Wii stuff

[WindiaN]

Rumor or leak?

Wii hardware specs leaked by a dev.  Generally interesting stuff is at the top and supergeek stuff is lower down.

I might have posted some of this to the front page except that there really isn't any way for me to verify this.

You know I love this info... specs seem pretty solid but the memory situation has me a little worried. There has to be more storage than 512mb of flash memory right? What/is there a hard drive of some sort?

[Yegolev]

There is a report on Cubed³ that Nintendo is going to reveal five more Wii titles at the imaginatively-named Games Convention in Leipzig (Aug 23-27).  I wanted to check out the originating site, vooks.net, but apparently they have attracted the wrath of all four Iranian hackers.  Anyway, other highlights should include showings of the new-and-improved Red Steel and Raving Rabbids, plus some other junk like Settlers and Splinter Cell.

Today is shaping up to be a strange one.

Re: Wii memory, there has never been any indication that Wii would contain a hard drive.  Presumably, saves can be stored on a SD card to free up internal memory.  GC games will likely be restricted to saving on a GC memory card, much like PS1 games in a PS2... but I'm just assuming here.  There will be USB ports, but will there be support for USB flash drive storage?

[Riggswolfe]

The only thing that interests me about the Wii is the thought of using the remote in action RPGs. Or as a lightsaber in some Star Wars game, maybe that Force Unleashed thing Lucasarts has been dropping hints about.

Other than that I see it as yet another Nintendo gimmick, and I'm sure to get the best out of most games I'd also have to have a DS, so for now, I'm just going to hold off and watch what happens after launch.

[Yegolev]

and I'm sure to get the best out of most games I'd also have to have a DS,

This is true of the GameCube as well, and the GBA.  Nintendo SOP.  Being a Nintendo Ho means Hardware Pokemon.  I have the E-Reader specifically for Animal Crossing, which of course requires a GBA and a link cable as well.  That, my friend, is gimmicky.  As I like to exclaim when shopping with my wife: "That's how they get you!"

[dusematic]

Everyone who likes gaming should have a DS.  They're only 130 bucks, and games are 35.  It's pretty reasonable especially with how slick the Lite is.

[Yegolev]

Everyone who likes gaming should have a DS.  They're only 130 bucks, and games are 35.  It's pretty reasonable especially with how slick the Lite is.

DS headset will be available this month.  Catch'em all, bitches.

[HaemishM]

The GameCube doesn't have a hard drive at all, and weak, weak memory specs. But you can still play Resident Evil 4 on it, and the gaming nirvana that game is gives me faith (yep, I said it, faith) that the Wii's hardware specs won't hold it back at all.

[dusematic]

You saying you have faith in an unreleased console heralds the dawning of a new age.

[HaemishM]

You saying you have faith in an unreleased console heralds the dawning of a new age.

Exactly.

[Riggswolfe]

This is true of the GameCube as well, and the GBA.  Nintendo SOP.  Being a Nintendo Ho means Hardware Pokemon.  I have the E-Reader specifically for Animal Crossing, which of course requires a GBA and a link cable as well.  That, my friend, is gimmicky.  As I like to exclaim when shopping with my wife: "That's how they get you!"

Indeed, which is why I count it as a lesson learned and am probably holding off on the Wii.

Though, who am I kidding? If they put a lightsaber game in their lineup and the remote makes lightsaber sounds as I fight Darth Maul on my TV I'm there. I'm probably running any chance I ever have to get laid ever again, but I'm there. And I'm sure my video will end up on the internet as the new Star Wars boy.

[Yegolev]

I can never decide if this sort of thing is frontpage-worthy.  I fear my own green name.  Anyway, Wii OS is Linux.  Text lifted from Kiyoshi Saruwatari's Wii Blog:

Nintendo Wii will be the first Nintendo console ever with extensive built in software. It will have emulators, download manager to download news etc and possibilty to seamless extend the system with like for example the Opera browser to allow to browse regulare web pages. And it will also have the option to download and view videos from Nintendo with new video player, and file manager because the memory card now can take many things, including videos, VC games, saved data, game contant and much else.

Obviously, you can hear that all this is very expensive to make and put in the console. How could Nintendo cut the cost? It's very simple. Simply Wii will have software based on a industry standard platform that's open source. Linux. You read that right. Wii will have Linux as operating system with proprietary GUI and applications based on commonly open source for Linux programs. This probably make you all think of homebew and hacking and things like that, but the final system in closed and will allow only signed code etc and will be very secure, even though it's technically compatible with a world of already existing software. You can count on a lot of 3rd party add ons, much like Opera. By default, Wii will not have a window manager, but a easy to understand and simple interface, similar to what other consoles have. Underneath is a powerful and stabel Linux kernel which keeps it all solid.

[Yegolev]

If they put a lightsaber game in their lineup and the remote makes lightsaber sounds as I fight Darth Maul on my TV I'm there.

This is almost a galactic inevitability.  LucasArts has specifically announced an interest in Wii during ComicCon under questioning by IGN, even mentioning the similarity between the Wiimote and a lightsaber.  IGN was recently blocked in my corporate http proxy, so I can't post a link just now.  If you want to try to find it yourself, the top-level is wii.ign.com, but you might just want to take my word and avoid IGN.

[OcellotJenkins]

I can never decide if this sort of thing is frontpage-worthy.  I fear my own green name.  Anyway, Wii OS is Linux.  Text lifted from Kiyoshi Saruwatari's Wii Blog:

Nintendo Wii will be the first Nintendo console ever with extensive built in software. It will have emulators, download manager to download news etc and possibilty to seamless extend the system with like for example the Opera browser to allow to browse regulare web pages. And it will also have the option to download and view videos from Nintendo with new video player, and file manager because the memory card now can take many things, including videos, VC games, saved data, game contant and much else.

Obviously, you can hear that all this is very expensive to make and put in the console. How could Nintendo cut the cost? It's very simple. Simply Wii will have software based on a industry standard platform that's open source. Linux. You read that right. Wii will have Linux as operating system with proprietary GUI and applications based on commonly open source for Linux programs. This probably make you all think of homebew and hacking and things like that, but the final system in closed and will allow only signed code etc and will be very secure, even though it's technically compatible with a world of already existing software. You can count on a lot of 3rd party add ons, much like Opera. By default, Wii will not have a window manager, but a easy to understand and simple interface, similar to what other consoles have. Underneath is a powerful and stabel Linux kernel which keeps it all solid.

Any guesses on how long it'll take for someone to figure out a way to play pirated roms off of a flash drive?

[Yegolev]

Any guesses on how long it'll take for someone to figure out a way to play pirated roms off of a flash drive?

My guess is three months, depending on how easy it will be to get the hardwired SD card out.

[Yegolev]

From IGN, Mortal Kombat: Armageddon on Wii, Q107.

[schild]

Too bad the series peaked at MK3.

[Yegolev]

Something of a cap on pricing for Wii games, from a Gamasutra article covering a recent EA conference call:

Regarding Wii pricing, EA execs simply commented that publishers would have to decide on pricing themselves, but that Nintendo had indicated that first-party Wii titles would not be priced at more than $49.99 - suggesting that Electronic Arts games may debut for Wii at $49.99 at launch, though they did not state this specifically.

Another highlight from the call is that EA suspects Sony will have a hard time delivering PS3 hardware in the announced quantities.

[WindiaN]

My guess is three months, depending on how easy it will be to get the hardwired SD card out.

Or depending on when (they have to eventually) they release/support additional memory drives.

Regarding the pricing, the pricing thing doesn't surprise me, but the PS3 thing just confirms my suspicions that I should go out and buy a few and sell them on ebay to pay for everything Wii related!

[Big Gulp]

Regarding the pricing, the pricing thing doesn't surprise me, but the PS3 thing just confirms my suspicions that I should go out and buy a few and sell them on ebay to pay for everything Wii related!

This is the only console I'm currently planning on getting.  XBox 360 still hasn't impressed me with it's lineup, and there's no way in hell I'm selling my mother into prostitution to pay for a PS3.  The biggest thing pushing me towards jumping on the Wii bandwagon is the Gamecube, though.  Absolutely love it to death for what it is: a having-company-over fun machine.  Double Dash, Smash Brothers, and Monkey Ball keep us endlessly entertained while getting drunk off our asses.  I've never been so entertained by a console before, and that's convinced me that betting on Mario is probably a pretty safe bet.

The only thing that keeps me looking at the PS2 (although never actually making the plunge) is Guitar Hero.  But I can't justify buying a PS2 just for that.

[WindiaN]

This is the only console I'm currently planning on getting.  XBox 360 still hasn't impressed me with it's lineup, and there's no way in hell I'm selling my mother into prostitution to pay for a PS3.  The biggest thing pushing me towards jumping on the Wii bandwagon is the Gamecube, though.  Absolutely love it to death for what it is: a having-company-over fun machine.  Double Dash, Smash Brothers, and Monkey Ball keep us endlessly entertained while getting drunk off our asses.  I've never been so entertained by a console before, and that's convinced me that betting on Mario is probably a pretty safe bet.

It is by far the best system to have in college, you just need to convince people to get over the "GC is for kids" stereotype (by kids i mean 12 and less, i realize i'm a kid here!). You should get all the mario games (party/strikers/baseball/tennis) they are great multiplayer games.

[schild]

Dreamcast > Gamecube for College.

Just saying.

[dusematic]

In 2001 maybe

[schild]

No, I meant 2006. But yea, it was true in 2001 also.

[Yegolev]

Friends, booze and Dr. Mario.  If that's your bag, then Wii is for you.  I hear crazy shit is going to be in Mario Party.

Before revealing this secret, Miyamoto first confirmed that he could do so. Nintendo is making a game in which four players play together by passing a single controller around. The controller calls out player names in order to indicate whose turn it is. He also suggested another game where the controller quietly gives out secret information to individual players as their turn comes up.

Linko Roboto

[Yegolev]

Seems like Midway is pulling out their trump card, Rampage: Total Destruction for Wii should be available before 2006 goes tits-up.  Laissez les bon temps roulette!

IGN Link

[Big Gulp]

Seems like Midway is pulling out their trump card, Rampage: Total Destruction for Wii should be available before 2006 goes tits-up. 

When the 134th reiteration of Rampage is your "trump card" you're well and truly fucked.

[Yegolev]

Wii coverage in Stars and Stripes Gamer, which is in PDF format, thanks to QJ.net.  If you don't know, Stars and Stripes is a US DoD-published magazine, and Stars and Stripes Gamer is, naturally, the gaming version.

QJ.net is also kind enough to host the document from Anascape Ltd. that details their lawsuit against both Microsoft and Nintendo for twelve different patent infringements.  You can read this if you like; I have neither the inclination nor the legal skill.

If anyone had entertained the idea, an exclusive interview with Monolith Soft on Cubed³ denies the possibility of Baten Kaitos Origins/II making an appearance on Wii.

IGN posts an interview with Laurent Detoc, president of Ubisoft NA, in which seven Wii games are listed as arriving within the launch region: Red Steel, Rayman, FarCry, Blazing Angels, Open Season, Monster 4x4, and a new racer called GT Pro Series.

I am mildly shocked that the "gaming press" is mildly shocked that there will be no Space World in 2006.  I think they must be mildly bored.

Wii advertisements are now showing in Australia.  The countdown begins to the Aussie government's ban on Wii due to simulated violence and fun.

[Strazos]

Why are my tax dollars being used to fund a gaming magazine? 

[Nazrat]

Why are my tax dollars being used to fund a gaming magazine? 

It's for America!

I would have killed to have some gaming news during the Gulf War.  When your news options are limited to Armed Forces radio, whatever news clippings that are mailed to you, and maybe the Navy Times, you are desperate for any thing new to read and discuss.  You can only hear about GI Joe's retarded family so many times before you have to kill him.

[Merusk]

Why are my tax dollars being used to fund a gaming magazine? 

Because it's far cheaper to control an entire single magazine's content and viewpoint than it is to sell a few others after a review/ edit process.

[Yegolev]

Why are my tax dollars being used to fund a gaming magazine? 

You might want to complain about the other benefits given to those that put themselves in harm's way for our government.  Did you know they get awesome medical and dental benefits?  Also the FDA isn't required to approve anything used on military personnel?  Those bastards have it easy.

[Roac]

You might want to complain about the other benefits given to those that put themselves in harm's way for our government.  Did you know they get awesome medical and dental benefits?  Also the FDA isn't required to approve anything used on military personnel?  Those bastards have it easy.

Don't forget the awesome living accomidations.  Fuckers get housing for free too.




Edit:  Oddly, there were several plugs in S&S for the Wii, including a rehash from Saturo Iwata that Wii wiill be a failure if it doesn't outsell the GC.  Nothing to speak of regarding PS3 or 360.  They're looking to continue work on America's Army too - and with broadband being pushed for all three consoles, I wonder if they've looked at a console port?  Probably not, but would be wierd.

[HaemishM]

Why are my tax dollars being used to fund a gaming magazine? 

Why are they being used to fund development and support on an FPS video game just to keep recruitment numbers up?

Don't ask stupid questions. I'd be fine with my tax dollars going to pr0n and hookers for the troops, since that's just the kind of release needed when someone's trying to blow your face off.

[Strazos]

I wonder if they've looked at a console port?  Probably not, but would be wierd.

Get with the times, son!

[Yegolev]

From a CVG interview that should appear today, American McGee loves Wii:

The only truly next-gen console out there is the Wii. Everything else is just a video card and processor upgrade.

Financial corporation Nikko Citigroup has forecast that the Wii might retail for as low as ¥19,500, which translates to about $170 or £90.  I don't have a copy of the actual report, which is probably in Japanese anyway, but here's a Cubed³ link and a CVG link.  Naturally, this is merely a projection and there isn't anything stopping Nintendo from charging us $250 and making a fat profit on each Wii, assuming they can manufacture them this cheaply.