Epic Says 3DS is Weak Sauce Compared to iPhone

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old_newbie

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I keep hearing about how these phones outclass the previous gen consoles in gameplay ability. Maybe they do when you look at just the specs, but I have YET to see this when it come to execution in games, IMO. I mean even simple games like Angry Birds hiccup and drops frames.
When I see a phone do a Sonic Adventure or a Crazy Taxi at a 'butta smooth' 60FPS without stuttering like my old dreamcast, maybe then I'll drink the smartphone gaming kool-aide.
 

theshonen8899

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Not surprising. In standard Nintendo fashion, they will focus less on graphics and more on innovative features, this one being 3D. Not really a fan of 3d though. PSP2 will most likely, in standard Sony fashion, be overpowered and purchased only by the wealthy for the first two or three years. The idea of serious gaming on an iPhone/iPod Touch is pretty strange given it's limited controls but it's nice to see what developers have done with it. The major plus is the fact that it's also a phone.
 

segio526

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[citation][nom]LeeroyChickenEater[/nom]Nintendo systems have never had the hardware specs their competition has yet they still continue to outsell everyone. Maybe hardware isn't everything?[/citation]
The Wii is really the only time Nintendo consciously put out something that was weaker than it's competition. The NES was better than the like 400 other systems on the market. The SNES was stronger than Genesis (although it came out a year later). N64 was faster than PS1 and way faster than Saturn (again though, a year later), and Gamecube was almost as fast as Xbox. They never had any true competition in the handheld market. So far the PSP has stuck around the longest (mainly because Sony just keeps dumping money into it) and it was a much more powerful system because it was much more expensive.

Now, I'm no real fan of Nintendo, but I can't ignore their market share, and for Epic to do just that is really bad business.
 

tolham

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"it'll feature PlayStation 2-level graphics"

so the graphics are on par with 10 year old technology? what's the point?
 

NuclearShadow

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Epic is getting more and more irrational even more so with this iPhone fanboyism. Nintendo has never aimed to have the best hardware possible. This holds true to the consoles and handhelds through out the years. Yet the sales never suffered do to this. Nintendo knows what it is doing and has been doing this very act for years. One thing that Nintendo has always done is try to be innovative. The DS love it or hate it was just that and the 3DS takes it a step further.

Even things that seemed to be a complete failure from Nintendo in the past have lead to the things we see so successful today. Where do you think this whole motion sensing gaming fad truly originated from? The power glove for the NES as horrible as it was this is now the goal today. Nintendo was over 20 years ahead with this creative idea. Nintendo strives to be different then everyone tries to imitate them in the end.

I'm no Nintendo fanboy (In fact I am a PC gamer) I have just been around enough to see their move into the gaming industry. There is a reason why they are still around after all these years when countless others never stood a chance to the point most people never even heard of them. For developers to ignore and dismiss Nintendo is nothing less than foolish.
 
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Why create software for Nintendo consoles anyway? Count the number of successful Wii games that were not made by Nintendo. Nintendo buyers do not buy many games, and typically only buy Nintendo games. 3rd Party Devs are wise to steer clear of sinking money into the platform.
 

liveonc

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If Nintendo can do very well with very little, it's better than doing very poorly with very much. Android is going with killer specs, but the cost of hardware doesn't justify the performance. I'd love to be able to run DS on the the hardware Android doesn't use well enough, but even 3DS can't do all the things an Android can. PSP2 will want overkill, but can they make enough money?
 

tsnorquist

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Maybe Epic hasn't took into account optimized coding for the hardware the 3DS will use.

Furthermore, as others have said, how can they comment on the matter when they do not even have one to test against? That's a bit premature.

They need to get their heads out of the Apple Koolaid Tank...
 

orionantares

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[citation][nom]tsnorquist[/nom]Maybe Epic hasn't took into account optimized coding for the hardware the 3DS will use.Furthermore, as others have said, how can they comment on the matter when they do not even have one to test against? That's a bit premature.They need to get their heads out of the Apple Koolaid Tank...[/citation]

That's an important point to remember. The 3DS doesn't have to run all the other-head the iPhone/Touch need to run. Obviously when you can optimize your overhead for a specific task you can use less expensive and battery wasting hardware.

Clock speeds aren't everything Epic!
 

someguynamedmatt

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[citation][nom]wmalinowski[/nom]I love it....Epic it saying Apple Iphone 3GS more powerful then Nintendo 3DS but don't have one.What a Epic Fail.......[/citation]

That's like saying that you can't declare that a 4-cylinder compact car is less powerful than an Abrams tank. I don't think you have a tank, but what do you think is more powerful? But you can't say that because you don't have one...

Time to get downrated by the Nintendo fanboys who have never seen decent graphics before... I don't really care, but I salute Epic for refusing to put something out that just wouldn't look good. Even if they DID 'optimize coding for the hardware the 3DS will use' (which makes no sense... that's like saying you need to optimize the code for different brands of motherboards), you just have to face the fact that it is not a powerful machine. You won't get PS3 performance out of something in this class. Period.

Begin the downrating.
 

dizzycriminal

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Carmack already got RAGE running at 60fps on a iPhone, but I cant see how the hell im going to play it unless they give me button or a USB port so I can add buttons. This is the big reason I have an Android handset with a slidey keyboard.
 

User69

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This reminds me of a FOX News kind of story. A lot of opinion, no real specific facts, no basis on actual evidence.
 

neblogai

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I wonder how the 3D screen of 3DS will work with 3D graphics. What if technique is possible so that the 3D screen offsets half of 3D rendering of GPU/CPU? It is a next generation product, Epic should try it out and research it before making comments.
 

farrow099

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First off, Mark Rein is a well known egotist anyway.
Please notice that he thinks Nintendo should contact HIM.

Despite this, EPIC isn't going anywhere soon.
The unreal engine is used in a TON of games.

As a company, Epic has stopped pushing the latest hardware to its' limits in favor of porting their engine to lesser hardware.

Oh well, we still have companies like Crytek pushing the limits.
 

Darkv1

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From what I've seen, claiming that the 3DS has PS2-level graphics is a bit of an undershot. There are some demos out on the net showing games running on the 3DS without running in 3D and they more closely resemble early Xbox360 graphics than those of the PS2. I think that trying to call the 3DS weak next to the iPhone is a massive underestimation. Nintendo has a knack for being able to design hardware that performs well even though the specs don't look like it should.
 

alidan

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[citation][nom]LeeroyChickenEater[/nom]Oh Epic. You pumped all your resources into UT3 and couldn't figure out why that game bombed so bad. Nintendo systems have never had the hardware specs their competition has yet they still continue to outsell everyone. Maybe hardware isn't everything?[/citation]

nintendo, until the the wii, was the console power house when it came to graphics, xbox while technically superior, never put out a game that was better than anything on the gamecube, compare ninja gaiden to metroid prime, its the only game the xbox may be able to claim looks better than the gamecube.
 
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