The PS3 had the whole PS2 chipset included, which could also play PSONE games since it was basically just a boosted version of the latter's chip. Iirc that whole chipset did cost about 50$ in production back at the time, but if Nintendo, as I stated before, could go on and just inclode the Wii U's main processor and let the GPU and RAM run in a legacy "Wii U mode", the additional cost could be below 10$, so it wouldn't change much on it's pricetag.

2016 AMD x86 with next-gen GPU design for Nintendo?

DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!

FACEBOOK !! They need the hardware power to run Oculus Rift. And they are willing to take the risks subsidizing their console big.

Thanks for Sony to make ports easier then ever before. And Microsoft will help them with an OS...

They could always go the PS3 route and put the old chip in there. But for that they would have to raise the price of the handheld by $20, so they're never gonna do that.

Doubt it, wiiu coukd also play gamecube games theorqticly but nintendo is going different direction

Honestly if nintendo is smart they will ditch anything that ties them to the Wii U...

It's a bad idea to hope for backwards compatibility on Nintendo's next console platform with an AMD CPU! Those things are known to be slow AF when it comes to emulation ...

If it were a quad core Haswell CPU clocked at 3.6 Ghz then it would be worthwhile to explore that prospect with the x86 ISA ... 

Another thing to account for in backwards compatibility are the GPU architectures too and how much access Nintendo allows for it. For Nintendo's next console to be backwards compatible with the WII U it has to be known whether or not their proprietary graphics API targets any lower than AMD IL. If the backend of their API is agnostic then just about any GPU that is capable of the DX11 feature set will suffice for backwards compatibility. If the backend targets AMD IL but no lower then Nintendo is stuck with an AMD GPU to support backwards compatibility. Going any lower will kill a lot of chances of their next console been backwards compatible and they'll ultimately need to stick with AMD's VLIW5 architecture to be able to be backwards compatible with the WII U in their next console ...

Probably possible for the next handheld, since it's potentially also ARM, assuming they keep the 3D tech (or it could abandon it, doesn't really matter).  

I'm gonna guess that they're not going to have backwards compatibility.  Every previous Nintendo system with a change in architecture (SNES->N64, N64->gamecube) wasn't backwards compatible. Hell, even NES->SNES wasn't, and that would have been really easy for them to do.  

Honestly the biggest thing they need to upgrade is the GPU and make smart decisions that will allow them to maximize performance without sacrificing visual quality.  Having tons of available RAM is great, but if the bandwidth is slow, or latency is high, etc, it won't matter.  Gamecube had really good efficiency, especially for its time, so it was able to keep up with the Xbox visually even though its specs didn't look nearly as good.  If they're going with a newer AMD architecture, maybe they can offload even more processing that'd normally go to the CPU with the GPU cores.

Don't "buy" into this rumours. They don't make sense at all.

AMD said that the new designs are going into production for 2016 products.

Will Nintendo abandon the Wii U already in 2016?

Those who wish a more powerful console - hardware wise - ask yourself: will this Nintendo really help?

The console wouldn't sell by itself. And I can't see the majority of Wii U owners flocking over to the next one after this short period.

Thirds won't port or develop for the next one unless there is a viable market for them. Which won't as there would be even less owners then the Wii U has now.


So: Nintendo would hurt itself by bringing up a new console in 2016. It doesn't make any sense for them to do so. And Nintendo knows.


And: don't hurt Nintendo and its Wii U by speculating over a new console in 2016. The only thing what happens is to make people unsure about buying a Wii U NOW.

You an easily draw the conclusions WHY that new AMD design WAS NOT brought together with FACEBOOK: the self touted "next gen" consoles will look dated as they are already...

Their designs are "nintendoish" as never before - instead of providing high end power as the generations before. Instead they delivered low-end to middle-class power to make money as soon as possible. Exaclty what Nintendo is doing since years...

AMD CPU doesn't necessarily mean x86 architecture, it's always been a company very competent at RISC CPUs too. ARM 64bit could be a better choice for Ninty philosophy, and a powerful enough version could easily emulate old PowerPC chips. But AMD could even just licence POWER architecture and design a POWER+Radeon APU for Ninty.

AMD announced two new design to launch in 2016: x86 APU and ARM APU.

It is unlikely that AMD will leapfrog Intel in terms of performance per core per watt. At least not in 2016. 

Instead those new designs will leapfrog by using "stacked" RAM which sits on the APU die. This will quadruple the bandwidth and uses even a bit less power overall.

The next gen AMD GPUs which will be available this spring will be able to drive 4K resolutions. 

Does Nintendo need that much power? Even double the power compared to a PS4?

Not at all. 

But the one who needs it is FACEBOOK. They need at least the power to drive TWO Full HD screens for their Oculus Rift. Maybe they need even more to enable asymetric gameplay utilizing the TV screen too.

The AMD next gen AMD design: guess what? Amazon will use it. They are going after gamers with their next Fire TV. While Android games won't reach that overall quality of the consoles in the next years - having better graphics can't hurt at all. They have invested in games and have -suprprise - already reached the limits of their own hardware...

Nintendo knows that it is software which sells hardware. With the New 3DS they have enough room to expand on the handheld side. And on the Wii U side they just put a foot into the capabilities of online gameplay. But they are far away of "swimming like a fish"...