When the next generation of video game consoles finally arrives, it will be the Nintendo Wii U leading the charge. The system and its unique tablet controller(s) should have a major presence at E3 2012, though Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Amie promises that Wii U information will be slowly revealed throughout the year.
Nintendo has been characteristically cagey about just how powerful the Wii U will ultimately be, but an unnamed “studio source” claims that the forthcoming system will be twice as powerful as the Xbox 360.
Predictably, that leaves Wii U at the tail end of the next generation hardware race, at least where raw processing power is concerned. If the rumors are to be believed, Sony’s PlayStation 4 will be the most powerful of the next round of consoles, followed by Microsoft’s Xbox 720, which is rumored to be six times more powerful than the Xbox 360. This more or less falls in line with Shigeru Miyamoto’s assertion that the Wii U might not dramatically outperform current consoles, and (hopefully) dispels the rumor that Wii U is no more powerful than Xbox 360.
Despite Nintendo’s insistence that Wii U will be attractive to third-parties, Analyst Michael Pachter remains skeptical, apparently with good reason. The unnamed source who approached Develop with the Wii U power figure further claims that the system is less capable than Nintendo originally promised. As a result, development of Wii U games is not running as smoothly as everyone would like.
“I’ve heard [a project designer] complain it’s underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced, resulting in people having to de-scale their plans.”
Still, don’t expect that to put a damper on Nintendo’s spirits. If the last year has shown anything, it’s that gamers would be unwise to count Nintendo out simply on the basis of hardware power. After all, the 3DS can’t begin to match the raw power of Sony’s Vita, but that hasn’t stopped the glasses-free handheld from dominating the Japanese market. 3DS can boast the three best selling games of 2011 in Japan, while Vita sales have plummeted, reaching a new low of 18,361 units sold for the week ending January 22nd.
Furthermore, don’t overlook the importance of being the first console out of the gate. Sure, the Wii U will be less powerful than its competitors. Honestly, did anyone expect otherwise? But with Sony confirming that no PS4 announcement will be made at E3 2012, and current estimates for Xbox 720′s release hovering around October/November of 2013, Nintendo might just have the next gen market all to itself for a full year, possibly a little longer. During that year, Wii U will be the most powerful system available. That may be all the time it takes for Nintendo to sew up the console market, exactly as it has done with the handheld market.
Do you believe that Wii U is only twice as powerful as the Xbox 360, and if so, will that be enough to compete once PS4 and Xbox 720 come to market? How big an advantage is Wii U’s 2012 launch going to be for Nintendo?
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I couldnt help but notice you typed “No Ps4 announcement e3 2011′, you mean 2012. Also I completely agree with every point made.
Good eyes, Mforce – thanks!
bull-s**t
What is wrong with you. Why are you the way that you are.
cuz he be all gay and stuff duh! and a secret like that can make someone cranky all the time, which explains his confrontational comments
Just yesterday it was five times more powerful than the 360. It’s all garbage. I’ll believe it when Nintendo confirms it.
….power doesnt matter…the games do…..
[In the voice of Tim Allen] Power, ho-ho-ho!
I really wish this junk wasn’t “news.” It’s all so pointless to speculate on.
Serious gamers dont even play on the Wii. NIntendo has sunk to the terrible bottom of the food chain as a major console player, far from its previous dominating reign during the era of the N64. Motion controlled gaming is a limited market, and it bugs me that Devs are still trying tap into this market when technology still isnt ready for it. It just feels fake. Besides, anyone who games on the Wii will realize that they can do everything that they can standing in a seated position with the slight flick of the wrist. Nintendo consoles are dead, their handhelds are their only future now.
Serious gamers don’t tell other gamers what they can and can’t play. -_-
You say this as nintendo continues to dominate the ‘console wars’. Argument: Invalid
The N64 did not dominate its era. There was this thing called the PlayStation that did just a teeny-tiny eentsy-weentsy little bit better. Nearly everything else you said there is misguided as well:
-Motion-controlled gaming is a limited market, sure, but so is every other kind of gaming.
-Motion controls feel fake, but pressing a button a half-centimeter to make your character jump doesn’t feel fake? Do you use a half-inch joystick to make yourself walk in reality? I don’t. Maybe we come from two different worlds, and that’s the source of our disagreement here.
-You can play motion control games sitting down — yeah, and…?
-The Wii still has a larger installed base than any other console, so regardless of how you feel about its library of games, you simply cannot say that “Nintendo consoles are dead” without sounding crazy.
-Serious gamers don’t play on the Wii — that may be true, but things can change very quickly when a new generation starts.
You lost me at “dominating reign during the era of the N64″ comment.
No, real gamers don’t make raw power of their consoles the deciding factor on which console they play on. If your bases for “hardcore gamers” is people who like to run around small-enclosed virtual maps and shoot the brains out of other people then yes, nintendo is behind. But if you look at story-telling, polish, and charm nintendo will cream the others any day.
And to clarify, when I say technology still isnt ready for motion gaming, I mean in the sense that try to make you believe it is at this super advanced level when in reality it isn’t even good at immersing you. the Kinnect is the best on the market right now, and its not even very good, its totally based on the game. The wii and PS3 motion control games are just terrible. The only time motion games are fun is while your wasted or if your 5. -end rant.
Funny, I find motion games fun, and I’m 16. Skyward Sword makes great use of the motion control, and I find FPS greatly improved with using a pointer to shoot. Somebody just sounds like he sucks at it.
Really? Kinect is best on the market? I didn’t think so. That’s still my opinion. If you wanna speak more towards your opinion, you said motion control overall was stupid, cause it didn’t feel real (and as androol stated pushing a button isn’t either). Yet I think the Move and the Wii are much better with the motion control. Motion control may feel fake because you don’t feel any feed back if your were to smash a sword against a rock, Yet I’m pretty sure the sense a feeling something in your hand, is a bit more realistic then swinging your empty hand around as if you were trying to smack your wall. As a matter a fact, a feel games like, for example, fruit ninja could’ve been best as “Fruit Ninja: Move!” and to a lesser improvement, “Fruit Ninja: Wii!” (The only reason I would suggest move would be better would be because move makes use of “Playstation Eye” and therefore would be able to also recognize your shape and put it on the screen, much like kinect does) because don’t forget, as awesome as ninjas are, they still can’t go on not knowing what they’re doing, and they need a sword to make they’re job a whole lot easier.
While I must say Nintendo is currently at the bottom, Nintendo realized that catering to the casual gamers market reaches more people than the hardcore gamers (PC, 360 and PS3) realize. More people are spending money on consoles and video games and most of those are families with young children looking for a good way to spend family time together, and the Wii and Nintendo has always provided. Also, Nintendo has made some of the most successful innovations to gaming, The Motion sense controls that EVERYONE has copied to some degree, and the Wii was the only console able to boast full backwords compatibility with the previous gen console. I’ve been a huge fan of Zelda and Mario games all my life and will continue to be mainly because of the sheer enjoyment created during my childhood playing on the SNES and N64.
I’m confused by your use of the term “hardcore gamer.” I don’t know a single person that would call themselves a gamer that does not have a wii or enjoy it very much.
Yep,have a Wii..and have them all