Wii U eDRAM Explained by Shin'en

Iran White writes:

Lately, and really all along, there has been some confusion as to just how the large amount of eDRAM (32mb) fits into the Wii U memory hierarchy, and just what advantages the huge amount gives the Wii U.

Shin’en, whom we feel know as well as anyone in the business, have been so gracious as to offer the gaming world what they describe as the General Impression they have of Wii U eDRAM.

[Need4Game]

All Xbox 360 games on Wii U, why not?

[Qrphe]

Regardless of what they say, they obviously didn't have enough resources to do what they wanted with the game since NAN ended up 720p.

[ibroman]

They only used one core for that game i bet if theybused more it would be 1080p.

[disciple9]

They actually had the game running in 1080p, but it was a waste of fill rate as the game looked no different, so they used those resources for extra effects instead

[Qrphe]

@disciple9

Exactly my point, they didn't have the extra sauce for 1080p. Same reason Toki Tori 2 went 720, Pikmin 3, W101, MK8, etc.

[PopRocks359]

Mario Kart 8 is confirmed to be 1080p. http://playeressence.com/e3...

So is Zelda Wind Waker HD. http://www.cinemablend.com/...

So is Smash Bros. http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[disciple9]

And you took a vague approach and assumed the system wasn't strong enough to do 1080p even though mario kart 8 the most visually impressive Wii U game atm and one of the most visually impressive games period is running at 1080p 60fps. By that approach ps4 and xbox one don't have enough juice to do the same as their games all ran at 1080p 30fps. They used one core basically, and only 20% of the consoles resources and with that they ran the game on two screens, done effects that they couldn't do on PS3 and Xbox 360, had very impressive visuals for a launch title and none of it was really optimised and despite only running in 720p(by choice) they still had a solid 60fps. That to me is very promising. The console may not be as powerful as xbox one or ps4 but it's definitely no slouch

[Qrphe]

MK8 hasn't been confirmed 1080p at all. The screenshots Nintendo released in fact show a build running in something much lower than 1080p.

@PopRocks

I fail to see how that's a source of anything as far as MK8's resolution. The other two are 1080p however.

[RFornillos4]

@Qrphe, i believe you're not getting disciple9's point. it's not that they didn't have the extra sauce for 1080p, in fact the console is capable of that as pointed out by PopRocks (confirmed games to be 1080p) -- since they noticed that rendering in 1080p for their game didn't look any different when rendered in 720p, they decided to use the extra resources for other effects.

and to quote Shin'en's statement: "So all in all ‘Nano Assault Neo’ only used a fraction of the currently available resources on Wii U and looks and plays quite nice. And for the future, don’t forget that in many consoles, early in their life cycle, not all resources were already useable or accessible via the SDK." -- the fact is, they didn't even use all the available resources of the console.

looking at Wii U's games now, it's comparable and at times better than newer PS3/360 titles (recent releases). and this is still early into Wii U's cycle. going back to the games released on PS3/360 during their early cycles, games didn't look as beautiful, yet late into the cycle we get games like Halo 4 and The Last of Us, which are superb.

so as Shin'en said: "So we are sure the best is yet to come for Wii U."

[starfox79]

Devs are aloud to choose weather a certain game needs it ?? they basically say with half the edram in wiiu that we know of 16MB u can get 1080p native,so wiiu has 32MB and in that 30% unknown there is said to be another 32MB/64MB ?? also Miyamoto said they might make pikimin3 4k compatible could answer that rumour of lots more edram,if 16MB gets you 1080p i'm thinking 64MB gets you 4k support it's easy maths.

[SilentNegotiator]

@Poprocks

Your first source offers neither quote from Nintendo, nor evidence. That's why you're using lesser known sites; because they're getting their "facts" from sites like WiiUDaily and NintendoEverything.

Of course Zelda Wind Waker HD runs in 1080p; it's a 2 generation old game that uses cel shading. It would be beyond pathetic if it wasn't.

Smash Brothers is the only 8th gen game on that list that is confirmed 1080p.

Don't let sites like GamingBolt fool you with redirected lies from sites like WiiUDaily. Remember when ZombiU was supposed to be 1080p?

[lilbroRx]

That is false. They had NAN running at 1080 60FPS. There are still videos of it.

They stated clearly that the reason they made it 720p is because it actually look better than it does at 1080p. They were able to ad post processing effects that they couldn't do at 1080p 60 FPS.

Get your facts straight.

[TruthbeTold]

Another thing to take into account about Nano Assault Neo beside the fact that they purposely went for 720p, is that they were not trying to push the hardware at all. They stated in the earlier interview that Nano Assault Neo was a test run of sorts, so that they could get a great little game out on the system, and learn what it's capable of. They did, and plan to go further with their future games.

Are people really trying to make the argument that because NAN is 720p, that these guys couldn't do it, and are lying? That's offensive.

[herbs]

Starfox79 don't be silly :{ Miyamoto said a game like Pikmen could benefit from 4K resolution enabling the player to see more of the environment etc. I absolutely can't stand it when fanboys like yourself twist words or facts to your own fanboy logic agenda. Stop spreading your fanboy delusions Foolfox your making an ass of yourself clogging the message boards and giving false hope to other delusional fanboys like yourself.

[Stroke666]

@herbs...jumping to 4k? I believe the debate was a bout 1080p vs the 720p they chose to use. Yes miyamoto said a game like pikimin would benefit from 4k as far as sesing more of the environments however in 1080p its still going to be a sight to behold

[Qrphe]

This is confirmation that the E3 MK8 demo was running at a much lower resolution than Smash. Both screenshots are provided by Nintendo.

http://s15.postimg.org/l13g...

[herbs]

Stroke666 read the comments before posting or are you illiterate? Can you not comprehend that I was pointing out someone else's stupidity? Notice how the first sentence is replying to someone else. READ and COMPREHEND before posting.

[mrbojingles]

WOW They only used ONE CPU Core on Nano Assault Neo. That game is super pretty.

[falcon97]

herbs: he said compatible ?? read this punk...

http://mynintendonews.com/2...

please stop talking rubbish youve been scarred by all the fake twisted articles on here,now your officially delusional because Miyamoto said compatible,the author says it might benefit ????

[mrbojingles]

Calm down you're taking this stuff way too seriously. God forbid people on the web have differing opinions than you.

I don't know if you think I was being sarcastic or what, I wasn't. What's wrong with being impressed by Shin'en's developing skills on a platform, much less a good game like Nano Assault?

[MNGamer-N]

Can we quit whining about ram now and enjoy next gen games please? Thanks.

[ChickeyCantor]

If people stopped talking about power then maybe. Maybe then developers wouldn't have the need to explain their platform.

[andrewer]

wow, 5 disagrees tell everything. gamers, what is more important to you?

[PopRocks359]

SSpecs are great for arguing facts, such as PS4 being the strongest and therefor most graphically capable platform of generation eight. However in the end, the PC will gain parts in a year or so that flatten that console; it's just how the market has worked for decades.

And yet despite that people are very excited for the new consoles despite not necessarily being on par with PC tech. Why? Games. Games, games and more games. That's all it boils down to in the end. Subjectivity is the word I would use.

Love Killzone and Ratchet? PS4 > PC.

Love Mario and Zelda? Wii U > PS4.

Love Halo and Killer Instinct? XB1 > Wii U.

And I'm sure you could make an argument for PC, but I don't really follow PC games so I don't have one for that lol.

tl;dr Games will typically decide your favorite console, not its specs. The ones who SHOULD be concerned about specs are PC gamers since specs are very important for running games on the platform. With consoles, most games that are developed are tailored for it so you need not worry about such things.

[zebramocha]

@mngamer the ps4 and bone 7BG to 5GB for games code,the wiiu only has 1GB for games.

@sidar have you seen digital foundry shadow of the colossus ps2 vs ps3 ? The ps3 has better frame rate,if the ps2 had the ps3 power then that game would've looked and play better.

[ChickeyCantor]

What is your point? What does that have to do with anything I said?

[zebramocha]

I was going by the first part of your comment about power,you make sound like it's irrelevant,my point being if the game is pushing something to the extreme then it does matter.

@pop PC's are fragmented in power so there is not point trying max out 780 when most don't have that or a balance configuration.

[starfox79]

WiiU has Havok nextgen built into devkits with compression x10,in other words 1GB is now 10GB,yes ps4 and xbox could also use it but what games would ever need 70GB or 50GB ? i'll tell u none a game bigger than say 10GB isnt even possible with the time and resourses you get even on a AAA game so RAM isn't a bottleneck sorry try again...

Plus if WiiU uses 1.5GB in the future that would be 15GB with compression...

Also Sony themselves said ps4 isn't much more powerful than ps3,Sony's words.....?

Also X is open world everything you see is realtime and Killzone was just a fps not in an open word and X still looked technically better,also X is doing lots more open world,mech vehicles,land,air,water,city&# 39;s,weather cycles even rainbows,ect Killzone does none of these things sorry....

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

[ziratul]

Wii U is more powerfull than XBOX 360 and PS3 when used properly, but problem is that Modern engines like Unreal 4 are focused on even stronger hardware PS4 and XBOX one have. I am Wii U/PC user and I hope those two will satisfy my gaming needs just fine.

[Catnip]

I'm Wii U/PC as well, and other than missing a few Sony exclusives, I think I'll be all set this generation!

[andrewer]

PC/Nintendo always worked for me, it's the perfect combination IMO. When PC has the power and tons of games, Wii U has the exclusives that I really want to play.