The breathtaking footage Nintendo showed today for its 2015 Wii U Zelda is real, a Nintendo rep tells me. I asked if it was pre-rendered. No, they said. It’s in-engine. It’s not a gameplay angle, for the most part, but what you saw is coming from Wii U-level hardware, it seems.
The shot above is a high-quality screen of the new Zelda provided by Nintendo. Click the top left corner to enlarge it. Enjoy.
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10 responses to “Nintendo: That Amazing Zelda Footage Was In-Engine”
I said this elsewhere today (in regards to Yoshi’s Woolen Whatever) but I don’t care that the WiiU is “underpowered”. Someone evidently forgot to tell Nintendo because that. Looks. Fantastic.
Detail isn’t as important as overall art direction, and here’s the proof.
The GPU is actually a lot better than 360/PS3. CPU lower. But, with the nice GPU they can pull off stuff like this, and consistently put out 720-1080p visuals with their cartoony style.
I’m the first to admit that when it comes to the technicalities of producing graphics I’m more or less clueless. In comparison to the PS4 and Xb1, however, it’s pretty common knowledge that the Wii U isn’t in the same ballpark.
Trailers like this (and the creativity exploding out of the indie sectors) prove that it simply doesn’t matter what you’re working with so long as you’ve got a sound aesthetic theme.
I get jaded when it comes to realism (how “real” can “realistic” really be?) yet overjoyed when it comes to creativity.
Uncharted 4 looks incredible and I can certainly appreciate that; Zelda’s trailer looked crisp yet whimsical and I think I appreciate that more.
There’s also the advantage of continuity across generations. The Espresso CPU uses the same instruction set as the Broadway in the Wii and the Gekko in the Gamecube (though obviously with a different pipeline), while the Latte GPU uses a derivative of the API used in both the Wii and the Gamecube (again based on OpenGL), updated with more modern features. It’s far less of a shift than developers switching to the PS4/Xbone generation have to deal with.
This reminds me of when the SNES popped out Donkey Kong Country and everyone was like “WHAAAAAAAA! How did you DO that on that old @$$ system?”
Quality….
I’m throwing money at the screen but I don’t have this game yet?
First thing I’d do is run straight toward Death Mountain.
Haha, my eyes kind of drifted curiously to the huge rock with the split down the centre, kind of leftish
Oh look. A new wallpaper.
They don’t accept cash over the internet… You need to put your credit card into your optical drive.
That screenshot really looks like an amazing, kind of looks like a concept art drawing… i love it!