Digital Foundry vs. AC4 PS3/360/WiiU/PS4/XB1/PC

[Shinobi-san]

superchunk said:

Shinobi-san said:

Rayman Legends looks great on every platform. AC4 is an open world game.

Ubisoft could probably do better with the WiiU version...but to blame them for hardware decisions made by Nintendo is overly harsh.

Atleast Ubisoft gives Nintendo full support. Which is much better than other 3rd parties.

This isn't the hardware, nor was AC3 or other port issues.

This is the fact that they are using a engine made for completely different architectural types and force-fitting it on a more modern setup.

All current gen consoles use GPGPUs as their main powerhouse with smaller OOO CPUs and more streamlined RAM.

Last gen consoles used powerful CPUs and ordinary GPUs with disconnected RAM.

That is polar opposites.

Ubisoft took their rushed and nonoptimed AC3 engine and simply resused it for AC4. They should have taken their new engine for PS4Xbone and downported to Wii U. Would have cost a little more, but would have made a far better game. This is what they are reportidly doing for Watch_Dogs. Hopefully it pays off with a good game as I am looking forward to this one.

Need for Speed and Pikmin3 prove if you dedicate proper resources you can make a good port.
Mario3DWorld proves it can handle things not possible on PS360. As I'm sure 2014 Nintendo games will continue to show.

This was simply a super cost cutting measure likely due to low sales of Wii U in general. But I don't think the cost of using the new engine would likley have been that much greater than reusing the known defective engine.

Have they openly said they have done this? I mean is there a link to an interview or something like that where they specifically go into all this detail?

Also i dont think it matters what engine they use. The WiiU version is not gonna look majorly better than what you seeing today. WiiU is gimped hardware wise theres only so much devs can do. Like i said Ubisoft could have done a better job i agree. But i think you are expecting some crazy different results..where the hardware simply doesnt allow for it.

Edit: also this has everything to do with hardware. If the WiiU had the same specs as the PS4 then we wouldnt be having this discussion. right?