Sadly, amidst the initial reactions of Devil's Third being unveiled as a Wii U exclusive -- "it looks horrible. more like Devil's Turd. lulz". And let's be honest, Devil's Third is anything but 'jaw-dropping' graphically. Personally, I think Devil’s Third looks OK, not amazing, but OK graphically. And yet, as consumers, I think we're entitled to ask for better graphics in the year 2014/2015. If Devil’s Third had better graphics, it'd undoubtedly boost interest in the game and there's a very compelling reason and very feasible way it can and should be done.
Devil’s Third is currently being developed on Unreal Engine 3 (link here: https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/unreal-sightings-e3-2014), a relatively outdated engine for what would be considered ‘next-gen’. Bringing the game to Unreal Engine 4 could help yield better visuals while also making a very powerful statement about the Wii U’s viability as a gaming platform.
One the biggest blows to Wii U’s third party support and consumer confidence in the product from very early on has been the misinformation and confusion regarding Unreal Engine’s compatibility with the Wii U platform. Early into Wii U’s lifecycle, rumors circulated that the Wii U couldn’t even run Unreal Engine 3, even as several Unreal Engine 3-powered games were delivered to the system. That on top of Nintendo’s ‘kiddie’ reputation, fueled speculation and action industry-wide from 3rd parties and consumers to give up on the Wii U very early on. Epic Games later clarified the Unreal Engine 3’s Wii U compatibility, but has sent mixed messages on whether Unreal Engine 4 could/would support the Wii U.
Nintendo antagonists are quick to say, “the Wii U is too underpowered to run Unreal Engine 4!” Undoubtedly, the Wii U can’t run Unreal Engine 4 the same way the Playstation 4 or Xbox One can. However, there’s little doubt Wii U could run Unreal Engine 4 at least as good or very likely much better than most mobile devices (which do have Unreal Engine 4 support) based Wii U’s hardware advantage over even the most advanced mobile hardware. The same follows for Unreal Engine 4 on PS3 or 360 -- which also aren't currently supported. The difference of course is that Sony and MS probably don't care if the PS3 or 360 get UE4 support because they'd rather sell their new systems anyway. However, the stakes are different for Nintendo's Wii U.
So why hasn’t Unreal Engine 4 supported Wii U already? In short, it can really only be attributed to the small amount of ROI Epic has to really aggressively to pursue it at the moment. However, if Nintendo were willing to lay out the cash to develop the UE4/Wii U pipeline further, I’m sure Epic Games would be open-minded to that proposition. It’s a winning scenario for Nintendo as it allows them to retool Devil’s Third as a more ‘next-gen’ game while also bringing tools to empower 3rd parties to bring their future games to Wii U by using Unreal Engine 4. By adding Wii U as an officially supported platform, Epic can provide a better value proposition to its customers.
The possibility of Unreal Engine 4 for Devil’s Third or really any other Wii U game isn’t far out reach. It’s just a matter of Nintendo investing the time, money, and other resources to make it happen because Epic won’t do it alone. Nintendo has done this with the Unity platform, so it’s not unreasonable for them to do the same with Epic/Unreal.
And by the way…
IMO -- I think they could have teased this game better. The 2 minute trailer Nintendo created, regardless of the game's graphics, was -- bizarre. Here's gameplay footage from the stage demo along with some interview portions with Itagaki. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlv5CfVqhTI -- which I think is more representative of what to expect from the game. There's a B-movie, grindhouse vibe I think they need to convey more effectively in the marketing for this game.
and other relevant stuff
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/358194/unreal-engine-4-games-could-be-ported-to-wii-u/
I predict NX launches in 2017 - not 2016
