jake_the_fake1 said: bdbdbd said: jake_the_fake1 said: Hmmm, interesting, people actually want Nintendo to segment the user base!?!?! Sega has proven how devastating it is to segment not only the end consumer but the developers, so NO their will never be some HD enhancing device that will give the Wii the power to render HD graphics. Now what's possible is a Wii branded HD scaler, all it would do is take the output signal from the wii, apply some scaling algorithm, and then output a HD signal that would then go into your HD tv. This way Nintendo won't segmanet users and developers, but give those willing to spend the money to buy a special device that will do a better upscaling job than the HD tv.   You were meaning the Dreamcast and quick kill of Saturn? This is different. You'd still develope for the SD userbase, with the option to develope for the HD too. Wii would continue as it was. @jLauro: And to add to that speed, the data can be compressed. Only the videos wouldn't be streamed, just like they aren't in 360 games, since the DVD really lacks the capasity for it.  Nope not those 2,  it's the infamous Sega's 32X and sega CD which all connected to the Sega mega drive a.k.a Sega Genesis.  Also, why would developers develop the same game twice for the same console?  it makes no business sense, so like I said, the peripheral your looking for can only and will only EVER be an external USB powered scaler and NOTHING ELSE, and that's assuming it'll ever be made in the first place.

Well now, why do developers develope the game multiple times on PC, basically this is just a high settings - low settings developement. No, it wouldn't be USB-powered. It would have its own power source. The standard 5W USB wouldn't provide enough power. @zutaty: HD and BD really doesn't have anything to do with each other. Wii sells because of its software, not price. Just look at how Wii gives a beating to the considerably cheaper 360. Infact, PS3 is more than double the price of 360 and despite that, it outsells 360. @bobobologna: According to Miyamoto it is. The problem would be the drop in framerate. After all, Wii is the one of the 3 that runs games in standard of 60Hz. @elgefe: I don't think so. Considering how much cheaper the processors are when next gen arrives, twice as powerful processor as Cell in PS3 is, will propably be the "cheap end".

bobobologna said: Does the Wii have the hardware support to output at 720p? I'm so tired of hearing this claim that a magical firmware update will suddenly allow 720p output. Don't you think they would have done this by now? The Gamecube never had HD output because it lacked hardware to output at HD resolutions (PS2 supported resolutions of up to 1280x1280 I think). And I'm inclined to believe the Wii lacks the necessary hardware to output at HD resolutions. As for the peripheral, it makes no sense. Why buy a product to do something that your TV already does (upscale)? And as others said, there's no way that it could just make the picture look prettier unless it did all the processing itself. In which case the Wii would just be a DVD drive/Bluetooth hub.

No, the Wii physically can't output a 720p siganl because the actual circuitry can only handle 480p signals and nothing higherm it's the same limitation the gamecube had.

Now in terms of internally rendering the graphics, thats a yes and no affair. you see the Wii only has 2MB of video ram (+1MB of tecture cache) so it can't render a 720p image to it's vram, but (and here is where its a yes) the 720p image can be rendered to the main ram, however, their will be a performance hit thus making it not very practical in the realworld.

Here's the thing, the wii was never designed to do HD graphics, it was however designed to at least provide very good SD graphics if developers choose to work and bring them out, but most as you see don't give a rats ass because they can pump out a game and have it make them tons of money regardless of how many it sells simply due to the fact that it almost cost nothing to make when compared to tittles like no more heroes or zack and wiki.

The whole point for the wii was to make gaming simplier and easier for everyone. They have one price point to not confuse the market. The addition of a new perical is contrary to their overall stragedy. Also if they were to do this a hard drive would have to have been announced earlier and since getting one is such a struggle it is highly unlikely. Read the interview with Shiggy on Wii.com about the design and concept of the Wii.

I think it's technically impossible. What could sort of work would be to release games that would work on both the Wii and the WiiHD, scaling graphics and CPU demands more like a PC. But that's not a perfect solution and most probable will not happen.

bdbdbd said: jake_the_fake1 said: bdbdbd said: jake_the_fake1 said: Hmmm, interesting, people actually want Nintendo to segment the user base!?!?! Sega has proven how devastating it is to segment not only the end consumer but the developers, so NO their will never be some HD enhancing device that will give the Wii the power to render HD graphics. Now what's possible is a Wii branded HD scaler, all it would do is take the output signal from the wii, apply some scaling algorithm, and then output a HD signal that would then go into your HD tv. This way Nintendo won't segmanet users and developers, but give those willing to spend the money to buy a special device that will do a better upscaling job than the HD tv.   You were meaning the Dreamcast and quick kill of Saturn? This is different. You'd still develope for the SD userbase, with the option to develope for the HD too. Wii would continue as it was. @jLauro: And to add to that speed, the data can be compressed. Only the videos wouldn't be streamed, just like they aren't in 360 games, since the DVD really lacks the capasity for it. Nope not those 2, it's the infamous Sega's 32X and sega CD which all connected to the Sega mega drive a.k.a Sega Genesis. Also, why would developers develop the same game twice for the same console? it makes no business sense, so like I said, the peripheral your looking for can only and will only EVER be an external USB powered scaler and NOTHING ELSE, and that's assuming it'll ever be made in the first place.     Well now, why do developers develope the game multiple times on PC, basically this is just a high settings - low settings developement. No, it wouldn't be USB-powered. It would have its own power source. The standard 5W USB wouldn't provide enough power. @zutaty: HD and BD really doesn't have anything to do with each other. Wii sells because of its software, not price. Just look at how Wii gives a beating to the considerably cheaper 360. Infact, PS3 is more than double the price of 360 and despite that, it outsells 360. @bobobologna: According to Miyamoto it is. The problem would be the drop in framerate. After all, Wii is the one of the 3 that runs games in standard of 60Hz. @elgefe: I don't think so. Considering how much cheaper the processors are when next gen arrives, twice as powerful processor as Cell in PS3 is, will propably be the "cheap end".

 No, developers make their engine scalable, meaning they make 1 engine but it will scale to what ever settings you choose.

I'd say the price of the wii plays a part of why it's selling, it's 50 bucks off the mainstrem price and a hella lot cheaper than a premium 360 and 40GB PS3.

A) This is virtually impossible, as you CANNOT reasonably introduce an HD aspect to the Wii without alienating the existing userbase and existing software. Upscaling to 720 or 1080p is pretty pointless...it's about as good as switching to VGA instead of component cables, aka not that much difference.

B) HD isn't necessary. We've seen a handful of PS3/360 games running below 720p, but that hasn't really been an issue. 480p has proven to be enough, and this will hold past the whole analog to digital TV switch as well.

C) The resolution isn't the big thing. If someone complains about Wii graphics they might throw out the 480p vs. 720p insult, but really, it's the processor, graphics, all that jazz that makes the difference, and you CANNOT change that without completely screwing over the existing userbase.

BenKenobi88 said: A) This is virtually impossible, as you CANNOT reasonably introduce an HD aspect to the Wii without alienating the existing userbase and existing software. Upscaling to 720 or 1080p is pretty pointless...it's about as good as switching to VGA instead of component cables, aka not that much difference. B) HD isn't necessary. We've seen a handful of PS3/360 games running below 720p, but that hasn't really been an issue. 480p has proven to be enough, and this will hold past the whole analog to digital TV switch as well. C) The resolution isn't the big thing. If someone complains about Wii graphics they might throw out the 480p vs. 720p insult, but really, it's the processor, graphics, all that jazz that makes the difference, and you CANNOT change that without completely screwing over the existing userbase.

 QFT!!!

@Jake: Well the price does play its part by having a lower entry point, but if we say that "it sells because of its price", that's just complete BS, because 360 Arcade doesn't sell despite being 50€ cheaper and 360 Premium doesn't sell despite it having the same price with Wii. So, there must be something else in question.

So, how does that differ from what i suggested? Going for lower settings, means maybe lower resolution, but also less effects and less detail. You are coding one tread for the "low setting" and another for "high setting", first for the main hardware and the second for the accelerative hardware.

Personally I'm quite fine without HD, but let's say your inspired suggestion is done, you would have more clarity on games like Mario Galaxy, but Photo Realism wouldn't be achievable.

The point of HD is to achieve full exposure to the details on a whole.

The Wii can not display even at a half the rate of polygonal display you see the PS3 display.

But maybe since the Wii is the market leader and seems to be primed to keep it that way, in the similar fashion that Square was able to find tricks to get certain real to life effects like high level shading and morphing in their games without sacrificing or using too many resources on the PS2; 3rd party developers who traditionally focus on graphics may find new tricks to achieve the old means but on the Wii.

However, I like to think that I'm no different from anyone else and when I'm honestly not caring but would mind but still just not really interested in something - that many other's could just not care.

Like they say - "On paper..."