According to Nintendo Power, the game will display in full 1080p, the only console version to do this. It will also include the extended cut of the ending sequence and various DLC characters, and an exclusive weapon for the 4-Player online co-op mode.

I'm kinda glad I haven't played it yet, I'm looking forward to playing a game of this type on WiiU's GamePad.

UPDATE: Nintendo Power got it wrong, it displays in 720p: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/31495?

Doesn't mention if this is natively or simply upscaled.

Is this important because people care about the Wii U or because this is one of the last Nintendo Power scoops we'll read about?

@GenocidalKitten said:

Neat, at least it will run games decently.

It should be able to do more than decent.

“Wii U has a powerful GPU with more oomph than the rivals – and is more modern in architecture and shader support, which may come in handy later on.”
“The CPU on the other hand is a different question. We are not limited by it but some other games might suffer from it. Still, because of the GPU, I expect most multi-platform games to look the best on Wii U, even if the difference might not be huge sometimes.”

Others have said the CPU has been intentionally clocked conservatively by Nintendo, this is because they want developers to squeeze out as much as they can using creativity, using programming methods akin to those they would have developed for both PS3 and 360 back in the day.

http://mynintendonews.com/2012/08/30/developers-finally-reveal-wii-u-specs/

@Tennmuerti said:

Doesn't mention if this is natively or simply upscaled.

I think the PC version will have laid down most of the foundation code for this version, so I doubt it.

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

Haven't we known for a while now that most Third Party titles would be running at 1080p? Aren't the only titles which are questionable if they will run at 1080p are the First Party titles (probably due to them being started on the early tech so they haven't been built with the final 1080p specs in mind) and other exclusives (where they are the first time a third party ahs tried to build around the Gamepad).

I mean, if they couldn't get Mess Effect 3 working at 1080p then that would just be a misshap, being able to do it isn't that much of an achievement.

@Dixavd said:

Haven't we known for a while now that most Third Party titles would be running at 1080p? Aren't the only titles which are questionable if they will run at 1080p are the First Party titles (probably due to them being started on the early tech so they haven't been built with the final 1080p specs in mind) and other exclusives (where they are the first time a third party ahs tried to build around the Gamepad).

I mean, if they couldn't get Mess Effect 3 working at 1080p then that would just be a misshap, being able to do it isn't that much of an achievement. *

No, on the contrary, apparently It's been tricky for some developers to push because of the currently conservative clock setting of the CPU, alongside the GamePad's streaming ability, which is known to be taxing on it - you can drop FPS by 50% without clever programming. So you see, it is an achievement, albeit but one which will likely be followed by all the others soon enough, as they grow more accustomed to Wii U's architecture.

Yea, some of the new first party stuff perhaps, but I wouldn't expect them all to be sub 1080. I have a feeling they may surprise us, possibly at the media summit next month. The CPU clock will go up eventually, new software will demand that it does. It's important to remember Nintendo did this recently with 3DS's two PICA CPU's.

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Others have said the CPU has been intentionally clocked conservatively by Nintendo, this is because they want developers to squeeze out as much as they can using creativity, using programming methods akin to those they would have developed for both PS3 and 360 back in the day.

Lol no, the limitation is technical. The wattage had to be kept to a lower level in order to fit inside the consoles small form factor, it's not much larger than the original Wii which doesn't leave a lot of space for a high powered chipset (or more to the point an adequate cooling solution). I don't doubt that the Wii U CPU is capable of more than what we will see, it's a shame it's being throttled just so Nintendo can market a smaller sized console as a bullet point on the list of features.

@Barrock said:

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

people don't read that eurogamer article correctly. that anonymous person says "1GB RAM for games" that does not mean 1GB RAM total as there is always stuff reserved for the OS stuff with home menus and other features.

It dosen't matter if it can render current gen at 1080p. Nintendo's trapping themselves because in a year the 720 and PS4 will be out, and developers will flock away from the Wii U.

Even if it can run current gen games at a higher res doesn't mean that developers won't abandon it when Nintendo tells them "No, our console can't do that stuff the 720 and PS4 can. You'll have to downres the textures and optimize a bunch", as well as remove the HDR.

@DeF said:

@Barrock said:

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

people don't read that eurogamer article correctly. that anonymous person says "1GB RAM for games" that does not mean 1GB RAM total as there is always stuff reserved for the OS stuff with home menus and other features.

I just have a feeling that the next console generation is still going to skimp on the RAM.

@Barrock said:

@DeF said:

@Barrock said:

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

people don't read that eurogamer article correctly. that anonymous person says "1GB RAM for games" that does not mean 1GB RAM total as there is always stuff reserved for the OS stuff with home menus and other features.

I just have a feeling that the next console generation is still going to skimp on the RAM.

Considering that the rumours for the next Xbox peg the RAM at around 4-8GB, I doubt it. It's so cheap now that I see now reason for any company to skimp out. Even if the WiiU has less than that, 1GB doesn't sound far fetched at all.

@Korwin said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Others have said the CPU has been intentionally clocked conservatively by Nintendo, this is because they want developers to squeeze out as much as they can using creativity, using programming methods akin to those they would have developed for both PS3 and 360 back in the day.

Lol no, the limitation is technical. The wattage had to be kept to a lower level in order to fit inside the consoles small form factor, it's not much larger than the original Wii which doesn't leave a lot of space for a high powered chipset (or more to the point an adequate cooling solution). I don't doubt that the Wii U CPU is capable of more than what we will see, it's a shame it's being throttled just so Nintendo can market a smaller sized console as a bullet point on the list of features.

... Why the laughter?. The CPU's intentionally low wattage has nothing what so ever to do with the physical space available within Wii U, your knowledge is layman on this matter. This is purely a power consumption - requirements issue.

Edit:

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a392539/wii-u-processing-speed-low-compared-to-360-ps3-says-tekken-producer.html

“The CPU on the other hand is a different question. We are not limited by it but some other games might suffer from it. Still, because of the GPU, I expect most multi-platform games to look the best on Wii U, even if the difference might not be huge sometimes.”

Well that's not the boldest statement but they get points for honesty. On a side note my Galaxy S3 has 2 Gigs of RAM, just saying.

@Barrock said:

@DeF said:

@Barrock said:

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

people don't read that eurogamer article correctly. that anonymous person says "1GB RAM for games" that does not mean 1GB RAM total as there is always stuff reserved for the OS stuff with home menus and other features.

I just have a feeling that the next console generation is still going to skimp on the RAM.

Probably, wait...?

The WiiU have 1GB RAM? That's crazy much if it is only going to be able to perform around X360/PS3 levels (which have 512MB and 256MB RAM respectively).

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

@Korwin said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Others have said the CPU has been intentionally clocked conservatively by Nintendo, this is because they want developers to squeeze out as much as they can using creativity, using programming methods akin to those they would have developed for both PS3 and 360 back in the day.

Lol no, the limitation is technical. The wattage had to be kept to a lower level in order to fit inside the consoles small form factor, it's not much larger than the original Wii which doesn't leave a lot of space for a high powered chipset (or more to the point an adequate cooling solution). I don't doubt that the Wii U CPU is capable of more than what we will see, it's a shame it's being throttled just so Nintendo can market a smaller sized console as a bullet point on the list of features.

... Why the laughter?. The CPU's intentionally low wattage has nothing what so ever to do with the physical space available within Wii U, your knowledge is layman on this matter. This is purely a power consumption - requirements issue.

Edit:

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a392539/wii-u-processing-speed-low-compared-to-360-ps3-says-tekken-producer.html

The laughter is for the insinuation that the reduced over all power of the CPU was a decision made to "fuel creativity", when it's almost certainly nothing of the sort. Also the the size of the machine and the wattage of the hardware are very much related indeed. Smaller form factors cannot support the more robust cooling systems required to support and maintain high powered equipment. In order to sufficiently cool a CPU that pulls a "high" wattage (lets say 75 watts in this instance) you require 3 things

• An adequate interface between the CPU core and the cooling solution (not really applicable for consideration here)
• A cooling solution that either provides a high efficiency heat transfer mechanism (heat pipes or liquid coolant), or a large enough surface area to dissipate the heat from (fins)
• Adequate air flow to displace the heat

When working in a smaller form factor options for high efficiency cooling start to shrink, in order to compensate you can take either of the following actions to compensate.

• Increase the amount of airflow in an attempt to displace the heat more rapidly. This was the solution Microsoft took early in the 360's life cycle which resulted in the machine sounding like a jet engine. I'm pretty sure Nintendo isn't interested in selling loud noise hardware, they never have before and they aren't about to start now
• Reduce the over all power consumption of the device in order to place lower demands on the cooling requirements. Power consumed directly correlates with heat produced, and when working at a smaller scale this can become a serious problem.

So yes, this is a matter of power consumption. However the power consumption restrictions are (for the most part) in place due to the size and build of the unit.

I think I'd probably rather it run at 720p with 60 fps, though obviously it's not that clear-cut a tradeoff.

@Korwin said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

@Korwin said:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

Others have said the CPU has been intentionally clocked conservatively by Nintendo, this is because they want developers to squeeze out as much as they can using creativity, using programming methods akin to those they would have developed for both PS3 and 360 back in the day.

Lol no, the limitation is technical. The wattage had to be kept to a lower level in order to fit inside the consoles small form factor, it's not much larger than the original Wii which doesn't leave a lot of space for a high powered chipset (or more to the point an adequate cooling solution). I don't doubt that the Wii U CPU is capable of more than what we will see, it's a shame it's being throttled just so Nintendo can market a smaller sized console as a bullet point on the list of features.

... Why the laughter?. The CPU's intentionally low wattage has nothing what so ever to do with the physical space available within Wii U, your knowledge is layman on this matter. This is purely a power consumption - requirements issue.

Edit:

http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/news/a392539/wii-u-processing-speed-low-compared-to-360-ps3-says-tekken-producer.html

The laughter is for the insinuation that the reduced over all power of the CPU was a decision made to "fuel creativity", when it's almost certainly nothing of the sort. Also the the size of the machine and the wattage of the hardware are very much related indeed. Smaller form factors cannot support the more robust cooling systems required to support and maintain high powered equipment. In order to sufficiently cool a CPU that pulls a "high" wattage (lets say 75 watts in this instance) you require 3 things

• An adequate interface between the CPU core and the cooling solution (not really applicable for consideration here)
• A cooling solution that either provides a high efficiency heat transfer mechanism (heat pipes or liquid coolant), or a large enough surface area to dissipate the heat from (fins)
• Adequate air flow to displace the heat

When working in a smaller form factor options for high efficiency cooling start to shrink, in order to compensate you can take either of the following actions to compensate.

• Increase the amount of airflow in an attempt to displace the heat more rapidly. This was the solution Microsoft took early in the 360's life cycle which resulted in the machine sounding like a jet engine. I'm pretty sure Nintendo isn't interested in selling loud noise hardware, they never have before and they aren't about to start now
• Reduce the over all power consumption of the device in order to place lower demands on the cooling requirements. Power consumed directly correlates with heat produced, and when working at a smaller scale this can become a serious problem.

So yes, this is a matter of power consumption. However the power consumption restrictions are (for the most part) in place due to the size and build of the unit.

Huh, the Wii U is 5cm longer and 15cm wider than Wii, more than adequate to support the required cooling system for today's CPU's and chip-sets. It's also worth bearing in mind it's predecessor the Wii used an intelligent composition of semiconductors to keep heat levels down, so It makes sense that Nintendo will have improved this technique within WiiU.

Nintendo considers every aspect of design very carefully, that's why the company has never been plagued like Microsoft has with hardware failures. This decision has been made because it's the safest option when launching a new console, it will give them the required data to hike up the clock safely when required. It's not required at launch in first generation games.

@Village_Guy said:

@Barrock said:

@DeF said:

@Barrock said:

If it really has 1 GB of RAM I'll scream.

people don't read that eurogamer article correctly. that anonymous person says "1GB RAM for games" that does not mean 1GB RAM total as there is always stuff reserved for the OS stuff with home menus and other features.

I just have a feeling that the next console generation is still going to skimp on the RAM.

Probably, wait...?

The WiiU have 1GB RAM? That's crazy much if it is only going to be able to perform around X360/PS3 levels (which have 512MB and 256MB RAM respectively).

Wii U is rumoured to have 512mb RAM dedicated to the OS alone. It will probably need it, considering what Nintendo appear to be doing with their online features

@MEATBALL said:

I think I'd probably rather it run at 720p with 60 fps, though obviously it's not that clear-cut a tradeoff.

Me too, I'm not fussed at all by the draw of 1080p, I'm just surprised to hear there will be 1080p games available right off-the-bat at launch, I was led to believe it would take until the second crop of games.

Here are some screens of the WiiU version:

@Wong_Fei_Hung said:

According to Nintendo Power, the game will display in full 1080p, the only console version to do this. It will also include the extended cut of the ending sequence and various DLC characters, and an exclusive weapon for the 4-Player online co-op mode.

I'm kinda glad I haven't played it yet, I'm looking forward to playing a game of this type on WiiU's GamePad.

UPDATE: Nintendo Power got it wrong, it displays in 720p: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/31495?

I hate that I know I'm purchasing a Wii U near release, but have two PCs that grossly out preform it and two consoles that are almost equivalent to it already (would prefer a more expensive device that could do 2560x1440). Just to have compatibility with Nintendo games and a controller with a 3 hr battery life.