Video Games Thread

[jman]

So how many times more powerful is the Wii U compared to the 360 then harv since the console has had a teardown.. doesnt sound 4x, 3x or even 2x more powerful to me.. sounds like the Wii U is a pile of shit which is on par with 7 year old tech.. the Wii U is doomed to fail Im afraid, you'll see a HUGE difference when the next-gen machines do finally appear   Third parties have been staying away from the Wii U for good reason it seems 

Edit : Just read the Wii U has no normal ethernet ports on it either.. you have to use wi-fi or a usb adapter...lol, this console just gets worse and worse

[harv]

The same as I said it was - 3 to 4 times more powerful. 4 times the RAM, more than 3 times the eDRAM on the GPU, the eDRAM is on-die, the GPU has a DX11 equivalent feature set, the GPU has a feature that allows developers to save memory on textures meaning it doesn't need to have as much throughput (FLOPs) as other GPUs (and that's patented), it has an ARM 11 co-processor, the main CPU has 3MB of eDRAM cache (again, on-die) as opposed to 1MB on the Xenon, it has an Out of Order Execution CPU, it has a DSP and dedicated silicon for IO processing.

Nothing has changed, it's still 3-4 times more powerful than the 360.

And the RAM, despite being DDR3 (which the PS4 and 720 are also likely to have as I've previously mentioned), has very low latency. Nintendo have always released balanced systems and the Wii U won't be any different. You'll have the 720 (the most powerful of the two other next gen consoles) being three times more powerful at the most which is in the same sort of ballpark in terms of power

There's a lot more going on under the hood than a simple teardown will reveal, particularly with the RAM and GPU. Developers are very happy with it so far, the only reasons why the ports aren't great is because of the different architecture compared to the PS3 and 360 and that the ports have been rushed to make launch. And those performance issues that have been reported should be fixed with a patch or two during the next week or so. It's not as if any single PS3 or 360 game has ever been perfect out of the box lol

[Late]

It's about 1-2 times as powerful as the ps3/360 - stop deluding yourself.

[harv]

I'm not deluding myself at all mate.

Three times as much CPU cache, more than three times as much GPU cache, the benefits of that GPU, CPU and eDRAM being in an MCM, an ARM co-processor, a DSP, an IO processor, an Out Of Order Execution CPU, 4 times the RAM, a GPU confirmed to have a DX11 equivalent feature set as well as having a patented feature that saves memory usage for textures all say I'm not deluding myself.

Plenty of people on Gaf are doing their usual and overreacting to the memory speed and the latest comments from a THQ developer complaining about the CPU but are forgetting what we know of the system so far, which I've listed above, and are forgetting that Nintendo always produce balanced systems. You're not going to have any bottlenecking issues with that DDR3. Gaf does make me laugh sometimes lol

[styles]

Ordered my fibre today 

[harv]

Do you get that for nowt working for Sky..?

Edit: Am getting my old-school zombie groove on in preparation for ZombiU. First up is the original Resident Evil. Don't think I've got da skillz to do what I did years ago any more - I completed the game donkeys years ago killing every single zombie. Took me bloody ages lol

I did restart this a while ago but got sidetracked for some reason.

I love Jill Valentine

[harv]

Jill Sandwich

[jman]

If you want to get some preparation in for ZombiU.. I'd recommend Brian Laras Cricket... you gonna be using that bat a lot by the sounds of it 

[Late]

pmsl

[jman]

Hope you werent looking forward to a Metro game on the Wii U harv..

The Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU

[Late]

The list of problems and criticisms is quite scary.

Saw a nice summary yesterday (with source links for each issue):
Slower than expected browser benchmarks
Security issues and possible debug code left activated
Questionable choices for onboard RAM
Issues with Account Sharing between systems
Lack of quality control on 3rd party launch titles
Audio Setup problems with HDMI and certain setups
Single unique Saved game slot for all users limitation
Day Zero 5gb patch download
Shorter than expected battery life
Various issues with the interface
Various HDMI video outputs issues
WIFI Configuration Problems
Severe problems with distance limitations and gameplay
Loading time problems
Hard lock issues
Can't switch over NNIDs to a new console

Worrying. Some of the above can probably be fixed with patches, but that's a lot of teething problems. The last thing they need is for developers to say they won't bother making U versions because it'd be worse than the ps3/360 versions because the U isn't up to scratch.

Still - it seems to be selling well. Nintendo know they can easily sell any old rubbish to the uninitiated and the ignorant, so they'll happily push out a broken and woefully underpowered console and rake in the coffers.

[jman]

Well I know THQ are financially constrained in terms of spreading their team too thin on creating ports for all systems.. but to openly come out and attack the Wii U hardware... it doesnt sound like nintendo made their console with 3rd party developers in mind at all.. despite harvs protests...

And if the Wii U cant get a 360/PS3 port to work on their system.. it doesnt bode well for when the 720/PS4 comes out.. Im now thinking the Wii U could be an unmitigated disaster on all fronts... with a lifespan the equivalent of the Sega Saturn... its going to understandably sell-out everywhere.. nintendo have a massive worldwide fan-base.. but I just cant see after christmas how they will continue to sell.

[harv]

Hope you werent looking forward to a Metro game on the Wii U harv..

The Wii U has a horrible, slow CPU

That was an 'early look'. They probably ported PS3 or 360 code without optimising it. With the 360 and PS3 the CPU deals with sound, IO, OS functionality and floating point operations. The U has dedicated silicon for all this, if they're not optimising the code to suit the new architecture then of course it's going to struggle.

I've said this before - it's going to be easier to port code to and from the U, PS4 and 720 than it is to port code to and from the U, PS3 and 360 thanks to Nintendo's forward thinking regarding the architecture.

[jman]

I've said this before - it's going to be easier to port code to and from the U, PS4 and 720 than it is to port code to and from the U, PS3 and 360 thanks to Nintendo's forward thinking regarding the architecture.

LOL.. so basically what your saying is.. until the 720/PS4 comes out.. the Wii U is going to get ignored, shafted and overlooked by all multi-platform developers.. and then when the real next-gen consoles come out, the Wii U will be the worst platform to buy your multi-plat games on anyway - how is that forward thinking ?? 

Its too easy to troll you at the moment harv.. the Wii U has had a pretty terrible launch with tons of hardware issues and the tech inside is nowhere near as powerful as you once claimed... soon as you accept some of these facts and stop trying to defend them, the better. 

[harv]

I've said this before - it's going to be easier to port code to and from the U, PS4 and 720 than it is to port code to and from the U, PS3 and 360 thanks to Nintendo's forward thinking regarding the architecture.

LOL.. so basically what your saying is.. until the 720/PS4 comes out.. the Wii U is going to get ignored, shafted and overlooked by all multi-platform developers.. and then when the real next-gen consoles come out, the Wii U will be the worst platform to buy your multi-plat games on anyway - how is that forward thinking ?? 

No. What I'm saying is that developers will run into problems if they don't optimise their code for the U. The Metro developers are well known for being crap at optimising code properly.

It won't be overlooked by developers if publishers feel that it's worth releasing U SKUs of games, and going by the Wii U flying off shelves in the States since launch I'd say that's a safe bet. ZombiU has also sold out in a fair few places over there so that's going to show publishers that there is a 'hardcore' audience out there to purchase 'hardcore' titles.