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'Slow, horrible' Wii U: THQ rep unhappy with the way quote has been spun

Metro: Last Light probably isn't coming to Wii U, following some rather damning comments regarding the hardware from a developer at 4A Games. Publisher THQ has stepped in to shed light on why the negative comments were made.

Chief technical officer at 4A Games Oles Shishkovtsov originally made the comment during a NowGamer interview, in which he said, “[The] Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU."

Eurogamer spoke with THQ's 4A Games rep Huw Beynon to get some perspective on the comment, who said, “I think there was one comment made by Oles the programmer - the guy who built the engine.

“It's a very CPU intensive game. I think it's been verified by plenty of other sources, including your own Digital Foundry guys, that the CPU on Wii U on the face of it isn't as fast as some of the other consoles out there. Lots of developers are finding ways to get around that because of other interesting parts of the platform.

However, Beynon is unhappy with the way Shishkovtsov's comment has been handled in the press, and suggests that only half of the story has been reported, “I think that what frustrates me about the way the story's been spun out is that there's been no opportunity to say, 'Well, yes, on that one individual piece maybe it's not as... maybe his opinion is that it's not as easy for the way that the 4A engine's been built as is the others.

“What it doesn't go on to look at is to say that, you know, we could probably get around that. We could probably get Metro to run on an iPad if we wanted, or on pretty much anything.

"Just as in the same way that between PC and current console versions there are some compromises that need to be made in certain places and we strive to get the very best performance that we can from any platform we release on.

It's a natural practice in the press right now - given the scrutiny placed on the Wii U Format - Bynon suggested, “But I understand that there's a real appetite in the media at the moment because the Wii U is a hot topic to spam some stories that are going to attract a lot of links if they present it in a certain way.”

Beynon added that a Wii U version is still possible, but rather unlikely, as the small team at 4A Games is currently working on the PS3 version. Given the time required to fully use the Wii U hardware to its potential - rather than just releasing a shoddy port - Beynon suggested it would be a big ask.

What do you think about Shishkovtsov's comment? Blown out of proportion, or a developer speaking freely? Judge for yourself below.

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Metro: Last Light

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Dave Cook avatar

Dave Cook

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Dave worked on VG247 for an extended period manging much of the site's news output. As well as his experience in games media, he writes for comics, and now specializes in books about gaming history.

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