Nintendo Responds to Concerns of Wii U Power

[DiscostewSM]

I'm kinda thinking the Wii U will be the "Dreamcast" of this coming generation, being released earlier than the competition, not being as powerful as those will be, but will be a great system. It will have just with one difference. The problems that led the Dreamcast to its demise won't be present with the Wii U, considering how well Nintendo is doing right now.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm kinda thinking the Wii U will be the "Dreamcast" of this coming generation, being released earlier than the competition, not being as powerful as those will be, but will be a great system. It will have just with one difference. The problems that led the Dreamcast to its demise won't be present with the Wii U, considering how well Nintendo is doing right now.

Oh really? I have a Dreamcast and what lead to its demise was GD-Rom's, Nintendo seems to be leaning towards the proprietary disc format and not BluRay aswell, so...

 

[Midna]

Well, they didn't confirm hard numbers either, now did they? We know it's a multi-core CPU and it has a nice GPU, with HDD support and the graphic capability is sufficient enough to run Crytek's Crysis engine and it can run the Unreal 3 Engine, so why would developers be so douchey about it being "weak"?

But the Xbox 360 and PS3 can run those engines too. I don't think anyone would downplay it as "Wii-level" graphics. It's absolutely positive that it's at least Xbox 360/PS3 level. The issue now is that some people think it'll be so much better than those two and others think not. But if it was more powerful than those two consoles, why would Nintendo have a press release that made so many people doubt that?

Well it's not like this is news straight from Reggie or something. It's just a random spokesperson dodging question by spouting company philosophy

 

[Veho]

"Nintendo Responds to Concerns of Wii U Power" by saying "...but, the gameplay will be awesome."

 

[DiscostewSM]

I'm kinda thinking the Wii U will be the "Dreamcast" of this coming generation, being released earlier than the competition, not being as powerful as those will be, but will be a great system. It will have just with one difference. The problems that led the Dreamcast to its demise won't be present with the Wii U, considering how well Nintendo is doing right now.

Oh really? I have a Dreamcast and what lead to its demise was GD-Rom's, Nintendo seems to be leaning towards the proprietary disc format and not BluRay aswell, so...

It was more than that, like how it was easily hackable to play backups, Sega didn't have the fund to push the system, and that they in the end felt selling hardware wasn't profitable enough that, based on what the new chair of Sega at the time said, they wanted to be strictly software-based. From what I see, Nintendo is not following that path. Even with the Wii not having the ability to play DVDs (except through early hacked versions), it still sold very well in comparison.

edit
While the Wii could play backups easily too, the Dreamcast didn't require any modifications. If you have the software to burn a proper Dreamcast disc, that was all you needed.

 

[Foxi4]

I'm kinda thinking the Wii U will be the "Dreamcast" of this coming generation, being released earlier than the competition, not being as powerful as those will be, but will be a great system. It will have just with one difference. The problems that led the Dreamcast to its demise won't be present with the Wii U, considering how well Nintendo is doing right now.

Oh really? I have a Dreamcast and what lead to its demise was GD-Rom's, Nintendo seems to be leaning towards the proprietary disc format and not BluRay aswell, so...

It was more than that, like how it was easily hackable to play backups, Sega didn't have the fund to push the system, and that they in the end felt selling hardware wasn't profitable enough that, based on what the new chair of Sega at the time said, they wanted to be strictly software-based. From what I see, Nintendo is not following that path. Even with the Wii not having the ability to play DVDs (except through early hacked versions), it still sold very well in comparison.

That is correct, however keep in mind that using DVD's on the Dreamcast would successfuly make piracy "harder" since at the time, DVD burners costed a fortune plus one baby sacrifice. Sega pulled out of a game they knew they're going to lose at. The Wii did indeed sell well, but did it give freedom to developers and attract third party? Not really.

 

[Eerpow]

Well, they didn't confirm hard numbers either, now did they? We know it's a multi-core CPU and it has a nice GPU, with HDD support and the graphic capability is sufficient enough to run Crytek's Crysis engine and it can run the Unreal 3 Engine, so why would developers be so douchey about it being "weak"?

But the Xbox 360 and PS3 can run those engines too. I don't think anyone would downplay it as "Wii-level" graphics. It's absolutely positive that it's at least Xbox 360/PS3 level. The issue now is that some people think it'll be so much better than those two and others think not. But if it was more powerful than those two consoles, why would Nintendo have a press release that made so many people doubt that?

Well it's not like this is news straight from Reggie or something. It's just a random spokesperson dodging question by spouting company philosophy

Exactly!
Even if this was from Reggie it's still the usual bullshit answer you'd get from Nintendo, answering without giving away anything, this comment from the random spokesman leads us to nowhere.
As I said before, he probably don't know more than us when it comes to specifications.

Power isn't their main focus but seeing as Nintendo of Japan wants to have more developers on their side I don't see how having less than expected hardware performance would help them reach their goals.
Besides, they've said it would be sold at a loss, given the usual launch price I don't see how the hardware could possibly be less than favorable.

 

[Elrinth]

Its obvious that the Wii U will be more powerful than anything already out since current gen console use such old hardware.

however according to unknown developers who have access to the development kit it's not so obvious.
time will tell I guess

 

[DiscostewSM]

Its obvious that the Wii U will be more powerful than anything already out since current gen console use such old hardware.

however according to unknown developers who have access to the development kit it's not so obvious.
time will tell I guess

Again with the "unknown", like they are somehow as important as the known ones who actually present themselves to the public to make statements instead of hiding in the shadows.

 

[KingVamp]

Again with the "unknown", like they are somehow as important as the known ones who actually present themselves to the public to make statements instead of hiding in the shadows.

That whole article in question, are these guys really devs or are they even real. O.o
As in, the whole thing could be made up...

 

[Deleted_171835]

=
Why would they downplay the specs? Like I'm no strategist here but I'd think you'd get more hype from your system with a strongly worded statement like "These rumors are absolutely false, the Wii U will be sporting advanced hardware and innovative controls from day one." Now that would make every Wii U hopeful giddy with excitement not "Well, um, we don't care about specs, we care about games!" which can easily be translated as "Yeah, this thing is pretty weak."

Because this is a PR spokesperson who doesn't actually know a thing about the Wii U specs?

 

[Elrinth]

It's against the contract to talk shit about ninty when you sign with them. you would probably bring chaos upon yourself if you talk about how underpowered the wii u is even before it's released.

 

[Creqaw]

So he didn't deny nor confirm the rumors, why was he talking again?

 

[Centrix]

Sigh! you know I find it funny how most developers have confirmed more or less that this new system code named "Wii U" is a Power House etc. Take them as rumors or what ever but as far as I am concerned the system has been confirmed to be 50x more powerful than current gen systems at the same time I am just gonna wait to see what the system can do at its re-unavailing at E3 this June, I for see Nintendo walking away with this years E3 yet again!. I mean pit the Zelda tech demo against any 360/PS3 title and be amazed that the Zelda Demo is only running on 10% of the Wii U's power and that's before all the over hauling Big N is doing behind the scenes that we keep hearing about!

The fact of the matter is that every time a new console or handheld unit is announced rumors are sure to follow, why can't people just wait until the system's unveiling who knows, maybe it has to do with the anticipation for the system and what it can do or maybe it has do with are hopes and dreams for the system! I for am very hyped and excited for both the unveiling of the Wii U and to see what else has been cooking behind the scenes for the games on Wii U and the rumored remodeled 3DS to see if its true or not as well as all the games for it! Simply put where in for the ride of are lives and its gonna be one hell of and E3 all because of Big N bet on it!

 

[RoMee]

I think this is a statement issued by NOA.

A Nintendo of America spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied these reports in a statement issued to Digital Trends

If this statement was not issued my Nintendo, they would come out and say they did not issue that statement.

I still think the Wii U will be a little more powerful then current gen, but not by much.

 

[Centrix]

ppl please June is right around the corner what we can confirm is that the system keeps getting hardware updates and improvements and it has been confirmed by a number of developers. I say we shut up sit back and wait to see what Big N has mustered up behind closed doors because they have obliviously changed the over all look of the system as it has been mentioned several times and I wouldn't be surprised if the controller was tweaked as well! will have to wait and see patience ppl patience! enough with the rumors already sheesh!

 

[ov3rkill]

The only reason I'm buying Nintendo consoles are their exclusive games. I don't care about the power of the system. I have a PC for that. I guess we'll be meeting again soon Samus, Mario, Link, etc. on the Wii U.

 

[Satangel]

Typical Nintendo response, this saddens me a bit because it strengthens my feelings that the Wii U will still get the shittiest ports possible when multiplatform titles come out. Personally I'm getting sick of the usual Metroid/Mario/Zelda/.... games, it's not enough for me.

 

[Bladexdsl]

in other words gfx and power don't make a game good

 

[Satangel]

in other words gfx and power don't make a game good

Completely agree with this, but it does help the (sales of the) game itself (image, promotion, appearance, ....)
MW3 versus Wolfenstein, 95% of unknowing people will pick MW3, simply because of the graphics/atmosphere/....