Next-gen system far outperforms current expectations, Develop source claims
Nintendo’s next generation hardware will be roughly twice as powerful as Microsoft’s current system, the Xbox 360, according to a studio source speaking to Develop.
The person, communicating anonymously from a studio currently building a Wii U title, said the new Nintendo console could achieve roughly twice the processing and graphical potential of Microsoft’s current generation machine.
While twice the power of an Xbox 360 is broadly above market expectations, Develop’s source claimed this is in fact less than some studios had expected.
“I've heard [a project designer] complain it's underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced, resulting in people having to de-scale their plans,” the source added.
Nintendo’s persistence with non-disclosure agreements means that it has been difficult for Develop to cross-examine the source’s claim, which was made late last year.
Advertisement
However, yesterday a separate insider source told IGN that the next generation Xbox will be “six times as powerful” as its predecessor – the key addition being that this will mean it yields a “20 per cent greater performance than Wii U”.
That unverified calculation, if true, echoes claims from the Develop source who claims the Wii U is far more powerful than current expectations.
---
Develop also understands that a prominent UK racing studio has committed to support Wii U with one project each year.
If the Wii U is twice as powerful as XBox 360, so Wii U is 200 percent the speed. And the nextgen xbox is 6 times as fast as the 360, which makes it run at 600 percent the speed.
Then how can 600 be only 20% more than 200?
Or do I missunderstand the text?
The Developer claims 2x, IGN claims 5x. How does that "echo claims from the developer"
BTW, final dev kits haven't long been sent out, so surely we can ignore this "gem" as it was made late last year.
Ok, that's lightly mis-leading. I'll try clearing it up.
- The WiiU is apparently 50% more powerful than the 360.
- The 'graphics processor' of the NextGen XBox is apparently 6x as powerful as on the 360 and 20% more powerful than the WiiU.
These 2 stats are NOT compatible. One is the overall speed and one is the speed of the graphics processor.
Forget all of these rumors and wait for the games to speak for them selves. After all just look at something like battlefield 3 pc vs xbox (example) theres no difference unles you have a trained eye and look out for the minor resolution and texture differences. The wii u will have plenty of horsepower and you should alk stop worrying.
It does make sense if you read the article more closely. The article claims that the developer asserted his/her claim late last year. Take into account the new rumor circulating that the final development kits are more powerful than expected, and IGN's claimed data in terms of power scale.
Here's a simple diagram, if the text is confusing.
2X more powerful than 360 late last year >>> Significant bump in devkit specs >>> 5X more powerful now.
We were aware that the "algebra" of both sources doesn't match.
A little history on this:
Develop has to cross-reference all unverified claims made to us before publishing articles, to avoid issuing inaccurate information.
We took these steps when revealing the Wii U pad uses a camera system: http://www.develop-online.net/news/37732/Develop-Source-Wii-2-pad-adds-camera-system
And we did so when explaining that Wii U can support two tablet controllers: http://www.develop-online.net/news/39077/Nintendo-working-on-Wii-U-support-for-two-tablets
And when we said Sony Studios were working on PlayStation 4 projects: http://www.develop-online.net/news/38916/Sony-studios-begin-PlayStation-4-projects
However, when we got the information about Wii U being "twice as powerful as Xbox 360" - in December last year - we were not able to verify the claim.
It was only when IGN's sources expressed that Wii U is far more powerful than the Xbox 360 that we were comfortable in publishing the story.
This was why IGN's sources are referenced in the article, because despite the "algebra" being out, both point towards the same thing.
We felt our readers in the development community would find this useful.
Hope that's cleared things up. If you have any other questions just ask.
Rob,
Ok you just said the most retarded thing I've heard when it comes to gaming. I have a 360 and a pc using a radon 6770 graphics card with battlefield on it's highest settings. There is a huge difference in it. Also it runs a hell of a lot smoother on pc than Xbox. Before you say things like that actually have the capability to see them both for yourself
ummm ... they're touting being twice as powerful as 7 year old technology. Why that's amazing!!!!
Rob:
So, basically, Develop published that the Wii U is 2X the 360 power-wise, because IGN implicitly verified it's at least 2x the 360 power-wise when it published that it's around 5x the 360 power-wise. So, we still don't know if it's 2x the 360, 5x the 360, or somewhere in between?
Did your source have a final dev kit when he said it was 2x the 360 in December? Apparently dev kits were issued before CES in Vegas but I don't know how long before. If your source didn't have one in December, perhaps that's where the discrepancy between him and IGN comes. Or perhaps he did have a final dev kit and he and IGN just interpret the specs differently.
Could you clarify this if possible, because there's a big difference between being 2x the 360 and almost 5x? Thanks.
Its easy, if the source made that claim last year, then the system is more stronger than that by now.
Go away Nintendo. Just make controllers. Only 2x faster!? It's 5yr old technology! They are going to ask lots of cash for used parts. Oh I hate Nintendo...
Wait until the true specifications of the Wii u are out.
What you guys don't understand is that the guy who gave out this info is a complete dumbass. Search up the rumored specs for the Wii U's Radeon vs the rumored next xbox's Radeon. Wii U beats it. Almost doubling most of the specs for the next xbox. The numbers don't lie.
Well 600 is 200% more than 200, so maybe the source misplaced a zero?
Either way, it's just more rumour, who knows where it comes from or why it is being said?
Hey Brandon,
Because we don't have common contact with the source I haven't been able to answer your question. Apologies.
I would take from both the IGN and Develop articles that Wii U is at least twice as powerful as Xbox 360 - though this is guesswork and so something we couldn't publish. All we can say is that someone connected to the console said it was roughly twice as powerful as the Xbox 360.
Your sources info doesn't mix well with what we already know though. Neogaf has dependable sources that point to the alpha devkits being roughly 3x the capability of Xbox 360.
There hasn't been any sign from these sources that things changed much until recently and that change was in a positive direction not a negative increase in power.
The difference between your sources statements and IGN's could be something as simple as your source referencing total system RAM and IGN's source detailing theoretical GPU performance. Time between you obtaining this info and IGN's source could also be the reason final devkits haven't been out long and is where the better than expected rumors come from.
I don't get fanboys. The goal is to win, or...? What is it? Because I thought the goal of video games was to play video games.
Who cares who makes them? Play what you like! It's that simple!
"Nintendo’s persistence with non-disclosure agreements ".
lol this is one of the funniest passive agressive lines i ever read :)
Btw they have very good reasons for that!
