E3 2012 | Epic Responds to Wii U Unreal Engine Reports

By Jorge Ba-oh 29.05.2012 9

E3 2012 | Epic Responds to Wii U Unreal Engine Reports on Nintendo gaming news, videos and discussion

Unreal Engine 4 is on the way, but its chances of landing on Nintendo's Wii U are looking slim.

Geoff Keighley, presenter for GameTrailers TV, this week revealed that Wii U won't be running the Unreal Engine 4 at this time. "At GDC Mike Capps said the Wii-U will be Unreal Engine 3", he mentioned in tweet. Keighley is due to host the first public glimpse of the new technology next week.

The Wii U is able to handle the current Unreal Engine 3, allowing for a host of multiplatform projects to be ported - including the likes of Batman: Arkham City. However, with the successor engine demanding hardware far beyond the current generation, it could cause problems for the Wii U in the future if it can't cope with the upgrade.

However, Epic themselves responded to reports, telling CVG that the company "has not confirmed platforms for Unreal Engine 4 beyond PC".

Whatever the case, expect further details when this year's E3 finally hits next week.

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jesusraz is offline. jesusraz 29.05.2012#1

Epic saying a Nintendo system isn't powerful enough is yet another thing that wouldn't shock me. It's the same damn thing every time Nintendo releases bloody hardware! Let's hope there's more positive news actually at E3...

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bornforthis43 is offline. bornforthis43 29.05.2012#2

Every engine that Epic has released has been so revolutionary. It's a shame that the WiiU won't be able to handle it. I think I saw somewhere that Orbis or Durango wouldn't be able to handle it either. It might be released for the best pc's right now. I'm guessing it'll come to consoles in 4 or 5 years maybe.

 
PMD is offline. PMD 29.05.2012#3

Everything we are hearing (including from Nintendo itself) points to the WiiU being around the same level as the 360.

I remember everyone on the internet being in denial about the Wii's power right until its release, despite devs and the press saying it was not nearly as powerful as the 360.

But this time, it looks like neither Sony nor Microsoft are focusing on graphics. Microsoft is concentrating on a Kinect media hub and Sony doesn't have the money to waste on the PS4. Maybe the playing field will be slightly more even.

That said, Epic mentioned they were eager to support Nintendo this round and regret not supporting the Wii.

 
Stulaw is offline. Stulaw 29.05.2012#4

Engines have almost nothing to do with power, only feature sets, otherwise UE3 wouldn't be able to be used on the iPhone 3GS.

If this does turn out to be true, it's Epic's decision, not that the console wouldn't be able to handle it.

Plus the "has not confirmed platforms" to me is because they haven't fully unveiled the Engine, and therefore the platforms it's on, not that it's not on Wii U.

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Hawk is offline. Hawk 29.05.2012#5

I'm just going to wait for E3. I'm getting tired of all this so called "news" with people just spouting off anything they hear without much (or any) evidence to back it up. That being said, I doubt the WiiU will run UE4, at least not at very high specs. It would be awesome if Nintendo and EPIC surprised us though.

( Edited 29.05.2012 23:23 by Hawk )

Working like a fiend isn't very fun... and surprisingly isn't very fiendish either.
 
Flynnie is offline. Flynnie 30.05.2012#6

Nintendo's ethic is;

Make it cheap + sell it for more than its worth = Profits.

Hell the Wii isn't really much more different than what the Gamecube was really. The Wii U will be outdated and superceeded quite quickly, this will be the next generation 'Dreamcast' so to speak.

 
Greg (guest) 30.05.2012#7

No it doesn't. I don't know how many developers i've read that says it is "Next Gen hardware". I'm very skeptical about this information about the unreal 3 or what it even means. But the wii u is hands down next gen hardware regardless of it being unreal 3 or unreal 4. Did you not hear reports that wii u is a "powerful, powerful machine" and that Alien: Colonial Marines will look best on wii u. Do your research

snowdog is offline. snowdog 30.05.2012#8

PMD said:
Everything we are hearing (including from Nintendo itself) points to the WiiU being around the same level as the 360.

I remember everyone on the internet being in denial about the Wii's power right until its release, despite devs and the press saying it was not nearly as powerful as the 360.

But this time, it looks like neither Sony nor Microsoft are focusing on graphics. Microsoft is concentrating on a Kinect media hub and Sony doesn't have the money to waste on the PS4. Maybe the playing field will be slightly more even.

That said, Epic mentioned they were eager to support Nintendo this round and regret not supporting the Wii.

Going by leaks on Gaf by developers working on the U, on paper the U is going to be 3 times more powerful than the 360. We're looking at 1.5GB of RAM available to developers compared to 512Mb on the 360, 32Mb of eDRAM on die for the GPU compared to the 10Mb on die for the 360 and 3Mb of eDRAM on die for the CPU compared to 1Mb on die for the 360.

We're also talking about a GPU at least 2 generations ahead of the Xenos and a CPU that's 6 years ahead of the Xenon.

On paper it's 3 times more powerful but in terms of real-world performance I'm expecting it to be around 4 times more powerful.

And we really don't need to worry about UE4, all engines these days are scalable and we'll see it running on all 3 platforms next gen, albeit with less bells and whistles on the U.

 
Vorash Kadan 30.05.2012#9

Well I'm glad they've said "Nothing beyond PC for now", but I'm sure the Xbox720 & ps4 will support this. It's a shame so many new gamers are spoiled on graphics, while their nice to have they don't have to be eye poping amazing to enjoy a game.

Sure hope Epic decides to support Nintendo this time around, I hated how stuck up they were with Wii. They refused to support a system that didn't run THEIR engine...well make a freaking new on snobs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is not wise to speak on subjects you do not know all facts about, nor is it smart to judge a game based on looks alone. PSN: Nintendo_Gamer 3DS: 4296-3029-7422
 

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