SZF2001 wrote:
The Wii is NOT an update PoS from the GCN - in fact, I HAVE PROOF!
Think of every feature you can with the Wii. Take a good, maybe, two minutes. Then, watch this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlWYm6-lPZ0 (thanks jar)
Take all of that in.
Now you can just replace a few words and BAM - we have a Wii infomercial.
So what am I trying to point out, here? Well, it seems I have come to the conclusion that the Wii is just an update of the Nintendo 64, a twelve year old gaming machine.
Marketing spin is not a basis for judgement, and that's all that video is. By your logic, the Wii is an evolution of the Atari 5200, a 20-something year old system. (It too had 4 controller ports and innovative controllers.)
You want technical details, and in that area, you are dead wrong.
The Wii's CPU and GPU are the next step up the same product architecture from their Gamecube counterparts, like going from a Pentium II to a Pentium III. (Actually it's going from a G3 to a G4) Therefore it runs about 50%-100% faster than the Gamecube, but on the same system architecture.
Take a look at this table, which outlines the most commonly referenced bases of comparison when it comes to computer products. It has the Wii and Gamecube listed, and I threw in the PS2 for kicks. <s>I didn't include the 360 because it would eat them all for lunch.</s>
<b>360 added</b>
<img src="http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/5395/360addpu7.gif">
The clock speed disclaimer applies to the Wii, we know what the real speeds of the other two are.)
The Gamecube was a much bigger step forward over the N64 than the Wii is over the GCN, and was built off a completely different architecture, so you can't claim it's another evolution of the same thing.
As for the price/performance ratio: Slap an extra 64 MB of RAM in a PS2 and sell it for $250 and you'll have about an equivalent value.
By my findings,
the Wii is, in fact, a supped up Gamecube with a BlueTooth adapter, WiFI adapter, and accellerometers.