Dear Reader:
*RUMOR RUMOR RUMOR RUMOR* Wii info
I don’t think this story can come with enough rumor warnings, just not possible. I have been following this story the past couple days, and it appears to me as one of the most easily fake set of info on the Wii yet. A ton of our readers have sent it in the last couple days…I just cleared my inbox of a few more instances! As I say with any rumor, take it with a grain of salt. I would have not posted this “info” if our readers didn’t shoot the story my way so many times. I have gotten a lot of “Where are the rumors!?” emails lately as well…so this should make both groups of people happy! I appreciate all the emails, I just get nervous about posting a rumor story THIS, well…crazy! GoNintendo readers make the site as popular as it is, so if you guys want to see the story posted…then so be it!
This was originally posted on the official Nintendo forums. Everything in bold is word for word from the thread.
-First off let me say that the full scope of the Wii controller details has yet to be revealed by PixArt and Nintendo. Although I cannot elaborate any further let me say that the Nintendo should show that the movement in 3D space will allow experiences outside of just the TV screen. And its not 3D projection related.
-The official launch date has yet to be set in stone but will indeed launch before Sony’s PS3.
-Ironically enough, the first game that will be shown to the public that demonstrates the full scope of Wii controller potential will be Dragonball Z Budokai 4.
-When Nintendo first showed the controller at Tokyo Game Show late 2005 they were very hesitant to show it full usage. I will allow one more clue to my finding that the Wii controller can function exactly as we all have seen demonstrated WITHOUT the sensor bar. So ask yourselves, why need a sensor bar?
-The sensor bar was in all actuality in no use at E3 2006. What is will allow hasn’t been shown yet.
-According to people who are working close to everyday events at Nintendo R&D, Nintendo Wii specifications were far and away developed solely for that machine.
-IBM and ATI have been working on Broadway and Hollywood for quite some time now. And according to many people Wii’s specs could go up or down at this point in the CPU/VPU departments. Apparently Nintendo has spent quite a lot of money having IBM and ATI fabricate many iterations of Broadway and Hollywood. Which range from a 3.4GHz-730MHz Broadway CPUs, and 1.2GHz-553MHz custom ATI/Nintendo Hollywood VPU. From what we hear Hollywood is key to the Wii’s power. The architecture is all about eliminating bottlenecks and maximizing performance, upgrade of the CPU with the slight downgrade of the graphics processor compliments this philosophy, striking a great balance for Wii. However, it was also indicated that since Hollywood is a truly extreme “Flipper II” and Broadway is a massively upgraded “Gekko II” at least in architecture. That early on Nintendo R&D took a good look at what GameCube did good and what it could have done better. It was mentioned that GameCube’s Flipper was an extremely powerful chip far more capable than even the Xbox’s. The Gekko design meant for balance, though was not able to support but about 50% of the ArtX’s Flipper’s power. This particular bottleneck has been ironed out allowing Broadway to fully complement Hollywood to its maximum potential and vise-versa. The initial estimates we got concerning final hardware spec was Broadway at around 1.5GHz and Hollywood at 555MHz.
-There is also word that Nintendo in private sessions has big plans for the Wii headset. Talk is, that Nintendo wants to lean away from having the headset only for online capability. They are wanting to go further. Having the headset of course include a microphone for use in games is a given. But there was also talk of a late to launch release of this “gyroscopic headset” that would be supported by the sensor bar as well. To sum up the theory we were privy to. The headset would be somewhat sensitive to movement that could be translated into the game. Such as if you get up and move to the right of your television something might correspond for that in the game. Such as dodging things, looking around corners etc. It was also mentioned that it might have a unique look and non-obstructive lightweight design.
-Our latest discovery concerning Wii software is that developer Nibris (Raid Over the River, Sadness) has received Wii development kits and has partnered with publisher Majesco.
I believe the point that really pulls people in is the bit about the sensor bar. Matt over at IGN has talked about the sensor bar, famously stating that not all games use it. (you can find that info HERE according to Zenman, thanks!) I see a very simple way for all games not to use the sensor bar…VC games! It is the easiest way to explain this statement (thanks to Losvedir for reminding me of the point I wanted to make!) Funny enough, the one thing I do believe is the Nibris bit. They have signed with a publisher, so hopefully dev kits are on their way to them…if they haven’t gotten there already. I made this same statement as a guess on our last podcast, without seeing the updated rumors list you see above. Huge thanks to everyone who sent this tip in. I can only imagine the comments to come from this story!