Miyamoto Says Wii U Hardware Unlikely to 'Dramatically' Outperform Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3

Nintendo is never specific about the guts of its hardware. Same with Wii U. But as Wii U ushers the company into the high-definition era, right around the time during a typical hardware cycle where we'd be purchasing new machines, many are curious how much of a leap Wii U will be over the competition.

GameSpot recently spoke with the man who oversees all of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, about the thought process behind the graphical hardware for Wii U. His response isn't surprising.

"Nintendo is an entertainment company," he said. "We're very sensitive to pricing because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they'll devote to entertainment. And if you're talking about parents buying something for kids, there are certain price points where parents may be willing to or not willing to purchase a certain product."

This is called Miyamoto setting gamers up with tempered expectations for advanced fidelity.

"So I don't know that we would be able to sit here and say that it's going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now," he continued. "It's part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique."

The new controller can't be cheap. One would imagine that's driving much of his price sensitivity, especially since Nintendo's cautioning it may not support more than one controller at once.

This is good news
 
edit: Thought this said likely. Oh well.  Thought this would be the case.

Kinda already foresaw that.

hmm i smell a dreamcast

I can only understand Nintendo hardware in terms of the number of GameCubes.

The original quote was 'significantly outperform'. So it is possible that Wii U has slightly more raw power than the PS3, or at least the 360.

Pretty much what I thought, but I'm still buying day one.

This will come back and bite them in the ass in two years when the next next gen consoles will start to roll in.

@Claude said:

Pretty much what I thought, but I'm still buying day one.

But you know the launch games will be crap, why not wait for a couple months and get it when there are actually things to play?

I have genuinely never understood the reasons people buy things like this at launch.

This is going to be a weird system we are all going to look back on in a decade and wonder what they fuck they were thinking.

Then what is the fucking point?

The what is the fucking point?

@joku2002 said:

hmm i smell a dreamcast

How so? Dreamcast outperformed N64 and PS1 by a long shot.

I think Nintendo's cartoony characters don't need that much graphical power to look good, just look atheist the Mario Galaxy games.

@joku2002 said:

hmm i smell a dreamcast

Right down to the controller with a screen...

I like some of the functionality of the controller, and I'm sure Nintendo will know HOW to use it...I just can't see why I'd want a Wii U over what I have now, and what Sony/MS will have in the not-so-distant future (doesn't help that Nintendo games don't appeal to me).

Would be more surprised if it does tank sales-wise, though.

@Rayeth said:

@Claude said:

Pretty much what I thought, but I'm still buying day one.

But you know the launch games will be crap, why not wait for a couple months and get it when there are actually things to play?

I have genuinely never understood the reasons people buy things like this at launch.

I don't have a crystal ball, so I have no idea what the launch titles will be. I bought the Wii day one and enjoyed the hell out of the launch games. I'll take my chances and know more about what will be launched with the Wii U the closer it gets to the launch day.

I feel like with the half generation timing they seem to have picked out for launch they really needed a half performance boost. Even the Dreamcast had some performance advantage over the PS1

wow. after all that E3 hooplah.

ridiculous, nintendo, just ridiculous.

Topic title is too different from the actual quote.

Though this is more click-able, this is disappointing Patrick.

That crazy controller will definitely contribute to the majority of the pricing being charge to consumers. I guess antagonized gamers can't easy throw this one to the ground...;)

Even if it was, no multiplat devs would make a special version just for the WiiU, much like the same way they won't do it for the Wii anymore. At least this way the WiiU will get all the multiplatfs.

Well, until we hit next gen, then they'll be left behind again.

As long as it launches at a 200-250$ range it'll be ok.

It makes sense if all it's going to be is an also-ran third party platform that's late to the game. No word about awesome & unique launch titles at E3 didn't help their case.

@Dany said:

Then what is the fucking point?

The point is that there isn't enough tech to justify a new generation jump, keep costs down to be competitive with 360 and PS3 at launch and not drive developers into more R&D/upscale asset creation costs after being assured by both Microsoft and Sony that there is plenty of life in this generation to go on.

This is a stop gap solution to gain back the core market and still retain all the things that the Wii was known for.

What a strange situation, Nintendo want gaming to reach out to everyone for a reasonable price, while MS and Sony no doubt are not are looking forward to releasing a next gen. O boy.
Well, what Miyamoto says makes sense to me, so let's see how it goes.

All Nintendo had to do is bump up the capabilities of the Wii enough to reach HD resolutions. As they've always done, they sell systems primarily based on the quality of their first party games. Zelda HD will come out, it'll have a metacritic score of 99, and so you'll buy a Wii U despite the fact that it doesn't have a SkyNet EmotionEngine SpeedTree OctoCore processor.

As long as it launches at a 200-250$ range it'll be ok.

I'll believe it when I see it.

@Dany said:

Then what is the fucking point?

The point is that there isn't enough tech to justify a new generation jump, keep costs down to be competitive with 360 and PS3 at launch and not drive developers into more R&D/upscale asset creation costs after being assured by both Microsoft and Sony that there is plenty of life in this generation to go on.

This is a stop gap solution to gain back the core market and still retain all the things that the Wii was known for.

Let me get something straight. Will these Wii U games run at an actual native 1080p resolution or will it be that up-res bullshit that the 360 and PS3 utilize?

It's like to play my Mario and Zelda games much better than my Xbox will. Which is to say, at all.

@ShinAli said:

@Dany said:

Then what is the fucking point?

The point is that there isn't enough tech to justify a new generation jump, keep costs down to be competitive with 360 and PS3 at launch and not drive developers into more R&D/upscale asset creation costs after being assured by both Microsoft and Sony that there is plenty of life in this generation to go on.

This is a stop gap solution to gain back the core market and still retain all the things that the Wii was known for.

Well they fucked up with third parties when the wii was launched and will most likely have ports of ps360 but what about in 2-3 years, they are going to be behind.

The more I hear about the Wii U the less I want it and considering I didn't want it in the first place now I really have no interest in it. I have a feeling that this system won't be as powerful as a 360.

Lol at the title change.

Let me get something straight. Will these Wii U games run at an actual native 1080p resolution or will it be that up-res bullshit that the 360 and PS3 utilize?

Surprise surprise..

I have no interest in developing for this system. And I'm not alone, either.

All I can do is laugh and snicker. They are pushing this console hard because the Wii is almost over. All we really have left is Kirby Wii and Zelda.

BOOOOOORINGGGGG

ive always believed its been about games. really good games will make people want to buy a system.

ive always believed its been about games. really good games will make people want to buy a system.

Oh you guys. This is not a bad thing. I know the world is compromised of mainly graphic whores but let's think for one sec shall we?

Nintendo is in the business of making money. So they're not going to put out something so powerful that it will cost them cash. Not only that you know how long it takes developers now a days to crank out games? the man hours? the amount of money per game? Do you really think someone is going to make a console right now that's going to push Battlefiled 3 PC looks for every game?

I'm set right now with what they're doing. Make a console that can be a bit better than the competition as well as make an interesting direction forward. You can still play your HD games as well as Nintendo games, and still be happy.

Besides. If you guys really need some kind of machine that will outperform the ps3 and 360 a Gaming PC seams likely in your future.

gasp.

@TooWalrus said:

@joku2002 said:

hmm i smell a dreamcast

How so? Dreamcast outperformed N64 and PS1 by a long shot.

The Dreamcast sold 10 million units compared to the PS1's 100 million and the N64's 32 million.

So no, it didn't.

Nice...

@joku2002 said:

hmm i smell a dreamcast

How so? Dreamcast outperformed N64 and PS1 by a long shot.

Topic title is too different from the actual quote.

Though this is more click-able, this is disappointing Patrick.