A chat about the power of the Wii U with the developer of a Wii U launch title

EuroGamer - We know the Wii U's IBM-made CPU, made up of three Power PC cores, is one of its weaknesses, at least compared to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. But how will this impact the performance of Wii U games?

[LX-General-Kaos]

Next Gen graphical prowess confirmed

[Hatsune-Miku]

Lol, have people seen watch dogs, mgs5, bf3 (on ultra for pc)? Wii u is a late gen contender of this gen.

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Dynasty Warriors? Lol, shouldn't Eurogamer be asking people like Ubisoft with their game Assassin's Creed 3 running 1080p/60fps?

[Knight_Crawler]

LOL...console fanboys are funny - they think that the game play that was shown for MGS5 and Watch Dogs was running on a PS3 or 360...muhahahahahah.

Dude I got news for you those games were running on a high end PC and when they get ported over they wont look as nice or play as fluid - the PS3 and 360 have RAM issues and no matter how much you spin it that will always be the case, Kojima is brilliant but not god to work a mircle and get MGS5 running and looking like what was shown on the PC play through.

[Hatsune-Miku]

Who said mgs5 and watch dogs were running on consoles?

Reading is fundamental , not reciting words without comprehension

[Knight_Crawler]

So your comparing the Wii U power to a PC on ultra mode.

They Wii U is next gen console (key word) no matter how you put it - not sure what point you were trying to make as PC will lalways be supiror to console being the the Wii U, 720 or PS4.

[Christopher]

***Pc is basically infinitely upgradable so the consoles or any consoles can't compare to it. ***

That logic just doesn't run, though. People don't want to constantly upgrade their PC and they want a device that will remain the same and be utilized to its max without worry on whether or not they have enough RAM, a good enough GPU, or the like.

That is the comparison in of itself. Do you want a PC that might have to upgrade to play the latest games 5 years from now (let alone constant software updates) or do you want a console that will last 10 years without needing any upgrades and much fewer software updates to play all the games available?

[Rockoman16]

Your trolling skills are getting weaker, that's a fact

[Thepcz]

what the fxxk were nintendo thinking??

devs trying to squeeze the wiiu to even match a last gen console (ps3/360) that sucks.

i have noticed the wiiu games previewed have a short draw distance, using excess blur/fog.. i hope this isn't a sign of things to come.. ie gta 4 with a short draw distance in comparison to ps3 etc.

i will still get a wiiu, but this is disappointing.

[Ihaa]

Have you ever tried programming before? Even on high end pc, you still need to "squeeze" as much as you can out of the pc to match the visual fidelity of consoles. You can't just be stupid, write some super unoptimized code as you go along with no written plan and expect a next gen looking game. You still need to create a pipeline that is efficient, doesn't waste memory, and doesn't waste computation on useless data to get a next gen looking game. Its not like having a next gen system means you don't need to do work to achieve the graphics everyone wants.

[Thepcz]

ok, i see..

i just wish nintendo would have made a console that was clearly more powerful without any shadow of doubt to the 6 year old ps3.

i will buy it regardless but at least i would feel more happy with my purchase knowing i am getting value for money.

i have a wii so i know its not all about graphics.. but i also have a ps3. i want more from the wiiu...

i guess its still early days

[abzdine]

Doesn't matter, creativity is the most important. They did that with Wii they will redo it with Wii U.

Great concepts and ideas dont need great power. Realism needs power but the creation of something never seen before.

[GhostHero333]

Wii would have been the best console of the current gen if the graphics did not suck and the online did not suck. Hopefully they learned from there mistakes.

[Venoxn4g]

time will tell, but I don't care actually, I'll still buy it

[Fishy Fingers]

Ghz have never sold Nintendos systems. I understand the interest in the hardware, but gaming is more than computing power.

[MrBuffalo]

People have been saying that alot recently but look back to past gens and Nintendo made beasts. N64 in cpu terms destroyed PS1 Saturn. And while the gamecube didnt meet the xbox's standard it was more capable than the PS2. Even the SNES boasted hardware tricks that set it well apart from the Megadrive. They never hid those specs. I think after struggling against the competion for two gens Nintendo thought, sod it we'll take a risk and not go for power instead we'll offer something that sets us apart from the competition which was motion gaming. They're going to stick with that mindset because it worked well this gen. Personally the prospect of a Zelda with PS3/360 power behind it is quite exciting.

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Don't really think the graphics matter that much to consumers. I went to see if I could preorder the wii u at my local gamestop since its sold out online(The 32gb version). It turns out its defiantly sold out in the stores too so I got on a waitlist and im number 60 in line on the waitlist. So that says something about how much its selling even though it wont be much better than the ps3. But the girl at gamestop said it would have way better graphics but I didn't try to tell her it wouldn't. She was kind of hot I should have tried to get her number. I might pay gamestop another visit.

[deletingthis34675334]

Well that was disappointing.

[Npugz7]

Geez! What was Nintendo thinking? Do they enjoy being the weakest?

[Fishy Fingers]

And being the best selling and the most profitable and having some of the best first party performance. Weakest, in Nintendos case seems to pay off.

Like I've said before, there's more to gaming than Ghz.

[PopRocks359]

How does having a low power CPU suddenly make it the "weakest?" I suppose the GPU and RAM suddenly don't matter?

[TongkatAli]

Buying two holllla!!!!

[MNGamer-N]

There will be demand for this machine because Nintendo owns the casual market, and families and kids will want to play the new Mario. Throw a few bomb titles for Dad to play, and you have enough to please Nintendo's intended market, which is alot of people outside the hardcore crowd.

[YoungPlex]

The simple fact that the Wii U has a custom IBM-made CPU, made up of three Power PC cores, that has yet to be fully explored; not to mention the GPU and RAM that will tremendously help. The developer clearly stated that the Wii U is easily capable of delivering way better graphics than current gen! The simple fact that they haven't dug deep into the CPU doesn't mean that they cant find a solution to the processing power. Also, the Wii U was developed with a different architecture in mind and not meant for games to be designed the way they are for current gen platforms. Games are meant to take advantage of the Wii U's GPGPU and RAM from the ground up!

[DivineAssault]

will it ever be fully explored? with nx gen coming soon using new advanced engines, i dont think many will take the time needed to take advantage of its strengths beyond 1st party titles... "multiplat games will suffer" is clearly stated when games have multiple bots on screen.. Even COD on wii u takes a hit when playing against someone using the gamepad due to its streaming.. Can wii u do wonderful things? YES it can but only if devs build games from the ground up on it & i doubt this late in the game that many will.. 3rd party will consider PS3/360 1st priority when making game builds & thats not good for wii u.. Potential is always there with nintendo but execution by 3rd party falls short.. Especially when they cant sell anything above T rating on em.. If u read the article, the dev is saying NEGATIVE things about its CPU & thats what they will rely on when creating games for the remainder of this generation.. Nx gen will be impossible on wii u unless a whole separate build of the game is created & toned down

[YoungPlex]

Current gen titles are structured to take advantage of the CPU, the Wii U was designed NOT to take advantage of this structure, but to rely on the GPGPU and RAM to offset the CPU. Once games are designed on it they will look marvelous, and will in fact do things that are not capable on current gen consoles. The fact that you claim that games won't be designed on there is absurd! Not to mention that next-gen consoles will not rely heavily on the CPU, and will go a similar rout but adding a lot more to the GPU and more RAM. The consumption of power will dramatically be reduced, while allowing games to maintain their graphical fidelity. Next-gen will indeed be more powerful than all current consoles (including the Wii U), but will utilize a similar architecture. Thus proving your theory, Wii U not getting games, wrong. Games will easily be ported on Wii U but will lose some graphical fidelity, at the same time there will be games that are developed on Wii U that will be ported over to next-gen consoles that will have minimal differences.

Based on what your rambling about your only focusing on the bad, when indeed he did state that the Wii U is graphically more powerful than both consoles. This goes to prove that all the previous rumors were incorrect and that the Wii U is in fact graphically more powerful, which is a nice surprise! All in all, nobody is purchasing a Wii U for a massive power-surge, they're getting it to experience something uniquely different and far more innovative than what current gen console have to offer...

[DivineAssault]

What good are beautiful graphics in a dead environment? Oorochi 3 is not a port & if the engine is ported, why do that instead of using wii us strength? time?? will that be the excuse every year from now on? "oh its a bad port" "oh it was rushed" please.. Those pretty graphics arent any different than dynasty warriors empires 7 on ps3.. PS3 has tons of enemies on screen but wii u cant do that! look at the videos! I remember Dreamcast launched with games that looked FAR superior to PS1 and PS2 games looked FAR superior, & PS3 looked FAR superior.. But wii u theres an excuse as to why the games dont look better than 7 yr old consoles? In fact, the games look WORSE! whatever dude.. Like i said before, show me PROOF of existing games that use this so called "power" that destroys current gen.. Show me features that destroy current gen..

[YoungPlex]

http://www.cinemablend.com/...

Wii U's GPGPU Squashes Xbox 360, PS3; Capable Of DirectX 11 Equivalent Graphics!

Your speculation and trajectories will come to a crashing halt, and will have nothing to say once the first initial Wii U games are launched. Judging a console by its launch titles is the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Once developers learn how to somewhat use the Wii U's power, the games will speak for themselves, and when your stuck playing them on current gen platforms, scratching your head wondering why the Wii U versions of the same game are better in every way shape and form, then you'll realize that you were too blind to acknowledge the truth! Till then keep on trolling and trying to fill the heads of people with useless propaganda!

[StraightedgeSES]

From the Wii U game footage I saw it doesn't look like the CPU would be a problem.

[Ulf]

This basically means that animation- and physics-heavy games will have some trouble on the Wii U.

Some of the GPGPU could be utilized for these purposes, but it's not easy to splice that heavyweight work into a single game frame, and still come out with enough normal GPU time to render a good scene -- it's really best done on the CPU, asynchronously with the GPU's work on rendering the next scene.

However, the Wii U does have a significant amount more memory -- which could be used to store uncompressed animations, and significantly lower the CPU workload to playback animations relative to other platforms.

Examples, from this gen, that the Wii U would likely have trouble with:

* Dynasty Warriors series (animation)
* Red Faction series (physics)
* Some PS3 exclusives that stood out with heavyweight animation and physics work, like Lair & MAG.
* CoD series (60 fps with decent animation & physics load)
* Forza series, GT5 (physics)
* Anything else with more than ~12 characters onscreen at once, or with destructible environments.

I would not be surprised to see CoD:BO2 running at 30fps on the Wii U, for this reason alone, although the extra memory should help some.

You need to have both a good GPU and good CPU to really pull off the complete experience. No self-respecting PC gamer would pair a GTX 580 with a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, for example, even though it's possible.

[Sarcasm]

Youd be surprised to find the newbies on thr forums asking if their e6600 is bottlenecking their brand new gtx680. Lol

But we all learn some day as i was no different. When i didnt know a thing about computers i was wondering why crysis ran no different when i went from an 8800gts to a gtx260 while running a pentium d.

As for the topic, i think nintendo was banking on games being more gpu bound. Which isnt exactly a bad thing since it will allow them to have higher resolution and higher res textures.

[herbs]

Call of Duty on wii u is 1080p 60fps.

[Ck1x]

Well this article fails on the notion that apparently he stated "When you have a lot of enemies coming at you at once, the performance tends to be affected because of the CPU. when lots of characters fill the screen, because the CPU can't keep up..." That's not a native function of the cpu's job! Now if they had stated the WiiU version had 50 enemies on screen but we had some difficulties getting the animations smooth or Ai or physics, then that would make some sense. But from everything that I have seen so far with other WiiU titles, this just sounds like laziness at its best. Just watching the animations and amount of characters on screen in AC3's marketplace location don't add up to what this guy is saying.