It'll all look nice and shiny

Sumo Digital is the developer of upcoming multi-platform racer Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, a title set to hit later this year on both Wii U and 3DS. Just one week ago comments from a representative of publisher SEGA, related to this title, described the graphical capabilities of Wii U as on par or potentially better than rival systems such as PS3 — though the source quotes did need some clarification after initial publication.

To ease any doubt about the perception of Wii U's graphical capabilities in relation to Sonic's latest, executive producer Steve Lycett has clarified during an interview with Official Nintendo Magazine. Below is what he said about the GPU (Graphical Processing Unit) and system memory within the developer's kit.

There are always surprises and unexpected challenges when you develop on a new console. When we first got our hands on the kit, the first surprise was the capability of the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). We'd been worried that we might need to re-engineer all the effects and shaders in the game, but they worked just fine.

The Wii U looks as good as any of the HD platforms. The Wii U has way more memory, so we can take advantage of that with less compression on elements and textures, so it will look all lovely and shiny.

While Nintendo is typically tight-lipped about technical specifications, and we have a general idea that Wii U's graphical grunt may not necessarily be a substantial leap over its competitors, it's encouraging to hear that some of the tools available are proving useful to developers.

[source officialnintendomagazine.co.uk]