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archbrix on 20 August 2012
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HappySqurriel said:
TheShape31 said:
The Wii U most likely has a 1-year window before other next-gen consoles are released. And it takes developers quite a bit of time (more than 1 year is reasonable) to really dig into the guts of any hardware and find its potential. So it's both fair and realistic to assume that the Wii U may never have a game that looks significantly better than the competition. There will certainly be games right off the bat that look really good (in a 'current-gen' sort of way), but I hope people really keep their expectations in check for this new console.


I think people really need to keep their expectations in check for the PS4 and 'XBox 720' ...

Using PC games as an example, it takes substantially more processing power to play a game at high detail while running it at 1080p@60fps than it does to play the same game at medium detail while running it at 720p@30fps; and the overall difference in appearance is fairly minor. If the Wii U's GPU is based on a Radeon HD 4850/4870 it would probably take something similar to a Radeon HD 6850/6870 to make this kind of a jump.

I highly doubt either Microsoft or Sony are going to follow the XBox 360 or PS3 gameplan closely and release an expensive, high energy consumption console and sell it at a loss while risking a high failure rate due to excessive heat. So I wouldn't expect to see a GPU that is substantially better than a Radeon HD 6850/6870 in either the PS4 or 'XBox 720'.

Beyond that, the Wii U will likely have a significantly larger userbase for (at least) the first few years and it is unlikely that third party publishers will ignore that in favour of higher development costs on platforms with smaller userbases. In fact, I think what we've already seen with the Wii U will probably continue with other next generation consoles for their first year on the market (at least); third party publishers will (likely) design their games to be played at 720p@30fps on the PS3 and XBox 360, the Wii U will likely get enhanced visuals that run at 720p@60fps, and the PS4 and 'XBox 720' will get the same visuals as the Wii U rendered at 1080p@60fps.

Basically, 95% of games released for any next generation console will look roughly the same ... the other 5% of (mostly first party) exclusive games may show off the additional processing power of the PS4 and 'XBox 720'

Agreed, 100%.