Its official, new console is Nintendo.

[GoodBytes]

Pretty much, and they don't even dare changing the gun.

[Mooshi]

Whatever the overall opinions are of Nintendo, I still want the "new 3DS" and anticipate whatever comes after the Wii U.

[RainColt]

You'd have a point if the PS4 and XBone weren't, to a point, weaker than the PS3... Nintendo is looking to do a catch up, and that's fine with me. Refined cell shading or perhaps an art style more akin to Twilight Princess would be welcome, and I'm sure implementing that on such an open world would require more power.

Explain please because lets face it "The last of us" was pushing the limits of the PS3 and the PS4 can run it at 2x the frame rate so to what point is it weaker?

[Camul]

Oh cool. Can't wait to not buy this one too!

[Puddleuk]

innovation refers to the notion of doing something different rather than doing the same thing better. Innovation is always a gamble but Nintendo is one of those companies that has the BALLS to try new stuff, it doesn't always work but they are often to first to try something new and succeed with something new. 

 

​Example include Virtual Boy, basically the first dedicated 3D console. Just because it was a failure does not make the idea/notion less innovative for the time. An example of a HUGE success was the Wii and DS, which introduced motion and touch controls to the masses and was a success, it was again innovation (FYI the Eyetoy is an entirely different sort of motion control). Innovation is pushing new idea and new concepts, the Wii U is innovative as is the 3DS for obvious reasons, they are not just pushing for more powerful hardware and slightly improved controllers (Hello Xbox One Controller) they try something different. Kinect was innovative, even though EyeToy pre-dates it the Kinect was still more capable and was more mainstream. 

 

Innovation is key to the gaming industry and although some companies do innovate in some way every now and then, none do so as much as Nintendo and none are more dedicated than Nintendo for pushing those ideas, they don't just give up on the first hurdle unlike Micrsosoft who dropped Kinect 2 like a hot potato, which I still believe was a BIG mistake since now developers are not being pushed/motivated to make content for it.

[TAK]

.

[ThatFatMan1911]

Oh great! An updated Wii U is on the way with possibly the same games that we already have!

[patrickjp93]

Explain please because lets face it "The last of us" was pushing the limits of the PS3 and the PS4 can run it at 2x the frame rate so to what point is it weaker?

The CPU in the PS3 is much stronger in reality. Cell and Power8 have a huge IPC advantage over AMD's x86 architecture. That said, the GPU in the PS3 was at its limits. No denying that. A quad core Cell processor can go toe to toe and beat AMD's octal-core chips, much like Intel's 3770k beats the FX 8350 in most tasks, even multi-threaded ones.

[cesrai]

I do. I got a little mad that they just ignored the idea of better looking games and continued with their childish looking art style. I'd like to see them actually TRY to make something look good for once.

That is there style on games, you don't expect AC graphics in a Mario games, they choose that style and they stay with it for the game, when you pick a style for a game you keep it.

[LAwLz]

The CPU in the PS3 is much stronger in reality. Cell and Power8 have a huge IPC advantage over AMD's x86 architecture. That said, the GPU in the PS3 was at its limits. No denying that. A quad core Cell processor can go toe to toe and beat AMD's octal-core chips, much like Intel's 3770k beats the FX 8350 in most tasks, even multi-threaded ones.

I hope you realize that Power8 is not used in the Xbox 360 nor the PS3. Hell, not even Power7 or even 6 were out when the Xbox and PS3 launched.

There is a huge [Citation Needed] on that claim that a quad core cell processor can beat the octa core AMD processor. Especially since the cell barodband engine in the PS3 was an "8 core CPU" (one PPE and 7 SPE).

[RainColt]

The CPU in the PS3 is much stronger in reality. Cell and Power8 have a huge IPC advantage over AMD's x86 architecture. That said, the GPU in the PS3 was at its limits. No denying that. A quad core Cell processor can go toe to toe and beat AMD's octal-core chips, much like Intel's 3770k beats the FX 8350 in most tasks, even multi-threaded ones.

Do you have a link showcasing this because that processor is like 8 years old with only a few ticks in it's life cycle, I find it hard to believe that the Cell broadband engine will out shine a modern processor in a whole lot of cases, maybe one or two where that processor really shines, i'll admit the Cell processor was pretty impressive tech for it's time and it's disappointing that the consoles arnt even trying to push innovative hardware, but it's not like they have to innovate on CPU architecture very much, I've seen very few cases where the CPU was the limiting factor in games even on the PC, but this is a console where the companies that actually care about pushing the hardware (Console peasants praise be to Naughty dog) can push out every drop of performance possible out of the machine, it's a shame they didn't spend more on the GPU because I guarantee you that will be again where they hit there bottleneck.

[patrickjp93]

I hope you realize that Power8 is not used in the Xbox 360 nor the PS3. Hell, not even Power7 or even 6 were out when the Xbox and PS3 launched.

There is a huge [Citation Needed] on that claim that a quad core cell processor can beat the octa core AMD processor. Especially since the cell barodband engine in the PS3 was an "8 core CPU" (one PPE and 7 SPE).

The PS3 came out just before the FX 8120 launched, and you were better off building servers out of PS3s than you were either Intel or AMD chips at the time. What does that tell you?

[Techhog]

Nah, the Wii U uses a proprietary optical solution made by Nintendo and Panasonic. It might be very similar to BD (no one really knows for sure) as Panasonic do hold a few of the BD patents but its isn't BD and it isn't compatible with BD.

It's basically a BD played backwards. It's not just similar; it's the exact same tech. The Wii supposedly used a "proprietary" and "incompatible" disc compared to DVDs too, yet it was able to play DVDs when hacked.

[LAwLz]

The PS3 came out just before the FX 8120 launched, and you were better off building servers out of PS3s than you were either Intel or AMD chips at the time. What does that tell you?

Ehh... The FX 8120 was released in 2011. The PS3 was released in 2006. That's 5 years difference. That's hardly what I'd call "just before".

Also, if "because they were used to build super computers" is your only citation then that's a very weak statement. Just because it was used in some super computers doesn't mean they are better than AMD's current architecture for general purpose computing. The cell processor was great for float point calculations. They were used in super computers that needed to do lots of those kinds of calculations. That doesn't mean they are better for a gaming console with a good GPU that can handle floats.

So I am going to ask you again. [Citation Needed].

Your credibility just keeps going down. You bring up POWER architectures that are 7 years newer than what's used in the PS3, you're off by 5 years when the console launched and you don't have any evidence other than "well it was used in a handful of super computers many many years ago so obviously it's better than what we got today".

[patrickjp93]

Ehh... The FX 8120 was released in 2012. The PS3 was released in 2006. That's 6 years difference. That's hardly what I'd call "just before".

Also, if "because they were used to build super computers" is your only citation then that's a very weak statement. Just because it was used in some super computers doesn't mean they are better than AMD's current architecture for general purpose computing. The cell processor was great for float point calculations. They were used in super computers that needed to do lots of those kinds of calculations. That doesn't mean they are better for a gaming console with a good GPU that can handle floats.

So I am going to ask you again. [Citation Needed].

Your credibility just keeps going down. You bring up POWER architectures that are 7 years newer than what's used in the PS3, you're off by 6 years when the console launched and you don't have any evidence other than "well it was used in a handful of super computers many many years ago so obviously it's better than what we got today".

The 8320 was 2012-13. 8120 was 2011.

 

Given AMD's Bulldozer architecture is noted by many as a step backward or, at best, sideways from its predecessors and how we all know everything through piledriver and steamroller is barely an improvement, is it really such a stretch? Face it Lawlz you have no ground to stand on here.

 

Also, Cell is also quite good at doing network routing. It wasn't just used in FP calculations. In fact its bigger use was in databases.

 

You do realize perfectly objective evidence is impossible to find because no one rewrote benchmark software for the Cell architecture? All we have to do is look at how it stacked up against AMD's best phenoms at the time, because AMD hasn't improved significantly since then. If it's beyond you to make that simple an extrapolation, I feel quite sorry for you.

[LAwLz]

The 8320 was 2012-13. 8120 was 2011.

 

Given AMD's Bulldozer architecture is noted by many as a step backward or, at best, sideways from its predecessors and how we all know everything through piledriver and steam roller is barely an improvement, is it really such a stretch? Face it Lawlz you have no ground to stand on here.

The PS3 came out just before the FX 8120 launched

 

Playstation 3 launch date - November 2006.

Bulldozer launch date - October 12 2011.

 

Explain to me how I am wrong again? Still waiting on the evidence that changing the CPU in the PS4 to the cell processor would increase performance as well.

[patrickjp93]

Playstation 3 launch date - November 2006.

Bulldozer launch date - October 12 2011.

 

Explain to me how I am wrong again? Still waiting on the evidence that changing the CPU in the PS4 to the cell processor would increase performance as well.

facepalm* Because the Cell Processor has a lot more compute power available, even if it's pricier. Since AMD's APU can barely cut the mustard, beefing up those parallel pixel calculations would give a higher performance ceiling. Having more cores is only worthwhile if those cores can do x% as well as the old ones. In AMD's case, they can't do enough. Scaling already gets in the way of their lower IPC. Is it so hard to understand? It's the same reason you still see more PowerPC chips in servers than AMD's x86 chips. The IPC lies in IBM's favor. Hell, ARM does better!

 

Let's also not forget graphics is nothing more than parallel floating point math and a buffer flush at the end of the day. Having 6 process threads will only get you so far when the weak point is the GPU. To make up for it, shave off 2 CPU cores, go with Cell, and get some of your parallelized FP math back since we all know AMD's FPUs suck hard both because they take 8 clock cycles to do anything and because there's a shared FPU per 2 cores (yes, even on Jaguar) vs. Cell which had 2 FPUs per core that ran all ops in 6 cycles or fewer.

 

It's like human rights and basic equality: self-evident.

[Commander Llama]

Well this sounds fine.  Sure, they have people inside Nintendo looking ahead years and wondering on early designs of the next console?  Sounds pretty typical for projects of this scale, no?  If they launch in 2016 or 2017 that would be a 4-5 year lifespan.  Acceptable given the Wii U seemed like more of a half-step in terms of hardware and after 6 years.  The Wii U is gaining momentum fast and Nintendo has a fairly strong games portfolio for 2015/2016.  They subsist on sequels, sure, but not annual ones, and generally sequels done right (there may be bests, but every mario, zelda, kart, pokemon, smash, etc is very good and worth playing).  Many of their new IPs are very strong too.  With regards to indie, all three consoles are doing acceptably and have good libraries of indie titles releasing regularly, even if trailing behind PC all together.

 

So what's more embarrassing than that?  The other two companies that pushed out consoles that took just as long or longer to design, are more expensive, boast much better CPU, GPU, and memory capabilities, and yet they struggle to maintain 1080p/60fps performance.  Nintendo performances better in the aesthetic department too.  

[Albatross]

Wait...didn't the Wii U just come out last year or so?

 

I wish console developers would just sit down for a good year or two thinking before they rush out a system only slightly better than the last.

[GoodBytes]

Wait...didn't the Wii U just come out last year or so?

 

I wish console developers would just sit down for a good year or two thinking before they rush out a system only slightly better than the last.

That is what they are doing. It's called R&D.

It will take several years before they have the next console ready.

[Albatross]

That is what they are doing. It's called R&D.

It will take several years before they have the next console ready.

 

How do they define "several years"? Three? Four? The way they are talking, it sounds like it will be out in 2016-2017, which quite frankly, isn't enough time between systems.

[Master Disaster]

How do they define "several years"? Three? Four? The way they are talking, it sounds like it will be out in 2016-2017, which quite frankly, isn't enough time between systems.

Assuming a 2017 launch (which will be the most likely as there's already games confirmed as coming for the Wii U in 2016) that's 5 years, the same time as between the GC and the Wii (2001-2006) and only a years difference as between the Wii and the Wii U (2006-2012) so its actually bang on schedule.

[Albatross]

Assuming a 2017 launch (which will be the most likely as there's already games confirmed as coming for the Wii U in 2016) that's 5 years, the same time as between the GC and the Wii 2001-2006) and only a years difference as between the Wii and the Wii U (2006-2012) so its actually bang on schedule.

 

But from the GC to the Wii, the difference was considerable. I doubt the same amount of years from a Wii U to the next system will yield comparable or better results.

[Psykomantis00]

The PS3 came out just before the FX 8120 launched, and you were better off building servers out of PS3s than you were either Intel or AMD chips at the time. What does that tell you?

This is probably one of the single dumbest things I've read in a while. Congratulations. 

[patrickjp93]

This is probably one of the single dumbest things I've read in a while. Congratulations. 

Only if you're an ignorant twat with no knowledge of computer architectures.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_3_cluster