[News] New Nintendo console "Project Cafe" due 2012

It's official, Nintendo have put out statements confirming that they will be revealing their successor to the Wii (currently codenamed "Project Cafe") at E3 this year. Additionally they've stated that it will be launching in 2012.

Some rumoured specs and details have also appeared today, though these are nothing to do with the official information:

Quote:

Nintendo's rumoured Wii successor, thought to be codenamed Project Café, will run off AMD's R700 GPU architecture, according to a new report.

Anonymous sources told IGN that, on that basis, the system will out-perform the PlayStation 3's NVIDIA 7800GTX-based processor.

Its CPU will apparently be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset similar to that of the Xbox 360 but with faster clocking speeds.

According to the sources, the console will output at 1080p with possible, but as yet unconfirmed, support for stereoscopic 3D as well.

It's also claimed that the console will be roughly the same size as the original Xbox 360 and resemble a modern take on the classic SNES' form.

The report claims it'll be manufactured by the Taiwanese Foxconn plant and be ready to ship this October, though Nintendo may hold back the release to build up stock and give developers more time to finish software.

A potential price tag of between $350 (£212) and $400 (£242) is suggested.

[ source ]


So are people interested, excited or care at all? What can Nintendo actually bring to the table that will seem like a decent follow up to the Wii beyond a Wii HD?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Shin

Like I say, it might just be my circle of friends and across the rest of the UK, Wii games are flying off the shelves but that every game shop I go into has half the shop PS3, half 360 and a tiny Wii section crammed in the corner would suggest otherwise.

No, I don't think that's just a UK thing, the Wii does have a poorer attach rate for games. Proof, were it needed, can be found on backloggery: system software tie-in ratio stats. To summarise the current gen offerings in terms of average number of games owned per system (in brackets, if you include each system's online arcade game store - XBLA, PSN, WiiWare):

360 - 16.5 (28.7)
NDS - 13.9
PS3 - 11.6 (20.2)
PSP - 10.3
Wii - 9.8 (14.5)

Now bear in mind the stats will be geared towards the high side because backloggery is populated by people who generally have a lot of games and are pretty hardcore gamers for the most part. But still, even amongst that game-happy set the Wii falls behind.

I'm definitely interested to see what Nintendo announce, but really the most important thing is the games, and preferably it'll be those without stupid annoying gimmicks in them.

There's nowhere I can't reach.