A pity that Ace isn't here anymore, i would have wanted him to edit something in the OP of the DRC picture leak thread
But it has no discernible features. If this thing goes on to sell 75 million units, I will bet people who don't own one still wouldn't recognize it if they were shown a picture. The original Wii, on the other hand, has distinct features you can describe in words; angular with way the stand props it up, modern in the way the pieces fit together to give that border resembling a technical blue print, geometric in the way it cuts out corners of the case.
The Wii U looks entirely utilitarian except for the front face-plate. It's just a sheath of plastic protecting the electrical parts inside.
Basically, Nintendo needed a box to put the useful & required hardware from the dev kits to run the demos at E3 2011, so they quickly (i presume) designed one, matching the shape of the board + its components, protecting & hiding them, and allowing them to present a fully-fledged (albeit still in development) new system.
For the final design, i've heard conflicting informations about that.
I don't have any reason to believe the Wii U isn't capable of better looking games than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. How much better looking depends on game complexity, type, and use of the Wii U pad. IdeaMan, I think it was, noted this. If you're rendering two complex 3D scenes from a game, one on the TV and one on the pad, you're chewing up a lot of resources. Low pad complexity = more resources to make your games look better (unless Nintendo has a lock on this, which would be stupid so I doubt it).
Ground up full detail Wii U games should look wonderful.
Yup it was me, it was in a specific context though, but in every case involved, i've always heard that the resources draw of the padlet, used for an ambitious content, is important, so one should really take into consideration this parameter when gauging the Wii U capabilities. Still, for "ports" (so it will be better for fist-party games), in older dev kits, sdk, yadda yadda, they were able to have a prettier content on the TV for the Nintendo version than on PS360. It was a slight to moderate increase though (IQ stuff, framerate, maybe the resolution, from sub720p to real 720p, etc.), but before additional visual polishing that could further widen the gap, with some Wii U more modern hardware features finally implemented/used.
I think this community as a whole has been reasonable in its expectations toward Wii U performances. Not a souped up current gen HD, not a Xbox360 1.2, not a full generational leap over the ps360 either.
NintenGAF IS WISE !
![Big grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)