Is the Wii U truly as underpowered as we are led to believe?

Nintendo has seen no shortage of hatred from the mainstream gamer community in recent years, some of which is deserved, and most of which isn't. One such criticism that is frequently leveled against them is that their hardware is "underpowered". And relative to the other current generation systems, the Wii U certainly can't compete on their level. However, some critics have gone a step further and dismissively asserted that the Wii U is a relatively weak system even when compared to the last generation of consoles, which is a claim that I immediately found dubious. Looking over what we know about the Wii U's hardware, the specs certainly don't suggest that it should be underperforming when stacked against its last-gen counterparts. Take a brief look at a comparison between the systems for yourself.

A typical Nintendo troll.

As can be seen, the Wii U boasts a similar tri-core processor to the Xbox360, clocking in at 3.0 Ghz. However, the Xbox's processor clocks in at 3.2 Ghz, giving it a slight edge. This does at first glance seem to suggest that the Wii U is still lacking, but now let's analyze this a bit further. 0.2 Ghz is only a 6% difference, and any PC gamer worth their two cents will tell you that the processor is rarely the bottleneck for performance in a gaming system. Consider GameSpot's gaming PC on a console budget challenge as a reference. Even Peter Brown's build running on a low budget dual core Intel Pentium processor was still able to push stable 40+ framerates at 1080p with current-gen games. That's a weaker processor than what's currently in the Wii U, and yet his PC can compete on the level of a Playstation 4 and Xbox One.

And once we factor in the Wii U's memory which dwarfs the competition with a full 2 GB of RAM compared to the Xbox360's 512 MB and the PS3's 256 MB, the Wii U should theoretically be able to offer higher resolution textures and improved load times. The biggest determinant of gaming performance overall though lies in the graphics card, better known as the GPU. The Wii U utilizes a similar-performance AMD Radeon GPU compared to its other competitors here, but it's based on a much newer architecture from AMD, which should again give it a slight edge in performance.

That's all fine in theory of course, but the naysayers are quick to point out that in practice the numbers don't add up, and they have the benchmarks to show for it, citing disappointing results from multi-platform titles like Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty. I decided to investigate this for myself, and the first example I encountered was an Assassin's Creed IV framerate test. Check it out for yourself. Now here we see that it looks like the Wii U is underperforming with consistently lower framerates than the 360 and PS3 by a margin of 5-10 FPS, so that must settle it, right? We can sit here and crunch numbers all day long, but at the end of the day the actual results just don't add up. Or do they? See, it's not that simple.

I immediately suspected that something was still amiss here. Indeed, while it's true that plainly before my eyes the Wii U is still underperforming despite what should be a fully capable hardware set, there are still a lot of other factors to consider here before just jumping straight to the conclusion that the Nintendo hate wagon would like you to reach. For one, it is very possible that given the Wii U's new architecture, developers have not been fully acclimated to it yet and don't know how to best optimize for it. It could also very well be possible that they were just lazy and not given enough time to finish optimizing for the system. And finally, there is the possibility that the developers over-estimated the Wii U's hardware and made it shoulder more graphically intensive tasks than it can handle; more so than even the PS3 and Xbox360. To that last speculation, I found another comparison that might confirm this, which you can view here.

In this latest comparison, we see that the PS4 obviously has the best visuals, with sharper, more detailed textures, better lighting, and more special effects such as thicker rainfall and more reflections. The differences naturally start to become harder to notice when we limit ourselves strictly to the PS3/360/WiiU combo. However, we can quickly make one further elimination within the first pause at 20 seconds into the video. It is quite obvious that the PS3 screenshot has virtually no visible rainfall whatsoever, while the 360 and Wii U shots in contrast have at least some noticeable rainfall effects. Therefore at the very least, we now know that the Wii U is being expected to shoulder more graphical effects on its hardware than the PS3 is pushing, and had the developers scaled back to the same as the PS3's level, it could be argued that the Wii U would perform equally or slightly better than the PS3. But now it's a contest down to the Wii U versus the Xbox360; is there any noticeable difference between the graphical detail of the Wii U shots compared to the Xbox? I'll be honest here. I tried my hardest to look through every single pause point in the video for an obvious difference, but couldn't find any to the best of my ability. The only difference that can be noticeably observed is that the Wii U seems to have a very subtle edge with lighting, allowing the player to perhaps see slightly more detail in the textures, but it isn't anything that can really definitively say that the Wii U is being pushed harder. Thus, at best we can only conclusively gather here that the Wii U is being worked harder than the PS3, but not necessarily the Xbox360. That's still slightly problematic though, because the Wii U's specs suggest that it should be able to do at least a little more than even the Xbox360.

But we're not done yet. Now things get really interesting once I discovered Need for Speed: Most Wanted. In various articles discussing Need for Speed with developer Criterion's Alex Ward, he remarked that not only does the Wii U version of the game feature higher resolution textures based on the PC version of the game, but it also maintains more stable framerates than its PS3/Xbox360 counterparts, thanks to Criterion's decision not to do a straight port and instead take the time to properly optimize the game. That's quite a statement, but is it just empty hype? Well the framerate tests are in for this game too. Lo and behold, there's no doubt about it. It turns out when you actually take the time to do a proper conversion, the Wii U performs even better than the other last-gen consoles while outputting higher resolution textures to boot. Of course, some might remark that during this framerate test the Wii U version was missing shadow effects from the metal beams, and the texture difference can be a bit hard to verify because of the cramped spacing in the video and all the fast movement going on. To the first point, this is actually because the game features day-night cycles, so playing the same course at a different time of day will affect where the shadows are projecting, but they are in fact still there. To the second point, we have another video for closer inspection. Pause it at 3:20 to see the most obvious difference. The texturing on the spiral concrete structure is quite inarguably more blurry and has inferior lighting on the PS3 version compared to the Wii U. And would you look at that at 2:57? The shadows from the metal beams are indeed still present in the Wii U version.

Rosalina will drink your tears now, haters.

So there you have it. The Wii U does exactly what its hardware should be capable of doing when third party devs actually optimize for the system like they're supposed to. Now, it is true that regardless of this point, the Wii U's hardware is still significantly inferior to both the PS4 and Xbox One, so if that is the only point that Nintendo hecklers want to get across, they are technically correct. But don't try to bite off more than you can chew and claim that the Wii U is an inferior system even when stacked against the last generation, because it's just not true. The Wii U not only matches the last-gen, but surpasses it.

Anime Roundup #1: No Game No Life

I've been really slacking with my blog lately, so I'm trying to find ways that I can keep myself motivated to continue maintaining it. One such way I've decided to do that is by introducing the first of what will hopefully become a regular segment on my blog: Anime Roundup. The premise is simply this: I talk about the anime I'm currently watching, give a brief description of my thoughts on it, and offer a tentative rating so people can get a feel for my impressions on it, as well as get a feel for whether they might be interested in it too. Let's begin now, shall we?

Never get a life. You two are far more interesting without one.

For my first Anime Roundup, I've got quite some heavy-hitters this anime season. Kicking this off, we have No Game No Life. The story follows the very enthusiastic nerd gamer Sora and his adorable younger sister Shiro, who together make up a truly unstoppable force in online gaming, having never lost a single match in any game they play. The impregnable duo plays under the handle "Blank", which is literally represented as a blank space on the screen in-game. Clever guys, really clever. How they might've managed to get past the "invalid character" splash screens in numerous account creation menus is beyond me, but in any case, they've made a rather well-known reputation for themselves in Internet circles, with many speculating on just how many people are actually controlling their characters, whether they cheat, or whether they're using some kind of hacks. Despite their lofty reputation and clear strategical brilliance though, for some reason it must've never occurred to Blank that they could win a million dollars rising through the ranked ladder of League of Legends with their talents, because instead they mostly opt to sit in their basement all night munching on junk food and living as bums. But before you start to think this is all a lead in to a cheap ripoff and cash-in on the Sword Art Online craze, suddenly Sora and Shiro are messaged by a mysterious person asking them strange questions about whether they feel like they belong in this world and how cool would it be to live in one that revolved entirely around gaming. They of course answer that they prefer the latter, and next thing you know, NGNL goes full-on anime, and by that I mean shit gets really bizarre.

Say goodbye to your Steam account, Blank.

Sora and Shiro are warped across dimensions into another world, or rather should we say several-thousand feet above another world, as they quickly find themselves plunging rapidly to their deaths. Miraculously however, the fall doesn't hurt them despite the nice crater they leave in the ground, and before you know it, you are introduced to the unbelievably vibrant new world of Disboard with some really impressively unique artwork to boot. In this world, war is forbidden and all disputes between its various races and inhabitants must be settled through challenging your opponent to a game. The art indeed deserves very high marks here, because I've never seen anything like it. The lineart is often drawn in red instead of black, which you would think looks really weird, but instead it works quite nicely in creating the effect that this is a truly alien world not like Earth. No Game No Life has some serious style. Seriously. The music deserves some mention too, as it's got a Phantasy Star Online-like ambience to it that fits very well with the setting.

Anyway, there is a lot to say about this anime because it is just brimming with so much vibrance and emotion. There is never a dull moment between the absolutely hilarious character interactions and insane scenarios that unfold from the games that Sora and Shiro find themselves engaged in. At no point is my jaw not hurting from all the laughing I'm doing, because NGNL never misses another opportunity to put a big dumb grin on your face from just how silly the characters are.

In many ways, NGNL takes on parallels to Code Geass, with Sora's charismatic inclination to give impassioned speeches and his uncanny strategic abilities very much mirroring that of Lelouch Lamperouge. And that aside, you can also never quite tell if he's just completely insane or a true genius. With this in mind, I really can't see anyone other than Johnny Yong Bosch voicing Sora for the English dub when it eventually comes along, as he is naturally the perfect match to bring Sora's brilliant madness to life. And while we're on the topic of voice actors, might I also recommend Emily Neves or Cristina Valenzuela as Shiro, Michelle Ruff as Stephanie Dola, and Wendee Lee as Jibril. You're welcome Sentai Filmworks; I just saved you the trouble on all the major casting. No payment necessary (but would be preferred... please hire me).

As much praise as I've been showering on this series, you might be thinking that I'm about to score this a perfect 5 out of 5, but nonetheless I do feel there are some significant caveats that are holding it back. As it currently stands, No Game No Life has only 12 episodes planned in the works, and having seen 8 episodes so far, I can tell that there is no way the story can be completely wrapped up in 4 more episodes without turning it into a train wreck. There is just too much lore that has still been left unexplored, and if a second season doesn't get announced, we will most likely be left with an incomplete ending. Given NGNL's huge popularity right now though, it is most likely that we can expect an announcement for season 2 eventually, but until then, its future is still uncertain. In addition, while it's true that there is never really a dull moment in this anime, at the end of the day there isn't a whole lot of depth or substance to it either, and it has a tendency to go off on tangents of fanservice, with an entire episode being devoted to humiliating, stripping, and putting dog ears on Stephanie Dola.

Holy waifus, batman!

And finally, the first episode was deceptive in that it gave the impression that we could expect to see a good deal of flashy action set pieces from this series too, with an opening scene that showed off some impressive combat in an online game world, but that was quickly replaced by much less impressive board games, card games, and even rock-paper-scissors matches in many cases. Nevertheless, No Game No Life is still highly entertaining, and while my score might seem a little like tough love on it right now, I think I will likely convince myself to give a final verdict of 4 out of 5 by the time it reaches its end.

Current Tentative Score: 3 out of 5 - Good

Wow, that turned out to be a lot more writing than I expected it to be, so I'm going to have to end my first Anime Roundup here. Hopefully I can tackle more than just one anime in my next roundup, but with NGNL being the biggest anime of the currently airing season so far, I guess it couldn't be helped.

If you liked listening to my opinions here, you can also read some full anime reviews I've written on my MAL profile page.