Are Wii Paying $250 For A Controller?
Legendary Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said in this Joystiq entry that the upcoming Nintendo Wii console has hardware that's the same as a Nintendo GameCube.
If that's true, then what will gamers get when they buy a Wii next month? A $250 controller? It sure seems that way to me, although I need to see and play a Wii.
posted by PK @ 10/05/2006
2 comments
2 Comments:
How to put this so it isn't longer than your post...
My understanding is that the quote is a translation from an August interview, where Miyamoto was talking primarily about game development. If that is the case, it isn't much of a surprise.
What Nintendo has said all along is that it is built on the same technology platform, just faster chips. The Wii is like going to a 486 from a 386 (that dates me!) - it does the same things a bit better, and can handle a little bit more. But if you can write a program for the 386, and have developers for that, there isn't much you need to learn for the 486.
Sony & Microsoft have both changed technology platforms. Utilizing the Cell chip, or the 3-chip & GPU array of the 360, are complete shifts. The structure is so different that Sony is including a PS2 chip because they can't get emulation correct on the Cell.
What Nintendo has done is take an existing game development platform and refine it. They then focused on how you interact with that structure. The only comparable thing that springs to mind is when Apple introduced a GUI based on the mouse. The IBM PCs were more advanced hardware, but the paradigm shifting interface of the Mac was the revolutionary move.
Nintendo is hoping for the Mac of gaming. From their Apple-esque design to the seemingly silly but memorable naming, Nintendo is hoping to have a disruptive business model that changes gaming as a whole.
This comment is so not shorter than your post. Sorry!
Interesting points, Erik. Thanks.
Oh, I remember Timex Sinclairs and Apple II's. So you're not that dated with 386-486 references! :)
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