Wii-Mote Mania (Nintendo Wii informational Thread)

I'd thought it would be a good idea to get a thread together that combines all the various information floating around the wild into a one stop shop for all those interested in what is quickly become one of the most anticipated console releases in decades. I'll start with the Facts and then go onto some of the most anticipated games and then onto the rumors. I'll be updating this thread as soon as some more concrete information arises about the Hardware, Release date, etc.

Nintendo Wii Official Homepage

Wii-Mote Info

Wireless and motion-sensitive, the Wii Remote offers an intuitive, natural way to play games. The ergonomic controller plays into the conventional motions you make everyday. When you hit a drum, swing a tennis racket or swing a bat: Why should you have to press a button to replicate these things? With the Wii Remote, you can use everyday motions to help make you the center of the game.

Nintendo designed the Wii Remote to be the most multifaceted gaming device ever. It can be a sword in one game and then a steering wheel for racing games. It's your paintbrush, your golf club, your airplane, but most of all, it's your key to unlocking a world of fun you've never imagined.

Nintendo Confirmed Hardware Specs/Information


Approximately the size of three stacked DVD cases, Wii's elegant design makes it an inviting addition to your entertainment setup without monopolizing it. Thanks to the Wii Remote, you're given more freedom to place the console where it best suits your lifestyle.

Controls: Intuitive control for anyone using the physical motion of the main Wii Remote, which resembles a television remote control. Up to four Wii Remotes can be connected at once using wireless Bluetooth technology. The wireless signal can be detected within 10 meters of the console. Both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controllers include a three-axis motion sensor. The Wii Remote also includes a speaker, rumble feature and expansion port, and can be used as a pointer within 5 meters of the screen. The Wii Remote has a power switch, plus pad, A, B, Minus, Home, 1 and 2 buttons. The Nunchuk controller includes an analog control stick and C and Z buttons.

The Look: Wii features a compact design that will make it a natural addition to any television setup. It can be displayed either vertically or horizontally.



Media: A single self-loading media bay will play single- or double-layered 12-centimeter optical discs for Wii, as well as 8-centimeter Nintendo GameCube discs.



Communication: Wii can communicate with the Internet even when the power is turned off. This WiiConnect24 service delivers a new surprise or game update, even if users do not play with Wii. Users can connect wirelessly using IEEE 802.11b/g, or with a USB 2.0 LAN adaptor. Wii also can communicate wirelessly with Nintendo DS.


Note: This is a picture of the IR Motion detection strip to increase the sensitivity of the whole controller scheme.

Virtual Console: Wii will have downloadable access to 20 years of fan-favorite titles originally released for Nintendo 64, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and even the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Virtual Console also will feature a "best of" selection from Sega Genesis titles and games from the TurboGrafx console (a system jointly developed by NEC and Hudson). It also will be home to new games conceived by indie developers whose creativity is larger than their budgets.

The Specs: Wii boasts 512 megabytes of internal flash memory, two USB 2.0 ports and built-in Wi-Fi capability. A bay for an SD memory card will let players expand the internal flash memory. Design was optimized with state-of-the-art processing technologies that minimize power consumption, keep the console compact and enable the "sleepless" WiiConnect24 mode.

CPU: PowerPC CPU (code-named "Broadway"). Made with a 90 nm SOI CMOS process, jointly developed with and manufactured by IBM.

Graphics Processing Unit: Being developed with ATI.

Other Features: Four ports for classic Nintendo GameCube controllers. Two slots for Nintendo GameCube Memory Cards. An AV Multi-output port for component, composite or S-video.

Games:

Metriod Prime



Zelda



Project Hammer



[edit on 4-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Game Informer Rumor(Via the Nintendo Forums)

This article from the upcoming Game Informer magazine focuses on the pros and cons of the development environment of the upcoming Nintendo Wii. As well as revealing the last big secret concerning hardware functionality. Here are some summarizations from that article.

-Pros-

-Inexpensive graphics development.

-Developer-friendly “camera” program

-Will support HDR lighting, normal maps, bump-mapping, nurbs rendering, and panoramically-composted depth-composited cubemappng, ray-tracing.

-Chipsets are very inexpensive although EXTREMELY powerful, WILL incorporate many aspects of the Project Reality study.

-Nintendo is providing extensive documentation to ease the incorporation of the Wii-mote.

-Cons-

-Challenging to program effectively for the Wii-mote, due to it being very new to the industry.

-Marketing to be more challenging for bigger third-party franchises due to nature of the innovative qualities.

-The development cycle to possibly equal the time cycles of PS3 and Xbox360 due to the time needed to be innovative and effectively program for the controller.

-The challenge of marketing the Wii’s controller in ads and commercial may turn third-parties away from exclusivity. (The challenge to display through ads how “playing is believing”)


-The Final Secret/minor surprises also-

-Wii will include a built-in decent resolution camera that can be used to add your face to character models and add innovation to games. These snapshots can be tweaked as well. It is still being decided whether to allow camera to record and stream video. Mention made to have this feature be a strong feature in online play.

-A wireless headset will be made available at launch.

-SD cards will range from 2GB to 7GB and will be priced “within reason”.

-A new router technology is still in development and not yet available to developers. In the final product Nintendo hopes to be able to make every Wii a sort of “Wi-Fi hotspot” with each user connecting to that user and so on. They also want to be able to allow different users to share things and are thinking about setting up a pseudo-P2P network through Connect24, where users can share content and “other things”. This means that even if you have a dial-up connection or no internet, you can still connect to Wii Connect24.

-The Wii will indeed have a PPU included in final hardware. It will have only 32MB though, which will still take a considerable amount of pressure off of other chips.

-A still-in-development simple dev tool will be made available to users through the Connect24 network. It will allow users to create a simple game in 2D or simple 3D and share it with the world. This will hopefully be available on the network by launch.

-The last big secret is the “graphics solution”. It revolves around a whole lot of non-volatile RAM (opting out of HDD support, RAM is much faster than a HDD). And a development interface that centers on a AI-controlled command-line interface. This additional tech only included in final dev kits, while most developers don’t have access to final dev kits.

Elebits Interview(Wii to have a Physics Processor?)

IGN: Is the hardware as easy to use on the Wii as it was with the GameCube? The two systems are very similar is structure we're told.

Konami: Yes, the structure is very similar to GameCube, but you already knew that. The development was not that difficult, as the Wii system has built in physics simulation. That helped the process.

More Speculation

Price

While the price of the system is not yet announced, rumors abound. Each of the past four generations of Nintendo consoles have launched at $199 (USD). This has led to speculation of a $199 launch price for the Wii as well. Nintendo has stated that the Wii will be cheaper than the PS3 and Xbox 360, therefore $299 is the limit for the price of the console. Also, in a interview with CNNMoney, Satoru Iwata said that no first party game would cost more than $50.


Hardware and specifications

Nintendo has hinted that not every major feature of Wii, and specifically its controller, has been revealed. According to Nintendo of Europe's Jim Merrick, they "have not shared everything that there is to know about the Revolution [Wii] or its controller."
An Ars Technica journal entry speculates that the controller may use a combination of IR and ultrasound to function, much like some existing, similar products such as "virtual whiteboards" and Nintendo's investment in Gyration, Inc. may also give a clue as to some of the technology used.

It has been inferred from an interview with EA Canada's senior vice president John Schappert that the "Nunchaku" will feature an accelerometer inside of it, so it can also sense movements similarly to the remote.

Ars Technica has also speculated that the Wii's CPU may be based on that "Xenon" chip in the Xbox 360. Since the "Broadway" chip is being developed by IBM, it is possible that it is simply a low-cost version of the Xenon, using only one or two cores instead of the three in the current Xbox.

IGN.com claims to have received information from third-party game studios regarding the hardware specifications. Among their claims:

The Broadway CPU runs at 729MHz according to Nintendo specifications.

The Hollywood GPU runs at 243 MHz and is actually an integrated "system-on-a-chip" that includes "GPU, DSP, I/O bridge and 3MBs of texture memory."

The system RAM is divided into 24MB of "main" 1T-SRAM and 64MB of "external" 1T-SRAM; access speed for both banks is the same.

The console runs on an extension of the Gamecube Gekko CPU and Flipper GPU architectures.

Nintendo has filed a patent for a method of playing games for older less capable systems on a more capable system. It seems likely that this relates to Nintendo's 'Virtual Console'.

Wii will have connectivity with the Nintendo DS.


Games and developer support

Mr. Miyamoto said in an EGM interview that he is thinking of making a Pikmin game for Wii. [citation needed]

NGC Magazine claims that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, when inserted into the Wii, will utilize its native "free-hand" controller. This claim gained further support after Nintendo of Europe's interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, in which he stated, "...because [Wii] can run GameCube software, when you play Twilight Princess on [Wii] you can take advantage of the [Wii] controller."

It has also been hinted that older franchises, such as Kid Icarus, will be reintroduced on Wii as well.

Other titles such as an unnamed racing game will be announced at E3.

[edit on 4-6-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 4-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Video Montage 1

Montage 2

Elebits

E3 2006 Wii Lineup(To actually play the Wii that is

)

Wario Ware

[edit on 4-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Interview with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata

techon.nikkeibp.co.jp...
Q: What led you to place emphasis on the user interface?
Iwata: Nintendo has spent several years tackling the question of how to increase the number of users who will enjoy playing games. Being a techie myself, I have no intention to discredit the importance of technology. Yet I was concerned that improving the graphical quality any further would not lead to more people playing games. This led us to focus on the user interface.

Nintendo Wii Interview Index

wii.ign.com...

Lightgun


Virtual Console Controller


Nunchuck Controller

*drool* *drool* *drool* *drool*
this will be the first next gen console i plan on getting when it launches. i'll admit i was really put off by the name change at first, but the more info i gather on it, the sweeter it looks. ps3 is a not so distant second, as i am able but unwilling to afford it. as soon as sony can afford a decent price drop, i'll be there to snatch one up. as it stands, the xbox360 has nothing yet that grabs my intrest. yea, polished graphics and tight AI are good and all, but as far as i'm concerned great games tunnel far beyond the surface of just looking pretty. so yea, for me, the wii is the number one next gen choice. and i am highly anticipating it. i can't wait!!

[edit on 5-6-2006 by karby]

Yeah, the Wii is an exciting bit of technology, especially if the rumours of a very nice price are true.

I hope they make a snooker/pool game for it too....a good one, with a possible "wii extender" extension for the cue. With the Wii, that's perfectly possible! And Tennis....can't wait for that. Mario Party/Wario Ware will be perfect for it, and Zelda and Mario are looking superb, not to mention Super Smash Brothers.

A lot of people are going to be wanting Wii's for christmas, and most of us thought the name would be enough to put a lot of people off (me included, I admit) :shk:.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by chebob]

That Virtual Console Controller is going to be great for playing SNES games

Originally posted by Umbrax
That Virtual Console Controller is going to be great for playing SNES games

I'm hoping it'll be used for a few Wii games too....I don't think games like Super Smash Brothers would work well enough with the remote to warrant it, much better to have it use the "virtual console" controller I reckon.

Originally posted by chebob

Originally posted by Umbrax
That Virtual Console Controller is going to be great for playing SNES games

I'm hoping it'll be used for a few Wii games too....I don't think games like Super Smash Brothers would work well enough with the remote to warrant it, much better to have it use the "virtual console" controller I reckon.

The Console Controller is primarily for use with their XBox Arcade-like service where you'll be able to download and purchase games from the SNES, NES, N64, along with select games from the Sega Genesis and Turbogfx 16. Nintendo is requiring all their developers to design for the Wiimote, Nunchuck, or Lightgun with secondary support for the Console Controller. For games like Madden, this may be the only way to play, though I could be wrong on that one. (Yeah Madden is coming out for the Wii as is Blitz)

I read an article about "Madden Wii", it definately uses the 'Mote, but it sounds really good. They are making it a completely different game to the "other" consoles versions to accomodate the remote, so there should be some good working innovaiton in the game, and the first "preview" reports at gamespy sounded really positive about it.

And whatever they start making now, you know they will have made even better a few years down the line, so it looks good as far as incorporating the 'mote into games that seem unsuitable

Release Dates(Via IGN) This link is updated frequently so keep cheking back!

Madden NFL 2007







Blitz: The League(Not much info as of yet, so keep checking back!)

Marvel: Ultimate Alliance



Weird little game called "Elebits"









Camelot RPG(Not much Info yet)

Soulcalibur(Not much info)

Rayman Raving Rabbids









NBA Live '07

[edit on 5-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles Video

I hope they improve the graphics a lil, looks like they need to turn up AAx6 lol


the nintendo wii will look so cute sitting ontop the ps3.

also glad to see they went with a ripped of ps2 controller design, I hated the N64 controller, so this is good news.

also glad to see they went with a ripped of ps2 controller design, I hated the N64 controller, so this is good news.

That is primarily for the Virtual Console(NES, SNES, N64, Genesis, and TurboGfx 16 games).

The Primary method of control for most games will be the 'mote and the 'chucks with the odd lightgun game thrown in every now and then.

I hope they improve the graphics a lil, looks like they need to turn up AAx6 lol

The only third party developer to have access to the final DEV kit is SquareEnix and they've been sworn to secrecy on penalty of Hari Kari when it comes to talking about its capabilities.

People have been saying that we are all going to be pleasantly surprised with how much gfx power is in such an inexpensive box. Rumor has it that it will have a Physics processor with a Video Card comparable to a mid range PC card.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by sardion2000]

[edit on 5-6-2006 by sardion2000]

oh thats cool, turbogf16 man that takes me back lol


well I wouldve thought the graphics wouldve looked better was shocked when i saw a lot of those screens, i mean cmon for a next gen console. But maybe they're holding back, cant judge an unfinished product.

Originally posted by Lysergic
oh thats cool, turbogf16 man that takes me back lol


well I wouldve thought the graphics wouldve looked better was shocked when i saw a lot of those screens, i mean cmon for a next gen console. But maybe they're holding back, cant judge an unfinished product.

Well you have to consider cost, as the CEO if Nintendo said, "The Wii will retail at less then 250 American." In Japan the final cost is around 220 American. I believe they are selling it for cost and not at a loss as well. We'll see. I have a new computer on order(True 16x SLI board, X2 2.4 Ghz Processor, 1 BFG 7950 1 Gig GDDR3(to start), 4 Gigs of Dual Channel DDR400) so I'm not looking to the Wii for Graphics. I just want to actually be able to play a FPS on a console and this looks like the best bet to date.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Oh, one other thing, I just heard a rumor as to why the E3 graphics weren't that good. Apparently the Wii console was just a shell with Gamecube hardware on the inside. Makes sense since the architecture hasn't been finalized yet, is very similiar to the gamecube, and is apparently 2 - 2.5 times more powerful than Gamecube.

[edit on 5-6-2006 by sardion2000]

Virtual Console Prices Revealed as well as hints on when the Wii's Price and Release date will be announced.

wii.ign.com...

June 7, 2006 - Nintendo president Satoru Iwata outlined a price range for some games on Wii's Virtual Console download service during a marketing conference held in Japan on Wednesday. The company leader said that some Virtual Console games would cost between ¥500 and ¥1,000 yen, or $4.50 and $8.99 USD.

"We'd like people to play new, low-scale games for ¥500 yen or ¥1000 yen," Iwata stated.

These prices apparently encapsulate only titles newly created for the Virtual Console. It is not yet clear if classic NES, S-NES and N64 games will fall under the same price range umbrella.

"We'd like to put an end to turning games into big titles -- like taking simple game concepts, just adding modes and selling for 5800 yen," Iwata said.

By comparison, Microsoft charges between 400 and 1,200 points ($5 to $12.50 USD) for Xbox Live Arcade games and lacks Nintendo's acclaimed and robust library of classics.

Iwata also stated that load times for these Virtual Console games would be short and sweet. "It probably won't be that this is the case for every game, but we're bugging the development staff to make startup take three seconds," the Nintendo president said.

Nintendo has not yet revealed which games will be available on the Virtual Console, but such classics as Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 64 and Sonic the Hedgehog were demoed at E3 2006.

wii.ign.com...
June 7, 2006 - During a Japanese marketing event held on Wednesday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said that Wii's price and release date would be revealed by September.

Nintendo has previously stated that Wii would "not exceed $250" and would be released in the "fourth quarter" of this year.

More information as it becomes available.

mod edit:
Quote Reference (review link)
Posting work written by others. **ALL MEMBERS READ** (review link)

[edit on 14-6-2006 by UK Wizard]

In what could be a preview of the Wii vs PS3 battle the DS Lite is outselling the PSP in Japan by a factor of 10.

digitalbattle.com...

Here is the current breakdown between these two systems. The PSP is vastly more powerfull then the DS and DS Lite(they are essentially the same system, the Lite version is just a more miniturized version).

PSP: 17.03 million
en.wikipedia.org...

DS: 16.15 million
en.wikipedia.org...

DS Lite(Japan Only):2 million
en.wikipedia.org...

In the Handheld war Nintendo is breaking out.

Also I just wanted to note that apparently the PS2 is still outselling the XBox360 at a price of 129.95. Wii could find more competition from "older" consoles then it may get from the "newer" ones.

[edit on 13-6-2006 by sardion2000]