Nintendo: We don’t focus on hardware specs, gameplay experience than raw numbers
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, Wii U | 0 comments
There’s been lots of rumors going around about the Wii U’s power and graphical capabilities. Companies generally provide the standard “we don’t comment on rumors/speculation” line for these types of situations, but things are different this time!
A Nintendo representative provided the following comment when presented with GamesIndustry’s report, which surfaced earlier this week:
“We do not focus on technology specs. We understand that people like to dissect graphics and processing power, but the experience of playing will always be more important than raw numbers.”
This has more or less been Nintendo’s motto for quite some time now. I wouldn’t be surprised if we never saw an official, in-depth summary of the Wii U’s specs from the company.
Aliens: Colonial Marines footage
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Videos, Wii U | 0 comments
Aliens: Colonial Marines screenshots
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Screenshots, Wii U | 0 comments
Rumor: Unnamed Wii U devs say not to expect anything special graphically, issues with PS3/360 ports
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 0 comments
You know the drill by now. There are some unnamed “key developers” out there who have spoken with CVG, and these folks are saying some concerning things about the Wii U.
One developer source told the site:
“Assumptions that Wii U games will look like ‘up rezzed’ current-gen titles with better textures aren’t quite right. They’ll look just as good, but not better. You shouldn’t expect anything special from a graphics point of view.”
And a second source:
“We’re still working on dev machines but there have definitely been some issues [in porting PS3/360 games]. It’s not actually a problem getting things up and running because the architecture is pretty conventional, but there are constraints with stuff like physics and AI processing because the hardware isn’t quite as capable.”
“I suppose you don’t need sophisticated physics to make a Mario game.”
I’m not sure about you guys, but all of these rumors, unnamed sources, and random quotes are starting to become quite agitating. In the search for new Wii U information and details about the system’s power, there sure have been a lot of contradictory reports flying around…
Gearbox talks Wii U: “pretty powerful”, “nice bridge to the next generation”, “people will be surprised”
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
A fresh set of Wii U-related quotes from Gearbox president Randy Pitchford and Aliens: Colonial Marines producer Brian Burleson have swooped in.
Pitchford was more vocal – and very complimentary – about the hardware. He said Wii U is “a really cool system — it’s pretty powerful.” Pitchford also stated that “it’s a really nice bridge to the next generation.” This is similar to what Gearbox chief creative officer Brian Martel said last year.
Pitchford’s comments in full:
“Nintendo still has a lot to announce with their platform, and it’s not up to us to go ahead of them. I think it’s a great platform and I’m really excited about it, particularly with this game, there’s a lot of exciting opportunities like, ‘Wow, my motion tracker is there, and I can move it like this!’ There’s just so much cool stuff.
“There’s a lot that we can do with that screen. It’s a really cool system — it’s pretty powerful. I want to be careful, because I don’t want to risk any sensitive information that Nintendo’s not ready to share yet, but in our experience it’s a great system. I think it’s a really nice bridge to the next generation. I think people will be surprised. I don’t know off the top of my head how many of the specs they’ve released, so I want to be very careful not to jump the gun, but we’re very pleased with the hardware. And even since they gave us our first alpha kit, our very first ‘pre-prototype’ development hardware that they kind of let us play around with, they’ve done so many things to make the platform better. So it’s getting better for us as developers.”
Burleson remarks:
“You’ll have to wait. But I play it all the time, and it’s really good.”
Aliens: Colonial Marines Wii U “will be one of the best looking versions of the game”
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Gearbox chief creative officer Brian Martell has said that the Wii U version of Aliens: Colonial Marines “will be one of the best looking versions of the game”. This comes following rumored developer comments that the Wii U’s power isn’t at the same level as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Martell didn’t go into detail about hardware specs, but he did suggest that the console has more RAM and a “really great processor”.
Martell said:
“I think things like the Wii U are becoming very sexy with what you can do with the controller and especially with what we’re able to do with using things like motion tracker or whatever sub gameplay will be that you get to see on there.
“I think that’s a compelling experience. I think the machine itself will be one of the best looking versions of the game, because they’ve got more RAM than some of the other things and they’re late in the cycle, so they’ve got this really great processor and all that kind of stuff.”
A new batch of Aliens: Colonial Marines screenshots/art can be found here.
Wii U release date speculation continues
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in Rumors, Wii U | 0 comments
There’s been a rumor going around that the Wii U will launch in North America on November 18. I’ve been careful not to post such speculation here as the original source is extremely dubious.
However, IGN believes they’ve obtained a piece of evidence that supports the rumor.
The photo above comes from an email sent by a GameStop Regional Manager. IGN says it “seems to support the notion that the Wii U very well might release on November 18 as speculated.”
Not so fast. If you look at the title of the email, it says, “Wii U North American and Japanese Release Date Leaked?” It appears that this person was merely basing the content of his message off of the original speculation.
I don’t get the impression that he/she has any insider knowledge. What do you guys think?
Funcom talks up MMORPGs on Wii U
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in News, Wii U | 0 comments
Nintendo systems have never been known for MMORPGs. But Funcom developer Joel Bylos believes the “Wii U could be the first real console on which running an MMORPG without compromise is plausible”.
Bylos complimented the console’s controller, saying that it’s “perfect for lining up those rows of hotbars that are essential in most MMOs.”
He told ONM:
“Wii U could be the first real console on which running an MMORPG without compromise is plausible. The controller is perfect for lining up those rows of hotbars that are essential in most MMOs. A customisable touchscreen interface combined with the 3D spatial movement of a console controller could be a winner.”
Ubisoft has “big plans for Wii U”, interest in being “the number one-third party” on console
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii, Wii U | 0 comments
Ubisoft has “big plans for Wii U” according to Tony Key, Ubisoft’s SVP of sales and marketing. Key outlined the company’s interest in the console in an interview with Gamasutra.
Key said:
“We have big plans for Wii U. Our intention is to be the number one third-party on Wii U, just like we were on Kinect and just like we were on 3DS.
“We’ve always had a really close relationship with Nintendo, so I’d venture to say that we did have an advantage in getting dev kits earlier than other people. I’m not saying we got them earlier than everyone, but I do think we got them early.
“They came to us and asked us to make Red Steel. The thing is, once these dev kits show up in the building, you’ve got these other teams peeking around the curtain going, ‘Hey, what’s that?’ Before you know it, there’s three projects being developed for the Wii in that one room, and then another guy from another studio just happens to be visiting and brings back some ideas…”
Key also mentioned how Ubisoft was able to prepare a significant amount of titles for the Wii’s launch. This stemmed from developer interest when Red Steel was being made for the system. Eventually Ubisoft ended up with seven launch games for the Wii.
According to Key:
“We do encourage that kind of experimentation, especially if we think the platform is commercially viable. [Ubisoft CEO] Yves Guillemot will say, ‘Let’s put a few guys on it, and let’s try it.’ So if they come up with a great idea, then we’ll roll with it.”
“That’s what happened on the Wii; we were so engaged with it after getting the kits for Red Steel that suddenly Rayman came out of that, and before you knew it we had seven titles in the launch window because the dev studios got so excited about the hardware.”
Warren Spector more concerned with creativity rather than new consoles
Posted on 12 years ago by Brian(@NE_Brian) in General Nintendo, News, Wii U | 0 comments
The next generation of consoles is on the way, but Warren Spector is more concerned with creativity in the gaming industry.
In an interview with EDGE, Spector said, “I think most of the problems we have to solve are creative ones, not technical ones.”
He told the publication:
“If it comes it comes; when it comes, it comes. I’m not a tech guy, particularly. I’m a design, story, character guy. I think most of the problems we have to solve are creative ones, not technical ones.
“Obviously we make software, so there’s always a technical element to what we do, but I will make games that do whatever I want them to do at the end of the day, and I will use whatever technology [is] available.”
