Project Cafe: Open discussion and theories

There are many questions that come to mind when addressing the promise of new hardware from Nintendo. Rumors have already circulated the promise of horsepower that surpasses the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, along with fully integrated touchscreens within the controller, a fully established online platform capable of seamless social interaction, and multiplayer experiences without the use of cumbersome friend codes. However, beyond all of the pledges of incredible grandeur, Project Cafe may be Nintendo's first full embrace on the concept of next generation technology, which can meet more than halfway with their drive to innovate.

With leaked concept art being flooded throughout the month of April, it wasn't long before information needed to be divided between probable facts and pure speculation. Following an additional price drop on the Wii and a budget price drop on select first-party releases, Nintendo played coy to all of the gossip until April 25. Project Cafe was not only confirmed, but was also promised to have playable demo units at the 2011 E3 conference in June, as well a planned launch in 2012. Hardware specifications were first revealed to IGN, as they chronicled Intel regarding an AMD R700 GPU Architecture, 1080p HD visuals and stereoscopic 3D capabilities; these were among the greatest highlights reported on Project Cafe's technical details. The most interesting aspect regarding Project Café would be the controller, reminiscent of what the Wiimote did for the Wii. A controller boasting a six-inch touchscreen interface has opened up deluded comparisons to a Dreamcast controller, but really the first comparison that comes to mind would be functionality that Nintendo has already soaked their hands with in the past.

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