News: Need for Speed: Most Wanted Wii U to use PC Assets, is the Definitive Console Version Page 1

Need for Speed: Most Wanted Wii U to use PC Assets, is the Definitive Console Version

Folks holding out for the Wii U version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted will receive a handful of improvements and additions compared to the original Xbox 360 and PS3 editions.

Speaking in a developer demonstration video, Alex Ward of Criterion Games confirmed that the Wii U version will potentially be the most technically souped up compared to other platforms as it uses the PC version's textures and assets.

With improved lighting, draw distances and textures due to the healthy amount of RAM in the Wii U, this version is said and visually appears to run closer to the higher-end PC edition - "by far the best looking version of the game".

Releasing a vanilla version of Most Wanted wouldn't be enough, it wouldn't do the machine [Wii U] justice.

As highlighted earlier this year, Most Wanted on Wii U also includes co-operative play where a second player can help out a friend/inexperienced player with driving and environmental features on the move - think of it as driving a dual-control car with second player as instructor.

Most Wanted also includes extra splashes of Nintendo - Miis will make their debut in Need for Speed by being printed on billboards and Miiverse will be included on the Autolog for the "shared Wii U experience".

What do you think of the Wii U version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted? Will you be leaping into the driving seat this March?

Need For Speed: Most Wanted (Wii U)

Developer

Criterion

Publisher

Genre

Driving

Players

C3 Score

9/10

Reader Score

0 (0 Votes)

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crackedthesky 13.02.2013#1

Seems to be in line with the many developers stating that the Wii U is extremely capable if developers just put time and effort into developing a port specifically tailored to it.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

Sonic_13 13.02.2013#2

justonesp00lturn said:
Seems to be in line with the many developers stating that the Wii U is extremely capable if developers just put time and effort into developing a port specifically tailored to it.

Agreed.

Related to that I remember hearing a quote from the (I think) developers of FIFA where they said several times during development they accidentally used non-compressed textures (that would be normally be used, like in the PS3/360 versions) and that the Wii U handled them fine without slowing down.

Also sounds like dev costs are lowered by them being able to reuse PC assets. Interesting.

( Edited 13.02.2013 20:48 by Sonic_13 )

jres80 13.02.2013#3

Yes, but Wii U is still weaker than PS3/360. I don't know how it is, but it must be. It just has to be.

Flynnie 13.02.2013#4

Sonic_13 said:
Also sounds like dev costs are lowered by them being able to reuse PC assets. Interesting.

This is very key! I would like to see more assets being used from PC versions!

crackedthesky 13.02.2013#5

When they release a Skyrim GOTY edition, and they will, I really hope they build a Wii U version close to the PC version. If Wii U has better lighting, textures, and long-draw than the Xbox 360, that game would be absolutely gorgeous on top of hopefully having a semi-competent inventory management system with the GamePad.

I mean, if I'm going to dish out money to buy a game I already own, I should probably just get the PC version, but I don't think my laptop can handle it. I don't know though, I'm not supposed to be able to run Left 4 Dead 2 on this thing, but I do and it handles way better than the Xbox version. You never can tell with PC specs.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

SirLink 14.02.2013#6

I just saw this video on IGN and it's pretty much hidden in the Wii U section and has no news article there or on the front page where it should be. A third party developer is making a great Wii U effort and praising the hardware and they don't even give it the coverage it deserves? It's like they want the system to have poor publicity. Smilie

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crackedthesky 14.02.2013#7

SirLink said:
I just saw this video on IGN and it's pretty much hidden in the Wii U section and has no news article there or on the front page where it should be. A third party developer is making a great Wii U effort and praising the hardware and they don't even give it the coverage it deserves? It's like they want the system to have poor publicity.

I've felt this way for a long time about most US publications. There's a narrative here that nobody plays Nintendo consoles (despite the Wii and DS being the best-selling of their generations and in the case of the DS, all time) and it's entirely manufactured. What sucks is that Nintendo actually suffers from it because this narrative is presented to stockholders and investors as well. I mean, how many years now has Michael Pachter been advising people not to invest in Nintendo because they're "on the brink of destruction"?

And then in magazines like GameInformer which is the biggest gaming magazine in America, they don't list multi-platform games as being available on Nintendo systems. People have complained in letters to the editor, and the response is always that a Wii or DS version doesn't get listed because it's technically a different game, but then they'll list PSP versions when those are nowhere near the same game. It's ridiculous. This may have changed with the Wii U, but I don't know because some dick who works there signed us up for their "e-mail only" subscription, and we called to have them change it and they said it could take up to 6 months, and apparently will because we're still not getting standard mail issues.

And that's the story of why I get video game news from a UK-based website.

NNID: crackedthesky
My blog, mostly about writing: http://www.davidjlovato.com

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