36 replies to this topic

[Keviin]

Well off course it's going to outpower the current consoles. We just don't know by how much. We'll see.

[Alex Atkin UK]

That debate isn't a necessary. Why would that gamer well I'm going to say why wouldn't that gamer. Every PS3 or 360 gamer isn't the same. Trying to predict what a person does is not achievable. There are people who just like what is new. There is people who are cheap. There are people who don't care either way. PS3 and Xbox 360 are near the end or middle (which ever way you want to put it) of their life cycle. Some people will risk it and some will not. Some people will be scared of the next pricing of their consoles. People can't be lumped into a category cause people are individuals. There are Nintendo fans that will skip the new consoles not just because of whether they like it but price or their own economic condition. If you try to keep thinking about it then you would go insane cause there are so many variables that can happen.

The point is, what will the Wii U offer me (as someone who owns a PS3 and Xbox 360) that is compelling enough to shell out more money?

While I have high hopes for the controller, that alone is not enough if its just running the same games I can get on my Xbox, worse still if it DOESN'T run those games so I am left with a fancy white brick until Nintendo deliver something (rather like how I'm feeling with my 3DS).

Now if those games are running in native 1080p without any loss in geometry over the Xbox 360 version, THAT is pretty compelling for me as I am getting sick of games looking more and more low resolution in order to bump up geometry and textures. The problem I have is Nintendo have basically left it all up in the air. We know it CAN do 1080p, but then so can the PS3 and Xbox 360. What Nintendo have NOT said is if it can run the games Xbox 360 is having to render natively at 540p, natively at 1080p on Wii U. I suspect the answer is YES, but they really should be telling us this.

I got a Wii for its exclusives and found it just wasn't enough to keep me playing on it and that the super blocky low resolution graphics were actually more distracting than I expected on my HDTV. So the Wii U has a deliver a hell of a lot more, especially as its sounding like it will be considerably more expensive.

Edited by Alex Atkin UK, 27 June 2011 - 11:08 AM.

[SparktehFox]

The point is, what will the Wii U offer me (as someone who owns a PS3 and Xbox 360) that is compelling enough to shell out more money?

While I have high hopes for the controller, that alone is not enough if its just running the same games I can get on my Xbox, worse still if it DOESN'T run those games so I am left with a fancy white brick until Nintendo deliver something (rather like how I'm feeling with my 3DS).

Now if those games are running in native 1080p without any loss in geometry over the Xbox 360 version, THAT is pretty compelling for me as I am getting sick of games looking more and more low resolution in order to bump up geometry and textures. The problem I have is Nintendo have basically left it all up in the air. We know it CAN do 1080p, but then so can the PS3 and Xbox 360. What Nintendo have NOT said is if it can run the games Xbox 360 is having to render natively at 540p, natively at 1080p on Wii U. I suspect the answer is YES, but they really should be telling us this.

I got a Wii for its exclusives and found it just wasn't enough to keep me playing on it and that the super blocky low resolution graphics were actually more distracting than I expected on my HDTV. So the Wii U has a deliver a hell of a lot more, especially as its sounding like it will be considerably more expensive.

Well that's just you making this less of a "Debate" and more of a "should I get a Wii Ultra?" thread.

[bsgpro]

If it runs BF3 nearly as good as a standard gaming PC it is good enough for me.

[Biohazard]

If it runs BF3 nearly as good as a standard gaming PC it is good enough for me.

I don't think people will be investing in any of the console versions for Battlefield 3.

[Feld0]

Now if those games are running in native 1080p without any loss in geometry over the Xbox 360 version, THAT is pretty compelling for me as I am getting sick of games looking more and more low resolution in order to bump up geometry and textures. The problem I have is Nintendo have basically left it all up in the air. We know it CAN do 1080p, but then so can the PS3 and Xbox 360. What Nintendo have NOT said is if it can run the games Xbox 360 is having to render natively at 540p, natively at 1080p on Wii U. I suspect the answer is YES, but they really should be telling us this.

One thing you can usually count on with Nintendo is that when they say it runs at 1080p, it'll really run at 1080p. They're usually quite honest when they tell us what their systems can do. Remember when the GameCube was revealed, touting a maximum performance of 12-40 million polygons per second? On the surface, it seemed quite lame compared to the 125 million polygons of the Xbox and the 70 million polgyons of the PlayStation 2.

But what many people didn't realize at first was that Nintendo's figures for the polygon count were honest figures reflecting how many polygons could realistically be used at a time in a real game, with AI, lighting, shadows, texturing, and the goods all running with it; while Microsoft's and Sony's figures pushed the raw limits of how many bare polygons the system could take while doing absolutely nothing else.

The GameCube ended up suffering through a lot of hate it didn't deserve because of this, after which Nintendo shied away from ever revealing exact specs of their systems again for fear of repeating the outbreak of rage. But they do tend to hold their word about the few specs they still do tell us about. So when they say the system and its games run at 1080p, I'm pretty sure they mean it.

[Narcidius]

So far, I like what Dementis says best (as in please, people, can we just kill this family of "will the WiiU be powerful enough" threads?)... I think a LOT has been said about this topic already, in a lot of different places... and I think that if people have real, legitimate doubts about the system's power or its value or its ability to perform, that it would be VERY worth their time to find and to read those threads in their entirety.

So as not to be a kill-joy, however, I'd love to add my two cents to this particular flavor of the old rant... Alex makes a great point about the Wii's graphics being distracting - not just "not as good" as the other systems'. The generational gap will, by all accounts, not be as noticeable this coming generation (that is, if you don't listen to the insane people who expect top-tier PC performance from a console for under $500). He has VERY reasonable requests of the new system, and I think that, from the most reputable sources I've read, the WiiU will certainly be able to do what he expects it to do.

Tre also makes a very reasonable point when he says that it is pretty much impossible to consider all the factors that go into consumer choices... and honestly Tron isn't doing himself any favors, because I find it utterly impossible to decipher what he really cares about. Is he one of those Nintendo fans he admits will be fully satisfied with the system? Is he one of the "PS360" fans who would definitely (*read with sarcasm*) switch from making fun of Nintendo to shelling out the cash for one of their consoles if it ONLY offered them blu-ray and a copy of the games they can already buy on their own systems, but with marginally better graphics (how many die-hard console fans choose to buy multi-platform releases on their PC because the graphics are better, anyway)? Whichever of these camps he's in (or even if he's in a totally different camp), it would be pretty hard for him to argue that he has an accurate bead on Nintendo's consumer prospects.

I would love to see cold, hard sales data on who spends the most money on games per year - and on what those people want to play, and what would make them buy a new system. Even then, however, predicting what people will actually buy is near-impossible. As others have pointed out, no one in sales and marketing knew that what EVERYONE wanted was an iPod until Apple made one (and honestly, I doubt that even consumers knew it until Apple made it... there were plenty of cheaper mp3 players on the market at the time, with just as much storage or more and a sizable online music library). It's hard to tell what will change the game... but I think that Nintendo's approach of interface over horsepower makes about as much sense as any strategy out there, especially at this juncture, where processing power is an issue that developers have pretty much universally discounted as a factor holding them back from doing what they want to do. Can you afford a $1000 console just to have the satisfaction of running BF3 with DX11 at 60fps? The jump just isn't that spectacular...

[Tre]

The point is, what will the Wii U offer me (as someone who owns a PS3 and Xbox 360) that is compelling enough to shell out more money?

What does PS3 and Xbox 360 offer you? I can't answer for you or anyone else. I can't answer for Nintendo. I can only answer for myself. From a hardware concept they have showed me what I wanted. I personally was getting bored of playing video games until the Wii. I've been gaming since 1981. It was interesting have graphic change with each console and controller upgrades until you start expecting it. I'm pushing the same buttons and doing the same with better graphics. The Wii came and gave me something different and I got excited about gaming again. If it wasn't for Nintendo, I would have skipped the current generation. You might not have reached that level or you may never reach that level and I hope you don't cause I want all gamers excited. If you decide to buy the Wii U at launch or later on or not at all, you have to go with what excites you. Just understand your concerns are valid but are not the concerns of everyone.

I would love to see cold, hard sales data on who spends the most money on games per year - and on what those people want to play, and what would make them buy a new system. Even then, however, predicting what people will actually buy is near-impossible. As others have pointed out, no one in sales and marketing knew that what EVERYONE wanted was an iPod until Apple made one (and honestly, I doubt that even consumers knew it until Apple made it... there were plenty of cheaper mp3 players on the market at the time, with just as much storage or more and a sizable online music library). It's hard to tell what will change the game... but I think that Nintendo's approach of interface over horsepower makes about as much sense as any strategy out there, especially at this juncture, where processing power is an issue that developers have pretty much universally discounted as a factor holding them back from doing what they want to do. Can you afford a $1000 console just to have the satisfaction of running BF3 with DX11 at 60fps? The jump just isn't that spectacular...

I would love to see the data too but it wouldn't be accurate due to people selling their games in person or through ebay. You bring up some great points.

[bsgpro]

I don't think people will be investing in any of the console versions for Battlefield 3.

I don't have a good enough PC for that demanding of a game.

[Byakuya Togami]

The Wii U will be very powerful, surpassing the PS3 and X-Box 30 power-wise.

It has been confirmed that this will be the case, my source right here:

[Kinvara]

The Wii U will be very powerful, surpassing the PS3 and X-Box 30 power-wise.

It has been confirmed that this will be the case, my source right here:

Good ol' David. The U is going to be a powerful system- no doubt about it.

[GwJumpman]

New nickname for the Wii U:

The U.

[Konja4life]

Hi guys, real quick thread. I want to know why everyone is praising the WiiU for it's power (it is cool the big N is finally putting power in their system).To put it into terms of this: Saying the Wii U is more powerful then the PS3 or Xbox 360 isn't that surprising. It's exactly like saying "the PS1 is has more power than the SNES..." or "The Xbox 360 has more power than the Gamecube and PS2..." Well of course because it is another generation! It's not that surprising. I think that Microsoft and Sony will put even more power into their 8th generation console. So it is nice to have alot of more power in the new console but the point I am making is it should be because it's another generation...

[giggity3000]

Hi guys, real quick thread. I want to know why everyone is praising the WiiU for it's power (it is cool the big N is finally putting power in their system).To put it into terms of this: Saying the Wii U is more powerful then the PS3 or Xbox 360 isn't that surprising. It's exactly like saying "the PS1 is has more power than the SNES..." or "The Xbox 360 has more power than the Gamecube and PS2..." Well of course because it is another generation! It's not that surprising. I think that Microsoft and Sony will put even more power into their 8th generation console. So it is nice to have alot of more power in the new console but the point I am making is it should be because it's another generation...

"We aren't planning on making the Ps4 much more powerful then the Ps3" -Jack Tretton -Sony

If Microsoft makes the xbox 720 have a power gap like Wii vs 360 then they'd hit 1000$ and ruin their PC market.

[Feld0]

Duplicate threads merged. Please use the search function or look through the boards carefully to see if a thread for this topic already exists (which it does).

One explanation may be that with Nintendo's designers finally getting some true high-calibre hardware to work with, the eight generation may see some of the most beautiful video games ever made. And I don't see anything wrong with drooling over the Zelda or Japanese Garden tech demos, either.

[Happy Monk]

It doesn't really matter how powerful it is, as long as it has good games. The DS (in my opinion) is the best console ever made, and that had a low level of power. Like some of you have been saying already, of course it's more powerful, it has to be! each generation of consoles is more powerful then the last, the wii is more powerful than the original XBOX, just to make things clear (and if it isn't it's a heck of alot more easy to make games for the wii).

It is more powerful, but how much by is debateable. I personally think it's somewhat more powerful, just not overboard.

[Aaron Barton]

One explanation may be that with Nintendo's designers finally getting some true high-calibre hardware to work with, the eight generation may see some of the most beautiful video games ever made.

THIS. Nintendo's best talent will be able to craft stunning games with greater ease than ever. At the VERY least, we're going to have a small handful of legends and masterpieces (but I hope it's a large handful).