Stream of rumors about Wii 2 specs, price and release date hit the web

By Jeff Hughes April 22, 2011

Rumors surrounding the new Wii, also dubbed Project Cafe, are growing steadily the closer we get to E3 in June. Mid-April we heard that the new home system would be unveiled at E3, and the console would blow past the Wii’s 480p to running games at HD resolution (1080p). Now, thanks to IGN and their trusted yet unnamed sources, we have a better picture of Nintendo’s latest anticipated console entry.

IGN‘s Scott Lowe has uncovered new information regarding possible pricing, release date, hardware specs and design. The sources claim that the Wii 2 could run anywhere from $350 to $400, though the prices may depend on whether Nintendo decides to lower profit margins. Lowe’s article says that the new Wii will be manufactured by the Taiwanese Foxconn, and may be released as early as mid-October/early November; but Lowe speculates that Nintendo could decide to release in the beginning of 2012 in order to build up their software and hardware horde.

As far as processor specs go, Lowe says the new Wii‘s will be based on “a revamped version of AMD’s R700 GPU architecture not AMD’s Fusion technology” and will surpass the PS3’s NVIDIA based processor. He also says it will be similar to the Xbox 360 with a “triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset, but the clocking speeds will be faster.” It will also be similar to the original Xbox in terms of size, with possibly a nostalgic design nod to the look of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.

Many names are being bandied about for this new system, but Lowe’s article said that Nintendo is considering the name ‘Stream’ – perhaps referring to its ability to stream content.

Nintendo is insistent on keeping the mystery around the new system. Shigeru Miyamoto replied, “Don’t Ask!” when he was grilled about the new Wii in a closed-door session in London. He also gave a vague deflection on whether the game machine would still be unveiled as expected at E3.

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