56 replies to this topic

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

Can I like this comment 1000 times?

You could try but I don't think it work lmao

[GAMER1984]

I can't quite place my finger on it I just know it's gonna be good or bad, I'm hoping good lol, I get these feelings quite a lot. Oh and yeah I know what you mean, I know it's never about the specs with Nintendo, but for the sake of the Hardcore market and th Wii U itself they need to speak up soon. It won't affect my desicion however but people deserve to know what it is exactly they paid for.

yeah i already got one and im loving it... lots of potential. but i am looking forward to seeing how this plays out. i know nintendo will make amazing looking games for the system. but will they be looked over by 3rd parties when the other systems comes out? will anyone give a damn about making solid mature games for Wii U when ps4 and nextbox arrives? how will the 3rd party multiplat games work out on Wii U when being ported up or down from ps4 and nextbox? lots of questions still need to be answered

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

yeah i already got one and im loving it... lots of potential. but i am looking forward to seeing how this plays out. i know nintendo will make amazing looking games for the system. but will they be looked over by 3rd parties when the other systems comes out? will anyone give a damn about making solid mature games for Wii U when ps4 and nextbox arrives? how will the 3rd party multiplat games work out on Wii U when being ported up or down from ps4 and nextbox? lots of questions still need to be answered

Indeed, and for our sake I hope we get these answers soon.

[GAMER1984]

Indeed, and for our sake I hope we get these answers soon.

yeah well nintendo has a lot to prove... they have been losing core players in droves the last two generations.

[BrosBeforeGardenTools]

You guys know I was a bit harsh on the Wii U but something which I'm starting to realize is that I must play every game on it for myself. I don't believe I can trust any reviews. Madden 13 Wii U turned out to be a better experience than what I thought :3.

But back on topic, something which I wonder is just how much power the Gamepad takes from the system, to display the content and such. Some say not much, some say something.

Also, keep in mind we won't see next-gen games on the Wii U until the PS4 and Nextbox come and those games are ported over to the Wii U. /my opinion

Edited by PotatoHog, 24 November 2012 - 12:32 AM.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

yeah well nintendo has a lot to prove... they have been losing core players in droves the last two generations.

Well they gained one back in the form of me lol, MY pure hatred for the other companies drove me back and I'm glad it did, Nintendo is the father of gaming and always will be no matter how many mistakes are made, I admit they have made quite a few but it's only a matter of time before things get better, if it takes them losing a big chunck of thier money so be it, and the current heads of Nintendo won't be there forever, it won't be long untill the next generation of tallent takes over then things will really start changing.

You guys know I was a bit harsh on the Wii U but something which I'm starting to realize is that I must play every game on it for myself. I don't believe I can trust any reviews. Madden 13 Wii U turned out to be a better experience than what I thought :3.

But back on topic, something which I wonder if just how much power the Gamepad takes from the system, to display the content and such. Some say not much, some say something.

Also, keep in mind we won't see next-gen games on the Wii U until the PS4 and Nextbox come and those games are ported over to the Wii U. /my opinion

Even I was really harsh on release day my friend I just think it shocked us all and none of us were really thinking straight, I regret that day big time but from what I've read it could be bull, is that the GamePad has it's own seperate CPU, GPU, probably a load of rubbish but still..............

[BrosBeforeGardenTools]

Either way, we aren't in the next-gen yet. A port of Assassins Creed III isn't nextgen. In a couple of years, the Wii U will probably be a nextgen system. Which will be awesome. :3

[Joshua]

FINALLY, some positive articles!

[Desert Punk]

The the CPU is more than just the Wii’s version times three. For starters, it uses a newer technology from IBM called 45nm SOI process.

Sadly the article is from someone relatively clueless. 45nm is a process which the 360 and PS3 are already at and possibly exceeded with a 40nm process. SOI just means silicon on insulator which again is an old process.

The 45nm fabrication size is cheap nowdays its actually a strong indication that Nintendo went the lower tech cheap route for the CPU and the complete opposite of anything positive. Modern PC cpus are on much improved fabrication processes.

Its just fanboy spin for fanboys stupid enough to believe it. Developers are the real source of information on how powerful a cpu is. They can judge it fairly by what the cpu can achieve compared to other consoles. There is nothing radical or new about the wii u design both the cpu and gpu architecture will be well known. Its not like the ps2 and ps3 where little pockets of extra processing power will be found or utilised later on due to their stupidly complicated design. The wii u has slow memory chips because its cpu doesn't need faster memory chips. This isn't complicated to work out.

[Goose]

Sadly the article is from someone relatively clueless. 45nm is a process which the 360 and PS3 are already at and possibly exceeded with a 40nm process. SOI just means silicon on insulator which again is an old process.

The 45nm fabrication size is cheap nowdays its actually a strong indication that Nintendo went the lower tech cheap route for the CPU and the complete opposite of anything positive. Modern PC cpus are on much improved fabrication processes.

Its just fanboy spin for fanboys stupid enough to believe it. Developers are the real source of information on how powerful a cpu is. They can judge it fairly by what the cpu can achieve compared to other consoles. There is nothing radical or new about the wii u design both the cpu and gpu architecture will be well known. Its not like the ps2 and ps3 where little pockets of extra processing power will be found or utilised later on due to their stupidly complicated design. The wii u has slow memory chips because its cpu doesn't need faster memory chips. This isn't complicated to work out.

The 5670 uses 40 nm.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview.aspx#2

[3Dude]

Please dont use Zelda informer. There are a few half truths in here, mixed in with a whole lot of (poor) speculation and plausible sounding explanations (in english) that are qctually nonsensical gibbirish to anyome who knows the subject at hand. There is a reason this site has been banned from places like neogaf.

Yes, its true this next gen will be gpgpu centric rather than cpu centric. It looks like the ps4 will forgoe bc because its cpu cant meet the flop count of the cell. Its going to be a different gen.

But the wii u is still a tiny system that draws a tiny 75 watts from the wall (the amount the system gets is less than that even). Its not going to magically become a super powerful next gen system.

Pay attention to what Nintendo says, they are actually giving away a lot of information this time. Nintendo says they spent their time developing a system that has a good balance of size, power draw, price, and performance. And thats exactly what theyve made. For its size and power draw, the wii u is looking to be an incredibly powerful system, for its size and power draw. Ps4 and durango will be larger systems, that much much more power from the wall (maybe sony not so much). The wii u wont be able to compete powerwise with such large power hungry systems.

People should be concentrating less on thinking the wii u is a superpowerful console, and more that its simply not a 'horrible weak' system these clearly exaggerated (thanks eurogamer) rumours are making it out to be.

Ive stated this from the beginning, and the evidence is solidifting more and more around it. The wii u is looking to be 2-3x more powerful than ps360.... And the other systems look to be coming in 2-4x more powerful than wii u.

[Dragon]

I'M SO GLAD YOU POSTED THIS, UNCHAINEDGOKU!

[Noonabites]

As sweet as the article sounds, I've already heard the naysayers (regarding this article specifically . I do think Nintendo should just step up and release the specs already or release games that'll hush everyone up about whether or not these things matter. Unfortunately the latter might take a couple of years, eh?

[backudog]

I agree, ninty need to reveal a game that ,graphically at least, makes people sit up and go WOAH!, in a good way of course, that shows the U can do stuff the 360 + ps3 can't. THEN maybe the doomsayers n haters will shut the hell up!

[nintendo3DS]

Come on that took only took me about two minutes to read. Lazy lazy people, it's a good article that people should read.

OH, I'm sorry I'm not obsessed with the Wii U specs like most of you on here. And you don't need to put the (false) time it took you to read it on here.

Really, now? You two are almost borderline spamming. Why post at all if you can't read it?

Lol, I can read it you stolid nut. It's called a joke, but I know the try-hards on the internet got to have those sticks up their butt because they can't handle jokes. No, you have to be serious on the internet. If you don't post a comment on a thread that expresses the topic thoroughly then you're dumb. And then some guy that thinks he's cool on the internet says, "Why post at all if you can't read it?" That's funny because you are one of those guys that has a stick up their butt. I don't know how you're a moderator. Wait I do, you're one of those guys that has a stick up their butt on the internet.

[backudog]

Spamming is frowned upon here??? couldnt tell...

two posts made saying the same thing about spamming?

[uPadWatcher2]

"So, let me preface this by explaining that I feel the developers are completely misunderstanding the Wii U. As with any new generation of consoles, there are bound to be some kinks the developers don’t yet understand with the new hardware. Out the gate, lets tackle the main complaint. The “slow” CPU. You see, the clock speed of the CPU is slow. In fact, it’s intentionally slow. It’s true that the CPU of the Wii U is a Power-Based custom IBM processor. For those wondering, it’s not a Power 7 based. Essentially, it means it’s built upon the same technology as the Wii. That’s on purpose mind you.
The the CPU is more than just the Wii’s version times three. For starters, it uses a newer technology from IBM called 45nm SOI process. This is a massive improvement over the 90nm SOI process the Wii version had. Essentially, this makes the processor “overclock” at higher end speeds while reducing power consumption. Essentially, it makes the Wii U’s processor run even faster than it’s clock speeds with higher efficiency and lower power output. Of course, that’s only going to make the processor run just a bit better, so it still is fundamentally slow. However, the CPU uses a significant amount of eDRAM. What this allows the Wii U to do, essentially, is move more data at once compared to the Wii processor times three. You can store more data in the eDRAM and as such, move more at once as well. So, the processor is slower, but similar to the Power 7 tech, it moves more data at once at that slower rate than the standard processor at such rates.
Again though, the CPU is not Power 7 based, so it only increases the performance level by a certain amount. Certainly though, the performance increase does fundamentally make it have a higher efficiency than whats in the current gaming consoles. It just wont win any awards in the next generation. However, thanks in large part to the super beefy GPU (by console standards), the Wii U doesn’t need a beefy processor. The GPU is based on a Radeon HD 5670. As the console break down shows, thanks to even more eDRAM, the Wii U version of the Radeon HD 5670 that has been custom built is actually more powerful than the original PC version of the card. This is extremely vital, because the HD 5670 is in fact a GPGPU.
A GPGPU are quickly become standard in gaming rig PCs for a few reasons, but chief among them is the fact that GPGPU’s actually handle several functions that the CPU traditionally does, except it does them better. In layman’s terms, some of the most CPU (processor) heavy applications like Physics are actually handled by the Graphics Card (GPU). This means, in a Wii U, while the CPU can handle these tasks, the console is actually built around the notion that the GPU will tackle said tasks.
The downfall of the GPGPU is that if it’s not being used in the fashion it’s intended to, which means taking on heavy graphical processing and extreme mathematical equations to perform in the game (aka, if you’re not heavily using the GPU and it’s processing), it actually performs slower. So if you run the bare bones through it, throw everything else at the processor, it not only over strains a processor not meant to handle such functions, it actually causes the GPU to under-perform, and as such… create problems. This is chiefly why games like Mass Effect 3 are having issues, and why Batman Arkahm City Armored Edition are having massive frame rate issues.
In essence, it’s not that the Wii U is underpowered. Rather, it’s the the Wii U uses more advanced technology that actually takes away the stress normally associated with a CPU, and in turn lowers power consumption, heat level, and ultimately leads to producing some of the best graphical capabilities on the market. Essentially, with everything customly aimed towards gaming, the Wii U is like a middle of the road gaming PC. A middle of the row gaming rig absolutely destroys the PS3 and Xbox 360.
Now, this doesn’t mean everything is peachy. Unless the PS4 and the 720 are being silly, both should also feature GPGPU’s like the Wii U, and will both likely have better processors than the Wii U. So, the Wii U will be behind, but it’s unlikely the PS4 and 720 will feature GPU’s that are any beefier than the Wii U. In fact, since they may have better processors (or, should based on normal conventions), it’s conceivable the other consoles in turn have less powerful GPGPU’s since the processor can help maintain some of what is lost.
I know, it’s a lot of technical jargin, but armed with this information you can see that the Wii U is actually going to hold it’s own quite nicely. It just requires people, like the DICE dev, to fundamentally change the way in which they make games take advantage of the hardware. Similar issues arose with the PS3 and it’s CPU back in the day, and now the issue rises up with the Wii U and it’s GPU.
In the future, developers would be wise to truly take hold of the beefy GPGPU in the Wii U and push it as hard as they can. With all the extra eDRAM running around, and all the processing power the GPU has to handle such aspects like Physics, it’s no wonder current generation games are struggling. Current generation (or last generation for us Wii U owners) are extremely CPU based games. Heavily reliant on the CPU pushing through. In the next generation, this is going to change significantly. The Wii U is already there. It’s just going to take time for console developers to get into the mindset to take advantage of the GPGPU featured in the Wii U, just like what will happen in the other next generation consoles.
In layman’s terms: The Wii U is a sexy, misunderstood, true next generation gaming system that requires developers to change the way in which they program their games in order to get significantly better looking, and better performing, games than what are currently out there. Any concerns over a slow processor are completely negated by the fact the Graphics Card on the Wii U can actually handle some of the larger processes, like physics, usually reserved for the processor.
The Wii U is going to be just fine folks. While it wont be as powerful as the PS4 or 720, that beefy GPGPU is going to ensure the Wii U can stay up with the new systems that are coming. Naturally, the biggest reason to go against console convention and use a GPGPU like the Wii U does is costs. GPU’s are just a lot cheaper, and when you start to be able to toss the larger processes at them like Physics, it pretty much increases the efficiency of the entire console 10 fold. The Wii U is doing something that the PS3 and 360 can only dream of doing presently. Truly, they have to catch up, as do the developers, because the way the hardware processes games is changing, and the Wii U is perfectly set up for that shift."

Source: http://www.zeldainfo...-generation-pow

I'm starting to like these articles, haters are gonna hate but this just might shut a few up, hopefully! Thoughts?

UnchainedKakarot... I mean Goku, this is ultimately one of the best comments I've ever read. Although the information is too much for me to handle (over 9000?!), the developers need to understand more of how the Wii U handles both processord and need to take full advantage of the GPGPU engine. Whether they use Unreal 3 or 4, CryEngine 3, Unity 4, or Retro's new graphics engine, they must take full advantage and prove each and every game critic and analyst completely wrong.

[neverwinteru]

very good read,pretty interesting.

im still likely to get a 360 as well as a wii u

[alan123]

If the Wii U hardware works with this GPGPU set-up to take load off the CPU via the GPU then by doing this you are taking away processing power away from the GPU.

A CPU is much faster than a GPU, but a GPU can do more processes than a CPU at any given time, but it does so more slowly, this is one reason why GPU's are used in super-computers because they can crunch data/numbers faster overall because they run more processes.

The actual issue is that the Wii U is only maybe half a generation in-front of the X360 & PS3 & not a full step in-front.

[SoldMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

FINALLY, some positive articles!

Tell me about it.

I'M SO GLAD YOU POSTED THIS, UNCHAINEDGOKU!

NO PROBLEM LOL

UnchainedKakarot... I mean Goku, this is ultimately one of the best comments I've ever read. Although the information is too much for me to handle (over 9000?!), the developers need to understand more of how the Wii U handles both processord and need to take full advantage of the GPGPU engine. Whether they use Unreal 3 or 4, CryEngine 3, Unity 4, or Retro's new graphics engine, they must take full advantage and prove each and every game critic and analyst completely wrong.

MY NAME IS GOKU, lmao