Nintendo and Sony are reportedly preparing to release their next-generation consoles, the Wii U and PlayStation 4, aka "Orbis," in a highly competitive gaming market.
With numerous speculations swirling about the hardware on both consoles, it would be interesting to see how a moderate-powered Wii U will hold up against a hardware behemoth in the PS4. Nintendo has taken steps to gain advantage over Sony with its announcement to launch the Wii U early.
Nintendo has also been reported to jump into game developments with potential new projects such as "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past," "F-Zero," and "Super Mario 4."
In an interview with Edge gaming magazine, video game creator Shigeru Miyamoto shared his interests in creating new games based on past Super Nintendo titles.
"I think at the time it was a really big surprise, a new thing, a product that made sense," said Miyamoto. "I don't see with current hardware how you could create a similar surprise. But maybe with future hardware, with Wii U coming up, maybe we could create something that does make sense, either as a smaller game, or a fully fledged title."
Miyamoto is considered a legend in the industry after creating iconic games such as Super Mario, F-Zero, Legend of Zelda, and Donkey Kong. He hints that F-Zero may make a return on a new platform which will allow him to design some new "surprises" into the game. News also surfaced that Nintendo recently registered the supermario4.com domain, hinting that the franchise may have a new title up its sleeve.
Miyamoto's desire to recreate past titles with new technology sits well with the upcoming Wii U platform. Based on reports from IBTimes UK, the new Wii U technology will run on an AMD Radeon based High Def GPU, powered by IBM's multicore microprocessor. The console has been said to be backwards compatible with Wii games and accessories. It will also have internal flash memory which can be expanded using an SD memory card or an external USB drive.
Nintendo will also introduce its revolutionary controller which boasts a 6.2 inch touchscreen for displaying HD graphics. Also built into the controller is an accelerometer, gyroscope, microphone, stylus, and motion-sensors.
The PlayStation 4 "Orbis" looks to compete with higher powered hardware and graphics capability. It is rumored that the PS4 features AMD's A8-3850 - a quad-core 2.9GHz processor with an integrated APU graphics chip. The Radeon HD 7670, which is the system's dedicated GPU chip, is a DirectX 11-enabled card clocked at 1GHz with up to 1GB VRAM.
That means that the console can display resolutions up to 4096x2160. Currently the PlayStation3 is capable of playing 3D games at 720p, but the new PS4 will allow 1080p visuals.
The PlayStation 4 could possibly utilize Blu-ray drive to operate its games or have players download all titles via the PlayStation Network. Sony has apparently no plans to offer backward compatibility of PS3 games for the next PlayStation.
Nintendo plans to expand its internet downloadable gaming business by opening its own online store to accompany the Wii U's release. Additional expansion plans such as partnering with more third party publishers such as Ubisoft may mean more game titles. Rather than overpowering competitor PlayStation 4 with graphics and hardware capability, Nintendo remains focused on innovative games that will enhance gameplay utilizing the Wii U's new controller and console technology.
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