Need For Speed: Most Wanted For The Wii U: The Best Version You'll Find?

Gameranx: " At a press event in New York City yesterday, EA had a number of titles on-hand, including the Wii U port of the recently released Need For Speed: Most Wanted."

[PopRocks359]

By my understanding the PC version is the best one (but that's honestly not surprising). It's a great racing experience for console fans from what I hear, and this is the best looking console version and has some extra content with the coop mode. It's at least worth checking out I think, and I would like to do just that.

[karlowma]

I don't disagree entirely, but the way the engine is coded makes it very difficult for nVidia & AMD to optimize their drivers to leverage better performance out of this game. It's too bad, because it's a great looking game on any platform.

[ProjectVulcan]

Wii U is the best looking console version, but you can do better with a modest PC. Radeon 7770 would have no trouble matching Wii U's settings, but at higher resolution.

Radeon 7850 easily maxes it 1080p.

The gamepad options seems a bit meh to me to be honest, rather just have the game straight up.

[Neonridr]

The gamepad features while bland in some regards at elast allows for Off TV play, which in my opinion is the best feature of the Wii U. I can't get enough of the fact that I can play my game system while my wife watches the TV.

[herbs]

Basically Criterion is giving there game the same attention Froznebyte did for Trine 2. Obviously PCs will always have the edge visually but Im thinking the varied control options for the Wii U make it the definitive version overall, not to mention the bonus content and additional optimization.

[Link079]

Its the best looking version period better than pc as well,360 ect held pc bk.

http://www.nintengen.com/

[wiium64]

yes,the wii u is the best looking , version, and will probably be the over all best console version, i am so excited for this game, now this is how a third party should make a game for the wii u, i hope others will follow suit.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

I don't know why you get disagrees.. It might be the best console version since it will have the pc texturss.

"The result is unarguably the one of the most impressive, technologically challenging cross-platform conversions the Wii U has in its roster. Owing to the 1GB of RAM available to developers - compared to the 512MB on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 - the Wii U version features the enhanced textures currently found only on the PC version. It sounds like an ambitious addition, but it proved to be no issue for the team."

http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

Also they ported from pc to wiiU in 10 minutes.

I know I will get disagrees because I said that the devs said what they said. But they said it.

Lol I am a sony fan but the wiiU hate is amazing! lol disagrees for everyone!

[Ju]

You took that "10 minutes" statement quite out of context. This was the full statement:

"There's a switch in our build pipeline that says 'use PC textures' and we flipped that and that was all," Hamadi laughs. "I can take no credit for that, it was literally ten minutes' work... we are using PS3/360 geometry. It's just the textures we upgraded."

What that means is, he is talking about the build pipeline they modified "in 10 minutes" to use PC assets instead of 360/PS3 resources. This is quite simple. They use a build script to do that and had it modified. I can believe that.

But you should also mention this:

"The difference with Wii U was that when we first started out, getting the graphics and GPU to run at an acceptable frame-rate was a real struggle. The hardware was always there, it was always capable. Nintendo gave us a lot of support - support which helps people who are doing cross-platform development actually get the GPU running to the kind of rate we've got it at now. We benefited by not quite being there for launch - we got a lot of that support that wasn't there at day one... the tools, everything."

and this:

"But the journey towards this level of accomplishment on the Nintendo hardware has been far from simple."

Which does not indicate the work was actually done in 10 minutes (obviously it wasn't...re-writing build scripts alone to support another platform takes longer than that).

Also, while it uses high-res textures, it looks like the overall performance is still on par with the current consoles, and they rather struggled to achieve the frame rate. This matches quite all other reports, that the WiiU is basically a 1GB PS360. Not much more.

Well, I shouldn't say "not much more". It's still quite interesting what you can do with "just a little bit more RAM".

[Computersaysno]

I think it is the fact its like nearly 5 months after all the other versions and nobody would care a lot unless they only have a Wii U because they probably already played it if they really wanted it.

I expect more and better from Wii U and can't get excited over an old port with some tweaks- dont think am the only one with this in my mind either. It isn't going to make anyone rush out and buy the console.

It is encouraging in that it edges the other consoles but to be honest I cant say Wii U should do any less. Wii U should have been able to trounce the other console versions of anything all the time. The idea that it hasnt been able to do that and this once it manages to edge such old technology and thats big news apparently- says a lot.

Before the thing launched I made the point that the ports are woopty doo even done well, because they will all be out so much later than the other versions.

This wont help anyone buy a Wii U, only original new titles will.

So well done criterion for at least doing a good job with the port, but really shouldnt we expect that?

We should expect people to do their damn jobs properly and it is a shame too this is news but such is the piss poor level of product these days we are going ape that a dev just did their job adequately for once.

State of the industry

[Neonridr]

I only played the original Most Wanted on my 360. I never played this new game in the series. So why shouldn't I be excited for the Wii U version? Sure, if you've already played the game, then fine, you don't need this one. But if you've never played it, then why shouldn't you get the best looking, best running version of the game with the most features? I'd take the Wii U version over the 360/PS3 any day if we are going heads up.

[Link079]

Try they upgraded everything and the gpgpu is being used look at these 360/WiiU comparison shots then.

http://www.nintengen.com/

[Computersaysno]

The best looking best running version is the PC version. Because Wii U might use some similar PC assets, but PC can still do twice the resolution and twice the framerate for butter smooth racing.

That figures for 4 times the performance of Wii U just for that.

I don't know why anyone would be so upset. So its 5 months old. good if you haven't played it, not so good for the millions that already did last year. Not exactly a system seller.

Wii U has demonstrated the advantages of having 7 year newer technology and 4 times the memory of the ancient existing consoles.

Consider me entirely unsurprised. The comparison should come against Sony's and Microsoft's newest consoles, because they will belong to the same generation as Wii U.

[EbeneezerGoode]

Until the ports to PS4/Nextbox come November :P Wii-U will look once more like gamecube when the real next gen arrives.

[Neonridr]

I'm sorry, the next gen machines are coming out this November? Wow, you must be some high ranking industry exec to make those claims with all that insider information. And if the Wii U is going to look like Gamecube graphics, then I guess the PS4 and Nextbox must be putting out 4K resolution games for their launch titles huh? I mean the Gamecube could barely do 480p, so the jump from the Gamecube to the Wii U would be like the 360/PS3 going to 4K resolution.

[Ju]

Well, it still runs 720p (or isn't it?) and uses PS360 geometry. I would think next PlayBox will probably improve on both. So, it's not that far fetched. But, then,, I am keeping my PS3 also. Nothing wrong with that.

[Link079]

http://www.nintengen.com/

Take a look ? WiiU is nextgen from a graphics perspective thats for sure,and going off this comparison its obvious Dirt WiiU and Project Cars will look equal to their dx11 pc counterparts i'm impressed.

[EbeneezerGoode]

/facepalm, well done on missing out on sarcasm.

Get back to your kiddy toys.

[Gemmol]

(throws cash at the screen)

[Sarobi]

I'll definitely check this out

[AKR]

This is really great, on Criterion's part.

Even if the PC has a slight edge over it - the Wii U version still utilizes it's textures, and they also went an extra step in improving the lighting.

For a port - this is gold. Just goes to show that it's not the Wii U's hardware that's lousy - it's the lazy developers behind it.

[Sniperwithacause]

I would really have to say yes. If the game had achievements/ trophies it would make it the perfect version. I just like knowing I have something in return of my time playing no matter how petty it is.

[strigoi814]

ok..if that what makes EA happy..

[stuna1]

Did anyone actually read the story? It states the visuals are indeed impressive, comparable to the PS3 version, a rock steady 30 FPS, but the colors looks washed out, although they were both hooked up to the same type Samsung tv!

Whatever floats people boats these days! The Wii U will never truly be able to shine until they stop with the ports and upgrades to buckle down and make games that are strictly built for the Wii u hardware with no distractions! That is why Nintendo first party has the best chance of putting the Wii U on the right path.

[Ju]

Looks like they quite tried to optimize for the WiiU.

From the Eurogamer report from above: http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

"...but not many people have done what we've done, which is to sit down and look at where it's weaker and why, but also see where it's stronger and leverage that."

It's not conclusive, but it looks a little bit like dancing around the problem. They had to really work around the chip to squeeze something out. I would call this not just a port but quite optimized for the platform. This incl. with the added gameplay, it is not just a port; even though most of the code was ported. I do believe there is more possible without any legacy code - and hand written optimization. But it's not that far off what they got. Question remains, how much headroom is there really?

[stuna1]

It really is a shame people can't see the forest for the trees! All there have been is repeat performances for the Wii U. Every port that has been announced for the Wii U has followed the same pattern! First the Wii U has always been announced as being the definative version, then the flip-flopping comes into play as far as it being slightly better, finally when the day of reckoning comes and it's finally released, it turns out it's actually worse.

It happened with batman,about to happen with aliens colonial marines and will probably happen with this! But like I said above whatever floats your boat! All I'm asking is that people stop acting like you're part of some randomly targeted group, because you're not!

[Ck1x]

I don't know what article you are reading, but the main interview with Criterion never spoke of comparing visuals to PS3 or anything being washed out on the WiiU. The game is still in development and looks great as it is now. If anyone even read the interview thoroughly, they go into details about what they believe plagued WiiU launch games and it wasn't the hardware. He states that the hardware was always capable but the software and tools weren't there from the beginning. This statement goes along with what Nintendo has stated as well, that they didn't have final dev-kits ready until the middle of 2012 that allowed developers to access the full potential of WiiU...

[stuna1]

@Ck1x

It's on the next page of the inter view.