Wii U Won’t Dramatically Outperform Rivals
Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U is unlikely to “dramatically outperform” PS3 and Xbox 360, according to Shigeru Miyamoto.
Discussing the difficult balancing act between launching a powerful yet affordable console, the Nintendo design legend told GameSpot: “We’re very sensitive to pricing because people have generally only a certain amount of their spending that they’ll devote to entertainment.
“But at the same time, you have these technological advances, and you have the needs of being able to take advantage of that technology, and those result in increasing costs and things like that.”
He continued: “So when you look at what we’re trying to do this time, which is I think maybe to a certain degree somewhat reckless, because we’re trying to include this somewhat kind of tablet-like device – this controller with the screen. We’re trying to do that by finding the right balance between the CPU and the GPU, the graphics processor, and bringing all of that together with the ability to take advantage of the HD capabilities of the system, and wanting to do the most that we can on that front as well.
“We’re very sensitive, of course, to trying to do all of this at an appropriate price. So I don’t know that we would be able to sit here and say that it’s going to necessarily dramatically outperform the systems that are out now. It’s part of the balance that we strike in terms of trying to find entertainment that is new and unique.”
Nintendo isn’t ready to open up about its Wii U pricing strategy, but president Satoru Iwata has said you won’t be getting the new console on the cheap.
