In a recent post, I talked a bit about the Wii, X Box 360, and the PS3. I dug up a lot of articles to get a few facts for that post, and I kept reading after the post. Since then I have done some thinking and I have some theories: My theories: 1080 supportWhile the resolution is currently 480, the full power of the ATI "Hollywood" chip is unknown (Little information has been released, most information about the chip has has been obtained by hacking apart a Wii). Since the chip can read all the good stuff that the Game Cube's "Flipper" video chip, everyone assumes it is an upgrade. But upgrade implies some kind of improvement, and a 720 or 1080 resolution is an improvement. Unconfirmed reports from "drunken employees" claim that the Wii can support 1080. The current Pinout of the Wii AV interface supports YPbPr, 16:9 switchable interface, but thankfully not enough pins for HDMI. One of the pins on the AV connector also supports an adjustable number of lines. So, the current connector with a YPbPr connector can support HD. So, 1080 support can be as simple as a firmware "switch", or a small single chip hardware upgrade in a "new and improved" version of the Wii. DVD support (or a HD disk support) The original prototype of the Wii (Called "Nintendo Revolution") was a black version of the Wii, and had full DVD support. The current Wii does not have DVD support out of the box, though a small hardware mod and boot disk make a Wii able to play a DVD. However this mod does require "griding away pins on the MB" and a new chip thrown on, along with the bot disk swap out. After the initial release of the Wii, some PR people went on record claiming DVD capabilities would be added in late 2007. The post-release delay was claimed to be due to "fee negotiations" about the cost of DVD standards. Since then, the exact date statement has been recanted, and has been unofficially changed to "someday". This kinda hints that DVD capabilities can be added with a firmware upgrade and a "DVD Channel" thing. Several polls have indicated that the majority of users want DVD capabilities. The majority of that majority is willing to pay "something" for it, similar to how Opera costs 5 bucks. Personally, I would pay a small few for a "DVD Channel". However, there is a chance this intentional delay is in some strategic plan. Driver updates are not an issue with the Wii, as now we can use a USB keyboard, and shortly AAC support is anticipated. Major upgrades/releases in the console world tend to happen 3 times during a year: Nov-Dec (the majority of the releases, for the discount seeking and christmas crowd), Feb-Mar-Apr (the very seldom release date, to screw over the Christmas crowd post in-store return dates), Jun-Jul-Aug (mid year renew interest / fix bugs). If a DVD upgrade was going to happen, obviously this is not going to be a 2007 Black Friday (as even plans of a Wednesday/Thursday ad campaign would have been leaked out through some anonymous channel). The question to ask Nintendo is why? Are they waiting for a Wii ver 1.5 release once demand for the Wii starts to decrease (expected early/mid 2008)? Maybe they are waiting to release the Wii with a HD Video Disk upgrade once the format war settles down (as 2 years ago, some people were predicting the HD Video Disk format war would be settled by this 2007 Nov-Dec period). There has to be some high level scheming reason, though completely understandable in a capitalistic society. Lack of REAL online gaming support While the Wii does have the option of buying Emulator games, no new "next generation" games have been produced or distributed through the online system. This is kinda a disappointment. Put on top of that no multiplayer online support (coming soon though). Think of playing Metroid Prime 3 multiplayer online, though the first bets will be either Mario Party 9 or Super Smash Brothers Brawl. The "virtual console" purchasing as it stands is an interesting phenomenon amongst Wii players. Nostalgic purchases are made, only to the enjoyment of better hand-eye coordination and a better gaming unit. Many purchases already have PC based emulators, or the real units & games sitting in boxes in the attic / closet. Though the XBox 360 has been around for twice the time as the Wii, it has generated an amazing online user base and new game library. Some players purchase the Xbox 360 with the "camel's back" breaking factor of this online connectivity that mimics PC games. I think Nintendo has made a mistake in limiting the publics ability to publish low-end games via the SDK onto WiiConnect. This ability was promised a while ago, but yet has failed to come around. Odd little games keep the end user entertained between big disk based releases of a certain genre, while Nintendo collects small royalties on each release. Most likely Nintendo is worried about the "clean Nintendo image" straying too far from the norm with the release of independent games through an official channel. Hopefully they will fix that soon, as that "image protection" thing was a contributing factor to the death of the Sega Dreamcast. |
