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[Jim E. Rossler]

The Tri-Ace demo was also made 5 years later in the system life, and We are seeing comparable stuff from a pre-launch Wii U
Let's see what awesome Tri-ace can make from the Wii U in 2017, shit's gonna be so cash

 

[TheExodu5]

It's much more than HDR though...maybe it's using a global illumination engine. I wouldn't be surprised, as the Zelda demo was definitely using GI. Lighting combines many, many effects and shaders. I don't know specifically what is implemented here...all I know is that this implementation makes the lighting look very natural when compared to most other games.

I hope we can get some info from a developer like Epic, or a tech head from Beyond3D or something.

Seriously though...look at the demos for UE3, and then the UE3.5 lighting engine refresh. Even if everything else stays constant, a good lighting engine can have an absolutely massive impact on the realism of a rendered scene.

 

[Jim E. Rossler]

It's much more than HDR though...maybe it's using a global illumination engine. I wouldn't be surprised, as the Zelda demo was definitely using GI. Lighting combines many, many effects and shaders. I don't know specifically what is implemented here...all I know is that this implementation makes the lighting look very natural when compared to most other games.

Ah, a fellow lighting Connoisseur
Natural looking lighting is hard to do, and I appreciate all attempts at it.

 

[TheExodu5]

Ah, a fellow lighting Connoisseur
Natural looking lighting is hard to do, and I appreciate all attempts at it.

It is. Poor lighting is my biggest pet peeve this gen. Too many devs focus on hitting you over the head with primitive lighting effects like bloom and HDR. Not enough devs focus on the subtelty that's so very important on making a scene look natural.

Just as an example of what I think attractive lighting should look like:

http://thejayzone.com/pics/mafia2/lighting1.jpg

Mafia 2 isn't very impressive in terms of modelling and texture work (what people often associate to visual fidelity), but just look at how 3 dimensional the scene seems due to the fantastic lighting.

 

[Boerseun]

I agree, this demo is beyond anything out at the moment, on PC or elsewhere, including Witcher 2. Simply incredible stuff!

At my college, The College of Wooster, we had a lot of squirles runnng around campus. Little brown ones and little black ones. Much smaller than the large grey squirles I was used to back in Maryland. Well, one day a hawk showed up and started attacking the squirles. I remember stopping on my way back from class as a small crowd had stopped to watch the hawk torment one of those squirles. He had the rodent trapped out on a branch and continuously swooped in and sniped at the squirel with his beak as the squirel frantically ran all over the branch yelling "ERk! ERK! ERK!". This lasted only a couple minutes as the hawk got a hold of the little guy and tore him to pieces. Then ate him. This Hawk demo reminds me of this story.... how the hawk is very much more powerful than the squirles.

Wooster sounds like a dumbed-down version of Worcester.

 

[Crazypanda_85]

Looks pretty good. The word 'incredible' doesn't come to mind though, I don't know what you're smoking.

Agreed. I don't understand why so many people thought it was incredible or better than anything we have now. It a tech demo that doesn't show how actual gameplay looks. We have interactive cutscenes that do the same thing this video does and looks either just as good or better.

Will I buy a Wii U when it comes out next year? Maybe but they have yet to announce a game I care about that I haven't played dozens of times before on previous consoles. The only thing that looked impressive was the Zelda HD demo but that's not even a real game, according to Nintendo. It still looks like a wacom tablet with a monitor & classic controller buttons on it... made by Leap Frog.

 

[longdi]

I agree, this demo is beyond anything out at the moment, on PC or elsewhere, including Witcher 2. Simply incredible stuff!

Hahaha? Nintendotrollface.gif U got play PC game in first place?

 

[rpmurphy]

Did we get footage of the other tech demo, the streets one that IGN mentioned?

 

[TheExodu5]

Hahaha? Nintendotrollface.gif U got play PC game in first place?

I have an i5 2500k @ 4.8GHz and 2x GTX 570.

I still maintain that this looks better than anything on PC (outside of IQ concerns). I think the only game that might compete is Metro 2033.

I think this demo could be replicated using CryEngine 3 or UE3.5 (probably the two best lighting engines around)...but it just hasn't been done yet.

 

[Krev]

Did we get footage of the other tech demo, the streets one that IGN mentioned?

Nothing.
I bet Nintendo are waiting to drop it when hype is low, or close to launch to get core gamers on board.
But maybe I'm totally wrong and it will be put online after today's round table.

Spoiler

fingers crossed

 

[CreatureX3]

I want to fish in a lake like that in Animal Crossing WiiU. fat chance, but I can dream!

Waverace Wii U please Nintendo.

 

[Atomski]

I thought this tech demo was pretty disappointing. The birds animation seemed wrong and the water did not even seem to ripple.

I guess it was ok for a Japanese tech demo..

 

[scoobs]

Comparing any GAME on pc/ps360 to a tech demo is ridiculous. WiiU games will not look like this if history tells us anything in dealing with tech demos.

 

[TheExodu5]

Oh...I forgot about one console game that impressed me with its lighting...but it might have been trickery. That would be Resident Evil 5...or more specificaly, its cutscenes. Was it ever revealed if they were being rendered in real time? Or were characters just superimposed on top of the scene?

Comparing any GAME on pc/ps360 to a tech demo is ridiculous. WiiU games will not look like this if history tells us anything in dealing with tech demos.

Huh? Games usually end up looking better than early tech demos.

 

[Boerseun]

Comparing any GAME on pc/ps360 to a tech demo is ridiculous. WiiU games will not look like this if history tells us anything in dealing with tech demos.

Yes, this is just a tech demo. But it is a very impressive tech demo nonetheless.

Hahaha? Nintendotrollface.gif U got play PC game in first place?

We're all just stating our opinions based on personal experience. There is no reason to get defensive.

 

[Smiles and Cries]

i think the hdr is higher precision? the other parts look entirely capable to be done on ps3.
Demo looks "diminishing" because the WiiU tech is not as big leap as one would expect a full gen would be.

R700 with 512-1GB ram is nice but i will wait for PS4 before saying diminishing returns.

and people are waiting to see the next Xbox and PS4 blow Wii U away, they forget sooner or later our eyes will lose the ability to tell the difference anyway

The U will no doubt be the low end next gen coming out first but won't be outclassed by Wii to 360 levels

 

[Antagon]

That demo of the street that IGN talked about did look much better, as it was a video recording. For the demo a video was recorded by a car fitted with cameras for a 360 degrees view and during the demo you could move the controller around and watch the recording all around you.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/305956/nintendo-wii-u-demo-games-played-explained/

 

[Luckyman]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

 

[longdi]

and people are waiting to see the next Xbox and PS4 blow Wii U away, they forget sooner or later our eyes will lose the ability to tell the difference anyway

The U will no doubt be the low end next gen coming out first but won't be outclassed by Wii to 360 levels

I am confident PS4 and 720 (the real next gen), would shame the U as was done to the Wii in graphics.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Comparing any GAME on pc/ps360 to a tech demo is ridiculous. WiiU games will not look like this if history tells us anything in dealing with tech demos.

Which Nintendo tech demo did you see never lived up to what was shown? Nintendo always shows demos that accurately represent their games. For example, the "Rebirth" FMV demo for the GC was clearly labelled an FMV demo and was only shoved into the corner without much fanfare. The GC also had a pre-rendered Wave Race FMV out that to this very day, we never got to see in direct feed because they didn't feel the need to pass off the FMV as real.

 

[Corky]

The U will no doubt be the low end next gen coming out first but won't be outclassed by Wii to 360 levels

While you're there could you bring me stock tips from the future? Appreciated.

 

[Metroid-Squadron]

The bird demo looks great. Excellent HDR lighting, GI (you can see it in the belly of the bird while it flies after picking up the flower), bokeh DOF, very high geometric level (the blossoms), deformable water with polygonal splashes, individual rain drops, etc...

I find really funny how people are wetting themselves with prerendered Uncharted 3 footage while at the same time dismissing this REALTIME demo.

 

[Krev]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

Where is the report on 720p no AA? Jeremy Parish and IGN said they were 1080p.

 

[Vic]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

I except the WiiU hardware to do some stuff better than the PS360, yet I'm not excepting an extremely discernible performance leap over them.

 

[StevieP]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

Please provide links with your facts.

I am confident PS4 and 720 (the real next gen), would shame the U as was done to the Wii in graphics.

There is literally 0.0000% chance of this happening. Unless you throw physics and BOM cost out the window.

 

[rpmurphy]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

I don't remember Nintendo calling the Wii U as a Next Generation Console either. Clearly, they've got something to hide about the generation-ness of this console.

 

[Truth101]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

No. The demoes run in 1080p it has already been confirmed by multipel sources including Nintendo.

 

[DrM]

Please provide links with your facts.

It is from Beyond 3D

Also, nice to see that 'infamous' Zelda pic again claiming some victims

 

[rpmurphy]

It is from Beyond 3D

Also, nice to see that 'infamous' Zelda pic again claiming some victims

So basically, people are waiting on a 1080p screenshot or video and are jumping to conclusions in the meantime?

 

[140.85]

The still image of the Zelda demo doesn't prove anything since we have no idea under what circumstances it was captured.

And this idea that the only reason Nintendo is being vague about specs is because they are weak is foolish. If the hardware isn't final that could just as well be the reason.

 

[Daschysta]

I don't remember Nintendo calling the Wii U as a Next Generation Console either. Clearly, they've got something to hide about the generation-ness of this console.

Rumoured specs suggest differently, so do the tech demo's. Why make those claims a year away? Especially when you can be burnt by lazy 3rd party ports after making promises?

If the system is anything resembling the rumoured power 7 cpu AMD Radeon HD 4850 combo then it's not really near to the other two at all, but around 5x more powerful. Nintendo has never been in to talking specs, and without games to show this conference was specifically about what the new controller could do. It would be dumb for nintendo to be bloviating about tech this early, especially when thigns could be changed inside of it in the long time between now and launch. FAct is nintendo can affordably make a signifcant jump up from current gen, not lose 3rd party support next gen and have the definitive versions of multiplats for over a year. With nintendo specifically looking to reclaim the core with this machine I don't see the wisdom in betting they are doing anything else than what i'v ejust described. Nintendo isn't a stupid company, they ARe aware of the fact that someday MS and sony will release new consoles and obviously aren't keen on repating the exact same 3rd party problem that they had on the wii..

 

[DrM]

So basically, people are waiting on a 1080p screenshot or video and are jumping to conclusions in the meantime?

That pic was resized to 720p on this forum. Ask user Durante

 

[herzogzwei1989]

Looking at various threads and posts today, I see lots of confusion about Wii U and what it can do. So much confusion, I'm now confused too. Nobody knows anything. Nintendo's stock is tumbling. E3 has confused the shit out of almost everyone. I've been around but never seen anything like this. Nintendo needs to straighten things out a bit.

 

[nextgeneration]

Looking at various threads and posts today, I see lots of confusion about Wii U and what it can do. So much confusion, I'm now confused too. Nobody knows anything. Nintendo's stock is tumbling. E3 has confused the shit out of almost everyone. I've been around but never seen anything like this. Nintendo needs to straighten things out a bit.

At this point, Nintendo needs to go into full damage control at this point.

 

[Cymbal Head]

At my college, The College of Wooster, we had a lot of squirles runnng around campus. Little brown ones and little black ones. Much smaller than the large grey squirles I was used to back in Maryland. Well, one day a hawk showed up and started attacking the squirles. I remember stopping on my way back from class as a small crowd had stopped to watch the hawk torment one of those squirles. He had the rodent trapped out on a branch and continuously swooped in and sniped at the squirel with his beak as the squirel frantically ran all over the branch yelling "ERk! ERK! ERK!". This lasted only a couple minutes as the hawk got a hold of the little guy and tore him to pieces. Then ate him. This Hawk demo reminds me of this story.... how the hawk is very much more powerful than the squirles.

Your college just turned me down for a job

Also, I want bird-rendering abilities to become the new graphical yardstick. Two gens from now, we may have progressed to emu or even ostrich.

 

[Krowley]

Yeah, I think they've messed up this reveal pretty badly. They left too many questions and not enough answers.

Also, they just didn't have any cool games to show. There probably isn't anything ready, but that doesn't excuse it. The first time the wii was out on the show floor in playable form, they already had several good demonstrations of what the system could do. People could go out on the show floor and play Super Mario Galaxy and wii sports. There is nothing remotely similar with this system, and that's a problem.

As a gamer, I'm very interested in it, but I'm certainly disappointed in the lack of actual games at the show, and I still have tons of questions about the system.

 

[CoffeeJanitor]

Looking at various threads and posts today, I see lots of confusion about Wii U and what it can do. So much confusion, I'm now confused too. Nobody knows anything. Nintendo's stock is tumbling. E3 has confused the shit out of almost everyone. I've been around but never seen anything like this. Nintendo needs to straighten things out a bit.

I see you weren't around at the Wiimote's ("Revmote's") reveal, then? Also, the first sighting of Wii Sports?

This is pretty standard Nintendo reveal stuff, although I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little confused.

 

[AshMcCool]

Shenmue Trilogy for Wii U confirmed!!!!!!111

If only :/

 

[Daschysta]

I do think that that after seeing tanglible effects of confusing the consumer with 3DS nintendo should be more upfront about it.

Change the name to Wii-2 or drop Wii altogether.

Reassure the holdouts of the graphical capabilities, as obvious as they are...

Outline clear applications of the controls in contexts both appealing to expanded audience, and core customers.

I personally think their holding back to let 3rd parties gain mindshare, but they'll need to really clarify thigns to the average consumer well before release.

 

[Cow Mengde]

Ah, a fellow lighting Connoisseur
Natural looking lighting is hard to do, and I appreciate all attempts at it.

I also like lighting too. Problem is, they can be too subtle for us to appreciate. A lot of people talk realtime lighting for granted. Watching light illuminate a scene and seeing it reflect on a character is very cool.

 

[SolarPowered]

Looking at various threads and posts today, I see lots of confusion about Wii U and what it can do. So much confusion, I'm now confused too. Nobody knows anything. Nintendo's stock is tumbling. E3 has confused the shit out of almost everyone. I've been around but never seen anything like this. Nintendo needs to straighten things out a bit.

They really did throw things about haphazardly. An extra ten or fifteen minutes in the conference itself would have allayed most fears and it would have had people focusing on the console's capabilities instead of pure speculation.

Talk is good, but this is just confusing enthusiasts and casuals at this point. You'd think they'd try their best to give a straightforward presentation during the biggest videogame venue of the year...

It is. Poor lighting is my biggest pet peeve this gen. Too many devs focus on hitting you over the head with primitive lighting effects like bloom and HDR. Not enough devs focus on the subtelty that's so very important on making a scene look natural.

Just as an example of what I think attractive lighting should look like:

http://thejayzone.com/pics/mafia2/lighting1.jpg

Mafia 2 isn't very impressive in terms of modelling and texture work (what people often associate to visual fidelity), but just look at how 3 dimensional the scene seems due to the fantastic lighting.

I think all the doubts among people are just rearing their heads because of the tech demos they used to represent them. If any of these effects(lighting, shaders, etc.) were used to present something more along the lines of Mafia people would be freaking out.

It would have had more of an impact, but this kind of thing is misleading because Nintendo will never make any kind of shooter that appeals to "hardcore" people(not gears, not mafia). People love to hate Nintendo franchises and random garden tech demos are easier to dismiss. No way either of those demos would have received negative press on gaf if it were a shooter demo(interactive or not).

 

[KHarvey16]

720p No AA demos reported by Quaz from is a huge concern. BF3 console dev tweeting Nintendo not releasing specs "speaks volumes". Reggie says the box is not the focus.

And yet people set up huge expectations

You certainly are persistent.

 

[Deku]

Yeah, I think they've messed up this reveal pretty badly. They left too many questions and not enough answers.

Also, they just didn't have any cool games to show. There probably isn't anything ready, but that doesn't excuse it. The first time the wii was out on the show floor in playable form, they already had several good demonstrations of what the system could do. People could go out on the show floor and play Super Mario Galaxy and wii sports. There is nothing remotely similar with this system, and that's a problem.

As a gamer, I'm very interested in it, but I'm certainly disappointed in the lack of actual games at the show, and I still have tons of questions about the system.

Wii was announced in E3 2005, they showed nothing in terms of software. Iwata hed up the case and discussed what they want to do with the tech. Wiiconnect etc.

Wiimote revealed around TGS (fall) 2005. We didn't see full reveal with playable games until E3 2006, by then the Wii was just a few months away.

If this is a fall 2012 release, they're ahead of the curve.

 

[Eradicate]

The bird demo looks great. Excellent HDR lighting, GI (you can see it in the belly of the bird while it flies after picking up the flower), bokeh DOF, very high geometric level (the blossoms), deformable water with polygonal splashes, individual rain drops, etc...

I find really funny how people are wetting themselves with prerendered Uncharted 3 footage while at the same time dismissing this REALTIME demo.

I have to agree. I think the great thing about the demo is that all these intricacies are in place and just make the whole sequence come alive. I cannot wait to see the actual video of it, not just a streamed recording at a conference center with less than optimal lighting conditions. I swear that I think most of the leaves, if not all, are individual models. I mean, the hawk grabs one of them, and it looked no different than the rest. Same with the bird grabbing the blossom.

I think it all relates to this next point...

I think all the doubts among people are just rearing their heads because of the tech demos they used to represent them. If any of these effects(lighting, shaders, etc.) were used to present something more along the lines of Mafia people would be freaking out.

It would have had more of an impact, but this kind of thing is misleading because Nintendo will never make any kind of shooter that appeals to "hardcore" people(not gears, not mafia). People love to hate Nintendo franchises and random garden tech demos are easier to dismiss. No way either of those demos would have received negative press on gaf if it were a shooter demo(interactive or not).

I have to agree. I'm not sure at what point shooters, and at least the environments they commonly take place in, formed the basis for what technology a system is capable of. I guess those darker settings and all make lighting look more enhanced, you get to blow things up, and they have more "action" because they usually set up a "story."

With this garden demo going around, it's not "action packed," it's more bright, and there are no humans (having humans kind of helps to gauge "realism" for a lot of people).

But, to me, demos like this (other companies have done them too) are much more impressive. What they lack in "thrill" they make up in an inclusive experience that demonstrates as many things as possible throughout. For instance, you have to watch it a few times, but at many points, they are using these "breaks" and all to demonstrate different effects and all, like the depth of field, that things are individually modeled, are tesselated (is that a word?), etc. I found it quite classy.

 

[Gahiggidy]

wOuld be pretty cool if the levels in pikmin 3 started out exactly like this, bird sweeping across landscape, only to end up focusing in on a tiny corner of the landscape as the leaf the hawk picks up drops from his clutch and drifts down to land besides olimarios spacecraft.

 

[Hero of Legend]

Not sure if this has been pointed out, but the off-screen vid of the bird demo actually added shadows on the branch since the video shown at the conference:

 

[Krowley]

Wii was announced in E3 2005, they showed nothing in terms of software. Iwata hed up the case and discussed what they want to do with the tech. Wiiconnect etc.

Wiimote revealed around TGS (fall) 2005. We didn't see full reveal with playable games until E3 2006, by then the Wii was just a few months away.

If this is a fall 2012 release, they're ahead of the curve.

I realize that. This is why i said, "The first time the wii was out on the show floor in playable form."

The wii's first appearance was obviously a teaser, but this is E3, and it needed to be a full reveal. People wanted to see something more substantial, and their presentation at the conference was really limited without a broad enough focus.

They say the system is supposed to be "broad" and "deep" but they don't show anything substantial on the show floor that represents the "deep" part of that experience. It's just a bunch of tech demos to demonstrate the "broad" part, and promises of ports of old third party software to demonstrate the depth, which isn't sufficient. Even in the sense of trying to attract hardcore gamers with technology, they showed a couple of graphics demos, and while they're impressive, they aren't really definitive. People still aren't really sure about the graphics potential of the machine, and nintendo hasn't done anything straight-forward to communicate this to people.

 

[Neo C.]

Graphics only matter when Nintendo says so.

So...never? Nintendo avoids graphic debates like a plague in this E3.

 

[MNC]

http://www.gustavhalling.com/2011/06/08/wiiu-thoughts-nintendos-new-console/

So WiiU is finally revealed for all of us, even if they only talked about their controller yesterday.

So what is this console, is it a replacement for xbox and ps3? Is Nintendo doing to much at the same time or is it a smart move?

Some comments from my side:

- Its both a controller and console

- It’s not a big step up from consoles as x360 or PS3, it is better hardware wise but when the new xbox and ps4 comes it will be runned down again, wanted to see something much stronger.



- All the Zelda stuff was RENDERED, we havent seen anything play on the console in their show, all “good looking” stuff was rendered. BF3 was from our movies. I dont think the end game results will be significantly better than x360 and PS3. But the extra RAM will help with player limits that are stopping x360/ps3 today in for example BF3.

- No Blu Ray and the console and controller needs to be in the same room.

- Controller is not displaying HD graphics, only on the TV.

- It will come down to the price for me, Nintendo is always overpricing their consoles because they will never loose money, and that controller looks expensive, then you need to add the HD console itself.

I think WiiU will be perfect for families again, as Wii was and I do think it has more use than the Wii because of the extra screen in the controller. However it will be more expensive making it sell much less than before.

They also need the developers to support it, or Nintendo will be making all the games that sell again.
True that EA said that we could publish BF3 on it, but it’s not something we are focusing on atm since the console isnt out until “between 1 april and 31 december”, our focus now is on PC, x360 and PS3!

My guess is for release is holiday 2012, nintendo will show off the console hardware and controller more next E3, otherwise it’s just bad marketing from their side.

Thanks to EatChildren for the link.

 

[Krowley]

http://www.gustavhalling.com/2011/06/08/wiiu-thoughts-nintendos-new-console/



Thanks to EatChildren for the link.

Well there you go.. Interesting reading.

Pretty damn critical, although he does unambiguously confirm that the system has more raw power, which should silence any arguments about that.