ATI: Wii Graphics at E3 "Tip of the Iceberg"

[Zeus]

According to an ATI rep, what we saw from the graphical capability of the Wii on show at this years E3 was just the 'tip of the iceberg' - hinting that there is a whole lot more to come from the Wii's Hollywood GPU. Some industry sources state the Wii as a console is 2 to 2.5 times more powerful than the Gamecube.


But that doesn't mean that Wii games will simply look like GameCube titles using a unique control method. Nintendo already told us that the hardware being used at E3 was not finalized. Moreover, during the show GameDaily BIZ met with ATI, which is providing the "Hollywood" GPU for the Wii, and John Swinimer, Senior Public Relations Manager of Consumer Products, emphasized that the Wii architecture is capable of producing far better results than what we've witnessed thus far. "I think what you saw [on Wii] was just the tip of the iceberg of what the Hollywood chip can bring to the Nintendo Wii," he said.

We tried to pry some design specs out of ATI, but Swinimer would only offer the following: "I'm really not here to talk about the design specs... other than the fact that ATI worked closely with Nintendo. The team that worked on this chip also worked on the Flipper chip that was in GameCube, and they've been working with Nintendo for a very long time so there's a great chemistry with the two teams working together."

He continued, "I really don't think that it's about the [specs]; I think it's about the innovation that it brings to the table—the motion-sensing, the always-on capability, which is really cool too—the fact that the chip is powerful enough and responsive enough to be there at a moment's notice, and I think that's pretty cool for the average gamer."


News Source: <a href="http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=12859" target="_blank">Gamedaily.com</a>

[wiggim]

So about as powerful as an xbox? I Think the GC was 486mhz, the xbox is 700mhz.. with nintendo all that matters is the innovation anyway.. they have few and far between graphically intense games.

[livefigga]

I commend Nintendo to sticking to gameplay and innovation over raw power, plus it'll keep the Wii at a decent price unlike ps3 who want a months rent of your house just to get the system.

[SONIC]

So about as powerful as an xbox? I Think the GC was 486mhz, the xbox is 700mhz.. with nintendo all that matters is the innovation anyway.. they have few and far between graphically intense games.

Don't stick that strictly to numbers, and please, get over the MHz-myth, kthxbye

[chukz]

I agree with Sonic, it's not only about megahertz

especially lately with all these technical advancements such as Pixel Shaders and vertex what not with buffer dedication effect or w/e

but really there are other things that just can't be measured with speed alone, there are other things that are more important.

but even the pics I saw of Super Mario Galaxy looked really nice, same with Legend of Zelda.

I guess we just have to wait and see :)

[Azariel Z]

I already mentioned on another psot, Wii is more like an upgrade from the Gamecube, that I consider was a nice hardware, indeed, but with the current features needed to play this and the next cycles of games.
I Also bet, Nintendo wont let the Wii rule for so much long time, I guess another upgrade will come in shorter time, maybe 3-4 years, with more near specs to today's Ps3, sure with better price than today s.

[shakoor_h]

Well I've got to say that the graphics shown at E3 for the Wii were not very good. Resident Evil on the GC is equal to those graohics if not better than most of the games they showed. So its fair to say that is just the tip of the iceberg,because the graphics weren't the thing that was impressing, the interaction with the game was.

[Azariel Z]

The things I realized most from the videos were the HDR factor, and the normal mapping. They were there , and means the graphic plataformm was improved yes. But because the games showed at the E3 werent on a realistic style or detailed enough, theyc an t show all its potential, off coruse they wont ebat the PS3 or XB360 specs, specially on a HDTV device, but the ilumination new features were there, and thats enough to wait for new and many improvement on this next G consoles. RE4 was a improvement but using knowledge from developers after many YEARS working on the GC hardware, that's a 3th or 4th game generation game already, when developers have plenty information about limits, and resources of the machine,a fter many time testing. If you compare Pikmin 01, or Monkey Ball, you can udnerstand what I eman. Same is to PS3 and Xbox, they will have much more to show after some 2 cycles of games.

[chukz]

that is also an important fact that Azariel Z states, it usually takes a while before developers can maximize the technology on a console.

Remember Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess is gonna run on GameCube and Wii, this just goes to show that the latest technology on an old system is very similar to newest technology on a new system.

Look at the games of any system when it comes out, and near the end of its life cycle. There is a huge difference.

Having said all this, I still expect the Wii to perform better than current Xbox or PS2, but will be kind of behind in PS3 and Xbox360. You can tell as Wii is not showing these graphics and people debate whether it's fake or real, CGI or rendered... there is no doubt what you see from Wii are games that will only get better. This is a big difference from the other consoles, showing games that simply cannot meet the expectations they already set for themselves.

I think more attention should be paid to these cutscenes that companies try to throw off as ACTUAL gameplay, if a company shows something it should represent what you can play, not a movie that has nothing to do with the actual gameplay.

Imagine being told a game is coming out based on a movie (like X-Men 3) and all you see is clips from the actual movie...

The thing is that after E3 people were looking at Wii games and saying "I can't wait to play that", and looking at PS3/Xbox360 games and saying "will it actually be like that?"