Ever from since the Wii U was first unveiled, the biggest question that has faced the system was "How powerful is it?" Nintendo still has yet to reveal it's TRUE specs, but someone at Digital Foundry has claimed to have leaked the specs - although at least 30% of the capabilities of the Wii U's chip is still unknown.
Either way, when looking at the rumoured specs, many have come to the conclusion that the Wii U isn't as powerful as many would have hoped for and that has lead to several people - from devs to normal gamers - writing the Wii U off as "last-gen/current-gen&quo t; and in other cases "weaker than the PS3/360." Can these conclusions really be justified?
1.) We Don't Know What It's Capable Of Yet
As I mentioned - many are currently writing the Wii U off as either on-par or even weaker than the current-tech that we have. This is an absurd claim. Right now, there aren't much games to prove those claims wrong - however - concluding that because the visuals of the current games in the Wii U's library don't look miles higher than what we're already seeing on high-end PS3 and 360 games, that the Wii U is weak, really isn't the best way of going on about things.
Think about it ~ Devs have been working with the PS3 and 360 for nearly an entire decade. They know all of the ins-&-outs of these systems, and they're pushing them to their very limit. Wii U on the other hand has been out for a half a year. Many of the games that are currently in it's library were quick ports; dreamed up in just a few months. Devs are only now getting a feel for the system, so naturally, it's going to take a while before we see a true spike in visual difference.
But if there's ONE port that HAS stood out - it's Criterion Games' "Need for Speed: Most Wanted U". Unlike the other developers - Criterion took some time with the Wii U version of a *fairly-old* title. Yes, it released about 6 months after the other versions, but the results of the extra care it was given are quite obvious. The lighting was re-vamped (especially at night time), the draw-distance was improved and the frame rate stays locked at a firm 30FPS much better than the PS3 and 360. Most Wanted U also benefits from the added high-res textures of the PC version, making it look noticeably sharper and more vivid than the other console versions. This is something that Criterion was able to do with a PORT - so just imagine the results of a full-scale, built-from-scratch Wii U game, a little while from now when devs get more acquainted with the hardware? It just goes to show how just a little extra effort can make a pretty decent difference.
Honestly - It's unfair to judge the Wii U's power right now, by just looking at a few ports at the BEGINNING of it's life-cycle. Consoles are like wine - they get better with age. Just take a look at the 360 and PS3. Compare any of the better-looking games appearing on those systems today, with games at the very beginning of their life-cycles. You'll see just how much better everything looks. Why? Because no console's true power is unlocked from jump street. These things take time to work with, and when they're tinkered with by the right hands - great things can be achieved. Even if we never know the *exact* specs of Wii U, seeing that Nintendo does not seem keen to release a complete spec list, you should at least strive to keep an open mind about how much the console can grow in just a few years.
2.) Nintendo Will Most Likely Have to Prove It's Power
Wii has to be the most technologically challenged console, compared to the competition, ever seen in a generation. Even the weakest consoles of the generations before the 7th weren't as far behind as Wii was when compared to the 360 and PS3. Wii was a standard-definition system that was trying to go head to head with two high-definition systems. Despite this massive set-back, there were a few Wii games that made some people forget they were only playing in 480p. Games like Sonic Colors, Xeneoblade Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy (1 & 2), Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword come to mind. Although one of the aforementioned games didn't come from Nintendo, they still proved to look exceptionally better than the average Wii third-party title. These are games that made SD still look pretty, especially Skyward Sword which not only had a breathtaking artstyle, but pushed the Wii to it's breaking point. Even though many were used to playing their games in 1080p, some still found themselves taking a double take at these games, despite them only being rendered in 480p.
What does that mean for the Wii U? Well, it looks like it'll have to be the Nintendo titles that prove to show the Wii U's true power. Games like Pikmin 3, X, Nintendo Land and the Zelda Tech Demo already show a glimpse as to how far Nintendo has come in their short time of working with the new HD-tech. This is just the beginning. We still have yet to lay eyes on the *true* HD Zelda, as well as the up-coming 3D Mario. Will it be games like those which go down in history as some of the best-looking games on Wii U? We'll see.
3.) It's Closer to It's Competition
As I already mentioned, the Wii was at a grave disadvantage on the tech side of things. 480p was all the little white box could do, while it's competition was riding high on the trails of 1080p. Even so, the Wii did have some pretty good looking games.
When looking at the Wii U - this system, although once again, the weakest in it's generation, isn't weak. It's specs are lightweight compared to systems like the PS4, but doesn't mean it's going to look lightyears worse. People - Wake up. We're ending the graphics road. We're moving from a generation of HD, to a generation of more HD. This isn't the 6th-gen to 7th-gen transition anymore. We're NEVER going to see a jump that big again. With games like Crysis 3, GTA: V, and Watch_Dogs already border-lining the infamous "photo-realistic" level, how far do you expect graphics to advance?
No doubt, the graphics of the 8th-gen will look better than the 7th-gen, but when it comes down to the comparison between Wii U and PS4/720 - we're never going to see another Wii vs. PS3/360 situation ever again. Ever.
IN CONCLUSION:
There aren't much positive cards going for the Wii U right now. Although there are actually more studios that are cool with Nintendo than you think - one can't still deny the fact that many developers seem to be bailing out from the Wii U, and all with similar excuses, mainly "It just can't run this. It's current gen. It's not powerful enough for that." Even so, tides can change. 3DS was able to make a turn-around. Maybe the same can happen for Wii U. As far as visuals go, we're just going to have to wait and see how much power this thing has under it's hood in due time. But even so, it's far too early to write the system off as "weak" or "just as powerful as 360/PS3". Only time can successfully make a judgement to that.
Microsoft announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2026, including an update on its gaming Xbox business and more.
Not looking good. Hopefully Asha Sharma is able to turn Phil’s disaster around.
To me it's still quite remarkable how they can cash-in 5.3bn in revenue in a single quarter, since their hardware is basically dead.
The stock mark is what makes Microsoft remarkable, They have convinced every institutional and retail investor to just keep piling money into them. Like many big tech giants they are just a big growing pyramid scheme. As long as people keep dropping money into ETF's that cover the market Microsoft will always be liquid. At the same time it is completely stifling innovation and competition. People need to start being more discreet in how they invest their money as it's killing the system.
Riiiiight because people will just flock back to them for one or two games per year.
15+ years of bad performance is what they call irreparable in business. It is time for them to sell off the assets and get out of entertainment.
These declines are on the back of extra revenue received from releasing games like Forza horizon 5 on PlayStation. So I’m being sarcastic here when I said they should go back to exclusives. Killing off a revenue stream from Ps5 sales will only make things worse
The charity event will be streamed live from Gamescom in August.
Thanks to the slip-up of an artist working on the title, we now have more evidence that a new Injustice game is in the works.
There has been a lot of mixed feedback. Some developers see potential while others or unsure or have ignored the system entirely. Few games have really used the Wii U to its full potential, mostly because Nintendo understands the hardware better than anyone. I don't believe that Wii U's full potential can match its upcoming competition, but I still think it can produce games that are noticeably better looking than what you can see on a 360 or PS3. The issue now is for those games to actually be produced.
"No doubt, the graphics of the 8th-gen will look better than the 7th-gen, but when it comes down to the comparison between Wii U and PS4/720 - we're never going to see another Wii vs. PS3/360 situation ever again. Ever."
I agree with this. There are talks of the PS4/Nextbox not having as big a leap in graphics as previous generations. I think saying the Wii U is the Wii of its generation specs wise may be an oversimplification. I can't know for sure until the new consoles and games come out obviously, but that's my otherwise optimistic hunch.
Nintendo tend to sell by their own fist. Every system they have made apart from Virtual Boy has been financially successful.
Wii U not selling so hot does not mean the market as a whole wants more power. There is a huge market for the type of approach Nintendo is taking with Wii U and if they can successfully tap into that they could have a huge hit on their hands. Bundling this type of controller with Wii U just proves Nintendo is the most dedicated to this type of feature.
From what I have played of mine it has some amazing potential. So what if it isn't modern time powerful. I consider many Wii games to be better then the first party efforts of Microsoft or Sony. Mario is still the king of platformers (as reflected in the constant success of the series) and Xenoblade is considered by a lot of people to be the best JRPG of the generation.
Power didn't have an effect on the quality of Wii games and it is highly unlikely it will stop Nintendo coming out with just as high quality games here. The mistake they made was calling it Wii U. Wii 2 would have sufficed if they wanted to keep the Wii name.
Wii U is the typical Nintendo console that only appeal to long time fans of Mario and others...It's no doubt Wii U won't be getting certain software due to hardware specs once developers really dive into next gen development..Wii U might have lots of droughts software wise because of the lack of 3rd party support compared to PS4/720..Lets be honest Nintendo won't be able to pump out quality software around the clock and remember Wii dealt with that same problem.
At the end of the day, consoles have generations which are based on power next to the generation before them. Which means the Wii U is a generation ahead of the console before it, which would be the Wii.
Therefore it is a Next Gen™ console.
1.) We Don't Know What It's Capable Of Yet
We know exactly what the Wii-U is capable of because we know the hardware for better and worse.
The CPU is made up of 3 Wii CPU's combined together with OOE (out of order execution). The OOE helps it organize and prioritize better than the PS360 CPU's, but it's still completely outperformed by them in term of processing.
The GPU in the Wii-U is the one true highlight. It's either a 4650m, 4670m, or 4670 GPU meaning it ranges for 335 - 500 GFLOPS (4650m 335 GFLOPS, 4670m 4670m 450 GFLOPS, or 4670 500 GFLOPS). Comparatively the 360 has 355 GFLOPS, and the PS3 has 400 GFLOPS, putting the Wii-U in the same ballpark as the previous consoles. However, the PS360's CPU's contributed around 40% of the total GFLOPS for the consoles making their GPU's closer to 200 GFLOPS mark, while the Wii-U has nearly 100% of it's GFLOPS from the GPU alone meaning the Wii-U GPU is anywhere from 1.5x - 2.5x more powerful than the PS360 meaning games should look better. However, the GPU in the Wii-U will be tasked with performing almost all gaming functions (what current GPU's are doing) even those usually done by the CPU (physics), which means that the GPU may not ever perform to it's peak potential due the the bottleneck from the CPU which acts as a traffic cop so to speak, compared to the GPU.
The Wii-U has 4x the amount of RAM compared to the PS360 (2GB vs 512MB). However, the Wii-U's RAM is significantly slower than the PS360 clocked at 12.8 GB/s (360: 22.4 GB/s + 10MB eDRAM, PS3: 25.6 GB/s main memory + 22.4 GB/s graphics memory). Fortunately the Wii-U has 32MB of eDRAM which should be able to double the speed of the RAM when it needs to making it 25.6 GB/s on occasion.