Nintendo's Wii E3 2006 event - console
(hx) 12:08 AM CEST - May,10 2006
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Nintendo has revealed some additional details about its upcoming
Wii console
at an E3 conference today. According to report by
Joystiq, Nintendo says the console will be on all the time, and that it will
cut load times to the point of being "almost as fast as the television or
telephone." More interestingly, the console is said to interact with
Nintendo servers via a so-called Wii Connect 24 service "even when it seems like
it's turned off." This means that developers can push a new weapon or
vehicle to you even while you sleep. Anytime the console is in standby, players
may return to find that their friends have left a message or a gift. The console
will supposedly use the same amount of power as a "miniature light bulb" when in
standby mode, which could mean 40W or less depending on Nintendo's definition of
"miniature." :)
The company also unveiled its optional retro controller (pic2), which looks very
much like an SNES gamepad with four face buttons, two shoulder buttons, and a
d-pad. However, it also has two analog sticks, both of which look like the left
GameCube analog stick. They are positioned in a similar fashioned to the analog
sticks on Sony's DualShock controller.
Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime promised 27 playable games on the E3 show floor
starting tomorrow, as well as more on display in video form.
A
total of 18 were presented either in video or gameplay form at the
conference.
In other news, Havok has announced that
it will
adapt its physics SDK for the Nintendo Wii console. According to Havok, "all
of game-play physics and animation software technology" will be optimized for
the Wii, likely meaning eventual Havok Complete support in Wii games. Among
other features, Havok Complete integrates character animation with ragdoll
physics, enabling characters to respond to game environment changes such as
stairs more convincingly. In related news,
Havok is
also announcing game support for its Havok FX GPU-accelerated middleware,
which uses Pixel Shader 3.0-compliant graphics cards to accelerate physics. The
company says Hellgate: London from Flagship Studios and Alone in the Dark from
Eden Games will both support Havok FX. |
Updated:12:03 AM CEST Sep,22
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