Developers claim Wii U weaker than PS3, 360. Nintendo says focus on “play,” not “numbers.”

April 3, 2012By Anthony John Agnello

Six years after Wii, Nintendo's ready to enter the HD console race, but the Wii U may not even be able to keep up with the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.

The PlayStation 4 may block the usage of used games and the Xbox 720 may make the jump to using Blu-ray discs. We don’t know. All the rumors and speculation about Orbis and Durango are just that: rumors and speculation. What we can be sure of is that both machines will feature significant graphical upgrades over the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Nintendo’s next machine though, the Wii U, may not be able to make the same claim. According to some developers, Nintendo’s first HD console can’t output graphics that are even on par with Microsoft and Sony’s current machines.

Developers speaking with GamesIndustry International on Monday had more than a few disparaging comments in store for Nintendo’s upcoming tablet-controlled console. “It’s not up to same level as the PS3 or the 360. The graphics are just not as powerful,” said one source.

A representative of Nintendo of America neither confirmed nor denied the report for Digital Trends. “We do not focus on technology specs. We understand that people like to dissect graphics and processing power, but the experience of playing will always be more important than raw numbers.”

Small comfort to developers that must develop for multiple platforms for their games to be commercially viable.

Another source cited as a “developer at a major company” supported the first source’s claim. “Yeah, that’s true. It doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360. There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable,” said the source. It isn’t all bad news though. “Some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”

Nintendo has yet to disclose just what the Wii U is and isn’t capable of. The majority of games already announced for the device are PS3 and 360 games though, including Ninja Gaiden 3, Batman: Arkham City, and unreleased titles like Darksiders II and Aliens: Colonial Marines. Based on these developers’ comments though, those titles may not look quite as nice as they do on competing machines.

It’s possible that the Wii U’s poor graphical prowess is a concession made for its unique controller. The tablet isn’t just a control interface, it’s been positioned as an independent play screen, letting the player enjoy a game on the controller rather than a television the Wii U’s hooked up to. If Nintendo has devoted more of the device’s resources to accommodating that process rather than investing in a beefier GPU, that could explain what developers are reporting.

Showing 11 comments

Simmer_E at 7:23am 5th April 2012 What about the developers who say it out-performs both current-gen consoles? I'd rather believe developers from known companies, than 2 anonymous developers...
Alex Beato at 10:21am 4th April 2012 The biggest problem with Nintendo is the competition that the new Xbox 360 and the new Playstation will give. As for graphics and CPU power we must acknowledge the importance of these 2 pieces of hardware in a world where better graphics (picture quality) is one of the best selling points for HDTV, Blu-ray players, tablets, and many other electronics is based on graphics and CPU power. It is hard to compete if you do not come out strong from the start.I believe the wii was a good invention but it could have been great if it has been able to compete with the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 in terms of graphics and CPU power. We must give credits where it is due but if the Wii have been a 1080p game console it could possibly outsold the PS2 the best seller of all game consoles; we will never not now. Do not take me wrong I understand that the PCU and graphics is not everything in a game but in today's market the games that are selling have great or amazing graphics. This may not have been true in the past 5 to 10 years but our future will be HD. We are even talking about 4K HDTV now. I hope future systems can deliver a 4k picture.
Rudy Magaña at 2:17pm 3rd April 2012 Graphics are not a game. GAMEplay makes a game. Nintendo will be fine.
1. Ian Bell at 3:18pm 3rd April 2012 That didn't help Nintendo with the original Wii.
  1. Rudy Magaña at 3:23pm 3rd April 2012 Touché. My kid plays it every day. He loves it. i guess that's what I meant. IMO, gorgeous graphics don't make a game. Give me Mario any day over COD.
    Ian Bell at 3:32pm 3rd April 2012 I agree with you, its about the games. As for press and media attention, Nintendo will need more to impress them and spread the word to consumers.I just don't think Nintendo can survive off of their franchises (Mario, Zeldo, Metroid etc), they need some big 3rd party games to really make the system successful.
    
    Chris Morley at 8:55am 4th April 2012 I have no interest in Mario. Give me Skyrim or COD any day over the stuff I used to love as a kid but outgrew.
Ian Bell at 1:59pm 3rd April 2012 Big mistake. It' the same mistake Nintendo made with the original Wii. It started out being a fad and quickly died off once people realized it had very limited capabilities.
1. jeremy_johnson at 2:31pm 3rd April 2012 If I recall correctly from an article a few days days, it mentioned that the Xbox 360 never caught up in terms of sales against the Wii. Maybe I'm mixing up my devices / data, though?
Macario at 1:47pm 3rd April 2012 Playstation 4 will obviously out-do the Wii U, the PS3 out-does the Wii right now. Nintendo has decided to focus more on the gameplay than graphics and features, which I believe is wrong because graphics is what a game is.
1. Exia117 at 11:14am 5th April 2012 What's the point in having amazing graphics if the story and gameplay aren't good? Sure pretty graphics can wow a person at first, but it won't keep them playing when the story is boring and the gameplay is terrible.