Nearly every Wii rumor demystified
by Blake Snow 
{ Aug 2nd 2006 at 1:00PM }
Gameworld Network has collected a mass list of every Wii rumor (and their back stories) that they could find, and which ones turned out to be true, false, or undetermined. Our favorite? "The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will be playable on both the Revolution and the GameCube. – January 2005." Now that's just preposterous. Oh wait, that's true...
But the lightning-zapping Wii (pictured) has to take the cake. I'm actually insulted by its stupidity.
[Update: spelling correction]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Brian @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:17PM
You weren't so angered by the concept back when it was for the Revolution.
http://www.joystiq.com/2005/11/02/rev-projector-to-come-w-portable-screen/
JimmyHACK @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:18PM
what about the rumor of lets screw the gamecube over one last tiem by making zelda important to the press only on the Wii....
oh well very fun list to read
Matt @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:19PM
Hey Blake:
Quick spellcheck -- lightning, not lightening.
Thanks,
M
Jeremy @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:19PM
"I'm actually insulted by its stupidity." - That's hard for me to believe considering the facts surrounding it, like the patents: http://www.xgaming.com/newsletter/may06a.shtml
Jeremy @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:28PM
From the article:
“The Revolution will use gyroscopes.” – Mid 2004.
False.
The subject of gyroscopes is probably the most persistent subject of conjecture regarding the Wii’s controller. Even now, there is some misunderstanding as to whether or not the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controller use gyroscopes. To clarify:
The Wii Remote uses motion sensors, and communicates with the console via Bluetooth to report its position based on the optical receptors in the unit picking up the LED lights of the sensor bar. The Nunchuk attachment uses an accelerometer, which measures locomotion. Neither of the units use gyros"
This is actually misleading, as accelerometers are basically the same with no moving parts. The website says that the Wiimote and Nunchuck use accelerometers.
fawazr @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:47PM
the pictured rumor would have required that the Wii be much more expensive than the expected price tag of less than $250, but it really wasn't that stupid. In fact, it would be kind of stupid not to expect similar technology to appear on a home console within the next 10 or so years. Remember, a lot of those rumors were accompanied by tech demos, research essays, and patents. The rumors just show how enthusiasts got their hopes up when they expected a Revolution to occur--so they all looked to some really fringe advancements in interaction and entertainment, but nothing was really outright stupid.
Marc @ Aug 2nd 2006 1:55PM
"the pictured rumor would have required that the Wii be much more expensive than the expected price tag of less than $250, but it really wasn't that stupid."
I think that joystiq meant the Wii shooting lightening at a fold-up screen was stupid, not the concept.
Marc @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:04PM
Right darryl, like you haven't been accused of being stupid at one point in your life.
I hate when people do this. People blame these sites for being "fanboyish". Well, NEWS FLASH! This ISN'T A NEWS SITE! If you want news, g to IGN. The authors of these articles CAN express their opinions. I get so annoyed at people who call others stupid for expressing their opinions.
If you don't like how Joystiq works, find another blog or deal with this one. Better yet, If you don't like a particular writer on this site, DON'T READ THEIR ARTICLES!
MrD @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:05PM
Wow, even though they go through every rumor, they really need to check their grammar. Companies are singular, not plural. Unless you're listing another company with it, it's: Nintendo "is," not Nintendo "are" and Nintendo "was," not Nintendo "were."
tactics @ Aug 2nd 2006 2:38PM
*sighhhhhh*
they promised us a revolution...
"wii keep our promise."
-"superfan" tactics.
NintyBoy @ Aug 2nd 2006 3:09PM
Talking of wii rumors:
www.MarioKartWii.com
Michael @ Aug 2nd 2006 3:18PM
Mr.D, that's not always true. You say that ...
===============================================
Wow, even though they go through every rumor, they really need to check their grammar. Companies are singular, not plural. Unless you're listing another company with it, it's: Nintendo "is," not Nintendo "are" and Nintendo "was," not Nintendo "were."
===============================================
I used to run worldwide marketing for a company, and I approved press releases from both Europe and America. I thought my English friends had basic grammar problems, until I learned that rules for plurals of groups were different in the US versus the UK.
In the US we think of a team or company as one unit and we treat them as singular (ie, Nintendo is ...). In the UK they think of a team or company as a collection of units and they treat them as plural (ie, Nintendo are ...).
See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences#Singular_and_plural_for_nouns
georgedakota @ Aug 2nd 2006 3:54PM
Its funny they say zelda will also work on gamecube. Oh wait thats because wii is basically a gamecube with a different controller.
MrD @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:33PM
#12
Yeah, I must have forgotten it would probably be a UK site. It only happened twice, so I just thought it was general grammatical error.
Liam @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:35PM
georgedakota please keep stupdity to a minimum, that was a rumor, a ridiculously UNFOUNDED rumor.
MrD @ Aug 2nd 2006 4:37PM
#13
No. That's because there will be a Gamecube version of the game, and the Wii version is the Gamecube version optimized for the control scheme.
The Wii is not a Gamecube with a new controller. If it was, the system would be out already.
kevinski @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:20PM
The Mario Kart Wii domain isn't even registered by Nintendo. Go to http://www.betterwhois.com/ and type in the domain mariokartwii.com to see the registration information.
DojoRacoon @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:33PM
The way I understand it the wii being a gamecube with a different controller is at least partially true for the time being. I remember hearing that the development kits were basically just gc kits beefed up at least at e3. but then again I don't exactly know what a development kit entails. Maybe someone could explain this to me.
Jonn @ Aug 2nd 2006 7:47PM
If you're going to snark at Nintendo, at least use better grammar, o fanboys.
That said, I just realized that the Wii has a type-only logo, like the iPod.
cringer8 @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:13AM
I still like the idea of stereoscopic visors. No TV required. I'd wear 'em. They would have to look pretty cool, though.
Yamen @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:36AM
#18 DojoRaccon
Ok so a dev kit includes two major parts. The first is all the documentation for the system. This tells developers all the specifics like how the machine reports controller input, how to access the memory cards, what programming commands the system understands, how the memory is set up, and everything else. This is what developers base thier development platform on, that is to say, they usually build some basic programming structure that let's them do thier coding how they want while still interfacing properly with the hardware.
The second big part of the dev kit is some means of simulating the hardware. At early stages, this might just be a computer program that pretends to be the system, later on it will actually be a version of the hardware running in a mode that lets the developers run thier code as if it were being played by a retail model, but also allows the developers to monitor what's going on and provides hardware feedback ("debug" mode, if you will).
So, here's where the similarity of the Wii kits to the Gamecube kits comes in. Instead of building a whole new architecture for the Wii, Nintendo based it on the Gamecube architecture, and expanded and refined it. This doesn't mean that the Wii is a Gamecube! There are good sides and bad sides to this.
The bad side is that, most likely, Nintendo could have squeezed out slightly better performance out of the Wii if they had built the architecture from the ground up. Now, I'm pretty confident that a company like Nintendo made damn sure that they were maximizing on what they could offer, and I'm sure that the difference in performance between the two options is very minor. The other issue is that it means the Wii technology is not fully brand new. The 360, for example, has a totally different system architecture than it's predecessor, and that means it was able to take a fresh approach to how it does things and incorporates new technology. It's unclear how much starting from the Gamecube setup has limited Nintendo in adding new features, but obviously they've pulled off some pretty cool stuff. Weather starting over would have been better for them is probably impossible to tell.
The good side, however, is that developers were already familier with the Gamecube development kits will have very little difficulty adjusting to the Wii kits. This will make the initial development struggles for the first generations of games for the Wii much less significant, and will allow developers to get the most out of the system sooner.
The best analogy I can come up with is this: Let's say you played the original Counterstrike for 6 years, and decided you were done with it. Now you're faced with (for the purposes of this example) two choices. You could start playing Unreal Tournament 2004, or Counterstrike:Source. With UT2k4, you gonna have to get used to how the game plays, learn all the new weapons, maps and gametypes before you're good at it. With CS:S, you're gonna be pretty familier with the game, and you'll just have to get used to the new features. Either way you're still playing an FPS, it's just a matter of ease of adapting to a new game. NOTE: This analogy isn't meant to reflect the power, capabilities or anything else of any of the next-gen systems, just to provide a way of thinking about what it means when devs say the dev kits are "beefed up Gamecubes".
vidGuy @ Aug 3rd 2006 8:16AM
Very good explaination Yamen. Thank you for that.
It's also worth noting that, unlike many of the rumors, the Wii hardware is NOT just overclocked GameCube parts. They have a similar architecture, but the parts in the Wii are new. It's not as powerful as it could be with a new architecture, but I think it's a very smart way to go. Using faster 'old' parts also keeps the cost down compared to bleeding edge technology.
Marty @ Aug 3rd 2006 9:23AM
How come nothing on the Wii being able to make Wiiffles and the SD slot meaning Syrup distributor slot!
DocGonzo @ Aug 3rd 2006 3:13PM
It has been revealed (Kotaku is where I read it first http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumors/ars-technica-eyes-leaked-wii-specs-skeptically-191795.php) that the leaked specs for the Wii were actually not. Turns out they are remarkably similar to the Gamecube because they are specs for the Gekko chip, point-for-point, mhz for mhz. Looks like the -big secret- is still safe, for now.
I'm still partial to the idea of stereoscopic projection creating a screenless 3D image...I mean come on! What would you put under a flap on the front of your console? SD cards could have easily gone on the back, or on top with the Gamecube legacy ports.