Miyamoto, Iwata Talk Nintendo Wii U GPU Performance, Development Structure

In Nintendo's latest Q4 2012 report, company execs were quizzed on that all important topic (via NeoGAF). The Wii U's system architecture, the GPU & CPU.

Despite being on the market now for almost two months, Nintendo's latest home console has torn apart for its GPU, CPU capability and is still a strong focus among developers and the gaming community. A new system is something that takes time to get acquainted with.

Game designer and creator of Super Mario Bros. Shigeru Miyamoto responded to the consistent focus on the Nintendo Wii U's specifications by noting how the company are "recruiting specialists that can become core members". Because it's the first time Nintendo has stepped into the high definition domain, "we have to re-educate our people", he admitted.

Newer techniques, a higher resolution and taking advantage of the system's architecture are key areas that Nintendo need to explore to keep up with the competition.

He also revealed that "external developers are used for shader techniques and we are collaborating with a lot of external companies these days".

Both Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata and R&D General Manager Genyo Takeda also chipped into the Wii U debate, again highlighting that "other gaming consoles firms had 6 to 7 years to experiment but our console has a different balance so it is easy to see who has adapted and who hasn't".

Every gaming hardware has its specialties. There is a timing of hit and miss before the functions can be used fully. We were not able to provide development kits that get out all the power of wiiu until mid of last year.

Takeda, who lead the Wii U development with Iwata and Miyamoto, noted how the "GPU is definitely more pronounced than the CPU" and that "there are people saying that the CPU is weak but that is not true".

There is a trend that the cache memory is what's getting bigger with CPUs and not the processing power. I do not think that the CPU is underpowered, it's just a design where the memory is more stressed.

Iwata concluded that the current issues with some studios not making the transition to the Nintendo Wii U is "something time will heal so we are not too worried".