

Nintendo confirms launching new console in 2012, playable at E3 - spaetzel
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/04/nintendo-confirms-new-system-for-2012-playable-at-junes-e3.ars

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bitwize
Some of the leaked images have ad copy like "most developer friendly console"
and "easy porting from PC and Xbox 360".

All of which suggests one thing.

Nintendo licensed Direct3D.

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Andrex
Those are definitely fake. The font for the Nintendo logo in one of the pics
is Pretendo with uneven spacing between letters.

This will probably run OpenCL like the 3DS does.

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kluikens
Do you have a source on OpenCL being used for 3DS programming? I'm interested
but couldn't find anything.

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apl
I suspect he meant Open _G_ L. 3DS has a PICA200, supporting OpenGL ES 1.1
(which is a bit old-fashioned but workable).

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bitwize
But no one actually uses OpenGL for console games. It's all custom libs (which
is basically Direct3D on the Xbox).

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rpedroso
_Nintendo has a new system that will be more powerful than the PlayStation 3
or the Xbox 360._

I would hope so when competing against consoles that were released 6 years
earlier. I'm curious to see how they will implement a "large touch-screen" on
the controller, since it calls to mind radically different designs than Wii
controllers.

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m0shen
The pictures that were leaked ( [http://www.slashgear.com/nintendo-
wii-2-stream-leaks-hd-and-...](http://www.slashgear.com/nintendo-wii-2-stream-
leaks-hd-and-touchscreen-controllers-in-late-2011-22147801/) ) suggest that
they are abandoning the Wii motion control scheme altogether.

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icefox
There are a lot of interesting ideas that you could put together when everyone
has a private screen. I wrote up the cons and pros of having such a system and
where the innovation will come from when I was looking at tablets as the
controllers:

<https://github.com/icefox/tablet_tv_games>

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mukyu
The Gamecube already had private screens with GBA adapters.

In Crystal Chronicles each player had their own menu, a secret competitive
challenge (in an otherwise cooperative game), and a unique view of the area
(one gets a map, one gets a dot for every monster, one gets a dot for every
chest, one gets information on monster attributes).

Four Swords also used the GBA screen, but it was basically just so you could
go in a dungeon and wander off without splitting the screen on the TV or
making you stay together.

There were probably more games that used GBAs for private screens or other
multiplayer gameplay, but I cannot recall them off the top of my head.

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Anon84
I'm still surprised we haven't heard anything official about a PS4... The PS3
came out 6 years after the PS2 and it has been out for 5+ years already.

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torme
I'm pretty sure that both Microsoft and Sony are on a 10 year plan with both
of those systems, which means you won't hear anything about a PS4 for another
couple years at least.

That said, this seems like a pretty smart move on Nintendo's part. They get to
release hardware thats not the most expensive/fastest available, but still
beats the current market, and gets to live at the top of the performance chart
for at least a few years.

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reitzensteinm
From what I understand, the often quoted 10 year plan includes overlap with
the release of the next console, similar to how the PS2 still sold quite well
at the start of the PS3 era, as well as the PS1 before it.

The PS3 was announced about 18 months before availabiltiy, so we actually
should be pretty close to an announcement.

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sachinag
The rational thing for Sony and Microsoft to do is to stand down on any new
console. Both consoles push 1080p and there's been no mass adoption of 3D or
other display technology to warrant a new introduction; Crysis 2 is being
released for both platforms and there's no real consumer demand for yet more
polygons. Both companies are able to turn profits on their gaming divisions;
Nintendo isn't likely to outcompete them on a technical basis, either.

In short, I think the 10 year horizon might actually be _too short_.

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alnayyir
Please no, both consoles have been holding back PC gaming. Crysis 2 actually
has lower system requirements than the original Crysis precisely because they
bent over backwards to make it work for PS3 and 360.

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jshen
I consider this a positive.

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alanfalcon
It's Crysis, not World of Warcraft.

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jshen
It's about market share, not hard core gamers ;)

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alnayyir
Actually it's about pushing the state of the art and the technology, something
hardcore gamers have been the main driving force for in computing since the
mid 90s.

But forget all that, you want to make money off of a Farmville clone.

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bryanh
Interesting that they are pretty much abandoning their massive lead on casual
gaming (which is a way bigger market than hardcore gamers). My parents enjoy
playing Wii, but I don't see them buying/playing a console with 4 extra
screens.

Sounds like a gimmick to this guy. I have a feeling Microsoft and Sony are
giddy as hell because Nintendo is about to drop the ball.

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Jach
They haven't abandoned the casual gaming market, they've conquered it and now
they're moving up the tier where Microsoft and Sony have retreated and where
those two may meet their doom. See [http://classic-
web.archive.org/web/20080325182052/http://mal...](http://classic-
web.archive.org/web/20080325182052/http://malstrom.50webs.com/birdman.html)

I've gotten used to dismissing people who dismiss Nintendo's next things as
mere gimmicks. "It's a toy" is often the hardest criticism: well so what,
we're talking about video games not deadly weapons.

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nnash
Nintendo releases the Wii, Wii stalls next-gen consoles by shifting the focus
of other companies to create movement sensing peripherals. The Wii moves on to
the next market, that is some good strategy right there.

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checoivan
I'd get one just to play Donkey Kong Country,Zelda,and Metroid in Xbox like
graphics.

Though the leak says no 3D now, looks like a classic Nintendo move where in 2
years an upgraded 3D screen controller will be out at ~80 bucks each.

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doyoulikeworms
I'm guessing that it more has to do with the state of their 3D tech.
Maintaining the "sweet spot", and all would be pretty difficult with a
handheld controller piloting a console.

Have you watched kids (or maybe even yourself) play a game? Writhing around in
your seat, leaning with your virtual character's movements, leaning forward at
those particularly tense moments... it all makes for a tough sell when you
need to view your 3D screen at a particular angle in order to see anything but
a blurry mess.

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teamonkey
The Ars link says Nintendo's profits have dropped this year but it doesn't say
that it's by as much as 66%.

[http://gamasutra.com/view/news/34263/Nintendo_Confirms_Wii_S...](http://gamasutra.com/view/news/34263/Nintendo_Confirms_Wii_Successor_For_2012_Posts_66_Profit_Decline.php)

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jsmcgd
I really hope they release a workable VR console. All the individual component
technology exists, we just need an innovative company to bring together into
one affordable package.

