still much smaller than how popular Wii was back then, we are already seeing the growth in digital download sales mainly for Nintendo 3DS, which, I believe, is an encouraging trend. I have no intention of simply replacing the packaged business with the digital download one, but it is also true that there are several issues with the current packaged software distribution business. For example, before launching a software title, no one can precisely forecast how many units of software will sell in the market. Everyone develops and launches a software title with the hope to make it a smash hit, but when it comes to the actual sales in the market, even the most seasoned marketers cannot forecast the figures accurately. As a result, retailers are often left with surplus stock, which ends up being sold at a huge discount or, in contrast, software shortages could cause lost sales opportunities for retailers. With these kinds of issues becoming increasingly challenging, retailers are less willing to accept the inventory risk. In this situation, even when a developer has created software with high potential to become a smash hit, it is likely to fall short of its real sales potential. Or, even though a quality software title can successfully attract the interest of potential fans, making and shipping just a little more than the actual demand can lead to a big discount in the marketplace and, thus, destroy the game’s brand. We have seen repeated cases of these. When I discussed with Shinji Hatano (Senior Managing Director, General Manager of Marketing Division) the company’s endeavors with the POSA card to expand our digital download sales outlets to retail shops, he stressed that it would provide distributors with a huge opportunity to solve the existing issues. A fairly large volume of “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” for Nintendo 3DS was sold in the form of a POSA card, which is activated only when it goes through POS registers at retailers and therefore the retailers do not have to shoulder the physical inventory risk. The growing sales of the POSA version of this game must have helped retailers see the business opportunity for video games with such a business structure. We therefore expect that our publishers may be interested in selling POSA cards for some titles they are publishing as download-only titles and that they will want to make more games available in POSA card format. Although convenience stores have limited shelf space to spare for a number of video game POSA cards, retailers with more shelf space might expand the areas designated to the video game POSA cards. They might even educate their customers who are not familiar with digital download software. We can expect to see a number of new possibilities. We expect our digital distribution to increase in importance and become an important revenue source.
Miyamoto and Iwata talk asymmetric gameplay, Pikmin 3
Posted on 11 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Podcast Stories, Wii U | 0 comments
One of the Wii U’s prominent features is its ability to offer asymmetric gameplay. A player can experience one thing on the television while another may be involved with something completely different on the GamePad. Asymmetric gameplay is certainly an important aspect for Wii U, but according to Shigeru Miyamoto, it won’t be shoehorned into every title.
Pikmin 3 is one such upcoming project that won’t offer asymmetric gameplay. Miyamoto believes that it’s biggest draw is “the high-definition graphics. You can even see Pikmin’s gestures with the graphics.”
Players will be able to view a full map on the GamePad while the TV displays the main visuals. On the other hand, it’s also possible to play off-TV.
