Wii CPU enters production

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 11:41 am

http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/43782" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In late breaking news that came after a day of hype by various gaming blogs yesterday, Nintendo and IBM Corp. announced that the Broadway CPUs used in Nintendo's upcoming Wii console have entered production. "The first chips are in our possession," said Nintendo senior director and general manager of integrated R&D Genyo Takeda. "Today's milestone marks the final stage of our drive to reach both core and nontraditional gamers with an inviting, inclusive and remarkable gaming experience." The chips feature silicon-on-insulator technology that reduces energy consumption by 20% while improving processing power.

Earlier this week, Sony announced that it has stockpiled many of the Cell processors used to power its upcoming PlayStation 3.

Hahaha, so why aren't people freaking out about no real Wii hardware so close to launch, and that they're ONLY NOW getting the first CPUs off the line.

Maybe because the Wii CPU is so damn similar to the Gamecube CPU they've been running all the tech demos on so far...

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 10 Sep 2006 11:46 am

The wii cpu is a lot smaller then other next gen cpu's so i'm sure they should be able to produce quite a lot more cpu's per waffer. If they're launching in november they should have enough by then. But looks like 360 is the only system with ample supply for christmas.

Shaneus · Post by **Shaneus** » 10 Sep 2006 11:53 am

People aren't freaking out because we've seen a real working controller, ingame footage of at least five games and pretty much everyone is considering the Wii as a secondary console, not a primary one (hence the lack of urgency/bitching about possible shortages etc.).

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 12:04 pm

Shane, the same time everyone saw a "real working controller" for the Wii, they saw one for the PS3, at E3. They also saw and even played "in game footage" for at least 5 games then. I know how biased you are against Sony, but at least get your facts straight before you start bagging them

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 10 Sep 2006 12:31 pm

Mech a lot developers don't even have the final controllers for the ps3. Nintendo had the wiimote many months before sony announced their copy cat solution, remember the boomerang controller. Also at e3 i'm pretty certain only the warhawk unit had the motion sensing controller. All other demo units were running on the dev kits which use standard ds controllers. The ones developers are still stuck with now cause sony hasn't shipped the final motion sensing controller to a lot of 3rd party developers.

Mech we all know how biased you are too when it comes to sony, so please don't play that lame card.

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 12:35 pm

What does anything you've written have to do what I wrote? And how does it negate what I wrote? I was correcting Shane, because he was wrong. We've "seen a real working controller [and] in game footage of at least five games", unless you'd care to differ?

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 10 Sep 2006 12:47 pm

Shaneus was just making the point that what we've seen of wii seems pretty complete. All 3rd parties have final controllers and developed games around them. Sony on the hand, only really first parties have access to the final controller a lot of 3rd parties don't have it yet. the controllers was announced pretty late in the game.

Also with respect to the cpu's, cell is a massive cpu in terms of trasistor, probably around 3x the size of a gekko. So a single waffer can produce a lot more gekkos and since it's a nice small chip, the yields would be very high. So unlike sony nintendo don't nee d to stock pile chips for months before. Also everything else inside the wii is pretty easy to source component wise, so they should be able to make plenty for launch and keep that supply up.

nintendo don't have a blue laser crisis, cell yield issues to deal with. I think your concern is misdirected.

Shaneus · Post by **Shaneus** » 10 Sep 2006 02:26 pm

Obviously (or maybe, not so obviously) my post was exaggerated... my point was of those things I mentioned, we've seen more... I dunno, "complete", or at least close-to-final examples of pretty much everything on the Wii. When it comes to the PS3 though, we've seen very little in the way of a launch list, software nearing launch quality or even impressions of those in the industry (of which we've seen quite a few for the Wii) who aren't directly linked to the machine.

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 10 Sep 2006 02:41 pm

don't worry about mech, he doesn't understand exaggeration or hyperbole
also he is a pedantic fuckbrain

Megaman · Post by **Megaman** » 10 Sep 2006 03:27 pm

mech wrote:Hahaha, so why aren't people freaking out about no real Wii hardware so close to launch

They'll be able to meet demand.

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 03:29 pm

According to your logic selfish, anything written incorrectly that I don't agree with is simply hyperbole. There's a difference between being uninformed and hyperbole.

PS3 is looking a lot more complete for launch than the 360 was last year, and yet the anti-Sony brigade are harping on about it like it's somehow more undercooked than Microsoft had things last year. At E3 Xbox 360 games were running on Mac dev kits. They got final dev kits about a month before launch. It was crazy, but they pulled it off, no reason that can't happen here.

Nintendo devs don't have final hardware yet btw, no one knows how to program the speaker in the remote yet, and they were lacking proper dev kits for ages.

I never harp on about how great Sony is, I simply attack the fanboy rubbish that goes too far, and yet I'm branded a Sony fanboy. Meanwhile at home the only Sony gear I've got is a PS2 and a PSP, but I've got two Xboxes and a 360 (my 360 being my most played console atm), every Nintendo console ever, and every console released since the Nintendo 64. I don't subscribe to brand loyalty, whatever's decent gets my vote. But because Pep and I don't have the same rabid anti-Sony fanboy streak that most of this board has, we're both branded Sony fanboys. It's ridiculous.

I mean come on, lestat was the same guy who was trying to tell us that Sony was going to get pummelled last generation, that Pep was being a fanboy in predicting their dominance would continue (what an awesome thread

) and look how that turned out. It's little surprise he's continuing in the same manner this generation. Meanwhile I've never called it on which console will win the next generation, just that I think some people are being overly pessimistic about Sony's chances. That's it.

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 10 Sep 2006 03:33 pm

mech wrote:But because Pep and I don't have the same rabid anti-Sony fanboy streak that most of this board has, we're both branded Sony fanboys. It's ridiculous.

the rest of it i didn't care about, but this is painfully true

and how is it possible that you don't see the difference between exaggerating and trying to be serious and telling the whole truth?
shaneus and i aren't conspiring on msn or anything, you just can't handle people stretching the truth a bit
meh

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 03:51 pm

Not when it's against my beloved Sony, no.

lestat · Post by **lestat** » 10 Sep 2006 03:53 pm

PS3 is looking a lot more complete for launch than the 360 was last year, and yet the anti-Sony brigade are harping on about it like it's somehow more undercooked than Microsoft had things last year. At E3 Xbox 360 games were running on Mac dev kits. They got final dev kits about a month before launch. It was crazy, but they pulled it off, no reason that can't happen here.

Yes they did pull it off, yet sony failed to hit spring, have now failed to deliver the machine in Europe on the date they intended, downgraded the machine spec on several occasions. Sony originally stated they going to ship 2 million units at launch worldwide. I’m sorry mech but sony have been dropping the ball like crazy and they’ve already admitted failure to hit the promises they made at e3.

I never harp on about how great Sony is, I simply attack the fanboy rubbish that goes too far, and yet I'm branded a Sony fanboy. Meanwhile at home the only Sony gear I've got is a PS2 and a PSP, but I've got two Xboxes and a 360 (my 360 being my most played console atm), every Nintendo console ever, and every console released since the Nintendo 64. I don't subscribe to brand loyalty, whatever's decent gets my vote. But because Pep and I don't have the same rabid anti-Sony fanboy streak that most of this board has, we're both branded Sony fanboys. It's ridiculous.

I guess that ps2 is awesome thread never existed, I don’t remember seeing you create a xbox is awesome thread. Or all that defending on sony’s part when a lot of their ps2 launch games were absolute rubbish when the ps2 was released. C’mon you guys are running so much damage control here, it’s no wonder people are branding you as sony fanboys because you are. I’m pretty much certain pep is intending on passing on 360 all together, he only wanted 1 console for next gen and pc and guess what console it will be.

BTW it is ok to like a brand more than another, we are molded by our positive and negative experiences with said brands. Over time we get biased because of it.

I mean come on, lestat was the same guy who was trying to tell us that Sony was going to get pummelled last generation, that Pep was being a fanboy in predicting their dominance would continue (what an awesome thread ) and look how that turned out. It's little surprise he's continuing in the same manner this generation. Meanwhile I've never called it on which console will win the next generation, just that I think some people are being overly pessimistic about Sony's chances. That's it.

Looks like you’re calling sony to keep dominating this generation. Also who would of thought last gen sega would bow out of the hardware race and ms would throw their hat into the ring. M$ is really the only company with the money and resources to take on sony, so it’s gonna be interesting to see what happens. Personally I see the market being split evenly which I think is overall and great thing for gaming. PS2 dominating hasn’t done anything positive in terms of next generation except create an arrogant and clumsy sony. Hell if ms weren’t around we’d all be playing low def ps2 games for another 2 years, yuck.

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 04:06 pm

I guess that ps2 is awesome thread never existed, I don’t remember seeing you create a xbox is awesome thread.

I've said many a time how awesome my Xbox is, unfortunately it's more for its homebrew than the games, but I did have some of the best gaming experiences of the last gen on there - KOTOR and Halo 1 & 2 in particular. 4-16 player Halo 1 LANs were the absolute highlight of last generation for me, soooo much fun.

The PS2 is awesome thread came about because I hadn't played my PS2 in years, and was surprised at how well some of the games held up and how many great new games were coming out, something that's not really happening with the Xbox right now.

Looks like you’re calling sony to keep dominating this generation.

Incorrect.

Personally I see the market being split evenly

We're actually in agreement here. I think MS has done some great things with 360, and apart from the Japanese market, it will do great in all the other markets. I think PS3 may beat it by a little, but really, all bets are off, these are just vague guesses, and the outcome isn't nearly as clear as it was last generation.

Your little rant at the end about MS and stuff is irrelevent. I think Microsoft's involvement is good as well. I don't particularly care who "wins" the generation, I just want a good gaming experience, and this looks like it could be the best generation ever. Good to see things ever improving.

It's funny, if PS3 sells "only" as much as the 360 it will be seen as a failure. It's like PSP, the expectations are so high that anything other than total domination will not be seen as a success. Sony has an image problem no matter what, and their current arrogance is not helping. It was Nintendo's arrogance even in the face of massive market-share loss that really made them lose face in my eyes, Sony look like they could be heading down the same path. Hopefully they will shut Ken K up and turn things around, but who knows.

Peppermint Lounge · Post by **Peppermint Lounge** » 10 Sep 2006 06:18 pm

lestat wrote:I’m pretty much certain pep is intending on passing on 360 all together, he only wanted 1 console for next gen and pc and guess what console it will be.

I wish I could get only one but alas it will be two. Unfortunately PS3 and 360 have content that can't be missed.

Like mech says the pro Sony stuff occurs in the face of fellow members who just love to slag Sony off. I've never been one to slag off other brands. If you were to visit mech's place you'd find the absolute definition of anti-fanboy. I must admit the only console I have connected at the moment is my PS2. Oh and my PSP which admittedly has me loving Sony more than usual at the moment. Hmm, so yeah I am looking quite the Sony fanboy at the moment.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 10 Sep 2006 07:10 pm

lestat wrote:they should be able to produce quite a lot more cpu's per waffer.

Did anyone else hear the sound of an english teacher crying and then a gunshot?

AgOnNy · Post by **AgOnNy** » 10 Sep 2006 07:44 pm

I will get a Wii when its under $300... and a PS3 when there's some decent games (MGS4 mainly) and under $600.

By the way, FUCK YOU CUNTS!

selfish · Post by **selfish** » 10 Sep 2006 08:05 pm

i heard it talez
i just didn't want to make a ruckus

BOOMY · Post by **BOOMY** » 10 Sep 2006 08:42 pm

This started with mech attempting an exagerated dig at the wii. People had an apropriately exagerated response. Now its just turned a screaming match over whether mech is biased cock sucker or not.

'Sure ended up better by starting that one.

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 08:53 pm

Exaggerated? How so? The CPUs ARE damn similar! And they HAVE been using Gamecube CPUs.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 10 Sep 2006 09:38 pm

mech wrote:Exaggerated? How so? The CPUs ARE damn similar! And they HAVE been using Gamecube CPUs.

Debunked over a month ago

mech · Post by **mech** » 10 Sep 2006 09:45 pm

I wasn't talking about those leaked specs, I did see that article on Ars. They are similar enough that devs began work with Gamecube dev kits, i.e. very similar. The guys I know working on a Wii title were just given a very early prototype Wii-mote, some libraries, and told to just start work with their old dev kits. Obviously the CPUs must also be reasonably similar power wise, given the similarity in graphics between Wii and Gamecube.

Talez · Post by **Talez** » 10 Sep 2006 09:55 pm

mech wrote:I wasn't talking about those leaked specs, I did see that article on Ars. They are similar enough that devs began work with Gamecube dev kits, i.e. very similar. The guys I know working on a Wii title were just given a very early prototype Wii-mote, some libraries, and told to just start work with their old dev kits. Obviously the CPUs must also be reasonably similar power wise, given the similarity in graphics between Wii and Gamecube.

A dev kit need not be bound to an architechture. Look at XCode on OS X. It can cross compile between PPC and IA-32 with the same high level code perfectly fine.

Candy Arse · Post by **Candy Arse** » 10 Sep 2006 10:23 pm

So by production I presume they mean this is the week when underpaid chinamen begin sticking the GAMECUBE NINTENDO innards into the Wii cases?

If 20,000 underpaid chinamen can stick 20 GAMECUBE NINTENDO innards into Wii cases per week, how many Wii's will Nintendo have ready for a November launch?

The Games Ranch

Wii CPU enters production

Wii CPU enters production

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