Microsoft and Nintendo disagree about Wii U’s graphical clout

Opinions regarding the graphical power of Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U appear to be mixed.

Speaking to investors, Nintendo boss Saturo Iwata asserted that the new console will not lag as far behind its upcoming rivals from Microsoft and Sony as Wii did compared to Xbox 360 and PS3.

"We cannot promise that the Wii U will never be excluded from multiplatform software for eternity, but we can at least assure you that the Wii U will not have such a big difference as the Wii had in comparison to how, on other platforms, developers could expect very different graphic capabilities of generating HD-applicable high-resolution graphics," he insisted.

"Other companies might launch a next-generation console with more power, but we don’t necessarily think that the difference between the Wii U and such console will be as drastic as what you felt it was between the Wii and the other consoles because there will be fewer and fewer differentiators in graphics.”

"Naturally some consumers are very sensitive about such a small difference in graphics so that we will make efforts to make the most of the performance of the Wii U to keep up with technological innovations and not to make the system out-of-date soon."

This assessment is not shared by Microsoft Studios’ corporate VP Phil Spencer, however. Speaking to Games Industry, he believes that Wii U is more comparable to the current crop of machines.

"I think their Pro Controller makes a lot of sense with the platform they’ve built,” he stated. They are building a platform that is effectively a 360 when you think of graphical capability.

"Now they are really making an on-ramp for the back catalog of games that are on 360. It is easy for those games to move over to the Wii U. They’ve moved the buttons around, and they’ve made a controller that feels familiar for 360 gamers, so I get why they are putting those pieces together."