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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Wii U graphics power finally revealed - "we can now finally rule out any next-gen pretensions for the Wii U"

JoeTheBro on 05 February 2013

This sucks.

 

I was really hoping the Wii U could repeat the magic of the GameCube, sell a little while having tons of great games, but it looks like it will be much more inline with the Wii's situation. I never expected the Wii U to look better than PS4 but I expected it to be comparable. Now I need to edit my picture. :(

 

As far as gens go, I'd argue the Wii U is gen7. It came out during gen7, is currently competing against gen7, and is comparable hardware to gen7. Yeah it is the successor to the Wii but it's more complicated than that. The iPhone first came out during gen7 portables so we'd all agree it's gen7 (if we act like it's a dedicated gaming device). Now the iPhone 5 just came out and it's obviously gen8 (again ignoring the fact it's a phone). If we went just by successors it would be gen13 which makes no sense.

I argue that both the Wii and Wii U are gen7 systems due to when they released and their relative power to other systems. For those arguing it's gen8, what would you call Nintendo's next system if it released in only 4 years competing solely against the next box and PS4? What would the next generation be if Nintendo releases the Wii U 3 at the same time as the PS5?



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WagnerPaiva on 05 February 2013

Very on topic, from destructoid:

(Addressing the Wii U's slow market performance, Nintendo developer Shigeru Miyamoto has admitted his company could have promoted it better. Citing a failure to "communicate" the features and value of the system, the impish designer expressed disappointment in the console's early months.

"We would have liked to create new entertainment that instantly communicated its value to the public, but we could not," he confessed. "However, I am confident that we did manage to develop software that, once people have played it, does communicate its value very well."

Miyamoto believes Nintendo's future is looking a lot brighter, and that more software is coming to really sell the world on a system.

"We have not yet launched many titles, but Nintendo has been striving to sell its software for as long as three years in an industry where a typical software title has only a few weeks of product life. In this sense, we are confident that even our existing ideas are attractive enough to draw people to our hardware".

Miyamoto says he's not worried about lacking good ideas or failing to be accepted into living rooms. For him, it's all about ensuring people understand the truth -- that they totally want a Wii U, whether they know it yet or not. Now that's some confidence!)

Jim Sterling wrote this.


Read more at http://www.destructoid.com/miyamoto-nintendo-hasn-t-communicated-wii-u-s-value-244067.phtml#0i2vEcWzY1P58awM.99



My grammar errors are justified by the fact that I am a brazilian living in Brazil. I am also very stupid.

ninjablade on 05 February 2013
Cyborg13B said:
Well given its 40 nm production, you could classify it next-gen there. But this pretty much sustained what I thought about the Wii U. About as powerful as Xbox 360, but in a different form.

That was my initial prediction. It has only 12 GB/s main memory bandwidth, but also much more embedded DRAM. The end result - about equal to Xbox 360.


don't forget the edram is also much slower then 360 and the cpu being weaker, from the specs and analysis of games. but no people will keep on saying it's new hardware, so what if its new hardware doesn't make more powerful.



Mazty on 05 February 2013
Flanneryaug said:
Mazty said:
Flanneryaug said:
Mazty said:
And I got banned for saying the Wii U wasn't next gen....

It was obvious from it's load power consumption that it was not next gen aka on par with the next-box and PS4. Nice to have it verified from a different source though.

It is next gen. It is more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3. Was the PS2 not in the 6th generation, because it wasn't on par with the GameCube or Xbox? Generations are about what time they are released, not power.


1) How much more powerful than the 360 and PS3 is it?
1ii) Is there any game that shows this power difference?

2)If generation is to do with what time they are released then why is the PS3 super slim not next gen

3) How can a console be next-gen if it can't play next-gen games, as the OP states?

1) Not sure yet, but it will be more powerful.

1ii) The X trailer does, and more games shown at this E3 will. 

2) The PS3 super slim is a different version of the console, not a successor.

3) If you want to argue that it is not next gen until a game is released that looks better than every game from the 7th gen, that is reasonable.

1) Is the x trailer pre-rendered? After Motorstorm's "demo" i'm skeptical about any game demo. 

2) What about the 360 elite? The super slim has different/improved hardware. 

3)Yep


I think the issue is, and it's something people seem to ignore, is that what makes a console next-gen is not defined anywhere whatsoever. It's not black & white at all. 



Cub on 05 February 2013
RolStoppable said:
Cub said:
Mazty said:

When the Wii U surpases those games, then you have reason to claim it's superiority, but not before then. As I have said many a time, the Wii U is in desperate need of it's "PGR3".

I don't understand, isn't the GPU better than that found in the 360? which in turn better than that found the ps3? why can't Wii U games suprass that? Don't answer me, let's just give it time and we'll see.

Isn't it funny that the Wii U is supposed to prove its superiority with a game that has 30 seconds long loading times and still fails to load all textures properly?

Some people really crack me up.


I am sorry Rol, I am not following :( Does PGR3 have long loading times ? I ignored the second part of his post because I don't know the importance of PGR3 and why it is relevant in the first place :/

But yes, the thread is funny starting from the title



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ReactiveActive on 05 February 2013

the GCN hardware in Durango and Orbis is in a completely different league.

Stop reading after this BS.



 

Mazty on 05 February 2013
Solid-Stark said:
Mazty said:
Flanneryaug said:
Mazty said:
And I got banned for saying the Wii U wasn't next gen....

It was obvious from it's load power consumption that it was not next gen aka on par with the next-box and PS4. Nice to have it verified from a different source though.

It is next gen. It is more powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3. Was the PS2 not in the 6th generation, because it wasn't on par with the GameCube or Xbox? Generations are about what time they are released, not power.


1) How much more powerful than the 360 and PS3 is it?
1ii) Is there any game that shows this power difference?

2)If generation is to do with what time they are released then why is the PS3 super slim not next gen

3) How can a console be next-gen if it can't play next-gen games, as the OP states?

1) Until a report is conslusive, and irrefutable by any doubt, then it's safe to assume the WiiU is up to and no more than 2x more powerful compared to the PS3 and X360. It's important to acknowledge that 2x more power isn't much, however, the GPU and hardware does have capabilities that the PS3/X360 cannot do; such as DX11-like capabilities and more than 2x the available RAM for game development.

ii) As far as any game showing this difference, we have to wait for the defining exclusives that are bound to drop in the next 2 years. Mario Kart U, Super Mario 3D U, and Bayonneta 2 are a few examples. Also, we could see the next Call of Duty or perhaps another IP that would launch PS3/X360/WiiU and perform better on the WiiU due to developers now having more time n the console.

2) Generations are defined by the launch of a next-gen platform. Of course they are aligned with other relevant manufacturer platforms.

i.e. PS2 to PS3 is a generational jump. PS2 to PS2 slim is not  a generational jump because PS2 and PS2 slim are the same platform. Competing platforms in the given time frame are the competition (i.e. Gamecube and Xbox)

Therefore, WiiU comes after the Wii, and therefore a Generation 8 console. 

3) There is no real line to draw through whats a "next-gen game". If we are to accept your premise, then the PS4/Xbox720 are also not next gen because Epic says their Samaritan demo requires a 2.5TF GPU (Rumors: PS4-1.8 , 720-1.2) (Epic saying Samaritan is the new standard of next-gen) Also, it would further blur the lines over what is considered this-gen-type-game as most games are far behind PC and don't even render natively at 1280x720p (what would be considered HD and onwards)

It's not safe to assume anything until it's proven. We have yet to see proof of the Wii U's superiority. 

It's all nice and well to underline "next-gen platform", but what makes a platform next-gen? Power? Release date? A mix? If so, how much power?

Who is to say that the Wii was on par with the 360? What makes a console next-gen is not clearly defined. If we look at it in terms of raw power, than the wii was not on the same level as the PS3/360. For example, look at this:
http://www.explosion.com/20216/is-the-wii-u-a-next-gen-console/

That's a good point. Are generations defined not by consoles but by game engines instead?

In short, gamers should collectively come up with a smart definition of what defines a generation. 



Cub on 05 February 2013
RolStoppable said:
Cub said:

I am sorry Rol, I am not following :( Does PGR3 have long loading times ? I ignored the second part of his post because I don't know the importance of PGR3 and why it is relevant in the first place :/

But yes, the thread is funny starting from the title

Yes, PGR3 has long loading times and after sitting through them you can still see the occasional building without textures at the beginning of the race. Of course it had better graphics than PGR2, but it was a worse game overall (mainly because it was casualized and allowed you to collect infinite Kudos points instead of only counting the best result you had achieved in any given race).

Depending on how you would define a next generation experience, PGR3 might or might not have been one. Since I am in the camp who views "next gen" as "better games", I didn't think of PGR3 as a step forward. So if the Wii U doesn't get a PGR3, I won't mind.


 I don't know about the game but this does sound bad, and for him to use it as an example....



DieAppleDie on 05 February 2013

Wii is 7th gen theres no debate



NintendoPie on 05 February 2013

Nintendo's doomed, again? Oh boy... we won't be lucky (sales-wise) twice!