GI.biz: "Wii U less powerful than PS3, Xbox 360, developers say"

wat

You seriously believe that this:
zeldacube2_640w.jpg


Wasn't impressive for its time?

Damn, I really miss old Nintendo.
Didn't that demo come out a year after Soul Calibur, Shenmue and Quake 3? Well, maybe it was technically impressive but the art is kind of bland.
 
That generation is one of the harder to nail down. There really isn't that huge of performance differences between any of the three consoles. Comparable in everything from pixel fillrate, to poly counts, to particle effects, and overall bandwidth. Different ways to go about the same things, at close to the same fidelity.

The single largest difference between them was their GPU's. One based off a close to modern pixel-shader design (very well documented at that), another based on a fixed function form of pixel-shading, and the other with no in hardware pixel shader (not even a TEV fixed function level either) the GS had an insane amount of stuff to render and the speed to do so, but none of the inlet features we take for granted in even DX2 era pixel shader design. Such a strange design.

"Oh if you want to do that you have to find a way to make the CPU do it." To a degree relying on the software side to achieve anything.

Part of the reason you've got titles on every platform vying for the top spot of the generation.

There was a bigger performance difference between the xbox and the ps2/gcn than there is now between the 360 and ps3, if there even is one.
 
My god.... this guessing for WiiU's hardware is hilarious(ly) sad.


LISTEN TO ME NINTENDO!!! You better not be doing a Wii scenario this time around. I doubt consumers will far for it again. Create a console similar to what the PS2 was in its respective generation! The least powerful console of the bunch, but still able to have the same games as the others, and if the cards are played right, even the lead platform for games so that the stronger hardware of the others even becomes kinda irrelevant!


I even mailed to mrNintendo@mail.com, but I doubt he'll listen to me anyway. :(
 
Do you guys honestly think Nintendo wouldn't say "Yes, we are HD, and its more powerful than current gen HD consoles" instead of going "We are not about power" . Grasping at straws at its finest, its crazy and it will only get better as E3 approaches. Generally it seems like 3rd party thinks Wii U is pretty close to current gen.
 
I don't believe this rumour. It will be mind boggling if true. I don't know how anyone could claim that sub PS3/360 level of performance is acceptable for a new console.

Worked out OK for them these last few years.

I don't know why there's such an obsession with specs and performance at this point. There are going to be some great looking games on the Wii U. And, if some of them are good, I might buy the thing. Same as any other console.
 
For an in-console comparison, compare the PS2 to the PStwo:

checking-out-the-pstwo-20041015062410097_640w.jpg


Guess what the second version dropped. Oh, it was the HDD bay and the internal PSU!

Just so we can all appreciate Sony's redesign team fully, a later revision of the PS2 Slim put the internal PSU back in the system.

I wish consoles got that small in our advanced future. Thankfully we have DarkChild to move goalposts around for us.
 
Xbox was very big party because it had best GPU money could buy, it was straight out PC gpu. Still, it doesn't change the fact that Wii U shown is almost the size of Wii and has very small fans for something that should be 2-5x faster than current gen.

wiiu_volume_comparison.jpg.jpg

You do make a good point about the size of the box. There quite a few die shrinks that have occurred since 05/06 though. Its really hard to say at this point. I certainly would bet on the Wii-U being more powerful though, but how much is the question.
 
You do make a good point about the size of the box. There quite a few die shrinks that have occurred since 05/06 though. Its really hard to say at this point. I certainly would bet on the Wii-U being more powerful though, but how much is the question.
I said in last thread that it should be expected to be bit more powerful. Maybe 320-400GFLOPS GPU (Xenos is 240GFLOPS) but with tablet like controller it should be pretty even.
 
IGN on the Zelda demo back in 2000:

Link, as you'll see in the screenshots below, is constructed of more polygons that any developer in the world could ever hope to cram into a Nintendo 64 game. The character model is rounded and overflowing with added extras like flowing hair, moving eyes and mouth, an ascertainable earring, leather gloves, pack, and more. The sword Link holds is equally exquisite, with real-time reflections and light-sourcing as well as a level of detail so impressive that one can actually make out the symbol engraving on the steel of the weapon. Meanwhile Ganondorf, a deliciously evil villain in Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64, is now a menacing, hulking beast of a man complete with a gigantic sword of his own, held by hands with individually separated, animated fingers, and grinning ferociously with spooky teeth and moving mouth. Ganon, like Link, is also dressed in his own unique garb brought to life thanks to S3 texture compression, realistic and beautiful.

Standards change over time, but it was certainly impressive enough for them to actually notice details as insignificant as moving mouths and light-sourcing (because it was such a rarity at the time).
 
So I guess this will be the cheapest console at launch ever, if these rumors are true it seems like Nintendo would be making a profit at even ~$150
 
I think SONY & MS should kick back & let the tech develop a while.
They are at a critical mass of active users who happily gobble up software & can fund them for a few more years. Why not ride this gravy train & wait for new exciting tech to really develop. The fuel of these systems still being considered "hot" should suffice a while.
I want some mind melting shit for PS4 I am happily willing to wait.
I would hate to own 3 unevenly powerful systems in the same generation, W.hatT.heF.lyingF.uck!?!
In fact I am content to wait until the most powerful system drops.

If it is true that Wii U is less powerful than PS3 & 360 that would make the new systems from Sony & Microsoft just piss poor knee jerk reactions respectively.
Why not coast put out great titles for a few then drop the big bomb, The mind blowing mother-load rendering Wii U even more obsolete than the original Wii was at the time?
Brand new tech is expencive, that is why the PS3 was so expencive due to Bluray and Cell, which at the time were pretty new technology (at least for the mass market). I dont think that Sony will take that gamble again.
 
"The graphics are just not as powerful," reiterated the source.

This sounds extremely reliable... especially the technical language used in there.

I can't honestly believe this article has been posted into any website. But, gaming press, always one step ahead of nonsense.
 
Worked out OK for them these last few years.

I don't know why there's such an obsession with specs and performance at this point. There are going to be some great looking games on the Wii U. And, if some of them are good, I might buy the thing. Same as any other console.

Because some people a) still use graphics as objective measures of quality and b) are obsessed with their fanboy developer of choice "winning" the graphics arms race...

...the same arms race which has killed off developers left and right, mostly annihilated midtier gaming, and left our modern AAA games bereft of creativity and ideas.
 
IGN on the Zelda demo back in 2000:



Standards change over time, but it was certainly impressive enough for them to actually notice details as insignificant as moving mouths and light-sourcing (because it was such a rarity at the time).
Welcome to 2005. I mean, he said we couldn't hoped for something like that from N64. He is right. Now...actual techy guys (for example Alstrong from b3d) said Zelda definitely had nothing this gen consoles weren't capable of, but it was quite low poly.
 
Less powerful??? Yeah, interesting. Not slightly less powerful but absolutely without a doubt less powerful. Funny how it is so obvious to these anonymous sources. The games should look significantly worse than current gen games at E3 then. We shall see...
 
I still find it funny that a bunch of rumors can come out claiming the Wii-U is more powerful by so-and-so over the 360 & PS3 and people will dismiss it, but one single article from a no-name developer comes and suddenly there might be some merit in his claims.
 
Oh, that Eurogamer thing again? The article that doesn't take smaller die sizes into consideration? Or the larger rear fan in the Wii U, the extra side fan, the lack of space taken up with Gamecube controller ports and memory card slots, etc etc? Technology gets better and smaller, runs cooler, and does so at an exponential pace. That's just how it works.

Also, wouldn't what you're saying also apply to NextBox and PS4? Or are they exempt for some reason?

You dont understand that the ps3 and xbox 360 had been updated a couple times in the last couple of years.

As you see in the image they are using ps3 slim and xbox 360 s.

I believe IBM said the wiiu is at 45nm, which is the same as xbox/ps3. xbox 360 just start on 32nm.
 
Welcome to 2005. I mean, he said we couldn't hoped for something like that from N64. He is right. Now...actual techy guys (for example Alstrong from b3d) said Zelda definitely had nothing this gen consoles weren't capable of, but it was quite low poly.

Uh...what?

You know that demo was in 2000, right?
 
IMO all these claims that 'Wii U isn't as powerful as current systems' are from butthurt Sony and/or MS PR folks. what else can they say? "ummm, yeah Wii U is more powerful, but graphics are overrated anyway!"

give me a break. it's just FUD, which is a notoriously deceptive practice used by PR people who know nothing except what they're told to say. think about it... Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. that's precisely what the purpose of these statements are meant to bring about. and strangely they are unsourced rumors... well, I guess they couldn't actually say who the sources were because then no one would take them seriously.

don't be so naive. PS360 are ancient pieces of trash.
 
There was a bigger performance difference between the xbox and the ps2/gcn than there is now between the 360 and ps3, if there even is one.

Oh definitely.

I like I said there are some things possible on the Xbox that neither could hope to achieve. But on the flipside trying to do something on the Xbox done in a similar fashion to the PS2 is going to lead to a slowdowny mess. Like MGS2.

I'm literally saying the systems were so different as to be from different eras. One from an era where "You sink or swim." in hardware capability. You either programmed to the metal, or you couldn't win. The other with a much more modern approach. With Xbox titles (Or at least those without many variables like racers) it was literally as easy as taking PC self-shadowing code and running it through the pixel-shader. They copy pasta'd in Wreckless (purportedly) and had the shading effect running competently.

The MS model seems to have taken almost complete hold on this industry (soon to be complete when the WiiU launches) of legitimate accessibility. Nintendo talked about, but they never achieved it in the same way Microsoft did.
 
I still find it funny that a bunch of rumors can come out claiming the Wii-U is more powerful by so-and-so over the 360 & PS3 and people will dismiss it, but one single article from a no-name developer comes and suddenly there might be some merit in his claims.

It's been addressed several times, it's no longer a funny realization.
 
IMO all these claims that 'Wii U isn't as powerful as current systems' are from butthurt Sony and/or MS PR folks. what else can they say? "ummm, yeah Wii U is more powerful, but graphics are overrated anyway!"

give me a break. it's just FUD, which is a notoriously deceptive practice used by PR people who know nothing except what they're told to say. think about it... Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. that's precisely what the purpose of these statements are meant to bring about. and strangely they are unsourced rumors... well, I guess they couldn't actually say who the sources were because then no one would take them seriously.

don't be so naive. PS360 are ancient pieces of trash.
Yea, I'm sure MS and Sony are beating their heads over the fact that 7 years after, Nintendo makes console that is more powerful than theirs hoping for ports from those systems.
 
Hold me GAF--And tell me this isn't true!

There's not much to say.

I can believe that the Wii U is less powerful than the PS3 and 360, because it's possible. It's also possible that the PS4 will block used games and that the next Xbox would need to be connected online for it to work.

Everything is in the table right now, nothing is really too out there to be impossible.
 
They're gimmicky tech, and not everyone wants that.

Who said that? I think the obsession with graphics is gimmicky if gimmick implies shallow or surface novelty. I was almost going to buy games like GT5, Killzone, GOW3 based purely on the graphics but then played the demos and realised they did nothing for me beyond that.

The use of the touchscreen on the DS/iPod and motion controls and the pointer in the Wii remote did far more for gaming than the improved graphics of the PS360. Seriously the pointer should be the new standard. Bit no, we'll still be using a Duel Shock in ten years won't we?
 
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