Wii U less powerful than PS3, Xbox 360, developers say

Nintendo's upcoming Wii U console may generate full HD graphics, but it's not up to the graphics power of the Xbox 360 or the PS3, according to developers familiar with the hardware who spoke on a condition of anonymity to GamesIndustry International.

[GraveLord]

It will be roughly on par. Whether its a little lower or a little over, doesn't matter.

@Logic
I guess I made some enemies so that explains the disagrees.

[Akuma-]

Nintendo have already unveiled the console so the secrecy that creates speculations is a bit silly. The system will be releasing later on in 2012 so Nintendo should just preview the launch games now .

I will get the wii u since I Like video games a lot but I'm waiting for the next xbox and ps4

[Abash]

Then I guess the tech demos at E3 2011 must have been phonier and a bigger sham than Kinect's Milo

[Angainor7]

@ Abash however will not surpass the fiasco with ps3 tech demos in 2005...

[Emilio_Estevez]

@abash

Said tech demos were of PS3/360 footage
http://www.destructoid.com/...

[WrAiTh Sp3cTr3]

Those weren't quotes from devs, they were the words of the janitor's, lol.

[ABizzel1]

If this is true, and it cost over $299, I'm not buying the Wii U until:

1) The price drops to a more reasonable $199 - $299

and

2) There is a large enough library of games for me to even consider the purchase.

The Wii has a huge library of games, and of them I only truly want 5 - 10 and it's been out for going on 6 years. If the Wii U falls in the same steps as the Wii did, this may be the first time I ever pass on a Nintendo console, and stick with PlayStation and Xbox.

I'm not going to pay for another console that cost more than the ones I have, and is only graphically on par with them meaning most of it's games will be the same 3rd party releases. I love Zelda to death, but that alone will not make me buy a Nintendo console.

[ProjectVulcan]

The mysterious source, who could not be named, or identified in the slightest or even hinted who he/she has worked for or what experience they have or what organisation they are in.

Yawn. This could be totally fabricated for hits for all we know.

Lets just wait until we know the finalised specs.

[shackdaddy]

@DrStabwounds He was talking about the japanese garden, Zelda demo, and Tokyo demo which were on the wiiu. Tech demo =\= game footage.

[sikbeta]

S*** doesn't make sense, why using the equivalent of 8 years old tech to begin with it!? are they crazy!

[Spydiggity]

Akuma, your comment ("I will get the wii u since I Like video games a lot but I'm waiting for the next xbox and ps4") makes absolutely no sense.

if you're getting the wii u, then you aren't waiting. if you're gonna negate a sentence within the same sentence, then just omit it.

as for the Wii U: looks like nintendo will be jump starting the next generation...by being a generation behind. brilliant. I'll still buy it though, cuz i'm sure there will be plenty of idiots ready to pay 3x on ebay.

[NewMonday]

"There aren't as many shaders, it's not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can't quite keep up."

a big mistake for Nintendo to become the last of the current generation. they should have become the 1st of the next.

as it is mostly HC Nintendo fans will get this, owners of a 360 or PS3 will not, especially that the next gen will launch in 2013, just 1 year after the WiiU

[meganick]

This would be really bad for Nintendo if it ends up being true.
If in fact the cost of including the tablet controller forces Nintendo to reduce the Wii U's power below PS3 and 360, then I would encourage Nintendo to sell the tablet controller separately and instead package the Wii U with a cheaper alternative so they can afford to boost the system's power level above PS3 and 360.

[andibandit]

@Abash

i was wondering if you've seen any

GIANT ENEMY CRAB

?

[gaffyh]

If it is not more powerful, even slightly, what is the point? This is a console that is supposed to attract core gamers, which won't happen if the PS3 and 360 still have better looking and playing games.

[LOGICWINS]

@Grave Lord- Whats with your disagrees? Your right. It doesn't matter.

The DS wasn't more powerful than the PSP, yet who won that battle?

The Wii wasn't nearly as powerful as the PS3/360, yet the Wii is currently in more homes than the PS3/360.

Nintendo is simply repeating what they've been doing for the past couple of years.

[firelogic]

Sure the wii is in more homes than the ps360 but that doesn't mean anything to someone who actually likes to play games instead of whine about things outside of their control on gaming boards.

The wii has the worst game library I've ever seen. If you take out the handful of first party titles, what does it have? Nothing.

You say power doesn't matter? Well neither do sales (to a gamer).

[Tommykrem]

Yeah, but the DS was more powerful than... well it would have been, hadd the gameboy SP had competition. Power does matter to a lot of people, and I to me it sounds strange that they're not trying to at least up the current generation with all the technological advances we've had the last five years, but maybe it's not THAT a big a deal, and it'll be all right anyway.

[mcstorm]

Logic i agree with you here. People keep talking about power and i dont know why every gen from the psx to this gen the lest powerful console has sold the most. Its been the same in the handheld market too.

Yes its nice having amazing graphics but that is not what makes a game good. I remember waiting for rise of the robots to come out on my amiga 32 as it was going to be the best looking game ever but when i got the game it was a mess.

To me its all about enjoyment i play a game because of how it makes me feel when im playing it not because it looks amazing.

Look at the best selling games this gen mario kart mario galaxy halo 3 cod ect they are not the best looking games but they play well and that is what makes people buy them.

It has always been this way and always will be just because a console has better looking games than the other consoles dose not mean it is the best selling.

I cant wait to get my hands on a wiiu as it looks an interesting console but i also think next gen will be an interesting one as nintendo sony and ms are going in different directions and to me that is a good thing as it gives a reason to own all 3 home consoles and both handheld as they offer different experiences.

[portugamer]

All the people I know bought a Wii.many have modded, and never played it again. Many left it untouched.

Just like the iPhone, people were buying wii s because... Well, everybody was buying a Wii, without knowing why. The result is millions of plastic boxes, people lost the cables, nunchuks, etc.

Nintendo may release a console with a Motorola 68000, like the one used on the genesis/megadrive, as long as they make:
- monster game
- pokemon game
- Zelda game
- Mario kart game
- super Mario milky way game

Japanese will run like flies, and will buy the console, 10 pokemon games(green carpet blue jacket version, super plastic titanium pink steel version, ultra nanotextured poly silver uranium platted version, green fusion hyper mobile magnesium copper version, master yellow white dotted siliconed gold version, miso-carbon-dust free auto guided armored super blu orbit version, incredible sushitator shortunit mega cold light lime extended version).

With these 5 games, and a few other remakes of the remakes of the remakes of the great brain developer game, where you learn how to cook an egg, using a over powered nunchuk, Nintendo already sold 10 million Wii u, in japan, in a couple of months.

Then, you will buy a nice white cable, that your cat ate, the cable will only cost 39$, a friendly price, for U and WII.

I know its good for all the consumers, if there are many manufacturers, so the prices fall down and we have more content.

But since Nintendo keep betting on their chance, with underpowered consoles, with a couple of nice games, and thousands of remakes, milked over and over, since they don't try to innovate with new franchises, and prefer releasing new marios over and over, all they want is release a cheap console, where they can make millions day one, well, honestly, if they sell badly and. Lose billions, they will get what they deserve.

We're in 2012, 3d is here, 4k is coming, people have full hd TVs and nice broadband connections, and mister nintendo, all he wants is manufacture a console, with old hardware, that will cost them 100$ max, so they can make 150 or 200$ cash, on every sold console, without caring about quality or hd or tech or whatever.

I saw a Wii u game, where one guy was bolding a new gamepad, and 2 other were playing with normal pads, they had to kill each other, in a small arena. Once again, you have 3 color gradients on the screen, 3 flat textures, awful mees, all that at 1080p?

Wow, that's a perfect use of a 1080p capable device? Or its was just one of the 1000 games that will all look the same, with the same color schemes, the same textures, or no textures at all, only gradients, big faces with big eyes,etc etc, served 30 times in 3 years.

Well, Nintendo, as the time goes buy, I'm even less interested in your products. Your politics remind me apple, which I hate. Milk,milk,milk.

Iwould like to see an uncharted like game, a great gt5.like game, etc.
But instead, we will have many games,where we don't control nothing, and just move the nunchuk to perform something.
If I play a tennis game, I want to MOVE my character, and I want to bit the ball as I want. If all I can do is moving my arm, its not fun.

/sarcastic mode on

While people play with the Wii, the moves create some fresh waves, and dust goes away from the Kinect.
While people play with Kinect, the dust goes away from the Wii.
And the PlayStation move, you will say?

Well, when people play with the move, the flies and mosquitoes inside the Wii and x360 are attracted by the move's glowing ball ;)

/sarcastic

Wii U. Another system will bite the dust ?

[Freshnikes]

Logicfails is a troll !!! I seen this guy troll mad articles! And what does winning and losing have to do with real gamers, that are on n4g. Not casuals that bought the wii for their grandma grandpa and grandson lol. Dude this is a gaming website for gamers! And most real gamers own a Xbox or ps3 and won't pay for wii u or wii a or wii z! They will wait for the next gen console!!! Stop trolling wii f will sell to casuals like every other Nintendo product!! But this is a gaming site! Take ur trolling to toys'r us site or Walmart! U troll

[sikbeta]

News for you, tablets is OK, but Apple has the hearts and minds of the casuals right now, this will just make the general public compare Wii-U with I-devices and by that pretty much pointing out that tablet is not as innovative as the wii-mote and motion-controls

[ziggurcat]

don't kid yourself, logic, graphics do matter, and having a more powerful system means better, more versatile games.

the wii was also in many more homes than the X360/PS3 because it was considerably cheaper, and catered more towards the casual market.

and you're right - nintendo is certainly repeating what they've done: remaining a full step behind the competition in terms of tech. they're about 7 years too late getting into the HD market and they'll be another 7 years too late once the next PS and xbox are out.

i guess the good thing is that at least nintendo enthusiasts will be able to play something that's higher than 480p...

[THILLREBORN]

@MCStorm
The comment about the weakest console selling the best is not true...the dreamcast says hi.

What it breaks down to is when the console comes out, low price point, marketing, consumer perception and strong exclusives...and that could be games or services.

Wii had marketing and a favorible consumer perception due to the promise of unique gameplay.

3DS is doing extremely well due to the 3D, low price point and a handful of strong first party exclusives.

PS2 did well because marketing, favorible consumer percetion due to strong ties to success of the PS1 and an insane gaming library. Marketing campaign was ahead of all of it's competition.

360 is doing well in NA due to crazy high marketing campaign. XBL coupled with a headset with each console sold builds a community and in NA social applications are huge.

[VanillaBear]

"Whether its a little lower or a little over, doesn't matter."

Well yeah it does

It's a NEXT gen console, it's supposed to be more powerful then current consoles. Whether or not it's more powerful then the PS4/Nextbox is another story

I'd rather they focus on a powerful console then gimmicks again, Nintendo have got to stop living in the past, the casual audience days are coming to an end....thats what happens with that audience, once the "wow" is gone they loose interest.

[LOGICWINS]

"It's a NEXT gen console, it's supposed to be more powerful then current consoles."

Your right, the Wii U is more powerful than the Wii...just like the Wii was twice as powerful than the Gamecube.

[VanillaBear]

You know what I mean LOGIC, I meant more powerful then the consoles in the last gen. For example the Gamecube was more powerful then the N64 and the PS1, the N64/PS1 were more powerful then the SNES and the Sega Megadrive.

Whats the point of a new generation of consoles if one of them feel more like a small upgrade and barley touch the powerful consoles of the gen beforehand. Were supposed to be moving forward, not staying behind because were cheap.

[CaptainMarvelQ8]

Next gen doesn't have to be about graphics and powerhouse specs.Interactivity and creativity is also key

Why is the Wii consider as current gen then when it has almost PS2-like graphics? Because of the introduction of motion based gaming.

Now I don't really support motion controls or even want them to be part of Next gens gaming,but just trying to say that Next gen doesn't necessarily mean update in graphics.

Hell,I'd even consider the current generation a step backwards,games are becoming less focused on the actual gameplay and story and more focused on graphics that only dazzle the eye.

[Pacman321]

I agree with Logic here, the WiiU does not have to have better graphics to be successful. Nintendo have always been about innovation, and I'm sure WiiU will be just as or even more successful than the Wii.

[NiKK_419]

Graphics aren't the only difference that you can achieve with more powerful internals. Physics are improved, AI is improved. The hardware changes EVERYTHING. You can have more advanced motion tracking because the CPU is what processes the algorithms required to do the tracking. It's not only about graphics, it's about what the developers can do with the added power.

It's all about being futureproof and I don't think the Wii U will be futureproof at all.

[VanillaBear]

May I just point out because of some of the comments above mentioning Graphics......erm........when did I mention Graphics

I just said it needed to be more powerful then current consoles.

Nothing about just graphics

[AJBACK2FRAG]

portugamer,
Some of the things you say may ring true but keep in mind Nintendo is in first place. Lol miles past the competition. Why? Because they make the best games in the world.