Pachter: “Wii 2 will be as powerful as PS3 at best.” (and here’s why)

Pachter gazing into a crystal ball

Oh, Pachter; you and your crystal ball...

Yes, it’s Pachter once again. This time, in a column for IndustryGamers, he’s telling us that the Wii 2 won’t be advancing technology any further than the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360; that the best we can hope for is that they will match Sony’s black beast in power, but not necessarily exceed it. Instead, he believes Nintendo will be putting the focus on innovating in gameplay beyond the now-familiar motion controls we know and love.

IG: Do you see a circumstance in which Nintendo does not strike first in the next console generation?

Pachter: No, I don’t think that Nintendo will strike first in the next console generation; rather, I think that they will strike last in the current console generation. I think that their next console will be on par technologically with the current PS3 and Xbox 360, and don’t expect them to advance technology at all with their next offering.

They will undoubtedly advance game play, and are likely to further innovate there, but I don’t think that the classic term “generation” can be applied to that, if there aren’t more pixels and a faster frame rate offered up. Because I don’t know what they are going to do, this answer can never be right, so I’ll just wait to see it published repeatedly to demonstrate what an idiot I am.

I know it’s Pachter, but his opinion doesn’t sound too unreasonable. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 are already capable of producing mindblowingly detailed visuals, and making something more powerful than them won’t really be necessary unless Nintendo wants to absolutely dominate the market for console stereoscopic 3D games. The upside to this is that using what will then be “last-gen” hardware will help keep the cost of the system down – a strategy that has always worked for Nintendo in the past, and the one they’re currently pursuing with the 3DS.

This will allow them to spend money on creating an amazing new control mechanism instead, which will hopefully blow Kinect and Move clean out of the water. I don’t like the way Pachter words this, though; that Nintendo will be the last to strike in this generation, rather than the first in the next. Nintendo is using the relatively old (but amazingly capable) Pica 200 GPU in the 3DS, but there’s no denying that it marks the beginning of the generation of autostereoscopic handhelds, rather than coming in to end the age of 2D ones with a bang.

In the original interview, Pachter goes on to back up the reasons behind his infamous call for a Wii HD; you might be sick of his words by now, though; so click over to the original interview if you’re interested.

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Comments, Reactions, and General Hooliganism

  1. Gamer

    I’ve been hoping Nintendo can make a console that has good graphics like the 360. The current Wii’s graphics don’t bother me, but most of the time, I see a few pixels…

    • F0

      Eh…some Wii games suffer from low poly counts. Mario Kart Wii is one of the most glaring ones – I mean, just look at the mushrooms on Mushroom Gorge. I would definitely welcome a boost in power, especially if it also gives us HD.

      But yeah, I really don’t think the world needs graphics any better than the PS3’s. For once, I think Pachter may be right about something. 😛

  2. George Tirebiter

    Wow, Pachter’s actually being complimentary of Nintendo’s potential. I think I can sleep now.

    • F0

      I know, right? Pachter’s a strange guy, but I actually believe him this time. If only because Nintendo’s showing what direction they’re heading toward with the 3DS…

  3. Roy

    I think nintendo will make a new console before the others, the wii is outdated now.

  4. MDragon159

    How has Pachter not lose his job yet?

  5. wiiboy101

    so pachter know how powerful wii 2 will be what a complete idiot… .read what his saying and understand what he is up to…..

    wii WILL NOT BE MORE POWERFUL JUST AS POWERFUL AS X360/PS3 why would he say this, there’s only one single reason for this ,his trying to down on wii 2 before it even exists, his trying to say if you want wii 2 power just buy a ps3 NOW its so obvious what this douchbag is up-to

    HE HAS NO IDEA HOW POWERFUL WII 2 WILL BE THATS SIMPLY THE FACT OF THE MATTER his only saying this to make wii 2 less appealing to core gamers wanting the device to show

    his doing what mark rein did with 3DS it cannot run unreal 3 portable witch is total BS pachter was totally making up the wii HD stuff and as his rants haven’t stopped wiis momentum his now trying another anti nintendo attack on a console he knows nothing about..

    the chip makers are at 22nm that is tiny and allows 16 x more chip in the same space as 90nm the process of wii ps3 aqnd x360

    nintendo can go very powerful in less space less heat and less power than ps3 you could put 24mb or even 32mb of EDRAM in the same physical space as the 3mb of hollywood gpu in wii his talking out his ass as per usual

    so wen nintendo go HD/3D it will have poor framerates and tearing graphics like ps3 and x360 and weak fillrate THE GUYS A LIAR THERES NO WAY ON EARTH NINTENDO WOULD MAKE A BROKED HD SYSTEM LIKE THE PS3 AND X360

    60 frames hd and 3d is what i expect from nintendo not 600p and rubbish framerate and long loadtimes pachter is trying to feed sony fans with crap that nintendo some how lack the ability to go more powerful FANBOY NONSENSE

  6. wiiboy101

    UK wii number 1 selling console ds number 1 selling handheld just dance 2 uk xmas number 1 selling game NOT BLACK OPS LIKE SOME WEB SITES REPORTING cough cough ps3 in distent 3rd wii continues to gain a huge gap vs ps3 x360 in total sales/userbase move/kinect have flopped ps3 continues to struggle wii downturn is a MYTH

  7. Wolvesgod

    I agree, with a limit, with Wiiboy. Patcher is trying to tourch Nintendo, way before they even know what the console will do.

    It’s pathetic, that Patcher is doing this, one second he talks down on Nintendo products, then the second he acts like their be the lead in the competition.

    He said it himself, “Nintendo won’t be the first with next generation, but rather the last to then generation.” NEWS FLASH PATCHER: generations aren’t based on computing power any more. they ended that last generation.

    I want to see how Nintendo maximizes on the motion control, maybe Nintendo can had pressure censors, into the Wii-mote. For an example for a sword fighting game, like zelda. the lighter you grip, you can loose your sword in a sword fight.

    • Wolvesgod

      wait nevermind, miss read what wiiboy was saying, so yes I agree 100%.

  8. wiiboy101

    wii fit plus is uk number 1 in BUDGET price chart

    just dance is number 1 in mainstream multi platform chart (not black ops web sites are lying there counting November sales and older December sales the last full week before xmas day it is just dance 2 that sold the most) so for xmas week just dance 2 is number 1 not that i care im just showing how biased these lying sites are…

    wii is best selling console upto christmas and DS best selling handheld 50% of software sales are wii and DS

    the wii is dead storys were all lies