The Wii U CPU Is "Horrible" According To Metro: Last Light Developer

Huh ? Come on ? It is a new console ? They are overreacting !!

Metro is terrible so no loss here.

I'll still get a wii u because of nintendo and eshop games. However with the crappy cpu and slow ram speeds I can easily see the wii U getting shafted like the wii. So far a lot of launch day ports have little too no care taken with them, these same devs are skipping the wii U as far as the bulk of games hitting early next year (wii u us still going to have some high profile stuff with Pikmin,wonderful 101, and monster hunter) and with wii U having troubles with last gen games I'm going to hate to see what happens when the other next gen systems launch .

Wii U is stuck in this weird place do to nintendo having to skip on certain hardware to make it more affordable. (Still taking a loss however) I'm expecting a lot of software for a while to be cross-generation and the wii U will probably end up dissapointingly getting the last gen version as well.

I'm just going to wait and se what happens. No point in freaking out over low CPU now until i see more multiplatform games that has had more dev time one the Wii U. If they still can't make the games run properly after some proper dev time well, then i'llstart to worry.

This is frightening me, I really want a solid onbiased breakdown of the WiiU specs.. It sounds like we'll be excluded again when the competition comes. I now am seriousy intersted in getting a Vita otherwise, or just keep my 3DS as my only nextgen console

The console seems fine to me. I don't care about its relative power.

Bad news but worst case scenario, Nintendo games will be enough.

Suuuure, whateeeeever... they said they didn't even start developing it for Wii U, and they're criticizing the CPU. Way to go, THQ and 4A Games.

Early look at the Wii U? It definitely changed since they last looked at it I would imagine & it seems they didn't even code anything for it so they would know very little about the Wii U as far as I can tell.

I want a console that can play Nintendo games, AND get's 3rd party developers to develop games for it. IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK!?!

yes it is

here goes lots of comments on 'what has this guy done lately' and 'he sucks anyway, what does he know' and "but Mario is so hi-definitiony it's lighting fast". I'm afraid I'll get one once the big guns like zelda are out but I fear the ports will indeed get the short end. I've already read that the Arkham city port is pretty buggy and slow.

Well, yeah.. It is. That's why it has a GPGPU to handle stuff the CPU would in other cases handle.

I mean, the WiiU can handle the game. I believe this is more of a case where the architecture is different and the devs don't feel like it's worth it to re-code the entire game to fit on a certain platform.

No loss there. Guy sounds a bit lazy to me. If all these other AAA games are being ported to the Wii U (most with improvements as well), I can't see what's so special about the Metro series that couldn't also be ported.

@SkywardLink98 Yes

Such mixed signals.. one developer praises it, the other utterly destroys it.. I just don't know what to think anymore. I'll just take solace in the fact that the games shown to work on the console give the impression it's just fine. Now if only the 3rd party developers could stick around longer than on the Wii.. that'd be just great.

LOL are you taking serious them? They make games with such power that makes crash most computers. Gooby plz....

Since I am not a developer, a follower of 4A, nor a 360/PS3 owner, his statement makes no impact to my view of the Wii U. Also, instead of criticizing the CPU of a machine you do not like, how about concentrating on being more creative. By that, I mean why worry about graphical presentation instead of focusing on overall fun factor?

I had never even heard of this series until now, so I'm good.
@19Robb92 - That sounds about right.

Try seeing it how I see it. These guys are a small team, possibly in trouble due to also being with THQ. They are overworked, understaffed, and may not have any time and money to try learning ANYTHING about a new console. Heck, seems to me like they're complaining about having to do a PS3 version on top of PC and 360. Then here comes Wii U, a brand new console with brand new chip architectures and brand new headaches. They probably found that the CPU wasn't EXTREMELY powerful so that they could just throw it on there with minimal amounts of tweaking and have it run perfectly. Metro doesn't really run too great on anything besides high end PCs (DX11 is painful for me) and for them to port to consoles must be a VERY big chore considering all the above factors. Wii U's CPU is most likely highly customized to give incredible performance once a dev has actually learned how to use it, rather than being just a brute force component. Which also explains some of the lackluster launch port, as many of them were done in only a matter of months. Didn't help that Nintendo constantly changed the devkits.

Horrible compared to what exactly, is he taking the GPGPU into account for how well the Wii U can handle their game? Just saying something is "horrible" doesn't really tell anyone anything.

If working on Wii U to get the game working properly would mean stretching your team too thin at the moment then just say that instead of complaining the CPU is too slow to run your game.

They should just go cry about it and leave the games for this system up to to other devs who actually have the vision to make unique games for it. If they just stick to xbox and ps, which never have anything that stands out from the last one, then it gets boring. Having new features added to the console to enhance the game is almost as imporant as having new features added to the game itself. But if they want to skip the opportunity to develop for this system, it's their loss not ours.

@idork99
Good point. I fear most of the PS360 devs may have gotten slack in this gen so when Wii U kicked down the door of the 8th gen, they seemingly couldn't be bothered with it choosing to attack it instead. But can't really blame them. It's easier for them to stick with what they know and what help keeps the lights on. Unfortunately, THQ saying the CPU is "horrible" will only fuel the fanboys and that's irritating.

Wii U has devs like Ubisoft, Namco Bandai, Rocksteady, Bioware, Gearbox, Platinum Games, Capcom, Team Ninja busy at work and openly praising the Wii U. Wii U will do just fine. We have developers like Sora working on Wii U for crying out loud!

Stay calm and Play Nintendo

@Koto Good point.

It's too bad that we're missing out on Metro, but I think the dev is exaggerating about how bad the processor is. I mean, if his game can be on PS3 and 360, it should be able to be on the Wii U. Various developers have already ported major games to the new system and they play great. It's obvious that current gen games work fine on the Wii U. Why is Metro any different?

There is nothing wrong with the WiiU's CPU, its bad development and that's the bottom line.
I understand the company is in a financial crisis right now, but this seems more of a childish excuse to me. I may have believed them if I didn't try playing their first mess Metro 2033 that I sold after 15min of games play. What difference does it make if they make the game this month or next year? The CPU power of the WiiU is going to be the same regardless. They could have taken a more professional approach to abandoning the Wiiu instead of belittling Nintendo’s tech.
Don't get discouraged with garbage like this from developers. I have seen comparisons where the WiiU holds its own and then some as far as graphics go. In this new generation of console gaming though, it will not be about the graphics anymore, but about innovation and different interesting ways to immerse you deeper within a game and Nintendo already has the competition beat with the Wiimotes and the Wiiu game pad. Everyone else will be playing catch up.

@Damagemanual

You mean improvments like year old games running at 2fps

@Tsuchiya Well said!

Didn't developers say the same thing about PS3 that it was too hard to develop for? And look at it now. It just takes time for a console to get great games. We got some good demonstrations at launch and I expect more great games for years to come.

Another first person shooter, if you had play Call of Duty, Crysis, Gears of War, and Borderland, you pretty much play em all.

No problem for me at all. I have all Nintendo and Sony consoles, so I have all the games I really want. And Metro is not one of them.... =)

@Sjoerd They are likely basing their claim off an early development kit. Calm down

Then develop elsewhere, I hate developers that blame crappy programming on hardware. Other games are running just fine on it and have better performance, Sonic All-Stars for example...

There were bad talking it before they even gave it a try

Didn't Ukraine just get electricity? What the hell do they know about CPUs?

Dear Huw Beynon, piss off and grow up. Stop being such a wiener just because your games suck.

Looking at THQ's financials one would think they would want to get as many of their games on as many platforms as possible.

The game pad need a revamp,3 hrs and it will have to be recharge,wii u really do have a lot of issues nintendo need to sort out soon before ps4 and xbox 720 arrives

Wii u can render Black-ops 2 times without problems (on the TV and Gamepad at the same time) THIS GUY IS FULL OF !!!!

@JavierYHL

You can play while it recharges so explain the problem Sir.

Working around a 'crap cpu' is something developers have done for ages, and made it work. Explain to me how Metroid Prime still holds up to current gen graphics, despite being released on a disc that prevented a lot of key video compression because of its size. IN the end, graphics are more of a display of the technical know how of the developer and not the console, this just shows me that the developer is a moron and has no imagination and I'd rather keep people like that away from video games.

@AugustusOxy

Metroid Prime was developed by Retro that's why.

it is just as well. 4A doesn't have anything I would wish to buy on any system.

A sensationalist article. The "horrible" CPU that the guy was referring to was an early kit.

In the meantime I will give more credence to developers who have spent some time with the Wii U and created something already like Frozenbyte. “Basically that does require... well, not huge amounts more graphics processing power, but still considerably. If we would publish that on the other consoles, then I believe that there would be some small downscaling of what it is right now.”
Source: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/10/developer_interview_frozenbyte_talks_trine_2_wii_u_eshop_and_working_with_nintendo

This kinda conflicts with what Shin'en said.........

' It's something we might return to. I really couldn't make any promises.

I promise not to buy it if you do bother.

@TrueWiiMaster The thing about Metro is that not only does it feature high-end visuals and fast gameplay, but it has a relatively deep physics engine running on top of all of that. The PS3 can handle most anything that they can throw at it, but learning to develop on its architecture is absolutely insane for any developer's first time, as it's completely different from the norm. From what I've been able to find out, the Wii U just doesn't have the capacity to compute HD graphics, strenuous gameplay and a deep physics engine on top of it.

Could it be done? I have no doubts that it most likely can, but squeezing every inch out of a system takes a lot of time and money, and if all is indeed true and they'd have to squeeze power to put Metro on Wii U - what does that mean will happen to the next generation of multiplatform games?

After this, I won't be getting the game even if it did come to the Wii U and won't be getting it PS3 either. If they invest, I'll invest.

@retro_player_22 Gears of War isn't even a first-person-shooter

Man, nintendo can make a 3 times better game with half the power, they seem to lack innovativity and creativity.
No, i will still get my wiiu as soon as it launched here. Not any cheap 3th party devolper can scare me

with THQ's mystery financial backer who knows if THQ isn't just attacking Nintendo as a proxy for Sony or Microsoft.

@Master_Ryno Good point.
Some headlines are just asking for you to throw all your hate and revenge, and Nintendo Life is not clean of that.

How in the blue hell is a new IBM Power Architecture-based multi-core processor "horrible" and "slow"? That's absurd! I don't believe for a second that the old CPU's in the PS3 and 360 are more powerful, let alone even in the same league as the Wii U's. An 8 year old processor can never out perform a new one! Technology doesn't work like that!

And didn't another developer say the Wii U can do HD graphics without breaking a sweat? I call BS on this. This developer is obviously sucking the nipples of Sony and Microcrap.

@vio Wii U was once thought to be running on IBM's POWER7 Architecture, but it's looking like it's running on a new POWER-based version of the Broadway chip (triple core), which is the same chip that's found in the Wii, only with a faster clocking speed.

This is why there's been an uproar over the past few days about the Wii U lacking power.

And it could indeed be true, because these processors are outdated and overload easily if too many things happen at once on-screen. Even back months ago Omega Studio announced that the Wii U has a slower processor than the PS3 and 360, during their development of Warriors Orochi 3 for Wii U. If you've never played one of their titles (you should if you haven't) they render thousands of enemies on-screen at once, with detailed moving scenery in the background at the same time, which is hell on any processor when it has to render it all in HD. Sadly, even in the final release for Wii U it's marred by slowdown because of its processor. It looks like there's truth to this one mate.

The 360's are indeed old, but developers know how to squeeze every ounce of power out of them and the PS3's cell processor is beyond powerful, but it's a complete nightmare to develop for. Wii U is clearly a powerful machine, but it appears it's not what it was hyped up too by so many, which again, stems from the fact that all of those "the Wii U is five times more powerful than the PS3 articles" we saw months ago. Yes, it would have been had it actually used the POWER7 processors, but it ins't.

No loss, just sad that the developer wouldn't spend more time with. I wouldn't have gotten this anyway but hopefully future developers don't look at this and believe what he says.

@Slapshot
That entire Wii U using a multi-core Broadway chip is pure speculation. No CPU has been confirmed nor has any of the rumored ones been proven yet. So far, Wii U's CPU is a mystery, anyone who says otherwise is an idiot.

@Slapshot
Wii U being more powerful than current gen will help Nintendo dominate the 8th generation. Nintendo's attitude is right, pricing is fair and it's a name consumers know is a winner. When Sony release the PS4 you can bet that they'll mess it up, come out with overpowered hardware and launch it with a stupid price. Microsoft will probably enter the 8th with a console of similar power and price to that of the Wii U. Probably concentrating more on innovation than tinkering with the tech too much. Sony don't appear to understand what a bad economy is. It's not 1994 anymore.

The fanboys may want a console that'll fly you to the moon but mark my words, they'll be the first to complain about what they initially wanted as soon as money is mentioned and with all due respect, as @Koto says, the brains of the Wii U are pure speculation and rumours.
No one knows the true specs, including you.

People are just nitpicking for the most part I just read an article how the Wii u is trying to be a I phone lol not an I pad or anything but an I phone and that the game pad is a clunky mess and contributes nothing to gameplay and the touch screen doesn't work properly. So I say all this is BS the fact that black ops 2 looks amazing looks a good bit better than the Xbox version and also running at 60 fps and also the fact that its just a port on a new system speaks for itself so case closed go whine somewhere else

Oh also the game pad is perfect lightweight and the buttons are nice and clicky how they should be and I haven't had a single problem with the touch screen not working

This is no small feet....
IGN: it’s built-in screen offers functionality that no other platform has. Namely, the ability to play any portion of the game via SecondScreen gameplay. Black Ops 2 occasionally drops in frame-rate no matter how you play it, but both regular and SecondScreen gameplay function well enough that I never felt at a disadvantage or that it took away from the fun, even when playing the super speedy online multiplayer. Even cooler, you can play online split-screen multiplayer without having to actually split your screens. You can still play with two people on the same TV, or, thanks to some brilliant designers, use the GamePad as your second player’s screen.

As long as it gets good games, and mainstream stuff like COD, there will be enough variety for me.

its all about the gamepad. and im sure if he take some time out he can make something work. but if he don't like it then thats his perogative.

@19Robb92 Which is a good reason.

@Damagemanual This is a very small team, Metro is hardly AAA, and have you seen any of the 1000 articles about THQ's financial position?

What can you expect when a system comes out that does not outperform 6-year-old hardware in every single way? I think Nintendo doesn't care much for for big third-party support because it has its own big-name games (and might see serious third-party titles as competition on its own platforms) and it knows there are millions of loyalists who will buy anything with Nintendo's name on it. I can't rely on a company that apparently thinks like that so I have no plans to get a Wii U, especially after reading report after report of bad news. Like I said before, Nintendo should have made a more powerful (if even more expensive) console and continued to support the Wii for a few more years and its more "casual" customers. I have no loyalty to Sony what-so-ever, but at least Sony had a good weaning strategy by slowly decreasing support for the PS2 when PS3 came out rather than dropping support for PS2 entirely.

@Ren Yup this happens anytime someone dares to criticize Nintendo or the WiiU, and if any of the complaints turn out to be valid, everyone just says "It's not a big deal" or "I don't care about anyway"
It seems like everyone was hyping what the Wii U about it's power, multiplatform games, and online, but now that it's out and everyone is fine with Nintendo missing common things that consoles have had for 6 years.

@mastersworddude what common things no one on this website really knows what its capable of even most developers it just came out you think Sony and Microsoft didn't have any problems when they release new systems ?

I don't care about cpu, i care about people reporting continuous wii u freezes!

Eh....just another Nintendo hating company. Patcher has better criticism than these tards.

@MisterRJ45 I hope you're right. I know you're wrong but I still hope you are right. It's complicated.

If the CPU is so bad, then it doesn't bode well for third-party support! The "Metro"developers already are scared of the Wii u (if you know what I mean), hopefully the same won't happen with other developers!