- (Photo: Reuters / Mario Anzuoni)Reggie Fils-Aim, president of Nintendo of America, presents the new Wii U controller at a media briefing during the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles June 7, 2011.
However, a game developer that recently spent some time testing out the new system seems to think differently about the power and possible potential of the system.
This developer told tech site Develop that the next-generation Nintendo console could achieve roughly twice the processing and graphical potential of Microsoft’s current generation machine, the XBOX 360. He also commented on another developer who was disappointed with the Wii U.
“I’ve heard [a project designer] complain it was underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced, resulting in people having to de-scale their plans,” said the anonymous game developer.
It still has not been confirmed whether the developers of games for the Wii U have received final versions of the console and if they know the actual performance and capabilities of the machine.
Without a finalized product, a full assessment cannot be made on what the Wii U will actually be able to do.
An example of this is when John Carmack stated that the Wii U would be able to run advanced games for a hardcore audience back in July. This claim was made in July, and was probably was based on preliminary hardware.
The Nintendo Wii U console will combine motion sensing game play with HD graphics, something that is missing from the current Wii console. The system is said to be based on a custom IBM Power microprocessor as well as a modern custom AMD Radeon HD graphics processing unit with high-definition graphics and video support.
However, the main attraction of the Wii U comes from its controller that features a 6.2-inch touch-screen, accelerometer, gyroscope, rumble functionality and a microphone. It can also be used to play Gamecube and Wii games.