TIME: 'Why the Wii U Isn’t the Dinosaur Some Are Making It Out to Be'

[JonathanD]

The only part I disagree with is the graphics section. I'm not some graphics whore that needs my games to look sweet, but it is what held the Wii back from the hard-core audience last time. I'm not even speaking for the consumers here, but for the developers. UE4 just got showcased, and you can bet your ass that if the next-gen systems can run it, and the Wii U can't, then we are just going to see a repeat of this console generation all over again. Devs are going to need the WiiU to be powerful enough to run the game that they want to make for the multiplatform releases. If a game isn't multiplatform, it's probably not going to make enough money to get made, so WiiU exclusives are just out.

I don't think thats going to be an issue, the difference between the Wii-U and even what I can buy no matter how much money I have in terms of PC tech is pretty small. Sure I can build a faster PC but its going to faster by a slim margin unless I go multi GPU in a larger case to provide cooling. Hardware coming from Sony or Microsoft is going to face the same issue. It's not even just about money, you also have to think about the thermals if you want more hardware than the Wii-U you need a bigger box to put it in less it melt into a puddle of expensive silicon.

[Signa]

I don't think thats going to be an issue, the difference between the Wii-U and even what I can buy no matter how much money I have in terms of PC tech is pretty small. Sure I can build a faster PC but its going to faster by a slim margin unless I go multi GPU in a larger case to provide cooling. Hardware coming from Sony or Microsoft is going to face the same issue. It's not even just about money, you also have to think about the thermals if you want more hardware than the Wii-U you need a bigger box to put it in less it melt into a puddle of expensive silicon.

Good point. Makes me wonder if UE4 will even run on consoles at all. The tech demo I saw was awesome, but it was running on a GTX680. Right now, that's a lot of card, but by the next generation of video cards, we are going to see that kind of power in the mid-range. While those almost assuredly will be cooler cards, it would mean development would practically have to start from scratch on those consoles if that's the target hardware. There's also the possibility that we just won't see UE4 games running at 1080p. I'm not sure why we'd want an upgraded console if it doesn't do 1080p though. Current console graphics are good enough at 720p.

EDIT: I misread what you said a little bit, so my ramblings don't apply entirely. Still a good point though.

[IJTF_Cinder]

Again, what the **** does 1080P have to do with ANYTHING? Higher resolution doesn't = better graphics, period.

That's like cranking the resolution in a PC game, while leaving the detail levels at medium, it's self defeating(Though you'll read plenty of suggesting to just that, or complaints from people lacking the brains to realize that).

If you can't max out the visuals at 1080p, I want max detail at 720p instead thank you...not medium at 1080p.

[JonathanD]

Good point. Makes me wonder if UE4 will even run on consoles at all. The tech demo I saw was awesome, but it was running on a GTX680. Right now, that's a lot of card, but by the next generation of video cards, we are going to see that kind of power in the mid-range. While those almost assuredly will be cooler cards, it would mean development would practically have to start from scratch on those consoles if that's the target hardware. There's also the possibility that we just won't see UE4 games running at 1080p. I'm not sure why we'd want an upgraded console if it doesn't do 1080p though. Current console graphics are good enough at 720p.

EDIT: I misread what you said a little bit, so my ramblings don't apply entirely. Still a good point though.

Didn't they say something about the UE4 engine being very flexible, even the to the point of it being able to run on phones in a stripped down version?

I maybe smoked too much meth but I can swear I remember reading that somewhere. (kidding about the meth bit.)

I tried to search on google for a minute, maybe it was the Rage engine from ID that could be made to run on a phone?

Either way if it will not run on the Wii-U's hardware, that doesn't leave a lot of hope for Sony or Microsoft unless they want to release another 600$ console. Thats about the only way it could be done and it would need to be slightly larger then the old phat PS3...