Nintendo issued a response to the amounting speculations that its next-gen console "Wii U" will possess under par graphics-processing power compared to competitors PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720.
According to Yahoo's Digital Trends blog, Nintendo made it clear that visual power are not the developer's primary concern. Rather than overpower the competition with graphics, the company will focus more on gameplay.
"We do not focus on technology specs. We understand that people like to dissect graphics and processing power, but the experience of playing will always be more important than raw numbers," stated a Nintendo of America representative.
Rumors from disappointed developers proclaimed that Nintendo's next-gen console may only be able to match the graphics capability of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Amidst the graphics power woes, Nintendo has found support from third party publishing company "Ubisoft." Tony Key, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ubisoft, publicly expressed the company's desire to be Wii U's number one publisher. In an interview with Gamsutra, Key stated:
"We have big plans for Wii U. Our intention is to be the number one third party on Wii U, just like we were on Kinect and 3DS. We've always had a really close relationship with Nintendo so I'd venture to say that we did have an advantage in getting dev kits earlier than other people."
"We've always had this affinity for new hardware," Key added. "We're always trying to figure out what we would do on that next system. What we're trying to figure out is: what will it probably be? What will the specs probably be?"
Ubisoft is already working with the Wii U's revolutionary game controller for its highly anticipated game Assassin's Creed 3. According to Key, Ubisoft would like to launch multiple game titles along with the Wii U release. This is good news for Nintendo as Ubisoft has gained a respectable name among the industry with its release of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Online and Assassin's Creed series.
"If you're lucky, by the time you get a dev kit and by the time you get to launch, you've had a chance to build something good because, generally, by the time the dev kits show up -- between that time and launch -- it's not enough time to make a whole game. You'd better be pretty far along in your ideas before that thing shows up," Key concluded.
Nintendo and Ubisoft's shared goal of gameplay experience and creative conceptual ideas can establish Wii U as the top contender upon its release. In an interview with Joystiq, Gearbox's Randy Pitchford voiced his support for the Wii U.
"It's a really cool system - it's pretty powerful. I want to be careful, because I don't want to risk any sensitive information that Nintendo's not ready to share yet, but in our experience it's a great system. I think it's a really nice bridge to the next generation," said Pitchford.
It may also be a good reminder that when Nintendo released its Wii console, the visual graphics capability was not as impressive as its competitors. It was the creative gameplay and innovative controllers that set it apart from everyone else.
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