Wii U specifications leak despite the NDA

[Wesley]

Thanks to an invstigation by Eurogamer, the specifications for the Wii U, Nintendo's new console, have been more or less pinned down with the launch of the console less than two weeks away (supposedly). Nintendo's new toy sports a wireless touchscreen controller and is comparable, Eurogamer was told, to the current generation of consoles.

Eurogamer's source said that the console was set to feature a triple-core PowerPC processor made by IBM, close enough to the one inside the PS3 to more than match up in performance. RAM will be set at 1GB (a whole lot more than current consoles) and the graphics core will be handled by an AMD Radeon GPU from the HD7000 family, likely a variant of one of the mobile chips chosen because of its lower power draw.

Linky

[.exe]

I've been thinking long and hard about the future prospects of the Wii U, and my personal opinion is that it's not going to be a success.

Whereas the Wii launched last and brought something genuinely novel and new to the table and also transcended the hardcore market, I don't think the Wii U will emulate that success. For one, the Wii was bought by a lot of people who are not gamers. I know a 70 year old Woman who bought it purely because of the Wii Fit. Why would she now go out and buy a Wii U? People who bought the Wii either for an occasional game or for something other than gaming will most likely not bother with the Wii U since they already have a Wii.
Second, the Wii U, since it's launching first, will give Sony and Microsoft ample time to have a good look at the Wii U and will be able to make any necessary adjustments to their own upcoming systems, should they feel the need.

Third, the Wii, as has been the case with several of Nintendo's other consoles, lacked good third party support. While the Wii U is aiming to address that, there are already a couple of developers that don't seem that interested in bringing certain games to the system. For example, there are no plans to bring Metro Last Light or Castlevania II to the Wii U, yet those games will appear on other systems.
One would think that being a new system, devs would be falling over themselves to develop for the console, but while I'm sure many will, some already don't seem that keen on the system.
I feel the problem will only get worse over time, when Sony and Microsoft bring out their new systems, both of which will no doubt be on a completely different level from a performance perspective to the Wii U.

While a console depends on more than just raw performance, the Xbox 720 and PS4 will represent the benchmark standard, and one has to wonder if developers will be all that bothered to work around the performance limitations of the Wii U in order to bring games to that platform. So yeah, the Wii U will see Assassin's Creed III, but will it see an Assassin's Creed IV? In my personal opinion it won't.
It will in time, find itself in exactly the same boat as the Wii did, in that it will lack AAA third-party support.

I hope Ninty manage to do something with this system; they are true innovators while Sony and Microsoft just copy everything Nintendo do, but I think Nintendo have shot themselves in the foot with this underpowered system, in no small part because of the early launch. We may see another Dreamcast scenario where a lot of potential buyers hold off for the more powerful Xbox 720 and Sony PS4.

[Wesley]

I don't think the comparisons with Dreamcast are appropriate, because Nintendo has been making profit since day one with the Wii. The Wii U is just an extension to the TV for gameboy fans, that's it. Its an update to their original idea but the Wii will still sell well in lots of markets for a whole. Also, most devs are under NDA and likely Nintendo wants to keep who's on board under wraps until the release. I know it would be silly if any game developer writes off the console, because there's so much you can do with it.

And its Nintendo. If any company can make it work, they can. They're the only one out of the big three that actually seem to focus on improving the experience for their players, and not target them for sales of the next cash cow.

Also, we've had tons of devs haggling Microsoft about their fees to keep their titles on the Xbox Live network. With Valve's Steam console, the OUYA and now the Wii U, there'll be other less-contended, less expensive markets and online platforms where they can peddle their time-busting games of awesomeness for console-like machines with a set hardware specification.

I think the Wii U is where the future is going. Less big-budget AAA titles and more quality ones that actually use all the console has to offer to make that version unique. Personally I'm still wishing I could grab a Wii and get me some Red Steel goodness.

[.exe]

Well, that's an interesting perspective and I can't say I disagree if I look at it from your point of view. If it turns out to be a decent console with strong 3rd party support, I wouldn't mind looking at one to compliment my PC gaming. But it definitely needs a strong lineup of sustained 3rd party support, imo. That's been Nintendo's problem from the N64 onwards...great 1st party support, not-so-great 3rd party support.