Nintendo Say Wii U Can Compete With Next Gen, Microsoft Disagree

Nintendo’s Satoru Iwata has been speaking to company shareholders and was asked how the Wii U will fare when Microsoft and Sony release their next gen machines.

“The difference between the Wii U and such console will not be as drastic as what you felt it was between the Wii and the other consoles because there will be fewer and fewer differentiators in graphics,” he claimed.

“Naturally some consumers are very sensitive about such a small difference in graphics so that we will make efforts to make the most of the performance of the Wii U to keep up with technological innovations and not to make the system out-of-date soon,” he added.

Meanwhile Microsoft have been having a nosey round the Wii U and have decided that the machine is destined to recieve a load of Xbox 360 shovelware ports.

“They are really making an on-ramp for the back catalog of games that are on 360. It is easy for those games to move over to the Wii U. They’ve moved the buttons around, and they’ve made a controller that feels familiar for 360 gamers, so I get why they are putting those pieces together,” he said

“They are building a platform that is effectively a 360 when you think of graphical capability,” he concluded.

Personally I’m inclined to agree with Microsoft,  what do you think?

Source: GamesIndustry.Biz 1/2

23 Comments

  1. …I don’t really care, :3

  2. Can’t argue with the logic, expect WiiU will do everything the 360 did at full HD resolutions. And on LSD.

  3. The WiiU will fail miserably as a gaming console but as a zumba/workout machine it will do well.

  4. If i can get upscaled output on wii games through backwards compatibility then skyward sword and mario galaxy 2 may get played more, but maybe not at launch if its too expensive

  5. The Wii U will fail, Nintendo are going to have to make a loss on it like with the 3DS if they want to sell it.

  6. So far unfortunately I’m going to have to agree with Microsoft.

  7. Well at first I believe that developers will be cautious about developing exclusively/specifically with the Wii U in mind – it’s easier for them to cash in on making ports from existing consoles.
    However, given the rumoured specs of the Wii U, it’s certainly got the innards to be able to handle next gen stuff as well, albeit perhaps not quite as shiny particle effects etc. However, Iwata is correct in saying that there is less to set them apart – the ceiling in general is lower, thus there is less chance for them to be that much higher than the Wii U.

    Thus as the development cycle moves towards specifically taking advantage of more powerful consoles, there will be more Wii U and next gen stuff, not just X360 ports. Also as it gains momentum, more developers will get on board, except this time, if they have learned their lesson, they’ll do it sooner.

    MS have to downplay the Wii U, while at the same time highlighting certain features in order to promote their own success (Glass). Why? Because it’s coming out before theirs and they don’t want people shifting their attention.

    As for the success of the Wii U, I think it will be just fine as long as they actually have a good launch line up unlike the 3DS launch. I am actually tired of people writing off the machine before it’s actually out, for the sole reason that it’s a Nintendo. Even if it released all of the same games as the other machines, or better, people would still bitch about it, just for the sake of it.

    Why should you care if it fails? Shouldn’t you care more about if games being released on the platform of your choice are any good? Does the existence of another console not of your choosing some how offend you personally?

    Console bigotry?

    Why would you want to see a company in the same industry as the one you (I hope) love? Because the world isn’t messed up enough as it is? Because the economy isn’t quite screwed beyond fixing so you want everyone not involved with your console of choice to not succeed?

    I think people have forgotten what it really means to be a gamer. Or never were in the first place.

    • Extremely well thought out reply. The hate surrounding this machine from some quarters is very sad to see.

    • Things like this have been going on since the dawn of gaming. SEGA vs Nintendo for example. No one wants that ever again to see SEGA where they are now makes me genuinely sad but Nintendo will be fine and so will the WiiU. Its just a fact that Nintendo are behind in technology terms now. With the the WiiU it will be on par with the current gen. but when Sony and MS come out with their machines the WiiU will be lagging behind again. Also though we have to take into account the control schemes Nintendo are using. Motion control will only ever be for casual gaming. Seeing as it is supposed to be a major part of the WiiU and the strange (probably expensive) tablet device is pretty much locking out the hardcore gamer. Not maybe to the extent where they wouldn’t buy one but where it isn’t their main gaming system. That is the main problem for both the Wii and WiiU. I could probably guarantee that 99% of “hardcore” gamers dont use a wii as their main console.

      So really the point I am trying to make here is that things have always been this way. Nintendo chose the casual gamer whether it be intentional or not and that is simply the path they must take now. Say to me Nintendo I will say Zelda, Mario and F-Zero and the like say to me Wii and I will respond with Zumba and Wii Fit.

    • People don’t want to see it fail. The fact is Nintendo has been loosing it’s foothold on the market it created. The N64 was a 3rd party reject because of their fear of piracy(CD). The cube was still a problem because of the limited capacity(mini DVD). The wii went in a whole other direction and concentrated on the casual user with it’s last gen specs and motion control gimmick.

      The days of the famicom and super famicom have come and gone. There are a ton of gamers looking for Nintendo to return to their glory days, but from what I saw first hand at E3, they are still a generation behind in terms of hardware(lots of attendees and media felt the same way).

      The fact that Nintendo didn’t announce pricing, real specs and a definite release date months before they more or less planned tells me they are second guessing themselves and are looking for a way to fix (spin) the current situation.

      As negative as I may sound, I want Nintendo to blow it out of the fucking park. From what I’ve seen so far, it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen.

    • I completely agree with everything you said. Comment of the month right there.

      “but when Sony and MS come out with their machines the WiiU will be lagging behind again”

      People keep saying this but I really don’t get it. What can Sony and MS do that will outshine the WiiU so drastically? The WiiU is supposed to be capable of putting out 1080p at 60 fps + 3D.
      Nobody will release a 4k capable machine this gen, so the only thing Sony and MS can pull off is a little more shinyness and slightly nicer effects but that does not put the WiiU in the same category as last gen. The jump from last gen to this gen were huge but I asure you this time around the changes will be much more subtle and Nintendo will be just fine.

      • The first paragraph is directed at Kreisach.
        *was huge

      • The Wii U is capable of 60 FPS, 1080p and 3D. That said, so is the PS3.

        Many Wii U launch titles like Darksiders 2 are 720p and I can guarantee quite a few will be less than 60FPS; I don’t personally expect any 3D games any time soon on the Wii U. The fact that the Wii U is capable of these things means literally nothing. The hardware inside of the system is disappointing.

        They’ve already confirmed in the past that the Wii U’s GPU is a 4000 series AMD card, considering energy efficiency and heat output it’ll definitely be either a 4770 or a 4830(it’s custom, so I expect it to be in the middle of those two in performance). The CPU’s a quaddie weaker than the Cell processor and the Wii U will have a decent amount of RAM(I expect 1.5gb), but it will definitely be much slower than the RAM in the PS3. Sure, the Wii U compares pretty favorably to the current consoles in hardware terms, but it really should’ve released in 2009. Its GPU released in 2008 and the rest of the hardware parts were readily available at the time, and instead of going with a more modern GPU(like the 6000 or 7000 series cards that’ll undoubtedly show up in the PS4 and 720) they cut an important corner to save a little money. I think Nintendo’s tainted with casual money, personally; you can see its influence in Fils-Aime’s recent comments and in pretty anything else related to modern Nintendo, from their business decisions lately to their almost exclusive focus on casual gamers and their hardware components. Modern Nintendo isn’t interested in you or me, they’re interested in our parents, grandparents and children.

    • I was a Nintendo fanatic until the 3DS. I had gamed almost exclusively on Nintendo consoles until the 3DS’ launch date. I paid $250 for the 3DS, had my eyes burned out and was left with the most disappointing video game-related purchase I’ve ever made. It’s not that big a bump in hardware above the PSP, its battery life sucks, it has one slide pad and the motion controls interfere with the 3D effect… which gave me migraines, eyestrain, blurred vision and a persistent eye twitch that I only got over five months after refunding the system(people told me that the more you use the 3D effect, the more your eyes will “learn” to appreciate the effect; six months of using the 3D effect ten minutes every few days did nothing for me). In pretty much every conceivable way the 3DS is a disappointment, and my only other option was the Vita, which, on the other hand, is the single most well-designed game system I’ve ever owned, a mass-produced Stradivarius of game consoles. You know that scene in MGS3 where Snake freaks out about how awesome that handgun EVA gives him is, going on and on about how tons of love went into its design? That was me when I got the Vita. The thing’s phenomenal. I pretty much jumped from gaming on an N64 to a PS3, going from DS to Vita like that.

      I’ve pretty much been going through withdrawals lately without having Nintendo’s latest console. I’m not purchasing a 3DS based on principle alone, I do not support that awful platform and I expect better out of Nintendo. The Wii U’s pretty much just a repeat of the 3DS, in terms of technical specifications and the way they’re handling the system. To be clear, I just posted a legitimate reason for someone to want the Wii U to fail. I’d rather have Nintendo games on a well-made product than on their glorified toys they’re releasing now. I don’t think you can comprehend how crazy I’ve become over the past year or so over “losing” my company of choice, this must be how Sega fans feel.

      I WANT Nintendo games, I want Nintendo’s influence on the game industry and I want their creativity, it’s just that my standards for game consoles have risen a ton ever since I purchased that Vita. I honestly feel they’d be best as a third-party developer. Sure, they make a killing off their consoles and sadly they aren’t going to stop any time soon, but they’re just so far behind the competition it’s unreal. They’re pretty much a generation behind with the 3DS, Wii and the Wii U; that’s fine for children, fanatics and casuals who don’t know any better but I’m just not interested in that anymore. Maybe it’s my lengthy foray into PC gaming that caused it, but Nintendo just isn’t providing a good enough value anymore to deserve my dollar vote.

  8. i think the trouble is ,that wii bought gaming to the casual gamer.(ie my wife and kids)
    where as the xbox and ps3 were more hardcore.
    nowadays these consoles can offer the casual games through the medium of kinect and move controllers.yet still maintaining hardcore gaming at its heart.
    who in there right mind is going to shell out for some semi hd cartoon crap for nearly 300 boys when you can pick up ps3 and xbox for less than 150

    • I don’t think BunimoMike is selling the Wii U when it releases as he is the only person on the planet that accepts boys as a way of payment.

  9. I do think after the success Nintendo had in the first part of this generation, it’s their turn to take a drop on the next generation. It will take a lot to hit the bar the Wii hit in its early years.
    That said, if they make a fantastic console with cracking games, who’s to stop them…

  10. Whatever about the next-gen consoles, Nintendo are all about the next-gen of gamers thanks to their kid-friendly approach, so i’m sure they’ll do fine.

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