April 13th, 2012

Wii U is the “best of the current generation” by a large amount?

65 Comments

A user at NeoGAF has shared that they’ve been told the Wii U is the “best of the current generation by a country mile but not significantly beyond that”. Meaning, it’s beyond the PS3 and Xbox 360 by a noticeable margin, but will fall-short of being seen as a genuine next-generation platform. But, that said:

…there will probably be nothing hardware-wise stopping downgraded ports from what people think the new XBox will offer. We’re talking, like, Witcher 2 on high settings vs. Witcher 2 on low settings. Same game, same basic idea, different graphics.

And while we’ve heard all sorts of rumours and speculation being flung back-and-forth about the specs of the Wii U’s hardware, I think this is where the pendulum will fall. It won’t be seen as super powerful when the Xbox 720 and PS4 come along, but it’ll be appreciated for its improvements over the current generation for the time being. It’s that satisfying middle-ground that I think most rumours have been pointing toward.

  • JamesD

    That is all I’m really asking for. If its price is anywhere between 300-350$, it should sell very well IMO.

    • mkdhdh

      price will probably be under 300 i say between 250-300$ but still it will sell due to the tablet and people wanting to use it

    • Levi

      @mkdhdh I’m pretty sure it will be over 300. If it was under 300, it would be too close to the 3DS’ launch price of 250, which might lead people to think that the Wii U isn’t much more powerful than 3DS. $320-$350 seems to be a sweet spot.

    • mkdhdh

      nonono 3DS was completely new hardware that costs a lot to develop i mean 3D without glasses :p and the 3DS’ price dropped allready this is one of the things they need to get right at launch: a price that isnt high (not over 300$) and isnt ridiculously low (under 250) so in between that so they dont need to lower the price in the first few months

    • Metalmariox

      (smiles and nods)

    • mkdhdh

      @Metalmariox hahahahaha i lol’d hard

  • Csaw

    Everyone is saying ps4 and the nextbox will be greatly superior to the wiiu but last I checked, neither of those consoles exist. You can’t say the next gen consoles will be all mighty and powerful becuase we don’t know anything about them.
    Sony doesn’t want to make another big leap like they did with the ps3. They can’t afford it with their recent financial trouble. The only way for ps4 to be way more powerful and still affordable is if Sony waited until late 2014 or 2015 for release, which by then wouldn’t matter since nintendo will be half way done with that generation.
    In short, stop making assumptions about next generation because we don’t know jack.

    • mkdhdh

      i’m with you on that due to recent financial troubles it wouldnt probably be that more powerfull

      and as of the nextbox it was rumored to have 16 cores??? complete BS i’m thinking 4-8 cores max but with sony in trouble and wiiU coming out earlier xbox is going to “win” this gen as of power and graphics but we dont know

    • Naner

      LOL, 16 cores. That would make the price skyrocket. Multi-threaded quad-cores are probably going to be the rule this gen. Wii U’s CPU presumably is a quad-core POWER7 that could handle 16 threads. That would be pretty darn nice (for the record, the 360 has a triple-core POWER5 that handles 6 threads).

      It’s absolutely impossible for Wii U to be on-par with the PS3 or 360. Even if Nintendo uses ATI’s crappiest GPU still in the market, it’d out-perform either current-gen system.

    • mkdhdh

      lol yeah i know it would cost over a 1000$ to develop because there isnt a video card that could take adventage of it fully hell there arent even discs that could handle it.

      but subscribe to ReviewTechUSA on youtube he has a vid about the rumored specs of all the consoles and thats where i got the rumor of 16 cores wich is complete bullcrap

    • Naner

      They did a pretty good video a few days ago explaining why the “Wii U is weaker than PS3/360″ rumors are absurd. But yeah, I’m not going to really trust any information about hardware. All console hardware is custom-built and is never going to be quite like a PC setup, and, most of the time, we’ll only know for sure what’s under the hood when the system is released and someone with spare cash and a screwdriver gets a hold of an unit.

    • mkdhdh

      you’re absolutely right. but im pretty sure that the rumors are complete and utter bullcrap

      because of and i quote

      “It’s absolutely impossible for Wii U to be on-par with the PS3 or 360. Even if Nintendo uses ATI’s crappiest GPU still in the market, it’d out-perform either current-gen system.”

      (yes i quoted you @naner ;) )

  • retro

    Did you really just make a post about what one person on neogaf thinks about the wii u, even though he has no sources or anything of interest to even back this claim up?

    You should look at what we have seen rather than heard especially when half the news reports are dev1 and dev2′s comments.

    Marvin Donald of Vigil Games explains that the Wii U is “on par” with current gen consoles like the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. (one of the few reports that actually contains the name of the person spoken to)

    Most reports are saying wii is on par or slightly better than current gen. Im expecting to see the same graphics. I find it a little disappointing as this is sort of a repeat of what already happened with the wii, it was not significantly more powerfull than the xbox1 of the last gen.

    I think the zelda HD tech demo shows of what the Wii U can do though, which included some amazing lighting affects and very high polygon counts.

    • zeta

      well technically the “on par” rumors are more about what you can see on the screen and not the power itself, the more powerful (whether slightly or otherwise) are more about the actual tech in the Wii U.

      An example, Gearbox saying the PROCESSOR is more powerful than both of the other consoles and that the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines is better looking, which when we put the fact that the actual graphics seen on the main screen are nerfed by the streaming to the controller, the Wii U being a fair bit more powerful than the current gen is more likely

  • mkdhdh

    even witcher 2 on low graphic settings is still pretty good and witcher 2 runs on high trough on my macbookpro 13″ i7 2.7gh i think dual core? idk with 4gb ram and wiiU will have more but well that’s just that game specificly :p so i dont think that was usefull but yeah i like talking :p

    • Naner

      Wii U probably won’t have more than 2 or 3 GB of RAM. Consoles focus on single-tasking, which usually doesn’t require that much memory. Would be really nice if they got some fast RAM, though.

    • mkdhdh

      it will run from 2.4 (i believe) to over 4GHz and it will have multithreading but i think the rams was 4 gb i dont know if RTUSA went into that in the vid but idk

  • http://nintendo.com tuly

    rumors like this from random people mean absolutely nothing to me i just wish we could get to e3 and have all this nonsense finished.

    • uriel

      @ TULY ….SOOOOOOOO ….you probaly think deep down that wii u is a powerhouse…… heh heh ;) …………..this is speculation but its also based on what nintendo has been doing the past 7-8 years and there recent comments that made it sound as if they still dont care about being a highly powerful next gen system…..plus its sort of impossible for nintendo to release a next gen sytem ..frankly its too expensive …no one would buy a 600 -700 dollar console and they cant afford to fail ..if they fail at that console they are in great trouble while sony and microsoft can rebound on other products…… so yeah dont expect so much from wii u but expect great things….but ports probaly wont be so bad too wii u like wii …..god the few that were (painful)

    • zeta

      @uriel Well it would depend on what you consider a next-gen system, because after Sony saying they won’t make the mistake of releasing an expensive console i doubt anything next-gen will be $600-$700.
      Also if anything Sony is in the worst position because its those other products that are bringing loses (6.4bil) because the PS3 is making profits currently so if they bring out a console where they are making losses on its sales then they would be in a lot of trouble, on the other hand if Nintendo brought out, say a $450 console the initial sales would be good enough so they wouldn’t flop, plus it would ensure 3rd party support and who wouldn’t buy a powerful Nintendo console with all the cross-plats.

    • http://nintendo.com tuly

      @uriel I don’t think that the wii u will be a powerhouse.I don’t expect specs that will blow me away .I don’t even think it will significantly overpower the current gen.All I’m saying is that this rumor has nothing to back it up and that the reason I cant wait for e3 is so that all the rumors could stop.I didn’t say what this guy said was nonsense it’s actually very reasonable but since it’s a RUMOR and this guy is a random and nameless person even if it turns out to be true it wasn’t because this guy has inside sources it’s because he made a lucky and educated guess.Also you seem to be one of those people who think that the 7th generation represents the entire history of gaming.The last gen was the ONLY one where Nintendo had the weakest console.And no I don’t think that Nintendo will have the strongest console this time but I don’t think the difference will be to noticeable this time either.

  • D2K

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8

    ^^ This.

    Now can we please stop rehashing the Wii U graphics issue?

    • cm93

      cool :)
      i watched that earlier today hehe

      agreed

  • Meelow

    Gonintendo got the info wrong, the guy that posted on Neogaf also said this

    “Everything I have been told is “best of the current generation by a country mile but not significantly beyond that.”

    It is the XBox to the PS2. The Gamegear to the Gameboy. The Mad Men Alison Brie to Community’s Alison Brie. It’ll look better, but generational transition probably won’t apply to it.

    On the plus side, there will probably be nothing hardware-wise stopping downgraded ports from what people think the new XBox will offer. We’re talking, like, Witcher 2 on high settings vs. Witcher 2 on low settings. Same game, same basic idea, different graphics.

    But games that do take advantage of the Wii U’s hardware are going to blow this current gen out of the water. I am not sure we’ll see that at E3 (seriously, think back to nearly every console’s launch, most of those titles don’t stand up today), but I’m sure we’ll see it eventually.”

    “The XBox was a crazy beast if used right. But it was just an analogy, it wasn’t meant to be a proper comparison of power.

    Dreamcast to N64 might be a better comparison?”

    He was talking about current gen games will be the best on the Wii U because it’s more powerful but games that use the Wii U’s hardware will “blow current gen out of the water”

    And when the PS4 and 720 release multiplats will use Wii U’s hardware and not current gen games release on a next gen console.

    He also adds “Wii U is the Dreamcast and 360/PS3 are the N64 in power”

    • mkdhdh

      wait wasnt dreamcast less powerfull then N64? i dont really get the comparison :)

    • Naner

      N64 was the most powerful system in the 5th gen, and Dreamcast was the least powerful in the 6th gen, but it was considerably more powerful than anything in the 5th gen.

      All in all, this does seem quite likely. Though I still don’t think the other two systems are going to be quite as powerful as some people expect. Especially the PS4.

    • Meelow

      @mkdhdh

      The Dreamcast was more powerful then the N64, it was a little weaker then the PS2.

      @Naner

      Yeah I agree.

    • zeta

      @Naner i agree, i don’t know about the nextbox (although the earlier rumors put it 20% more powerful than the Wii U, even if they do a 8 core CPU to accommodate the new Kinect 2 (as its rumored to need a few cores on its own)it might not be as strong as people are thinking, the current rumor on the GPU might or might not be a big leap depending on whether they use 2 of the rumored GPUs or just one (the one would be only a bit stronger – fair bit but still a bit – than the Wii U)

      Currently the more sane looking specs are the PS4′s with the CPU that has graphical processing along with a fairly okay GPU, but like the Wii U its on older tech just not as old (rumored to be Radeon 7000 series) this way the dedicated GPU and the GP on the CPU would work together in some instances to give higher graphics and smoother performance.

    • mkdhdh

      it isnt going to be as powerfull as they think especially ps4 because they have financial problems and xbox 720′s kinect2 will use up to 4 cores so that wont be that powerfull to

  • Craig

    I don’t necessarily need a super beefed up console – I love the Wii enough… As long as it’s more powerful than this generation (which a video on YouTube confirms that even a graphics card of a lower level than the Wii U’s card blasts PS3 and XBOX 360′s out of the water) that’s all I need to know. I’m just hoping that there will still be games like Skyward Sword that don’t follow the crowd and try different styles, other than just Mario games.

    • mkdhdh

      i’m with ya on that one. all toughi dont play zelda i like them but addivtive games(by that i mean rpg’s like zelda and skyrim) are not for me because i get really psyched about them and they drive me mad if i cant complete a objective but with the wiiU i wil play a whole different type of games i am used to playing cod and mario games but now i’ll buy ghost recon killer freaks and assassins creed 3 because cod wont have the support (and might not be on it) and ok i’ll still play mario games because i freaking love them :p but still i’ll try a completely different type of games. and god i ranted and got of topic again!

  • dubYA

    This is what I’m expecting realistically. More power would be nice, but affordability goes a long way. If this turns out to be the case I’ll be perfectly content.

  • Pleasant

    The Wii U is most assuredly more powerful than this gen, and I’m not worried about whether the other two’s next consoles will be more powerful for three reasons:

    1. They may not even be exponentially more powerful than the Wii U this time around, unlike this gen. Most dumbasses seem to believe that just because the Wii was severely lacking compared to the other two consoles that means that the Wii U, through some crazy talk about destiny or whatever, should also be that much less powerful than the other two forthcoming consoles. Can you fathom how ridiculous this backwater logic is? “Wii was less powerful, so obviously the Wii U will also be just as less powerful.” That must take some serious brain damage for anyone to think this makes ANY SORT OF SENSE.

    2. Because I’m simply not worried in general about the Wii U at all in terms of its tech. It’s that simple, really. You know why it’s often not a good idea to invest your business in technology and graphics? Because while technology does change drastically, thus requiring more people to fill jobs and our lives ultimately become more convenient (allegedly), it’s because of this drastic change that’s why it might do more harm to a tech company than good. Look at Sony. They were standing at the top of the tech world in the 90s, and now look where they are. Apple’s totally dethroned them in that regard, their rivals like LG and Samsung are still going strong despite their own setbacks, and Sony ultimately has lost more instead of gained over time, culminating in their recent bad news.
    Everyone always says that Gameplay > Graphics, but I doubt a majority of you even understand why this is the case. Graphics is inherently tied to technology, which means like tech, it too gets outdated over time. This is the difference between something like technology and something like gameplay: One is tangible, the other isn’t. Technology is obviously the tangible idea, while gameplay is intangible. And what do we know about tangible things? That they all die out eventually. Gameplay on the other hand is intangible; it’s a practice, not a concrete noun. But more than that, it is an inherent part of human nature. You wanna know the best way to quash an inherent part of human nature? Do physiological, social, or mental alterations to the 7+ billion people in this world. Good luck with that. Nintendo really hit the jackpot when they decided to capitalize on an intangible and inevitable concept, and as a result, no matter what happens to them, Nintendo cannot die. As long as they focus on gaming, they cannot possibly die. Sega at one point focused on gaming too, and they stood very well with Nintendo during the 90s, until they decided to play the tech route with Saturn and Dreamcast. That totally failed for Sega. Microsoft also is focusing on an intangible concept, but it’s not entirely gameplay. It’s convenience — that’s their focus. Easy gameplay? Check. Easy online? Also check. Easy multimedia center? Check. The Xbox 360 is rapidly growing from just a game console, it’s fast becoming a very relevant key device for the whole household, almost as essential to the traditional living room concept as the television itself. Now THAT’S a powerful intangible business concept. Apple and other mobile developers are also focusing o n that same concept, with Apple banking on devices that are relevant to anybody, anywhere, at any time. Their devices are geared towards having omnipresence in every aspect of a person’s life. That’s why Apple is ranking high as well. Sony…all I know is, they better start focusing on gaming itself, because strictly banking on the tech route will not get you anywhere. At all. Like I said before, as long as Nintendo focuses on what they’ve always focused on during the game crash, the 90s, and today, and they focus on good gaming, especially for their Wii U, then they are so good no matter what the competition has. Please have good games, Wii U! PLEASE!

    • Pleasant

      Okay, *two reasons.

    • JamesD

      I completely agree. No matter how advanced gaming systems will get, people will always play games for sheer enjoyment. That’s why Nintendo will always be here.

    • HugoBOSS_HD

      Bravo! Nicely put! I really enjoyed reading your post. It was well though out and well written. I’ve always said that gameplay trumps graphics. Like you said, graphics relies on tech, which becomes outdated so quickly in today’s rapidly evolving tech world. Gameplay, on the other hand, is what makes a game special and stand out. It is what takes a game from COD level, to legendary classic level like Legend of Zelda. Nintendo is smart in going this route. I don’t see them going anywhere in a loooong time. Scratch that. EVER. :)

    • zeta

      true, gameplay is like art or a good movie they stand the test of time better for their quality as great graphics seem great for a short time, especially while your playing the game you mind doesn’t go to the graphics as much so after the initial “Wow” it gets thrown out and after a while it also gets surpassed unlike gameplay that you interact with constantly, it might also have a wow factor that cools down as you play because you get accustomed but the enjoyment from it continues.

    • mkdhdh

      i think personally that if it has graphics ad the ps3 and 360 have now then we have good graphic i dont need the newest and most powerfull kind of graphics but if they are good? i will be fine but still gameplay and games are more important they have some KILLER titles (get it KILLER and the game killer freaks from outer space? ok nevermind it isn’t funny) like AC3 mariobros batman arkham city ghost recon online those are some good titles to be there at launch

      and as of gameplay? well they took a big leap and we just have to wait and see all the features and all the benefits and how “GOOD” it FITS

      (why am i making lame jokes?)

  • Big Boss

    I doubt that the next-gen consoles will be that big of a leap from the current one. People need not to worry about graphics, but about better gameplay.

    • mkdhdh

      i thought the same thing. and that they have i mean the tablet is a great way to expand the gameplay i lean have you seen the map that is used in ghost recon online? you can tilt it and stuff and the class creation? thats oretty cool to ;p so the better gameplay is coming

      but what i’m frightened about is that people wil take to long to get used to the tablet controller and get sick of it before they even “master” it because it is a BIGG leap controllerwise and yess i said bigg because the controller itself is bigger than usual ;p

  • Trulaw

    A “country mile” sounds like a reasonably upgrade so I think we should be ok if this is true.

  • Ryan

    This is what I say: “Graphics don’t make any system great. They are just eye candy to look at and do not change gameplay at all (unless you can’t see anything because of crappy textures).”

    • mkdhdh

      right back at ya bro!

  • http://www.gamesradar.com GameManiac

    Nintendo always seems to be in the .5 of generations, and I think it works for them.

  • Myk

    Even though iwas hoping for something super awesome and high powered deep down this is really what i saw coming, but whatever i still cant wait to see my pokemon ruin some kids day in hdlol!

  • Luis

    I feel that Microsoft wont make their system 6x stronger than the 360.I believe that they would focus more on the kinect and such.

    • mkdhdh

      thats why they have to make it so powerfull kinect takes a lot of power

  • Snake

    Heard again and i have heard many things that next gen games will be like the movie Avatar but this is not true until you don’t see you can not be sure and i have seen nothing yet Nintendo hiding and show nothing yet oh yeah they had show their games Zelda and Mario full with rainbows and flowers this is not game i am talking for real game something like BF3 or Crysis 2 The Elder Scrolls Fallout Dragon Age Assassin’s Creed Far Cry 3 that are real games

    • mkdhdh

      you call zelda and mario a fake game? not a real game WTF i like these games yes but i enjoy other games to but it are real games.

      i dont know ifyou know but what was one of the most popular games after pong? jumpman wich later on evolved to mario and donkey kong wich evolved to mario bros and mariokart. this is the origin of gaming without them you wont have your precious “real” games so think before you say something

    • Kid Buu

      Zelda and Mario aren’t REAL games? Go crawl back under your freaking rock.

    • mkdhdh

      @Kid Buu lol your right

    • http://nintendoworlds.net TurboPikachu

      @mkdhdh:

      “Zelda and Mario full with rainbows and flowers”
      Well then, that means that they’ll take full advantage of the most vivid color that your HDTV can possibly display.

      Also, sounds to me like you can’t enjoy a game unless you are murdering someone in it… what a shame…

      I consider the likes of Mario, Zelda, Kirby, Pokemon, Metroid, F-Zero, Smash Bros., Kid Icarus, and Starfox to be the real games that are the reason I even like video games: The fantasy about them!!!

      Going into war is something that you can do in real life… It bores me in a video game.
      I like video games that bring you into a different universe, and take your mind off the real world.

      I’ve only ever liked one first-person-shooter series, and that’s Halo, and why is that? Because it’s fantasy, away from earth, in which it’s Humans vs. Aliens.

      Stuff you can do in real life is boring in video games; that’s why sports games and various simulators also bore the crap out of me.

    • Kid Buu

      @TurboPikachu

      But the difference between the 2 is, If you die in real life, you’re gone for good. You die in a game, you respawn. You don’t have to like FPS games, but I like’em. :D

    • mkdhdh

      waitwait wait stop! i was defending mario and zelda! snake said it werent real games

      and @TurboPikachu i totaly agreen xept for GTA i like that game to because i would never turn the streets of new york into a bloodbath in real life ;p

      and i mean my fav games are mario and the lego games because i like the fantasy and the skill level (it doesnt require that much i can play smashbrothers and mario bros with a little girl who’s five years old and she understands is) they are fun and my favourits

    • mkdhdh

      @TurboPickachu: + i dont have an HDTV my father will only buy a new one if the old one breaks (but it’s most likely to implode and set the whole house on fire) :p

    • http://NintendoWorlds TurboPikachu

      @mkdhdh:

      Oh my goodness… I’m sorry. My previous comment was 100% directed at Snake, every word of it. Apparently, my eyes were being a fail, and I thought you were the one who posted that. My sincerest apologies. ^-^”

    • mkdhdh

      @TurboPickachu: lol you’re forgiven dude it’s not the end of the world i did it quite a few times
      but i kinda agree with you on every aspect. i do enjoy fpses but i liked halo more then cod but the fantasy is the best things in videogames

      but i make 1 exeption and that is GTA :p

  • ZimmerRemmiz

    Keep in mind Sony has said a number of times that they are going to be conservative with the PS4, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the Wii U still beats it, and Microsoft has said many times that it doesn’t want to loose money on the development of a console again, so it might be conservative as well, I wouldn’t expect the other systems to beat the Wii U by much…

    • sam765

      Rumour says that the PS4 will have two GPU’s. If that’s true then it will be used for a second screen. It could be for the Vita but if that doesn’t sell well they could also go for a tabletcontroller and with a second GPU it will work much smoother…

    • mkdhdh

      what the hell are you saying? how can a 2nd gpu be in another machine and work with the vita? the vita has its own gpu so it wont need that?!?!

    • uriel

      i think the difference will be noticible but not as much as wii but sony and microsoft may dumb down to compete with wiiu because of production cost and demand …but even then im sure wii u doesnt have revoltionary graphical capabilities as the next gen …

    • mkdhdh

      we wil never see a graphical revolution like we saw with ps3 and 360. graphics won’t get that much better but i think ps4 and wiiU wont be that far appart graphical and powerwise because of the financial troubles

  • yoshie

    This are just meaningless words. Give me numbers!

  • leo

    I hope when the wii u comes out to compete with The “Nextbox”, “PS4″ that games wont look that different between consoles. I have this FEELing That Nintendo is going to announce Something amazing about the wii u…Maybe …..

  • bearmon2010

    No idea.. I rather to hear from Nintendo in their own words. Wait for E3.. A rumor is really annoying.