your mother said: Too many posts to read during office hours (what.a.slacker) but I guess from the last page the thread has been discussing about how HDTV will make the Wii look lousy compared to HD consoles. That's the gist, innit? Well, I think that this really is a non-issue. The Wii uses some sort of ATI graphics chipset, and we have all seen with computers how resolution, bit depth and special features (such as antialiasing) can be turned on or off with the drivers you download. The Wii is meant to be online, and this entire SD vs HD may be a moot point if Nintendo decides to release/unlock the HD update. It may even clandestinely support HD already, but Nintendo isn't telling anyone yet because they don't feel the need to (it's not like the lack of HD on the Wii is hurting sales). They may be keeping HD as a trump card very very close to heart. The N64 even supported 320x240 - 640x480. The PS2 was even able to muster 1080i for GT4, and there are at least two dozen games for the Xbox that supports 720p and/or 1080i, so I don't see why the Wii, which is purportedly twice as powerful as the GCN (and should easily keep up with both Xbox and PS2) will not be able to do the same. It's just a matter of time before developers find ways to optimize code, develop hacks and discover every trick in the Wii book to crank out those HD graphics with little to no impact to the console's performance. Think what Wii developers will be capable of cranking out with their third to fifth generation of games. I think even the most die-hard Nintendo hater will be surprised at the outcome.Â

Nice to see that theres someone, who understands that what can you do with software update. The updade can be included in the game discs too. Ok, first, Gamecube has more power than the PS2. Due to different design, it could possibly outperform also Xbox. GC has a clever design by how Gekko and Flipper can be used together (Flipper can calculate for Gekko and Gekko can calculate for Flipper) and Gekko also has one special feature (this has been copied to 360s CPU, thats why M$'s patent about the feature is so detailed), what is used for optimising the RISC code (problem with RISC is that every time it fetches new instruction to process, processor runs one cycle empty) so that there will be no empty cycles. The PS2 had a co-processor for getting full use of the potential of Emotion Engine (although, EE was less powerful than Gekko or Xbox's P3). There are reasons why M$ and Sony developed their new consoles with IBM, IBM proved itself when developing GC for efficient and cheap to manufacture. Also Wii is "only" updated from GC because of its unused potential. When looking at numbers about performance of Xb, GC and PS2, GCs numbers was how it could perform (non optimized) in the final assembly, Xb and PS2 numbers was how their PU's could perform separatly. Wii works with HD just fine, it has HD output (only 480p), but the higher resolutions have been locked (by software). Also GC had HD output, digital instead of Wiis analog. Problem is, that we dont know how Broadway and Hollywood has been improved from Gekko and Flipper and what else have been improved besides adding more memory. LOL. Looking at your HD conversation really shows, that HD doesnt really matter. Numbers between HD penetration could wary depending on are HD-Ready devices count in those numbers. Difference between HDTV and HD-Ready devices is, that HDTV can display HD -TV signal, and HD-Ready can display only SD -TV signal. HD-Ready devices do work as HD display, if you have for example HD decoder, or BD or HD-DVD -player or any other HD source. HD-Ready devices do not necessarily have even digital decoders. And yes, they are NOT cutting the SD signal in the US, only analog SD, digital SD still works. Only country (first) which is cutting SD is Estonia, and if i recall, this happens 2009 or 2011. First to cut analog signal is Finland in august, followed by Sweden at the end of 2007, but its only analog, not SD they are cutting off. And the satellite boxes have been digital for ten years. Even M$ has to make money. Think how fast their run was in the mobile phones, exited the market as fast as they entered it. And could they have afforted it? They havent earned that 35B by making losses. Why would Nintendo by chips from Intel when they need chips what IBM manufactures? Also Nintendo is not going to increase production once, but they increase it continously. If they need to make 10M units/month by 2009, they increase production until they do.

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@bdbdbd: Yes, 480p 16:9 is "HD", but IMHO HD starts at 720p/1080i; anything else is just SD

After playing games on a PC at 1600x1200 since about two years ago, and upgrading last year to a 1080p screen for my rig, PS3 and Xbox360 games so far have failed miserably to impress me, so I guess you can see why 480p really is "LD" (low-definition) for me, and just about every other PC gamer out there.

But yeah... technically, I guess, 480p widescreen is where HD starts, although I've been using that resolution on my FPS games for at least 7 years as far as PC gaming goes.

your mother said: @bdbdbd: Yes, 480p 16:9 is "HD", but IMHO HD starts at 720p/1080i; anything else is just SD After playing games on a PC at 1600x1200 since about two years ago, and upgrading last year to a 1080p screen for my rig, PS3 and Xbox360 games so far have failed miserably to impress me, so I guess you can see why 480p really is "LD" (low-definition) for me, and just about every other PC gamer out there. But yeah... technically, I guess, 480p widescreen is where HD starts, although I've been using that resolution on my FPS games for at least 7 years as far as PC gaming goes.

My point was that you gain something from HDTV also for Wii, and that it works with HD, so that its not useless with HDTV. It has HD-output, from which you can use for your HDTV (looking at these conversations, you might get the impression, that Wii does not work with HDTV). 480p is not exactly HD IMO either, since PAL resolution is 576(i), but with progressive picture you get to see all the pixels at the same time. But compared to NTSC, with 480p colours are shown as they are supposed to. Graphics havent impressed me either, the first time i saw Motorstorm commercial on TV, i thought it was Exite truck. And in one store i watched people play PGR3 and Motorstorm in HD displays (stands were next to each other) they did not look much better than (graphically) best 6G games. And hard to say, that which one looked better.

That's one of the things I find funny about the PS3/360 graphics whores, if you want good graphics play on a computer.  Of course an average computer runs over $1000.  The point of video games is supposed to be to provide relatively low cost video games.  If I want really good graphics I'd rather spend $400 or 600 upgrading my computer.

to tell you all my opinion the wii may sell 80 miliion units but not to hardcore gamers who keep consoles going. if u look at what the wii is selling most it is wii play and wii sports. okay but compare to xbox360 which is selling crackdown lost planet,gears of war and so. those games are for serious gamers not just the non-gamer. the ps3 on the other hand it top sellers are resistance:fall of man, motor storm, and virtua fighter 5. these are real games. as in theyre games meant to be played not wii sports or wii play or even raymond raving rabbids. these arent games you enjoy. and personally when u buy a hdtv u already have the money so many people just buy a ps3 or 360 to go with it. and if i made any grammar mistakes please excuse me cuz my spelling sucks.

cerdsmania said: to tell you all my opinion the wii may sell 80 miliion units but not to hardcore gamers who keep consoles going. if u look at what the wii is selling most it is wii play and wii sports. okay but compare to xbox360 which is selling crackdown lost planet,gears of war and so. those games are for serious gamers not just the non-gamer. the ps3 on the other hand it top sellers are resistance:fall of man, motor storm, and virtua fighter 5. these are real games. as in theyre games meant to be played not wii sports or wii play or even raymond raving rabbids. these arent games you enjoy. and personally when u buy a hdtv u already have the money so many people just buy a ps3 or 360 to go with it. and if i made any grammar mistakes please excuse me cuz my spelling sucks.

 But everybody loves Raymond!

stof said: cerdsmania said: to tell you all my opinion the wii may sell 80 miliion units but not to hardcore gamers who keep consoles going. if u look at what the wii is selling most it is wii play and wii sports. okay but compare to xbox360 which is selling crackdown lost planet,gears of war and so. those games are for serious gamers not just the non-gamer. the ps3 on the other hand it top sellers are resistance:fall of man, motor storm, and virtua fighter 5. these are real games. as in theyre games meant to be played not wii sports or wii play or even raymond raving rabbids. these arent games you enjoy. and personally when u buy a hdtv u already have the money so many people just buy a ps3 or 360 to go with it. and if i made any grammar mistakes please excuse me cuz my spelling sucks. But everybody loves Raymond!

 Best reply ever!

cerdsmania said: compare to xbox360 which is selling crackdown lost planet,gears of war and so. those games are for serious gamers not just the non-gamer. the ps3 on the other hand it top sellers are resistance:fall of man, motor storm, and virtua fighter 5. these are real games. as in theyre games meant to be played not wii sports or wii play or even raymond raving rabbids. these arent games you enjoy. and personally when u buy a hdtv u already have the money so many people just buy a ps3 or 360 to go with it. and if i made any grammar mistakes please excuse me cuz my spelling sucks

So much nonsense, really. So Wii Sports is not a game people enjoy, is not meant to be played.

And everyone who buys a HDTV set has the money to buy a PS3 or XB360 to go with it.

You're smoking some pretty bad crack, you should stop right now. 

 

BTW people, 480p never was HD and never will. Progressive scan never was HD either.

HD is pretty well defined, and starts at 720i@30 which is unused, so starts at 720p@30 actually.

480p@60 never was HD. And stop this nonsense hope of seeing the Wii outputing HD content.

It won't be a selling point even if it comes true. Besides, the Wii is IMHO in a fragile balance heat wise.

I don't think that it could last long in such a small case, while making far more heat. Perhaps a new model can do that though (with a shrinked die size). But don't keep your hopes up on the Wii doing HD, really. 

of course wii doesn't support real hd. 

some people just tried to say that you can use the wii with a hd television

and that it looks better than on your old television

 

 

Vienna said: of course wii doesn't support real hd.  some people just tried to say that you can use the wii with a hd television and that it looks better than on your old television

For some reason with the GCN and Wii Nintendo understates the true power of its system.  The Wii is even worse because at least with the GCN Nintendo gave use, as it turned out underrated, specs.  According to various gaming sites like IGN and Kotaku, Nintendo has said the Wii is capable of 720p at 30fps.  The drop off in graphic effects required to do it is why its not used at the moment (sounds right, not really any other reason to not do it that I can think of).  Essentially it's like what happens to a PS3 game that tries to run in 1080p at 60fps, almost everything disappears except the super-crisp ground.