Ubisoft: Project Cafe Is Really Fantastic

6:50 PM - May 13, 2011 - By Kevin Parrish - Source : Eurogamer

Ubisoft has seen the future of Nintendo, and it is deemed "fantastic."

Unlike the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii crashed into the scene, grabbed a new sector of gamers, and then slowly fizzled out like a balloon with a small puncture. We saw the decline coming, knowing that the sudden motion-sensing fad would eventually die out leaving players with a lot of cheesy titles. Even publishers like Sega tried to bring hardcore gaming to the console and discovered that there just wasn't a profitable market.

So when we hear talks about the next Nintendo console, there's certainly a little bit of skepticism. What will the gimmick be this time? What percentage of garbage will players have to sift through before finding an actual gem? Nintendo said the new platform will be more friendly to third parties, and hopefully that will indeed be the case. In fact, Ubisoft seems all gung-ho over the upcoming "Project Café" according to a recent statement heard by Eurogamer, perhaps giving an indication that the console will be more in tune with the Super Nintendo in terms of quality 3rd-party titles by the truckloads.

"The platform Nintendo is coming with is really a fantastic platform," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot in an investor call. "We think it will be extremely successful. What we see is that we will be able to leverage a lot of the work we do for Xbox 360 and PS3 while we create games for the platform. So we will not have to redo completely the games that we create. We'll be able to use all the capacity the console is giving but also use all the work we do for the other platforms."

That’s quite a tease. Nintendo hasn't officially revealed the specs of its next console, but there's indication that it will be a bit more meaty than the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. That might not be a good thing given that its two opponents are slated for a hardware refresh too, but if reports are true, Nintendo will at least have a small window where it will have the dominating hardware. Will Nintendo take advantage of the window? Will we see stellar third-party titles that may even pull PC gamers and Xbox 360 owners away?

Ok, that may be stretching into fantasy a bit. We'll find out what Nintendo has planned for us next month at E3 2011. Personally I'd like to be shocked to the point of changing underwear.

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aznguy0028 05/14/2011 2:06 AM

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"That’s quite a tease. Nintendo hasn't officially revealed the specs of its next console, but there's indication that it will be a bit more meaty than the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."

I'm pretty disappointed to be honest. The 360 and PS3's technology is ancient by today's standards, and being a "bit more meaty" than that isn't enough imo. Nintendo is planning to recapture the "hardcore" console gaming market, I woulda expected the specs to be more aggressive.

Toter 05/14/2011 2:16 AM

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It will have to be pretty special to interest other console/pc gamers to spend £xxx.xx on something that could be outdated pretty quickly

eklipz330 05/14/2011 2:19 AM

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OH ITS FANTASTIC IS IT?

well ill be. i HONESTLY thought that all the partners would say its a pile of crap! after all its not like theyre gonna be making games for it or anything! SMH.

opened up my GI today, and someone said that it was less of a gimmick than the wii was... that seemed to be the most honest opinion i have heard as of yet

eklipz330 05/14/2011 2:20 AM

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aznguy0028 :
"That’s quite a tease. Nintendo hasn't officially revealed the specs of its next console, but there's indication that it will be a bit more meaty than the current Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."I'm pretty disappointed to be honest. The 360 and PS3's technology is ancient by today's standards, and being a "bit more meaty" than that isn't enough imo. Nintendo is planning to recapture the "hardcore" console gaming market, I woulda expected the specs to be more aggressive.

updated r700 core is going to be able to push 1080p easy compared to what current consoles CANT do.

im assuming the IBM core is stronger than 260's as well. face it, what kind of games does nintendo make anyway? just brightly colored blocks, thats enough tech for years! just make it

kinggraves 05/14/2011 2:27 AM

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The specs haven't even been released yet, the average person is going on speculation and rumors. Meanwhile professional publishers that HAVE actually gotten info straight from NIntendo are getting excited about it. Still, I'll wait for the opinion of the major 3rd party guys like Konami, Capcom, and Square/Enix. They're the ones with exclusives that have really swayed things in a system's favor. One of the rumors had Final Fantasy 15 landing on Project Cafe. I have my doubts, but if that turns out to be true, Nintendo really could have a new SNES on their hands.

As far as competition...well I don't see MS going anywhere, but I'm not sure how well Sony will do with their next system. They lost a lot of reputation over the past few years, and they've always been dependent on 3rd party exclusives. On top of that, every Playstation has had a new type of media player as a bonus. CD, DVD, BluRay, but what are they going to have in 2015, BDXL? It's not really a necessary format so far, especially for games, what's going to be their selling point for PS4?

memadmax 05/14/2011 2:32 AM

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Does it play crysis?

aznguy0028 05/14/2011 2:41 AM

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eklipz330 :
updated r700 core is going to be able to push 1080p easy compared to what current consoles CANT do.im assuming the IBM core is stronger than 260's as well. face it, what kind of games does nintendo make anyway? just brightly colored blocks, thats enough tech for years! just make it

Yea, I've read articles about the r700 core on the project cafe before too. Thing is though, 1080p will be easy on the console, but nintendo themselves said they want to capture back the hardcore console gamers. So besides from 1080p, I would expect some sort of AA/AF settings being enabled on most games as well. With microsoft/sony doing a new hardware refresh, I'm wondering if Nintendo's specs will be strong enough to compete. If it was just colorful blocks like games on the wii, then yea, i agree w/u, that would be totally enough xD haha

dalethepcman 05/14/2011 2:47 AM

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Quote :what's going to be their selling point for PS4?

They were hoping to try the apple approach of "Brainwash them into buying it, even if its crap" but with the recent problems they have had, I think they are now looking at an add campaign based on "Lightning never strikes the same place twice!"

ikyung 05/14/2011 3:03 AM

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Wait what..? The Wii has sold more then PS3 and Xbox360 combined and yet the article makes it seem like Nintendo is standing on the edge of the cliff. Nintendo the company itself was founded over a hundred years ago and has dominated both the hand-held and console market since the 80s. Even if Project Cafe fails, Nintendo will still keep trucking along.

eklipz330 05/14/2011 3:15 AM

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ikyung :
Wait what..? The Wii has sold more then PS3 and Xbox360 combined and yet the article makes it seem like Nintendo is standing on the edge of the cliff. Nintendo the company itself was founded over a hundred years ago and has dominated both the hand-held and console market since the 80s. Even if Project Cafe fails, Nintendo will still keep trucking along.

as a business they were successful, but they still didn't capture any long term audiences. most wii owners i know have their wiis collecting dust. really pitiful actually. in that sense, they failed

i think what most people are trying to say is that nintendo cant have another gimmicky system. they wont be as lucky

adamboy64 05/14/2011 3:31 AM

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Well, it doesn't actually matter if people use their devices after they've bought them or not, take Kinect for example. The sales are what counts.

Nintendo have been ultra-successful this gen, but I don't know how they'll do next generation.
It's good to hear this from Ubisoft.

Project Cafe being able to match 5 year old tech (PS3/360) is nothing to be surprised about, but definitely nothing to brag about either.

So yes, I'd say 360/PS3 games would port well. I'd rather see some new games than just ports all the time though.

This year's E3 conference is going to be mighty interesting indeed.

cloakster 05/14/2011 3:52 AM

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Well, this article is looking from a gamers perspective. There's a very large amount of gamers who bought the Wii, played Wii sports for a bit and have never touched the system since. Just looking at sales, yes they did well, but after all this time do people still love it? Not even close to as much as Nintendo had hoped.

The motion sensing tech is like all this 3D stuff in movies today. People love it at first because its all cool and new to them, but after a while everyone realizes that it is nothing more than a gimmick and just give up with it.

JOSHSKORN 05/14/2011 4:34 AM

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We know the graphics will not be cutting edge, as they are even outdated by today's PC standards, but still better than the XBOX 360 and PS3. It won't be long until Microsoft and Sony 'pwn' Nintendo, though.

tommysch 05/14/2011 6:19 AM

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Nice moar cross platform BS!

trialsking 05/14/2011 6:53 AM

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Oh noes, do I need to upgrade my 5870's in CF and i5 750 oc'd @ 4.0 to keep up with Project Cafe titles?!?!?!?!

Proxy711 05/14/2011 8:03 AM

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Lets be honest ubisoft isn't a great judge of what is "fantastic".

They prob thought their DRM for assassins creed etc was fantastic too.

Zingam 05/14/2011 11:06 AM

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Wow! I'm surprised! I thought they would say that Project Cafe sux donkey ballz?

Zingam 05/14/2011 11:09 AM

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Yeah, but then Nintendo should start paying developers to make quality games unlike all these crappy looking games I've seen for Wii! They maybe fun to play I don't know but their visuals are a joke!

molo9000 05/14/2011 11:42 AM

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kinggraves :
what's going to be their selling point for PS4?

What would make me buy a PS4 is PS2 and PS3 backwards compatibility and a better controller. (dual shock needs to go!)
I would probably buy a PS3 now if it still had PS2 backwards compatibility.

Look at the current consoles. The hardware differences between PS3 and Xbox360 are negligible. What counts are price, exclusive games, gimmicks like Blu-ray and fanboyism.

notuptome2004 05/14/2011 12:42 PM

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adamboy64 :
Well, it doesn't actually matter if people use their devices after they've bought them or not, take Kinect for example. The sales are what counts.Nintendo have been ultra-successful this gen, but I don't know how they'll do next generation.It's good to hear this from Ubisoft.Project Cafe being able to match 5 year old tech (PS3/360) is nothing to be surprised about, but definitely nothing to brag about either.So yes, I'd say 360/PS3 games would port well. I'd rather see some new games than just ports all the time though.This year's E3 conference is going to be mighty interesting indeed.

First it will not match 5 year old Tech

the Xbox 360 is what i will use as example

the 360 runs a IBM Tri-core dual threads per core CPU @3.2ghg based on the Power 5 chip while Project Cafe would be i assume based on the newest Power 7 based chips that do 4 threads per core

also the GPU in the 360 is based on early R500 chip while PC would be using an custom R700 chip much newer also we could assume it may have 2gb of ram or more in the system

snotling 05/14/2011 3:00 PM

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eklipz330 :
as a business they were successful, but they still didn't capture any long term audiences. most wii owners i know have their wiis collecting dust. really pitiful actually. in that sense, they failedi think what most people are trying to say is that nintendo cant have another gimmicky system. they wont be as lucky

Sort of what we'll see with tablets in two years or so

decrypted 05/14/2011 6:36 PM

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I do wish Nintendo well, BUT I feel they will forever be geared toward the family and kids (12 and under). This is not to say they will have crappy games, but more of the platform type (Mario, Link, etc), Mario64 is still in my top 5 all time games. MS seems to be trying to bridge that gap of family games (especially with the Wii avatar look) and the hardcore. Sony has been leaning more to the hardcore, with some family stuff thrown in. PC market is straight cutting edge, and the elite. I feel all have their place. Other than the PC, consoles are in much need of a refresh. I know there is still good games to be had, but looking at the tech side, cell phones and tablets are nearly as powerful as the current gen.

killerclick 05/14/2011 7:44 PM

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Nintendo knows how to engineer a great product (one that sells). Whether it will appeal to hardcore gamers (and whether hardcore gamers use consoles anyway) is another matter...

Raidur 05/14/2011 7:49 PM

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Watch them blow our minds like they did w/ N64.

Doubtful, especially if they're only looking to slightly best current console's hardware (which are CRAP).

serendipiti 05/14/2011 8:30 PM

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I don't think that 3D power will be the selling point. They will have enough 3D horsepower to drive current PS3 / Xbox360 games, that's the point, not beating them. I think the point it's having something else than the competition and anything less...

captaincharisma 05/15/2011 4:49 AM

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dalethepcman :
They were hoping to try the apple approach of "Brainwash them into buying it, even if its crap" but with the recent problems they have had, I think they are now looking at an add campaign based on "Lightning never strikes the same place twice!"

"Brainwash them into buying it, even if its crap? well that is what MS did with the 360 and all the hardware failures proved that

tacoslave 05/15/2011 9:50 AM

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oh come on guys remember that consoles get like over 10x times the performance out of their hardware than we do out of our pc since they optimize their titles for that specific console.

beardguy 05/15/2011 4:49 PM

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The one thing thing the dated tech in consoles has done is made developers much more efficient. I think the truth is, the hardware is often not the hangup, but it's the skills and imagination of the developers and the developing platform. You could throw the most advanced hardware at game developers and have them make games for it, but the hardware DOESN'T make great games or great graphics. It's the skills of the folks using it.

I have been an avid PC gamer for years and about a year ago I broke down and got a xbox 360. I was amazed to see some games ( I think of Gears of War 2, Allan Wake etc.) that were on-par graphically with anything on the PC. 5 year old technology that could play great looking games compared to a high-end a PC that cost a lot more.

The sad thing is when these magnificently optimized console games are ported to PC, they usually run like complete garbage. So as much as the console market has spawned some amazing talent, the PC gaming market it still defintely suffering as a result. I would say in 90% of the games developed for XBOX/PS3/PC that the PC is always the last on the list in order of importance to the game companies. Having said all that, this new Wii has the potential to be awesome. But it needs to be WAY WAY better than the current Wii.

macewrox 05/16/2011 2:06 PM

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Hey look another console that will become obsolete in a few years and force you to buy the next generation of console for ridiculous amounts.

No thanks, I'll stick to my computer.

kinggraves 05/16/2011 9:27 PM

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macewrox :
Hey look another console that will become obsolete in a few years and force you to buy the next generation of console for ridiculous amounts.No thanks, I'll stick to my computer.

Computers used for gaming, the only device known that costs practically nothing and never becomes obsolete.
Wait a second....

dark_lord69 05/16/2011 9:37 PM

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Everyone just needs to stop compairing thier PC to a gaming console.
1. In all the history of gaming consoles they never have as much RAM as a PC in that generation. It doesn't need as much cause it's not running programs and huge speadsheets and a massive operating system.
2. The CPU is a PowerPC CPU. It's not an Intel x86 and it doesn't function the same way and may not be designed to run the same code. Also the number of cores doesn't have to be as many as the XBox (for example) to get better performance.
Example: If I offered you the choice of an older pentium dual core or a new Core i5 dual core. You'd pick the i5... Why? cause it's new and FASTER despite being the same clock speed and having the same number of cores. Now I don't know about you people but I'm not a PowerPC CPU expert and I doubt you are either. For all I know the Power 7 chips may be 3 times faster then the Power 5 chips and just maybe that new dual core CPU could be faster than a triple core CPU running at a higher clock rate. Lastly, how much CPU a game uses HIGHLY depends on programming. GTA 4 needs TONS of CPU because it was made that way. Other games rely heavily on the GPU performance.
3. The GPU is a great choice. I happen to use that GPU and I play games in 1080p all the time. For everyone's information all they mentioned was the series. It might be as fast or faster than a 4890 which gets the SAME PERFORMANCE as a 5830. We don't really know what the clock rate will be... Perhaps it will be above the capability of a 5830 more like a 5850. I bet if you knew it would be that fast you'd all stop complaining. I don't think direct x matters cause I'm not convinced they even use that API especially since it's a product made by the competition. And for the guy that asked... YES, it will play crysis. I've already used it to play through all of crysis 1 and I'm gonna get crysis 2.

What you people need to remember is that these consoles aren't designed to run a big heavy operating system and all the different programs in many different programming languages like a PC, therefore they can run quite well with less.