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As original Nintendo Wiis gathered dust in households across the UK,
Nintendo confirmed it would unveil a second-generation 'Wii 2' - the Wii
U - at E3 2011.
Nintendo has sold around 90 million Wii consoles
so far and is clearly keen to capitalise on that huge success with
another offering that will appeal to casual gamers.
Remember when
you first heard the name Nintendo Wii? Many people laughed and said it
would never catch on. It did. Nintendo is hoping that Wii U will
capture people's imaginations in the same way.
Since the launch at E3 2011, we've rounded up all the new details on the new console and even seen it - check out our Hands on: Nintendo Wii U review.
TechRadar has a video preview of the Wii U - take a look here:
Nintendo Wii U specs
The
original Nintendo Wii console was woefully underpowered compared to the
Xbox 360 and PS3 and was thus shunned by most of the leading games
developers.
But while it has been confirmed that the Wii U will be the first 1080p Nintendo console, latest rumours suggest Nintendo is once again building a console that won't match its rivals for graphical prowess.
According to IBM, Nintendo's Wii U is powered by a custom 45nm multi-core Power processor with embedded DRAM. But anonymous sources have told Games Industry Biz that the Wii U hasn't got the power to match even the current crop of consoles, never mind the PS4 or Xbox 720.
"No, it's not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360," explained one dev. "The graphics are just not as powerful."
Another said: "It doesn't produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360.
"There
aren't as many shaders, it's not as capable. Sure, some things are
better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall
the Wii U just can't quite keep up."
So any Ninty fans hoping for a next-gen beast of a gaming machine are likely to be disappointed.
Wii U Daily
claimed in November 2011 that the Wii U has a "3GHz quad-core
Power-PC-based 45nm CPU that's very similar to the Xbox 360's CPU."
Wii U's graphics carry on the ATI heritage of the Wii, with a custom AMD Radeon HD GPU reports Kotaku. Wii U UK release date
Nintendo has confirmed that the Nintendo Wii U will go on sale in time for Christmas 2012.
Previous reports indicated the release date might be a bit sooner than
that, but you can be sure that Nintendo will be pulling out all the
stops to ship the product on time - if it misses the Christmas season
it's wobbly financial situation will only get worse.
Expect a full-on Wii U presence at E3 in summer 2012, then.
Wii U has a touchscreen controller
The controller for the Wii U
is, as was rumoured, a 6.2-inch touchscreen tablet that also features
an accelerometer and gyroscope for motion control, dual analogue sticks,
rumble feedback, a D-pad, a front-facing camera, triggers and shoulder
buttons, start/select/home buttons and a microphone.
Each Wii U
console will come with a new controller and can also use up to four
additional Wii Remote or Wii Remote Plus controllers. The system is also
backward compatible, and can play all Wii games and use all Wii
accessories.
Can Nintendo disrupt the market - just as they did with the original Wii controller - yet again?
Wii U UK price and Wii U US price
Pricing is yet to be announced. But the fear is that, with the new controller, it may be a little too high. Latest rumours
suggest a $600 Wii U US price which would suggest a £399 Wii U UK price
. Earlier rumours close around the $250 mark were swiftly debunked.
Wii U connectivity
It
appears the original Wii's Gamecube controller compatibility will be
binned. while there will be four USB ports under that hatch/at the rear
and there will still be an SD card slot. There will also be some
internal storage, though you'll be able to boost that by plugging in an
external drive. And, as befits an HD console, there will be HDMI
onboard, in addition to S-Video and component. Also expect 802.11n
Wi-Fi.
Wii U disc format
We know Wii U
will be backward compatible with all past Wii games, but we don't know
for sure if there will be any upscaling - or indeed whether the unit
will boast a Blu-ray or DVD drive.
However, a company exec has revealed that the system's proprietary disc format will hold up to 25GB of data, but it will not be compatible with Blu-ray.
You can play games solely on the Wii U touchscreen controller
Nintendo
president Satoru Iwata agrees that the first Wii U demo video "may have
answered some questions, but it probably raised several others, too".
But
the key concept is clear - Nintendo hopes that you will be able to
transfer the game you are playing on a TV screen in your home to the
local screen, should you wish to play alone in your bedroom or study -
perhaps if someone else needs the TV.
"Up until now, home console
games had to occupy the TV screen in order to be played. But, the new
controller for Wii U with 6.2-inch screen means you won't need to give
up your gameplay when someone else comes in the room and wants to watch a
TV programme."
Demos show that you can move your game from the TV to the screen in your hand almost immediately.
Games
can also make use of both screens - there's an ace video of this in
action where a girl is using the controller as the tee in a golf game
while using a standard Wiimote to actually swing - it's at 3m30s.
Here's a pic of the controller in use for baseball:
So
in single-player games the new controller can display information on
its screen that does not appear on the TV, while the information and
viewpoint can also change in the new controller based on the orientation
of its gyroscope.
In multiplayer games the player using the new controller can have a different experience than those looking at the TV.
Wii U does video calling and more
It
also looks like you will be able to make video-calls on the Wii U
control pad, using its front-facing camera. Plus, you will be able to
share content such as your holiday pictures and home videos from your
local controller to the main television with ease.
Wii U is fully backward compatible with kit and games
Wii
U is fully backward compatible, which means that you can play all of
your current Wii games on the system and use your Wii Fit or any other
accessories you currently use with it.
Wii U could have an app store
Wii U will go beyond the current Wii Shop offering and provide a mass of apps and other web services. Other rumours have also suggested Wii U will include ereading capabilities in the controller.
But Wii U's controller is not a standalone handheld console
The controller needs to be tethered to the Wii U console to function - it isn't a PlayStation Vita competitor.
Wii U games will be plentiful
"Wii
U was created so that the widest variety of games can be supported,"
says Nintendo. "That means those aimed at experienced controllers that
can use circle controllers using both their hands, plus those games that
can be intuitively played without the need for any buttons."
Games
design guru Shigeru Miyamoto says of Nintendo's new home console: "More
than anything I'm really looking forward to new styles of play... There
are so many we're just trying to decide where to begin."
Ninty announced new content based on its own franchises such as Mario (see below) and Zelda, but more interestingly, says our own Adam Hartley,
"is that EA, Ubisoft, Sega and lots of other third-party games
developers were showing off new adult-themed, hardcore games that they
are making for Nintendo's Wii U."
"Graphically, many of the games look on par with new AAA titles on PS3 or Xbox 360.
"Hardcore favourites such as Tekken, Assassin's Creed, Batman Arkham City and Ghost Recon Online
were also demonstrated. Clearly, Nintendo aims to push Wii U to the
hardcore crowd as well as to the casual market it has so successfully
won over with Wii.
"EA boss John Riccitiello took to the Nintendo
stage to tell the crowd that: 'Over the years I've made E3 appearances
with several console partners, but never before with Nintendo.'"
Official Nintendo Magazine reported in October 2011 that Call of Duty may also make it to the Wii U while a month later CVG said predicted that there will surely be a new version of Mario Kart to go alongside the new console.
Ubisoft says it believes the Wii U will be a big success.
Sony is yet to confirm the existence of the PS4 games console, but it exists out there somewhere - you can be sure of that.
The latest rumours suggest that Sony is calling the PS4 'Orbis'.
This comes from a source speaking to Kotaku "who is not authorised to
talk publicly about next-gen hardware but has shared correct
information" with them before.
Assuming the Orbis name is accurate, it's still unclear whether the name is a codename like Durango or whether the console will literally be called the Sony PlayStation Orbis instead of the Sony PS4.
The
name does make some kind of sense if you combine it with the word
'Vitae' (or Vita). Orbis Vitae translates from Latin as 'circle of life'
and hints at some serious synergy between the PS4 and the PS Vita.
It could be a red herring, of course, but with the Vita already communicating fairly competently with the PS3, it seems highly likely that this will be the case. So what can we expect from the PlayStation 4?
PS4 likely to pack AMD CPU and graphics power
The
same source who revealed the PlayStation Orbis name also mentioned that
the PS4 is currently penciled in as packing an AMD x64 CPU and 28nm AMD Southern Islands graphics power.
The
source doesn't go into any detail about what revision of AMD CPU
hardware it's going to be using, but it could be the forthcoming
Piledriver revision of the weak Bulldozer architecture from the AMD FX-8150 CPU.
Piledriver
is also going to be used in the upcoming Trinity APU, which incorporate
both CPU and GPU components on die, but the first iterations of that
particular chip possibly wont come with the 28nm GPU part. Subsequent
APUs are scheduled to include Southern Island components, so that is
still a possibility.
Meanwhile, IGN reports that the PS4 will be powered specifically by the AMD Radeon HD 7670 chip and the A8-3850 APU.
If
that's true, it really is a big surprise. Those chips aren't even the
best that AMD currently has to offer - so by the time the PS4 goes on
sale it would be woefully lacking in power compared to the latest AMD
tech, let alone the most advanced chips from Nvidia and Intel.
By
2014, Intel will be shipping 14nm - or possibly even 11nm - CPUs and
with that amount of transistors on a die, we're talking serious
performance and efficiency gains.
So
it's for this reason that we suspect - or hope - that early PS4
development kits may currently be using these AMD chips, but the final
PS4 will most likely pack something a little more special. If that's not
the case, it's time for hardcore gamers to start worrying.
According
to the source of these rumours, Sony is attempting to get 4K gaming out
the door with the PS4, along with full HD 1080p 3D gaming for the first
time. We don't think it would even be possible to achieve this kind of
output with the Southern Islands GPUs unless some kind of multi-GPU
set-up is being used.
The Playstation 4 would also need to have
some serious graphics memory inside it to cope with outputting to such
high-resolution screens as 4K.
So we fully expect the launch specifications to be far more impressive.
There were actually some previous rumours that PS4 could use Nvidia's ARM-based Project Denver but this now seems quite unlikely.
It's
far more probable that AMD is offering Sony and Microsoft (which is
rumoured to also be using this AMD hardware in its XBox 720) heavily
subsidised access to its CPU and GPU tech. AMD is currently being beaten
by both Intel and Nvidia in the CPU and GPU markets, and so we reckon
AMD needs these consoles almost as much as Sony and Microsoft do.
Backwards compatibility
When
the original original PS3 unit shipped, it contained a chip that gave
it the ability to play PS2 games. Subsequent iterations of hardware
omitted this chip and so the backwards compatibility was condemned to
death.
Current rumours suggests that the PS4 will completely
ignore the possibility of backwards compatibility and focus firmly on
the next generation. So if you want to continue playing your PS3 games,
keep hold of your PS3s, kids.
Second hand games on the way out?
More
rumours suggest that Sony is going in the same direction as Microsoft
in that it wants to kill off the second hand games market. Current
industry wisdom suggests that future PS4 games might be tied to your
Sony Entertainment Network account and will thus then have no resale
value. That's a similar approach as used by PC developers using Steam so
we reckon this is a likely development. Doesn't mean we're happy about
it, though.
What are the PS4 features we'd most like to see?
PS4info dreams of a next-gen PlayStation with a 32nm Cell processor an up to 16 SPEs, double the number in the PlayStation 3. While over on gamrConnect, there's talk of a greater partnership with Google. Sony's new fondness for Android on the Xperia Play is an interesting strategy.
Blu-ray
on the PlayStation 4 is a dead cert. While digital distribution is
undoubtedly the way forward, not every PlayStation owner has access to a
fast broadband connection.
As Kaz Hirai told Develop,
"we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure
isn't as robust as one would hope. There's always going to be
requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical
medium."
As for the PlayStation 4 controller, Dr. Richard Marks
(Sony Computer Entertainment's US R&D manager of special projects)
says that "anything that lets us get the player's intent into the system
more" is technology they'll be looking at. No brain wave gaming just yet.
You can check out our wishlist PS4 video, to see what we are seeking in the next-gen console below:
PS4 release date
Latest rumours suggest that the PS4 will launch in time for Christmas 2013, though Sony are remaining quiet on the issue.
VG247 is quoting an anonymous source
(always a bad start to a rumour) as saying that Sony believes it is in a
position to get the PS4 out of the door before the launch of
Microsoft's Xbox 720.
We remember, of course, how Microsoft
managed to launch the 360 a full year before the PS3 went on sale and
that enabled it to gain a huge headstart, despite all sorts of technical
faults and expensive repair bills.
So it's a no-brainer that Sony
will be looking to make sure that doesn't happen this time. How it can
be so sure of beating Microsoft to the punch is another matter though,
and as usual we'd take these anonymous comments with a glass of salty
water.
Meanwhile, if you side with the likes of ITProPortal,
you might believe that "the whole concept of a single lounge-bound
gaming device may become obsolete". The future of gaming may well lie in
a more portable device/controller that you can play on the move or plug
into your TV. Epic's Mark Rein has some interesting thoughts on this here.
Senior execs for a big US retailer told their shareholders
that they don't expect the Xbox 720 and PlayStation 4 til 2014. That
seems like a good guess to us, even though Sony has always said the PS3
will have a 10-year life cycle (which began in 2006).
Bethesda's Todd Howard, game director for the blockbuster Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, also says that gamers should not expect follow-ups to the PS3 and Xbox 360 until 2014, at the very earliest.
Speaking to PSM3 magazine,
the Bethesda exec said that gamers were happy with the current
generation of console tech and that he didn't expect to see an Xbox 720 or a PS4 before 2014.
While gossip
surrounding the next Xbox has been churning around inside the rumour
mill for a good few years now, there's no doubt that we're getting
closer to learning some cold, hard facts.
It would be absolutely
no surprise if the Xbox 720 - if it is indeed to be called that – were
to launch in time for Christmas 2013. And with the increasing frequency
of new rumours, reports and leaks, an official reveal from Microsoft
cannot be too far away.
Many think that a 2014 release is more likely though, and Microsoft has already ruled out making any kind of announcement in relation to the next Xbox at E3 2012.
So what can we expect from the Xbox 720 when it is finally revealed by Microsoft, and when will it finally hit the shelves?
Xox 720 to pack AMD graphics and CPU?
If the next Xbox is to be as popular and last as long as the Xbox 360
– without the frankly appalling hardware failures which blighted its
early days – it's going to need some reliable and powerful components.
Latest
rumours suggest that the console will contain a revision of AMD's 7000
series graphics, which is based on its 28nm Graphics Core Next (GCN)
Southern Islands tech.
Anonymous sources are being quoted on VG247
as saying that the graphics setup in the Xbox 720 will be "like two PCs
taped together" which sounds like waffle to us. What does that even
mean?
The same sources say that the two GPUs in the Xbox 720
"aren't structured as they are in a normal dual PC set-up," with each
chip working separately to draw different items simultaneously.
Again, this sounds rather wooly to us, so let's try and make some sense of it...
Perhaps
it depends what the source is referring to as different 'items'. The
traditional usage of multi-GPU tech is Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR)
where each GPU renders a frame in turn; if the source is saying that is
not the case in the Xbox 720 then it will be a whole new usage of twin
graphics chips.
It's
possible this simultaneous rendering of different items could be
referring to using the twin GPUs to display 3D outputs – where each chip
is rendering a different angle of a scene to generate the 3D effect.
This would then minimise the stress that 3D gaming puts on graphics
chips.Still, if that secondary GPU is lying dormant during non-3D gaming
it would be rather wasteful, so the GPUs must surely still be used
concurrently to render the games.
It's also possible the confusion
here could be arising from the difference between AMD's old GPU
architecture, used in the Xbox 360, and the new Graphics Core Next
technology. The old Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture of
AMD's last gen GPUs essentially batched up instructions before
outputting them.
But GCN is made up of more independent microprocessors capable of carrying out more instructions concurrently.
Either way, the inclusion of AMD 7000 series graphics would put the new Xbox on a par with the current rumoured specs of the Sony PS4 which is in turn expected to also contain AMD Southern Islands graphics as well as an AMD x86 CPU.
It
would put the two consoles on level footing in terms of performance as
they will essentially contain the same hardware, though by the time they
actually go on sale they would to be hopelessly out of date compared to
modern PCs.
Are we really to believe that the 'next generation'
of games consoles would essentially be out of date mini AMD PCs, with
just the operating systems and scale of fun-sucking DRM the only levels
of differentiation? We can't see that being the case, and a report in
April 2012 suggests that Microsoft does indeed have something more
exciting up its sleeve.
Xbox World reported
that the Xbox 720 will pack a 16-core CPU, which would certainly add
some much needed muscle to the maybe-possibly underpowered graphics.
What will the Xbox 720 actually be called?
It's
entirely possible that Microsoft could call it the Xbox 720, but we
reckon it'll have something a bit more exciting up its sleeve.
Noted Microsoft blogger MS Nerd outed the name Xbox Loop,
claiming that the long-awaited console will be "far smaller", cheaper
and quite Kinect-focused when it finally lands on our shelves.
Rrecent
reports indicate that Microsoft's internal codename for the new Xbox is
'Durango'. Sean Tracy, a technical designer at games developer Crytek, said on Twitter:
"Enjoying the Durango developers summit in London. So far, great swag
and interesting talks". The tweet was very quickly taken down but the
codename was out of the bag by then.
Xbox 720 storage and disc format
It
now seems highly likely that the new Xbox will arrive packing a Blu-ray
drive. There have been too many rumours suggesting this is the case for
it not to be true.
Microsoft was, if you remember, a staunch member of the HD DVD Promotion Group and went so far as to launch an external HD DVD drive for the 360. So it represents a bit turn-around for Microsoft to embrace Blu-ray, but it also makes perfect sense.
Read
speeds from DVDs are still faster than from Blu-ray discs, but BDs can
hold vastly more data. A standard dual-layer BD can contain 50GB of data
compared to the Xbox 360's dual-layer DVDs which contain between 8 and
9GB.
Many current Xbox 360 titles come on two or three discs, and
with the size of Xbox 720 games destined to dwarf current titles, that
extra capacity is a fundamental requirement.
There are other
wildcard alternatives to Blu-ray and DVD, of course. You'll find
flag-wavers for flash drives, Nintendo-style game cartridges, even the resurrection of HD DVD.
There were even some rumours speculating that the new Xbox would ship without a disc drive
at all. The report on MCV said that the console will use
"interchangeable solid state storage" which would indicate that games
would be both downloadable and available on PS Vita-style memory cards.
Omitting
a disc drive would certainly save money and reduce the weight and power
consumption of the final device but we honestly don't see it happening.
Xbox 720 games are in development
It looks as though games developers are already playing with Xbox 720 hardware - a recent job advert
from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead studio asks for developers with a
background in DirectX 11 - a platform not used by any of the current
consoles but is rumoured to be used in the AMD-powered Xbox 720.
It's a bit of a no-brainer that titles are in development from all the big studios if you ask us.
What about the Xbox 720 controller?
Many
rumours suggest that the second version of Kinect will sit at the heart
of the Xbox 720 experience. A console built around motion detection has
lots of promise and it seems highly likely that this is the direction
Microsoft is taking, given the way it's currently pushing Kinect
hardware and software.
However, you can be sure that the trusty
control pad will remain a core component for hardcore gaming. The 360
control pad is wildly popular amongst both console and PC gamers so we
can't see the design changing too radically, either.
Will Microsoft kill the second-hand games market?
There have been rumours cicrulating that the new Xbox console will feature a system aimed at preventing owners playing used games.
That would mean no trading-in of old titles in order to fund the
purchase of new ones - a move that would not be warmly received by
gamers or highstreet store.
The rumours centre around the concept
of the new Xbox demanding an always-on internet connection. That sounds
like a horrifying idea to us – say it ain't so!
The Xbox 720 release date
According to a "high-ranking source at Crytek," the successor to Microsoft's Xbox 360 console is likely to be unveiled at E3 2012 - Microsoft has already denied this, which just goes to show how trustworthy even 'reliable sources' can be.
Microsoft has said publically that the Xbox 360 will have (at least) a 10-year life lifespan
to match the PS3. That puts a new Xbox launch into 2015… However, we
reckon it's far more likely that the console will launch either in 2014
or maybe even in time for Christmas 2013.
It goes without saying
that neither Microsoft nor Sony will want to launch their new consoles
after the other. The 360 stole a huge march on the PS3 by launching a
year earlier and so it seems a safe bet that both consoles will arrive
well before the 10-year life cycle of the Xbox 360 and PS3 are up.
Over on VG247 an anonymous source
is being quoted as saying Sony is very confident of being able to
launch the PS4 before Microsoft can release the Xbox 720. Quite how Sony
or this source can be so sure is another matter. But if there is truth
to this particular rumour, it might suggest a Christmas 2013 release is
indeed on the cards for the PS4. Whether Microsoft can match that is one
for the rumour mill.
All this talk for a new round of consoles, and yet we have a pretty
awesome lineup of upcoming games. Just looking ahead into May, games
like Max Payne 3, Future Soldier and Starhawk should entertain us ahead
of the annual "dry" period around E3.
But what about that pre-Christmas retail rush when the biggest
and best games of the year see release? September through November truly
looks to be an amazing time for gamers, with a wide range of
blockbusters and genres on offer for console gamers.
(Culture, PC, PS3, Wii U, Xbox 360)
Activision is gearing up for a new Call of Duty game announcement.
The publisher's official Call of Duty site has changed overnight to reveal a new splash page detailing a forthcoming announcement on May 1.
One the page, the headline "World Reveal" is displayed beneath the Call
of Duty logo, and is accompanied by a countdown timer. The tagline
reveals the announcement will be made on May 1 during the basketball
playoffs on TNT.
Zooming out of the splash page, the site reveals 14 smaller windows,
currently all blacked out with the word "Classified" over the top.
However, clicking on each window reveals that different windows will be
'unlocked' at different times over the coming week leading up to the May
1 announcement.
Last week, a marketing poster from a retail source surfaced, hinting at an upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 reveal. The game has already been spotted on French and Spanish retailer websites, and an employee at a contract art studio listed work for Black Ops 2 on his resume.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
remains the most successful Call of Duty game to date, selling more
than 25 million copies through August 2011 and becoming the best-selling
game of all time in the US by the March following its debut.
Last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
initially sold at a faster pace than its predecessor, but failed to
make the NPD Group's Top 10 list in March, its fifth month of release.
Condemned Heroes pulls no punches and offers no surprises. This
stand-alone expansion to the brutally challenging Men of War real-time
strategy series offers more of the same as seen in the prior Vietnam and Assault Squad
games. Difficulty has been scaled back a bit from that of last year's
incredibly tough release set in the jungles of Vietnam, but that has in
turn been offset by dreary missions put together without a lot in the
way of imagination. This one struggles to live up to the Men of War
standard.
You generally need to do something suicidally stupid before the generals OK the tanks and regular soldiers to move in.
The setting of Condemned Heroes takes the series back to World War II
after that brief Vietnamese holiday in 2011. This time, you're doing the
Russian thing, guiding squads of Soviet prisoners freed by Uncle Joe as
part of the morale-raising "Not a step back" crusade that emptied
gulags in a last-ditch attempt to keep Moscow schoolkids from singing
"Deutschland Uber Alles" before class every morning. It's an interesting
premise that does a good job of explaining the suicidal nature of the
mission objectives (for once).
Your guys are the cannon fodder who undertake fun jobs like clearing
trenches and buildings for the regular troops following behind with
tanks, mortars, and the like.
The campaign consists of about 20 missions in total that take your
Russian Dirty Dozen from the desperate moments in the homeland in early
1944 through Poland and into Germany in the waning days of the war in
the spring of 1945. There isn't much of a story here, though. Troops are
readily replaceable, and there is no way to increase experience or
level up. The atmosphere is also thin due to odd choices like the voiced
mission directives being given without even the slightest pretense at a
cheesy Russian accent.
