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

Don't expect something wildly beyond what's already out there.

Many of the Wii U games shown at E3 were in HD, but sported art styles very much in-line with Wii.
Many of the Wii U games shown at E3 were in HD, but sported art styles very much in-line with Wii.

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.

Patrick Klepek on Google+