Wii U Does Not Support EA's Frostbite Engine

[twelch82]

If this was really Nintendo's attempt at bringing in 3rd party development, they failed. The WiiU is generally considered *slower* than the PS3 and 360; it's not even in the same ballpark as the new consoles. If they wanted to get into the 3rd party development game, then they would have needed to do a better job of scouting what Sony and MS were up to, and created something at least in the same ballpark.
If you're 20% slower than the competition, and have just a bit less memory, engine developers would probably be willing to entertain that. But if you're way off, then simultaneous development is off the table. It might take a complete redesign of some systems to get a game to run at an acceptable framerate and fit into memory.

 

[Omar Marshall]

http://youtu.be/Blabwkn9Ul0

 

[Miharu]

The problem is not the Wii U can't run Frostbite 3.
First, it's the unwilling part of EA to tweak the engine to run on it. EA is greedy and don't think they'll make enough money with the Wii U.
The second is Wii/Wii U have some trouble, not because the console doesn't have more or less power, the problem is the speed they release games. Customers have money but they have always to wait for good games. This model could be good on previous Nintendo console, but it's really bad since they have really FEW titles. I still waiting for a second batch of good game for the Wii U.

 

[Cryio]

Correction: Frostbite does not support Wii U (unfortunately)

 

[Omar Marshall]

Correction: Frostbite does not support Wii U (unfortunately)

Uhmmmm frostbite can be run on wii u. If unreal 4 and cryengine 3 can then frostbite can. Frostbite can be run on xbox/ps3 and those two 7 year old systems are weaker than the wii u. Please use your brain and stop being led like a lost sheep.

 

[CaedenV]

I am happy I did not buy a Wii U now. I waited for years to get my original Wii because Nintendo refused to release it in Black state side. Then they had the nerve to trickle out first party titles and released foreign games stateside when the system was almost dead like Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower. Im not even going to mention Kirby Return to Dreamland which was the Kirby game we should have gotten from the start, not that Epic Yarn which was a epic yawn!
Ive had every Nintendo system since the NES, I still have them too, but I just may skip the Wii U. I also had every Nintendo handheld since the Gameboy but im skipping the 3DS for the same reason. The good first party titles are not being released fast enough and third party companies are not innovating their games. Im tired of FPS on consoles, I have a computer for that, im tired of sports games with just updated rosters.
As soon as Nintendo lost Rareware to Microsoft they lost all games that were just as good as First Party titles that their home consoles had to offer. That was their Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong, and Blast Corps. Im not even mentioning Battletoads & Double Dragon because im still playing a 20 year old game on a 46 HDTV, huge pixels!!!!!
What people need are games that made you enjoy it back in the 80s and 90s. Good RPGs, Action and Adventure, beat em ups! Not the mindless FPS games with pointless movie scenes.
I wish I was back in the 90s, after 2001, video game developers just don't try anymore.

I completely agree with you!
My favorite games that I bought on consoles have always been RPG and Action Adventure games, but both of those generas fell out of favor this last generation (with rare exceptions). FFXIII was OK, but not great. Uncharted has been phenominal.
But that's it. I can't think of another console-only RPG/AA game/franchise worth plunking down good money (and tons of hours) for. All of the sales are in the FPS and Sports generas, which are things that I am not particularly into. Thankfully we have had some great offerings on the PC side over the last few years, with Tomb Rader, Mass Effect, Skyrim, Fallout, Dragon Age, and a few other great AAA games of the like... but none of these are good replacements for the good old Earthbound, FF6-10, and host of other great RPGs of the past from the old Nintendo and Playstation days.

The whole genera needs some fresh blood, and some fun plots that are not serious 100% of the time. But consoles have lost me due to it.

 

[shikamaru31789]

I said as soon as the rumors came out about the PS4 and Next Xbox running x86 cpu's that the Power-PC based Wii U was going to be screwed on the 3rd party front. So far, Ubisoft seems to be the only major publisher that's supporting them with new releases (AC3, Splinter Cell Blacklist, AC4, Watch Dogs) and I get the feeling that'll stop once Ubisoft ends their cross-generational phase as the next-gen adoption rates increase. Most of the rest of the publishers are only releasing ports of older games (Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, Deus Ex: HR). And now this news about losing EA's future games, things really aren't looking good for the Wii U. The best thing Nintendo can do right now is get some good 1st/2nd party titles out fast; Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Star Fox, Super Smash Bros, maybe some kind of open world 3D Pokemon game. I get the feeling that a price drop will be necessary as well, few are going to pay $300 for the Wii U when they can get the 2x more powerful 720 for the same price or the 3x more powerful PS4 for only $100 more (assuming recent pricing and 720 specs leaks are true) and get 3rd party support.

 

[smokeybravo]

People will buy a Wii U for the next smash bros. the only reason I got a wii was for brawl, and I've logged probably more hours on it than my 360 so it was well worth it. My guess is that the Wii U isn't meant to be a truly next gen console. Nintendo's next gen will most likely be a DS style handheld, in tablet format. It will be amazing and sell like hotcakes just like every other Nintendo handheld has. Their strength has never really been in box consoles anyway, but in the handheld market. I'm really excited to see what the DS successor will be. My guess is we'll hear some info about it this year.

 

[slabbo]

Uh, no! EA is butt hurt that Nintendo said HELL NO to implementing EA's Origin on their Wii U and dropped support for the console. All the up coming consoles are using AMD graphics chips so if Frostbyte works on newer consoles it's going to work with the others. They are just making excuses on why they are butt hurt over Nintendo.

 

[cheesyboy]

This is EA talking garbage.
They won't bring FB3 to WiiU because they don't see enough of a market there. Having decided that the market won't sufficiently support their development costs, they have no interest in the WiiU being successful and, in fact, have more to gain by pushing out negative publicity and encouraging the market towards fewer consoles (having the same-sized market split between 2 consoles rather than 3 gives EA the same revenue for less development cost).

 

[tului]

Meh, hurry up and go the route of Sega. Stop flopping around like a dying fish. We like your games Nintendo. Your hardware, while innovative at times, is mediocre.

 

[CrArC]

"FB3 has never been running on WiiU. We did some tests with FB2 and piles of money didn't burst forth from the front of the machine, so we chose not to go down that path," explained DICE technical director Johan Andersson via Twitter.

 

[Missing no]

I'll just leave this here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/xnt5r/whatever_happened_to_the_groundbreaking/

 

[jack1982]

Sales of third party titles on the Wii were abysmal and it didn't take long for publishers to discover that it was exactly the same case with the Wii U. That and the fact that's it's only marginally more powerful than current gen consoles, with the next gen just around the corner, well...good luck with that.

 

[kinggraves]

Publishers waited a little while after the Wii U came out, refusing to comment until they saw what the other contenders had. These announcements are coming out after one of the critical pieces from XBox and PS4, x86 CPUs. Devs can easily create games for x86 and port them to PC, XBox, and PS4. Porting to Wii U will require the engine to be modified for their PPC CPU. The problem is not the hardware's power, but it's pedigree. Until devs see a financial gain in going through the effort, Wii U will not be a port friendly system. Then again, Wii U is still backwards compatible with all Wii games which is why they made this decision. PS4 and XBox will not be, unless they use some goofy off hardware method like Sony's Gaikai streaming partnership. This is the disadvantage to being the first man out, the competition has the chance to block you from competing. Then again, comparing Nintendo's game quality and attitude to EA's, I am not that disappointed. I can't even imagine what kind of garbage they're going to make the Star Wars games into. Lucasarts was a great developer which is why they were great games. Get ready for Boba Fett to be a $20 DLC pack.

 

[rebel1280]

That sucks, this points more towards EA not willing to invest in the Nintendo universe than the hardware not being capable enough. Could they make the FB engine work? Yes, most definitely and if anyone has the finances to pull it off its EA. Are they willing to financially back it? No. Personally, i get to the best of both most worlds. I hook my computer to my TV, have everything turned up to high or max (best my TV can handle with out massive ghosting) and use my Xbox 360 controller from my couch. This is only for campaign/story modes though. If i play FPS multilayer, then i will hook up my 360 as all my family and friends play on the console. I'm the only one with a capable enough computer to play games on it unfortunately. But hey, it works out I sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day, i rather enjoy not doing it for another 2-3 hours (maybe longer) after work as well.

 

[mobrocket]

No surprise here
when Nintendo itself doesn't even support the system with any major first party titles.

 

[ChillyWilly007]

This just in: Raspberry Pi more powerful and popular than Wii U...news at 11

 

[southernshark]

This just makes me like the Wii U more. Any association with EA leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[g00fysmiley]

lazy programmers.. or is ea that hard up for funds that they can't fund getting their engine working on the system... wonder if there was a payout from m$ and sony for this

 

[tomc100]

After the complete failure of third party games on the Wii, I seriously doubt any developers are going to risk making games on the Wii U, especially AAA titles with multi-million dollar budgets. The only third party games will be considered indie type games that have very little production cost.

 

[itchyisvegeta]

No Frostbite, no Unreal 4 engine, no Crytek 3 engine..... The Wii U is a failure. All they have is their 1st party stuff. Great games, but not enough to get me to spend another $300 on another system.

 

[dark_lord69]

I am happy I did not buy a Wii U now. I waited for years to get my original Wii because Nintendo refused to release it in Black state side. Then they had the nerve to trickle out first party titles and released foreign games stateside when the system was almost dead like Xenoblade, Last Story and Pandora's Tower. Im not even going to mention Kirby Return to Dreamland which was the Kirby game we should have gotten from the start, not that Epic Yarn which was a epic yawn!
Ive had every Nintendo system since the NES, I still have them too, but I just may skip the Wii U. I also had every Nintendo handheld since the Gameboy but im skipping the 3DS for the same reason. The good first party titles are not being released fast enough and third party companies are not innovating their games. Im tired of FPS on consoles, I have a computer for that, im tired of sports games with just updated rosters.
As soon as Nintendo lost Rareware to Microsoft they lost all games that were just as good as First Party titles that their home consoles had to offer. That was their Banjo Kazooie, Goldeneye, Conkers Bad Fur Day, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Donkey Kong, and Blast Corps. Im not even mentioning Battletoads & Double Dragon because im still playing a 20 year old game on a 46 HDTV, huge pixels!!!!!
What people need are games that made you enjoy it back in the 80s and 90s. Good RPGs, Action and Adventure, beat em ups! Not the mindless FPS games with pointless movie scenes.
I wish I was back in the 90s, after 2001, video game developers just don't try anymore.

Preach on brother!

but... why did you wait years just for a black wii console? that's kinda odd...
I only played first party games on this console and even some of those were lame.

I completely agree, I have a PC for first person shooters because not using a mouse is awkward. I have passed on many games that may have been great but I refuse to use a couple of joysticks to look move and strife.

A lot of today's games are indeed updates/part 2 of a game that already exists. The innovation is indeed lacking... Innovation in gaming (oddly enough) is coming through in stupid little, time killing indie games.

I was also introduced to gaming with the NES console and had pretty much every Nintendo console after that. I bought a Sony Playstation because of Final Fantasy 7. I really like certain games only the Playstation and before I knew it I was play my PS more than my Nintendo and that hasn't changed since.

As for this gen, I won't be buying a Wii U. I hope they cancelled the E3 conference instead to just announce that the Nintendo Wii U will go the way of the Sega Dreamcast. And that Nintendo has decided to stop making consoles and just make games.

 

[alfaalex101]

RIP WiiU

 

[falchard]

Am I the only one who considers the Frostbite engine to be subpar? I always considered Unreal, Crytek, Gamebryo, Source, Hero, BigWorld, and Unity to be superior middle-ware solutions. Among these, most of them don't support consoles.