How Powerful Is The Wii U, You Ask? Here’s Your Possible Answer.

"Now, with all the current skeptical speculation encircling the Wii U’s potentials and technical capabilities right now, a lot of gamers are asking one key question that may seal the awaited fate of the Wii U as a real eighth-gen introductory console – how powerful exactly is the Wii U, much more so than the non-Nintendo current-gen platforms? Personally, I don’t see why people are using the PS3 and Xbox 360 as comparison points-of-view for the power the Wii U will be able to provide – it’s an individual eighth-gen platform, and there are uncountable features that show the console is not just another catch-up-to-the-game console..."

[ape007]

my ape sense is feeling that the WIIU is going to be a bit more powerful than current gen consoles

[Hisiru]

My bone sense is feeling that you don't know what "Power7" means. WiiU is confirmed to have a Power7 CPU (which will have a much more powerful architeture even with lower clockspeeds). GPU started to be developed in 2010, which means it has modern architeture with some DX11 features.

Rumors are saying it has 2GBs of ram (500MB locked for the OS at launch) against 512MB on the x360.

Do you really think it will be "a bit more powerful"?

I am sure it won't even touch PS4/x720's graphics capabilities, but the WiiU will probably be more powerful than people expect. Don't expect it to be on par with PS4/x720, but it's obviously a more capable machine than current gen tech.

[wishingW3L]

Wii U CPU has been confirmed to be a tri-core with dual threads while Power 7 has 4 threads on each core... So basically the Wii U shares the exact same CPU as the Xbox 360 which is way weaker than the PS3's CPU.

[ape007]

thx for clarifying things for me

[ABizzel1]

My response is that the Wii U should by all means be more powerful than the PS360.

Although we don't know the specs. of the Wii U, it's safe to say that in a 6 year time span hardware equivalent to that of the PS360 are now below entry level gaming rig prices, as well as, less powerful.

Even if the Wii-U uses tech from 2010 (as rumored) it should still be more powerful than PS360. The weakest Power 7 CPU, a 4000/ 5000 / 6670 / GPU, and 1GB of RAM are anywhere between 3x - 5x above the PS360. While we don't know the specs. of the Wii U, these are realistic and low expectations for the console.

The problem with the games so far is that you'd expect the games to automatically look great seeing how, they're being developed on already established PC hardware. Honestly that's a good complaint, and the best response I could come up with is that developers haven't had enough time to really work with the Wii-U. But compare a Xbox 360 or PS3 launch title to the best looking PS2 and Xbox games. Not the huge difference you'd expect is there. Now compare PS360 launch titles to any of the Wii-U's launch titles, and you can clearly see the Wii-U is ahead of anything being produced at that time, and the current Wii-U games are nearly on par with PS360. In 2014 the Wii-U will show what it's truly capable of.

[mewhy32]

Well the Wii U GPU will be much like the Xbox 360's GPU, which is way more powerful than the PS3's GPU, and the CPU is rumored to be similar to the part in the Xbox 360 as well. I was hoping for more cores in the CPU but then Nintendo is all about the profit. It really comes down to cost of manufacturing.

[WeskerChildReborned]

Have you seen the specs?

[LostDjinn]

If you mean legit specs from Nintendo then no. Nobody in here has. The guy who wrote this crappy article hasn't either.

This is the interwebz though so let the BS commence!

[WeskerChildReborned]

@LostDijinn, They have specs but they are not specific unless they were fake that i read but it looked legit.

[metroid32]

Try leaps and bounds m8 the wiiu has Shader model 5.0 thats 3 generations on ps3/EDRAM ps3 has none/OpenGl4.1 ps3 has a tweaked OpenGl1.0/Compute Shader 11 ps3 has zero support for this new technology that we have in gpu's today SORRY kids but the WiiU will compete with ps4 and 720 not 360/ps3 as there too weak WiiU is already doing 1080p/60fps versions of them games with better animations the lot right on launch???

[neogeo]

Will it feature the 100meg shock like NeoGeo?

[ape007]

NeoGeo= CLASSIC, what are your fav games

[AO1JMM]

Do not care as I am still getting the console when it releases.

[Ck1x]

Yeah people aren't giving the WiiU enough credit as being next-gen. Until more developers come forth that are willing to utilize the extra hardware its a pointless argument. On Nintendo's side of things as a developer, they need more time to show truly next-gen visuals on the platform and I'm sure Retro will be the first studio to do so. Although I am expecting pretty great things from Gearbox as well, as Aliens CM looks to be one amazing game already...

[Muffins1223]

It will be better than ps3 and xbox360 but i dont think it will come close to ps4/next-xbox

[mad-dog]

what a stupid article... jesus. Farida Yusuf is an amateur. Go do something else on the internet please.

[GameLord08]

Why don't you go do something else with the internet other than attacking people on the internet baselessly? What makes it a stupid article, the fact that you can't read, much less comprehend?

Get a bloody life, you immature wanker.

[Knux]

Oooh GL, I like the way you reply. :*

Anyway, I don't care about the Wii U's power as much as it's games...which there is a serious lack of.

[mad-dog]

To prove a point he goes back to a tech demo of Zelda. One that looked great but had interactivity limited to switching on the light...... Everyone that is in to gaming allready discussed this techdemo to death. In this article he basicly said nothing, he only proved he is very very late to discussions that were held on sites like Neogaf months ago.

At least Hiseru and Wishingw3ll provide some solid information.

What, i your opinion does this article say that enlightened you in any meaningful way about the Wii-U?

[GameLord08]

It wasn't just the lighting you could alter - you could also alter the camera angles, and the view itself. Didn't you watch the video, or did you just read one or two words of the article and decide to be a complete fool?

And that was the point of this whole article - to look back on all the previous discussions regarding this tech demo. It's a re-collection - obviously I was part of the discussions back then, which is why I'm bringing them up to the surface once more, so we can remember what we did see with the Wii U. It isn't meant to enlighten anybody on the Wii U. Any simpleton would be able to see that.

Before you go on to criticise somebody else's article unintelligently, make sure you understand the whole read and its purpose swimmingly first, then come back and leave your feedback like a mature human being.

[mad-dog]

Yep, all things we allready knew, basicly nothing really that spectaular, although the lighting itself DID look very spectaular and the demo was promising for future first party and second party Wii-U releases.

And no, it wasn't to look back on the discussions regarding this demo. It was to look back on the discussions about the Wii-U graphics capabilities based on the gameplay we've seen so far at E3 and later events and the discussions that followed (people shooting all kinds of stuff about the Wii-U's graphic capabilities).

He uses the Zelda demo as a reference point to show what games could look like.

I would have no problem believing first party Nintendo games will look even better than that. The tech demo lacked anti aliassing for instance.
And although a lot of people liked what that demo was showing, a lot of other people thouht it wasn't that impressive at all (i thought it was impressive in some regards and it was very promising, considering Nintendo always blows these techdemos away when the game releases.

I agree my first comment wasn't very intelligent, but it did cover the same feeling i still have now. That article is made by someone who wants to play gaming journalist and isn't very good at it. It was a complete waste of time reading it.

edit: for what it's worth, it's a nice article for people that aren't that interested in gaming and don't follow the news that much. If they happen to stumble upon this site through N4G like i did, they might get a nice recap..

[GameLord08]

I can't believe you still haven't figured out I'm the author of this article. Besides, I wasn't playing "top-notch gaming journalist". I'm a freelance writer for the site, and I write what I take an interest in. Obviously, this article wasn't intended to actually offer anything spectacular or unknown about the Wii U - it was just a clear re-cap of the tech demo to show the possibilities of the graphics capabilities of the Wii U we've already seen - that's the entire purpose of the article.

Nothing new. Nothing fresh. Nothing immersing at all. You shouldn't have gone in to the article with high expectations - it was a mere re-cap editorial I was interested in writing. It doesn't make me any less of a good writer, or an attentive gamer who pays great attention to the industry's happenings. If you don't like the article, that's your opinion and yours alone. Please do not wrongfully criticise my writing abilities based on your distaste for the article.

[mad-dog]

i figured that out just fine. That's what made your comments even more laughable.

To answer your article: No, this is not the possible answer to how powerfull the Wii-U is.
Pretty sensational title for an article that just rehashes old stuff everybody allready knows.

It was not a clear recap from the get-go.in the end, yes, it was just a recap.

Having said that, i wish all the best in your writing career. Seriously, it's not like i think the article is badly written. It's just that the title made me believe you had new info or a smart dive into material someone else hadden't noticed yet.

Anyway, good luck. I'm off to a site where they have a bit more interesting news.

[CGI-Quality]

For me, I want a next gen console to show next gen visuals. Even though I've not seen as much out of the WiiU as I had previous new gen systems of the past, I'd like to see what it can do that current gen consoles cannot, on a visual scale.

Take Condemned: Criminal Origins as an example. When it launched on the 360, there was no question it was not only a next gen game, it truly couldn't be done on previous gen consoles. That's the only thing I feel the WiiU lacks right now - that game that makes you say "wow, this couldn't have been done last gen".

[jacen100]

I cannot wait till the next xbox and sony systems come because people think they are gonna blow the wiiu away realy have no idea.. how better can it get apart from better framerate,resolution,draw distance,shaders,etc??.

come on lets hear from these daydreamers what they think the next generation of console will add??

i see a few comments above like it will not come close the the next ps4 and box?

what are you talking about laff

framerate,resolution,draw distance,shaders and a few more graphical enhancements, thats it.

Checkout high end pc's running the best games at highest settings.

[nirwanda]

thats because games on a PC have to run on multiple speced machines just think if you bult the game on the best rig and lock the game at 720 p and 30 fps how good you could make the graphics. Everythings a
a trade off and pc's are being held back at the mo by consoles which is why all you get extra on a PC is slightly better graphics and much better framerates and resolutions

[PopRocks359]

This is part of the problem between E3 and the Wii U news dry-spell. Now damn near every article talking about the Wii U's specs is speculation, whether it's spun positively or negatively.

Not to mention all of the misinformation... the only comment on the article itself claims the Wii U has a "weaker CPU" than current generation consoles. A Power-based CPU cannot ever be weaker than six year old hardware. Anyone who knows anything about specs knows that.

[FinalomegaS]

Well we seem to have a lot of ' know nothings on here.

Think they need some schooling on cpu-101

[PopRocks359]

If that's specifically responding to the second paragraph in my comment, let me rephrase; the CPU in the Wii U is based on the POWER7 model. When you compare that to the CPUs in the 360 and PS3, is largely superior due to it being much more modern technology alone. According to IBM it's also a multi-core and is described as having "a lot of eDRAM cache."

If the GPU winds up being anywhere close to being as modern as the CPU, then I can't see how anyone can possibly believe that the the Wii U is on-par with current generation consoles.

In the end, the assumptions are being made by launch titles for the console, which is unfortunate given how good ZombiU's most recent showcasing turned out to be.

[FinalomegaS]

Pop you seem to be knowledgeable, might need to break out the crayola next time for words like eDRAM and what a power7 base cpu is.

This is no disrespect to the n4g community, but we do have a large amount of console gamers and to them the technicalities of old chip sets vs new generation chips might not be well understood.

Even the gentleman from Namco said it had a lower clock. Then the internet goes crazy.

I would like to add, one little detail for some people still using a P4 pc with windows xp. Even if that p4 was OC at 4Gz+ and having HT, it would get smoked vs a modern chip that has a consumer label of 2.2Gz.

What pop said in terms of a more modern chip, that p4 ht was maybe the beast back then but times change and that chip with only 2 threads of data lanes with a maximum bandwidth can only do so much computing. Fast fwd to a modern chip that many more lanes of bandwidth and technicalities that are available but uses lower clock and will equal to less heat, equals gaming console can stay on longer without worrying the system will over heat.

For gamers that a big win.

Thanks pop, sorry didn't mean to highjack your post. =)

[Ck1x]

What's interesting is that people choose to argue that PS3&360 clearly looked next-gen compared to last-gen systems. Well guess what guys they should have right out of the gate! Going from SD visuals to HD visuals should be a major increase. But we aren't doing the same evolution next-gen... Consoles will still be sporting HD resolutions and using pretty much just fastter more up to date versions of GPU's and CPU's that are in current consoles or in the same family of chip design. So what exactly are people expecting these companies to put into a box for $300-$400? Not bleeding edge tech I hope, because you're not going to get it this time around for $300-$400 that's for sure and none of the specs have been confirmed for WiiU yet. So its all just speculation at this point

[Xperia_ion]

It can power a whole city and you can play Mario on it.

[JBSleek]

Once again annoyed with people claiming Wii-U isn't powerful enough than not released specs of the competition.

If Sony wants to keep the cost low and Xbox is projected t cost $299 these machines aren't graphical beasts in the least. Relax.

[nirwanda]

not if you use all previous gens as an example, consoles have always took a hit on production costs in the first few years with the exception of the wii to put the best/experimental tech in, for example the 360 the 360 had a triple core processor when PCs had duel core and prototype GPU, and the PS3 had bluray and the cell with its spu's.
Also the kindle fire makes a small loss on hardware to make it back on software as does the new nexus 7.
Its the business model consoles have always used.

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

If you hold graphics over gameplay I feel sorry for you.

[Getowned]

What?... want is wrong with wanting a graphic upgrade on next Gen consoles. What I'm hopeing for on next Gen consoles is better draw distances, better graphics, frame rates, etc. What would be the point of buying a next Gen Console with the same grapics of the PS3, might as well just keep my PS3 than. You can't honestly say you wouldn't want better grapics come on now. I want a nice jump in graphics for the PS4. While im intrested in the WII U I just dont have faith in in nintendo, I dont want a dusty WiiU sitting next to my dusty Wii.

GAMEPLAY has nothing to do with next Gen consoles, Having good gameplay is up to who ever is making the game, like a video game developer. Just because people want good graphics dosn't mean we dont want good gameplay as well.

[DivineAssault]

I have no doubt the Wii U will be more powerful than these 6 yr old consoles.. I know that Nintendo will make some great things happen for it too.. I personally dont like what they make other than zelda & metroid but that doesnt mean that the other games suck.. Theyre usually ALL masterpieces... Great level design, graphics, puzzles, gameplay, etc in almost every game they make.. Im just not into them but i can understand its potential.. I would definitely be on board with it if i see more new games from outside sources coming in at a steady rate.. I just dont trust them anymore but i do respect their work