Tweet
Sony and Microsoft may have turned their backs on older hardware, but Nintendo's approach with Wii U is refreshingly different. While the new console is capable of running current-gen HD titles, its technical underpinnings are designed in order to fully accommodate hardware backwards compatibility with the vintage 2006 Wii. Any and all Wii titles and peripherals run with the new hardware. Sadly though it's not all good news - because in our testing we found a number of display-related issues that may might persuade die-hard purists to keep hold of their existing consoles.First impressions suggest that we are indeed getting the full hardware back-compat experience, with the added advantage that for the first time players are able to run their Wii games via the digitally lossless precision offered by an HDMI output. But it's also fair to say that this is pretty much the only advantage offered by the new hardware - and even then the experience may be sub-optimal for some owing to the locked limited-range RGB output, which produces washed-out colours on many displays.
We tested out back-compat on a PAL Wii U unit with two very different test games. First up, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition - chosen for no other reason than its 480p/PAL60 support. Adding to the appeal was the fact we'd never played it and a used price of just £4 was the icing on the cake. This was joined by Platinum Games' celebrated MadWorld, a fantastic, insane piece of ultra-violence that we picked up second-hand for just £2 (both titles sourced from UK store Cash Converters, for those interested). We opted for this one because the original game featured no progressive scan support whatsoever - a bordered 576i was the only option - and we were keen to see what the Wii U's progressive-only HDMI output would do when confronted with interlaced material.
Read more…
More...