Purported Wii U specs revealed though hacker’s Twitter account

in b4 bitching about slow console

clock speed of 1.24 GHz – 2000 year.

Oh my god, 4A Games were so true about slow processor. It’s not slow, it’s just CRAP.

Wii U is Wii 1.8 version with a kitchen sink for 400$

I’ve said this before, clock speeds by themselves don’t mean a lot. The architecture of the CPU and GPU is also very important.

@3, Clock rate are important for GAMING. If your CPU is slow, tasks that console will do are not very efficient.

@2
I think a slower processor, but still par se graphics with PS360 is an awesome achievement.

“with PS360 is an awesome achievement.”

what achievement really? Achievement to have an old PC stuff in the box is achievement?

Info was collected whilst in Wii BC mode too – so potentially the processor was under-clocked for that. Regardless it’s the games you play not the CPU.

you always compare wrong. the PS3 has a good CPU…and what? Now you cant even listen to music and use the webbrowser at the same time. wtf is wrong with you?

Read marcans tweets.

Oh my, Nintendo what are you doing? If the specs had been exactly like PS360, ok…that is at least something. But LESS?!! I guess it’s no wonder that according to Digital Foundry, Black Ops II suffers from quite some framerate problems on Wii U.

Some context:

Wii U: 1.24ghz
Wii: 729MHz
Gamecube: 486MHz

JM

Devs were not lazy with ports on Wii U they were fucking wizards to achieve that on Wii U !

@11, +100. LOL. Exactly.

but whatever, 1.24 is enough for 2D Mario sidescroller in HD.

I would be worried, but considering Mario Galaxy is one of the finest looking and playing games last gen and that ran on a glorified GameCube, there’s no problem graphics wise.

Price will drop to £199.99 or less to counter new Xbox / PS4.

Business as usual.

Wow, that’s weak (if true). It also means that it costs way less to produce, and that Nintendo eill make boatloads of cash until nextbox(es).

@11
Indeed. Heck, I am amazed about something like AC3. That is a rather CPU heavy game and that clock-speed is BAD. Yes, a good architecture can do wonders but 1.24GHz is just bad.

Of course, CPU clock speeds don’t make games but when you have a rather cheap CPU like this, a SINGLE touch pad and still charge around $300 for that… you are being over greedy my friend.

@15 They said they were losing money with each sold unit I think.

@16 http://www.vg247.com/2012/11/21/wii-u-profitable-with-just-one-game-purchase-says-fils-aime/ you are technically right, but people will definitely buy software. They still will make boatloads of cash.

@16

Yes they are selling each console at a loss. This is the first time in a while for Nintendo to do that.

yep POS

@16 They lose money may due to large expense on operating system development, online functionality development, and multimedia support. Also this is the first time the develop hd game and needs some money to learn (develop an engine, etc.) But all these should be done in last gen. They just ask gamer to pay for it.

@16
I believe they lied. Nintendo has NEVER lost money on the hardware. They might have just said that to make that price seem more reasonable. I mean, they have already lied before (Reggies saying the Wii U version of multiplatform games is dramatically better than others).

That hardware is so weak, I also find it hard to believe they lost money on it. I mean if people are buying this system just for Nintendo exclusives(whenever those come out) then I get it. But, what’s going to happen in around 8 months at E3 when the REAL systems are teased about the power. What’s the price point for the next XBOX going to be, i dont see it being higher than 500$ and the specs will probably blow wii u so far out of the water….

Erthazus,

Do you just always go on and on and on about PC? Are graphics really SO important to you? If so, I feel very very sorry for you, son.

I rather prefer this explanation i think explains it quite succinct and detailed :

“The the CPU is more than just the Wii’s version times three. For starters, it uses a newer technology from IBM called 45nm SOI process. This is a massive improvement over the 90nm SOI process the Wii version had. Essentially, this makes the processor “overclock” at higher end speeds while reducing power consumption. Essentially, it makes the Wii U’s processor run even faster than it’s clock speeds with higher efficiency and lower power output. Of course, that’s only going to make the processor run just a bit better, so it still is fundamentally slow. However, the CPU uses a significant amount of eDRAM. What this allows the Wii U to do, essentially, is move more data at once compared to the Wii processor times three. You can store more data in the eDRAM and as such, move more at once as well. So, the processor is slower, but similar to the Power 7 tech, it moves more data at once at that slower rate than the standard processor at such rates.

Again though, the CPU is not Power 7 based, so it only increases the performance level by a certain amount. Certainly though, the performance increase does fundamentally make it have a higher efficiency than whats in the current gaming consoles. It just wont win any awards in the next generation. However, thanks in large part to the super beefy GPU (by console standards), the Wii U doesn’t need a beefy processor. The GPU is based on a Radeon HD 5670. As the console break down shows, thanks to even more eDRAM, the Wii U version of the Radeon HD 5670 that has been custom built is actually more powerful than the original PC version of the card. This is extremely vital, because the HD 5670 is in fact a GPGPU.

A GPGPU are quickly become standard in gaming rig PCs for a few reasons, but chief among them is the fact that GPGPU’s actually handle several functions that the CPU traditionally does, except it does them better. In layman’s terms, some of the most CPU (processor) heavy applications like Physics are actually handled by the Graphics Card (GPU). This means, in a Wii U, while the CPU can handle these tasks, the console is actually built around the notion that the GPU will tackle said tasks.

The downfall of the GPGPU is that if it’s not being used in the fashion it’s intended to, which means taking on heavy graphical processing and extreme mathematical equations to perform in the game (aka, if you’re not heavily using the GPU and it’s processing), it actually performs slower. So if you run the bare bones through it, throw everything else at the processor, it not only over strains a processor not meant to handle such functions, it actually causes the GPU to under-perform, and as such… create problems. This is chiefly why games like Mass Effect 3 are having issues, and why Batman Arkahm City Armored Edition are having massive frame rate issues.

In essence, it’s not that the Wii U is underpowered. Rather, it’s the the Wii U uses more advanced technology that actually takes away the stress normally associated with a CPU, and in turn lowers power consumption, heat level, and ultimately leads to producing some of the best graphical capabilities on the market”

That is not succinct.

At this point various factions will prefer what they will. Some also ‘chose to not believe’ when a developer called the Wii-U CPU ‘horribly slow’.

Carefully selecting only positives or carefully selecting only negatives assures a skewed view rather than a realistic one.

JM

Erthassus is a pointless, socially deprived nerd who thinks he’s enthusiast.

How many of the folks above me actualy own or even spent any time playing a WiiU?

I know it sounds defensive or even fanboyish to suggest that tech specs don’t matter. OFC they matter. But not to a point where they are the only thing that matters. Or even the most important thing that matters.

I own a system. I have played Epic Mickey2, NSMBWiiU, ZombieU, AssCredIII, Sonic Racing, Madden Football, a digital downloaded indie shooter(forgot the name sorry), Warriors Orchi, NintendoLand, and Tank Tank Tank. I can tell you that the games are for the most part fantastic. AssCredIII looks every bit as good as any other version(I have only compared to xb360 first hand), and in some ways better(colors pop more, hard to explain).

The only game I didn’t think lived upto my expectations was Epic Mickey 2 It started out strong and turned to complete shit. But that is a dev thing, I think they ran out of time. For example while the music was strong(Micky Aprentece) at the start of game, by midway through the music score was reduced to something a SNES would cringe at(repetitive and lackluster, having zero disney ties, felt very placeholder). There are parts where you can get stuck, literaly dead ends. And the AI of Oswald is just a bad joke. In splitscreen in certian stages there is a gross amount of slowdown.

Bad game, bad port.

Sonic Racing with 5 players(split screen and gamepad) displayed zero slowdown at all even at blazing fast speeds. Good port.

I think the system is fine. Ofc don’t take my word for it, have a shit storm anyways. You know you wanna

It is a launch system with launch games. I recall being so ticked with my launch PS3 I wanted to return it. Then I got my hands on F1 champ(also a launch game) and was impressed. Samething here. Most of the launch games are just ports of Multiplat games ported by second string teams. They are classic cash ins. And the thing is, most of them are VERY good.

Is this system going to match your expectations of Sony/MS next gens system? Nope. But I doubt that Sony/MS systems will match your expectations either. Been said many times, if you want graphics, buy a PC rig.

Long story short, the CPU and tech specs for WiiU are fine, the system is going to have its share of great games.

@24 I’m not complaning, but from what I understand from this text, they are saying that the processor is actually in overclock and that the GPU is being used as a “part” of the CPU? Doesn’t this mean that the vital life of the console is going to be prejudiced? If you let your CPU in overclock for too long it will die eventually, overclock overheats it and make it work at it’s maximum all the time, this isn’t good.

I agree with the fact that if the CPU is slow, getting PS3 and 360 games to run on it is a feature and a half, sometimes consoles are more than the sum of their parts…. Only time will tell if Wii U is one of these, consoles should never be likened to PC though, everyone knows a £1000-2000 PC will knock a console into a tin hat, but who the fuck does that? Who compares those sort of price differences it’s like saying this Ford Mustang is better than a Ford Mondeo… Of course it is, there’s like £10,000 difference.

#25 Joe Mushashi compare to a twitter from a hacker, it is more succinct or detailed, i have yet to see how the hacker do it?, the method he did use, etc, or how both the CPUGPU works?, in order to see if this info holds some water and/ or to know more about the topic, is not what i choose to believe, is to choose the more credible one, and by that i go with the one i put, at the very least it gives details.

#28 i think thats why the configuration of the system was so important, i remember Iwata stating this on one of the hand on videos of the WiiU, and how they need to make the internals with the fan heaters redone bigger and placed the way they were in order to maximize the flow of air to cool it.

For the record, my WiiU doesn’t even get even a little bit warm. It isn’t loud. And has been working great. The only trouble we have had with it is the discs are EASY to smudge and doing so can lock your game. Same as any system really.

@24:

TL,DR: Straight ports of Xbox/PS3 games will run like shit. If the code isn’t built from the ground up to take advantage of the strong GPGPU while minimizing the load on the relatively slow CPU, it will under-perform.

@31 But still you can talk to people who do overclock for gaming pcs and they will say that you need to stop the overclock once you quit the game. Since a PC is more than gaming this stops could be longer, and the CPU would last more, but since the WiiU is a gaming platform overclocking all the time you are inside a game could be a serious problem. Anyone who got hand of one can confirm if the console is overheating or if it’s just normal?

If overclock all the time is the case I will be very worried about how much time the console will last. But if they can achieve what they have now without overheating I will be more than happy to say that WiiU is a good choice until we see more platforms.

“Anyone who got hand of one can confirm if the console is overheating or if it’s just normal?”

Zero heating, even after 10plus hours of playing.

@35 Okay, so zero concerns about the console and the text Manu pasted here!

#33 Cobra, according to that piece of work yes, it could mean that is more efficient in the way it works, thats why the important issue here, is how it really works?, not clockspeeds and the like, also i do believe because of this new configuration that nintendo used, i mean the GPGPU, developers will need to learn how to handle the tech in order to have better games overall within the coming years

Picking mine up after work tommorow!

I tried to hussle it off the Block Buster till guy today, but no dice!

Getting:

Wii U premium
Nintendoland
Zombie U
Wii points for some E Shop games
Far Cry 3 (Xbox 360)

Can’t frekkin’ wait! What an awesome weekend of gaming!

Going to get NSMB U for Christmas hopefully.

@Oldergamer

I want to try the Mirroring mode but only will have Zombie U and Nintendoland…

Does it work on the Rayman Demo?

“Chosing to believe” only the developers that say nice things over developers who say not-so-nice things. Right. Now we can dismiss hackers because they ‘do not know the system’. I’m sure hackers that do not know the system but say positive things will be believed without any questioning of their knowledge or methods.

Pull the other one. It’s got accelerometers on.

JM

#39 Joe Musashi
“Right. Now we can dismiss hackers because they ‘do not know the system’”

Like nintendo and the developers that make games for them, not they dont, they only open it to run tests under very specific conditions, hence the results not take into consideration a lot of variables, this variables can make a ton of difference.

“I’m sure hackers that do not know the system but say positive things will be believed without any questioning of their knowledge or methods”

If they do the same thing, i mean only stating things without reasoning why they did obtain those results?, or what were the methods used, then i will dismiss it too, i prefer developers opinions on the machine.

I’d bet the average game shop employee can count on the fingers of one hand, how often the clock speed of a console has been questioned…

Of course the fact that it will be the exclusive games & service that will sell the WiiU can be ignored in light of this very important clock speed thing.

Joe “Pull the other one. It’s got accelerometers on”.

this is the track i left with my tires

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

People who want to hate on the console can use this to mock Nintendo.

Ultimately they just seclude themselves from gameplay experiences they may enjoy.

Gamers have forgotten about games and playability. Very sad, tied up in wrestling with tech-cock…

Phones will be almost on par with 720 / PS4 by the time they come out… The hardware arms race is becoming less and less important.

Do you really think they’ll change the gameplay that much in games like COD, Gears of War? No, it’ll be the same but shinier.

I really hope Nintendo get more games like Boyonetta 2, a proper gamers machine would be a nice change.

Black Ops on a 1.24ghz? Wow! I mean… they aren’t using all the Cpu on the XBox. Now the problem is Nintendo knows something we don’t know?

“@Oldergamer

I want to try the Mirroring mode but only will have Zombie U and Nintendoland…

Does it work on the Rayman Demo?”

By Mirroring mode, do you mean playing on just the GamePad?

That is called detatched mode. And while ZombieU does a great job of working the Gamepad into the game and NintendoLand is a showcase of GamePad use, neither really allow for the entire game to played on just the pad. Some games do, I play Madden all of the time that way. Also MonkeyG, make sure you get the right eShop points. I don’t think Wii Point Cards work(haven’t tried it). But I read something about there being a difference. Right now there are a small handfull of digital games in NA. In that I mean games made just for digital download, the entire WiiU libary is avalible to purchase online and download. Besides Points, you can purchase with a CC.

I would look into buying an external HDD for your system if you plan on building a digital libary. They are cheap and most anyone seems to work, tho you can google them to be sure. There is a list out there. A 2TB HDD here runs between 40usd and 100usd. Well worth the investment, and not all that different then buying PS2 or Vita Memory units or PS3/XB360 HDDs pricewise.

I am sure there service differences between regions. I know it took a couple of days for things like Huluplus and YouTube to to go live here. Netflix was a go on day one. I am not too sure what type of services you guys can expect.

Also, there was no Rayman demo to download. That was playable in the stores only. Lest at this point. Infact, I haven’t see any demos now to speak of it. Something I hope they take a look at soon, and they prolly will, right now focus is prolly on rolling things out smoothly. Thus far, knock on wood, things have been smooth here.

@OG

Thanks for the info dude, looks like ill have to wait for Christmas to try the detached mode (NSMBU)!

I had heard from a few sites that a Rayman Demo would be available on UK launch, perhaps it’ll land in US store tomorrow too? Here’s hoping anyway!

I’m tempted to pick up Darksiders 2 as I’ve yet too play that, man, I can’t wait now!!! Super pumped! Have you tried it yet on Wii U?

Also, can I grab your gamer tag? Mine will be Monkeygourmet, same as my PSN, XBL, but I won’t be on till I get home (UK 4pm) and install my massive day 1 patch!

I look forward to finding your Zombie corpse in Zombie U!!!

Oldergamer is mine. I get my copy of ZombieU in a couple of days, but I have spent some time on it at a friends house. I am excited to have a go at my own copy lol. My corpses are going to be everywhere, the game is hard as hell…but in a good way. I have to wait till Xmass to get my hands on Darksiders II and (My own copy of)AssCred III and if I don’t my wife will shoot me.

Whatever you do man, do NOT turn off your WiiU while it updates. I have heard horror stories. Had zero trouble with mine tho. Even the Wii to WiiU profile/account/games went smoothly as those little pikmen hurried themself safely carrying my bits of info from one console to the other!

See you online.

@47

Cool! Will add you tommorow providing I don’t brick my console!

@Dreamcast,
“re graphics really SO important to you?”

CPU has nothing to do with graphics (Well, almost). CPU has to do with the games that you can make on the system. Better CPU, better gaming experience in the end.
Games like Assassins Creed was not possible on Wii, but it sure as hell possible for the WiiU but with much worse frame rate and beyond that you can’t create something better.

Funny how people used to look up to the PC Engine because of its lower specs compared to the SNES / Genesis yet still had fantastic games: Bonk, Devils Crush, Air Zonk, Dracula X, Parodious etc…

Now the Wii U is in a similar position, people hate it?!

Judge consoles on their games!

Graphics whores will be the first people to try and fuck robots once they become mainstream…