Ubisoft casts doubt on Wii U's next-gen grunt

Beyond Good & Evil and Rayman creator Michael Ancel has said the Wii U is not a next-gen console, while the publisher refuses to comment on the new tech's capacity to stand against current consoles.

The Ubisoft designer asnwered VideoGamer's query as to whether the new console is next-gen with "Not really."

"I think Wii U is next-gen in terms of interface," he conceded.

"People are going to copy it, because you've got this mix between tablet, touch screen and big screen – big screen and little screen - there are a lot of possibilities."

Ancel speculated that other platform holders might feel threatened enough by the new system to emulate it with its own hardware.

"I don't know if Sony will do it, or Microsoft – but yes, I think it's a possibility. But I think the main thing is to have this – offering new ways to play is very interesting."

Ubisoft, along with THQ, was one of the first third-party publishers to get its hands on the Wii U tech, but is playing cagey about the hardware's potential.

Speaking at the second Nintendo E3 roundtable event, as reported by Kotaku, Ubisoft Quebec's senior technical architect Marc Parenteau couldn't commit to a comparison with current consoles.

"It's too early to make comparisons with that sort of thing," he said.

"We're still learning how to maximize the usage of the hardware. The hardware is evolving a bit also. The dev kits are not final, so there's still some before the actual... uh... before we can make comparisons.

"And you have to understand, we've been working on other engines for a long time so we need some time to catch up and get up to date on what we can do with the hardware. So to compare now wouldn't be fair."

Wedbush Morgan analysts have said that Nintendo's leap on the HD bandwagon is at least two years too late.

Thanks, GoNintendo.