Wii U - The "everything" Info Thread

[jlatimer11]

The rumor was 32mb. For reference, the 360 has 10mb of eDRAM. But it'd have to be some super experimental ram to make up the speed difference in the regular ram. I mean...43% SLOWER than what's in PS3 and 360. I mean...I literally cannot think of how they came to that. It couldn't have been that much more expensive, could it?

And the fact is they're losing money on this system, and it's all because of that controller. What were they thinking? Ditch the NFC, make it a pack-in for "Pokemon Snap The Revenge" and shave enough money from the controller to get better ram.

What I have yet to read is if the RAM is dual channel or not. That would take the 12.8 number that is floating about and make it 25.6, a much better number.

I just find it hard to believe that after all the complaints about how extremely underpowered the Wii was and how 3rd party devs and 'core gamers' didn't want it, that Nintendo would just go and do it all over again.

[KingBroly]

It's 12.8. With or without it being Dual Channel is irrelevant from what I can understand.

Locked Save Data DOES transfer from Wii to Wii U. And Wii stuff is upscaled from 480p to 1080p, so it does look better on Wii U.

[Broken_Cartridge]

Locked Save Data DOES transfer from Wii to Wii U. And Wii stuff is upscaled from 480p to 1080p, so it does look better on Wii U.

Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait wait.....

Wait a second. Wii U upscales Wii games? This is the first time I'm hearing such a thing, Nintendo has done nothing but shout about how it won't upscale the Wii games and that they will be Standard Definition quality.

[AmicableWalrus]

It's 12.8. With or without it being Dual Channel is irrelevant from what I can understand.

Locked Save Data DOES transfer from Wii to Wii U. And Wii stuff is upscaled from 480p to 1080p, so it does look better on Wii U.

Oh really? What kind of quality are we talking about? Not up to Dolphin level I imagine, but enough to make Wii games somewhat presentable on an HDTV?

Meanwhile, I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what Nintendo could have done differently here... flat-out HD Wii? Gamecube successor? I don't see these being hugely successful.

Still, despite what they said about "hardcore" and third-parties, this underpowered approach seems like they're trying to get lightning to strike twice in the casual market. Except this time they're selling at a loss for the sake of a controller that casual consumers don't understand.

If nothing else, this will be interesting to watch.

[jlatimer11]

It's 12.8. With or without it being Dual Channel is irrelevant from what I can understand.

Locked Save Data DOES transfer from Wii to Wii U. And Wii stuff is upscaled from 480p to 1080p, so it does look better on Wii U.

Oh really? What kind of quality are we talking about? Not up to Dolphin level I imagine, but enough to make Wii games somewhat presentable on an HDTV?

Meanwhile, I'm racking my brain trying to figure out what Nintendo could have done differently here... flat-out HD Wii? Gamecube successor? I don't see these being hugely successful.

Still, despite what they said about "hardcore" and third-parties, this underpowered approach seems like they're trying to get lightning to strike twice in the casual market. Except this time they're selling at a loss for the sake of a controller that casual consumers don't understand.

If nothing else, this will be interesting to watch.

It appears that they chose to give full BC with the Wii and all its peripherals than abandon it and picked specific hardware to ensure that.

And let's not forget the RAGE that happened when the 360 wasn't BC (fully or even partially) and it was taken out of the PS3.

[shadowbuster]

It seems curious that, from what I've seen in the tear downs, at least 3 manufacturers supplied the Wii U's RAM.

In Pcper, the RAM is made by Samsung (https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcper-articlec ... G_8569.JPG)

In Anandtech, the RAM comes from Hynix (http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/vid ... /hynix.jpg)

And iFixit's tear down, the RAM comes form Micron (http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/gqSD ... 2DKCr.huge).

The specs are the same, despite the company who made them. And from the subjective analyses, I thought it was going to be better than ps360 rams

[KingBroly]

It's not upresing it, but there is somewhat of a leap with Wii games on Wii U. Also not that Wii Mode doesn't take up the entire screen. :S

Other transfer notes:
- Only things on the Wii Menu itself transfer over, everything else is just your DL history
- If you have something in both locations, you'll have to redownload it
- If it's on your SD card, you'll have to redownload it. This is a standard Wii feature.

So make sure you put a lot of stuff on your Wii Menu and delete it from your SD card before the transfer. If it's on the Wii Menu, you won't have to redownload it.

[jlatimer11]

It seems curious that, from what I've seen in the tear downs, at least 3 manufacturers supplied the Wii U's RAM.

In Pcper, the RAM is made by Samsung (https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcper-articlec ... G_8569.JPG)

In Anandtech, the RAM comes from Hynix (http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/vid ... /hynix.jpg)

And iFixit's tear down, the RAM comes form Micron (http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/gqSD ... 2DKCr.huge).

The specs are the same, despite the company who made them. And from the subjective analyses, I thought it was going to be better than ps360 rams

The issue is more that the ONLY component anyone has actual specs on is the RAM as it's an off the shelf part.

If the CPU/GPU/EDRAM chipset is truly custom then it could possibly make up for the slower RAM.

[AmicableWalrus]

Weird question. I never the deleted the Metroid Prime 3 preview channel from my Wii, even though it's no longer active. I'd like to keep it as a souvenir. Will this transfer? Worst case scenario, will Nintendo go "NOOO THAT'S OLD HERE LET US DELETE THAT FOR YOU" or something like that?

[TheSchaef]

I haven't seen a lot of talk about this so far, but full disclosure, neither have I been scouring every page of every thread on every launch-day site.

I have to say I'm disappointed in the way the Wii content is shunted one level down to its own menu. Not only does this seem like a step backwards from the GC compatibility on the original Wii (just insert disc and go), it seems unnecessarily redundant to have two menus, one for WiiU material and one for Wii material.

More to the point, to have my digital downloads buried far below the main menu gives me serious concerns about whether these classic titles and indie games will be preserved at all beyond this generation. This for me was a great selling point for the Wii, and by all accounts the eShop should be even better at managing digital content, but I don't think I'll like that at the cost of all these great older titles.

It is my hope that this is just a stopgap until Nintendo moves all that content over from the Wii Shop channel to eShop, but they haven't said anything to that effect, and it seems to me that they had plenty of time to start moving these titles over prior to launch. It's not like they didn't know there was a new console and new shop system coming.

Does anybody have any information about whether Nintendo plans to integrate this stuff more finely in future updates, and/or retain old WiiWare/VC titles in the eShop to preserve these purchases?

[gtt]

It seems curious that, from what I've seen in the tear downs, at least 3 manufacturers supplied the Wii U's RAM.

In Pcper, the RAM is made by Samsung (https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcper-articlec ... G_8569.JPG)

In Anandtech, the RAM comes from Hynix (http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/vid ... /hynix.jpg)

And iFixit's tear down, the RAM comes form Micron (http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/gqSD ... 2DKCr.huge).

The specs are the same, despite the company who made them. And from the subjective analyses, I thought it was going to be better than ps360 rams

The issue is more that the ONLY component anyone has actual specs on is the RAM as it's an off the shelf part.

If the CPU/GPU/EDRAM chipset is truly custom then it could possibly make up for the slower RAM.

no, they aren't using some mythical "custom" ram. as evidenced by the various suppliers. it's regular old(read slower) ddr3 ram. Probably at the cost of about 10$ a console.

if they aren't making profit at 300$ a unit, they need to fire their guys in supply, because someone is embezzling a fuck ton of money. They really cheaped out on hardware.

[jlatimer11]

It seems curious that, from what I've seen in the tear downs, at least 3 manufacturers supplied the Wii U's RAM.

In Pcper, the RAM is made by Samsung (https://s3.amazonaws.com/pcper-articlec ... G_8569.JPG)

In Anandtech, the RAM comes from Hynix (http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/vid ... /hynix.jpg)

And iFixit's tear down, the RAM comes form Micron (http://guide-images.ifixit.net/igi/gqSD ... 2DKCr.huge).

The specs are the same, despite the company who made them. And from the subjective analyses, I thought it was going to be better than ps360 rams

The issue is more that the ONLY component anyone has actual specs on is the RAM as it's an off the shelf part.

If the CPU/GPU/EDRAM chipset is truly custom then it could possibly make up for the slower RAM.

no, they aren't using some mythical "custom" ram. as evidenced by the various suppliers. it's regular old(read slower) ddr3 ram. Probably at the cost of about 10$ a console.

if they aren't making profit at 300$ a unit, they need to fire their guys in supply, because someone is embezzling a fuck ton of money. They really cheaped out on hardware.

Try reading what I posted again.

I said CPU/GPU/EDRAM chipset, not RAM.

[vinniebrock]

Sonic Racing Transformed is better than the PS3 and 360 versions. And Darksiders 2 apparently doesn't have screen tearing like its' brethren.

that's good, I'm strongly considering getting both of these. How many games have you bought?

What has everyone been getting from the e-Shop? Since I was mostly broke after picking up a Wii U i just bought a couple e-Shop cards. Downloaded Trine 2 & Nano Assault Neo, have only played the ladder so far, and it was awesome. It looks amazing on an HD TV (not bad on the GamePad, either), runs at 60 fps AND apparently is less than 100 MB, because Shin'en. Well worth the $10 so far.

[shadowbuster]

Random-Time!
From the latest rumors, the CPU speed is shown in the actual plate that covers the MCM.
At gimme gimme games (http://gimmegimmegames.com/2012/11/rumo ... t-1-22ghz/) they say that the Wii U's CPU is clocked at "1.226GHz", because that was the number shown at the end of the plate. They compared this with the Wii's Broadway, which coincidentally shows the "729" that the "actual" clock speed has.

Well, at first I thought that was baloney, until I went to figure this out with the Gekko CPU. Turns out, the "486", the actual MHz the processor has, is shown in the plate as well (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... /GEKKO.jpg). Coincidence? Or are many, like me, are getting crazy with the lack of numbers of the components?

[LegendofZelda1996]

Random-Time!
From the latest rumors, the CPU speed is shown in the actual plate that covers the MCM.
At gimme gimme games (http://gimmegimmegames.com/2012/11/rumo ... t-1-22ghz/) they say that the Wii U's CPU is clocked at "1.226GHz", because that was the number shown at the end of the plate. They compared this with the Wii's Broadway, which coincidentally shows the "729" that the "actual" clock speed has.

Well, at first I thought that was baloney, until I went to figure this out with the Gekko CPU. Turns out, the "486", the actual MHz the processor has, is shown in the plate as well (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... /GEKKO.jpg). Coincidence? Or are many, like me, are getting crazy with the lack of numbers of the components?

Seems interesting that the CPU says '12 Nintendo. Not very sure if that means that the CPU was built in 2012 (I doubt it) or if the Wii U's CPU's design was finalised in 2012.

And I know that IBM and Renesas worked with Nintendo on the Wii U's CPU, but I find it interesting that AMD was mentioned on the Wii U's CPU.

The Wii U's CPU running at 1.22Ghz seems more low than what Harada mentioned by But as far as the CPU goes, the clock is kinda low.

[gtt]

Random-Time!
From the latest rumors, the CPU speed is shown in the actual plate that covers the MCM.
At gimme gimme games (http://gimmegimmegames.com/2012/11/rumo ... t-1-22ghz/) they say that the Wii U's CPU is clocked at "1.226GHz", because that was the number shown at the end of the plate. They compared this with the Wii's Broadway, which coincidentally shows the "729" that the "actual" clock speed has.

Well, at first I thought that was baloney, until I went to figure this out with the Gekko CPU. Turns out, the "486", the actual MHz the processor has, is shown in the plate as well (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... /GEKKO.jpg). Coincidence? Or are many, like me, are getting crazy with the lack of numbers of the components?

Seems interesting that the CPU says '12 Nintendo. Not very sure if that means that the CPU was built in 2012 (I doubt it) or if the Wii U's CPU's design was finalised in 2012.

And I know that IBM and Renesas worked with Nintendo on the Wii U's CPU, but I find it interesting that AMD was mentioned on the Wii U's CPU.

The Wii U's CPU running at 1.22Ghz seems more low than what Harada mentioned by But as far as the CPU goes, the clock is kinda low.

that's a super low clock. and it's probably got AMD on there because they may have done the fab for it. who knows.

[MoldyClay]

I'm telling you guys right now: The TV Remote stuff is HUGE. It's AMAZING. It works with my DirecTV and combination of Dish+TV. Plus it got it on the first try. Wow.

Wait, so if my house has DirecTV in the living room and when I get Wii U, I have it in my own room (which has no TV), can I use our DirecTV?

no. it doesn't send video to your wiiu. the controller has an ir led. it can act as a remote for the box. that's all

AHA. Okay, that makes more sense. Thank you.

[Devil_Rising]

The issue is more that the ONLY component anyone has actual specs on is the RAM as it's an off the shelf part.

If the CPU/GPU/EDRAM chipset is truly custom then it could possibly make up for the slower RAM.

Despite what many other people are saying, I do believe that's probably the most correct.

[Triforce of the Gods]

I agree with Devil_Rising about Nintendo Land and I'm also loving NSMBU so far. Haven't touched ZombiU yet, so I'll gice my verdict on that when I do tomorrow.

Almost forgot about this. Now that I've played a little of ZombiU, I can say I am quite enjoying that game as well. Though I'm only about 2 hours in and am already on my 10th survivor.

[MermaidKelly]

Sonic Racing Transformed is better than the PS3 and 360 versions. And Darksiders 2 apparently doesn't have screen tearing like its' brethren.

that's good, I'm strongly considering getting both of these.

I've been considering both of these, (and Epic Mickey, but I'm seeing that is receiving a LOT of bad reviews. ) I'm debating on another game to get other than Mario (and Nintendo Land, that comes with the system). How ''fun'' of a game is Darksiders 2? Is it like Zelda? Also, is Lego City Undercover any good? The budget is tight, so some of these may have to be bought 'later', but I'd still like to figure out which games I plan on getting.

[Devil_Rising]

Lego city isn't out yet, to my understanding. It's slated as "launch window". It does look good though.

[MermaidKelly]

Oh, thanks for the heads up...for some reason I thought it was a launch day game. Speaking of the "launch window", I wish we could get some info on Wii Fit U. I'm assuming they will sell the game without the Balance Board, but still include the pedometer! I am also hoping Rayman Legends comes out soon! I'm hoping for around Dec/Jan (my birthday is in Jan), but I think it will more likely will be March/April.

[Devil_Rising]

Actually, for some reason, as far as I know Legends isn't actually listed as being due out until March, if you can believe that. I hope they'll bump it up, and that that is just a placeholder date. It doesn't make sense to me that it was the only playable game at the demo kiosk, yet Ubisoft won't have it out til March? On the flip-side, the Lego game is listed as coming out "Christmas 2012", so hopefully that ballpark is true.

[GermanicMexican]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMZbXRK66pg&feature=plcp

Nintendo always comes with amazing ideas, the WiiPad is basicly the best controller that has been created for gaming!

[Devil_Rising]

I will say that I think it's a really cool touch to be able to turn the GamePad into a universal remote. Being able to shift Netflix from the TV to your GP screen and back again is also pretty great. And so far, simplistic as it is, I'm really digging the Miiverse. Some of these people are genuinely great artists, for just doodling on that screen with a stylus. It really makes me hope Nintendo makes a new Mario Paint. I'm interested to see a game that utilizes the "scan 3D objects" feature. Hell, even the online browser works better than ANY console related browser I've ever seen.

Lot of potential, for sure.