Reggie Talks Wii U Power, UE4, Direct X 11 and More!
Kotaku have managed to wrangle an interview with the big man himself, Reggie Fils Aime, who for once has actually shared details you’ve all been waiting for…
- Wii U could be viewed as up to four times as powerful as the Xbox 360
- Will have at least 8GB of on-board storage capacity
- 2GB of RAM compared to the 360′s 512
- AMD Radeon-based graphics chip is off-set by a CPU that runs at low speeds
- It can do out-of-order processing but has fewer threads than the 360
- Wii U has the power to run Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports with little difficulty.Wii – Wii U close to a DX9-performance/DX11-capabilities combo
- Could be hampered by its CPU
- UE4 requires Direct X 11 performance and capabilities, which is beyond Wii U
“as third-party publishers make their decisions somehow they’re going to view competitive systems more favorably than the Wii U. What I would tell you is that, fundamentally, the reason certain games didn’t make it to the Wii was because, first, the developer or publisher had invested in art at an HD level. For them to rework that art to an SD level was a cost they were unwilling to accept. Second, that the online capabilities especially for in-game purchase, or things of that nature, [were things] they viewed it as a key part of their business model, which the Wii didn’t support. Looking to the future, both of those issues have been solved with the Wii U. All of [third-party game creators’] early-development engines [for the original Wii] were not compatible with where we were going. That is not the case today.”
“I think to have the full discussion, we need to go back to 2004, 2005, 2006 [before the Wii was launched]. The fact of the matter was that, in 2004 and 2005 and early 2006, the vast majority of the publishing community did not see the Wii having the, dare I say, success in the marketplace that it did. So all of their early-development engines were not compatible with where we were going. That is not the case today.”
Reggie on UE4: “they’re not finished yet. There’s still work they need to do to finish that engine.”
Reggie’s final say on Wii U and Wii: “I think with Wii we had a limited number of crayons. t’s the 16-pack of crayons. This is the 128 pack. We’ve got a lot more options.”
Seán Whitear
June 25, 2012 @ 12:51 pm
Not being able to run DX11/Unreal Engine 4 probably doesn’t seem like so much of a big deal to Nintendo right now, but oh boy is it gonna bite them in the arse eventually.
Taylor Parolini
June 26, 2012 @ 1:21 am
The Wii-U isn’t next gen. It’s barely more than the PS3 + PS Vita combo. I’m not even sure the next Xbox or Playstation will run Unreal 4. Ugh.
Daniel Flatt
June 27, 2012 @ 6:42 pm
I really disagree with this to an extent. Yes, the Wii U isn’t going to be as powerful as PS4 or Xbox 720, but I think people are missing something that’s just as important as graphics. That’s the innovation that Nintendo almost always brings to the table. Say what you want about Wii’s waggle, Sony and Microsoft obviously saw the appeal.
Besides I really don’t see what the fuss is about. Honestly, for me, the graphics are just about fine right now anyway. I love HD over what the Wii displays, of course, but that’s not what we are talking about here. We are talking about a higher level of gloss and more realistic graphics, which honestly I think game companies need to get away from instead of run towards.
Look at games like Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword or Darksiders. Are they super realistic? Not at all. Do they look fantastic? Absolutely. For me the same can’t be said for Call of Duty or the next run of the mill hyper realistic ultra brown FPS that’s released. Half the time you can’t even tell games apart from the screenshots alone.
In addition I think your underestimating how big a huge head start could be for Nintendo. Sure the next gen consoles will be more powerful, but people are ready for something new. Gamers, tech heads and the casual market will buy the Wii U and where the money goes games follow. Look how big a deal it was when the nearly laughable Xbox brand was released before the PS3 with the 360. Sony was the King of gaming with the PS2 and they’ve been handily defeated as far as hardcore systems go.
Logically the PS3 has the better graphics (when supported by the right developers), the better exclusives, and free online. Yet somehow Microsoft continues to beat them sales wise. I wonder if the tables would have been turned with Sony leading the charge into next gen other then 360.
Taylor Parolini
June 27, 2012 @ 8:51 pm
It’s my opinion that the Wii U doesn’t really bring anything to the table. I’m sure plenty of people will buy it, if only for the name “Nintendo” alone, but I just don’t see it being nearly as successful as the original Wii. So far, most of what has been announced for the Wii U is a large collection of ports. The people that care about those titles, especially those with previous sequels, already have a system to play them on. And as far as the Wii U’s innovation, outside of object scanning (already done by Skylanders), it doesn’t really have any advantage over the PS3 + PS Vita features. I guess we’ll just have to see when it launches, but for me next-gen has a lot less to do with so-called lame duck “innovations” that’ve really already been seen in one form or another, but rather in the pushing of hardware that’ll allow for experiences never before realized to the extent possible with that increased hardware. It’s clearly not all about the graphics, but powerful hardware allows for powerful innovation and ideas, and there are countless articles and interviews that have been given by various developers who have lamented the limitations placed upon them at every turn by 6-7 year old console hardware.
Good games have come out for current gen consoles and will continue to do so. In fact, some of my most anticipated games of all time are on the way. However, I simply can’t shake the feeling that it’s time to move on. Simply adding a screen to your controller and marginally improved HD fidelity is not a next-gen jump. It’s a baby step.
Daniel Flatt
June 28, 2012 @ 9:13 pm
I agree with you that Nintendo has handled the Wii U poorly as far as showing what it is or what it can do, but so many people forget the one thing game systems are really supposed to be: fun.
Nintendo makes top notch first party games that are usually rated higher critically then any other system. If you leverage that while also playing games like Assassin’s Creed 3 then you are going to sell a ton of people right there. I don’t think it’ll be the massive hit Wii was, but I think it’s a big step in the right direction.
There are some overwhelmingly awesome games I’ve been finding on Wii that suddenly after 2 hours of playing them I don’t even see the slightly blurry graphics on my HDTV. I think that speaks volumes about the simplicity of having a fun game. Having a smart phone that connects to my tablet so I can see fancy maps of a TV show I’m watching simply doesn’t appeal to me as much.
As far as the PS3/PSV connection I’m not really sure what you are getting at. What I’ve seen so far is console games that are on the PS3 and Vita and playable on both and to transfer saves to continue your gaming you have to own a copy of each. Sure having that screen may be similar, but can they reproduce the seamless streaming to the gamepad like Nintendo has, at least when it comes to one?
Really time will tell, but I think people are silly to count Nintendo out just because they won’t run something that will increase the main characters hair count.
JoloLopez
January 3, 2013 @ 9:52 am
Really am tired of fanboys all over the web talking negatively about Nintendo. If their current consoles are so great, why in the hell do they devote so much energy to bash the WIIU? Thats like me saying I only love pepperoni pizza, but bash those who like pineapple on their pizza? Makes no sense. I am here to say I have all consoles and PC. The WIIU indeed is more powerful, and look people dont believe these trolls! WIIU PORTS LOOK AND PLAY BETTER THAN 360 AND PS3-SIMILAR TO PC IN MANY ASPECTS! Its no secret that WIIU is also capable of DX11 EQUAL performance, so please stop feeding these trolls and fanboys who are asshurt that their precious console no longer is the best or most powerful. Same thing happened when ps3 released. Every1 was bashing sony 4 shitty ports. Now they cant say as much. The only reason 360 wasnt bashed as much graphically was because the only competition at launch was the WII lol…Now while these dumbasses bash AGAIN, I will enjoy the truth. WIIU ports so far have been awesome. BO2 looks much better on WIIU, so does AC3 and ME3. Stop lying and start playing losers.