WiiU Specs unveiled: PC gaming officially cheaper than console gaming.

[Stavros Dimou]

So I've read this article where people opened a WiiU and placed the chips under microscopes and found out the exact hardware specs of the WiiU console.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-wii-u-graphics-power-finally-revealed
It features a processor with 3 cores at 1.6 ghz each.
And a graphics card 3 times weaker than a modern 150$ computer graphics card.
Comparing the specs,one can build a PC tower with the same money that will be FAR MORE POWERFUL than WiiU that will be able to do 1080p in all games with the same if not higher detail settings.
So if until recently PC gaming was cheaper only regarding the prices of the games,now it is also cheaper hardware-wise.
I am impressed.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Yeah, I'l liking the outlook of the next console gen.

I think my AMD 7870 is going to be a very valid card for a very long time

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Well you are sure in a way better position than WiiU owners.
This news story just verifies what we've been already thinking.
A PC with your graphics card can play at good settings games that WiiU can't even run.
Modern games like Far Cry 3 couldn't run on it even at SD 480p with every setting at "low".
Shame. Nintendo should price this hardware like 200-250 euros,not 320-380 euros as it does now.
The value for money ratio is quite bad with this product.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

Of course it can't. We are not talking about exclusives or software here,we just comment on that Nintendo makes 200? worth of hardware and charges it 320?. So you don't care that the company in order to make people buy the system lied and said that that they are selling the hardware at a loss,when in fact you pay almost double price for it ?

 

[Cheesepower5]

If I didn't have to wait 5-10 years to play modern console games on a PC I'd never have to buy anything else. That said, it'll take more than a new Zelda and Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem to get me to drop money on a WiiU, but it's a start.

 

[Hazy992]

I'll probably pick one up eventually for the exclusives but yeah as soon as I can afford I'm probably gonna make the jump to PC. Just seems like the better option these days.

I think my AMD 7870 is going to be a very valid card for a very long time

You're welcome

 

[ToastiestZombie]

PC+Wii U+PS3/4 master race reporting in. I don't have to worry about not getting anything except Halo and Gears of War. I have my PC for graphically awesome games and good multiplats, the PS3/4 for console-exclusive multiplats like Metal Gear Rising, and my Wii U for it's awesome exclusives.

Oh, and you seem to be not noticing the big-ass controller with a touch-screen that comes with the package. That adds about $50 onto the price of every Wii U made. You're also not taking into consideration the other absolute musts for PC gaming, a decent Keyboard and Mouse and a decent Monitor which all add £100 to the price if you shop around well and don't get a crappy 15 inch monitor. So a computer with the same specs as the Wii U would still cost about the same due to those added costs.

.
A PC with your graphics card can play at good settings games that WiiU can't even run.
Modern games like Far Cry 3 couldn't run on it even at SD 480p with every setting at "low".

That's simply bullshit. The Wii U is actually more powerful than the two other consoles, and they're able to run FC3 at 720p with medium-ish settings. Go look at the 360's and the PS3's specs, they're shit compared to even mid-range computers today.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

Of course it can't. We are not talking about exclusives or software here,we just comment on that Nintendo makes 200? worth of hardware and charges it 320?. So you don't care that the company in order to make people buy the system lied and said that that they are selling the hardware at a loss,when in fact you pay almost double price for it ?

Dude... how the hell would saying "We're selling the console at a loss" get people to buy the system? Nintendo WAS selling the Wii at a profit but that didn't prevent it from becoming one of the best-selling consoles of all time. Nintendo aren't lying about selling it a loss, because they're not.

You're implying that to create a console one has to simply buy the parts and put it in a box like the PC, but it's not that easy. They're using a proprietary graphics card made for the Wii U, that's equivalent to a consumer GPU on the market today. That doesn't mean they're using that GPU. There's manufacturing costs, shipping costs, the costs for the controller, the packaging costs, the costs to keep the company running, the packed in extras such as Nintendo-land and many many more that I'm not businessy enough to know about. PC gaming doesn't have any of those costs because PCs that you build by yourselves aren't made by one company. Look at the massive price difference between a pre-made PC with a brand name on it and buying the parts separately and you'll get my point.

 

[DazZ.]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

I doubt it will take long until they can, Wii emulation came out fairly quickly.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

I doubt it will take long until they can, Wii emulation came out fairly quickly.

No it didn't. The Dolphin emulator came out in 2003 (2 years after the launch of the Gamecube) and barely anything worked on it. It was canned and then re-done in 2005, and even then nothing but the best of computers could emulate a Gamecube game really well. Then the Wii came out which was essentially an overclocked Gamecube. It took about 3 years for anything to get stable, and even then only the most powerful of computers did well. Now Wii emulation is alright, but you still need a VERY good computer to diminish constant framerate drops and weird graphical and sound glitches. Now look at the emulation scene for the 360 and PS3, there isn't any good emulation of them almost 7 years after launch. Add onto that the fact that many Wii U exclusives require the gamepad, and we're going to be waiting for a long time before any sort of Wii U emulation comes out, and a longer time after that before it's good enough to be on the standard of the Wii U.

 

[DazZ.]

Add onto that the fact that many Wii U exclusives require the gamepad

You'll be able to get that running on PC eventually, and 3 years for stable gameplay is fairly quick when you consider as you said it's been 7 years for the Xbox/PS3.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

Add onto that the fact that many Wii U exclusives require the gamepad

You'll be able to get that running on PC eventually, and 3 years for stable gameplay is fairly quick as you say compared to the Xbox/PS3.

3 years for stable gameplay on the Wii, which was essentially just a slightly upgraded Gamecube. So they only had to change a few things to get good Wii emulation. The Wii U is a massive leap from the Wii, so if you think it'll take 3 years or even 5 years for stable Wii U emulation you're being silly. Also, just because they can get the gamepad to work on PCs doesn't mean they'll be able to make it do exactly what it does with the Wii U. The Wii U uses its own special type of wireless connection to transmit the image from the console to the gamepad, trying to recreate that on a PC will take ages. Even when they get it to work it doesn't mean Wii U emulation, it may mean you'll be able to play PC games on it but no Wii U emulation for ages after that. The kinect works really well with PCs, but there hasn't been any emulated Kinect games since its launch.

 

[Andrewtheeviscerator]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

Of course it can't. We are not talking about exclusives or software here,we just comment on that Nintendo makes 200? worth of hardware and charges it 320?. So you don't care that the company in order to make people buy the system lied and said that that they are selling the hardware at a loss,when in fact you pay almost double price for it ?

Your assuming that only the hardware specs factor into the cost, did you forget about the gamepad, the one with a large touchscreen in the middle that you can play full games on, I imagine that costs quite a bit to manufacture.

 

[DazZ.]

The kinect works really well with PCs, but there hasn't been any emulated Kinect games since its launch.

Who would want them? Also we've established there isn't 360 emulation so I don't see why porting a peripheral over would make that any different.

so if you think it'll take 3 years or even 5 years for stable Wii U emulation you're being silly.

I haven't specified a timeframe, certainly not with with numbers.

The Wii U uses its own special type of wireless connection to transmit the image from the console to the gamepad, trying to recreate that on a PC will take ages.

[br]Well "they've" got bits of it working already, I'm sure it won't be long before the rest of it does as well (notice how I didn't say a year, so saying I'm silly for thinking it'll be below a certain year is pointless).

Even when they get it to work it doesn't mean Wii U emulation,

Why is this being noted? Of course getting a peripheral working doesn't mean you can emulate completely different hardware...

 

[Stavros Dimou]

Can the PC play Super mario, smash bros, Zombie U, Monster Hunter, Rayman Legends, Pikmin, or Legend of Zelda; no? Then I'll stick with the Wii U thank you very much.

Of course it can't. We are not talking about exclusives or software here,we just comment on that Nintendo makes 200? worth of hardware and charges it 320?. So you don't care that the company in order to make people buy the system lied and said that that they are selling the hardware at a loss,when in fact you pay almost double price for it ?

Your assuming that only the hardware specs factor into the cost, did you forget about the gamepad, the one with a large touchscreen in the middle that you can play full games on, I imagine that costs quite a bit to manufacture.

My mobile phone (Vodafone Smart 2) has a way better and newer technology touch-screen with higher resolution,more colors projection,and multi-touch instead of WiiU's single-touch, and let alone all the other stuff it has (camera,gps,wifi,bluetooth...) it still only costs 99 euros.

 

[ToastiestZombie]

The kinect works really well with PCs, but there hasn't been any emulated Kinect games since its launch.

Who would want them? Also we've established there isn't 360 emulation so I don't see why porting a peripheral over would make that any different.

so if you think it'll take 3 years or even 5 years for stable Wii U emulation you're being silly.

I haven't specified a timeframe, certainly not with with numbers.

The Wii U uses its own special type of wireless connection to transmit the image from the console to the gamepad, trying to recreate that on a PC will take ages.

[br]Well "they've" got bits of it working already, I'm sure it won't be long before the rest of it does as well (notice how I didn't say a year, so saying I'm silly for thinking it'll be below a certain year is pointless).

Even when they get it to work it doesn't mean Wii U emulation,

Why is this being noted? Of course getting a peripheral working doesn't mean you can emulate completely different hardware...

You said in your original post "I doubt it would take longer until you can", so you're implying at least under 5 years. The fact of the matter is that the Wii U is a much more complicated and a more powerful system than the 360 and PS3, so if you really think Wii U emulation will come at a time before the next Nintendo console or even a big price-drop and many more games.

By "Even when they get it to work it doesn't mean Wii U emulation," I meant that just because they will get it working with the PC doesn't mean they'll be able to emulate what it does with the Wii U. What I'm basically saying is Wii U emulation is going to take a bloody long time; and if you're going to wait for it you'll end up looking like a fool because before Wii U emulation comes out there will most likely be a big price drop, and many more worthwile games will come out for it.