Game developer Vigil is saying that the Wii U has accomplished what the Wii should have from day one.
The company’s Marvin Donald said in an interview with Swedish website GameReactor that the Wii U is on par, technologically, with the PS3 and Xbox 360. Vigil was the developer of the hit game Darksiders, and has high hopes for the game’s sequel on Nintendo’s new console.
“The hardware is more powerful and it will have some extra features that I think will actually be useful to people playing the game. With its controller, [the Wii U version of Darksiders II] might be the best version of the game,” he said.
Being technologically inferior is a problem Nintendo has faced since the days of the Gamecube. While there were many games that third party publishers released on all three platforms back then – PS2, Xbox, and Gamecube – there were many more that only launched on PS2 and Xbox.
The same thing is happening in the current generation. If a game is deemed as graphically intensive, and it’s published by a console-agnostic publisher, they’ll release it for the PS3 and Xbox 360. If it’s a casual game, the Wii will get it on the action.
If the Wii U can truly stand alongside its two competitors on an equal level, it will hopefully get more third party support. At least for now.
The problem, of course, is that the Xbox 720 and possibly the PS4 are on the horizon, and who knows how much further they will push the envelope?
Nintendo has always struggled with gaining a lot of support from external publishers. On the flip side of that, all it takes is a good Mario game, a good Pokemon game, and a good Zelda game to many any system profitable. Nintendo franchises have that power on their own.
It has admittedly caused Nintendo to be short-sighted in multiple occasions, and many fear the Wii U will fall into that same trap. But perhaps the company is starting to realize what it takes to be competitive in this advanced market these days. We’ll see how this story unfolds.
