Wii U will support 3D output (but Nintendo isn’t focusing on it)

It’s good to finally have an answer to a question many have been asking since the 3DS’s debut: will the Wii U be able to output a 3D signal to 3D TVs?

3D Glasses

Iwata’s official answer to that question is “technologically, yes, it is going to be possible, but that’s not the area we are focusing on.” You may now breathe a sigh of relief.

The reason Nintendo isn’t going to put a major emphasis on 3D graphics with the Wii U is simply because the market penetration of 3D TVs is too low at this point in time to justify it, as Reggie pointed out earlier. But it’s still reassuring to see that it will be a supported and usable feature in the console for those who do have a 3D TV to hook it up to. Just don’t expect to find any games that use the 3D as anything beyond an (admittedly awesome) visual sweetener.

In retrospect, it actually would’ve been more surprising to see 3D omitted from the Wii, particularly considering that both the Wii and even the GameCube were capable of outputting stereoscopic images – the feature was simply disabled on the hardware level in production units because 3D TVs were virtually nonexistent at the times both of those consoles launched.

With the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 already touting 3D output in the current generation, it would be odd to not see the feature come to the Wii U, which marks the beginning of the next generation of home consoles. I expect the market share of 3D TVs will start picking up as they drop in price over time, so it’s great to know that the Wii U is future-proof in that regard.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. Mariomaster1

    But my question is- Will it also allow Wii games to be 3D, or just Wii u games? Becasue I’d love to play Super Mario Galaxy and its sequal in 3D! Well, among other titles of course.

    • F0

      It’s certainly within the realm of possibility, seeing as Dolphin and iz3D are able to force Wii games to run in 3D on a computer. But I doubt the process of forcing 3D is perfect, so I’m not sure if Nintendo would embrace that. But I agree that Super Mario Galaxy (2) in 3D would be a wicked experience. I have a few MPO screenshots of the games on my 3DS that were created in Dolphin, and they look absolutely gorgeous.

    • Mariomaster1

      Wicked! I certainly hope it can become a reality, though I suppose I would still end up buying the system regardless.

    • hawthorneluke

      To view games in 3D they need to be rendered from two different view points (one for each eye). Unless the game is made that way it’s not happening.
      Emulators can up-scale wii and gc games to HD, but nintendo said the wii u won’t be doing this either (most probably because it’d run the games directly instead of emulating them and sticking in some up-scaling magic, that may not work perfectly for all games, in the emulation process).

      I agree with this statement though. No use waisting investments in something only a tiny percentage of users will be able to benefit from, same with focusing on having games designed for 1 wii u controller (plus wii ones) instead of games designed for set ups barely anyone will have.

  2. Ryoni93

    hdmi 1.4? 1080p at a nice framerate for both eyes?

  3. RockD79

    I’m sure they will make a game that uses the 3D as an option. Its inevitable.