Rumors on the Wii U’s graphical capabilities have been long-rumored, with conflicting reports claiming the console is more (or less) powerful than current HD consoles. New reports from Eurogamer suggest that Darksider 2 is, at least, on the same graphical level as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
An anonymous developer made the comments - companies and developers can't talk about the Wii U in public - despite the console's E3 2012 re-reveal around two weeks away, and developer kits released. The developer added the console's "true graphic capabilities" will be seen later in its life cycle.
"The visuals will be the same. It's still a work in progress. But I know, at least as good is the way to say it," Darksiders 2 Associate Producer - Jay Fitzloff - said to Eurogamer.
Eurogamer reported the Vigil, the developers, said in 2011 the Wii U had "plenty of horsepower" and wasn't going to make concessions on the game, despite being just five weeks into development. However, development kits were the second generation and as such a work-in-progress.
"If the Wii U turns out to be this ridiculously powerful machine, we will probably make changes to our budget and scope to take advantage of that," game director Marvin Donald said in 2011.
"[Getting Darksider 2 working on the Wii U] is not as challenging as you might think. Getting it working was not an issue on the Wii U. It's just the control scheme. It's new territory. It's a new frontier. The Wii, after a while, there's a lot you could have done with the Wii controls, but everybody kind of got into a groove, and it became, here's how you handle this or here's how you handle this ... You've got think outside the box because there's no precedent.
"[...] It's getting a cool control system that feels correct," Fitzloff added. He said the team also has the game working and playing on the Wii U tablet, taking about five minutes to download.
Darksiders 2 puts the inventory and the map on the tablet's screen, which makes a "big difference" as games aren't paused to look at map or items. Like Gearbox's Randy Pitchford said on Aliens: Colonial Marines, the leaderboard can be looked at on the tablet and means experiences aren't interrupted.
