Wii Hardware and New Names Revealed

Wii Hardware and New Names Revealed Wii Hardware and New Names Revealed

MoSys' embedded memory will power Nintendo's Wii providing the console with high performance, high density 1T-SRAM. Three new trademarks registered by the company have also suggested a name for Wii's messaging service.

MoSys, a provider of high-density system-on-chip (SoC) embedded memory solutions, announced that Nintendo's Wii uses MoSys' patented 1T-SRAM technology to implement the very high performance memory within the Wii console's graphics system. As the launch date for Nintendo's new console approaches, we will gradually begin to discover exactly what is included under its hood. The Japanese video game giant has kept hardware specs vague and ha refused to discuss its new console's graphics potential, focusing, instead, on gameplay. This lack of hardware information has led to a multitude of rumors ranging from shadows of Project Reality to XBox comparisons. As we discover exactly what powers the Wii we will gradually begin to unravel the next-generation potential of Nintendo's little warrior.

The two companies have been working together for over six-years and previous generations of MoSys' 1T-SRAM technology were incorporated in Nintendo's GameCube in 1999. The newest 1T-SRAM implementations embedded within the Wii console are fabricated using NEC Electronics' advanced 90nm CMOS-compatible embedded DRAM process technology. These high speed and ultra low latency memories are used as the main embedded memory on the graphics chip and in an additional external memory chip.

In other Wii news, Nintendo has registered three new trademarks, WiiPointer, WiiCulture, and !!M. That last one is the console's name, Wii, upside down and may be the name carried by the messaging service. We are not sure about pronunciation although Eem might be a fair guess.