March 10th, 2012

Rumor: Nintendo has tweaked the Wii U so it can run Unreal Engine 4?

61 Comments

Unreal Engine 4 is the next game development engine from Epic Games. According to Mark Rein, the CEO of the company that develops it (along with the previous incarnations which have been the back-end for hundreds of games), people will be “shocked” when they see it later this year. Only a few developers have seen it these past few days at GDC 2012. But we have some (potentially) good news:

It might be coming to Wii U.

The rumour begins on NeoGAF, where a user has stated that their friend has a source whose a developer within a company that does work “on pretty much every system”. And according to them, Epic has Unreal Engine 4 running on the hardware, with Nintendo specifically tweaking the hardware to make it happen.

The main thing that separates this from other rumours we’ve heard is that it makes sense. Nintendo doesn’t want a repeat of the Wii in regards to third party support. If they can support Unreal Engine 4, which will surely be one of the biggest engines for the next generation of gaming, then it will only serve them down the line as more developers are able to bring their games to the platform. But maybe that’s just me justifying the rumour because I want it to be true. We’ll have to wait and see.

You can check after the break to see the latest demo for Unreal Engine 3, codenamed “Samaritan”, that Mark Rein has implied will look like “crap” once Unreal Engine 4 is shown off. If you watch the video, you’ll see how exciting that is, and how brilliant it would be for the next engine to arrive on the Wii U.

  • http://www.youtube.com/papermariodude101 Eric

    Very nice!

  • JJ

    I hope this rumor turns out to be true! After all, I dont think Nintendo would want to repeat the same mistake with the Wii U in terms of power and third party support.

  • Chris

    Well the rumours proved me wrong the first time with the AC III game coming to the Wii U so why not XD

    It would make the system seem way more powerful and also that means it won’t be overlooked if it ran a next gen engine on the system, also its an Unreal Engine I mean what person doesn’t like that

  • AquaFire

    now this and a full 1080p zelda is all i need to know in order to buy this thing.please be true.

    • Meelow

      Unreal Engine 4 with Zelda 1080p would be mind blowing:D.

    • http://passid.ca/joshm Joshua

      That would be overkill but it would be totally badass!

  • Acephoenix

    Will I be able to look into the future with this one? o.o *instant buy*

  • Chinomanil

    Yea man, Nintendo will have to do this if they want third party’s to make games for for them.

  • lolwut

    now i’ll join neogaf and say i talked to God so everyone could freak out about it and believe everything i say lol…but seriously, i hate rumors from “anonymous yet reliable sources”

  • nin10do4ever

    dam the wiiU looks promising

  • Busted Hope

    Then the wii u wouldn’t cost a lot more? still… Bring it on!

  • nin10do4ever

    dam unreal engine 3 look amazing. just imagine unreal engine 4. awsome

  • Eric3ds

    I just hope that people wont complain about the Wii u just like the original Wii >.>

    • Wildman

      I completely believe it.
      Nintendo would be wise to bump up the Wii U specs to run Unreal Engine 4.

    • Wildman

      oops. Anyway… in reply to your comment, those people won’t be able to speak negatively about Wii U like they did the Wii. It’s a completely different experience.

  • http://1227.com/ Davidude

    This is NOT going to happen.

    The Good Samaritan demo which you can see above requires 6 times the power of Xbox 360.
    And if Unreal Engine 4 will make that demo look like crap, the Wii U would cost more than the PS3 did at launch…

    • David

      The engine couldn’t run anywhere near full capacity, but as long as it can run it at all, that at least means developers don’t have to do a whole lot to bring their games to the platform.

    • Kaizar

      ^This.

    • Smurfman256

      At GDC 2012, Epic stated taht they revised the code on the Samaritan Demo so that way it could run on a single card. Still. They would have to scale it back a bit.

  • StarTropics

    Team Ninja says Nintendo has been asking them for feedback on Wii U dev kit revisions so it would make sense that Nintendo is getting and applying feedback from other developers including Epic.

    A key member of the team that built Cry Engine 3 is working with Nintendo on their proprietary graphics engine.

    Rumours of the Wii U having 1GB of eDRAM, which is not as unrealistic as you think because IBM mentions their “unique eDRAM” on their official Wii U statement. IBM has even been able to get more than 1GB in a single chip that is more energy efficient and takes up less space than regular SRAM.

    The GPU is most likely a custom AMD Radeon built specifically for the system and with Nintendo taking feedback from developers I’d expect DirectX 11 like abilities

    Ladies and Gentlemen the Wii U IS next gen

    • deathmore

      From previous rumours the GPU is a 4870, which is the last generation of dx 10 cards. Considering that only the Xbox uses direct x because direct x is a microsoft thing. Open GL is what other consoles use.

      At the end of it all, its all about optimization. I don’t care if its running at true 1080p unless it is optimised. Look at The last of us, its running on 7 year old hardware, less ram than current cards but the in engine scenes are amazing, they may not be at full HD but does anyone notice that. I pay right infront of my monitor tv and i dont really care about resolution when it comes to consoles.

      Graphics aside, for ninty to appeal to me, it needs to have gigabit ethernet (yes I use ethernet, because I want a reliable connection and less ping on my 100mb connection), and optical audio ( I use a gaming headset on my ps3 and 360).

      I can call the wiiU core, but not hardcore because it lacks those enthusiasts features that I actually use. PC techies and PC gamers would understand where I am coming from.

    • Szayel

      ^ Comment of they year.

    • StarTropics

      I’m more excited to see what sort of adventures Nintendo will take us on in this next generation of gaming.

      I’ve played games from some of my favourite developers and publishers on the 360 and the leap from last gen to current gen was remarkable. The HD graphics are amazing but they aren’t the only thing. The longer games, bigger worlds(I wish 3D platform games were still around to take advantage of this), more realistic physics, online to a certain extent. I really enjoyed this generation.

      The Wii offered some great experiences and I enjoyed them, I’m always going to be a bit of a Nntendo fanboy so thinking about what Nintendo could unleash with a system that’s as powerful as the rumours say is astronomical

    • Hristijan

      I agree with StarTropics many have said that its powerful and it is more powerful than Xbox 360 and PS3 so much proof has been given and still these douches say that it wont be that powerful how can someone be that stupid?

    • wampdog29

      @ deathmore

      Actually, the original rumors were that the Wii U GPU was a 6 series-based card/chipset and not a 4.

      Also, what the HELL do you “need” a Gigabit port speed for? You do realize no internet connection yet reaches 100mb right? I have Verizon FiOS coming in at 25mbps and the most they offer is 50mbps, so don’t tell me you’ll be complaining about yet ANOTHER Nintendo choice to not include Gigabit Ethernet. There’s always something isn’t there you Ninty haters….

    • Kaizar

      What I like about this Gen is that both the 3DS & Wii U display 60 fps & do 7.1 Surround Sound.

      Unlike the Xbox 360 & PS3 that only do 30 fps & 5.1 Surround Sound.

      And even the PS Vita only displays 30 fps.

      And the fact that both the 3DS & Wii U can & will download Full Retail games is cool!

      We can download full Retail 3DS games this Year and Full Retail Wii U games next Year.

      And download eBooks like IOS on both the 3DS & Wii U.

      SHABLAGOO!

  • Balcan

    Well, if this comes to be true then Wii U will have no problem. The good “news” is that the details of the console hasn’t been confirmed yet, so we can hope for an increased power.

  • TierRed

    well Frostbite 2 (use on battlefield 3) runs on ps3 and 360 with little bugs so why can’t the wii u run unreal engine 4
    pretty much I don’t know witch one is more powerful but seeing frostbite 2 on full capacity is freaking amazing

  • cm93

    dood!! awesum!!
    thenx 4 da niuz DAVID!!

    :D

  • Lucian Fran

    My calculater can run Unreal engine 100

  • http://Gravatar.com Roxas

    Unreal Engine 4+Zelda=……..(too epic to put into words)

    • http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/bf4a253cbac14357506ed1e34ef2230c.png Roxas

      Also unreal 4 un Wiiu makes me think that kh3 might appear on it

    • StarTropics

      Twilight Princess was brown enough so no thank you

  • Michael

    I want Pikmin 3 to be UR4, that would be the most beautiful game of ALL TIME! Remember how good Pikmin 1 looked on gamecube? Back then I remember thinking how real the water and everything looked. If made with unreal 4 for the wii u, just imagine how gorgeous it will be, I’m fuckin salivating! lol

    • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

      It’d be kinda overkill, don’t you think?

  • Craig

    I hope this is true but as I’ve said before… I really hope that this doesn’t mean that Nintendo change their games to suit any other type of audience. I’d be more happy to see them come up with new “hardcore” IP’s, just don’t change their current ones. Also, I hope Wii U will still attract the casual third party support as well as core, as gaming needs that variety and that’s what made the industry boom with Wii.

    • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

      I’m pretty sure we’ll see casual titles in addition to a wealth of more core titles. Nintendo might be emphasizing and regaining the third-party “core gamer” support, but they’re still aiming to keep their previous more relaxed gmer fan base, too. Having plenty of core games will not scare away smaller indie developers and big developers who want to create more casual games on it–in fact, if Tori Tori’s any indication, they’ll be plenty enough of indie and casual games, too. The greatest thing about the Wii U is that it has the potential of catering to both sides of the spectrum.

  • http://IGN Nintendoro

    my favorite engine is unreal engine 3 so far. if nintendo is planing to go far with wii u, ue4 is their biggest step forward then. console that runs it, will live long. personally i am already happy to know that Wii u is running ue3. games like gears,batman, alice madness returns look fantastic.

  • killinrod

    You have go to be kidding me. Have all of you gone insane. The WII U will have near xbox 360 quality graphics. There is no way that it will be able to run unreal engine 4. I know that we all want nintendo to come to then next gen battle with better hardware. But to think that the Wii U is it is to be a little shortsided. I don’t believe the Wii U will be a great console. I am more looking forward to what Sony and Microsoft will have to offer. Another Zelda or Mario game is not going to get me going.

    • The Lonely Koopa

      I’m sorry but your response is laughable you must be a troll or a misinformed person what you are saying goes against not just the rumors but what was confirmed.

    • Michael

      Anyone who says the Wii U is going to be the same, or less, or just a little more, power as 360/PS3 needs to open their eyes. Do you really think that a current brand new console will have tech in it that is 5-6 YEARS OLD?? Seriously, Nintendo could even try to make it as crappy and cheaply as possible in today’s day and age and it’d still be more powerful than the half a decade old ps3/360.

      Also, game makers have developed better techniques for rendering better graphics without the console having to be a power beast with overheating, etc. For example, just look at some of the graphics a little smart phone can output. They’re near as good as 360/ps3! The Unreal Engine can run on the iphone! Anyway, it’s laughable that this Patcher guy gets paid to sit in his fancy office to say totally ridiculous things about video games like a brand new console having 5 year outdated hardware specs.

    • antiform47

      If you assume the wii u wont be powerful, than you must assume that the nextbox/ps4 wont either to be fair. Its not like nintendo has a trend of releasing consoles with bad graphics, gamecube was better than ps2. They only had bad graphics with the wii, on purpose to gather a casual audiance, but once they did that they immediatley became known as a company that always has bad graphics. Nintendo said their moving back to the hard core audiance again so expect the graphics to be simaler to nextbox/ps4

    • antiform47

      /btw its ok if u dont like nintendo, its ur opinion, but to make assumptions like that based off of your hate towards nintendo doesent mean anything to anyone, since its not backed up by facts(and their are facts to the contrary) its like would u believe me if I said the ps5 will be 5x less powerful than the nintendo 9000?(both made up next next gen consoles) no because we dont know anything about them. in the same way you know nothing at all about the next playstation/xbox and very little about the wiiU so what you said is nonsense

    • Wildman
    • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

      Then why in the world did you come to a WII U BLOG site then, you moron? Stop littering the place with your trolldom!

  • http://yahoo.co.uk lewis

    Wouldn’t the price tag increase tremendously by allowing this? I’m just saying

    • Wildman

      Not necessarily. Yes,the price would likely increase, but definitely not “tremendously”.

    • Kaizar

      It would just make it cost as much as somewhere from $299 to $349 is all.

      WE THE BEST!

  • Trulaw

    Please Nintendo, make it happen.

  • Raven The Great

    Annnd now my computer is officially marked old.

  • Raven The Great

    Btw, unreal engine will never be used to create a legend of zelda, ofcourse, unless you want link covered in vaseline..

    • Big E

      Hooray for stereotypes.

    • freak

      ^ funny as hell…. vaseline lmao XD

    • wampdog29

      Not to mention Nintendo uses their own engines…..

    • Kaizar

      ^This

    • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

      Hahahaha! So true!

  • http://MacroManJr.blogspot.com/ Brian L.

    I seriously doubt the Unreal Engine 4 will make the “Samaritan” demo look like “crap.” I think it might be noticeably more beautiful, but I don’t think it’ll totally leave Unreal Engine 3 in the dark.

    They said last year that they didn’t even use all of the power of the Unreal Engine 3 to produce the “Samaritan” demo, and most hardware can bear tap out the Unreal Engine 3.

    Perhaps he’s talking about the UE4 in context to cutting-edge computers, because I seriously doubt even a next-gen console will produce anything more significant than the “Samaritan” demo.

    Current-generation consoles couldn’t even hack all the full power the UE3 could dish at them, so I think the next-gen consoles will be more like high-end UE3 games rather than seeing any significant Unreal Engine 4 qualities.

    Besides, UE4 won’t even be out for usage until 2014. There’s no way company’s are abandoning their $450,000 Unreal Engine 3 software that soon.

  • hungryhippo247

    If the cost of the Wii U is worth the amount of power it has, then I will not regret paying hundreds of dollars for it.

  • http://ebluar.com/video-games/nintendo-wii-accessories.html nintendo wii accessories

    Engine 4 is the high-tech as well as well developed video game engine which has all facilities from 3D visuals to HD and other facilities. If this Nintendo Wii U has a presentation of Engine 4 then it is a gift for all video game players.

  • james braselton

    hi there yes at last year E-3 they showed zelda running true 1080p at 60 fps

  • Sammy nin

    Umm for the haters go away and maybe just stick to your day jobs thanxs