Nintendo Wii-U Processing Power
Power is a large topic in the gaming industry. Developers constantly want to push the limits and them effort to bring realism to the family room in gaming has been expanded upon for every generation. The Nintendo 64 introduced 3d polygons, the next generation increased graphical and sound progress as realism inched closer. This generation we have HD graphics and sounds and the ability for real time rendering in many games and the degree of realism is at its all time highest.
With the graphics being as good as they are, is power the present limited visible improvement what it will take to sell games? Consoles selling for $300-$600 for minute upgrades in graphics seems like a stretch, which is why Nintendo is pushing innovation over pure power. In a recent question and answer session though, Nintendo’s President, Satoru Iwata answered some questions regarding the Nintendo Wii-U’s power.
Consumers and those in the industry want to know how pwerful the Wii-U will be in comparison to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Iwata was quick to point out that the Wii-U is a new console and just like in past generations, it takes developers a while to fully understand the specs inside of the console as they learn to work within the system to maximize its output and realize its full potential. He elaborated saying that development teams for software are only at about the halfway point towards understanding its true potential.
He also stated that if you compare the look of multi-platform games that have also been announced on the Wii-U, they graphics are comparable. Will that be enough though? Should a new generation of gaming have comparable graphics to a previous generation? Again though, the level of realism is already at all time highs with minimal upgrades having been offered in recent years.
By increasing power the price of the console would also have to be increased. The GamePad controller has spent up considerable resources of the company and the console, to also expand upon processing power would have increased costs that would have been forwarded on to the consumers. Iwata said that it is the company’s intention to maintain a price point for the Nintendo Wii-U that is reasonable to the value that the console offers consumers.
