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Sumo: Wii U specs are surprising; "way more memory" than PS3/360

The executive producer of Sonic And All-Stars Racing Transformed has told Official Nintendo Magazine that he was surprised by the Wii U specs, specifically the GPU and memory which are better than the Sumo developers expected.

In an interview with ONM, Steve Lycett spoke of the challenges his team faced when developing Sonic And All-Stars Racing for Wii U.

"There are always surprises and unexpected challenges when you develop on a new console," said Lycett. "When we first got our hands on the kit, the first surprise was the capability of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). We'd been worried that we might need to re-engineer all the effects and shaders in the game, but they worked just fine."

The Sumo producer also complimented the memory which has helped his team make Sonic Racing look smart on Wii U. "The Wii U looks as good as any of the HD platforms. The Wii U has way more memory, so we can take advantage of that with less compression on elements and textures, so it will look all lovely and shiny."

http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/41185/wii-u-specs-surprising-says-sonic-developer/#null
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Glass Rebel

Member
I haven't followed Wii U tech news but it seems that Nintendo has tried their hardest to make the console as easy as possible to develop for?

I'm glad I know which will be the definitive version of Sonic and All Stars Racing.

But we knew that before these news...
 

Zarx

Member
So Wii U has more RAM, and the GPU can do the same effects as the X360. The only new info is that they were worried that the Wii U GPU wasn't capable of the same effects as a X360 before they git dev kits.
 

Aostia

El Capitan Todd
Which one? All he said is that the Wii U version will look as good as the other two.

"less compression on elements and textures, so it will look all lovely and shiny"

BTW, I'm way more interested in the very good info about the specifics of the gamepad intergrations I've read about, but never seen in any direct video...Hopefully they'll release a video soon of the Wii U version
 
So Wii U has more RAM, and the GPU can do the same effects as the X360. The only new info is that they were worried that the Wii U GPU wasn't capable of the same effects as a X360 before they git dev kits.

They were worried they'd have to rewrite the shaders not worried that Wii U didn't support such effects.
 
THE ROLLERCOASTER CONTINUES

This is reminiscent to my mind of the Neogaf great Perfect Dark Zero screenshot debacles of late 2005.
 

ss_lemonade

Member
Was it like this before the 360 was released? All sorts of people, developers, etc throwing out their own thoughts about a soon to be released next gen console?
 

Kokonoe

Banned
The definitive version in terms of graphics will be the PC version, and luckily this time it's going to have the same online features as consoles.
 

GopherD

Member
Was it like this before the 360 was released? All sorts of people, developers, etc pitching in their thoughts about a soon to be released next gen console?

Yep, and wait until its released. Every gaming site will have a review (good or bad) and a metric crapload of comparisons between PS3/X360/WiiU will cause meltdowns of every persuasion. As a neutral observer, it really is the best of times....
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Let's understand this though, SUMO are not exactly giants in pushing the boundaries of visuals so transferring their engine over to WiiU should never pose a problem.

It's almost as if they're sort of just saying it to say it. Their games often time's don't even work with AA for me on PC. Among a few other small issues.

It seems like they are just saying something to get people to talk WiiU. Good, I guess.
 
Was it like this before the 360 was released? All sorts of people, developers, etc throwing out their own thoughts about a soon to be released next gen console?

Mmm, I dont remember it being quite the same...

It was more like there was some thought early on it was more of an "Xbox 1.5". An accusation I would say 7 years has proved was completely unfounded.

The main thing I recall from that time was more like there was about a year before PS3 release where I think a very real danger or thought existed that PS3 was just going to blow away 360 technically. Which ended up not happening.
 

Jburton

Banned
Even Vita has more RAM than PS360, I wonder how much 'way more' is, two gig?

The amount of RAM is of no consequence until we know:


How much is reserved for the OS.

How much is used due to the screen in the controller.

Type of RAM.

Memory interface bandwidth amount and speed.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
So from what I've gathered from various developers and publishers the WiiU is going to be significantly more powerful then the PS3 while also barely being more powerful then the PS3
 

GimMick

Member
But will it run at 60fps on WiiU?

This is the only benefit that I would really care about.
Same here. I still believe it will be 30fps, but I can leave with it. It's obviously possible but the developers might not be bothered enough for a port.
 
Meh...really disappointed in Nintendo. They had one definitive failure in the Gamecube...why they think this is a reason to abandon keeping up with the graphical curve is beyond me.

Really loved that system. Really wishing they went head to head with Sony and Microsoft to create another GC/PS2/Xbox type of era.
 
Meh...really disappointed in Nintendo. They had one definitive failure in the Gamecube...why they think this is a reason to abandon keeping up with the graphical curve is beyond me.

Really loved that system. Really wishing they went head to head with Sony and Microsoft to create another GC/PS2/Xbox type of era.

Even with the Gamecube Nintendo made a huge profit. Even N64 I think made a big profit. So I don't get it either
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
It's all about dat quantum leap.

I still contend that powering that controller costs something so all this extra RAM and such may very well be due to that overhead or simply for multitasking. Mind you, Nintendo consoles have never been good with this, unlike PS3 and 360 which have in game UI's (OS access). Nintendo is playing it safe but their controller surely is part of the increased RAM.

As was said by phosphor, it's not exactly hard to get a lot more RAM than 512 these days anyways so good on them but at this point, 1GB+ for GPU memory should be expected from WiiU.
 

stuart

Banned
Let's understand this though, SUMO are not exactly giants in pushing the boundaries of visuals so transferring their engine over to WiiU should never pose a problem.

It's almost as if they're sort of just saying it to say it. Their games often time's don't even work with AA for me on PC. Among a few other small issues.

It seems like they are just saying something to get people to talk WiiU. Good, I guess.

I disagree, Sega & Sonic looked fantastic on the 360. The framerate is excellent and the graphics crisp. Perhaps the PC just wasn't able to run it as well as the consoles?
 
Nice to see the developers not even try to utilize the extra power.

"It actually runs??? Great, we're done and we'll just port over the rest as we finish.". Seems like the gameplan.

The WiiU might as well be a black box for them.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
I disagree, Sega & Sonic looked fantastic on the 360. The framerate is excellent and the graphics crisp. Perhaps the PC just wasn't able to run it as well as the consoles?

No, far from that. It was a poor port which looked and performed better than 360 on res alone but had shortcoming from the consoles. Simple as that.

In short, SUMO is not tech savvy enough to make a competent looking game as it is. Even with powerful PC HW. They can make games though so don't get all bent like I'm insulting their work.
 

Medalion

Banned
Sumo were expecting a Nintendo 360 almost down to a tee in memory but were surprised... Thats nice and all when you have low Expectations...
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
Meh...really disappointed in Nintendo. They had one definitive failure in the Gamecube...why they think this is a reason to abandon keeping up with the graphical curve is beyond me.

Really loved that system. Really wishing they went head to head with Sony and Microsoft to create another GC/PS2/Xbox type of era.

Nintendo wants mass market price points for their consoles. One could argue that gaming left Nintendo behind, to a degree - this gen saw the $400 and $600 dollar launch console price. (I am not counting the gimped 360 package, since that was almost a marketing gimmick to say "Xbox 360 starting at $299".)

People want Nintendo to make a game console that is, power wise, exactly like the consoles that are going to be launched by others at most likely above mass market prices. Nintendo is kind of between a rock and a hard place there.
 
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