Nintendo's Next Platform Sooner Than You Think?

CantGetAWii · 08-08-2008, 07:45 PM

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Nintendo had an admittedly poor showing at E3 this year. Wii Music did not go over well, the WiiMotion Plus was met with head scratching and questions like ’why wasn’t this done right in the first place,’ and many people thought they simply made fools of themselves.

Now this week it’s been reported that Nintendo is hard at work on the next iteration of its console series, but no one knows what it is.

Well I don’t know what it is either, this is just speculation, what if and prognostication and those that know me know I do not have a great track record when telling the future, though I did call Wiiware accurately.

A Logical Step?

Nintendo cannot rush out a new platform. It’s just not good business to put out a platform then put out a new, improved platform shortly after thereby screwing the people that bought the first one. Well unless you’re Apple apparently who can do all kinds of things that make marketing people cringe.

So what is Nintendo hard at work on? I’ll tell you what I think they might be working on. What I think they might be working on is a snap-on power-booster.

ATI built the "Hollywood" graphics processor in the Wii. They have also built a multiple graphics card system called Crossfire. Oh, now you see don’t you?

It would definitely be some engineering to make it viable but it’s not impossible. The Wii is so small already that many people wouldn’t object to dropping say $100 on an add-on that snaps onto the back of the unit, not unlike the highly unnecessary intercoolers that are on the market, and boosts the processing and graphics power of the Wii to say...near Xbox 360 quality.

Right now all the rage are the multi-core CPUs, dual-core, quad-core...so what’s to stop Nintendo from going the multi-core way and simply having the cores separated by their physical location? Well as I mentioned it would be a fair amount of engineering for one. It would also require some custom built parts that are going to need to be researched and developed and it would take some fancy operating system shenanigans to basically create a multi-processor OS that could share that load between internal CPU and GPU and external or snap-on CPU and GPU.

While they’re at it they might even address the so-called ’storage problem’ on the Wii by slapping in a 32GB solid-state drive. Voila! No more graphics, processing or storage "problems." Give it a couple of backside USB ports and well…the Wii gets an extra 5 year lifecycle boost in my opinion.

A Somewhat Illogical Step?

Speaking of multi-core, that’s another option for the Nintendo R&D team. Call the Wii an extremely successful concept or experiment and build from it. Take the CPU and replace it with a multi-core. Take the GPU and do the same. Or better yet as I heard at GDC Paris 08, slap them together. Combine the CPU and GPU and make them both dual, or quad-core units.

Now you’re playing with power, as the old advertisements said (when was the last time you heard that?). It could be the Wii Plus One. Double the power, double the graphics, quadruple the fun.

This is and is not illogical. It would risk alienating consumers who purchased the Wii but it could work to pull in a new more hardcore gaming audience as well. Imagine the Wii but with top-of-the-line PC processing and graphics. Now you’ve got a machine that’s fun for everyone and has the ability to pump out the polygons and shade those cells with the best of the best. I won’t even speak about the lighting effects potential.

One Large Step for Nintendo

There is of course the long road. Nintendo could scrap the whole Wii architecture and move forward with a completely new design. With the popularity of the Wii and the hand-over-fist piles of cash that they’re hauling in, they can definitely start looking at the 5-year story arc. They can ride the high tide of Wii love right into the next decade with nary a problem.

But I think they’ve realized that while they did bring the family together in the living room enjoying games together they’re going to need to do something more for the next generation.

That ’more’ is going to be a logical progression of graphics and power. It’s going to be multimedia features like Blu-Ray (never going to happen due to the dislike between Sony and Nintendo that goes way back) or whatever the next generation of high capacity media will be.

Can they once again reinvent the game controller? Probably not, but they might be able to expand on what they built this time around. I have long called for strap on ankle, wrist, head and hand controllers. We don’t want to always hold those Wii Remotes (no not Weemotes) so why not take all the parts and put them into flexible housing that can really give a fighting game some POP. You Kick your character kicks, you punch your character punches…you dodge a red rubber ball, well you get the picture.

Far-reaching Vision

Of course all of this is highly speculative. Developers are just settling into the long haul development cycle of this generation of gaming consoles and none of them are hoping for a new generation to start popping up anytime soon. The 8th generation is a long way off yet. The children that are the 7th generation are still having tantrums and fits of rage and aren’t even mature yet to completely stand on their own. So it will be some time before the next generation consoles come around which means we still have years of speculation.

Anyone would be a fool to think that Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo get a generation of consoles ready and then sit back and close down R&D. The recent reports of Nintendo working on the next platform should have been met with cries of "DUH!" and not raised eyebrows and "Oh really?!"

More interesting would have been reports of Nintendo looking at ways to strengthen and lengthen the life of their current platform to give it a power boost or added compatibility and features. Actually, if reports of any of the big three working on that would come out of the pipe, I just might not even be surprised, after all, I did just suggest Nintendo might be doing just that now didn’t I?

Source

While some points brought up were good ones, Nintendo should try to make things for Wii and ride it out as long as possible.

MakaiZomby · 08-08-2008, 08:53 PM

I'd really rather not see that, despite the potential growth of graphics.

They should save (or build on with) that tech for the next console 5 years down the road.

No Wii2
No Wii +1

But a new console, with its own deserving name like every other Nintendo hardware device.

I never really disliked the Wiimote, but I have always said they needed to bring more love to the standard controlling. Some people don't always like the motion-control (viceversea, of course for many), and the GCN controller was my favorite last gen. A full body motion-control SOUNDS savvy, but it has limitations in plenty of game genres.

Requiem · 08-08-2008, 09:25 PM

I say bring it on. That'd be awesome. HD graphics and storage.
Don't whine. It's what everyone's been wanting. I don't care how it looks.

MakaiZomby · 08-08-2008, 09:32 PM

Well, I'm not exactly whining, it's just...well I don't know.

If I got a deal trading THIS Wii in for it, plus the option to move my VC...well, ...then it wouldn't be so bad.

I haven't really had an issue with storage yet, but I'll admit I wouldn't fancy encountering the problem down the road.

Requiem · 08-08-2008, 09:36 PM

I know I need storage. I have a good amount of VC games, and channels and game saves. I'm out of room.

I really just think it should be a $99.99 add on. That's reasonable and logic to me.

pYRo · 08-08-2008, 09:44 PM

Uh, what's the point of all this speculation? To think there's a possibility of adding processors to the Wii is ridiculous. Expect a brand new console not named Wii 2 to come out in the next 3-5 years.

Requiem · 08-08-2008, 09:47 PM

3-5 years is a long time buddy, may seem short, but it's a bit aways. Why wouldn't nintendo release a better graphics and storage solution in the meantime to carry us over? We're getting storage for sure anyways, might as well make it worth it.

LevesqueIsKing · 08-08-2008, 09:52 PM

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Now this week it’s been reported that Nintendo is hard at work on the next iteration of its console series, but no one knows what it is.

Who says?

pYRo · 08-08-2008, 10:03 PM

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Originally Posted by Requiem

Why wouldn't nintendo release a better graphics solution in the meantime to carry us over?

That would defeat the purpose of the Wii, which was made to favor gameplay over graphics and keep the system cheaper. Do you think casual gamers would buy it? The Wii doesn't even really need it anyways. But yeah, I'm sure we'll see a storage solution.

Requiem · 08-08-2008, 10:14 PM

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Originally Posted by pYRo

That would defeat the purpose of the Wii, which was made to favor gameplay over graphics and keep the system cheaper. Do you think casual gamers would buy it? The Wii doesn't even really need it anyways. But yeah, I'm sure we'll see a storage solution.

That's all opinion, and it goes the same for any other wii items such as motionplus, balance board, gun holder, wheel, etc.

Will casual OR hardcore players buy it? Maybe, it depends on what they are looking for. I'm sure some casual would hop right on it, and most hardcore would buy it. It'd give us a few years of some added wii gameplay and features to hold us over, which would be cool.
Whether or not it doesn't pertain to you, is your opinion, but it may for others.
Time and money would tell, and I think if Nintendo makes it worth the pay and make it inexpensive, it would do just fine.

sagema · 08-08-2008, 10:19 PM

The Wii will probably have a 6-7 year life span. I can't see any of the 3 consoles switching over in 5 years. They need to make money, and only Microsoft could afford to lose money and run to a next gen console. So it's not happening.

LevesqueIsKing · 08-08-2008, 10:21 PM

The biggest problem with this theory is that it would basically turn the wii into two different consoles. If we're assuming that the flagship titles would take advantage of the upgrade, then the millions of wii owners that did NOT buy the upgrade would not be able to play those games. Period.

Those who did buy the upgrade I presume would be heavily disappointed at the few number of games that built around the upgrade (because producers won't want to lose the audience) and they would be playing 'regular' wii games more than half the time.

bigwilliiy · 08-08-2008, 11:08 PM

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Originally Posted by LevesqueIsKing

The biggest problem with this theory is that it would basically turn the wii into two different consoles. If we're assuming that the flagship titles would take advantage of the upgrade, then the millions of wii owners that did NOT buy the upgrade would not be able to play those games. Period.

Those who did buy the upgrade I presume would be heavily disappointed at the few number of games that built around the upgrade (because producers won't want to lose the audience) and they would be playing 'regular' wii games more than half the time.

Sounds like the Sega CD and 32X....

rukus · 08-08-2008, 11:14 PM

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Originally Posted by bigwilliiy

Sounds like the Sega CD and 32X....

and how well did that work out.

look people why would nintendo replace a product that is still flying off the shelves. it would be dumb to.
give it a few years.

hondo · 08-09-2008, 01:51 AM

there is still a shortage of wii's. you can't just wake up today and say "i'm gonna go buy a wii today", you have to be lucky and be at the right place and the right time to get one. i don't think there will be a next generation nintendo machiene until these are sitting on retailer's shelves not selling.

Kiryllos · 08-09-2008, 09:43 PM

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Originally Posted by LevesqueIsKing

The biggest problem with this theory is that it would basically turn the wii into two different consoles. If we're assuming that the flagship titles would take advantage of the upgrade, then the millions of wii owners that did NOT buy the upgrade would not be able to play those games. Period.

Those who did buy the upgrade I presume would be heavily disappointed at the few number of games that built around the upgrade (because producers won't want to lose the audience) and they would be playing 'regular' wii games more than half the time.

That depends how it works. Something like Sega 32X was a complete change of architecture. This would simply be a system with a Crossfire graphics setup, thereby allowing (the same as on a PC) people with that setup to run at higher resolutions or with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering.

If done correctly, it shouldn't effect the core Wii base at all. If they are going to continue to play their games at 480i or 480p they won't require an additional graphics chip. However, if they want 720p or AA, they would. There is absolutely no change to the way you'd program for the Wii other than the fact that newer games would have additional graphics options to choose from.

I don't own an XBox 360, but if I only have a standard TV with 480i resolution, it can still play a lower res version of games on that TV. It would be the same thing. Same as my PC with an SLI graphics setup plays the same games as a person with a single graphics card. The only difference is I can play those games at 1920x1200 with 16xAA/16xAF.

CantGetAWii · 08-09-2008, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiryllos

That depends how it works. Something like Sega 32X was a complete change of architecture. This would simply be a system with a Crossfire graphics setup, thereby allowing (the same as on a PC) people with that setup to run at higher resolutions or with antialiasing and anisotropic filtering.

If done correctly, it shouldn't effect the core Wii base at all. If they are going to continue to play their games at 480i or 480p they won't require an additional graphics chip. However, if they want 720p or AA, they would. There is absolutely no change to the way you'd program for the Wii other than the fact that newer games would have additional graphics options to choose from.

I don't own an XBox 360, but if I only have a standard TV with 480i resolution, it can still play a lower res version of games on that TV. It would be the same thing. Same as my PC with an SLI graphics setup plays the same games as a person with a single graphics card. The only difference is I can play those games at 1920x1200 with 16xAA/16xAF.

Yeah if there wa