Nintendo: Wii U graphics capability near “PS4″ and “Xbox 720″

The role of Nintendo in a few generations is that their consoles are “different”, trying to find new ways to play instead of competing with the latest hardware and advanced graphics techniques. That is what most users see, and is a stigma that Nintendo is looking to get rid of in its next home console, Wii U. Satoru Iwata, CEO of the Nippon company has come out against all the negative reviews that have emerged after showing the first games console at E3 held in June.

Although in theory the generation gap between Xbox 360/Playstation 3 and Wii U is fairly light, Iwata ensures that its console is considerably more near the graphics capabilities of PS4 and Xbox 720 from what we believe, although it is not “significant” to the naked eye because the user was expecting something more “radical”. Nintendo’s CEO is convinced that there will be no difference between systems compared to that we have seen with Wii and the other two systems, because so far the graphics capabilities were much higher in the competing machines, which can deliver high definition graphics, but with Wii U hardware will on par with the future Playstation and Xbox. But then, why the games shown were extremely similar to the current generation

Techniques and graphics capabilities

The key to understand why Satoru Iwata is so confident in his statements is to understand the nuances of his words. Wii U hardware is several generations ahead of integrating the current system from Nintendo, especially the graphics chip, which in theory – and I say theory because Nintendo ha not provided any technical details of its console and we will have to wait for someone to dissect it when it hits the market – belongs to the HD 6000 or HD 7000 from AMD Radeon, and supports the latest graphic techniques included in the latest API like DirectX 11, including tessellation, or the inherited effects of getting DirectX 10 renderizarse more smoothly. It is important to appreciate that Iwata does not speak of graphics power, but the chart is linked to potential use of more advanced techniques.

And why the games look like Xbox 360 ? If the graphics are using more advanced chips? Batman Arkham City Wii U, shown during Nintendo’s conference at E3 is a practical example of this case. The change in the next generation of consoles will be more subtle from what many expected, and this is where other factors come into play of which we have spoken.

The jump from DirectX9 to DirectX11 does not mean systems can magically render more polygons, but allows more effects and apply them to be more efficient on-screen, achieving higher frame rates per second and providing a more fluid game. New techniques are, for example, water seems more realistic, higher resolution textures are used without much impact on performance, or may provide more depth of objects that currently appeared much flatter, as the pavement of a floor. Overall, all the techniques applied can make the image to be higher quality, although it is not something you notice at first glance.

Can Wii U compete with Sony or Microsoft?

To reiterate, the graphics capabilities do not necessarily translate into graphics performance. Wii U, technically speaking, may apply the same effects as PlayStation 4 or Xbox 720, but with the same logic it will not be able to do it the same. Graphic units of the next generation consoles that Nintendo will compete against will have a higher base frequency both in their core and in its memories, allowing them to implement a greater number of effects and filters at a cost of reduced performance.

Its not what you say but how you say it

However, this does not mean that Iwata is lying blatantly, but he chose his words very carefully when talking about his next big product. That the CEO of the Japanese company has specifically chosen to talk about the technical capabilities of its Wii U and shows that once again it will be a little behind its rivals, instead choosing to compete in other areas where they are especially skilled at, and that is innovation.

For fans of Nintendo the number of triangles per second, the texture a wall has or the number of reflections in Link’s sword are secondary aspects of their experience, which is enriched by the fact that Nintendo is able to make the game come to life with inventions such as the Wii Remote, or the new Wii U Gamepad. Carmack said it best: while Sony and Microsoft continue fighting in FLOPS and gigahertz, Nintendo will take the other route. The fact is that both rivals have already prepared their countermeasures, like SmartGlass or remote gaming. Who will rise this time with the “victory”?

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