Asus Has Secret Console "Better Than Wii"

By Marcus Yam
published

The Eee Wii? Weee?

Not only is Asus trying to beat Apple in the innovative design department, it seems to be thinking of going after Nintendo in the video game console segment too.

According to comments made by Jonathan Tsang, the vice chairman of Asus, in an interview with the New York Times, the Taiwanese computer maker has ‘polished off’ a video game system it claims can rival the Wii.

“We have a product we think is better than the Wii,” Tsang said. “But the content is complicated.”

Asus claims to have developed a system that has controllers that reflect motion better than the Wii controllers (although the playing field may have changed with Wii MotionPlus or even Sony’s PlayStation Motion Controller).

Asus’s problem isn’t with the hardware, given its systems design and production know-how, but rather getting the software support. A console is only as good as the games it plays, and right now Asus doesn’t have the games.

“Sometimes it is a chicken-and-egg problem,” Tsang added. “We don’t have the chicken, so cannot have the egg.”

Tsang also revealed that Asus has an e-book reader ready as well, but faces the same problem of not having content providers.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
59 Comments Comment from the forums
  • wow awesome cant wait to see what it is asus never fails in product quality or design
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    The Eee Wii? Weee?

    Now that's just gold.
    Reply
  • crisisavatar
    Ok where are the pics and I don't think I want to buy it. Btw asus, THIS IS WAY TOO LATE, keep working on this idea and release perhaps on the next cycle.
    Reply
  • Shadow703793
    No. ASUS is making a PC (i7/PhenomII based) that can play console games (via emulation) :P

    Now THAT would be cool!
    Reply
  • Vettedude
    Asus should make a console with Cell, Emotion Engine, Broadway, PowerPC Xenon, and whatever CPU the Xbox uses. That way we could play any game from the PS3, PS2, Wii, Xbox 360, and Xbox. Plus, throw in an i7 and play PC games too!!!
    Reply
  • Airrax
    This could go either way if Asus succeeds. Having a second 'casual gamer' console would split the market between casual console and hardcore console. Now Microsoft and Sony wouldn't have to focus on dumbing down their hardware or software for a separate mass of people. Besides the fact that both Microsoft and Sony try to cater, in a sense, to home media as well as gaming (with Netflix and Blu-Ray), they wouldn't have to worry about creating the next boogy or 'flap your arms around like a genius game (although the latter can be fun when drunk).

    The problem, though, is that the rift between hardcore gamer and casual gamer would be blurred in the next few generations when the hardware cost and visual rendering overlap. For the immediate, it would be a benefit to both the hardcore and casual gamer. For the long run it could cause enough direct competition that Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony would be more worried about market share than the game/hardware itself (thankfully Sony hasn't fallen into this step yet!). I'm all for 'reinventing' gaming, but Nintendo just takes away from those of us that want a more advanced environment.
    Reply
  • acecombat
    Shadow703793No. ASUS is making a PC (i7/PhenomII based) that can play console games (via emulation) Now THAT would be cool!And would infringe limitless patents and result in as many or more lawsuits.
    Reply
  • Desperation on the cusp of madness? Alot of crazy talk, if they don't provide pictures, it didn't happen. Makes you wonder if they're trying to drive up the stock price before they go belly up.
    Reply
  • Airrax
    acecombatAnd would infringe limitless patents and result in as many or more lawsuits.
    Speaking of which. I've seen videos on Youtube (yeah, I know) about people playing 360 games on their PS3's. Now this is Youtube, so I do take it with a grain of salt, but this could be a reason why Sony removed the Emotion chip from the PS3. I can't guarantee this because I know nobody that has an Emotion chip version of the PS3, but it would make more sense than just saying 'It costs too much.'

    Now, call me whatever, but I wouldn't mind if someone tried this out to see if it was real. Apparently all you do is select the 360 game to run as a DVD/movie instead of a game.
    Reply
  • battery
    but how will it compare to the 360's full body capture (project natal)

    Shadow703793No. ASUS is making a PC (i7/PhenomII based) that can play console games (via emulation) Now THAT would be cool!
    anyone with a decent computer can emulate a wii, emulating a 360 or PS3 would take a boatload of xeons and alot of time spend developing the software, especially for the cell processor.

    Personally I think its good that a new company is stepping into the console market. I hope its more than just a system that "can rival the Wii" seeing as how the wii came out almost 3 years ago.

    My only suggestion: Make sure Valve likes the architecture.
    Reply