Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/2005
E3 2006: Hands on with Nintendo's Wii and new Dell Designs
by Haider Farhan on May 11, 2006 9:40 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, held in the famous Los Angeles Convention Center (next door to the Staples Center, home to the L.A. Lakers and L.A. Clippers) here in downtown Los Angeles. E3 is an annual trade event in which numerous exhibitors converge to bring their latest creations to the eye of industry related media and professionals to salivate over.
Tens of thousands of industry professionals and media are expected to attend E3 2006 and hopefully this year, everything goes according to plan. If you didn't hear about what happened last year, the power went out in the media and administrative facilities and on one of the show floors. With no power in the media and administrative facilities, that meant members of the media had to wait in up to three and a half hour long lines to receive their well sought after press badges (yes, we were in the midst of this last year). And with a power outage on one of the show floors, that meant no air conditioning; and with thousands of people in one large room, it gets uncomfortable in a short amount of time.
At E3 2006, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), whom E3 is owned and operated by, expects nearly four hundred exhibitors from eighty countries around the globe to bring to life their well hidden and sought after productions.
Some highly anticipated games that are expected to be displayed this year are: Spore, God of War 2, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, Halo 3, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Final Fantasy XIII, Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway and many, many more. We're also expecting Nintendo to have their latest console, the Wii, on display as well as Sony's PlayStaion 3. We will no doubt find Microsoft to have one of the larger booths on the show floor, but with their latest console, the 360, already in the hands of enthusiastic gamers, we're mainly expecting a wide array of software and accessories to go along with it.
We spent some time with Nintendo's Wii, formerly known as Revolution, as well as some of Dell's upcoming XPS designs, which we're covering here today.
The Nintendo Wii
One of the main things everyone is looking forward to seeing this year is the Nintendo Wii. At Nintendo's booth, all we were able to see was the Nintendo DS at first glance but upon closer inspection, Nintendo had placed a barrier surrounding about half of its booth, reaching a good twelve to fifteen feet high. After waiting in an approximately two and a half hour line, we finally had access to the rest of the Nintendo booth. We found an entire setup of about 100 Wii stations with various games loaded. All the games we saw were full production games except for the last three which were still in development.
Like many people, when we first heard about the unique controller Nintendo developed, we had our doubts. However, we had a chance to play around with the Nintendo Wii and our impression has completely changed. We found the controller to be incredibly easy to use. Although the controller was little too sensitive to the motions you make, it's something you get used to the more you use it.
While the main controller is a remote-like device, there are three other types of controllers, namely, the Zapper, the Nunchuk and the Classic. The Zapper is currently a work in progress to be used for the Duckhunt remake, the Nunchuk is used for, from what we saw, football games, and the Classic style controller is designed to be used for NES, SNES and N64 games. There is no initial price tag or specs, although the specs aren't out to impress anyone anyhow. The expected launch date is sometime in November.
The way the remote-like controller works is via an infrared sensor bar which is wired directly to the Wii and can be placed either on top of or below the television. The bar can be placed anywhere as long as the controller is pointing towards it. Some adhesive backing is used to apply the sensor bar.
Update: If you'd like to see a couple videos of Wii in action, we've created a BitTorrent share of the demonstration. The first shows a couple people playing tennis with the new controller, and the second shows a guy with two controls using them as drumsticks. If you want more information about how to use BitTorrent, here's a quick tutorial. We're using Azureus to host the file, which requires the Java JRE. (E-mail Jarred if you have problems.)
Dell Reveals New Designs
We were called in on Tuesday, a day before E3 began, to come in for a sneak preview of Dell's latest design ideas which are going to be added to the XPS lineup. Dell provided us with no availability date or specifications of these new XPS systems, the best we were able to get from Dell was "soon."
Dell's new XPS tower is a significant departure from more conservative designs of the past. The case designers constructed the case around optimal air flow: cool air in from the front, it then crosses straight over the CPU/heatsink then out the back. The analogy we got from Dell was, "just like a jet engine."
The case is entirely constructed out of 2.5mm aluminum. The finish is bare to give it more of an aggressive appearance.
Dell has also placed a light in the back which shines downward to illuminate the cables and connectors, making it easy to see what you're doing. There is also a light on the top front which illuminates the front of the case and allows you to see what is inside your CD try when open. This front light will change colors, although we are not sure if the rear light does as well. The front panels will be available in your choice of black or red.
The case was canted forward to give it an aggressive stance with styling cues taken from many objects, such as classic muscle cars. Not only is the case canted forward for appearance, but function as well. According to Dell, by having the case canted even if you have the case put up against a wall you will still be able to reach behind and connect whatever it is you are trying to without having to pull the case forward.
Rather than having the side panels slide towards the back of the case, like most traditional cases, Dell has designed the case panels to swing down, from top to bottom. Dell also states that this case is made for easy upgrading if one desires to do so at a later date, which is a definite plus.
Currently, for all of Dells gaming platforms, at the Dell site, they have opt out solutions for software that is usually included when the computer is shipped. Buyers also have the option of a clean install, which is something we see most serious computer users do so after they have purchased a pre-built system. This takes the hassle of reinstalling Windows out of the buyers' hands.
While this desktop will be shipped with plain aluminum side panels, Dell has gone ahead and created a special edition, called the XPS X-Men: The Last Stand Collector's Edition. Beginning May 10th, 2006 through June 18th, 2006, consumers can enter to win this one-of--kind desktop which is valued at about $10,000.
Not only will Dell be releasing an updated XPS desktop model, but they also have a mobile XPS concept they are looking at producing. These mobile systems are called the Mobile Renegade M1710. These notebooks will be sporting custom paint jobs in which we had the opportunity to view four different styles.
As we mentioned before, Dell didn't release any specs, pricing or availability information to us.
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