Release Date: Nov.19, 2006
Price: $250.00
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Platform(s): Wii
Genre: Action






Is the Wii more powerful than analysts initially assumed? A representative from graphics maker ATI has said that the graphical capabilities demonstrated at E3 2006 are just the "tip of the iceberg" for the Wii.
I think what you saw [at E3] was just the tip of the iceberg of what the Hollywood chip can bring to the Nintendo Wii."-- John Swinimer, senior PR manager for ATI
The quote comes from a story in which John Swinimer, a senior public relations manager for ATI, defended the graphical capabilities of the Wii. ATI designed the graphics processor for the Wii, a chip dubbed "Hollywood."
Swinimer refused to elaborate on more specific details of the Wii's visual prowess, saying only that the Wii's Hollywood chip "is powerful enough and responsive enough to be there at a moment's notice."
Another interesting detail is that ATI won't directly compare the video capabilities of the Xbox 360 and the Wii, even though the Canadian company developed the graphics technology for both systems.
The Wii has been widely regarded as having the weakest graphical capabilities of the three next-gen systems. Though final specs still aren't out, the Wii is thought to be two to three times as powerful as Nintendo's last console, the GameCube. Nintendo has avoided detailing the Wii's technical abilities, instead focusing on the system's unusual motion-sensing controller and the modest price point.




It's important to take this with a grain of salt -- PR guys are paid to keep us excited about their products, after all.
But that said, this doesn't surprise me one bit. I still think the GameCube hardware didn't get the respect it deserved, and with the Wii being a suped-up revision of the GameCube, I think we'll see the wisdom in Nintendo's console design in a big way.
The Wii looked great at E3 in terms of graphics, but it'll ultimately be up to developers to wring out the last drops of performance through slick coding tricks