110°

Talking Point: Wii U's Graphical Grunt is Laid Bare - Shall We Play Games Now?

Today perhaps brings a little closure, for those inclined to allow such a thing, with details and analysis emerging of the Wii U's GPU. Since before its release Wii U has been scrutinised by some in terms of its graphical capabilities, and there are plenty of people who focus on that area when debating whether it's "next gen", a term with no solid definition in the gaming industry — it means different things depending on who you talk to. The CPU speeds of the system were reportedly reverse engineered and clocked last year, so an understanding of Wii U's graphical grunt both now and in the future rested on the setup of the GPU, which Nintendo itself has said is the focus of the system's infrastructure.

Following today's Digital Foundry breakdown of the Wii U GPU, Nintendo Life considers whether a line can now be drawn in debates about Wii U graphical power.

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nintendolife.com
Qrphe4110d ago

We'll see games that'll look better than TLoU or Beyond on the Wii U eventually, we can trust Nintendo's 1st party studios to do it.

bicfitness4110d ago

With a tripple core, juiced up Gamecube CPU and a 4650 HD GPU? Honestly, it has been confirmed that the system is on par or less capable than last gen-machines, so please stop this nonsense. The Wii U will be what the Wii was to the PS360, only without the benefit of the casual flock, who have apparently moved onto tablets or Facebook or whatever doesn't concern the vast majority of posters here.

Admittance is the first step to recovery.

herbs4110d ago

I ran out of bubbles on the Wii U GPU discussion so I'm going to post this here. Digital Foundry and Eurogamer made it sound like they had the GPU specs nailed down 100% but they are infact making some assumptions and there are still some very big??? It's super lame when sites jump the gun like this just for hits on there site because they know the fanboys will eat it up.
This video sums it up eloquently...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?...

herbs4110d ago

Bicfitness the Gpu has been confirmed to be at worst 1.5X than that of PS360 and far more modern and efficient, how does that make it less powerful? Oh of course your using fanboy logic.

bicfitness4109d ago (Edited 4109d ago )

@ herbs. You realize that once you factor in the crap CPU and the low-bandwidth, garbage memory, that you have bottlenecks at every corner? Doesn't matter how strong the GPU is if it is starved for resources.

The problem with N4G, and internet commentators in general, is that they often have little to no clue what they are talking about. Go build PCs or code some archaic language and get back to me in a few years. The people counting the SOC and modules are far, far better at this than you. There's wild speculation, then there's educated approximation, this is the latter. The fact that Nintendo are using modified tech, from the RAM to the CPU to the GPU, which each varies from 5-10 years old in their "new" machine should be an embarrassment enough.

BullyMangler4110d ago

So whats the deal? . Nintendo gonna show this generation ps3 and 360 HOW to skillfully use this much power? . . Oh okay sounds good, buy me a ticket, ill pay you later

lilbroRx4110d ago

Truthfully we already have when you go into overall detail. I don't see ZombiU being achieved on the last gen console without massive downgrades.

The individual zombie details, character details and the detail to the environment(above all else) just dismissed anything I've seen last gen on a technical level.

Not even going to get into the Monoliths X demo.

Genuine-User4110d ago (Edited 4110d ago )

Have you not seen Halo 4, The Last of Us, God of War Ascension, Bioshock Infinite, Beyond Two Souls and many other titles that are factually graphically superior than the game you name.
Listen I have nothing against Nintendo or Zombie U, matter of fact I plan on buying both the Wii u and Zombie U this summer but that doesn't mean I can't see the obvious difference.
I hope you aren't comparing Wii u to the Wii.

lilbroRx4110d ago

Yes, I have seen and played Halo 4.

I'm talking about on a technical level, not on a level of opinion.(ie. what you found most impressive or which game you like more)

Whether or not you liked how a game looked and what it is it factually doing are 2 different matters. I'm speaking on the latter.

Can you go into a grocery store and looks at hundreds of unique, detailed objects as well as see people really fully rendered teeth, hair and fingernails in Halo 4?

Scale is the big differentiator here. The graphics aren't just pumped into a few single entities to make them look good with remapped textures everywhere. The detail is distributed through many things. The geometry is complex, and a lot of these things you can interact with in ZombiU

Qrphe4110d ago

ZombiU has awful textures. However, the lighting in some areas of the game is very well done (Spitalfields Green for example).

deafdani4110d ago

No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no.

Just NO.

Zombi U is barely a decent looking game. It's nothing spectacular by any means, and certainly doesn't compare to any of the best looking games available for PS3 and Xbox 360. Mass Effect 2 & 3, Batman Arkham City, all the Uncharted games (yes, even the first one), Red Dead Redemption, God of War 3, Halo 4 and a plethora of many other games are undeniably better than Zombi U graphically.

As for Monolith's X demo... we haven't seen enough of that game to judge properly, either in a positive or negative way. The initial impression was a pretty good one, though. It looked VERY good, but we still haven't seen anything that tell us, without any margin of doubt, that it was something not possible on Xbox 360 or PS3.

Stop obsessing so much about the Wii U's power and enjoy its games.

lilbroRx4110d ago (Edited 4110d ago )

The only one "obsessing" over anything here is you. I'm not making any claims of ZombiU being a graphical beast or this huge achievement. I'm just saying that what I've seen looks more detailed than anything I remember on my PS3 or 360 overall.

I just made a simple analysis and people are raging over it.

When I look at something I look at all of the details. I don't say, "Oh look at the face" or "look at the car", "oh look at the shiny armor" and stop there. I look at everything in detail.

I'd image me and you see entirely different things when we look at these.

http://image.gamespotcdn.ne...
http://xbox360media.ign.com...

or these 2

http://image.gamespotcdn.ne...
http://images.bit-tech.net/...

deafdani4110d ago (Edited 4110d ago )

This in particular is what bothers me:

"Truthfully we already have when you go into overall detail. I don't see ZombiU being achieved on the last gen console without massive downgrades."

That's simply not true. Zombi U, graphically speaking, is perfectly doable on PS3 and Xbox 360. Now, when it comes to gameplay, that's another matter entirely, because of the Wii U's gamepad integration on that game, which is superb. But the graphics? Yeah, perfectly possible.

"I'm just saying that what I've seen looks more detailed than anything I remember on my PS3 or 360 overall."

So, you're comparing Zombi U with a 2008 game? Left 4 Dead is hardly a benchmark of what the Xbox 360 can do graphically. Try any of the games I listed for you on my first reply, and you'll see a massive difference.

You said Zombi U is impressive on a technical level, but you don't specify anything beyond that. Technical means particles, AI, physics, lighting effects, etc. Zombi U isn't anything special on any of these departments, except maybe in the lighting, which is really, really good.

What are those details you speak of? Because trust me, I've looked at Zombi U's graphics pretty closely. As I said, it's a decent looking game. The graphics fit the tone perfectly, but it's not anything impressive, neither from a technical nor artistic standpoint.

What makes Zombi U truly memorable is the gameplay.

Waddy1014110d ago

ZombiU is by no means a technological feat, there are a lot more detailed and better looking games out there on PS3 and 360.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4110d ago
metroidfusion24110d ago

Digital foundry don't know anything and are judging to early

kunluncat4110d ago

Yes, but there are not enough games to play on wiiu now.

Ck1x4110d ago

Whatever people need to tell themselves these days! Tomorrow there will be an article on N4G, of how the Vita is actually twice as powerful as the WiiU as well... Lol

stuna14110d ago

That sounds about right! Since it has been said to be more powerful in certain areas compare to the ps3.

I couldn't care less! It just seems that so many have developed a severe case of amnesia concerning what has been said previously to the release of the WII U.

Don't let me go into detail as far as what was said about the ps3 and yes the xbox360! It just seems only fair that the WII U and nintendo will have to prove themselves just like the others have had too! Instead of recieving a free pass.

Now bring on the disagrees.......

Show all comments (23)
80°

How Many More Victims, Like Garry's Mod, Will Nintendo's Hurtful Crusade Create?

Hanzala from eXputer: "As Nintendo takes out 20 years' worth of stuff from Garry's Mod, I watch in shock, thinking why it continues to hurt and discourage its fans."

RiseNShine4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

The irony that some of the most disgusting business practices come from companies like Disney or Nintendo, i can't even begin to understand what terrible damage was Garrys Mod making to Nintendo bottom line, imho they're getting pretty nervous about where they're heading in the future, handhelds are no longer something exclusive to Nintendo, from Steam Deck to many others, now you can play the latest games and pay a fraction of the price on Steam sales, so it's up to their exclusives, which just on their own would make hard to justify purchasing a closed overpriced hardware with outrageous price policies (Super Mario Odyssey is still 60 euro 6 years later!), and as a home console they're always underperforming compared to Sony or Xbox.

gold_drake4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

i cam guarantee you, that their exclusives alone is what drives switch sales. they sell in the 10s of millions of copies.

nintendo created their franchises to be sort of nostalgia driven, exclusive only on nintendo.

people will always buy the pkmn games as they always bring in new younger fans amd is family friendly

mario kart, the same thing, mario games in general.

zelda games are system sellers. animal crossing for the casual gamers.

nintendo doesnt need third vame devs essentially. they made sure with the switch and the limitations that they looked more to pc ps and xbox.

its sad, but nintendo is more than fine with what they're doing. they positioned themselves to appeal to the more casual gamers.

but to your point, im not sure why they're doing this rly.

Inverno4d ago

Look at how they handled Nintendo games being streamed or uploaded on YouTube in the past. They killed Yuzu and Citra even when they had nothing to do with ToTK being leaked, not to mention it was basically unplayable on emulation the week it was leaked. Smash Bros tournament, that was fairly recent. They shut down their online services without any care for purchases made. I bought a switch after skipping their last 2 consoles and handhelds but I don't plan on buying anything Nintendo in the future. They take things to the extremes, they legitimately hate their fans. They're honestly right up there with the likes of Acti, EA, and Ubi, only difference is that they disguise themselves as being family friendly all the while being shady.

80°

Nintendo's Massacre Of The 3DS And Wii U Is Finally Complete, Regrettably

Hanzala from eXputer: "The cruel hammer of Nintendo has fallen. Farewell, 3DS and Wii U, you surely brightened my life and many others; you won't be forgotten."

280°

Xbox's Preservation Step Sets A Much-Needed Example, Especially For Nintendo

Hanzla from eXputer inquires: "If Xbox can care about preserving its games and legacy, what exactly is wrong with Nintendo, trying to kill game preservation single-handedly?"

purple10125d ago

Ahh yes the good old game preservation of saving all your games to a removable hhd on the Xbox 360, taking it round your mates house, setting up multiple tvs to
Be met with “save data corrupted, please re download”

Or how about removing 360 games
From the store
, download them now or else, and, better hope to god that save data doesn’t corrupt, or it’s lost for ever

Nice one ☝️

Zeref24d ago

It's better than what Nintendo and Playstation is doing. It might not be perfect but at least they are TRYING. Unlike the others.

DarXyde24d ago

Trying? Take off the blinders for a moment, mate.

1. A failure to preserve games is just that: a failure to preserve games. Don't try to sugarcoat it: NO ONE is doing it properly. Better than awful is nothing to write home about.

2. At the time of this comment, isn't it the case that you need an internet connection to play Xbox games even if you buy physical discs that are hardly in circulation anymore? I don't have a Series X and I can't verify, but I think that is correct. I'm fairly certain you can at least play PS5 games at version 1.0 (not much of a win really when many games require day one patches). I think Microsoft's all digital, licensing approach is by far more aggressive than anyone else's. They really try to push you to game pass where you lose your entire library by umm.... Skipping a month of payments.

I don't think anyone is doing it right whatsoever. Don't get me started on Nintendo, who goes after anyone looking to preserve their games better than they ever would with extreme litigation.

Don't be a simp for any of these companies. Get it together.

PhillyDonJawn24d ago (Edited 24d ago )

@DarX never speak on Xbox again. You lost all credibility with your internet connection comment. Smh you have 0 clue and misinformed yet speaking on something you don't no squat about.

Einhander197224d ago

What has Sony done exactly? You guys keep deflecting to Sony but I am not actually seeing any results, and ai am certain nothing that you can come up with even comes close to what Microsoft has done and what they have tried and failed to do, like tie all your disks to your account on xbone.

Microsoft removed their whole indie section when they moved to the xbone because they were going to only allow games on the service that came from a publisher, id@xbox started after xbone launched and it only exists because Sony embraced indie and Microsoft was forced to cancel their plans and reverse course.

And every single game that was part of games for windows live including disk games (I have gta 4 on disk that won't work) so hundreds of games that use that DRM no longer work unless the company themselves patched it out which of course very few did.

MrBaskerville24d ago

Not trying. Tried. they killed of the backcomp program years ago. They set something up again, but sounds like it's more of an attempt to save the current library on whatever they are planning next. With luck they save everything and more, but let's see. I could see them killing off parts of the OG xbox and 360 libraries. Can't imagine that they would allow us to play Forza 5-7 in the future.

With that said, I do like what they've done and really wish they could have done more.

shinoff218324d ago

Zeref

So killing off physical media is trying what exactly. Ms don't really give a fk if you think they do your kidding yourself.

Profchaos24d ago

They are not trying this team is established for forward compatability the team is. It interested in preserving Xbox or 360 games.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 24d ago
isarai25d ago

Is that why Hellblade 2 is digital only?

Zeref24d ago

Just because it's digital only doesn't mean you can't preserve it. Just put it on an external and you have the exact same functionality of what a disc does.

MrNinosan24d ago

Guess you're trolling, but if you actually think that's how it works, I'd recommend buying some braincells.

mkis00723d ago (Edited 23d ago )

Volitile vs nonvolitile data. A disc will not corrupt either. A drive can be corrupted.

Einhander197225d ago

This is just a scammy PR move to distract from the fact they are going digital only and trying to push streaming and subscriptions only.

No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft.

Without discs there is no preservation, preservation can't be done by the rights holders it can only be done by the consumers, anything else is a lie.

25d ago Replies(3)
Einhander197225d ago

Anyone remember xblig which Microsoft removed their whole 360 indie section removing hundreds of games from people?

25d ago
24d ago
Zeref24d ago

Do you know you can put your games on an external and preserve them that way? There are no benefits to discs. ZERO. Idk why some of you are still obsessed with them.

DarXyde24d ago

Because games like Persona 5 exist. It's STILL V1.00. On Playstation, that's a win because 1.00 is installed on the disc—no need to download anything.

If a game does not require any updates, it's all on the disc.

Extremely low bar in the modern era, of course. It's not much of a win by any stretch.

But for now, physical media does have a purpose, at least on Playstation.

Einhander197224d ago

That is factually not how game licensing works, try plugging your hard drive into someone else xbox, It's not going to work, and it won't work if the licensing servers ever go down.

Einhander197224d ago

Anyone remember games for windows live.

I have around a dozen games, some on Steam itself that will not work because Microsoft shut off the licensing servers.

BehindTheRows24d ago (Edited 24d ago )

I do. I STILL have games (Gears of War being the big one) I cannot access because Games for Windows LIVE is total garbage and no one has held Microsoft accountable.

Zeref24d ago (Edited 24d ago )

You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership.

Chevalier24d ago

"You don't have an Xbox apparently. Because you can 100 percent plug in your external and play games from it on any Xbox console lol. You just have to be logged in to prove ownership."

Damn how many times do people got to explain your idiocy to you? You can take a copy of Persona 5 like someone used as an example and play that game on ANY console WITHOUT logging in which means I can lend the game to a friend without internet and they can play my game. Can you lend your hard drive to anyone without logging in for them to play? NOPE. That is a huge difference and if you think otherwise then sorry you're an idiot.

Tacoboto24d ago

"No gaming company has pushed harder to remove ownership than Microsoft."

Ubisoft is literally erasing games people bought from their libraries... My PS1-3 discs are useless on modern hardware. Nintendo's re-published and resold almost their entire Wii U library, and the eShop is completely dead with no BC mechanism in the Switch software. Microsoft publishes everything they make today day one on Steam and Xbox/Windows. Sony only brings to PC the titles they think you might want some years later and Nintendo won't even design a functional long-lasting joystick.

You're absolutely trolling and not serious if you think Microsoft today is the worst offender.

shinoff218324d ago

Yay steam

Not everyone fks with computers though. The disc is still the best way as a console player. Period.

Tacoboto24d ago

How do Sony and Nintendo feel about these discs from 2001-2013?

Don't be stupid, you know Xbox is the best at this today.

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 24d ago
Hofstaderman24d ago

Nobody wants this. Sales or the lack of it in the case of XBOX is very telling. I wonder how the adorably all digital series X will fare. Adorably dismal perhaps?

crazyCoconuts24d ago

Only time will tell, but for from someone like me suspecting that Xbox is trying to gracefully exit the console market, that "forward compatibility" team is trying to get Xbox games playing on Windows PCs. I mean, it's nice that they're not planning on exiting with a "enjoy your games while the hardware still works" message, so that's nice. They still have a brand to protect via Microsoft so probably feel obligated to have a better exit strategy.

Xeofate24d ago (Edited 24d ago )

That is not their plan, their plan is to transfer users accounts to the cloud.

Phil Spencer himself said as much a few months back, plans could have changed but I think people are reading way too much into one statement where Phil said he would allow Epic on xbox because he wants to be able to sell xbox games directly on other platforms. Aka, instead of selling Sea of Thives through PSN he wants to have an xbox store to sell his games on PlayStation without giving PlayStation any money.

Again, it's extremely unlikely that Phil plans to put PC on xbox and licensing would prevent them from just giving out other publishers games purchased on xbox copies of thier games on PC, Microsoft does not own their games.

crazyCoconuts23d ago

The thing that doesn't align with the cloud strategy is the giving up on exclusives. You'd still need strong exclusives for cloud streaming - it's still a "platform" , just with a lower upfront hardware investment. I feel like they've learned what PS learned with PSNow long ago. We're not ready to stream games and it's only gonna lose them money to try at this point

FinalFantasyFanatic24d ago

I would love that, I'd buy up some of the Xbox games if they could run on PC, like the Rare Replay, Lost Odyssey and Dead or Alive Ultimate, probably a pipe dream though.

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