Wii U Speculation Thread The Third: Casting Dreams in The Castle of Miyamoto

I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.
 
lol. It's going to have between 1-1.5 gigs of memory which is 2x3 more than the current gen. That in of itself contradicts your theory. What the E3 tech demo displayed was more impressive than anything put out by any of the current gen systems which also contradicts your theory. So yea.

I think one advantage of the E3 demo was that its style was much more impressive than 90% of all 360/PS3 titles.

I've seen something I was told was running on a Wii U devkit (probably V1 or V2) a while after E3 2011, yes. Wasn't really enough to make any definitive statements, though. What about you?

I've only heard things from marketing guys who've only heard things from their teams. Personally, I've only seen concept art for Wii U titles since then, so I cannot make a conclusion based on that either. I don't expect too much from third parties...
 
you seem sure, then why not ban bet yourself lol.

What's not to be sure of. Have you even listened to the interview?

I'm pretty underwhelmed right now. I was hoping Ninty would pull out some stops to really push the tech but I guess not.
 
What's not to be sure of. Have you even listened to the interview?

I'm pretty underwhelmed right now. I was hoping Ninty would pull out some stops to really push the tech but I guess not.
then dooooooooooooooo itttttttttttttttttttttt

have you seen the tech demo? seriously, yes or no? Do you understand why it's better than what we currently have in the ways that it is?
 
I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.

Yeah, no way you're going to gauge the power of the console by a game that exists on the current generation systems.

It'd have to be an exclusive game or a first party one to see something drastic.
 
I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.

IS this a joke post???i mean for that reason then there wouldnt never be a reason to push the system's power....
 
Whoa there! You're getting kind of ahead of yourself. You're putting Wii U on a higher level than it currently is targeting.



I think it was only said that Nintendo was working to make Wii U able to run UE4.

Then plz explain more to me!!
I'm sorry, I only was kind of p****d from some of the comments that WiiU will only be on par with current gen.
For me it doesnt matter if we will have a PS2/GC/Xbox situation (WiiU being the PS2) at the end cos we will not see very big differences in games.
 
I'm still waiting for the inevitable drive by posting of a handful of posters that say "i told you so." The same people who are either conveniently missing when positive impressions crop up or stop by to not so subtly hint everyone that posts in here is an idiot for swallowing anything and everything.

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I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.

I'll spell it out for you.

They are also in parallel development with the PC version. I would imagine that the PC version will have higher quality textures. If the WiiU was demonstrably more powerful then the current gen it would be relatively easy for them to have it run at 1080p using PC textures.

The fact that they haven't done that speaks volumes for the WiiU hardware limitations.
 
Know what? I'm doing myself a favor and staying out of here. Getting tired of waiting for leaks or news. E3 is around the corner, won't be that long. Two months wait doesnt sound too bad.
 
then dooooooooooooooo itttttttttttttttttttttt

have you seen the tech demo? seriously, yes or no? Do you understand why it's better than what we currently have in the ways that it is?

The only reason that Zelda tech demo looked so good was because Nintendo games have generally good art styles and art direction.

Which explains how poor art direction for most 3rd party games are lol. I mean Mario Galaxy has better art direction than most 360/PS3 games.
 
I'll spell it out for you.

They are also in parallel development with the PC version. I would imagine that the PC version will have higher quality textures. If the WiiU was demonstrably more powerful then the current gen it would be relatively easy for them to have it run at 1080p using PC textures.

The fact that they haven't done that speaks volumes for the WiiU hardware limitations.

That logic is flawed by one thing: the NDA.

Devs CAN'T talk about the Wii U, it's a miracle were actually getting some Wii U version news. Even if they Wii U IS more powerful than the PS3/Xbox360, they can't say it until Nintendo says so.
 
My impression was the on par comment was specific as to the game, and not as to Wii U's overall capabilities.
He said the hardware was roughly on par from what he was told, but he also made it clear that he doesn't really understand that stuff and isn't involved in the actual technical, let alone platform specific development. It's all second hand and he's not a tech guy.
 
then dooooooooooooooo itttttttttttttttttttttt

have you seen the tech demo? seriously, yes or no? Do you understand why it's better than what we currently have in the ways that it is?

I didn't see anything in the demo's that couldn't be done with PS360 from what I can see.

If you have a link to direct high def footage for me to examine then that would be great.
 
LOL. It's not my theory. It's information straight from the game director of Darksiders 2 (Marvin Donald). He implicitly states that Darksides 2 on WiiU will look exactly the same on WiiU as it does on PS360 because the hardware is currently on par with current gen.

Get over it. WiiU is not going to be more powerful then what we have already. It just isn't.

lol. I like how you say 'CURRENTLY'. Hmm. And again, we know that it will have at least 1-1.5gigs of memory which in of itself is more than current consoles. Just going by the facts man. But hey, it's not like the director wouldn't want to harm his relationship with Sony & Microsoft by stating that the game on their hardware won't be as impressive as that on a competitor. Nope. No way. Again, we know the Wii hardware is more powerful but hey, have a spaz attack if you want.
 
Now if you're saying the change to FXAA possibly has a greater than 25% reduction, then I'd be more willing to say a 720p/30 Samaritan is much more possible.

Well, considering FXAA is @ 1ms for current gen consoles @ 720p, you'd expect any advancements in ALUs and TMUs to do that much better. It's nothing compared to proper MSAA lighting. It's just a really good blur.

Complexity can further be reduced due to the nature of adaptive tessellation. Triangle count won't be a constant between models rendered at 1600p and 720p as the algorithm attempts to make the triangles above a certain pixel coverage. They can tweak the tessellation factor as well..

Other optimizations they could consider using are even lower resolution buffers or reduced sampling count for bokeh dof, SSAO, and/or shadows. And if need be, they might even try non-FP16. For bokeh, they sometimes generate a quad per pixel - they might try a quad per 2x2 pixel block for everything. There's lots of room for maneuvering.
 
That logic is flawed by one thing: the NDA.

Devs CAN'T talk about the Wii U, it's a miracle were actually getting some Wii U version news. Even if they Wii U IS more powerful than the PS3/Xbox360, they can't say it until Nintendo says so.

It was CONFIRMED to be exactly the same power as current generation systems though through that VAGUE comment!!!!

I saw what I wanted to see!!!!!
 
That logic is flawed by one thing: the NDA.

Devs CAN'T talk about the Wii U, it's a miracle were actually getting some Wii U version news. Even if they Wii U IS more powerful than the PS3/Xbox360, they can't say it until Nintendo says so.

Sometimes I wonder if people are creating this idea of an NDA holding devs back from talking about the system's power to keep spec discussions and hope for a powerful console continuing.
 
I'm not getting hung up on that video. It's the same thing Vigil said last year so I never really expected them to deviate. I know there was that random mention about targeting PC-level, but that seemed rather random.

Then plz explain more to me!!
I'm sorry, I only was kind of p****d from some of the comments that WiiU will only be on par with current gen.
For me it doesnt matter if we will have a PS2/GC/Xbox situation (WiiU being the PS2) at the end cos we will not see very big differences in games.

Haha. I've been talking about it the last few pages. Is there something that's still missing for you?
 
IS this a joke post???i mean for that reason then there wouldnt never be a reason to push the system's power....

How could it be joke?

It is like Ok devs we make a game for PS360, and when everything almost done situation changes wii U is coming, someone decides to port this game to wii U, then with minimum effort ports done.

when can you see a difference?
1. first party.
2. exclusive
3. some new projects, not games have been developing for 2~3 years on PS360 and port to wii U recently. I mean you cannot expect last minute port to give you some amazing surprise.
4. xbox 720 on the horizon, everyone prepares and be ready for the "next-gen"
 
That logic is flawed by one thing: the NDA.

Devs CAN'T talk about the Wii U, it's a miracle were actually getting some Wii U version news. Even if they Wii U IS more powerful than the PS3/Xbox360, they can't say it until Nintendo says so.

So you're saying the Gaming Director for Darksiders 2 is flat out lying in that interview. Really.
 
Issue-74-featured-image.jpg


"The latest issue of Nintendo Gamer magazine hits UK shops today, and you’d be mad not to go out and buy it. Unless, of course, you don’t want to read our exclusive Assassin’s Creed III first look feature. Yeah right. We’re currently the only Nintendo magazine (or website) to have seen Assassin’s Creed III in action so you won’t be able to get the info anywhere else."

http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/03/23/assassins-creed-3-wii-ugameplay-exclusive-first-look/

Probably nothing but, has anyone read it yet?
 
He said "based on what i understand" which means he head no direct access (or hasn't directly worked with wiiu) to know it's true potential. "On par" here most likely means that they basically ported the ps3/x360 version on wiiu and added some features for controller support without putting too much effort in improving visuals. If you look back at last e3 they said it's on par with other consoles and since the wiiu was improved since then it's obvious that this will be just a fast port.
 
Issue-74-featured-image.jpg


"The latest issue of Nintendo Gamer magazine hits UK shops today, and you’d be mad not to go out and buy it. Unless, of course, you don’t want to read our exclusive Assassin’s Creed III first look feature. Yeah right. We’re currently the only Nintendo magazine (or website) to have seen Assassin’s Creed III in action so you won’t be able to get the info anywhere else."

http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/03/23/assassins-creed-3-wii-ugameplay-exclusive-first-look/

Probably nothing but, has anyone read it yet?

This is the same magazine that posted this:

http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/03/05/first-assassins-creed-3-wii-u-trailer/

and pretended it was the Wii U trailer.

I think their first look feature will just be regurgitated information we heard before about the 360/PS3 versions.
 
UE 3.X will run on Wii U without bigger probs.
UE 4 most likely downscaled

But all in all remember it doesnt matter that much which engine is optimized for WiiU, its only an engine and doesnt show any HW-Specs.

Remember also, WiiU could be on par with durango/ps4 or really close to them.
The only thing that WiiU has to do more is to render 2 screens.

So if we have only one game like AC3 it looks good on PS360 no doubt,
it will look better on WiiU while they use the subscreen.
(if there would be a PS4/720 version it would look a bit better than WiiU maybe)
If the developer dont use the subscreen for AC3 then it would look way better on WiiU than on current gen.
(possibly nearly on par with PS4/720)

Thats just an example, but I'm sure we will see that with multiplats in 2 or three years.

I think you're jumping the gun here. There is no way the Wii-U will be nearly on par with the PS4/720 unless both MS and Sony choose to release systems much smaller than the PS360.

Should rethink some of your other assumptions as well.

Someone here, that another vouched for as reliable, said developers have UE4 up and running on the Wii U at the end of GDC I believe. Yes, I know it's incredibly thin, and if true, it's probably a very rudimentary version, but surely that would mean the gap isn't terribly pronounced.

Anyway, for all of the stated and obvious reasons, I think missing out on another round of current multiplats because of technological limitations would be a mistake. However, if Nintendo wants to go it alone yet again, I'd like to see them pursue that segment of the market by themselves. Monolithsoft or Retro tackling a project on the scale of Skyrim or Uncharted would be sublime.

I never meant to insinuate that UE3.9 or UE4 wouldn't appear on the Wii-U at all, I was just thinking in their current form without scaling down going on. It wouldn't surprise me if we saw more multi-plat titles landing on the Wii-U just down scaled from the competition, which is fine IMO. I'm thinking something along the lines of the gap we see today between the Ps360 and high end PCs.

Trust me when I say I'm not trolling the Wii-U in any way. I'm definitely not one of those guys going "lol welcome to 2005 Nintendo".

So we're finally getting some straight talk from a dev and he states 'right now' the hardware is on par with the current gen.

He couldn't have stated it any clearer. It ties in with everything we've heard so far. What a huge disappointment. Fuck you Nintendo.

Nothing is final and saying fuck you is a bit dramatic don't you think?

Besides with more efficient processes with newer hardware, we should still see some gorgeous games on the system.

whelp, that's it for me. can't take any more of this.

bPBnG.gif

lol what's wrong?
 
So you're saying the Gaming Director for Darksiders 2 is flat out lying in that interview. Really.

I think you need to cool it. You seem very worked up about a vague quote from one guy about a system I doubt you had much interest in.
 
I didn't see anything in the demo's that couldn't be done with PS360 from what I can see.

If you have a link to direct high def footage for me to examine then that would be great.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4rInTqOLI

dat lightingggg is enough. Textures are definitely better too. BG needs to re-post that gif he posted a while back of the bird. It encapsulates enough.

In the end though, like I said, people need to keep their expectations in check. Will it look better than this gen? Most likely. Will it match ps4/720? Helllllz naw. The upside is that the gap will not be like this gens gap.
 
I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.

You bring up a good point. Also, a lot of these ports in development likely have a small Wii U team. We know Darksiders 2 does and it's probably the case for older titles like Batman: Arkham Aslyum as well.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4rInTqOLI

dat lightingggg is enough. Textures are definitely better too. BG needs to re-post that gif he posted a while back of the bird. It encapsulates enough.

In the end though, like I said, people need to keep their expectations in check. Will it look better than this gen? Most likely. Will it match ps4/720? Helllllz naw. The upside is that the gap will not be like this gens gap.

Land version of Endless Ocean confirmed.
 
I'm not getting hung up on that video. It's the same thing Vigil said last year so I never really expected them to deviate. I know there was that random mention about targeting PC-level, but that seemed rather random.



Haha. I've been talking about it the last few pages. Is there something that's still missing for you?

I know you have...
And out of what you mentioned (and the others) I dont expect WiiU to be only on par with the current gen (Hardwarewise), it cant be cos it has to sport 2 screens.

Even grapics of the WiiU I expect way better than current gen (reffering to E3 video).

Or am I wrong?!?

*I would really love to know the final details on hw-side, so please someone drop them here*
 
So you're saying the Gaming Director for Darksiders 2 is flat out lying in that interview. Really.
Dude stated at least twice in the interview that he's not a tech guy, and what he said about the Wii U was paraphrased second hand information. He's the director, not the technical director.
 
So does the magazine has Wii U screens or not?

They said they "Seen it in action", I take it they watched the trailer. lulz. But in all seriousness, I highly doubt they will be official Wii U screenshots, unless Ubisoft specifically confirms it, its anybody's guess.
 
So you're saying the Gaming Director for Darksiders 2 is flat out lying in that interview. Really.

At the very least, Vigil believes that gamers can look forward to ports to Nintendo’s new console that are not inferior to every other version of the game. When we asked Bonstead if he thought it was possible that the Wii U version of Darksiders II would be the best version of the game, he said, "Yeah, just because the hardware is more powerful and it will have some extra features that I think will actually be useful to people playing the game. With it’s controller, [the Wii U version of Darksiders II] might be the best version of the game."
http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2011/06/07/could-project-caf-233-be-the-best-platform-for-darksiders-ii.aspx

The above quote was from a Game Informer interview with Colin Bonstead (Vigil's technical director) that took place on June 07, 2011
 
I'll spell it out for you.

They are also in parallel development with the PC version. I would imagine that the PC version will have higher quality textures. If the WiiU was demonstrably more powerful then the current gen it would be relatively easy for them to have it run at 1080p using PC textures.

The fact that they haven't done that speaks volumes for the WiiU hardware limitations.

I didn't see anything in the demo's that couldn't be done with PS360 from what I can see.

If you have a link to direct high def footage for me to examine then that would be great.

Prediction time: will this thread at some point become cyberheater's grave?

Let's wait until we SEE Darksiders 2 Wii-U shall we?
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF4rInTqOLI

dat lightingggg is enough. Textures are definitely better too. BG needs to re-post that gif he posted a while back of the bird. It encapsulates enough.

Will it match ps4/720? Helllllz naw.

I don't mind the Wii U not matching PS4/720.

But expect the console to receive a massive negative media backlash against them when developers complain about the console not being able to handle certain games.

That's what I'm afraid of.

I know the Wii U will have the games I want. I will buy the Wii U at launch regardless of the power and specs.

But does Nintendo really want a reputation that they always put out underwhelming hardware compared to their competitors? Do they really want a reputation like that to stick to them? It's fine to put out one underpowered console (Wii), but if you keep doing it, people will always expect you to put out weak consoles, and Nintendo will gain a reputation of being cheap.

Again, if the Wii U was literally a 360 with no extra ram (which we know isn't the case), I would still buy the Wii U.

But Nintendo needs to start worrying about its image.
 
Well, considering FXAA is @ 1ms for current gen consoles @ 720p, you'd expect any advancements in ALUs and TMUs to do that much better. It's nothing compared to proper MSAA lighting. It's just a really good blur.

Complexity can further be reduced due to the nature of adaptive tessellation. Triangle count won't be a constant between models rendered at 1600p and 720p as the algorithm attempts to make the triangles above a certain pixel coverage. From what I understand, they did not have dynamic tessellation at the time of the demo ("coming soon").

Other optimizations they could consider using are even lower resolution buffers (beyond half-res) for their particular special effects.

OK. While I didn't know exactly what could/would be done, FXAA is definitely in line with what I felt would be necessary to make a Samaritan-level game more next gen hardware friendly. With the things you are saying as long as Nintendo has a competent GPU there shouldn't be a problem with Wii U games being pseudo-Samaritan level if that's what a developer wants. I doubt there would be many complaints if that were the case.
 
IS this a joke post???i mean for that reason then there wouldnt never be a reason to push the system's power....

He makes a good point though. Between shifts in early dev kits, added an extra unit into the development schedule, and minimal install base, they aren't going to go to town on this game.

There is no expectation set in place for better graphics, so there is no reason to invest in it quite yet.

I'll spell it out for you.

They are also in parallel development with the PC version. I would imagine that the PC version will have higher quality textures. If the WiiU was demonstrably more powerful then the current gen it would be relatively easy for them to have it run at 1080p using PC textures.

The fact that they haven't done that speaks volumes for the WiiU hardware limitations.

Is it confirmed that the PC version offers better assets though?

Also it's not necessarily true that if the Wii-U was more powerful than the PS360, it would have been relatively easy for them to run the game at 1080p.
 
Guek.. nooooo!!! You gotta stay around! If only for the meltdowns and drama - and coming from either side!

That said, when we're at the point where we're pausing videos to look at specific instances of lighting or texturing ("back and to the left, back and to the left"), this is getting pretty pathetic.

I was joking about people picking nits when critiquing graphics capabilities of the next batch of consoles, but to see it still coming true before my very eyes? It strikes me as a bit ridiculous.

"My console is better - it has a 3.2 peniswatt horsepower! Look at the two nits on that bokoblin's ass hair! So realistic!"

"Pssst.. that's a bullshot! My console has two hairs, and four nits on each asshair! Soooo much better - behold, the power of 3.7 peniswatts!, muahahaha!!"

But carry on, carry on.. I'm sure that getting to say "fuck you, Nintendo" felt good, right? :)
 
Issue-74-featured-image.jpg


"The latest issue of Nintendo Gamer magazine hits UK shops today, and you’d be mad not to go out and buy it. Unless, of course, you don’t want to read our exclusive Assassin’s Creed III first look feature. Yeah right. We’re currently the only Nintendo magazine (or website) to have seen Assassin’s Creed III in action so you won’t be able to get the info anywhere else."

http://www.nintendo-gamer.net/2012/03/23/assassins-creed-3-wii-ugameplay-exclusive-first-look/

Probably nothing but, has anyone read it yet?

I subscribe. The magazine just arrived today. Haven't had the chance to read much. Will post anything of note. The best thing so far in the magazine is the spoof Iwata Asks on the back page with Sony boss Kaz Hirai.

IWATA: It's good for Sony that 3DS is selling well - It gives retailers more space to store unsold Vitas. [Laughs]
 
I think you need to cool it. You seem very worked up about a vague quote from one guy about a system I doubt you had much interest in.

I'm buying a WiiU day 1. As I have all Nintendo consoles. I was really hoping for a lot more power.
 
I know you have...
And out of what you mentioned (and the others) I dont expect WiiU to be only on par with the current gen (Hardwarewise), it cant be cos it has to sport 2 screens.

Even grapics of the WiiU I expect way better than current gen (reffering to E3 video).

Or am I wrong?!?

*I would really love to know the final details on hw-side, so please someone drop them here*

Depends on what you mean by "way better". As for the latter, I think most devs would like to know the final details as well.
 
But Nintendo needs to start worrying about its image.
I agree that how people perceive the console will be more important than what it actually is for a lot of people and developers.

I guess that's what E3 is for though. Nintendo's time to convince everybody that they are serious about this shit.
 
UE 3.X will run on Wii U without bigger probs.
UE 4 most likely downscaled
UE4 will run on the Wii U without any issue whatsoever.

Games made using UE4 for PC/PS4/Xbox3 may need to be downscaled in some respects.

Game engines do not have power requirements. They have hardware feature requirements, and the Wii U will tick all boxes (except maybe a few lesser significant graphics effects). Games have power requirements.
 
The above quote was from a Game Informer interview with Colin Bonstead (Vigil's technical director) that took place on June 07, 2011

Keep the same PS360 graphics but managing at the same time a "unique" and "impressive" use of the Upad as they stated, requires a more powerfull hardware, of course.
Plus, it's a port developed from a small team (and it's obvious, due to the fact that the commercial impact of this version of the game will be very small, due to it's late arrival on shelves) from a PS360 game, so obviously I'm not lookinf forward for it to see any big difference in terms of graphics between Ps360 and WiiU.
 
I still can't understand why some people expect multiplat games will be nicer on wii U. First, they are ports. How much effort do you put into ports? Second, contrary to PS360, wii U is new and with 0 userbase, why do you expect them to put extra effort into it? I mean for what? To prove a new hardware capability? But does it make more money for them? Especially if the wii U game price is same as PS360 price.

Given the laziness of PC ports this generation, as little as humanly possible.

People are also forgetting that this is a first wave Wii U game. Did every Xbox 360 look like Perfect Dark Zero? Does anyone remember the "Xbox 1.5" jokes following its launch wave, or am I really that old?
 
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