Topic: current gen or next gen

I couldn't give a crap about whether the Wii U is classed as next gen or current gen,as long as I can play the new Nintendo and third party exclusives,I'm happy.

Finally someone who's not blind

Completely agree. That's why I laugh every time Nintendo fanboys rage against developers who say Wii U is more current gen than next gen. It's entirely possible from a technological stand point that the system is closer to PS3 and 360 than it will be to PS4 and the next Xbox (we won't know for sure until those other two systems have been on the market for a little bit). In the long run, specs only mean so much when talking about Nintendo though. It hasn't been since the N64 days when it had the most powerful machine, the Wii U is still very capable of running great looking games so that's really not an issue at all.

So you've gone back and edited your question to now state that you are really most concerned with discussing the "power" of the Wii U and how it holds up against the other consoles. Were you a bit surprised at the amount of well-written responses you got in terms of the misuse of the label "generation"?

At any rate, I firmly believe nobody on this forum has the knowledge you seek. Nobody here knows exactly what "power" the Wii U is capable of, especially in comparison to two other consoles that haven't even launched yet. As the other poster stated, "power" doesn't only apply to graphics: it applies to physics, artificial intelligence, and in the Wii U's case, the ability to produce two simultaneous images at once on your TV and gamepad. As far as speculation goes, if you've kept up with your reading, most every "big name" developer has stated that the Wii U was more than capable of running the games or engines that are currently in question and will be in question as Microsoft and Sony join the next generation. Crysis 3 comes to mind - a game that, on the 360 and PS3, looks absolutely terrible compared to its PC version, and for the most part would have probably done much better if held to a console release on the PS4, Nextbox, and Wii U. Time and time again we are shocked at the amount of "power" that can be squeezed out of consoles; just look at Perfect Dark Zero on the 360 and then contrast it to Black Ops 2 or Gears of War 3. Light years worth of difference in graphics, AI, and more.

I do not think the Wii U will have problems in this aspect of the "next generation." As a random person on the internet without a degree in chipset technology, I think we'll be seeing a lot of reviews for Wii U games where Adam Sessler "cannot believe the graphics produced by the Wii U, once thought to be underpowered." Let's just wait and see

I'd also like to know if you were surprised at how many of us provided intelligent arguments to support the hypothesis that you (and others) have been misusing the term generation throughout this thread.

how can this be a serious discussion its simple there are 2 groups those who define next-gen in spec, power, graphics and so on and those who define it as the successor to the previous console the two sides will never agree so pick yours and stop arguing its childish.

If it's that simple, I'm establishing two groups who have define banana differently. In the lame group, you have people who define it as a yellow fruit. In my new group, you define "banana" as a special type of nuclear powered submarine, not fruit.

Definitions for already established words should not be open to interpretation unless you work for Merriam Webster Incorporated. I don't take issue with the fact that these people have a differing opinion than I do, I take issue with the fact that they are blatantly misusing previously established words as if they don't understand the basic concept and definition of said word. You don't have an option - unless I see a valid dictionary include "specs" as a way to determine generations, your opinion is invalid. I don't declare it invalid though - the English language and basic logic does that for me.

We are all going to see Retro's next Metroid at E3 this year and it is going to blow all of our minds and then we are going to be like dat's some next gen stuff right there! I told you the Wii U is next gen, son.

The simple answer: Wii U is about as next gen as the Wii was back in 06. It's not necessarily a bad thing, except that it doesn't help when it comes to third party support. The amount of third party support really just depends on the amount of third party games sold, which so far none have sold even close to well on WiiU. 3DS is in the same situation with 3rd parties, only it's not really talked about because that system is selling well (because of 1st party games)

What frustrates me, is how the Wii U's lack of power supposedly hurts it in two ways:

-The graphics are considered "almost-this-gen", which hurts sales
-Publishers deny its existence until it meets a certain sales threshold

Bizarre, when you consider how modest an investment it should require to transition a current (or soon to be last-gen) game, over to a console that is known (so far) for pushing current gen graphics. Whether it's fair to think about the Wii U's graphical brawn in this way... at least close-minded publishers should be seeing that upside.

Looking towards the future, it's clear that the Wii U is clinging to a newer generation of performance; I haven't paid a ton of attention, but the developers of Deus Ex: Human Revolution for the Wii U seemed to speak very highly of its performance, relative to the other consoles.

Very few of us bought the Wii U for 3rd party games, and few of us thought the Wii U was gonna come close to outdoing the PS4/Xbox720 in terms of power, so it shouldn't really matter.

1. I actually dont like the comments of people who dont read.
2.Ive heard of the engines that supposedly “dont work on wii u”(ue4 comes to mind).
3.I agree that wii u will survive next gen.Nintendo fans like you and I will make sure of that.But since nintendo wants to attract other hardcore gamers they need to step up their game.Like I said they need to show developers how to get the best out of the wii u.

I never understand why Nintendo seems to be the company everybody loves to hate. Fanboyism, console wars, and Nintendo hate are kind of hilarious to tell you the truth. I could not care less about what other people think of my gaming preferences.

@bassoongoon who's hating nintendo

@demonta4 (for sake of length from copying lol)

1. What?
2. I haven't heard of an engine yet that doesn't work on the Wii U at all. I've heard of engines that won't be made native to the system due to the low install base and lack of fiscal sense it currently makes to put programmers on the task. But I like to be in the know, so if you have an article, please link it!
3. Unfortunately I wouldn't even call myself a Nintendo fan. I do most of my gaming on the PC and will be picking up the Nextbox or PS4 as my "main" console when they launch later this year. I'm glad I bought the Wii U for sure, though; when the first party games start rolling out, I will happily put down Halo 15 to relive some childhood memories with the next Zelda game, but I'm definitely not stacking all of my chips in Nintendo's court. I am simply stating my opinion (and that's all that it is) that Nintendo's console will be just fine in terms of power.

I don't think most people are blind to these things and it would be nice if in one of these threads it wasn't a two sided war for a change. Anybody who buys Nintendo consoles for their competitive edge on power is kidding themselves. All of the last four of their consoles (DS, Wii, 3DS, Wii U) have been blatantly less powerful than their competitors. I knew this when I got all of them because that wasn't the reason why I got them.

I got them because Nintendo makes fantastic software and you can only play Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Mario Kart and Smash Bros on Nintendo platforms. Even the most unsuccessful Nintendo home console, selling "only" 21 million, had universally praised and series defining versions of Smash Bros and Metroid. Even if Nintendo fails to that extent this generation we're still going to get some pretty fantastic content.

Oh, and if anyone wants those things why are they playing games on consoles anyway? Can I do my usual schtick and ask why you're not on a PC? Get some SSDs if you want fast loading times. Get a decent GPU if you want good graphics, you can do that now you don't have to wait for the PS4. If you want the CPU power for AI then get any PC because it'll almost surely have more CPU power than it knows what to do with in a game. What are you waiting for? Are you blind?

@skywake

rises to his feet for a standing ovation

I think the defintion for next gen ultimately lies in the opinion of what one would consider next gen. It would also help to consider that if the 1.25 to 3.2Ghz rumor is true(I think it could be, because 3.2Ghz is pretty standard, and Nintendo has limited hardware in the past), then Wii U will be able to compete even more so than people are willing to admit, even in terms of power. It's already definite it won't reach PS4 or Xbox Infinity power heights, but it's definately possible Wii U could blur the lines more so than what we already know the console can do.
I mean, people were judging Wii U off of ports, which would have been iffy on ANY platform, unless they had actually upped the quality, which most didn't do.
All in all, I wouldn't count Wii U out of the power possibilites just yet. The layout of the components, the components themselves, and direct application of the former could very possibly do much greater things. Nintendo is also selling the console for face value, and without an internal HDD which would most likely cost $50-75 more, and also bluray fees. Subtract that from the cost, along with how they've structured the console to cost less, and Wii U could be more along the lines of what PS4 can do anyway. Im not counting on it, but it's definately a possibility.

I think it is a next generation system as a gamer. I think it makes sense for multiplat developers to label it as current gen though and needs to be taken in context. Gamepad aside, you are working with current gen power. When deciding to make a multiplat game, you will decide to make it next gen or current gen (I l know some games are on two generations, but you get what I mean). The power it uses will make the difference in the decision. Grouping Wii U with PS360 make more sense than grouping it with PS4/720 in that context.

Not really. Literally everything you just said is speculation like every post in this thread. If Wii U ends up being just as much stronger than last gen systems as it is weaker than other next gen machines, that would put it in a league of it's own. Obviously, this is specualtion, too, but it's definately considerable.