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Nintendo looking for Lead Graphic Engineer for Next-Gen Console SoC in Redmond
- Thread starter BY2K
- Start date
Sounds like ARM is for gaming device then?
I hope it's going to be used on the next gen handheld from Nintendo. Hopefully it's powerful enough and modern enough to have DX11 kind of features or equivalent on Open GL
Fourth Storm
Member
2016? Sounds like the 3DS successor hinted at by AMD earlier.
Oh shi...
Iwata did say it would take two years to redefine consoles right?
Itshappening.gif
3DS beings GBAed?
Fourth Storm
Member
GBAed? It will have been on the market for over 5 years at that point most likely...
2016 isn't being GBAed. These deals are fresh, AMD only started talking about this deal a few months ago.
A lot of R&D likely is still underway and a long way to go. Also some new advances in ARM would, probably, be something Nintendo wants to take advantage of. I wonder if AMD can make something that's competitive with the K1.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Now we just have to imagine the cheapest, nastiest chip AMD has available for a handheld in 2016 and we have our spec.
Oh wow... It really doesn't feel that long. The DS' long life has skewed by perspective.
McHuj
Member
If AMD has a contract already in place that they are discussing publicly, I expect the design to be pretty much finalized.
That doesn't me the chip is done, it's a long process, but key components and performance metrics should be already decided upon (stuff like number of cores, memory size, process node).
That doesn't me the chip is done, it's a long process, but key components and performance metrics should be already decided upon (stuff like number of cores, memory size, process node).
Orniletter
Banned
Interesting, thats as close to confirmation as we'll get.
Sooo, how good are AMD's low end/ mobile offerings ?
Sooo, how good are AMD's low end/ mobile offerings ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_Cortex-A57
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARM_architecture#64.2F32-bit_architecture
This is what AMD has worked with and is, supposedly, in-the-know for in terms of their own R&D advancements.
Gonzo The Great
Banned
I can totally see this happening. 3DS sales peaked a long time ago, and there's not much coming out next year. All aboard the hype train.
Boombox On
Member
AMD has no mobile offerings at this point.
They have work with ARMv8-A in their server offerings. They haven't done anything with their ARM in mobile but they have experience with a build that is used in mobile.
iPhone6 is ARMv8-A clocked at 1.4 GHz.
I wonder if it would be fair to draw a comparison from there and project an expected power threshold of the next handheld. The current iPhone 6S (as big as a 3DS, but not as thick) has 2195 mAh battery that lasts for 6+ hours of use and a 1.4GHz chip.
AMD makes A57.
Orniletter
Banned
The DS was launched in late 2004 in JP and NA, mid 2005 in Europe. So it was around 6-6.5 years on the market before it's successor launched.
The 3DS will be like 5.5 years old if the 4DS launches in late 2016.
So it's not all that much shorter
Fourth Storm
Member
I'd imagine they are cooking up something like Mullins but at 20nm or even 16/14nm and with ARM cores instead of the Pumas.
128 shaders and a clock around 400 Mhz and you'd get almost Wii U performance at a very low TDP. Much depends on what type of screen they go with...
Interceptor
Banned
They will ride out the 3DS in 2015 and announce the successor in January/February 2016. I supect a release for the holidays in 2016. Seems to fit with AMDs timing.
3DS in 2015 and announce the successor in January/February 2016. I supect a release for the holidays in 2016. Seems to fit with AMDs timing.deedeedaydee
Banned
£10 they just overclock the Gamecube architecture again
Wait, I'm failing at reading comprehension or Nintendo will use both x86 and ARM? Because he says that at least one will be used beyond gaming, so both can be used on gaming?
Likely 480p for scaling 3DS 240p up evenly. Wii U ports would work well too given the 480p Gamepad screen.
I just wonder if we'll get autostereoscopic 3D again? That could impact performance a lot.
Fourth Storm
Member
sörine;143327560 said:
I just cannot fathom a 480p device in late 2016. I have to imagine smartphone screens will trigger some type of reaction within Nintendo as to what consumers expect of a portable.
One would assume that higher resolution screens will be extremely cheap.
I'd have said the same thing in 2011 and yet we still got a 240p device from Nintendo. Maybe it depends on it being 3D or not but I get the feeling Nintendo's pretty comfortable with 480p fidelity. Wii U games on the Gamepad gives a good indication I think.
Fourth Storm
Member
sörine;143329642 said:
Well, as has been mentioned before in this thread, it's not so much the screen, as it is the processor required to render 720p visuals. 3DS has an 800x240 screen and a 320x240 screen. Add them together (plus the 3D tech) and the price is probably around the same as a single 720p screen. Probably...
Nintendo are good at designing a game around limitations. A game like A Link Between Worlds would look fantastic in 720p and with a few more polygons. So it is not necessary that we posit Nintendo rendering games at less than native res.
As for 3DS BC and screen scaling, I think how they handled DS BC on 3DS show that they're willing to roll with a less than optimal presentation. They can always enable a 1:1 mode and black out pixels around the borders.
TheMoon
Member
Dude, new (home) console in '16 is not happening. Get real lol.
I can actually see them launching Q1 2016. 3DS also launched feb/march.
£10 they just overclock the Gamecube architecture again
They wouldn't need AMD for that, since PPC is IBM. Also has been discussed in this thread, PPC doesn't scale well for mobile. ARM is the best and most likely choice.
TheMoon
Member
Until you realize how much of a giant step back that would be.
shark sandwich
tenuously links anime, pedophile and incels
?? how would that be a step back from a 240p screen?
Why would any of this need to happen? 3DS/DS are ARM based and I have no doubt can be absorbed into the new ARM chipset. They may not look good on the next screen set or may not work well without a dual screen if Nintendo drops the clam, but I don't see why they would need to be dropped.
Bigger question is how WiiU gets absorbed into the ARM chipset since its built on PPC.
I think a 420p screen would be nice.
I mean, All first party games for Wii looked great so I assume it would be the same for a handheld system.
Here's the tricky thing.. Why would Nintendo go for 2-3(?)GB of RAM if games wouldn't require so much memory?
Unless they want to load entire games from the get go I don't see any practical functionality with such a small resolution ( assuming they go with 420p that is)
I mean, All first party games for Wii looked great so I assume it would be the same for a handheld system.
Here's the tricky thing.. Why would Nintendo go for 2-3(?)GB of RAM if games wouldn't require so much memory?
Unless they want to load entire games from the get go I don't see any practical functionality with such a small resolution ( assuming they go with 420p that is
)
TheMoon
Member
Because in the proposed scenario you'd trade a second screen for more pixels and a second circle pad which is just... ugh.
In what exactly? Having to press a button to see the menu/inventory/map? Or not having to buy an add-on to play a game without hand cramps? Or having the same input methods of all the other dedicated gaming platforms? It's not like the touchscreen is the reason of the 3DS's success. Also the majority of the 3DS games can be ported with little to no problem to a single screen platform.
InsaneZero
Member
I remember hearing earlier that Wii U game development is handled primarily through high-level APIs. If this is true, then 'adequately absorbing the Wii U architecture' really just means 'the new architecture supports the APIs used by Wii U games'.
If that's the case then there's no real problems absorbing everything in the next set-up.
Obviously for the 1-1.5GB OS silly!
Do not even joke with that.
InsaneZero
Member
The way that Nintendo handled the Wii U in regards to development seems to point to a greater focus on abstraction of low-level instructions. The Nintendo Web Framework and the support for the Unity engine are initiatives with a strong focus on portability, as it moves the development focus away from native, platform-specific intricacies to widely-used, widely-adapted languages and technologies. I wouldn't be surprised if this focus extends to in-house development as well, meaning that there should be very little dependency between a Wii U game and the actual Wii U hardware.
I had simply assumed, given the Power basis, that they were using more of RISC instruction set and more fine-tuned Power capabilities. But, all that said, ARM can make use of most of the same RISC capabilities and if Nintendo wasn't (have they ever?) coding to the metal of Power, they would be able to move. Nintendo has pretty much always been on Power or RISC tech, so I don't think this abstraction is all that new. The N64 was the odd-ball of the recent ones since it was so little system memory that games had to be coded to the metal for the system.
I don't think it would be nearly the same had they wanted to switch to x86 and CISC, though.
(Feel free to correct any mistakes I have made, though, as this isn't my field of specialization and I like learning this stuff if I am wrong.)
metalslimer
Member
I can't fathom how anyone today could think 480p is fine in a handheld system. Then again, some people are actually ok with the 3DS's resolution, and don't seem to realize how much it's gimped some games.
Not very well, because just like any other smart device SoC, gaming performance is little more than an afterthought. Which is why Nintendo is certainly going to use a (semi)custom chip, ARM or not.