Wii U CPU and GPU Clock Speeds revealed, slower than PS3/360

"Well known hacker Marcan, who played a part in hacking the PS3, has found out the clock speeds of the Wii U."

[That-Guy]

Nintendo never really feels like they need to capitalize on better tech. They'll still sell well with first party titles of course, but it's not a good long term stretch.

[AmazingBrian]

clock speeds =/= performance

[Imalwaysright]

LMAO

[lilbroRx]

Sadly, you will not be only person who comes here and gets hammered with disagrees and bubble downs for pointing out a fact that's not convenient.

The general goal of most modern CPU/GPU is to get more performance at lower clock speeds and has been for about 7 years.

My Quad Core i5 runs at a lowers clock speed than my previous Core 2 Quad Q6600 but it outperforms it by near 3 times while using less electricity to do it.

My new GTX 560 Ti also consumes less power than my previous GTX 260 but outperforms it in every possible category by leaps.

None of the Nintendo haters here want to hear things like that though.

They don't want to understand these differences. They just wanna scream "Oh, look at those low numbers, its so weak, haha!" With complete ignorance of what those numbers mean or how they work. Pure fanboyism.

[crinale]

But this CPU's architecture is same as like 1999 (when Power Mac G3 came out). People are worried because the clock speed is not impressive AND the architecture is ancient.

[PhunnyJesta]

But games have already proven that the performance isn't there *cough* batman "frame rate" city *cough*

[AsimLeonheart]

Just admit it that the console is weak. Stop hoping against hope and trying to find something else to hang onto until that vanishes as well.

[ExCest]

Exactly. People don't get it. I can have a super overclocked dual-core Pentium (if those exist) and it'll be crap to an i3. Newer architecture allows this phenomenon to exist. Calling the WiiU out on clock speeds is like saying ssd's suck because their capacity is lower than an hdd, and thus worse.

[ProjectVulcan]

Although clockspeed alone is no real measure of performance, we have other known factors that would help shed light on the matter. Clockspeeds of the chip only confirm to us that it is exceptionally slow.

Crucially, we have information like the die sizes from anandtech's teardown and the machine's power consumption.

We know that the CPU then is really small built on 45nm, no bigger than 360's CPU and definitely smaller than PS3's. In context PS3's CPU is small(234m transistors) compared to a modern dual core chip, even a Pentium G630 is over 500 million transistors, around half of that is cache.

"My Quad Core i5 runs at a lowers clock speed than my previous Core 2 Quad Q6600 but it outperforms it by near 3 times while using less electricity to do it."

The reason for this is not magic, it is just a sandy bridge i5 quad core has MORE than DOUBLE the number of transistors as a Core 2 Q6600. (by the way, all these chips have higher clocks than Q6600 too) It is made on a more advanced process so the transistors it has are smaller and allows further optimal design. However if you made them on the same process size, the i5 chip will be much, much larger.

As we know the process size and die size of Wii U's CPU, then it is plainly not chock full of transistors that small. The only thing that was going to save Wii U's CPU here then was having a really fast clockspeed like over 4ghz. But looking at the power consumption it was fairly clear this wasn't gonna be happening.

We know the architecture is old, we know the die is not very big, we know the power consumption is low. Even before we knew the clockspeeds, we knew then this was not a fast CPU and all this does is confirm low clockspeeds too.

Because of the wide array of factors now known, clockspeed as well, there can be no denying how slow the CPU is. Its very small, its based on old architecture, its low power, and its low clockspeeds.

[thezeldadoth]

this isnt a site to post factual statements like that.

[lpc]

Meray lun pay charay Wii U gando. Ps3 theek ha.... Gand marai reggie bhanchod kutta dala dhoka day raha ha ye gandu tum logon ko ye puri nintendo comany xbox say gand marai ja k

[nukeitall]

@vulcanproject:

You are correct, but what we often neglect to think about is how does this all balance out. We know for instance that PS3 and to a lesser extent Xbox 360 is bottlenecked at the RAM.

The Wii has 1GB minimum and it may even get more as the OS gets optimized further.

[ProjectVulcan]

Well how does all this balance out?

You mean overall system performance. It seems fairly obvious that Wii U's overall system performance is not significantly greater than PS3 or 360. I said before it is more like insignificantly faster than 360/PS3.

Wii U has strengths and weaknesses but like a lot of things, the lowest performing aspect will effectively limit maximimum performance in the end.

We'll see some really nice looking Wii U games but don't expect anything that blows away 360/PS3 nor anything a budget gaming PC can't already do/has done for years now.

The amount of RAM Wii U has is already a strength compared to the other consoles, so a bit more free RAM isn't really going to help much. Whereas something like PS3's RAM was critically important versus 360 so every last megabyte counted when Sony shrunk the OS.

Nintendo could look at freeing up CPU cycles if the OS uses a bit. Don't expect too much though. Even a massive clockspeed jump on PSP (when sony unlocked the CPU from 222mhz to 333mhz) only slightly improved graphics.

Wii U's CPU is just outright slow even by 2005 standards which is pretty amazing really. Devs now have to work with what they have got.

[Muerte2494]

articles all over again. When Xbox360 launch is was $400 for the premium and $300 for the arcade. The Wii U launch price was $300 basic, and $350 deluxe. The author also failed to mention that these were simply ports and nothing else. The developers simply rushed out a product just to say they had something available at launch. I already own a ps3 and Xbox360 so why would I buy a Wii U for multiplatform games? I'm buying it for titles that I can only get on the WII U.

[AsimLeonheart]

You maybe buying Wii U for exclusives but many including Nintendo were touting the "superior" multi-platform games. Please dont change your stance once the Wii U has been proven weak conclusively.

[lpc]

Meray lun pay charay Wii U gando. Ps3 theek ha.... Gand marai reggie bhanchod. Wii U aur puri nitendo gand marai ja k Microsoft say .

[Theyellowflash30]

The only thing thats been proven is that current generation games are CPU dependant and Wii U asks developers to use new modern tech a GPGPU that assigns the GPU tasks the CPU would usually do. Its obvious developers are rushing ports out, leading to some bad ports.

[Blaze929]

I think Wii all know the Wii U is pretty much what should have been released 6 years ago.

[Errod88]

100% agree with you on that one.

[MEsoJD]

I agree as well. This is Nintendos first hd console and it's really showing. Now they are going to play catch up. I'm afraid that it's going to be Wii all over again. While we will get some first party gems, everything else including third party will suffer.
Where's the incentive for consumers with 360/PS3 to pick up the WiiU? For me, it's certainly not the tablet controller. At this point, I'm going to consider picking one up until a discount and some more quality games come out. $300 is asking too much for what they are offering at the moment.

[bigfish]

i dont know if its just me, but i kind of like weaker hardware,, its something rudimentary and mechanical about it,, like pushing a small 1.2 Litre car engine to its limits rather then a hulking big V8 engine that will not be pushed to its extremes,,, more basic hardware has a novel feel about it, that big specs and chips dont have. do others share the same feeling or is it just me?

[ozzywazzy]

^ This is what Nintendo has come to.

[JamieL]

I don't know that I can say I "like", or prefer weaker hardware, but at the same time I can't say I'm against it in any way either. I still plug in the SNES from time to time, and I still have fun. I LOVED a lot of the Wii games this gen as well. I also love the latest “most cutting edge” games too though. I think it just boils down to, I love “GAMES”, I have since I was 3 and handed an Atari 2600 joystick. I still remember my first NES Christmas, it was f#%kin epic to actually own Super Mario Bros/Duck Hunt, and be able to bust it anytime. I just like games, no matter if it’s on the most powerful PC, or an sorry old Tiger Watch, I don’t care I’m down period. I guess I can say, it doesn't matter at all to me either, as long as the game's fun.

[deafdani]

As a big Nintendo fan, you embarrass me. If weak hardware excites you that much, go play an Atari 2600.

[Man-E-Faces]

Nintendo "CAN" do both you know, release good games and have their console pack a punch SNES is a good example of this. You know what pisses me off about Nintendo and shows just how cheap profit driven scrooge of a company they have become is when Reggie says "It only takes 1 game sold at launch to turn a profit on the Wii U", this really disgusts me with all the profit turned from DS,Wii and now 3ds they couldn't pack the Wii U with better guts and take a loss for at least a year or two and truly future proof the Wii U against the PS4,next Xbox, or better yet why didn't they just wait a half year longer, why rush it out to the market when it's clearly not much of an improvement over the PS3,360. Do they really think people are going to choose to buy their multiplats (if they get any) over their PS4, next Xbox? Heck people who own a PS3,360 right now are/will probably still buy their multiplats for those systems instead of their Wii U.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

wiiU2 in 2017. will be announced 2016.

[Zhipp]

...That actually sounds pretty reasonable.

[donman1]

More nonsense post from faceless so called hackers/specialist.

I will use this as my source. This is the real specs of the Wii U.
http://www.zeldainformer.co...

[MEsoJD]

.... do you have a source that isn't called,"zeldainformer&quo t;?

[profgerbik]

Been saying this forever but I just get called a fanboy or a troll but I just realize what Nintendo has been doing for years now and I am tired of it.

Richest gaming division in the world yet they produce the weakest cheapest devices in the gaming industry.

God I sound like broken record but when will people open their eyes and stop accepting this type of business practice? Nintendo is practically raping it's consumers blind and they could careless. They remind me more of Apple than Nintendo these days.

The Wii U isn't even worth the money it cost now. Just like the 3DS was never worth $250 when it was first released also.

How can you price something that is weaker, has less features and simply cannot out perform 7 year old consoles pricing it for more than what those consoles sell for now?

I mean fuck you can get a Xbox 360 for $99 and a PS3 for $200 yet they still out perform this new system.. So Nintendo feels it should cost more than those? How does this add up to people? It doesn't to me that is why I stopped buying Nintendo's cheap crap.

Thing is I am not even a graphics whore, I just enjoy good games but it's getting to a point in time where you just expect better hardware because it's easily available.

Just like you wouldn't expect to be driving a steam powered car in 2012 still, as much as it may get you by just fine without it being a problem, you still have to think why the hell hasn't it gotten any better or changed yet? Pretty much how I feel every time Nintendo releases something new..

People are still making excuses for this thing saying oh well it may not be as powerful as the PS4 or 720.. Really!? No, I think there is a snowballs chance in hell it would be, considering it's not more powerful than 7 year old systems, it would make literally no sense at all if was close to the PS4 or 720..

[admiralvic]

While a lot of people come in with these insane requests, does anyone remember that the gamepad is ALSO included? To me I always felt like that was where a good % of the costs went. I mean, did you REALLY expect a device on par with the PS4 / next Xbox with the gamepad all for 300 dollars? To me that just seems insane. By no means am I defending the Wii U, but people seem to act like the gamepad is a 10 dollar freebie included so people can use the device, but in reality it's a nifty device that lets you play without looking at the TV. Do I think that justifies it existing? No, of course not. Do I think it should be factored into the price? I don't see how you could logically explain Nintendo losing money on every gamepad and selling the system at 200 or so (what it's probably worth).

[KiLLUMiNATi_89]

That's why I skipped it.., ill wait for next Xbox or ps4... Nintendo is so so deceiving.......

[BuLLDoG909]

Well atleast all them BS articles stating "next gen" has started can stop until the true next gen actually starts....
Its a disgrace that lesser tech releasing over 5 year from whats currently available was ever considered next gen...

The WiiU will never produce the same sort of success that the wii brought in, a big chunk of the casual market must feel robbed by the gimmick that was the original wii, and now the more hardcore gamer finally hears the truth about the wiiuU..
when the next PS and xbox release.. damn, even when there officially announced and show some demos, the wiiU's going to be forgotten about as if it were the equivalent of 6 year old tech.. oh wait...

[N4g_null]

Why is lesser tech Producing better frame rates and rendering to two screens? I'm not seeing screen lag or of lower avg fps. If the wiiu can do this then iPhones will blow next gen ps and xboxes completely out of the water.

This reminds me of the Xbox 360 sucking yet some how producing gears of war.

Man you really have to love those closed systems!

[jessupj]

I agree.

People keep going on about "it's not about the power, it's about the next iteration of the console that determines if it's next gen"

But really... how can you call the Wii U next gen?

I don't care what people say, when you hear the words 'next gen' you expect a significant increase in power. From what we've seen it's slightly better than current gen consoles.

The Wii U is current gen, plain and simple.

[ATi_Elite]

WiiU Emulator coming REALLY REALLY soon to a PC near you!

(I may not buy Nintendo Consoles but I sure as heck will buy Nintendo Games and play them on my PC)

[fatstarr]

I dont know man, wii emulation crippled most superior pcs that were speccd up

I lvel cpu's or quad cores
4-32 gb of ram
2x mid tier or better gpu

now wii emulation is 90% stable, and usable
I think theres along way to go for wiiu. but if its still truly built upon the gamecube/wii architecture things may happen faster.

[DarkHeroZX]

@fatstarr

My Asus 17" gaming laptop runs Dolphin at 100% with huge power to spare. I don't think the Wii U is going to cause a huge bump in performance.

[Nintentional2]

I've heard that development costs for next gen games are going to be astronomical. In my personal opinion, I think current gen games still look amazingly beautiful. games like Gears of War Judgement, God of War Ascension, Ni No Kuni, Journey, Bastion, ect. If developers can still make great looking games like those I listed on Wii U, I'm okay with that. Plus, I'm still getting the neXbox and next Sony console anyway, so I really could care less.

[farhad2k8]

Glad to see all the comments 'protecting' the Wii-U get bombarded with disagree's. I'm sorry but if a so called 'next gen' console is on par/worse than the previous gen, it's just not cut out to be a leading console, but since this world is cruel, and things like CoD, iPhone 5, Beats Headphones exist, I guess the Wii-U can too. I just don't get it. Unfair world we live in, time to listen to some Mad World.

[fatstarr]

when one understands that, thats just a number clocked down and that its a clock speed.

know that those numbers can be over clocked for more oomph and to push the hardware to its limits, when you disregard its low energy consumption and low heat .

these numbers are really low but they still produce comparable material because the parts were built /designed / modified to run at those speeds.

you want 2.7ghz with a fan spinning for its life or a quiet system that pulls out the guns when it has to.

[N4g_null]

Look at that speed now tell me how can you run so many ports on a CPU the is one third of the speed of the target platforms. How is that even possible?

If the wiiu is so weak why can it even do such a thing? This is like a 4 cylinder keeping up with a 12 cylinder. How is that even pOssible? Please ask and answer that question if you want to keep claiming you know this tech.

Some thing is helping this tech keep pace with chips that run at much higher cycles. I wonder what that could be?

Try benchmarking an overclocked amd chip against an i7. Sure the amd runs faster but the i7 will smoke it.

I guess every one will just wait till Sony does the same thing with an apu then it will be high tech.

Sony always had better tech hype men though.

I'm pretty impressed with the tech so far and I'm wondering how high they can ram this chip at a lower nm. What if over clocking was introduced?

The GDC should be lots of fun now. By the way bops2 runs just fine on this slow CPU for some reason? Maybe nintendo will give someone the factor 5 card. Who knows but many are trying to crack this egg.

[WiiStation_360]

Proof that a 4 cylinder can keep up with a 12 cylinder... http://www.youtube.com/watc...

It's not what you have, it is what you do with it that counts. :D

[UnwanteDreamz]

lol nevermind the fact that the Lambos almost twice as heavy or that the Civic wins in a quarter mile but has a lower top speed.

Either way it's a strawman .

[showtimefolks]

most people who work in the gaming industry say that nintendo was a gen behind anyway so they are basically catching up to sony and ms.

also 3rd parry troubles will continue for nintendo long term. when ps4,xbox720 are released you can bet they will be a lot more powerful than current gen consoles. ps3,xbox360 came out 6-7 years ago so now when a new machine is released it will be quite an upgrade over the current systems

i am still happy that nintendo's 1st party games will be in HD like my favorite zelda. but to all the nintendo fanboys or fanboys in general who say wii-u is next gen than they are just wrong.

the real competetion is between ms and sony so that's why both will ignore wii-u and so will a lot of big publishers when it comes to big games. don't expect GTA to come to wiiu. there is a bigger chance of GTA coming to VIta before it comes out on wii-u

Nerdmaster

well let's see wii had such great 3rd party support oh wait. the last N console to get great 3rd party support was NES now think about how long ago that was. wii was one time thing now a lot of those casuals have moved onto mobile gaming since its cheaper and kinect/move has a sold well too.

for all the money nintendo spent on the gamepad, they should have spent that on actual specs because when ps4,xbox720 comes out wii-u will become last gen agai.

publishers have been saying this for a while now that the tech is old and its holding back the industry so how are those same publishers gonna jump on a wii-u system that is basically a ps3,xbox2360?

i know some people are hating on wii-u and i get that but facts aree facts nintendo had a chance to really take next gen by the horn and have a year ahead start but like always they went after gimmicks instead of actual system upgrade

[Cyb3r]

Wow I can't see Nintendo surviving the next gen battle now

[Nerdmaster]

I agree. It won't sell anything, just like Wii didn't sell at all because it was much weaker than PS3 and Xbox 360. Or like DS didn't sell because of the PSP. Or 3DS because of Vita.

[gazgriff2k12]

these guys dont rememer much (silly graphics hoes) the wii, DS, ps2, ps1 all outsold there competion dispite being the weakest console of the time. its been proved again and agian that graphics mean shit go and try crysis 2 maxed on pc then have a go on timeplitters 2 ps2 and tell me which 1 u had the most fun with

[Lior]

Lol wii sold the most compared to ps3 and 360 because all the parents bought it

[zebramocha]

The wii did so well because the wiimote and the ps360 are 30 mil in reaching distance of the wii,3ds sales were no better than the ps vita until price cut,ds cheapest handheld.

[killerhog]

@gazg

Ps1 was better at rendering 3d polygons, Saturn better at rendering 2d. So its a matter of opinion of which was stronger. Dreamcast was the weakest of the 128 bit era. Though they say, the Dc had a lot of untouched power, but I don't know if it would of made a difference. Ps2 games were looking better than Dc games of its last year and only got better with time.

[Legion21]

Please tell me this is sarcasm.

[Thatguy-310]

The wii u doesnt cater to the same audience that the wii did. Plus the "casual" have invested themselves into the ios and android platform hence the lack of wii consoles sold. Nintendo has themselves cornered up next gen I honestly see the competition slaying them since it doesnt have the casual appeal that the wii had when it came out. Yea you can bring up how much they sold this gen but have you forgotten what happened to it the last 2 gens? This gen the casual saved them and I truly dont think they will do the same this time around.

[miyamoto]

people did not buy the wii for the specs, the wii sold more "initially" because it was the cheapest price home console

it was a safe bet & an easy way to make money

now people did not get the PS3 or 360 for the expensive price, these consoles sold "initially' because of the HD specs.

if i remember right Nintendo is gunning for the casuals and these PS3 & 360 gamers to play with their Wii U HD console

We will see if they can be 'successful' on these two goals

[TheUndertaker85]

@dboyc310: I hope you aren't trying to be serious.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Nintendo's own commercials show their real interests. Kids and casuals.

[TiberusX87]

@richierich

The Wii was pretty much a reboxed GameCube with motion controls and it outsold everything. Heck, it was the same all the way back with the Gameboy too, which was also underpowered compared to the competition.

It's always been that way. They play a different game and do their own thing.

I don't limit myself by discounting anything and go where the games are. Hardware is irrelevant if there aren't good games available for the platform.

[Cyb3r]

The Wii had a revolutionary motion controller that made it fun for people of all ages to play even old people who have never played videogames. Almost everyone can pickup and play. The Wii U has a touch screen controller that doesnt exactly revolutionise the way people play games as we have seen with the launch titles. And it also costs more than the PS3 and 360 because of its controller. I dont think it would have killed Nintendo to put higher specs than the current gen consoles considering high speed ram is dirt cheap and cpus and gpus have dropped in price over the last 6 years

[killerhog]

I never met an old person/couple playing wii. The only old people I seen play a wii was actors in its commercials. Not even people my age (female or male) wanted to play it for my sis bday.

[Imalwaysright]

Motion controls have been around since 1982 (google "le stick") There was nothing revolutionary about the Wii. I agree however that price had a big role in the Wii succeess but i remember that at some point MS released a 360 SKU that was least expensive than the Wii and the Wii still outsold it every single month. The thing was obviously popular and far from being a fad.

O.T. im still buying a Wii U for Zelda so to me is not a big deal. If i want performance Ill wait for the PS4 and stick with my PC.

[Feralkitsune]

Well, the Wii was a hell of a lot weaker than PS3, and 360 but look how that turned out. You guys need to realize that you likely aren't nintendo's target audience in the first place.

[ozzywazzy]

But neither are the casuals and soccer moms who did most of the buying for the Wii. Nintendo is stuck between a rock and a hard DICK!

[cooperdnizzle]

Yes that is true, but how the hell do you come out with a console 6 years later and still have a weaker console then current? I get the wii being underpowered totally, and i would get if the wii u was underpowered to the ps4/720 but being weaker then a ps3 years later, pretty lame. They should have at least made it stronger then what is already out there, and let sony and m$ come out with the stronger tech again

[MEsoJD]

While the Wii can be considered a success for Nintendo the same cant be said about third parties. Casuals would buy very little software and this is a big reason why the console is basically dead. While the motion controls created a lot of hype, it didn't bring longevity to the console. Sony/Microsoft depend on software sales largely for profit and try to ensure longevity(hence why they are 6 to 7 years old and still strong).
I think it was a very bad mistake not to have the original wii launch without hdmi. Now they are starting new while Sony/Microsoft have already learned a lot.

[Eyeco]

If that's so , why has Nintendo stated many times that there trying to appeal to the hardcore ? Which pretty much accounts to PS3, 360 and to a lesser extent PC gamers , and your right it doesn't appeal to them, why do you think all these hate articles are comming out ?

PS3 and 360 owners aren't gonna fork out $350 to play games they already own or can play on their consoles especially with zero graphical difference and in some cases worse. That's why the Wii u is getting hate because its tryibg to appeal to a demographic that has no real reason to buy it.

[specialguest]

Wii was a weak last Gen tech console, yet it destroyed the competition in profitability and sales. This proves that high specs doesn't equal winning the console war.

[Sheep4life]

Lets be honest, the Wii only proved that it could get the people who have never or don't play games to buy their console. Just ask Microsoft, before the Kinect launch, Microsoft was sinking in sales. After Kinect launched, Microsoft has taken over sales in the US. Now ask yourself, does the Kinect make the Hardcore experience any better (is Halo any good with Kinect)? Exactly my point. No it doesn't, but the parents and small kids love it. The response I get from many of my family members who don't play games is, "The kids love it, they play 2 hours, and they are ready to go to bed."

Take a really good look at the Wii library. You will see it is full of first party software. Where are the Third party games? Exactly, no one has the resources to build a game for the Wii. Besides, research shows that the casual gamers are buying the shovel ware, and if it isn't mario brothers or zelda the games do not sell on the Wii.

[profgerbik]

I can't believe you ever saw it period. I honestly feel like you were missing something or just being brainwashed if you thought anything about the Wii U was next gen.

About as next gen as it's get's is Nintendo's next console. Other than that it's not next generation anything.

I also don't get why this is a shocker as Nintendo has been doing this type of crap for years now for literally no reason other than being money grubbers.

People can talk about how Nintendo is the boss at selling, true that but you can play their cheap ass devices while you brag about their sales. Clearly they care about their consumers a lot by constantly giving them cut down crap just to sell to you, when everyone knows they have far more money than any other person in the industry right now and are capable of doing so much more but they never do.

They would rather keep making money of their fans who never expect more from them. Just like Apple, Nintendo knows they can get away with just about anything and people will buy it.

[Quetzll]

Nintendo has the least amount of money. Strictly games/systems. There are no Nintendo TVs or operating systems. They haven't been selling multiple forms of media, like M$ or $ony, for decades now. So they're excused from needing to directly compete with two other mega-media brands. Gamecube had to compete directly with Xbox and PS2. The only thing that made the systems sell were their exclusives. Nintendo took the biggest hit, being a strict game company. Obviously, they had no choice but to learn from this, since for now on, they're competing with M$, $ony, and PC. So, the Wii was meant to be different. The Wii also had to be inexpensive. But, overall, had to have memorable, unique, and fun games. Which it had plenty of.

Also, the fact that the launch games look as good as they do should be enough for you to recognize its potential.

I mean, come on. Have you even imagined what the next first person Metroid is going to look like?

[madjedi]

"I mean, come on. Have you even imagined what the next first person Metroid is going to look like?"

And who says nintendo will bother invest that heavily into new dev software required to make a next gen metroid or zelda.

Look at nintendo's lineup, nothing there screams, superbly detailed worlds or games like ms and sony exclusives.

Why do nintendo fans, believe they will see the wii u's uncharted 3, that is sony or ms style . Nintendo makes very heavily stylised games, not detailed graphical games.

Nintendo could make their benchmark equivalent to halo 4 or uncharted 3, but i don't see nintendo spending the money to advance their games that far.

I do love the spin attempt here trying to excuse nintendo for releasing weak hardware yet again. After being the only manufacturer to be making a profit day one and selling 90-100 million units.

That is more bullshit than campaign promises.

[STGuy1040]

I believe comparisons speak for themselves:

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Wii U Graphics Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Neonridr]

lol, yet somehow Ubisoft can make AC3 look at least identical to the 360 and PS3 versions with that slow of a processor on a launch title (which we all know is a poor indication of what games can truly look like - compare Madden 13 to Madden 06 on the Xbox 360).

People just don't seem to understand that the clock speed isn't the only thing that dictates how good a processor is. Processors today don't have to be 3.0Ghz per core to achieve the same results as chips from back in 2005/2006. You can probably achieve the same results with MUCH lower clock speeds since the chips themselves are more advanced.

And we all know that the Graphics card is built around a GPGPU, so we all know that calculations that would normally be done by the CPU can be offloaded and done with the GPU instead.

I am not saying that the Wii U is super advanced or anything, I fully expect the 720 and PS4 to be significantly more powerful, but if the Wii U can at least match the 360 and PS3 with that weak of a CPU and the GPU, then what does that say about the power of the 360 or PS3?

Just relax and enjoy the games.

[wishingW3L]

and by offloading CPU work to the GPU they are eating its resources instead of using it for what it was designed for. To push graphical effects.

GPGPU is a double edge sword....

[SandwichHammock]

Earlier on, yes, your statement would be correct as pinoneering GPGPU processors needed what one could call middleware in a sense, to change data that a GPGPU could use.

With current day GPGPUs they are far more advanced and are designed for this type of thing.

From a technical and gaming perspective I really don't like GPGPUs as I strongly believe small nM APUs with dedicated task cores are the way of the future.

[lilbroRx]

Go do some research on GPGPU. It can do the those processes a lot more efficiently sense it doesn't have to barter with the CPU.

Its actually all around better.

[N4g_null]

I love the ideas floating around apus but they will run into similar problems since they are basically the same thing. The wiiu is designed around load balancing using some radical methods. Lots of free compression for almost every thing.

It would be nice if ms and Sony just gave us two wiius duck taped together but the last time I looked the next Xbox was only going to be 20-30% more powerful and that was used for kinect 2.0. Hey but plans change every day. So who knows.

Nintendo has one heck of a weak system here and I'm pretty impressed they could get that much out of it.

So a $600 ps4 should be way more powerful!

[Beastforlifenoob]

Why does everyone say "compare madden 06 to 13" or something, how do you know it's going to improve? What if Assassins creed 3 had maximized the possible graphical efficiency on the WII U. How do you know the graphics are going to get better over time? The graphics of the WII rarely changed over a time of like 5 years...

[PopRocks359]

I'll give you three contradictions there.

Iwata stated that not a single launch game used more than 50% of the Wii U's power for one thing.

Gearbox claims the Wii U version of Aliens Colonial Marines will look the best.

The makers of Nano Assault Neo stated that they were able to do things graphically on the Wii U that they could not on the 360 or PS3.

[RmanX1000]

Power shouldnt matter as much. Games should. As long as i enjoy games on a system, i will buy a system. Power is irrelevant to me as long as the gameplay is solid fun and not repetitive.

[wishingW3L]

1.2 GHZ CPU? On top of it a modified Wii CPU! -_______-

At the very least the GPU should have like 200 cores... But really, why are they even selling this console at such a high price tag?

[PirateThom]

Profit. Pure profit.

The tech in the screen is no better than the console.

[PopRocks359]

The console is being sold at a loss though.

And besides, the screen is mostly just streaming the content, it's not generating or rendering anything at all.

[Cyb3r]

The controller is the main reason its so expensive personally Id rather have a more powerful system rather than a tablet controller

[Detoxx]

Once Next-Gen releases the WiiU will die

[LOL_WUT]

;)

[Detoxx]

:D

[deafdani]

No, it won't. It may not get the same third party support as the other next gen consoles (or it may, we still don't know), but it won't die. No Nintendo console has died in the market, ever, with the sole exception of the Virtual Boy about 17 years ago.

[LightofDarkness]

Architecture > clock speed. The end.

Well, sort of. It's a very detailed topic, but that's the short version. Clock speeds haven't really gone up THAT much since about 2008. Architecture/process refinements (smaller chip sizes etc.) are what really drive performance increases these days, and after that, extra cores will be the next port of call.

[crinale]

I agree. But still, it is basically the SAME architecture of Gamecube's (or Power Macintosh G3's) CPU.

[LightofDarkness]

This is also true. However, I believe that the system's major performance boon comes from its GPU, which is quite far ahead of those found in PS3/360. Honestly, I believe that this coupling will only deliver image fidelity slightly above that of the PS3/360, as high-end 1080p gaming requires much more power and yet more RAM for textures and AA comparable to a modern PC game; while more advanced physics, AI and other details will require more CPU power.

It's a more "sane" trade-off (GPU power is obviously preferable to CPU grunt for gaming applications) from a design point of view as it is a gaming system. But it's also incredibly conservative and clearly not operating on the traditional "razor-blade" model that most consoles adopt.

[wishingW3L]

it's a modified Wii CPU. There is no way to spin this. -___-

[blackbirdi]

what a shame !

[LOL_WUT]

Really? I thought it was a known fact that it was weaker. Just like wishingW3L said there is no way to spin this...

[blackbirdi]

well if you follow the last year rumours that the wii u using power pc 7 processor @3.5 ghz and with 2 m cache ... and then you found out that's not any near to that you will be dispointed ....and the price tag is too high for this specifications :/

[Schawk]

this is crap they say bad framerate on blops2 but every video i have seen claims steady framerate, players on youtube who own all systems and played blops on more than one system have the wii u on top most steady framerate no screen tear best version.
http://n4g.com/news/1129321...

o yea cant wait to get mine tomorrow LOVLEY

check youtube and listen to people who played the multiplats on more than one system and get there opinion

New tech new architecture , 2.3Ghz cpu's now trash p4 3.6Ghz

[Schawk]

Bring on the disagree's fanboys, but deep down you know im right and i know you want a wiiU ahahah
Roll on tomorrow

[Neonridr]

Nobody cares to listen to reason unfortunately. I totally agree. You can do a lot more with less speed nowadays because the chips are designed more efficiently.

Everthing is going the route of efficiency over power nowadays. It's not all about brute force as much as some people like to disagree.

[sandman224]

@schawk dude I own blops 2 on ps3/360/wiiu. And I can personally tell you the the visuals are better than the ps3, on par with the 360 if not slightly better, but the frame rates do stutter while playing multiplayer. Mainly when there's a lot of explosions/smoke going on the screen. I can't say anything about the campaign as I haven't played it yet. I hope the frame rates on multiplatform games get better later in the consoles cycle. If not ill be a disappointed wii u owner.

[younghavok]

im one of those whose played two versions of Blops 2, and yes the Wii U looks better than the 360 version, and the framerate issues Ive never noticed. I've also heard about the Wii U not being good with alot of characters on screen, yet AC3 plays just fine and typically has a lot of objects and characters on screen. Clearly the clock speeds arent mattering as much as people are trying to make it seem. And if they do, than I'm going to be honest, why pay 200 for a PS3 that cant run a game as well as weaker hardware, and without the backwards compatibility and without the incredible new controller? I'd rather just spend the extra 100 for what the Wii U can do over it. Its a value regardless of how you try to spin it. Why cant we just enjoy the damn games?

[yesmynameissumo]

That's great and all, but when I talk games, I don't stroke specs. I stroke games, experiences and immersion. The damn thing could have a hamster running on the wheel of death to produce the visuals...if it's as fun as ZombiU, I'm down.

[deafdani]

You made me laugh with the hamster mental image. XD

[WildStyles]

I don't understand why Nintendo didn't future proof the console for the onslaught of upcoming next gen third party games.

[Cyb3r]

Say hello to the greedy videogame industry they care more about profit than anything else

[lilbroRx]

I do believe that Nintendo stated there main goal was to keep cost down and make it affordable to the consumer. They are also taking a loss on each console sold.

How does that translate into them being greedy and more about profit?

[ConstipatedGorilla]

lilbro, if they wanted to keep cost down, they should have scrapped the expensive gamepad and beefed up the specs. The gamepad could have been an optional peripheral to buy after the fact. They were dumb again. I will admit that I do own a Wii U for the first party games coming out, but they dumbed it up again.

[XboxInnovation]

Clock speeds of each piece of hardware means jack when u don't know how it all works together. This hacker is just looking at face value, he's not a game designer. If the wiiu can match current gen games at the beginning of its life cycle, its at least a pretty powerful system. I don't expect wiiu to contend toe to toe with the next Xbox and ps3, but I believe it will continue to get third party support as long as wiiu owners buy the games. You buy they'll make it. Has nothing to do with power

[quantae06]

People actually believes that a 1.2 tri core processor was created :D Ya'll funny! LMFAO Even the Tekken developer said the CPU was only slightly slower. Use your heads people!!

[N4g_null]

No let them keep believing that GDC and E3 should be epic ya know???!!!!

[skyrimer]

Wow, this post in going to be fun, I'm so glad I didn't buy the Wii U, it's rather impressive how supportive Nintendo fans are of their consoles, always with way overpriced technology, but then Nintendo adds a Mario me too game , maybe a gimmick so that it looks like you're not getting ripped off so much, and then call it a day.
In case that the rip off is too obvious, they put the N64 mario voice "it's me mario!" like a mantra to the doubtful so that all ninty fans start to drool and everything is fine.

so $400 lol

[Stroke666]

as i type this response from my wii u gamepad, people are just too eager to see nintendo fail for some reason. no matter how good the games look no matter how well they play, people prefer to jump on the 'nintendo sucks' ban wagon.

http://www.nintendolife.com...

even hector doesnt believe to be as bad as people here r making it out to be.

[MsmackyM]

The only defining factor of the Wii U will be the games that are released on it. That being said, Nintendo has already stressed third party support is important for this generation of their console, to think that they would release a system incapable of running multiplats with some parity to it's competition's next generation consoles is just silly.

[linkenski]

Well i'm only gonna buy it for 1st part content then. This sucks Nintendo. You could do better.

[ConstipatedGorilla]

That's my thinking. I will still enjoy their first party games, but everything else will be purchased on either PS4 or 720. I just can't believe that people sat in those Nintendo boardroom meetings and nobody in there thought enough to say that this could be a problem.

[CLOUD1983]

Wii U the first next generation console with 2 generation back hardware, only by Nintendo!

[quantae06]

OMG people believe everything they read.

[Belking]

It really doesn't matter that much.

[skyrimer]

The thing is that current generation has lasted for so long that next gen consoles should give a tremendous graphical upgrade in comparison, considering they are 7 year old already, so it's going to make Wii U games look prehistoric in comparison.

[chasegarcia]

When I heard the Wii U only used on average less than 40 watts I knew right then and there about this because even the latest CPU which are much smaller used more watts.

I said it before the WiiU is like a x360/ps3 with more memory and tablet game-pad. The game-pad itself is also not that impressive if you consider the specs, but the whole package(system with tablet game-pad) works great. I personally like it and Nintendo could of had a home run with everybody if the specs were better.

[mamotte]

WiiU is slower than current consoles, so it wont have good games.

PC is faster then current consoles... so it does have better games?

Hardcore gamer logic.

[jjank11]

No, ignorant gamer logic

[sandman224]

This really bothers me. I bought the wii u because I thought it would run multiplatform games better. After reading this I'm a sad new wii u owner. Now that I think of it blops2 stutters a lot in multiplayer when there's a bunch of smoke and explosions going on. Iwata you're a joke!

[younghavok]

Ive encountered no stutter with Blops 2 on multiplayer with the game streaming to two different screen at once. Not to mention it looks better than the 360 version. So far it does indeed run multiplats better, hell just being able to turn off the tv and take the game with you into other rooms is a huge plus. But to each his own

[Stroke666]

dude don't even respond to him, he doesnt really own a wii u just a troll trying to gain anti nintendo momentum. lmao

[metroid32]

He is going off a number found on the cpu and its a joke it's already been confirmed to not be anything to do with clock speeds look it up on google he is going off speculation and thats that the wiiu gpgpu will run at around 700mhz slightly lower than stock version and the cpu is 3 or 4 cores from a IBM express clocked at 3.0ghz but both can be seriously overclocked.

Plus clock speeds mean nothing when its super modern tech ie the gpgpu is a hybrid E6760/6770 you take the best of these 2 chips and you have a wiiu gpgpu basically DX11/OpenGl4.1/Compute shader11/SM5.0,ect ect ect.clock speeds in consoles just mean over heating as there are 2.4ghz cpu's out there that out perform a 3.6ghz cpu so mhz speed means nothing for RAW POWER antway.

BUT THIS ARTICLE IS BULL SHIT CONFIRMED.

[mochachino]

I guess Wii U won't have most of the multiplats in the long-run.

[microgenius]

well people seems love spending their money for an outdated and (a little) cheaper hardware
Wii have proven that
why shouldnt nintendo sell an ancient garbage to them for 350$?
this formula has succeeded once

[daclynk]

You buy a console for its games.if you dont like it dont go around hating on it just because its not the specs you wanted it to be. i have E3 2013 to see the great games nintendo has is store for us gamers that what i care about cause they have thier unique art engines.if you look at mario galaxy,Zelda skyward sword,Red steel 2 and Muramasa the demon blade they were one of the best looking games this gen and guess what they were achieved on SD not HD.so yeah i for one is looking to see you have for us. I thought games were suppose to us out of reality not put us back it. If you care about power so much get yourself a gaming PC. This is coming from someone who owns multiply consoles and has been gaming since the Atari Vs Nintendo days. so yeah
WiiU is slower than current consoles, so it wont have good games.

PC is faster then current consoles... so it does have better games?

Hardcore gamer logic. stupid delutional damb haters and fanboys.

[ajax17]

Wow, that sucks for Nintendo. I mean the Wii U is barely better than current gen third party games. It's really going to suck for Nintendo when the next PlayStation and Xbox come out, because you know developers will be more inclined to work with two consoles that are closer together in specs. Nintendo will probably be left behind again with regards to third party games.

[TemplarDante]

but
but
but
I thought it was powered by Pikmin and Reggies lies?

[metroid32]

Can i just say i have seen fifa 13 wiiu and the game looks borderline real including the crowd and everything runs at 60fps at 1080p ive read reviews that say the graphics are like how you would expect fifa to look 3 years from now it was 5/5 review look it up the gpgpu SQUASHES ps3/360 what part of NEXTGEN dont you guys understand its not about numbers no more if your console does DX11 comparable graphics and 1080p/60fps its next gen END OF the wiiu GPGPU makes it NEXTGEN like 2/3 generations infront of ps3 ect shader model 5.0 and DX11 are 2.5 generations in front on ps3 end of get a life ps3/360 dont even support Compute shaders as in the wiiu these shaders allow for atmoshere unlike anything seen before guys. WIIU is NEXT gen like it or not u can spit all the numbers under the sun it wont change the fact the wiiu is using out of order execution on its cpu and modern tect on its gpgpu simply not found in 360 or ps3 stop with all this comparing port nonsense wow it proves nothing what did the 1st Godfather on ps3 look like remember i know the xbox1 version looked better ??????

[TemplarDante]

What?
Fifa on 360 and PS3 are using the new Impact Engine 2.0 and is completely ironed out the bugs of Impact Engine 1.0. The Wii U Fifa 13 is literally Fifa 12.

[bigfish]

i dont know if its just me, but i kind of like weaker hardware,, its something rudimentary and mechanical about it,, like pushing a small 1.2 Litre car engine to its limits rather then a hulking big V8 engine that will not be pushed to its extremes,,, more basic hardware has a novel feel about it, that big specs and chips dont have. do others share the same feeling or is it just me? ......

[TemplarDante]

In 2017 when the Wii U is five years old and using 20yr old tech. Please be on N4G so I can lol at this comment ^

[Trago1337]

Lol, console guys really amuse me, NON of the next gen consoles will look as good as PC, so i have no idea why the majority of N4G is complaining about a system that they never wanted to begin with.

It's like you guys want the system, but don't wanna spend the cash because the thing doesn't boast Bleeding edge tech, GET A PC!

Also, once we see a WiiU exclusive that was built from the ground up for this thing, then everyone will shut up about power lol.

lol, that's the joy of owning multiple platforms, you start to care less about specs, and start concentrating more on what matters the most, THE GAMES.

[MegaLagann]

Oh dear god thank you! I've been saying this for so long. People keep wondering what the PS4/720 games look like, well go see a game running on the PC circa 2009/2010. Talking about power in consoles is irrelevant because at the end of the day they'll all be outclassed by the PC. And considering how most games nowadays are multiplats, you're better off getting them on the PC.

[DJ]

Clockspeed isn't everything. My 2.7 GHz IvyBridge i7 CPU is 2~4 times faster than my 2.26 Ghz 1st Gen i7. But still, they could have pushed to 2 Ghz at least. That clockspeed means it's probably weaker than the 360.

But it's also in a much smaller enclosure, and I guess Nintendo felt the added processing power wasn't worth the increased shipping and manufacturing costs for making larger console units.

[chronoforce]

the fact that Nintendo is selling the wii u at a loss is freighting, how much would it have cost normally, 350-400 dollars maybe, Sony and Microsoft could put out good systems for that price point. The majority of Nintendo's R&D funds must have been devoted to creating the discs with rounded edges.XD

[Droid Control]

Stop defending Nintendo, fanboys!

Nintendo are screwing you over! You are playing for 7 year old hardware with a bit more RAM and a tablet controller!
If you must bend over to Nintendo, at least wait until the console gets a price cut and a Zelda/Metroid game.

[daclynk]

Sigh....why do people insist on these stupid arguments. It has all been seen and done before. N64 - Mario 64 as launch title. Compare it to Perfect Dark or Majora’s mask. HUGE difference. GameCube - Luigis mansion. Compare it to Resident Evil 4. HUGE difference. Wii - Red Steel. Compare to Mh Tri, Xenoblade or Skyward Sword. HUGE difference. The moral of this story? It takes time to understand and then utilize the hardware and already Game like zombi U and NintendoLand show so much potential the Wii U has. It also has all control options. Something for everyone. I mean it truly does everything for every gaming crowd the casual, family, core, tech and entertainment crowds and the Miiverse new and fresh online ideas. Nintendo has it own game engine and art styles that they use for their game that why people love them so much. I think people will be surprise they will be able in pull of in FULL HD 1080 and iff you have been gaming for a long time you know that next gen is not about raw power and graphics and this is coming form a multi- comsole owner someone who has been gaming since atari vs nintendo time.if you think im lying go watch this http://www.youtube.com/watc...
and
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
so if you HATE it STFU and Get over it its not like this is the Sega vs Nintendo days.We Gamers benefit from everyone with great gamers.Haters are immature delusional and dumb people.

Happy Gaming.

[quantae06]

I own a 360/PS3 & I will own a Wii U and people shouting fanboy :D Not really... A slightly slower CPU isn't too bad if it comes with a GPGPU, which does some of the CPU work. If developers have been saying that it's only clocked slightly slower, yet one hacker claims it's severely slower. Their is no proof of he says and he isn't a developer, so people need to chill out.

[wishingW3L]

GPGPU is not a chip! Is a programming style that uses the GPU as a CPU but it has its fare share of drawbacks too and that's why not many PC games make use of it. (the only one I know is Just Cause 2)

Using the GPU as a CPU means less resources for pushing more graphical effects; GPU's real job.

[Tzuno]

Cheap ass, as if they don't have money.

[mrbojingles]

Slower doesn't mean worse. And these were discovered in Wii mode, not during Wii U gameplay. So the CPU could easily be downclocked during Wii mode.

[Question_Mark]

I guess that could be true. Nintendo has always liked having energy efficient consoles, so it's possible they downclock it to save energy in Wii mode.

[capox]

Pfff again and again......

1. clock speeds means ZERO as stated by many ppl before. The fact this "so called hacker" is saying this as it is the primary measurement of performance proves he has little knowledge.
2. the sentence where he said that "even batman has framerate issues" just did it for me hahaha. I downloaded batman at launch for the pc and ran it.... framerate was allover the place and i played it with 2 7970's and a 2600k. I know batman is poorly coded and not optimized (and definitely not for the Wii U since its a lazy and rushed port). Now lets ignore the whole specs debate and play games and not specs since specs don't create fun for the majority of us i hope. Otherwise the game industry fails in making interesting games since we all talk specs these days and not about the great games to come.

[emartini]

What does it matter how powerful a system is when the best selling game of this generation is based on a game engine from 2007????? Arent we in almost 2013. Super Mario Galaxy 1, 2 look better then COD games. Lmao. Im no fanboy. I own every system including the Wii U. I love the Wii U. Great system and will have great 1st party titles. I will also be getting a ps4 and 720. Why does graphics matter when everyone on ps3 and 360 are playing that ugly ugly rehashed cod with the same tired engine.

[emartini]

Ill be honest. I wish that the Wii U was more powerful but we all really dont know just how powerful it is. Ok so the cpu is slower. But didnt we hear that the gpu is a good amount more powerful then the ps3 and 360?? Lets wait and see how the games look a year from now than we can get a better idea. The Wii was very weak but boy did they do an awesome job graphically on the Galaxy games and Metroid Prime 3. Its debatable that those games look better than the likes of the highest selling franchise COD games. Mind you PS2 was weaker than the Gamecube and Xbox by a large amount but did that stop God Of War 1, 2 and Shadows of Collosis from looking breath taking????

[chronoforce]

they spent all that R&D money making discs with rounded edges.XD

[StraightedgeSES]

This article is full of trolls.

[Jek_Porkins]

Since when have gamers cared so much about tech? Just a generation ago all I ever heard was how the PS2 was great because it had amazing games, a low price point and it appealed to all types of gamers.

Nintendo has never been known for breaking the boundaries of technology, hell the NES survived against the Sega Genesis for over two years before Nintendo answered with the SNES. They didn't even bother to put out a 32 bit console because that console did so well.

Nintendo is and always has been about fun games and affordability. $299 gets you into the first next generation console, its called next generation, not because of what the technology is, but because its simply the next console in the line. Wii U is next gen, or current gen actually, where as PS3/360 are considered last gen now.

[Bluemaster77]

It was very suspicious of nintendo not to release to the full spec sheet, so I am not really surprised by this discovery

[JustInTlME]

I'm a HUGE 360 user, but my wife and I love our Wii-U. I'm just a gamer, simply...I like games. I also LOVE graphics, but the fact that the Wii-U is underpowered doesn't change anything. We will love our Wii-U but we'll also buy the PS4 and the "Xbox 720" it's not the end of the world...

[emartini]

Just the fact that I get to see the plumber we all loved growing up with in HD for the 1st time alone was worth a day 1 buy for me.

[wampdog29]

Obviously, speed is the end all, means all to everything... /sarcasm
This article and writer are jokes. Speed doesn't mean shit. You can have an Intel Core2 Duo running at 3.0GHz and that thing would still get blown away by a Core i7 running at only 1.7GHz..... come on man. Learn and do research before trying to put something down by speed alone.

[profgerbik]

Like I said people can argue oh it doesn't need to be powerful. I am sorry it's fucking 2012, you should expect better hardware from the richest gaming division in the world.

It's truly that simple, if I had people throwing me billions like Nintendo does I would do my best to make sure I have the most powerful and current hardware to date, I am not going to make something just to skate by with and make money off of.

So whatever if that is the future you care about then fuck why not just keep an N64 and call it a day? It's obvious people care about better hardware even Nintendo fans otherwise they simply wouldn't buy newer consoles.

If you didn't care about better quality in your games you would never need to buy a new system period.

[legendoflex]

Meanwhile, from the same guy:

"So yes, the Wii U CPU is nothing to write home about, but don't compare it clock per clock with a 360 and claim it's much worse. It isn't."

"P3 (or rather, the later Core series). P3 is the better architecture, as Intel learned the hard way."

"I don't know how it compares at the actual clock speeds, but at the same clock the 750 wins hands down except on pure SIMD."

"No hardware threads. One per core. No new SIMD, just paired singles. But it's a saner core than the P4esque stuff in 360/PS3."

"The Espresso is an out of order design with a much shorter pipeline. It should win big on IPC on most code, but it has weak SIMD."

[1upgamer99]

Oh okay. Its not as powerful as 360..LMAO...How can it run Cryengine3 "beautifully" ? plain and simple it couldn't with less power.
http://www.nintendolife.com...

[DivineAssault]

Thats just sad.. I guess it doesnt matter tho, games wont look ugly on nintendo anymore but damn really? The cheapness continues

[DigitalEraycer]

Nobody knows nothing about nothing!! Lame!!

[Thepcz]

whatever the case, it STILL is able to run games better than ps3 or 360. so the low clock speed is irrelevant, the architecture is obviously better.

check the assassins creed comparison for visual confirmation of wiius very clear power advantage.

plus, even if the console did have inferior tech, the games that will come out on wiiu from nintendo, will blow away most, if not all exclusives on ps4/720. dont believe me? even the original wii had exclusives that blew away ps3/360 games.

for what you get, the wiiu is a great package.

if ps4 and 720 are coming with tech vastly superior to wiiu, expect a vastly higher retail price to match.

wiiu will lead the next gen, it already is!

[Christopher]

***check the assassins creed comparison for visual confirmation of wiius very clear power advantage. ***

Might not want to make that your comparison. The Wii U is in its infancy and isn't showing its true potential. But, those comparisons show an extremely slight improvement over the 360 version and many of them being more about gamma correction issues that can be fixed through settings.

[DigitalEraycer]

Being able to play a game on the controller is damn cool!!

[artdafoo]

Silly rabbits next gen consoles are for real gamers not 8 year olds and soccer moms.
I think this is Nintendo's last console, they just cant keep up. Just stick to making Zelda and Mario games and plastic handhelds Nintendo.

[joeorc]

this is once again Hacking a closed system to make it open!

and people wonder why these companies take measures in the first place. region locking, your content tied to one account, or reduction of the number of times you can transfer.

its not about homebrew anymore, because if it was indie developers can use Unity3D game engine on the WiiU, WHAT'S THEIR EXCUSE NOW?

D@MN.

[MegaLagann]

As I keep saying, give it a year, wait for a game built from the ground up to show what the system can do. We know one aspect of one component and everyone loses their shit. We still don't know about 99% of the other specs.

[animegamingnerd]

they're fanboy's even if the wii u was somehow more powerful then PC'S they would find a way to call it under power

[taint]

Now you're playing with not enough power.

[nerdkiller]

this fanboys stuff is like religion, ppl trying to convert you from christianity too islam. even im thinking twice about getting a wiiu, damn you bastards

[quantae06]

The majority of people in the entire world are followers. Have u noticed that? A lot of people do things just to fit in. You shouldn't base your decision on what the next person thinks. You should try it out for yourself and see if u like it. Whether that's the Wii U are anything else that someone else doesn't like, but u find interesting. Don't be a follower! Get whatever u like.

[GraveLord]

CPU - Horrible
GPU - Better than current-gen consoles
Ram - Slower, but 4 times that of current gen.

So what all this adds up to is potentially better looking games, but with choppy framerates.

[nintendoland]

wii uses gpgpu so bad cpu doesn't matter that much. I'm happy if it's some what more powerful than ps3. I'm not a graphics whore like you guys here

[FATAL1TY]

CPU = horrible
DDR3 ram = horrible

no metro last light
no crysis 3

[mulder1617]

You couldn't have summed it up better man. Look at Batman Arkham City:Armored Ed. It has really crappy frame rate issues and yet still manages to have pretty good graphics.

[Gamer78]

YEP, LET'S TAKE WHAT THIS GUY SAYS AS THE TRUTH. HACKERS ARE SO RELIABLE AND ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH, RIGHT? OH WAIT, HE IS A HACKER!! THIS IS BASICALLY FLAME BAIT, AND HE IS ONLY SAYING WHAT NAYSAYERS WANT TO HEAR. GO ASK GEARBOX WHAT THEY THINK OF THE WII U AND ITS SPECS.

[nintendofeed]

Erm! No! Nintendo have extremely powerful first party franchises, which every other console manufacturer knows! I find you an utter troll!

[blackblades]

When the orbis and next box comes out developers still going to be developing for the ps3 and xbox so those games are going to be on wii-u as well, you know those japanese developers are going to be those developers stay on on them.

[shackdaddy]

I'm not really tech savy anymore, but that really doesn't sound right. I mean, that's about the same clock speed as an iphone and wiiu can run 1080p + 480p simultaneously on games that were ported from the xbox. 2.0-3.0 range would sound reasonable, but 1.3 just seems like there's something else going on....

But like I said, I'm don't know enough to make a confident statement. Plus I just don't care that much...

[jjank11]

you can compare an ARM processor to an intel processor. Different animal.

[josephayal]

oh men this is bad, what happen nintendo ? well i dont care the console is very good

[sak500]

Well u dont need horsepower for kiddie games. ALl wii will have is mario, zelda, mario, zelda, mario zelda. NO serious gamer would want to touch this console. I've been gaming since late 70s (atari), 80s (c64/amiga) era but never went nintendo route as it always looked like a kiddie box.

I'll wait for ps4/720.

[Nodoze]

'I've been gaming since late 70s (atari), 80s (c64/amiga) era but never went nintendo route as it always looked like a kiddie box."

Then you truly have missed some of the best games ever made!

Who are you trying to impress with your GAME CONSOLE. Nintendo is all about fun. Their games are fun, and they are a blast to play. If you have never played a Nintendo game, you are NOT a gamer PERIOD.

[animegamingnerd]

so you missed out on so many games because they look kiddie chrono trigger is by far better then any game that has came out in the last 10 years and that game came out in 95

[BlaqMagiq24]

Lol! You've never played a nintendo console and you've been playing since the 70s? Not even the NES or SNES? I feel sorry for you.

[mastershredder]

??? A hacker was needed to reveal this? No. The Cpu, Gpu and other internal component data have been arround for some time, IF you know where to look and what your are looking for. Knowing the limitations and applicability would tell you what you needed to know (if you care). The Wii U is the next Wii. Nothing groundgreaking, just current tech (and older, now cheaper tech), being put to interesting uses. It does not mean it is not a bad product, it does it own thing, but do not hold it on the same tech standard when the next generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft arrive, they are years appart (considering how long the WiiU has been in development). It's wise to understand the manufacturing process and particularly how the tech industry differs from others.

[daclynk]

This is the only thing i will speak on this.....i play games...i dont play a wii u, ps3, xbox360. i play video games,don't care whats in the systems. i dont care the clock speeds, the CPU, the GPU(GPGPU), the features, the color, the control inputs, digital or analogue buttons. I just play the game. If people care about it then okay...care about it. It will never affect how I feel about playing games. The End.

[metroidfusion2]

Wow lol so many people assume this and that about the wii u that it can't do this or can't do that etc etc now why don't y'all dumbases shut the fuck up and wait FOR A FULL SPEC SHEET TO BE RELEASED THAT IS CONFIRMED TRUE DAMM WHAT A BUNCH OF BAKAS AND OBVIOUSLY GOING OFF OF GAMING HISTOORY IT TAKES TIME TO GET USED TO HARDWARE THAT IS NEW BUT THATS FOR ANYTHING A LOT OF PEOPLE WILL NOT BE GOOD AT THE FIRST THING THEY TRY SO MAYBE SPENDING MORE TIME DOING THAT THING YOU WILL GET BETTER OVER TIME gasp like no one knew that on this website ha lol WHY ARE PEOPLE SO STUPID AND the wii u already has 9 NATIVE 1080P AND 60FPS GAMES AND IM SURE MORE ARE COMING and that the wii u will have 90 to 100+ games by the end of march next year WITH MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED THAT IS A LOT OF GAMES SO JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE I WILL WAIT BUT I ALREADY KNOW THE WII U IS NEXT GEN IT IS RUNNING GAMES THAT ARE COMING OUT NOW ON THE OTHER PLATFORMS AT LAUNCH WITH 6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR OF PORTING THE GAMES TO THE SYSTEM HA HA ACHIEVEMENT ACHIEVED and of course the pprts might look a little worse or better with all or almost all of the dlc and extra exclusive content BUT OF COURSE THE O SO MANY BIGOTS JUST WOULDNT UNDERSTAND AND OF COURSE NOT DO ANY RESEARCH AND BELIEVE ANYTHING ANYONE SAYS JUST LIKE THIS ARTICLE and why is it when something nad is said about the wii u or something supposedly bad or a rumor or something there is always so many comments but when somethonh good is said about the wii u maybe 50 comments max lol

[Yodagamer]

I'm going with the 3rd parties on this one, it is simply more powerful. We know nothing about the architecture. The gamecube was known for have a good architecture and made games that looked almost if not as good as xbox with half the clock rate.

[Hanuman]

Bring on the TFLOPS!!!!

[Shok]

I'll just drop this here:

http://www.pcmech.com/artic...

http://www.ehow.com/about_5...

[animegamingnerd]

"waits for a fanboy to make something up on your claim"

[jacksheen0000]

Dang Nintendo,

You still haven't learned from your last mistake with the wii. Mutiplat games Ports was the reason for your failure
last Gen, and you do it a again with the wii U.

Heck, I think the PS4/720 is going to have the wii U for breakfast.

[jjank11]

If by mistake you mean a big cash cow for Nintendo then you are correct. Wii was anything but a mistake. $$$$$$

[Flewid638]

Seriously dude what Wii failure do you speak of? Wii and failure in the same sentence doesn't even compute.....$$$$$$$$$

[jacksheen0000]

High Sales don't prove anything....

Though what Bugs me the most about Nintendo is when they kept on running their mouth about how their Next Gen( wii U) gaming console was going to deliver graphics on a hardcore level.

Now get get me wrong, the wii U games line up looks amazing so far. So my questions to you is what is going to happen when Microsoft and Sony releases their Next Gen console?

Will the Wii U hardware be able to handle multiplatform games
that was ported from the 720/pS4?

Oh, and how many devs have already complained about the wii U's CPU clock speed is too slow.

Personally speaking,I beleive the fate of the wii U depend on how good the ps4/720 is.

[CoryHG]

Yeah but Mario in 1080p and zombi u!?!?

[deletingthis34675334]

Nobody bashing the Wii U was going to buy one anyway. Why should Nintendo care?

[Bolts]

Clock speed is irrelevant. All I know is that I have yet to see PC quality or nextgen graphics from a Wii U game.

Show me BF 3 with 64 players and Planet Side 2. These two games are the real benchmarks for CPU and GPU horse power. If you can't render them with compelling quality and performance then you're not nextgen.

[Shok]

I wouldn't say clock speed is irrelevant. Clock speeds helps, it just isn't everything.

[bobacdigital]

In what resolution and how many frames? What graphic options?? My $1200 gaming rig can't do those games at 1080 with high graphics at a solid 60fps... I usually have to drop AA and OI and graphic quality to medium just to get around 60fps consistently. Chances are the ps4 or 720 won't do that either unless the system costs 500+ or they make compromises on all the graphics options.

People need to lower their expectations this gen.. Consoles need to keep form factor and price. The graphics jump is not going to be substantial like it was from GC ps2 and Xbox....

[Nodoze]

If they are going after the hardcore, what are they going to do now. Their 'next gen' console is not even as powerful as LAST generation 7 year old released hardware.

IMO this comes from the absolute ridiculously frugal nature of Nintendo. There is NO WAY they are losing money on this console if it is already outpowered by 7 year old hardware.

Good that they are making a profit, BAD from a longevity perspective.

Super Mario Galaxy 3 HD will look and play great though. Also this console BEGS for a new Metroid game. You could use the gamepad as the scanner. Would be AWESOME.

[Kos-Mos]

I`m sorry haters, but this don`t change the fact that Nintendo knows what they are doing in the market. I`m really sorry. Please go back to cod, gears, halo, me, killzone, gta, gow and shout your best hate phrases. In here, it will not change your war.

[tubers]

Not exactly the same architecture and system operations so don't bother much with the clock speeds.

There are more important considerations 2 b considered when buying into this new system

[taint]

Yes, like how fast it can collect dust.

[frankiebeans]

they rely on gimmicks not specs still sucks knowing zelda is going to look old when it comes out :/

[crazysammy]

I am no Nintendo fanboy believe me, but "power" has so little to do with it. Its how it is used that matters. Why are some multi plat games better on one system? It was maximized for that system then ported to the other. If a developer is dedicated and has the resources (and talent) they can work around contraints and come up with amazing things.

[taint]

Is Nintendo just trolling us now? I really hope this is just an appetizer for what's really coming out in a couple years. Whatever "gen" the Wii U is in, it better be light years beyond the 7 and 6 year old Xbox 360 and PS3. Any person who somehow justifies visuals coming from the Wii U not even on par with the old systems at this point have an agenda they're hiding. The launch of this console is a joke. The gaming pad should have just been an accessory launch for the original Wii.

[millzy102]

I love how people flip out on this site, its stupid. the Wii u has only been out a week and every one jumps to conclusions. I'm gettig my Wii u tomorrow and its going to sit it vertically next to my ps3 them I'm going to play zombiu (before I update, ill do that whilst I'm bed, set it up with gamepad in bed and go to sleep)

then play mario whilst my Mrs plays uncharted. then ill wait for rayman and aliens (as gearbox said it the best console version)

in the meantime ill play last of us, make levels on littlebigplannet vita (i own a vita unlike Sony fanboys)

and Mariokart on my 3ds, and wait till

and ill fit in a bit of dungeon keaper (pc gamers I'm sorry dudes but this is the only pc game I really like) chill till e3 and its going to be a good show and I guarantee Nintendo will release a that will compleatly surprise everyone ( not mario) and see what other consoles will be on offer.

[lpc]

Meray lun pay charay Wii U gando. Ps3 theek ha.... Gand marai reggie bhanchod

[wiiulee]

lol wow the nonsense and hate from haters just doesnt stop,.,,..now that the wiiu is selling and on a roll....haters cant handle it...from all developers wiiu does graphics way ahead of what ps3 and xbox360 can do...deal with it... and with the gamepad..the wiiu is ahead to stay....wow so many haters and hate articles

[taint]

Says "wiiulee". We can tell you're pretty objective about the WiiU with a name like that.

[cliffyboy21]

its ok for a rookie gamer or somebody whos just a nin fan, but as far as hard core gaming and graphics.. not my thing and and to find out nintendo took out wifi for the new wii mini just shows that nintendo doesnt care about add ons

[dani25pr]

If it is so slow as they say because call of duty black ups2 runs to 1080p native i one sees better that xbox and ps3 if xbox when salio his game of entry was perfect dark zero that was a tremendous dirt graphically i his resolution was of 720p about that we are speaking then xbox and ps3 had to happen years to see a good game graphically.....

[Qrphe]

what are you even trying to say?

[neogeo]

I hope this is all not true and Nintendo gets tired of these rumors and releases the official specs to confirm its a beast.............I hope:(

[mulder1617]

Like they have said elsewhere, there is no real set in stone fact that this information Martin came across (even with a hack) is really true. Even if it is who cares? Sometimes things can take a little longer to load but once the loading is done and the game is ready to play then its all about the experience the player will enjoy while playing. Its just a fact of the world we live in...."gotta have it! And, gotta have it now!".

[mulder1617]

Like they have said elsewhere, there is no real set in stone fact that this information Martin came across (even with a hack) is really true. Even if it is who cares? Sometimes things can take a little longer to load but once the loading is done and the game is ready to play then its all about the experience the player will enjoy while playing. Its just a fact of the world we live in...."gotta have it! And, gotta have it now!".

[dani25pr]

The important thing for my is a good esperience of game I have ps3 and xbox 360 as his games and go a few days with wii or and really and compared his graphically and wii u or it offers much it is necessary to have time him xbox and ps3 happened years to see really good games

[AlucardFury]

What??

[kobonline]

Dude, punctuation works.

[danny818]

Let my comment be the real deal. So the wii sold like crazy cuz it was much weaker. Ergo it was inexpensive and parents bought it like crazy! Nintendo now entered the hd race ergo it pushed the price for $300-$350. Parents will not buy it. They will go for the cheaper stuff that offers same graphics if not superior, ergo wii u sold 440,000 and the Xbox 790,000 on blackfriday week. For me wii u will sell, but not as much. Im sorry nintentards.

[PopRocks359]

Another analysis that no one is going to bother confirming before taking as fact. Hooray.

The day I believe this is the day I believe that Nano Assault Neo doesn't look graphically prettier than about 90% of the XBLA library.

[laxbeav]

Why is there so much anger and hostility? Why do people feel so threatened by Nintendo and the Wii U? First off, I own the Wii, 360, and PS3 and I have had hours of fun playing games on all 3 consoles. They all offer something different, whether it be exclusives or different play styles. What's the reason to attack Nintendo? You are not being forced to buy the system. It makes no sense to arbitrarily ignore an area of video games. If you have tried it and don't like it then that is fine, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of people here have never played a Nintendo game since the N64 just because they feel that it is a child's system. Everyone seems to be missing the point of the Wii U. If Nintendo wanted to make a system with the best and most expensive hardware they could have, but so can everyone else. They would have made the same thing the other companies have. I don't understand the attacks on fans and all the anger. And for those who say the Wii is only for little kids, you have not had the pleasure of watching Travis Touchdown cut people to pieces.

[millzy102]

oh no this is not good at all Nintendo, how can I enjoy zombiu knowing this now, my life is ruined. when I get my wii u tomorrow and stand it veticaly next to my ps3. (can't play Xbox now there in silicon heaven) and play zombiu I'm going to be gutted because it was what I was expecting it to be, a slow paced horror. and I knewwhat ports where coming out, but I was expecting a massive leap in graphics beyond what a pc can do next gen and Nintendo can't do that.

and that big update, I hate the fact I can do it in bed, play my games first then go to bed, set system update with the gamepad and then it turns itself off after the download. not cool.

the zelda and bird demo at e3 looked great but this hardware isn't capable of that even though it was shown on the Wii u, and aliens isn't going to look best on this gearbox and e3 where lying.

if you agree with me for the reasons I am upset, you need to learn what sarcasm is. wii u is going to be great, I've been waiting for a real survivor horror game and only the Wii u can fill that void at the moment,

[LKHGFDSA]

come back after you've actually tried it lol.

[hano]

Clock speeds don't automatically means better processors, I thought we all learned that from the clock wars between AMD and Intel.

[V0LT]

Wow! look @ all these spec whores and people who are believing it when its not even a fact.

[kopicha]

I must say it is really extremely hilarious that Nintendo fanboy or those who try to voice out to protect their investment of Wii U so far is justifiable over the price they paid for on a console which have similar power (or maybe even lower if this article is true) than current gen consoles is a reasonable thing and not expensive. Despite there are also other shortcomings as well. And at the same time complain that Vita is being too expensive when it was probably the most powerful portable device when it was launch. Also with people buying iPad over and over again being an okay thing to do even if it only have a 6 month shell life. There is just something wrong in this generation of gaming industry.

[bednet]

It's a great console now, it'll be left behind in a year or so when real next-gen consoles come out (unless these turn out to be weak casual focused consoles, then we're all doomed).

Hardcore games will stop being ported to Wii U or will be nerfed. Seems to me that Wii U is what Wii should have been.

[NeoTribe]

Funny how it went from being only slightly more powerful than ps3 and xbox and is now weaker. Sad truth.

[kevnb]

why do people write articles like this when they have no clue what they are talking about?

[Adolph Fitler]

Sony & MS sold there current systems both at a loss (Sony at a HUGE loss) when they launched & beyond, even up until now, & they had tradiational controller interfaces, as opposed to a FAAAAR more expensive tablet style Wii-U-esque controller, & although had excellent components (& quite future proof considering Nintendo still are not able to not only outdo them, but even be equal to), but in truth both MS's & Sony's machine were outgunned tech wise on there respective launch days.

I mean Nintendo fanboys that argued the logic with all there BS about how developers aren't yet used to it & all that jargon.......that is crap, as I remember when 360 launched with Kameo, (& Kameo is still one of 360's best looking games), & Kameo visually smashed original Xbox, PS2 & GC out of the ball park. It was night & day difference, & that was from a fractured team in Rare (which probably explains the poor gameplay).
Nintendo built this machine, so there inhouse parties have the best know how of how to build games on there tech (they always have, & Nintendo have failed to lift a finger to help anyone else making games for there machine), so why is the best they can offer as a launch killer app, a Mario 2D sidescroller that looks barely better than a 3DS game? Why am I not looking at the next Mario64 instead? New Mario Wii-U gives me no incentive to go buy there new machine, & once again Nintendo are relying on a gimmicky controller to sell to the masses, along with a few well worn exclusives.

So, PS3 sells for $599 US as a estimated $200 loss, & MS similarly sell for a loss (albeit much less of a loss), with pretty up there tech, yet Nintendo launch there machine for what is a much less launching price, with a tablet-esque gimmicky controller (that would increase production cost substantially), & people actually believe this thing is gonna have new tech in it......morons

[Bltby38]

Here are a couple of tweets from the same person that hacked the Wii U for it's CPU/GPU specs. https://twitter.com/marcan4...

"So yes, the Wii U CPU is nothing to write home about, but don't compare it clock per clock with a 360 and claim it's much worse. It isn't."

https://twitter.com/marcan4...

"No hardware threads. One per core. No new SIMD, just paired singles. But it's a saner core than the P4esque stuff in 360/PS3."

https://twitter.com/marcan4...

"The Espresso is an out of order design with a much shorter pipeline. It should win big on IPC on most code, but it has weak SIMD."

https://twitter.com/marcan4...

[Dasteru]

While the WiiU's CPU is slower than either the 360 or PS3's, referencing the clock speeds is not the way to show it.

The 10yo Pentium 4EE ran at 3.73Ghz
The top of the line $1000+ Intel i7-3970X runs at 3.5Ghz

I doubt anyone here thinks the old Pentium is faster.

Clock speeds are just one small aspect of determining a CPU (OR GPU's) total power.

[Nintentional2]

I don't get all the Nintendo hate. Nintendo had the least powerful console in the 7th gen, yet they managed to crush the competition and put out the highest rated game of all time. why does that make you fanboys mad? you guys act like Nintendo snuck into your bedroom and raped you or something to hold such a grudge against them.

I don't get why it's not possible for you guys to like and enjoy more than one console. I own a PS3, a 360, a PS2, a PSP3000, a Dreamcast, a Genesis, a Turbo Grafx, ect. And I love all those machines just as much as all the Nintendo consoles I own, Wii U included.

you guys who hate on Nintendo aren't true gamers. it is not possible to say, "I am a hardcore gamer," and also say "Nintendo sucks." you're all 10 year old posers.

[Flewid638]

The awesomeness of this comment makes me think you're an 80's baby like me. Either way....bubble-up, bro.

[LKHGFDSA]

the point of the Wii U for us was that it was supposed to be powerful. We may aswell still be using the original Wii otherwise.
Ask any serious gamer why they don't play their Wii, they'll tell you because it's a weak poor-graphic POS. Nintendo was supposed to change that with the new system.

[Nintentional2]

but that's just the thing!! LOL, you guys calling yourselves "serious gamers" are fucking casual!! LOLOL. I LOVED the shit out of my Wii. I currently own 34 games for the machine, and I absolutely loved the time I spent with it, and there are STILL at least 30 games I want on my Wii. if you're a real gamer, then you would know how awesome the Wii is. AND it friggin plays all GameCube games, and the VC is SICK!! lol, I don't get why you guys don't get that!!
I love my 360, I have a great stack of games for that machine, and I love my Sony consoles (PS1, PS2, PSP, and PS3), I have loads and loads of games for those too. But to say that the Wii is not for serious gamers is extremely ignorant and false. I am a "serious gamer" LOL, and there are tons of amazing games on the Wii.

[Smokingunz]

I read this same article on ign and they said that at the end of the day its still more powerful than current gen. They also said the gpu handles everything, but what do I know right. So what about that zelda tech demo? I havent seen anything like that on current gen. Ill just wait and see if the games will look better in about two years.

[Jackhass]

So, we're using random hackers as sources now?

[Flewid638]

The average/casual consumer doesn't buy CPU's and GPU's. They buy touchscreens, built in cameras, built in microphones and gyroscopes.

That is what the Wii-U is. It isn't the "OMG, Nerdcore Rage, Look How Photo-realistic My Game Looks!" console. And that's ok.

However you slice and dice it, the Wii-U still comes packed with tech that isn't available in other consoles unless you purchase expensive add-ons (Vita, Kinect, Move, PSEye, Xbox-SmartGlass, etc).

And yet.....the Wii-U is fully capable of running the same 3rd part apps that both gamers and casuals enjoy (Netflix, Hulu, MLB.tv, etc) and still supports core games (Mass Effect, Bayonetta, etc)......even if those games do run slower, thats not a deal breaker for its majority demographic, the casuals. Again, they are not buying it as a "Let's Play Photorealism Arcade Edition" machine.

I've been a PlayStation fan since 1995 and as a core gamer, the brand produces content for my own interests. Nintendo is looking to cater to a small bit of everyone's interests.....and it's a very smart business model.

[kobonline]

I hate Fanboys.

[Benjaminkno]

Actually, Nintendo has said that the chips don't perform to their potential when they aren't fully utilized. I still think it's premature to judge Wii U's capabilities.
If anyone knows what they're doing in the gaming industry, it's Nintendo. I don't care what this article says, software is what matters, not hardware, and no-one sells software better than Nintendo. Wii U specs won't help with graphic fiends' butt-hurt. Stick around, the show's just getting started

[Rageanitus]

that IS a bummer. When you think next gen it should be a leap in technology. Were gonna start hearing another round of excuses that graphics is not everything YET ppl love to talk about graphics.

This is why there is so many heated battles between ps3 and xbox but when he PC comaprison comes around the gameplay is more important than graphics argument comes into play. Sorry graphics improve immersiveness hence making the gameplay that much better.

[Sheep4life]

On the WiiU, I wish Nintendo the best of luck. Nintendo doesn't need the flashy CPU's or GPU's to run Mario or Zelda rehashes, but it does need something to get support from the third party publishers.

The biggest question that I have for Nintendo is, what are you going to do when the 3rd party developers dump the WiiU and move on to the next gen consoles? To me, Nintendo is banking on getting out there first, but many 3rd party developers are talking about PS4 and the nextbox. At the moment, the WiiU is getting many Ps3 and Xbox ports this season.

Achievements and trophies don't matter, right Nintendo? For a while there, because of achievements, Microsoft outsold just about all Nintendo software that wasn't named Wii sports in the US for years. Nintendo denies over and over again that they don't need them. You are right, why would the casuals need achievements or trophies, however, Nintendo said that they wanted to cater to the hardcore. Umm, good luck with that. I know many people that won't play games without them.

[nerdkiller]

im going to get a wiiu anyways

[lionelglitchy]

eight years ago i had a 1.2 ghz amd duron processor in my computor so does that mean that a i3 with two cores running at 1.2 ghz like you can get in a modern basic laptop is only twice as fast ,don,t think so,its more modern tech

[Stroke666]

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

end of convo, lower clock speeds doesnt necessarily mean slower processing. and rushed ports arent tell all end all. thats all goodnight.

[pennywhyz]

If you want power then get a PC.To me all these consoles this gen and next are inferior to my PC.But i do love my consoles as well.i'm a big fan of 1st party games on all 3 systems.But comparing to a PC i wont buy consoles off power specs.

[LKHGFDSA]

LOL take that, fanboys.
Just kidding, I'm sure you delusional bastards will see some way of defending the shitty platform regardless.

[5eriously]

Eish, all the experts with comments regards to the Wii GPGPU. How come they know more thatn the developers that stated that the CPU are slow. Metro was canceled because of it!

Sure another model can come out with a overclocked or even faster hardware but I think Nintendo slipped up.

Those that claim speed in not everything, funny that when it comes to PC's that we always punt and buy the latest and greatest faster CPU/GPU systems and mostly for gaming so Nintendo skimping on that side was just silly

[Phil32]

The amount of trolling and fanboyism in this comment section makes me honestly ashamed to be a gamer. Such an immature, juvenile hobby full of manchildren. The proof is right here in this article's comments.

[rezzah]

Blame the individuals, don't worry about the perception of yourself through others.

[Phil32]

I didn't disagree with you, but there are way too many individuals outside here that behave in such a manner that is disgraceful. I'm sure there are plenty of adults here who are acting like damn schoolyard children. It is absolutely shameful.

Bah. I'll just take my advice and ignore article I know will bring out the worst in people.

[Aghashie]

I totally feel you. five pages so far, filled -most of it- with nonsensical fanboysm. I am not gettin a wii u, not because the specs, but because it doesn't have the games I want to play. I love Zelda... but Zelda alone is not gonna make me buy a new system. maybe in the future, when the thing got more games, then ill think about it.

[IWentBrokeForGaming]

It's better than the Wii and that's THE POINT!

[Sp1d3ynut]

Wii U(nderperforms once again)

[devilhunterx]

inb4threegamecubesgluedtogethe r

[legend911]

"However, Marcan reckons that the Wii U CPU shouldn't be dismissed based on clocks alone - even with the speed deficit and with only one hardware thread per core, he suggests that it's like comparing Intel's power-hungry, inefficient Pentium 4 design with the later, better-designed Core series processors."

Questions? No? Good, now leave.

[lilbroRx]

Will all of the people jumping on how much weaker the CPU is do to its clock speed please go here to continue the discussion

http://n4g.com/news/1129700...

[dmonee]

I read an article somewhere on n4g that said the gpu is slower intentionally and that it doesn't mean it's weaker than the ps3 or xbox360. It stated that it is done to reduce the amount of power consumption and that developers just need time to work with it. Once they do the Wii u should be able to edge out the current consoles but only marginally. They also cited the zombie u game as an example because it uses some lighting techniques that aren't possible in current gen consoles. Believe me I am a skeptic too. Only time will tell. However, by the time we find out, we will all be playing the next generation of our respected consoles ala ps4 or xbox720. Let's hope they really do blow this thing out of the water, because I'm sick of waiting and may just buy one of those Wii u's.

[Drainage]

who cares how powerful it is. Is has the best games. Have fun playing Beyond and Crysis3.

[nypifisel]

CPU is a bit disappointing, however people seem to forget all about the pretty competent GPU, which is way better than any current gen console, and one that apparently supports GPGPU. This means it can be used for physics calculation and such if need be (A GPU mind you is much better at these types of calculations than a CPU)

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

Finally someone who gets it

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

Trolls and trolletts since ya think ya know so much ya should read this article http://m.cinemablend.com/ga...

[MarkusMcNugen]

The speeds are fairly slow, but then again it has amazingly low power consumption. Im sure it may be able to pull off some good looking graphics with updated architectures for the CPU and GPU even with low frequencies. Of course it wont be as good looking as the next Xbox or Playstation, if not just for the fact that they will be coming out a year later.

*What Im interested in, is the possibility that the Wii U will stick to a 5 year life cycle. And we maybe get one more console out of Nintendo in the middle of the next Xbox and Playstations life cycles. If that happens, things could get very interesting for Nintendo. Pure speculation and projections obviously, but an interesting thought.

[mechlord]

is ouya better?

[Deadpool616]

Can someone please explain to me what all the fuss is about?

[DOOMZ]

Its all good, Ill have my Wii u & XBOX 720 combo... All will be good!

[gcolley]

obviously quite a few children here

[spinbot_lv1]

uh! my tablet with tegra 3 chip at 1.6 Ghz + 12core gpu is faster than wiiU cpu. Horn runs gorgeus and smoothly on my tab.

[BlaqMagiq24]

People should wait for a specs sheet instead of taking a hacker's word as the truth.

[jacksheen0000]

Bottom line...

Guys,

we all know that the wii U is a great system, but what everyone fail to realize is that the wii failed because several 3rd party's Dev kept complaining about how the wii couldn't deliver graphics on the same level as the ps3/360.That said, Nintendo was left with very little option to save the wii and was forced to go back to the drawing broad and make the Wii U.
So with in my conclusion, Not having the support of the 3rd party DEV can make or break a system.
The 3rd Dev are in control here. So if I was Nintendo I would start by kissing the 3rd party dev butt to stay alive.