Nintendo’s Wii U is a more powerful machine than its predecessor, Wii. Regardless of your technical proficiency you already knew that. Wii U is, after all, Nintendo’s first high definition home gaming console.
The latest edition of Nintendo’s Iwata Asks web q/a series has been published and it’s an update to the very first one that was titled “The Wii Hardware.” Naturally the arrival of Wii U necessitates “The Wii U Hardware” session, and that is exactly what Nintendo hardware developer lead Takeda along with Kitano, Shiota and Akagi from the Product Development Department of the Integrated Research and Development Division set out to discuss.
I highly recommend you read the four-page Iwata Asks on the Wii U hardware in its entirety. One portion of it I did want to call attention to is how much heat the Wii U generates and how Nintendo dealt with the issue.
According to Kitano, the Wii U generates roughly three times the amount of heat that Wii does due to the more powerful MCM (multi chip module) and one heat source versus two. To redirect the heat out of the console, Nintendo ran upward of 2,000 tests that helped them determine optimal placement of air/venting holes, determine the perfect size and shape for a vent fan that sits on top of the regular cooling fan, determine the perfect size and configuration for a heat sink shield that would dissipate the heat before expelling it, and creating the perfect flow of air from the inlet, through the heat source and out through the vent.
Another part of this process was continually fine tuning to get the fan noise down to a level that would not interfere with gameplay. It will be possible to judge this for ourselves until the Wii U is released, but I have high hopes that Nintendo has found a way to make the Wii U run relatively quiet despite its high heat output.
Head on over to Iwata Asks and read the extremely informative, though sometimes highly technical, breakdown of the Wii U internal hardware components, challenges, and learn cool facts like exactly when Wii U development began.
