This info is straight from Joystiq.com. I couldnt post it on Exclusives


IBM has announced that their Broadway chip custom-designed for Nintendo's Wii console is not only already in Nintendo's hands but has been since July. "We have been shipping well within this quarter (July)," said Ron Martino, director of IBM Technology Collaboration Solutions. "In fact, we have shipped a significant volume in this quarter."

So what does this news mean to gamers who have been waiting patiently for a release date from Nintendo? Well, considering that Nintendo has had their hands on a large amount of the final Broadway chips since July, we can easily speculate that the Wii could feasibly be released within the next few weeks. Perhaps by the end of the month.

Nintendo has also confirmed their reception of IBM's chip: "The first chips are in our possession," said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director/General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd. "Today's milestone marks the final stage of our drive to reach both core and nontraditional gamers with an inviting, inclusive and remarkable gaming experience."

When I asked Martino about the power behind the Broadway chip, all he could do was compare it to the Wii's predecessor, the GameCube. "Compared to the Gekko in the GameCube, it's 20 percent more power efficient. It also performs significantly better. The key point is that it is Power Architecture-based and custom-made and optimized for Nintendo," he said. "This is a critical milestone for us at IBM. We have been very pleased with the entire development project."

I pressed Martino to compare Broadway to the other consoles they've had an integral part in developing for and he wouldn't budge, only commenting on what Nintendo was able to offer. With this news and Nintendo confirming the shipment of "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," we fully expect Nintendo to make an official announcement next week during their event in New York City. And as previously mentioned, we expect a release date far sooner than what has been projected.


Article:http://www.joystiq.com/2006/09/08/sh...y-hint-of-pow/

oooo. So what can this mean. Well... obviously, wii could be available far sooner. But it also means that the chip is significantly powerful, enough so that the 20% decrease in power consumption is a fairly big deal. This is interesting indeed!

20% decrease in power consumption.... this means they can crank it up to be from 50-100% more powerful than the gc cpu and still be quite easily cooled down by a well constructed heatpipe air cooler.
And they are prolly using somekind of system like Intel's speedstep to use the cpu on max power only when needed, this can wery well be a very stable and quiet machine for simple games and have some serious power when needed.

great find, wow 20%? that'll lower my lightbill lol

Always great to hear

i would not like it if it realesed at the end of this mounth but an october release would be nice.

October 7th!!! My birthday! I will pray every night that it will be released then!

november seems cool, got time to save.

Bad, BAAAAD news. The reason? I haven't saved up any money yet!!

lol... i have only got 300 and something!!

I have £1.20. At least it's a start...

only gots £30...buuut, if i flog my game cube n stuffs, and my old ds then i should almosthave enough..spose ill do just do odd jobs n stuff

Wow.. must admit I didn't read the original thread about joystiq not having release date.. but thats probably even better news

wow......amazing im hoping late september....first week october release date.....i already have enougy money for the system and a couple games so im hoping it comes out very soon

WOOHOO!!!!!! maby we can actually get it by october YAY!!!!!!!!

"makes an ass of him self dancing"

yeah everyboby have by october that would be cool