Nintendo wowed E3 attendees with their demonstration of the Wii. It was a rousing success with its innovative controller and sleek design. It was evident how excited the crowd was by the long lines leading up to the Nintendo booth. With our great relationship with ATI, we were lucky enough to talk to John Swinimer, Senior Public Relations Manager of Consumer Products for ATI, about Wii`s graphical chip, Hollywood.



Gaming Nexus: Tell us a little about the event that was held on the second to last week of June involving the Nintendo Wii.John Swinimer: I`m here in New York City meeting with journalists and analysts about ATI`s consumer solutions. Most importantly, with the direct cooperation of Nintendo of America, ATI is able to host an exclusive display of the Nintendo Wii game console. This is a great example of the longstanding relationship ATI has with Nintendo that will ultimately translate into a great game console for gamers.



Gaming Nexus: It`s been said by critics that Hollywood is simply an upgraded version of the GameCube`s GPU, Flipper. While the architecture is probably similar in some regards, I`m willing to bet that ATI built Hollywood specifically for the Wii. What is your opinion on this, and how do the two chips differentiate?John Swinimer: Certainly there are some similarities between ATI`s Hollywood and the Flipper chip designed for Nintendo GameCube based on the fact that the forthcoming Nintendo Wii will be able to play Nintendo GameCube titles. However, ATI`s Hollywood chip is designed exclusively for Nintendo Wii.




Gaming Nexus: Will the Wii have current standard graphical capabilities, such as bump, normal and parallax mapping?John Swinimer: It`s too early to talk about what the ATI Hollywood chip will do for game titles for Nintendo Wii. You can be assured that ATI is providing a graphics chip that will allow for great gameplay for gamers of all ages.

Gaming Nexus: Have developers you`ve spoken with been generally negative or positive concerning the abilities of the Hollywood chip?John Swinimer: I spoke with one developer from Electronic Arts on the E3 show floor a...