Nintendo has been short on details for the Wii U since the system was shown at E3 nearly a year ago. Left to fill the void are rumors and gossip from unnamed sources. Five years after the release of Wii, Nintendo fans will be disappointed to learn that its successor likely will not even match current-gen systems (let alone the upcoming PS4 and Xbox 730) according to developers with first-hand knowledge. Nintendo didn’t do themselves any favors on Friday by deflecting from the report rather than denying it.
“No, it’s not up to the same level as the PS3 or the 360,” one unnamed developer told Game Industry earlier this week. “The graphics are just not as powerful.” Another developer complained that Wii U “doesn’t produce graphics as well as the PS3 or the 360. There aren’t as many shaders, it’s not as capable. Sure, some things are better, mostly as a result of it being a more modern design. But overall the Wii U just can’t quite keep up.”
Normally we would only take anonymous statements like this with a grain of salt, but Nintendo hardly put the rumor to rest. Instead they basically confirmed the sentiment by stressing that they are pushing the “experience of play” rather than hardware capability. “We do not focus on technology specs,” the company told Digital Trends. “We understand that people like to dissect graphics and processing power, but the experience of playing will always be more important than raw numbers.”
