akugami
Diamond Member
- Feb 14, 2005
- 6,210
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IMHO Nintendo has no need to put out an overly powerful system. Keep in mind that regardless of when and what Sony or Microsoft puts out as their next consoles they'll still be restricted by the 1080p resolution. We're also at the point where there is diminishing returns for more powerful hardware. Nintendo is in a pretty good position to release a console and not get burned too much by MS or Sony in terms of hardware power.
The next big jump will be full photo realism and that won't be for a while. Don't get me wrong, GPU's and CPU's have continued to improve but the jump in power just isn't as noticeable to the average layperson. This is even more evident by consoles that have a set hard ceiling of 1920x1080 at this time. If Nintendo just aims for a point where they can get top of the line heavy action games to perform at 30fps minimum at 1080p with no slowdown then 95% of the games buying population will not notice any difference in power even if MS or Sony can do it at 60fps for their next consoles.
Assuming AMD is the maker of the GPU for Nintendo, and there's no news to the contrary, AMD would be wise to get off their asses and get a decent physics API out for the new Nintendo console. I know they're working on something based on Bullet Physics. They have a premier showcase to get themselves back in the driver seat in the GPU wars. If it's just another ho-hum graphics update then AMD loses a prime chance to boost their mindshare.
Nintendo is likely only showing early "bullshots" of the console at E3 and they might even have a few tech demos but it's unlikely to be running on any actual alpha or beta hardware. Likely demoing is all they're doing at this point and maybe making a few game announcements. Nintendo will likely cut off all news until E3 next year when they actually show a working hardware and the next Nintendo console will be released in the second half of 2012.
Considering the estimated time frame of the next Nintendo consoles release, it is a good bet that its GPU will be a candidate for manufacturing on a 28nm process. This means AMD can cram a decent amount of power in a relatively small space. I'd say enough to reach their goal in making a GPU powerful enough to describe the situation above but cheap enough to be economical for Nintendo's needs. The only snag is that TSMC doesn't expect 28nm to be more than about 2-3% of its business in Q4 2011. Again, assuming a Q4 2012 release for the next Nintendo console that means that AMD won't need any significant production ramp up of console GPU's until late Q2 in the June or July time frame and allowing time for Nintendo to stock pile a decent amount of consoles for a late October or early November holiday release.
Nintendo will likely couple it with a quad core processor from IBM to keep backwards compatibility with their previous consoles so no AMD CPU in there. There will probably be a new "gimick" to pull in casual gamers but the difference between the Wii and the next Nintendo console will be that this one is decently powerful enough that developers will have little to complain about. I think all this is achievable with a $300-350 price point. Nintendo is very cost conscious and have seen how previous pricey consoles (3DO, SNK
The next big jump will be full photo realism and that won't be for a while. Don't get me wrong, GPU's and CPU's have continued to improve but the jump in power just isn't as noticeable to the average layperson. This is even more evident by consoles that have a set hard ceiling of 1920x1080 at this time. If Nintendo just aims for a point where they can get top of the line heavy action games to perform at 30fps minimum at 1080p with no slowdown then 95% of the games buying population will not notice any difference in power even if MS or Sony can do it at 60fps for their next consoles.
Assuming AMD is the maker of the GPU for Nintendo, and there's no news to the contrary, AMD would be wise to get off their asses and get a decent physics API out for the new Nintendo console. I know they're working on something based on Bullet Physics. They have a premier showcase to get themselves back in the driver seat in the GPU wars. If it's just another ho-hum graphics update then AMD loses a prime chance to boost their mindshare.
Nintendo is likely only showing early "bullshots" of the console at E3 and they might even have a few tech demos but it's unlikely to be running on any actual alpha or beta hardware. Likely demoing is all they're doing at this point and maybe making a few game announcements. Nintendo will likely cut off all news until E3 next year when they actually show a working hardware and the next Nintendo console will be released in the second half of 2012.
Considering the estimated time frame of the next Nintendo consoles release, it is a good bet that its GPU will be a candidate for manufacturing on a 28nm process. This means AMD can cram a decent amount of power in a relatively small space. I'd say enough to reach their goal in making a GPU powerful enough to describe the situation above but cheap enough to be economical for Nintendo's needs. The only snag is that TSMC doesn't expect 28nm to be more than about 2-3% of its business in Q4 2011. Again, assuming a Q4 2012 release for the next Nintendo console that means that AMD won't need any significant production ramp up of console GPU's until late Q2 in the June or July time frame and allowing time for Nintendo to stock pile a decent amount of consoles for a late October or early November holiday release.
Nintendo will likely couple it with a quad core processor from IBM to keep backwards compatibility with their previous consoles so no AMD CPU in there. There will probably be a new "gimick" to pull in casual gamers but the difference between the Wii and the next Nintendo console will be that this one is decently powerful enough that developers will have little to complain about. I think all this is achievable with a $300-350 price point. Nintendo is very cost conscious and have seen how previous pricey consoles (3DO, SNK