Hyawatta

Best Possible Scenario

When the XBOX, PS2, & GCN were out, multiplatform games were developed using the PS2 as the base console from which to port to the other platforms. The PS2 was the least powerful of the three; however, that did not hinder the development of those multiplatform games.

Currently, the 360, PS3, & Wii are out. Multiplatform games are developed using the 360 as the base console from which to port to the other platforms. However, the Wii does not receive most of these multiplatform games because the hardware is not powerful enough run them without significantly changing the games. The 360 is less powerful than the PS3; however, that does not hinder the development of those multiplatform games. Actually, many of the ports look or play better on the 360 than they do on the PS3 because they are better optimized for the base console that they are developed on.

When the Wii U comes out, multiplatform games will continue to be developed using the 360 as the base console from which to port to the other platforms. However, the Wii U will receive the best versions of those multiplatform games because of additional features that will be added to take advantage of the new controller. Also, do to the touted similarities with and ease of porting from the 360 to the Wii U, the performance problems that the PS3 ports would have will be replaced by performance enhancements for the Wii U such as running in native 1080p and at a solid 60fps rate.

When the Wii U, XBOXTEN, & PS4 are out, multiplatform games will be developed using the Wii U as the base console from which to port to the other platforms. The Wii U will be the least powerful of the three; however, that will not hinder the development of those multiplatform games. Likely, many of the ports will look or play better on the Wii U than on the other platforms because they will be better optimized for the base console that they will be developed on.

If you look up the specs for any next-generation game engine you will see that there is at least one thing they all have in common, Direct X 11/Open GL 4.2 support. The only other major commonality seems to be a focus on multiprocessor (around 20 processors) support. Rallying support for an equivalent of Direct X 11/Open GL 4.2 functionality is likely much more feasible than asking Nintendo to add a 20-core processor to the Wii U.

If the Wii U releases without support for an equivalent of DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2, then it would be in a similar situation as the 3DS releasing without a second slide pad. Except I don't think an expansion would be able to fix it.

It seems fairly obvious that the next generation development efforts are based around DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 functionality (Feel free to include any engines that I may have left out):

Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4
id Software's id Tech 6
Crytek's CryENGINE 4
DICE's Frostbite 3
Techland's Chrome Engine 6
CD Projekt's RED Engine 2
Capcom's MT Framework 3
Square-Enix's Luminous Engine
Valve's Source Engine

I can’t emphasize enough how critical this is. As long as the Wii U can support DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 level functionality and features, it should be able to compete with the new systems that Microsoft and Sony will eventually release. Of course the Wii U can run ports of games developed for the PS3 and 360, but the Wii U's ability to run the next-gen engines will secure its position as a viable console for developers to release their future multiplatform games onto during the upcoming generation of consoles.

If the Wii U can handle the next-gen game engines that require a DirectX 11/OpenGL 4.2 level of functionality and features, then it will enjoy the multiplatform support that the PS3 and 360 had. If the Wii U cannot run the next-gen engines, then it will suffer from having a similar level of multiplatform support that the Wii had.