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Forums - Nintendo - "One of the weaknesses of the Wii U compared to PS3 and Xbox 360 is the CPU power'' -Warriors Orochi dev

ECM on 21 September 2012
haxxiy said:

That doesn't exactly compensate for a weak central processor does it. The GPGPU function I mean. It's not like you are getting processing power out of thin air. Instead of rendering graphics the GPU will be doing general purpose tasks. It's actually the opposite of the PS3 where the Cell had to handle some graphical tasks to compensate for lack of RAM and the fixed function aspects of the RSX. That doesn't sound like good hardware design to me unless Nintendo aren't really bothering with multiplats and the like.


Game dev is going towards GPGPUs and away from general purpose CPUs because the latter just aren't very good at most of the things that videogames require--you better get used to it because it won't be just Nintendo going this way.



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DaRev on 21 September 2012

This is EXCELLENT news, that means no Dynasty Warriors games on my Wii U?! I can't stand those types of games anyways - they're the only thing worse than having another Ridge Racer game at launch on your console!



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I love My Wii U, and the potential it brings to gaming.

poroporo on 21 September 2012

So it's not a great console to drive an elaborate physics engine. Asides from the occasional Crysis, it shouldn't be much of a problem.



haxxiy on 21 September 2012
ECM said:
haxxiy said:

That doesn't exactly compensate for a weak central processor does it. The GPGPU function I mean. It's not like you are getting processing power out of thin air. Instead of rendering graphics the GPU will be doing general purpose tasks. It's actually the opposite of the PS3 where the Cell had to handle some graphical tasks to compensate for lack of RAM and the fixed function aspects of the RSX. That doesn't sound like good hardware design to me unless Nintendo aren't really bothering with multiplats and the like.


Game dev is going towards GPGPUs and away from general purpose CPUs because the latter just aren't very good at most of the things that videogames require--you better get used to it because it won't be just Nintendo going this way.

I don't get what you are trying to say. Every GPU nowadays can be used for general purpose task, that's not the issue at hand and it would almost seem like Nintendo is trying to blow some hot air by mentioning the GPGPU at all.

It's the ammount of workload offshot towards the Wii U GPU that worries me. I mean, whether people like it or not, it's a near certainty is the weakest out of the next gen bunch. Considering both the CPU and GPU specs, both on relative and absolute terms the GPU will take the greatest hit on the ammount of resources directed towards graphic rendering, instead of general purpose tasks.



 

 

 

 

 

Viper1 on 21 September 2012
poroporo said:
So it's not a great console to drive an elaborate physics engine. Asides from the occasional Crysis, it shouldn't be much of a problem.

The irony is that's it's a very good console for physics because that's what a GPGPU is good at.  It takes the physics load off the CPU.  A GPU can handle physics and A.I. far better than a CPU can.



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Roma on 21 September 2012

I heard they are actually using a DS as a processor! but don't worry its overclocked so it will exceed the 3DSes physics abilities! finely some good new!! :D

but the source was anonymous so you're just gonna have to take my word for it :-/



    R.I.P Mr Iwata :'(

MDMAlliance on 21 September 2012

"But from a visual standpoint, based on the performance of the Wii U, we knew the game had the capability of having much better graphics than games on PS3 and Xbox 360."

Besides what everyone else is talking about, the guy also said this. "much better graphics."



d21lewis on 21 September 2012

Super Nes had a slower processor than the Sega Genesis but when the SNES was utilized properly, the Genesis couldn't compare to the output of the SNES.

Some things never change.



justinian on 21 September 2012
Viper1 said:

Even if the clocks are slower, which I'm certain they will be, it's asinine to try to run your code without optimizing and expecting to run just as good.

The X360 and PS3 CPU's run at 3.2 Ghz. Modern chips from IBM do not have to run that high to achieve more overall power. I doubt even the PS4 and Next X will run at those clocks.

Remember the old AMD Athlon vs Intel Pentium 4 debates? It wasn't about how high you could clock your chip but what you did with each clock that counted. That still applies. It's about efficiency.

So true, if he is only talking about clock speed. If he is also talking about a IPS or processes per second that could be a problem but I doubt that is the case.

I came across a really interesting article (can't find it again for a link but will keep looking) that wii u's true power lie in the GPGPU that is going to do a lot of the CPU work. I am no expert on such matters, it's just what I read.

Time will tell.



Viper1 on 21 September 2012
MDMAlliance said:
"But from a visual standpoint, based on the performance of the Wii U, we knew the game had the capability of having much better graphics than games on PS3 and Xbox 360."

Besides what everyone else is talking about, the guy also said this. "much better graphics."

Shhh, we're supposed to be badmouthing the Wii U here, not praising it.



The rEVOLution is not being televised