Great inside joke
I've been very smugly amused of late watching the public speculate on Wii. First there was this: http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars
People began hotly debating if the specs were true. Next came this: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060802-7407.html
That one is just even funnier. I've got the actual internal documents from Nintendo sitting here on my desktop to reference, so I know exactly how accurate/off-the-mark this information is. I'd probably get in trouble if I confirmed or denied the leaked information, never know how info gets around, but I'll just say people should worry much less about the specs and much more about developer support.
(Opinionated Essay Begin - Note, no actual relevant numbers used)
Everyone seems to caught up in comparing technical numbers (oh, 360 has x-number of processors at this speed with this much RAM, while PS3 has this much, etc...), but as a developer who's evaluated all three systems from a development perspective, I can say that those specs are neigh irrelevant. What you'll get on the PS3 are some very impressive looking games from very wealthy development houses. All of the rest of us won't touch it unless contractually obligated to, just due to 1) the huge cost of developing for it, 2) the extremely difficult to use architecture. If anyone believes the architecture on the PS3 is easy to use, then they just don't know what they're talking about. Putting out a current gen game on that system wouldn't be hard, but actually taking advantage of what makes it good would be hell. The 360 is a bit better, easier to access the hardware, still expensive to develop for (shiny graphics are expensive in time and money), but it doesn't have the top-end potential that the PS3 does. It's a perfect middle-of-the-road console capable of decent products without too much effort.
Then comes Wii. Nintendo is, in my opinion, the smartest console manufacturer out there. They goofed with the N64, recovered a bit with the GCN and now have gotten their collective heads out of their asses and made what I believe may be the most brilliant hardware strategy in gaming history. Of course the whole scheme could go bust, but I find it unlikely. I'll say that in terms of development hardware alone, Wii is like 10 times less the cost of the PS3. In terms of development time, it will require like 1/2 the time and money to produce a high quality product. Nintendo added all of the important functionality (online, controllers, sound, video, compatibility, and online services) that all of the others have and most importantly everything that developers need. They made it so cheap to develop for that even EA couldn't turn a blind eye (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060802-7406.html) and by using an incredibly brilliant controller design, software produced for their console will be truly weaker when made cross-platform (you CAN play the new Madden title on other consoles, but you can't actually mimic throwing the football on any of the others). It's just brilliant and with their planned launching price, I'm sure it'll sell like hotcakes (I guess they sold well). I know I plan on getting my Wii ASAP, hopefully I can beat the rush.
People began hotly debating if the specs were true. Next came this: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060802-7407.html
That one is just even funnier. I've got the actual internal documents from Nintendo sitting here on my desktop to reference, so I know exactly how accurate/off-the-mark this information is. I'd probably get in trouble if I confirmed or denied the leaked information, never know how info gets around, but I'll just say people should worry much less about the specs and much more about developer support.
(Opinionated Essay Begin - Note, no actual relevant numbers used)
Everyone seems to caught up in comparing technical numbers (oh, 360 has x-number of processors at this speed with this much RAM, while PS3 has this much, etc...), but as a developer who's evaluated all three systems from a development perspective, I can say that those specs are neigh irrelevant. What you'll get on the PS3 are some very impressive looking games from very wealthy development houses. All of the rest of us won't touch it unless contractually obligated to, just due to 1) the huge cost of developing for it, 2) the extremely difficult to use architecture. If anyone believes the architecture on the PS3 is easy to use, then they just don't know what they're talking about. Putting out a current gen game on that system wouldn't be hard, but actually taking advantage of what makes it good would be hell. The 360 is a bit better, easier to access the hardware, still expensive to develop for (shiny graphics are expensive in time and money), but it doesn't have the top-end potential that the PS3 does. It's a perfect middle-of-the-road console capable of decent products without too much effort.
Then comes Wii. Nintendo is, in my opinion, the smartest console manufacturer out there. They goofed with the N64, recovered a bit with the GCN and now have gotten their collective heads out of their asses and made what I believe may be the most brilliant hardware strategy in gaming history. Of course the whole scheme could go bust, but I find it unlikely. I'll say that in terms of development hardware alone, Wii is like 10 times less the cost of the PS3. In terms of development time, it will require like 1/2 the time and money to produce a high quality product. Nintendo added all of the important functionality (online, controllers, sound, video, compatibility, and online services) that all of the others have and most importantly everything that developers need. They made it so cheap to develop for that even EA couldn't turn a blind eye (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060802-7406.html) and by using an incredibly brilliant controller design, software produced for their console will be truly weaker when made cross-platform (you CAN play the new Madden title on other consoles, but you can't actually mimic throwing the football on any of the others). It's just brilliant and with their planned launching price, I'm sure it'll sell like hotcakes (I guess they sold well). I know I plan on getting my Wii ASAP, hopefully I can beat the rush.