IBM has announced that production of the Wii´s CPU, codenamed Broadway, is well underway. According to both Joystiq and Kotaku, Nintendo has already received a significant shipment, which would enable them to launch the console much earlier than expected.
"We have been shipping well within this quarter (July)," said Ron Martino, director of IBM Technology Collaboration Solutions. "In fact, we have shipped a significant volume in this quarter."
The articles also quote Martino as noting that Broadway consumes 20% less energy than its predecessor, the Gamecube´s Gekko.
Now, the fact that both news sites announced this story some seven hours in advance (Kotaku admittedly taking inevitable reader anticipation down a peg or two) made me actually set my alarm clock to the merciless time of 6am. I barely staggered out of bed and switched on my PDA, only to find this story.
While I quickly drifted back to sleep for a few hours (having decided this didn´t need posting until I had counted another few herds of digital sheep) I felt relieved that it was, after all, good news for Nintendo. Earlier stories about production line difficulties concerning the controller are still around. But this news item shows that Nintendo is confident enough about their production efforts on the whole.
Also, Nintendo´s emphasis on low-power hardware shows how important the WiiConnect24 feature will be to the console. Either that, or it may further fuel my suspicion that the Wii will have some portable use, as well.
Source: Joystiq, Kotaku
Thanks to: Carson
very good news!lets hope everything is ok in the production!now give us the release dates!
ReplyDeleteGood news indeed.
ReplyDeleteNext week will be very exciting!
Hi Fala.
ReplyDeleteNice to read that they are in the right track.
now, an addtion to your opinion on this you might want to ask your self why the entire US.Navy and might be even the whole military comlex out there, whats to replace their existing pc equipment?
In fact they are aready undertaking some huge effort to doing it.
And...acording to themself - "power consumtion awreness"
There where an article from D.O.D about a fighter carrier (Nemies Class) that will replacing their pc's to a smaller ones - namingly - thin clients... ;)
I hope you remembered what I told you about what ThinClients is and what connection it had with nintendo Wii.
Now, think.
1.Nintendo is heading toward an expansion of the current market (market leader often do this to hold on to their posiontioning strategy, its an "image thing")
2. Nitendo have been targeting the military with ads right?
3. Pentagon whats to replace high consuming electronics.
4. If i would be Nintendo and knowing this I'll aready been negotiating with the US government about implamenting Wii or nintendo products into every military complex .
5. This hold true also if I would have been a military decision maker about power consumption. I would have called Reggie asap!
;)
PS: Still a nice blog Andreas!
/silver
MCV: 'Wii in November 2006 for Euro 219 in Europe'
ReplyDeletewww.gamefront.de
*somegermanguy*
Sorry, this is the original link:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mcvuk.com/newsitem.php?id=24356
*somegermanguy*
s'on IGN too! £149
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/731/731722p1.html
"[MCV is] definitely not right,"
ReplyDeletesays Nintendo UK boss!
http://www.gamesindustry.biz
/content_page.php?aid=19573
Hang on, about the news itself -- why are so many taking this as indication that Wii could launch early? This processor ain't the whole show. Until someone reports a huge stash of boxed Wiis sitting in a warehouse somewhere, it sounds like empty speculation to me.
ReplyDeleteI agree an early launch, if Nintendo can pull it off, would be hugely beneficial. Wii is going to rely on word of mouth more than the other consoles because it's a new concept. The hype will build as more and more people try it and see it. Launching in September would allow time for early adopters to spread the word, ramping up to a huge Christmas demand.
On the other hand, there are indications that Nintendo's pre-launch strategy is going to be in effect through September at least. Isn't that top-secret invitation-only event (the one whose invitations were printed on carboard Wii remotes and packed with black DS Lites) happening September 29 or so? I can't imagine the point of a top secret Wii party happening after the launch. By that point everyone will be having their own top secret parties.
My prediction: it's going to be at least another month.
@Dave
ReplyDeleteThe Nintendo event is on Sept. 14 and 15. Not the 29.
I was talking about something else. Wasn't there something else?
ReplyDelete