Editorials

Wii U may not be a viable option for the next generation

Posted by × 25 October, 2012 at 8:45 pm

* Editors note* The opinions reflected in this editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of OmniGamer

Is Nintendo a viable option for the Next generation?  We are now entering the seventh year of this generation, and Nintendo’s idea of motion control was a hit, but with Sony and Microsoft getting into the game of motion control, and having a stronger library of games, The Wii’s novelty ran its course. All good things come things must come to and end, right? Now we have the Wii U, a system that comes with it’s own tablet. It has the makings to be a success, so can Nintendo catch lighting in a bottle for a second time?

This time around Nintendo decided they needed a little more horse power under the hood, yes the Wii U console is capable of outputting full high-definition display, but in my opinion Nintendo might have missed and opportunity to get a jump on the competition. The full specs of the system are still a bit cloudy, but according to reports the system is set to come with a respectable 2 gigs of ram, a IBM  Power Architecture-based multi-core processor, and a AMD Radeon High Definition GPU. There is nothing out of the ordinary about those specs, but there have been rumors of developers having issue with CPU performance.

These specs are on par with rumors from last year that indicated the Wii U processor was a derivative of the power 7 CPU from IBM. Even if the processor supported three cores, that chip would still out muscle the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 CPU’s, which are based on power 5 CPU architecture. The CPU in the Xbox 360 features 3 cores, while the PS3 is using their own proprietary cell processor with 1 GP Core and 8 SPE Cores.

Even though the Wii U is expected to be more powerful than the current generation of consoles my eyes don’t see the graphical leap I was hoping Nintendo would deliver. Lets take a look at E3, Nintendo should have owned E3 this year, with the unveiling of brand new console, but as far as I could see and read people were talking about other things such as Watch Dogs, Halo4,  the Luminous Engine, Star Wars 1313, and Beyond: Two Souls. Yea Pikmin 3 was cute, but I did not see that triple A original title that gets everybody all excited.

Now most of the above games are rumored to be next generation consoles games, except for Halo 4 and Beyond: Two Souls. Ubisoft has stated that Watch Dogs is for the current generation game, but I don’t believe it. If the next Microsoft and Sony consoles can generate graphics like the are Square Enix’s Luminous Engine in-game, I feel sorry for Nintendo.  Now last years E3 when they showed the Zelda concept I was like wow, where is my Zelda Nintendo?

Rickey Gibson

Rickey is a gamer to the core, He can remember at the early stages of his life playing pong, for every generation that has been, He has owned a console in that generation, He likes to study the architecture, the structure,and the software of every system that he has owned. From Atari, to Sega, to Nintendo,to Sony, and his favorite company Microsoft, he has been there gaming.
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  • http://twitter.com/trogdor696 trogdor696

    Graphics and specs are irrelevant when it comes to system sales, and the best library

    period

  • Pillock

    This is such a badly written article and I’m not even talking about the grammatical errors. Major horseshit alert.

  • Keoterror

    Yeah sorry about the errors. This is a new editor. I need to make sure I proofread his future articles.

    • dmoney

      You should take down the article and edit it.

  • PLAYSTATIONG

    A guide to spot signs of radical Playstationg fanboism as a person or a site :

    1. Listing both current and upcoming games that only matter to him/her/it, only to give an illusion of megaton list. Tend to hype $ony as the winner of all time, self-proclaim winner to be exact. Using the ‘We’ word as if he/she/it represents the world.

    2. NPD or Narcisstic Personality Disorder, a self-glorious stranger who thinks he/she/it’s the most important jackass on the net. Telling a personal opinion as an absolute gospel or fact.

    3. Sales-induced comments/articles, spamming readers like selling snake oils. (eg: 10 earth-shattering ps3 games you must own, my vita can heal my backpains, i’m getting a second vita so it’s well worth your money too, etc.)

    4. Anger or Mad Disorder sign shows up in comments that lead to cursing at others. Some will cover it using smiley happy symbols or Lol stuffs, but in reality they’re suffering from insomnia scratching butts like crazy, waiting desperately to see miracles on playstationg sales and to twist bad news in forums/articles. Even Kevin Butler is paid to cheer up for $ony.

    5. Using ‘trolling!’ or ‘shut up!’ or ‘fan haters!’ or insulting terms as final defense when the fanboy cannot openly accept real facts crushing his fanboyish opinions and mental issues.

    6. Spewing hatred at any other brand that’s more succesful in terms of innovation, reviews, and sales. It screams anti-competition or monopolistic mentality. Sadly, they’ve been brainwashed and outsmarted by their own puppeteer – $ony.

    7. Can’t stand constructive critics anymore. To them, $ony can’t commit sins or wrong decisions. Everything made by $ony is so f*ng holy. Speaking of super taboo “sheeps” or “tools” with just one-dimensional way of thinking.

    8. Exclusive Attention Deprived Disorder. Almost the same like #2, but they need exclusive treatments in the form of exclusive 1st party games because they feel 3rd parties supports aren’t as good. Pretty much like drug dealer and drug abuser relationship. They’re more than happy to lose dimes for the master just for the exclusive fix.

    9. Judging others of being ‘jealous’ because they don’t have as many exclusives, yet those exclusive games cannot bring their beloved console up to the #1 sales spot globally.

    10. The worst $ony fankids’ site like N4G.com is epidemic. The kids seem to have no games worth of playing, so all the time they just end up watching on the site, bubbling-up $ony kids comments and bubbling-down non-$ony gamers. When the playstationg is getting bad news, they always argue that $ony has more than just a gaming division. But when $ony is getting bad news, they always argue that the playstationg has nothing to do with it. Talk about a pesky group of desperate kids looking for exclusive attention.

    11. Double-standard or Bi-Polar Disorder. They will blame MS or Nintendo for propriety HD, but suddenly support Sony for Vita’s propriety flash memory. Milking Grand Turismo franchise is totally fine, but milking Halo franchise is a huge No. It’s OK for Sony to trick sales (newer SKUs every x year), but not so for Activision (newer CODs every y year).

    12. Playstationg – It Only Does Spamming non-$ony Gamers!

    • Keoterror

      Are you saying that this editor is a Playstation fan boy, if so I can assure you that he is not. In fact look at his Bio “my favorite company Microsoft”

    • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1589976232 Navin Ramkissoon

      God forbid, some one who isn’t you has an opinion…smh…..what a loser! How many forums have you copied and pasted this garbage on?

      Firstly, it’s Playstation! Not PlaystationG! Secondly, I am one of those so-called Playstation fanboys and I have been one since the good ole days of the PS1…you know…before you were born. But you know what? I had an Xbox 360….4 actually… they all RROD’ed. I got my first one on launch day. It’s a great system, no doubt, but once I switched to PS3, there was no turning back. BTW the Wii is a children’s toy, I don’t consider that crap a console, so I won’t waste any more time on the piece of useless crap. After getting my PS3, my 360 sat in a corner gathering dust, when it finally RROD’ed, I contemplated whether to get a new one….but then I said…why? The PS3 has a huge list of exclusives that I wanted to play, multiplats were on both systems and I would rather play them on the PS3 anyway….as for xbox exclusives…well there’s only Halo, GOW, Forza, Fable….can’t think of any other worth mentioning….Halo is over-rated, GOW is awesome, Forza is turning into COD, and Fable is terrible! Forza 2 used to glitch like a MOFO when I played it, sometimes my avatar would disappear. WTF!? Oh and to address some of your comments, won’t address all, because most of it is senseless BS. When the PS3 launched, 360 had a 6 million head start, today that lead is under 2 million. .the only region keeping the 360 ahead of PS3 is North America, even though that lead is diminishing everyday. As for exclusives sales’ the 360 has more simply because they seldom release an exclusive and whenever they do they over-hype the hell out of it! The PS3 doesn’t get as much sales on it’s exclusives simply because of one factor…..PS3 gamers have OPTIONS! And alot of it! When a Halo releases, that’s probably the only big exclusive the 360 would’ve seen in half a year, while the PS3 releases big games year round! So three years later, I still haven’t purchased a new 360 and that simply because, they is no reason to purchase one……

  • http://www.facebook.com/gwwampler Gregory William Wampler

    Actually, the CPU and GPU aren’t simple or ordinary. They are the first of their kind in a console where they are combined onto one chip. Two separately manufactured chips combined. Not a simple System on a Chip. Do mroe research as this is just one small fact overlooked.

  • http://www.facebook.com/JonathanRider Johnny Rider

    When have graphics ever made a console come out on top? Time and time again gameplay has proven to be the most important aspect in gaming. That is why Nintendo is such well regarded company. They constantly deliver quality which is what gamers want.

  • DarthDiggler

    “The CPU in both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 feature 3 cores.”

    Wrong the CPU in the PS3 has 1 GP Core and 8 SPE Cores.

    From what I hear the CPU is an issue for Wii U.

  • teufel

    Stopped reading after the “journalist” said that the CPUs in the PS360 were based on the POWER5 and both have 3 cores.

    If there is an editor in charge of this article, you sir or madam should be fired for letting this dribble even touch the net.

    Go home and put your nose in the corner Rickey, and if you are already at home, put your nose in the corner and think about what you posted online.

    • Keoterror

      Hey thanks for bringing this to my attention. He originally meant 1 GP Core and 8 SPE Cores, but I thought it was three cores so I put that in. I was wrong and the post has been edited to reflect that.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=746875316 Jon ‘Jonny’ Preece

    ignoring specs the U is still a gimmicky attempt from N and wont hold hard core gamers attentions. the tablets a joke imo

    • http://www.facebook.com/JonathanRider Johnny Rider

      I’m guessing you’re the kind of person who thinks having the most power in a console is what drives the industry forward?

  • Frank

    Rickey’s Bio alone is enough to make me wonder how he got a job making these kinds of articles. It starts off in third person point of view and then changes to first person in the last sentence. Not to mention the countless grammatical errors in this article. I understand some missed commas and what not, but using a comma as an apostrophe is a little ridiculous.

  • Keith

    Yes, it’s soooo true, the Wii lost the console war because of last gen graphics. It sold very few consoles and the motion control stuff was a terrible idea, no one liked it, why because the graphics were just so out dated. Nothing on the Wii is worth playing because of last gen graphics. This article is so bad it deserves such sarcasm.

  • teufel

    Further points of note:

    Technically the 360′s CPU is based on tech gained from what Sony was collaborating with IBM on which ended up being the Cell. Anyone who did a minute of research on this matter would know that the original work and foundation of the Cell started long before POWER5 and was actually based on POWER4. Thus the PS360 systems are based technically on work done with POWER4 as the basis.

    The “journalist” failed to mention that the Wii U has a MCM setup, which is kind of important if you actually want to talk about the potential of the system.

    Further more, it would seem this person fails to grasp the difference between CPU and GPU limits, and how they apply. I honestly have no idea why they are bringing up CPU specs at all other than they cant get over the idea that the Wii U is using 3 cores and may have been clocked lower. If this person was familiar with how a MCM build works, they would know how little that matters and how much more efficient CPUs have gotten.

    Then there is the fact that this person seems to be taking the specs at face value without acknowledging that Nintendo has a long history of not spilling the beans on everything. It took a hacker to find the ARM that was hidden in the Wii, and I dont seem to recall in the specs listed the ARM described in the patent or the DSP.

    Also, lets not forget that this is the first console that has a GPU produced by AMD where the GPGPU functions are actually going to be a focus which will take stress off the CPU.

    Finally, this person is comparing two systems that have had 7 years of problem solving done, where developers can literally look up to see what others did to fix issues. While the Wii U is a brand new console that developers have to figure things out with some help from Nintendo, but in the end, it will take time for developers to discover how everything works.

    Then this person fails to mention that Gearbox, Ubisoft, and Frozenbyte have not only complimented on how powerful the system is, but all of them have been doing things that the current gen consoles cant do.

    Further more, the RAM is split up into 1GB for the OS and 1GB dedicated for gaming. There has been chattering on GAF that the amount reserved for the OS will be cut back once the system is cemented a bit more after launch, which might free up 0.5GB bringing the total to 1.5GB for gaming.

    eDRAM, as we all know, helped the 360 keep up with the PS3 in certain areas, and the volume has yet to be disclosed though some have it around 28mb which is nearly triple that of the 360.

    I could go on about how much is wrong with this post still, but truly this “journalist” needs to learn how to do research before wiggling their fingers on the keyboard, and actually proof reading your own work might be nice as well. There are some errors in this piece that make me curious on when whether they dropped out of school or just skated by with D’s in English