EAs Peter Moore: Wii U wont be a transitional platform

The Wii U wont be a go-between, and power again wont mean anything next generation

The Wii U is still a long way off, and the next PlayStation and Xbox consoles are even longer after that. With this in mind, the Wii U will be only marginally more powerful than the current Xbox and PlayStation consoles. This has worried people into thinking that the Wii U will be stuck in the middle somewhere, between the old consoles and new consoles when theyre eventually released later in the Wii Us life.

However, the recently promoted COO of EA, Peter Moore, doesnt think that it will be a problem at all. Speaking to IndustryGamers, he had the following to say. "People will start talking about it being a transitional platform. And I dont think thats going to be the case, and heres why. I think the [tablet] controller [is huge]. This is not about specs anymore… This is about, as it was with the Wii, is the controller a unique way of enjoying a game experience, regardless of what the graphic fidelity is?"

He believes that graphics these days are at the point of diminishing returns and that people dont care about a graphics jump like they did between the SNES and N64 days. "And Nintendos job, quite frankly, is to build a better mousetrap with regards to the way that we use the controller. So I dont know what Xbox and PlayStation’s plans for their next platforms are, but its not going to be hanging on graphic fidelity. I guarantee you that." The Wii, for all its shortcomings in graphics, didnt stop selling and Moore believe this will happen again with the Wii U. Its all about how it plays.

In other positive news, Moore has commented on the state of online on the Wii U, that it will be much better than the Wiis. "Its critically important to us and we are relieved, if anything else, that they have made a huge commitment that they have presented to us… Online certainly was not a factor with the Wii, as you know; although they had capabilities, it just wasn’t there at the level that both Xbox Live and PlayStation had. But I think Nintendo totally gets that multiplayer, building community, co-op play, having the ability to bring games that are deeper – all of these things are now very important."

Source: IndustryGamers