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[Phazon]

It's much more balanced than those other 2 imo. The bigger amount of RAM (1GB fully dedicated to games and 1GB to OS stuff) allows them to do more with less frequent (visible) loading times. That's something I already remarked and something they'll certainly use it to a very large extent for the next Zelda game.


And while Puppeteer is a nice looking game, it's still a 30fps one with some very hyrbrid/wannabe solutions to make impressive particles etc. (It does look nice and appealing, I really enjoyed the game and gave it a nice review) Wii U spits those one out more impressively and easier than ps360.


A modern architecture and being balanced really makes it shine when you dedicate enough time and love to it, like Nintendo does. So in that regard, it's more 'powerful'. But at the end of the day, it comes not even near to the ps4/xbox one in terms of raw power. And I think most people accepted that a long time ago.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It's definitely a bit more powerful, but certainly not as huge a gap as some wish it to be.

 

[Captain Europe]

I've not seen anything on Wii U that looks more impressive than God of War 3.

Another game that's not 60fps.

 

[InFamousRaiden]

Another game that's not 60fps.

what does 60 fps has to do with anything ?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

 

[Jaded Alyx]

what does 60 fps has to do with anything ?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

It's kind of important in a topic about power.

 

[Feindflug]

what does 60 fps has to do with anything?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

You are kidding right?

 

[Nikodemos]

Another game that's not 60fps.

Therein resides Nintendo's fundamental marketing split with Sony/Microsoft. Instead of "see the difference" (which favours image quality and static screenshots over gameplay flow) it's "experience the difference" (since the increased frames would only be noticeable to someone actually playing, not least because Youtube is a smouldering heap of hippo dung when it comes to framerate).

 

[BlueMagic]

It can run Bayonetta at 60 FPS so it's about 30 FPS better.

 

[lightchris]

The main differentiator is RAM. Wii U has 1 GB available for games, that's more than twice the amount PS3/360. That's definitely useful regardless of processing power. It facilitates development and allows for higher resolution textures and/or less loading times, or less agressive streaming.

The GPU is believed to have slightly less raw power, but the more modern feature set more than makes up for that. So we might be seeing some improvements here.

The CPU has a completely different architecture and is hard to be compared directly. In terms of peak performance it is dwarfed by Xenon let alone Cell. In real world gaming scenarios the difference shouldn't be nearly as big as the numbers might suggest though, since the average number of instructions per cycle will be a lot closer to the optimum (as they aren't held back by pipeline stalls or idle SIMD units as much).
In some scenarios it will be able to hold up, in others it may fall behind (even if it doesn't have to do as much audio work or the like). Developers have to work around that.

 

[gngf123]

what does 60 fps has to do with anything ?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

If you increase the framerate, you will need noticeably more power if you want the game to play with the same assets/effects/resolution. In a thread about power that is a very important topic.

 

[Captain Europe]

what does 60 fps has to do with anything ?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

Yes, because comparing games with 30fps or lower to 60fps games is silly. Wii U manages to have better looking games than PS360 and with 60fps on top of that, that's not a small difference to my eyes.

 

[Sickbean]

For all the talk of the Wii CPU being less powerful its also important to note that the Wii u has dedicated audio hardware where as the ps360 have to use a proportion of their CPU (and in some cases a significant proportion) just for sound

Which makes it more annoying that the 5.1 mix on Wii U games tends to be pretty bad

On the case of graphics though, the Wii U for me is a definite step up from PS360, and a MASSIVE step up from Wii.

I do think I'm just drawn to the Nintendo way of doing things though (clean lines and mostly 60fps).

 

[InFamousRaiden]

Yes, because comparing games with 30fps or lower to 60fps games is silly. Wii U manages to have better looking games than PS360 and with 60fps on top of that, that's not a small difference to my eyes.

wait wait wait, the FPS of God of War 3 hovers above 30 fps and 60 fps never going below 30, you are suggesting that Wii U will easily run God of War 3 at 60 fps ?... MAJOR LOLs

 

[Shinta]

I've not seen anything on Wii U that looks more impressive than God of War 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiRvRnDHWT4

Just watching this for a few minutes, and it looks good. But I honestly think Bayonetta 2 has a very good shot at being a lot more impressive. And it is 60fps.

http://platinumgames.com/2014/02/14/bayonetta-2-coming-to-wii-u-in-2014/

The 2nd video on this page shows it in 60fps so you can see how smooth it is. It'll look better on the TV of course.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

wait wait wait, the FPS of God of War 3 hovers above 30 fps and 60 fps never going below 30, you are suggesting that Wii U will easily run God of War 3 at 60 fps ?... MAJOR LOLs

1. He never said that
2. What you said doesn't make sense

 

[ugoo18]

Seeing a lot of 30fps PS360 games been used as proof that the WiiU isn't that much of a leap vs 60fps WiiU games. The only 60fps locked game i've seen mentioned for the PS360 has been Ni No Kuni (It is locked at 60fps right?).

If anything that in itself should be more than enough proof of it's clear step up from the previous gen, after all didn't Digital foundry (A site many seem to hold as gospel) saying that hitting and maintaining 60fps is a lot more demanding than 30fps with upped visuals

 

[gogogow]

what does 60 fps has to do with anything ?

is that your counter or response to anything positive regarding ps360?

It has everything to do with power, which this thread is about. And GOW is also a game with a guided camera, in which the player has no control over. And it has a fluctuating framerate on top of that. But I will give credit where credit's is due, the lighting and rendering is very nice.

 

[LogicStep]

I think it has to do with Nintendo's superb sense of art direction in their games.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It's funny to see the recent change in U owner debate tactics. Nobody was using the 60fps retort a year ago, but it's the new weapon all U owners are using to defend their system.

 

[Markitron]

I think it's a shame on Nintendo's part that people are arguing over which is more powerful: Their 1 year old console or a 9 year old console.

 

[CDRacingZX6R]

I think it's a shame on Nintendo's part that people are arguing over which is more powerful: Their 1 year old console or a 9 year old console.

Sums up my feelings exactly.

 

[InFamousRaiden]

Which makes it more annoying that the 5.1 mix on Wii U games tends to be pretty bad

On the case of graphics though, the Wii U for me is a definite step up from PS360, and a MASSIVE step up from Wii.

I do think I'm just drawn to the Nintendo way of doing things though (clean lines and mostly 60fps).

That's a stealth fanboy brag because Wii U is not a graphics step up or LEAD in any regards what so ever. It may have colorful fantastic looking Nintendo's First party games as did/does the PS3 when it was getting hate for coming in late and harder to code from gaming "journalists" with psychology/arts majors everywhere.

I was on PS360 and WIi U day 1.

When I bought Wii U I thought after reading the specs that it is a little bit more powerful than x360 and easier to code then PS3 so I will go to Wii U for third party stuff however the recent ports of Batman and Splinter Cell prove otherwise.


Recent buzz of Bayonetta 2/Star Fox may have rejuvenated the fanboy enthusiasm but lets be honest here - it ain't powerful or shows any leap.

Oh by the way before you come at me with knife, remember that Super Mario Sunshine's water looks better than any water related games on PS2/Xbox.

 

[Kurt]

wait wait wait, the FPS of God of War 3 hovers above 30 fps and 60 fps never going below 30, you are suggesting that Wii U will easily run God of War 3 at 60 fps ?... MAJOR LOLs

Something that was good back then doesn't mean that it aged well

It's clearly not that good anymore. Nintendo has superior lightning besides that it could run games in 1080p or (even) in 60fps.

There is a reason why bayonetta port is 60fps instead of 30fps.
Let me be clear that this is a port, not a remake. So it would only be better if this wat develop from the beginning like bayonetta 2 (which is by far better).

It's better to compare next gen games with wii u. I'm talking about multiplatform games.
(we know that xbox one & ps4 are a lot better in specs, but i like to see this visually)

 

[Jaded Alyx]

Oh by the way before you come at me with knife, remember that Super Mario Sunshine's water looks better than any water related games on PS2/Xbox.

GameCube was more powerful than the PS2, and right up there with the XBOX in many ways so that's not saying much.

 

[Captain Europe]

wait wait wait, the FPS of God of War 3 hovers above 30 fps and 60 fps never going below 30, you are suggesting that Wii U will easily run God of War 3 at 60 fps ?... MAJOR LOLs

I didn't say that, but it wouldn't surprise me looking at Bayonetta 2.

It's funny to see the recent change in U owner debate tactics. Nobody was using the 60fps retort a year ago, but it's the new weapon all U owners are using to defend their system.

Yeah, let's just completely disregard framerates in a discussion about graphical power.

 

[lightchris]

It can run Bayonetta at 60 FPS so it's about 30 FPS better.

Not a good comparison imo. First, Bayonetta is "60 fps" on 360 too, but it drops below that quite frequently. We should just wait for the release and analysis of Bayonetta(2) for Wii U to see if it's better. Second, Bayonetta 1 is probably ported to a much more recent version of their engine which might handle things more efficiently (or even allow for better lighting).

 

[Mithos]

When I bought Wii U I thought after reading the specs that it is a little bit more powerful than x360 and easier to code then PS3 so I will go to Wii U for third party stuff however the recent ports of Batman and Splinter Cell prove otherwise.

Tells me more about the 3rd party developers then the Wii U actually, aka they didn't try as hard on Wii U as on PS360.

 

[Kurt]

GameCube was more powerful than the PS2, and right up there with the XBOX in many ways so that's not saying much.

True.

When a bought a gamecube back then,
I was comparing the backside of the cover on all 3 consoles.
It was clearly ps2 < gamecube < xbox 1

 

[catashtrophe]

Something that was good back then doesn't mean that it aged well

It's clearly not that good anymore. Nintendo has superior lightning besides that it could run games in 1080p or (even) in 60fps.

Thats a screen of the old E3 trailer and was not in the actual game.

 

[sniperpon]

I was going to take this another direction and compare it to its fellow eighth generation consoles; I actually misread the thread title because of where my thoughts have been going. I've had a Wii U since two weeks after launch, while I recently picked up an Xbone; so far I have Titanfall and Forza 5.

Yes, I'm sure if you run synthetic benchmarks, the Xbone is a lot more powerful than the Wii U-- it has more memory bandwidth, is faster at doing floating point operations, and it can do higher polygon counts and more shaders at a time.

But when push comes to shove, and in actual, real-world games, I just don't see that big of a difference between the Wii U and the Xbone. Nor do I see a stratospheric difference between the Wii U and the PS4. In fact, I think a lot of Wii U games look better than what I see on the other two platforms.

It seems like we're at such an advanced point of diminishing returns, that art direction trumps being able to do a few more shaders at a time. Specs are virtually useless as a determining factor in how good games look. So is the Wii U more or less powerful than the seventh or even other eighth gen consoles? It's kind of irrelevant from where I stand.

 

[Revolutionary]

There is a reason why bayonetta port is 60fps instead of 30fps.

Yeah, and that reason is: Platinum didn't develop the PS3 port.

Also, Platinum has been using the engine for like 9 games now. They've probably figured out a ton of ways to optimize since.

 

[gogogow]

When I bought Wii U I thought after reading the specs that it is a little bit more powerful than x360 and easier to code then PS3 so I will go to Wii U for third party stuff however the recent ports of Batman and Splinter Cell prove otherwise.

That doesn't prove anything. Lazy ports/quick ports without utilizing the extra ram or more advanced GPU. Need for Speed Most Wanted is a great port and graphically it's superior to the 360/PS3 version. So what does that prove?

 

[Captain Europe]

When I bought Wii U I thought after reading the specs that it is a little bit more powerful than x360 and easier to code then PS3 so I will go to Wii U for third party stuff however the recent ports of Batman and Splinter Cell prove otherwise.

Are you serious... your argument is half-arsed ports?

 

[Kurt]

Thats a screen of the old E3 trailer and was not in the actual game.

Ok sorry about that, i've been looking for a image that didn't show a closeup like all the 99% image of that game you'll find.

 

[OminoMichelin]

I wouldnt hope for a much improved wiiU version of bayonetta, I think kamiya mentioned that it won't run better than the original version
Bayo 2 on the other hand...

 

[ramparter]

I also think that a game like Smash Bros Wii U wouldn't run on the PS3 and 360 without framerate issues.

What? The more I see Smash on Wii U the more it seems like Brawl quality.

 

[Shinta]

I was going to take this another direction and compare it to its fellow eighth generation consoles; I actually misread the thread title because of where my thoughts have been going. I've had a Wii U since two weeks after launch, while I recently picked up an Xbone; so far I have Titanfall and Forza 5.

Yes, I'm sure if you run synthetic benchmarks, the Xbone is a lot more powerful than the Wii U-- it has more memory bandwidth, is faster at doing floating point operations, and it can do higher polygon counts and more shaders at a time.

But when push comes to shove, and in actual, real-world games, I just don't see that big of a difference between the Wii U and the Xbone. Nor do I see a stratospheric difference between the Wii U and the PS4. In fact, I think a lot of Wii U games look better than what I see on the other two platforms.

It seems like we're at such an advanced point of diminishing returns, that art direction trumps being able to do a few more shaders at a time. Specs are virtually useless as a determining factor in how good games look. So is the Wii U more or less powerful than the seventh or even other eighth gen consoles? It's kind of irrelevant from where I stand.

I pretty much completely agree. But I think the games that fully will show off PS4 will be coming down the line.

The only ones that show it now are really Infamous and MGS: Ground Zeroes, and that's just the first batch.

 

[gogogow]

I wouldnt hope for a much improved wiiU version of bayonetta, I think kamiya mentioned that it won't run better than the original version
Bayo 2 on the other hand...

I still can't believe Nintendo is giving away Bayonetta for free with added content and gave Platinum all the time they needed to port it.

 

[Captain Europe]

What? The more I see Smash on Wii U the more it seems like Brawl quality.

Then you have forgotten how Brawl looks.

 

[Phazon]

That doesn't prove anything. Lazy ports/quick ports without utilizing the extra ram or more advanced GPU. Need for Speed Most Wanted is a great port and graphically it's superior to the 360/PS3 version. So what does that prove?

Deus Ex was also a superior port. (Wii U was the lead platoform for that one)

Had higher textures, better lighting, higher framerate and less bugs than ps360 DC. So yeah, looking at multiplat games is very dependent on how much effort a developer actually does.

 

[ugoo18]

What? The more I see Smash on Wii U the more it seems like Brawl quality.

You need to go back and play Brawl for a good long while if you think that.

 

[Feindflug]

It's funny to see the recent change in U owner debate tactics. Nobody was using the 60fps retort a year ago, but it's the new weapon all U owners are using to defend their system.

It's also funny that a year ago a lot of people were playing 720p titles like TLoU (while drooling over the game's graphics) on their 1080p panels just fine but suddenly people go blind when they see sub-1080p content on their TV sets.

 

[openrob]

Basically from my limited understanding, the Wii U and the PS3/X360 aren't directly comparable because they are built differently. So contrasting numbers won't reflect what developers can do with games.

Wii U, like xbone/ps4 relies on a larger GPU than cpu and has more RAM than previous gen. They can utilize resources better to gain better performance.

What I do know is that Wii U can easily push out late last gen games better. Not always optimised though, so it's at least on par. But multiplats, where the devs have had years of working on last gen will push the ps3/360 further than they can push the Wii U doesn't reflect the whole story. Best looking games are always first party or exclusive, because they understand the hardware.

Wait until tne end of Wii U's life span (hopefully not too soon!) to compare games at a time where devs know how to push it.
Technically I do not understand that process, but I know it exists. It will be interesting to see Watch Dogs on Wii U as the Bucharest team did AC4 and they have had extra time dedicated to this port. So extra time and experience should = good performance indicators of Wii U power.




I would also like to take this time to state that this whole gen isnt that impressive. So far we are just getting better running games from last gen. But the same core game.
I don't remember so many cross gen games last time round. Can't wait till late this gen.

 

[mario_O]

Games look better on the WiiU if they're not CPU intensive, I think it was Batman that performed pretty bad on the WiiU and if I don't remember incorrectly they were other third- party games that performed worse than on the PS360.
It's also good to remember that we are comparing the WiiU to 10 year old hardware. 'nuff said.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

It's also funny that a year ago a lot of people were playing 720p titles like TLoU (while drooling over the game's graphics) on their 1080p panels just fine but suddenly people go blind when they see sub-1080p content on their TV sets.

Maybe they are annoyed because they expect much more from much more powerful machines than the PS3?

 

[SmokedMeat]

Yeah, let's just completely disregard framerates in a discussion about graphical power.

I'm just finding it amusing how tactics have changed. Talk fps all you want, but it's not something U owners were bringing up a year ago when defending the system.

 

[SmokedMeat]

It's also funny that a year ago a lot of people were playing 720p titles like TLoU (while drooling over the game's graphics) on their 1080p panels just fine but suddenly people go blind when they see sub-1080p content on their TV sets.

Absolutely. It's suddenly ugly lol

 

[Hermii]

I'm just finding it amusing how tactics have changed. Talk fps all you want, but it's not something U owners were bringing up a year ago when defending the system.

Its because of all the gorgeous 60fps games that has been coming out the last year.

 

[Shinta]

I'm just finding it amusing how tactics have changed. Talk fps all you want, but it's not something U owners were bringing up a year ago when defending the system.

I think the 60fps talk really started when people played Mario 3D World and it was extremely evident to them. A lot of great Wii U games have come out since last year, and I think a lot of people on this board didn't even own it a year ago.

 

[lyrick]

I'm just finding it amusing how tactics have changed. Talk fps all you want, but it's not something U owners were bringing up a year ago when defending the system.

Back then it was no screen tearing, which is also quite a feat since v-sync is something that would have made most Gen 7 games not rough to play.