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Nintendo Confirms Wii on GC Housing at E3

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the still-some-wiggle-room dept.

kukyfrope writes "Nintendo's PR Manager, Matt Atwood, has confirmed accusations that Wii demo stations at E3 were not running inside the Wii case and instead were running inside Gamecube housing using Wii-spec hardware. 'The Wii hardware we exhibited at E3 2006 was made specifically for the E3 show and is not the final mass-production version. Some of this hardware was cased in Nintendo GameCube housing.'" Update: 05/19 21:08 GMT by Z : Changed 'hardware' to 'housing' in title.

13 of 205 comments (clear)

  1. And this changes.... by lokiman · · Score: 5, Funny

    And was the controller just a mars bar wrapped in tin foil?

  2. Interesting... by revlayle · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...but not unexpected for a 5-to-6-months-before release demo.

    It showcased what they wanted it to do - they could have cased in hardened dog shit for all I personally would have cared :)

    1. Re:Interesting... by Salgak1 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Alas, no hardened dog poop was available: Microsoft bought it all up for Vista. . . .

      (running for cover, grinning like hell)

  3. Re:uh, so? by cosmotron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's just something to try to stir up the water...

    --
    Ryan - http://www.thecosmotron.com/
  4. Accusations? by Xxanmorph · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That makes it sound like they were doing something wrong. Who cares what case it was in if the hardware was the real deal?

  5. Cheated, Cheated, Cheated I say! by WillAffleckUW · · Score: 5, Funny

    I mean, to think that they used plastic housing cases that weren't exactly the same as the final production models, even if all the important metal and fiber bits inside were!

    I am just appalled.

    Oh, wait. No, it's Friday.

    Never mind: I forgot I actually have a life.

    As you were.

    They can put them in brown paper sacks for all I care.

    --
    -- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
  6. Microsoft did a similar thing last year by Hannah+E.+Davis · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm not sure why this is a big deal, or even a surprise -- at last year's E3, the 360 was emulated on heavily modded PowerPCs. When I saw a stack of them at EA, I couldn't help but giggle at the huge Apple logos emblazoned on the side and the small, unassuming "Property of Microsoft" labels affixed to the top of each machine.

  7. Re:GBA SP, DS lite, WiiCube? by AuMatar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The cube was designed for Asia. Japan is very space conscience, apartments are small and space is a premium. The cube could fit just abotu anywhere and be moved easily, two big pluses in the Asian market.

    --
    I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
  8. Re:GBA SP, DS lite, WiiCube? by Dorceon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually there was an SNES redesign. There's a pic on the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNES_2

    --
    What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
  9. Correction: by kyle+(in+stereo) · · Score: 5, Informative

    Accusation: Nintendo is still running games off of modified Gamecube hardware.

    Fact: While this was true for most of last year, and some of this year, E3 2006 saw Wii technology housed in black Gamecube casing.

    :-)

    --
    ---space.is.the.place---
  10. Sony was using actual PS3 hardware... by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 5, Informative

    They were the devices in racks between the monitors.

    They're not PCs in there. They're not "representative hardware". They're PS3s, devkits.

    No, they weren't in final plastics yet either.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
    1. Re:Sony was using actual PS3 hardware... by PhoenixOne · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Why do I never have mod points when they are needed?

      Parent is correct. I think the real issue is Nintendo made it look like they had production Wii hardware on the floor while Sony actually went out of their way to have big glass cases showing that they were not using retail hardware (which didn't make much sense to me, but bravo Sony for showing just how far of your Spring 2006 release date was).

      Personally I don't think it's a big deal. Almost everything you see at E3 is 90% hype, or just plain lies (I'm looking at you Phantom). You should trust anything you see at E3 about as much as you would trust anything said by a used car salesman.

      --
      Spell cheek you've failed me four the last thyme!
  11. The Wii Controller was meant for the Gamecube by cdneng2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back in 2004, there were many rumours that Nintendo was going to announce a new peripheral add-on for the Gamecube that would add new functionality and possibly extend the life of the Gamecube. Let's assume that this peripheral was the "Wii-mote".

    So let's put all this logic together about 6 months after this announcement:

    1) The Gamecube never really got it's established fanbase.

    2) Around the same time, Nintendo launches the DS. The "Wii-mote" would have distracted Nintendo from the DS launch.

    3) Let's say that had trouble making the "Wii-mote" work... say... the Gamecube lacked the CPU horsepower, or they needed to "refine" the controller more.

    4) Sony and MSFT both announces their next-gen consoles at this same time.

    So, you have this potentially revolutionary controller. Why try and compete against Sony and MSFT with the dying Gamecube? Add some horsepower to the Gamecube. Add a new GPU, and voila... you have a new console.

    Therefore, it doesn't surpise me that they COULD have a "pushed" Gamecube at E3 to demonstrate Wii's capabilities.

    1) It explains the un-exceptional graphics... or at least graphics the Gamecube could do.

    2) It explains the huge amount of games demoed at E3.

    3) It explains the "Gamecube" housings.

    4) It explains how "polished" the demos were, and how refined the Wii-mote works.

    5) It explains why the Wii development kits are so cheap... they are probably very much similar to the Gamecube.

    So it doesn't surprise me that the Wii was disguised in the Gamecube housing. In the end, does it really matter? I'm still buying one at launch.