“The Wii game console will take advantage of the most popular wireless technologies to deliver an advanced user experience that no other competitive console can match”
“Wii(TM) game console from Nintendo will include Broadcom(R) Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) technologies”
Press
10 May 2006 12:01 GMT PRESS RELEASE: Broadcom Advances the Wireless Gaming Experience With Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) Technologies Integrated Into Nintendo’s Wii(TM) Game Console
Copyright © 2006, Dow Jones Newswires
IRVINE, Calif., May 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Broadcom Corporation (Nasdaq: BRCM), a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications, today announced that the Wii(TM) game console from Nintendo will include Broadcom(R) Bluetooth(R) and Wi-Fi(R) technologies. Featuring the first Bluetooth wireless game controller system to ship “in the box” with a leading game console, along with the first integrated Wi-Fi solution for online gaming, Nintendo’s Wii demonstrates the industry’s highest level of commitment by a game console manufacturer to deliver a robust, state-of-the-art wireless gaming experience.
“The Wii game console will take advantage of the most popular wireless technologies to deliver an advanced user experience that no other competitive console can match,” said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director, General Manager, Integrated Research & Development Division for Nintendo. “Broadcom’s ability to supply and support custom features for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi has enabled us to provide our customers with a unique gaming experience powered by high-performance, field-proven wireless solutions.”
Gaming devices are among the increasingly diverse array of consumer electronics that integrate some form of advanced connectivity, which enables users to engage in dynamic online gaming while interacting with their game consoles in new and exciting ways. The new Wii console from Nintendo is at the forefront of this trend, integrating cutting-edge wireless capabilities that transform the gaming experience. Broadcom’s extensive communications portfolio and experience in enabling wireless connectivity in mainstream consumer devices has contributed to the notion amongst equipment manufacturers that wireless connectivity can enable new categories of products.
“Nintendo’s visionary approach to wireless connectivity provides a compelling illustration of how Bluetooth and Wi-Fi complement each other to provide a unique and convenient user experience,” said Robert A. Rango, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Wireless Connectivity Group. “Broadcom’s leadership and ability to add custom features to our standards-based Bluetooth and Wi-Fi technologies provide advantages to product developers seeking dual mode solutions that avoid interference, while delivering advanced performance and features that no other supplier can match.”
Advanced Wireless Capabilities
The Wii console is the first major gaming platform on the market to introduce Bluetooth technology as a standard feature, eliminating the cables between the console, hand-held game controllers and other accessories. Broadcom Bluetooth technology used in the controllers significantly increases the level of performance in the game controller, with special enhancements that provide low latency to accommodate the fast rate of interaction between the controller and the console.
Nintendo further leveraged the versatility of Broadcom’s highly-integrated Bluetooth solution to realize its vision of enabling new and intriguing ways for gamers to interact with their games, and to allow game developers to boldly exercise their creativity to deliver captivating new gaming experiences. Enhancements were made to ensure that the wireless controller system delivers the same reliable, low-latency responsiveness that gamers are accustomed to in wired controllers. In addition, Broadcom’s Bluetooth chip solution features exceptionally low power consumption, maximizing battery life to simplify upkeep and maintenance.
The Wii console also includes Broadcom’s single-chip 54g(R) Wi-Fi solution, which provides a high-performance wireless link for playing online or multi-player games. The console takes advantage of key features including Broadcom BroadRange(TM) technology, which allows users to maintain higher data rates further from the access point. Broadcom’s family of 54g(R) chipsets deliver maximum performance, coverage, security and ease-of-use, and are featured in the industry’s leading brands of networking equipment, PCs, broadband modems and consumer electronics.
Both Bluetooth and 802.11g Wi-Fi products operate in the 2.4 GHz radio frequency band, introducing the possibility of radio interference between the two radio signals. To address this concern, Nintendo drew upon Broadcom’s extensive co-existence experience to optimize the wireless performance for optimal simultaneous throughput of both technologies, minimizing the possibility of radio signal collisions, blocking and other phenomena that could degrade the performance of either device.
About Broadcom
Broadcom Corporation is a global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Our products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment. Broadcom provides the industry’s broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art system-on-a-chip and software solutions to manufacturers of computing and networking equipment, digital entertainment and broadband access products, and mobile devices. These solutions support our core mission: Connecting everything(R).
Broadcom, one of the world’s largest fabless semiconductor companies with annual revenue of more than $2.5 billion, is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and has offices and research facilities in North America, Asia and Europe. Broadcom may be contacted at 1-949-450-8700 or at www.broadcom.com.
Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
All statements included or incorporated by reference in this release, other than statements or characterizations of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections about our industry and business, management’s beliefs, and certain assumptions made by us, all of which are subject to change. Forward-looking statements can often be identified by words such as “anticipates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “would,” “could,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing,” similar expressions, and variations or negatives of these words. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.
Important factors that may cause such a difference for Broadcom in connection with Bluetooth and wireless LAN products include, but are not limited to, general economic and political conditions and specific conditions in the markets we address, including the volatility in the technology sector and semiconductor industry, trends in the broadband communications markets in various geographic regions, including seasonality in sales of consumer products into which our products are incorporated, and possible disruption in commercial activities related to terrorist activity or armed conflict in the United States and other locations; the rate at which our present and future customers and end-users adopt Broadcom’s technologies and products in the markets for Bluetooth and wireless LAN applications; delays in the adoption and acceptance of industry standards in those markets; our ability to scale our operations in response to changes in demand for our existing products and services or demand for new products requested by our customers; the timing, rescheduling or cancellation of significant customer orders and our ability, as well as the ability of our customers, to manage inventory; the gain or loss of a key customer, design win or order; intellectual property disputes and customer indemnification claims and other types of litigation risk; our ability to specify, develop or acquire, complete, introduce, market and transition to volume production new products and technologies in a cost-effective and timely manner; our ability to retain, recruit and hire key executives, technical personnel and other employees in the positions and numbers, with the experience and capabilities, and at the compensation levels needed to implement our business and product plans; problems or delays that we may face in shifting our products to smaller geometry process technologies and in achieving higher levels of design integration; competitive pressures and other factors such as the qualification, availability and pricing of competing products and technologies and the resulting effects on sales and pricing of our products; the timing of customer-industry qualification and certification of our products and the risks of non-qualification or non-certification; our ability to timely and accurately predict market requirements and evolving industry standards and to identify opportunities in new markets; changes in our product or customer mix; the volume of our product sales and pricing concessions on volume sales; the availability and pricing of third party semiconductor foundry, assembly and test capacity and raw materials; fluctuations in the manufacturing yields of our third party semiconductor foundries and other problems or delays in the fabrication, assembly, testing or delivery of our products; the risks of producing products with new suppliers and at new fabrication and assembly facilities; the quality of our products and any remediation costs; the effectiveness of our expense and product cost control and reduction efforts; the risks and uncertainties associated with our international operations, particularly in light of recent events; the effects of natural disasters, public health emergencies, international conflicts and other events beyond our control; the level of orders received that can be shipped in a fiscal quarter; and other factors.
More About: Wii game console, Broadcom, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless
While efforts were made for Super Smash Bros. Brawl to use Wii’s unique controller (wiimote), it will likely use a standard GameCube controller and not the Wii Remote or analogue attachment, this is where the controller shells will be important for games that wont use the wiimote capabilities.
Shigeru Miyamoto and Smash Bros. creator Masahiro Sakurai felt the remote was making the control scheme too complex, as Smash Bros. emphasizes simple gameplay.
It will use Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, but we are not sure how at this time.
source: E3
More About: Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii, wiimote, controller shells, games, Masahiro Sakurai, Nintendo, Wi-Fi
Reuters:
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. sided with rival Nintendo Co. Ltd. <7974.OS> on Wednesday in the fight to unseat video game leader Sony Corp.<6758.T>, saying many consumers will choose to buy both of their machines for the price of one PlayStation 3.
The bad blood between Sony and Microsoft in the fight for dominance in the nearly $30 billion video game industry has escalated over the last few days, with both sides trading barbs at the E3 Expo, the video game industry’s annual trade show.
Microsoft entered the next-generation game console market first with its Xbox 360 last November.
Sony aims to extend its market leadership with its upcoming PS3, while Nintendo plans to offer a new game machine called Wii in the fourth quarter.
“Tell me why you would buy a $600 PS3?” Peter Moore, a Microsoft vice president, said in an interview. “People are going to buy two (machines.) They’re going to buy an Xbox and they’re going to buy a Wii … for the price of one PS3.”
Microsoft predicted on Tuesday it will have 10 million Xbox 360 consoles in the market before Sony launches the PS3. The high-end Xbox 360 sells for $399, but it does not include a built-in high-definition DVD video player that comes with Sony’s PS3.
Sony plans to sell a premium PS3 model for $599 when it debuts in North America on November 17, and Nintendo has not yet disclosed pricing for Wii.
Wii comes equipped with motion sensitive controllers to allow users to mimic the motion of wielding a sword or swinging a tennis racket.
Moore then turned pitchman for Nintendo’s Wii, the latest offering from the Japanese company that once dominated the video game industry.
“People will always gravitate toward a competitively priced product — like what I believe Wii will be — with innovative new designs and great intellectual property like Mario, Zelda and Metroid,” Moore told Reuters.
Sony currently dominates the worldwide video game market with a 66 percent share, while Microsoft and Nintendo each hold 17 percent, according to Strategy Analytics.
“We have 100 percent market share of the next-generation, and their job is to take that from us,” said Moore.
“When I think on everything that we’ve got going right now that is real versus what Sony promises to do six, seven months from now, obviously we feel very good about where we stand.”
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Despite Microsoft’s head start with the Xbox 360, the software giant still faces an uphill climb in Sony and Nintendo’s home turf.
Microsoft received a tepid response to its Xbox 360 debut in Japan and demand fell short of expectations during last year’s holiday season when it sold about 100,000 machines.
The company introduced a competitively priced console in Japan, but some of its game titles did not appeal to Japanese gamers. Moore expects upcoming role-playing games like “Lost Odyssey” and “Blue Dragon” from the creator of the popular “Final Fantasy” series to do well in Japan.
“Quite frankly,” said Moore, “if we’re sitting here a year from now and things continue to fall flat, then we might say ‘we don’t know what to do anymore.”‘
Today Japanese developer Grasshopper revealed it is developing an original game called Heroes for Nintendo Wii.
The project was mentioned during the game designer panel at the expo and is currently in the works in collaboration with Marvelous Entertainment and Spike.
The title was originally planned to be shown at E3 itself, however was removed from th event for unknown reasons.
Readers familiar with Grasshopper will know that the company is best known for its moody GameCube title Killer 7.sourced: IGN
More About: Grasshopper, Heroes, Nintendo Wii, game designer, Marvelous Entertainment, Spike, E3, GameCube
Miyamoto unveiled the game everybody wondered about after Nintendo’s pre-E3 conference, Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii.
It turns out last year Miyamoto spoke to the Masahiro Sakurai about creating another Smash Bros game. A new team was put together just for this game.
There are two parts to this announcement that should please Smash Bros fans. The first is that Sakurai insisted on this game not using the Wii controller, so the GameCube controller is yet again what players will use to battle each other with Nintendo characters.
Single player mode will have some changes, though Sakurai didn’t mention them. And there will be an online multiplayer mode.
But I guess I can’t just say “Nintendo characters” now. Nintendo has announced a new character from a third party developer. First, these are the new Nintendo game characters: Pit (from Kid Icarus), Samus in the Zero suit, Metaknight, and Wario. And Konami has graciously offered up its own character: Snake (from Metal Gear Solid for you hermit folks).
More About: Miyamoto, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii, Nintendo
The creative director of Ubisoft Montreal had harsh words for Sony during an E3 workshop focusing on next-generation game design.Clint Hocking, the creative director behind titles such as Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory explained how he was disappointed by Sony’s attempts to copy technologies from the other consoles.
After referring to Sony’s mimicking of Xbox Live, and then duplicating components of Nintendo’s motion sensitive controller, Hocking paused in frustration.
“How much more ‘me too’ can [Sony] be?,” he asked.
Earlier in the discussion Hocking attacked the industry’s strategy to up the ante in visuals significantly with each console.
It’s a “fundamental problem of approach” to continue to push for stronger graphics, he said.
He argued such an approach puts game developers in situations where they have to be factory workers. Assemble art texture here, model texture shades here. Repeat.
Further, Hocking claimed the adoption rate of high-definition televisions is so low, that the approach wastes resources on art that many customers won’t even appreciate.
At the conclusion of the workshop, Hocking applauded Wii’s new controller interface. If it can meet the technical accuracy promised by Nintendo, it can open up the creative minds of game designers, he said.
While graphics may add emotion, Wii’s new controller interface is more likely to bring emotion directly to the player.
This are the First Screenshots released for the upcoming game Trauma Center: Second Opinion for the Nintendo wii console
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Trauma Center: Second Opinion screetnshot #6
More About: Screenshots, Trauma Center, Nintendo wii
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Hudson Entertainment announced that Bonk’s Adventure Nintendo’s Wii version willl be a playable demo on the E3 2006
SAN MATEO, Calif. – May 9, 2006 – Hudson Entertainment, the North American publishing arm for Hudson Soft Co., Ltd, announced today that a version of Bonk’s Adventure for Nintendo’s recently-announced Wii™ gaming system will be playable at Nintendo of America’s booth at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
The game will ultimately be available for purchase on the Virtual Console, Nintendo’s game download service.
Designed for western audiences, Bonk’s Adventure is a side-scrolling action game that was originally launched in Japan in December 1989 under the title “PC Genjin” on the PC engine, and in the U.S. in 1990 on the TurboGrafx system.
A hit among critics, the title featured a prehistoric hero named Bonk who was characterized by his use of powerful headbutts as a favored form of attack. Bonk has a wide range of comical maneuvers. Bonk came to represent the TurboGrafx-16 system and he remains one of the most popular video game characters of all time.
About Virtual Console
Gamers can download classic games released through the Virtual Console on Nintendo’s new Wii™. Hudson will provide a large number games for the Virtual Console. Those games were co-developed with NEC corporation through a joint venture known as NEC-HE. Hudson also plans to release a number of third party titles originally released on the TurboGrafx as well.
About the TurboGrafx-16
The TurboGrafx system, also known as the PC Engine in Japan, was a popular video game system originally launched in the US in 1989. The system was based on the HE-SYSTEM code standard, and featured the LSI “C62 system,” which Hudson had originally developed.
It was the most powerful system on the market when it launched, realizing high CPU processing speed, a robust color palette of 512 colors, and a powerful sound system with 6 channel stereo, and 2 channel output.
Hudson also created the ROM “Hu-CARD” which could store a whole game on the size of a credit card size cartridge. Hudson released the PC engine CD-ROM2 video gaming system on December 4, 1988, which featured CD-ROM technology for the first time in gaming.
About Hudson Entertainment, Inc.
Hudson Entertainment is the North American publishing arm of Hudson Soft, an international provider of games and entertainment content founded in 1973.
Hudson introduced best-selling classic videogame franchises including Bomberman, Bonk, and Super Adventure Island.
For more information on Hudson Entertainment, please visit www.hudsonent.com.
More About: Hudson Entertainment, Bonk’s Adventure, Nintendo, Wii, E3 2006
STMicroelectronics sensors to be used in Nintendo’s Wii
STMicroelectronics on May 9 announced that its three-axis acceleration sensors will be used to provide a motion-activated user interface for Nintendo’s new home console, Wii.
Expected to dramatically change the way people play games, the Wii controller includes ST’s high-performance acceleration sensors that can detect the motion and tilt of a player’s hand in all 3 dimensions and convert it into immediate game action.
Driven by ST’s Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology — micron-sized structures that interact with the physical world — the Wii controller can respond to changes in direction, speed, and acceleration, down to the most delicate movements. Specifically, the controllers use embedded acceleration sensors to enable players’ wrist, arm, and hand movements to interact with the games.
Tilt measurements allow users to move characters, while the accurate three-axis acceleration sensing easily transforms the controller into a virtual sword, gearshift, or musical instrument.
The acceleration sensor’s miniature dimensions (5×5×1.5mm) significantly contribute to the user-friendly volume and weight of the TV-control-shaped handpiece.
Ultra-low power consumption of ST’s MEMS devices prolongs the battery life of the controller and the high thermal stability avoids unwanted motion sensing in varying temperature conditions.
The robust design of the sensor also provides very high immunity to vibration and a shock resistance up to 10,000g.
More About: STMicroelectronics, acceleration sensors, Nintendo, Wii
Official press release: Opera announced that Opera partners with Nintendo to put browser on the Wii™ game console
Oslo, Norway and Los Angeles, Calif., May 10, 2006
Opera Software, a world leader in Web browser technology, today announced that Nintendo’s much anticipated new generation game console, Wii, will use the Opera browser.
Users of the Wii console will browse the Internet using their consoles. Navigating via the innovative new Wii Remote controller, users can visit Web sites in between gaming sessions.
“Nintendo is clearly visionary in leading the gaming industry into the new era in gaming, and a wonderful partner for Opera,” says Jon von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software. “We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Nintendo, and work with them to deliver the best gaming experience on the Wii console and the Nintendo DS™.”
“For our Wii console launch in 2006, we required a browser that was fast and secure with support for the latest standards including AJAX. Opera proved perfect for our purposes and is an exceptional addition to both the Nintendo DS and the Wii console,” said Genyo Takeda, senior managing director and general manager, Integrated Research & Development Division, Nintendo Co., Ltd.
Opera and Nintendo announced their partnership to deliver the full Opera browser for the Nintendo DS on February 15, 2006. The Nintendo DS browser is scheduled for release in Japan this summer. Nintendo has not yet announced its global launch plans for this product.
About Opera for Devices
Opera provides an optimized implementation of Internet technologies for handheld devices, digital TV and other devices, with innovative and powerful features that seamlessly adapt the Internet experience to suit varying screen sizes and input devices. In addition to being a full Internet browser, Opera is a high performance execution environment for Web applications and dynamic user interfaces based on interoperable open Web technologies such as AJAX.
http://www.opera.com/products/devices
About Opera Software ASA
Opera Software ASA has redefined Web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross- platform Web browser technology is renowned for its small size, performance and standards-compliance, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.
About Nintendo
The worldwide leader and innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular home and portable video game systems. To date, Nintendo has sold more than 2 billion video games worldwide and more than 360 million hardware units globally, creating such industry icons as Mario(R) and Donkey Kong and launched franchises like The Legend of Zelda(R) and Pokemon(R). Nintendo manufactures and markets hardware and software for its popular video game systems, including the Nintendo GameCube™, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS™.
source: Opera
More About: Opera, Nintendo, game console, Wii, Wii console
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