Wii U may suffer from lack of power, but it offers so much more

Industry sources are saying the Wii U suffers from a power problem that will keep it from competing with the next-gen consoles. I'm here to tell them to shut it because, aside from the tech specs still not being announced, I think we have learned by now that gameplay experience will always triumph graphics.

Technology is an ever-changing environment, particularly the video game industry where it's practically impossible to live in the now. Rather than enjoy the current generation of consoles, consumers are always looking toward the future. We want better graphics, newer games, more enjoyable gameplay, more processing power; Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime was right, we are insatiable.

It is proven in this latest report that calls out the Wii U for its lack of power. According to people familiar with the capabilities of the Wii U, Nintendo's new console will be unable to run popular video games designed for other major gaming consoles just a short while after its release.

Industry sources have told Kotaku, that by just its second or third year of existence, the Wii U will be left behind other rumored next-gen consoles (ie. Xbox 720 and PS4).

"After the next generation of machines comes out, Wii U will be a performance orphan," said an industry insider who is familiar with the specs of the Wii U. "It will be closer in performance to the next iPad than the next-gen machines."

The next-gen machines he's referring to, of course, are the PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720, both expected to release by 2013 even though Sony and Microsoft have refused to acknowledge the existence of either one.

The sources do suggest that the Wii U has enough power to at least impress gamers for a year or so. What we are going to run into eventually, as these sources seem to indicate, is a situation where the Wii U becomes inferior to next-gen Microsoft and PlayStation consoles in similar way to how the Wii is currently inferior to the Xbox and PlayStation – graphically speaking. On a gameplay and experience level, the argument can be made that the Wii trounces that of the Xbox 360 and PS3.

It's all in the eyes of the beholder, and Nintendo is likely banking on the fact that innovation will once again outsell power. The Wii U, despite its technical limitations, has outsold the Xbox 360 and PS3 thanks, in part, to its innovative approach to gaming. The Wii revolutionized the industry by introducing gameplay that had consumers performing the moves and actively moving around the living room rather than simply pressing buttons.

Like its predecessor, the Wii U will also attempt to revolutionize gaming once more with its new GamePad tablet controller that will serve as a separate screen for gamers to utilize when playing.

Specs for the Wii U have yet to be released, so everything industry insiders are saying is merely hearsay. Latest rumors seem to indicate that the Wii U is about four times as powerful as the Xbox 360, boasting as much as 2GB of RAM compared to the Xbox 360 512. They also say the Wii U has the power to run Xbox 360 and PS3 ports with little difficulty, but will soon run into problems when developers start producing games for next-gen consoles that will be 6-8 times more powerful than the current Xbox 360 and PS3.

Look, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not guru when it comes to technical numbers. I'm like anyone else; I can look at a game and decide if it looks good and plays smoothly. At E3, I saw the Wii U in action. It was playing Assassin's Creed 3 pretty darn smoothly with graphics that I would say are comparable if not slightly better than the Xbox 360 and PS3 version. In fact, I'd argue that we have yet to see any games that really take advantage of the Wii U's technology and really blow the current-gen out of the water.

When it comes to experience and gameplay, Nintendo is one of the best. When it comes to graphics, however, the company has been on the lagging end of the spectrum. With that being said, I am a full believer that gameplay will always triumph graphics. Graphics, like a pretty lady, get stale and boring after a while; you need depth, something that will create a lasting memory. That, I would say, is something Nintendo does very well.

The Wii U suffers from a lack of power? Since when is innovative gameplay not powerful?