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Digital Foundry: Batman Arkham Origins Is “Considerably Worse” On Wii U

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Respected tech site Digital Foundry is reporting that Wii U version of Warner Bros’ recently released Batman Arkham Origins runs considerably worse on the Wii U compared to both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. The publication says that the Wii U version is blighted by an extremely poor frame-rate throughout. Digital Foundry says that the sheer number of enemies and the inclusion of a weaker CPU seems to be the cause for this. The concluded by saying that gameplay is heavily compromised to the point where they found the experience far less enjoyable as a result.

“The situation is considerably worse on the Wii U. On the plus side, screen-tearing is completely eliminated due to the inclusion of a locked v-synced presentation, but disappointingly the result of this is a frame-rate that fluctuates somewhere in the mid-twenties on a regular basis, producing constant judder and a serious reduction in the responsiveness of the controls. The number of enemies and the inclusion of a weaker CPU seems to be the cause for this on Nintendo’s system – perhaps the console simply can’t keep up with handling all of the AI and physics routines under load. The result is that gameplay is heavily compromised to the point where we found the experience far less enjoyable as a result. At times the PS3 version suffers to a similar degree, but this happens far less frequently compared to the Nintendo platform. Given the major frame-rate issues it’s hard to recommend the Wii U game at all unless you have no other option.” 

173 thoughts on “Digital Foundry: Batman Arkham Origins Is “Considerably Worse” On Wii U”

      1. The WiiU outsold in america at its launch…yourr point?
        In fact, 1 million – the number of consoles broken = The REAL number of PS4 sold.

        1. only america right now next week is the UK. japan gets in feb. ps4 will maybe sell around 2.7-3.4 million. the next ps4 game isn’t until march I believe, and most of the titles are coming 2015. destiny comes between april and march

          1. Actually i think that the PS4 have the worse launch line up…
            I think that many of them will wait until the slim version or Infamous second son…

            1. How can you say worst?

              PS4 launch is better than Wii U launch, period! I mean, old ports of multiplatform games for WIi U were good? i mean, that was a good launch line up?

              hahaha

          1. “…the issue (save bug and crashes) appear to be on all platforms, save one. We have not been able to find word of any major problems with Arkham Origins on Wii U.”
            Probably because 360 and PS3 sold 0.66m as opposed to a measly 0.04m.

        2. Moron. The US is Sony’s weakest market. If they sold that many in the US they’re doing considerably better elsewhere.

          1. You moron I was referring to software sales, and yes Origins sold the best in NA. I guess the true meaning of my post flew over you. If you haven’t heard many complaints from Wii U owners, it’s because not as many people bought the game for that system.

      2. HOLY SHIT SO IN ONE DAY. PROPABLY IN A WEEK AND WITH THE EUROPE SALES WILL REACH 4 MILLION SALES. IT DOENS MATTER IF ITS BROKEN OR NOT. SALES ARE SALES.
        SO IT WILL TAKE A MONTH TO SELL WHAT WII U HAS SOLD IN A YEAR. AKA 4 MILLION LMAO

            1. It’s sad that out of the one million sold 400,000 defective unit being set back to sony gor over heating issues yes the ylod is back full force!!!lmfao!!! So the question is how many ps4’s will dumb fagboys go through seeing that you dumbasses love buying the same crap over and over again

            2. Who cares? Justin Bieber sells tons of albums and songs, does that mean he’s the best singer and entertainer in the world? NO! Popularity ain’t quality.

          1. I never said the PS4 was a fail, or even deny that the Wii U was having terrible sales. Your attempts of backstab are futile.

    1. What the f@@k Nintendo block them off!!! To earn the proper respect already…. This is a shame!! They are destroying your psychology even if you pretend that you don’t realise it. We see it in your games. When you where making ocarina of time and Wii you’re thinking of us not only you just like you do now!!!

    1. Too many unoptimized sloppy ports on Wiiu, NIntendo really need to stop letting the devs do it, it gives the Wiiu a bad name. When we know that with just a little effort, they could all be like NFSMWU .

      1. Nintendward, quite right. I have had enough of sloppy ports. Enough is enough you lazy devs. If you cannot be asked to program, then you shouldn’t be in the games industry!!!

      2. Unfortunately they just do not have that luxury anymore, most devs don’t make games on Nintendo systems is because Nintendo use to be stringent on quality but they could get them out easier and much more sloppily made on other systems. They went due to ease, now Nintendo has to fallow suit.

  1. Yet another copy and paste port, without any tender loving care for Wii U. Crap port = no sales. No sales = less support. Downward spiral. Im tired of this BS.

    1. Of course, different architecture, so they are porting the games to Wii U as if it were a 360.

      360 games are very CPU intensive, so they’re chucking everything at the Wii U CPU and not the GPGPU with leads to poor frame rates.

      From now on I only buy games that have have been developed on Wii U (Rayman Legends, Deus Ex etc.) I have my PS3 for other 3rd party games.

      1. And this is why, the developer need to understand the Wii U architectural set up FFS!! This is giving Wii U a bad name for no reason. The whole point of a games console is to put all the graphics onto the GPGPU, not the CPU. The CPU is there to handle the coding and programming of the game. Just goes to show that no one knows how to program for 8th gen. Stupid lazy, good for nothing devs.

        1. The Wii U arhitecture is old….. the CPU is weak, the only good think about WIi U is the GPU but the GPU is also low end based.

          AI, Physics, player/car/etc count on screen…. thats all CPU work.

  2. I have the game on Wiiu, and honest to god (i’m not damage controlling) the game runs fine for me, not once have I said to my self ”this framerate is dropping or affecting my gameplay. It seems to me to be pretty smooth and playable :S . Maybe that’s just the V-sync holding everything together, I don’t know…

    But honestly I have it on Wiiu and its absolutely fine! I’ve had Wiiu games with annoying framerates and this isn’t one of them.

    Digital foundry’s anti Nintendo agenda resumes.

      1. Yeah, but they say things like ”Hard to recommend” and ”considerably” worse, when infact it’s almost an unnoticeable difference in terms of performance and better visualy. And not just in the case of this game but many others.

        I’m just saying I have the game on Wiiu, and the framerate is cool! My buddy who got the PS3 version has complained about stuttering and screen tearing.

        Considerably worse my arse :)

      2. They also said that Blacklist was the worst port on Wii U. Problem was that DF were using source material from “the lens of truth’s” article who said that the Wii U version was the SLIGHTLY better version compared to the 360. (PS3 was worse)

      3. It would be too obvious if they only gave Nintendo hate, so of course they have to admit some things look better. They just want to pick and choose their choices so that they can hit Nintendo where it counts. They’re DEFINITELY anti-Nintendo.

    1. Me too I love it and I find it almost perfect, when I start to play, I couldn’t turn off until I’m tired, really good game for Wii U more than ” Call of ghosts”

    2. I have it too and it is the worse of the three versions the framerate is pretty vad especially when gliding througg the city but nothing game breaking. On the other hand the infinite fall glitch on wii u needs to be patched and I doubt they give a shit about the wii u version sadly.

    3. I fully agree this is b.s. I have the game too and beat it and play it still for the side missions all the time and have never had a frame rate drop issue in gameplay. The only thing I had was it freeze for a second to load another section of the game (same spot every time). Why no one talks about the great features of wii u is beyond me.

  3. Hahahahaha i have heard a lot players saying that the PS360 version is worst, but Digital Foundry say like always other things. Just like COD Ghost is worst on the WiiU, but peeps that play both version saying that the WiiU version is best, just like Batman…..They are Fanboys by Digital Foundry

  4. Doesn’t surprise me. We get crappy ports with Wii and now only slightly less crappy ports on Wii U.

    It’s almost like they DON’T want their games to sell on Wii U.

  5. Pingback: Digital Foundry: Batman Arkham Origins Is “Considerably Worse” On Wii U

  6. Why are the trolls hoping on the hate train now? Because we have heard otherwise that its better on Wii U than other versions

    So its not really fair to for you all to jump to this when we heard differently, just a story of conflicting views

  7. That’s funny. A few weeks ago I’ve read an article that stated the complete opposite. The Wii U version of Batman Arkham Origins was told to perform better than current gen.

  8. Wasn’t the game bad in general? I don’t own it but from what i’ve seen from playthroughs it seems so freakin boring compared to arkham city. A friend of mine said the multiplayer sucked on the ps3, pc and 360 version. Hell i’ve been told the pc version had lots of issues as well. Oh well I’ll wait for rocksteady to make the next DC game. Also was it a different studio who handled the wii u version?

      1. Any time a Wii U version of a game is worse, I always blame the company Not the console) for not trying to make it better before releasing it.

          1. yeah they port the game over and don’t expect any issues, knowing that it has a different structure then the other two. Tekken tag 2 was great on the wii u and so was all star racing transformed

  9. I have never experienced frame rate issues in my life on any game for any system. Maybe I have and I have NEVER EVEN NOTICED. I don’t notice those types of things…

  10. these are so common on the wiiu it’s not surprising anymore. games that require intense graphics visuals seem to can’t keep up on wiiu and last gen systems.

    1. Croxnyd, the problem is not the Wii U. It is the moron game developers who don’t seem to know how to develop for the Wii U or at least…the don’t “care.” They are cutting corners and making cheap ports. They should treat every Wii U game as if it were the definitive version.

      That’s the real problem.

  11. October 28th: According to player experiences, the Wii U version runs better.

    November 17th: Digital Foundry claims the Wii U version runs worse.

    Add that to the many comments here which agree with the October 28th article and I will just sit over here and take DF’s claims with a grain of salt.

  12. HAHAHA! Look at all the Nintendo babies damage controlling this one. How many articles have we seen like this one about Wii U games underperforming, yet the Nintendo fanboys continue with their damage control tactics lolololol. And now they say they “read elsewhere that it was better on Wii U” lolol, of course on some lame Nintendo fanboy blog site that probably what the fanboys would say HAHA. The babies can’t even notice that the framerate is dropping lololololololol! The truth is the Wii U is running on 7 year old hardware that can barely keep up with it’s 8 year old last gen counterparts. The Wii U is supposed to have hardware that is one year more recent than the last gen systems so it should be slightly better compared to them lolol, but so far it has failed to deliver. Even Ubisoft has stated that Watch Dogs on Wii U looks closer to current gen tan next gen lololol!!!!

    Nintendo couldn’t even get a lame 2D launch Mario game to run at 1080p, and that was a 2D game HAHAHAHA! A lame 2D game!!! You just have to look at the lame copy paste low polygon trees flowers and bushes in the latest rehash Super Mario 3D world game and voila they have a lame symplistic environment to keep the game running at a respectable framerate Lolol. They can’t even add limbs to their outdated Mii’s on their Wii U Sports game, if they would add limbs to them the framerate on their baby underpowered console would drop to a crawl lololol.

    1. Your pathetic attempts are so worthless and you cannot see that Nintendo made games OVER PERFORMS on it instead…

      So in essence we don’t give a damn…

      Go and cry like the baby you are:

    2. You are as pathetic as Nintendo Commander, always spewing some shit and whinin like an fanboy, deep inside you and Nintendo Commander are just the same.

  13. Dumb. Wii u is 1.5 times better than the ps3. Already proven so devs or reviewers bitching that it doesnt run smoothly and blames CPU is total garbage. Just shows how lazy the port was or how ignorant the reviewer was. Lame.

  14. Who cares…

    Under 8000 gamers will buy this on Wii U and then they’ll all blame us for it because of their pathetic version…

    1. You are as pathetic as Katamari, always spewing some shit and whinin like an fanboy, deep inside you and Katamari are just the same.

  15. They also claimed that call of duty ghosts looked inferior on the WiiU, both statements are completely false. The WiiU version of Arkham Origins, which is a good game just not as good as city, is considered to be the superior console version for those who have played it on 360 and ps3 as well. The other console versions suffer from terrible framerate drops, very long load times and texture glitches. The wiiU version suffers from non of these, i know i own it, and i have watched playthoughs on youtube of different consoles(including wiiu) and in one of the walkthroughs they actually changed from the ps3 version to the wiiu version because it was the better version.

  16. Do these guys play these game under microscope frame by frame or something?
    I havent seen any problems with the game, except that it is not as good as Rocksteadys games, but that really cant be helped.

    1. That’s what I’m saying! I have NEVER noticed a frame rate issue before in my life. I don’t even know what it looks like.

      People say things like, “Oh the framerate was slightly lower on this game so it makes the other version better, but in reality I can’t really notice the frame rate unless I record the game and play it back in super slow motion….but the other version is better, because… SPECS!!! heeer deeeer!”

  17. Actually the CPU is more powerful than the PS3/Xbox 360 CPUs, hell its even more powerful than the PS4 and Xbox One CPUs because the Wii U one is a Power PC which is used in NASA Space Computers and even the smartest computer in the world is running on a similar (but more powerful) version of the one in the Wii U.

          1. Over 400,000 defective ps4 units sold at launch ylod is back suck on that sony fagboys if they couldn’t get it right last gen with a 2xcore processor what makes you think they’ll get it correct with a 8xcore processor. Ps4 is a fail just watch! and xbone will also share the same fate there both using tin based sod that melt at 108degrees and ceramic paste on the processor and no proper cooling unit.hope you like buying the same crap over and over again like last gen lmfao!!!

          2. Yes with hundreds of malfunctioning PS4s…

            People will soon realize what a waste of money the PS4 is when they could buy a new PC or just continue with the PS3…

            Exposed…

  18. This looks like hate to me. Didnt we just read an article on this website that stated the Wii U version ran the best? Many users who played both also stated this. So I am smelling something funny here. I also own it for Wii U and haven’t had problems with it. No more than the other anyways. Frame rate has never been a problem. Its the other glitches this game has that annoy me and they are fixing them. Dont believe EVERYTHING other people say guys.

    1. I also remember reading a couple articles saying the Wii U version was the best. I too NEVER listen to people who use “frame rate” as an issue.

        1. Why yes I did. And according to all websites it was the definitive version.
          #hashtagsareforfags
          #learntousewords

            1. Ah you see for people with no brain to understand you, you have to speak their language. I had to use the hash tags so that his brain wasn’t overwhelmed I just had to dumb down my speech temporarily so he may understand me. See he is wasting his money on a broken console and so to cover his own insecurities with his choice he is attacking eveyone else.

  19. when i read the headlines i obviously headed over to metacritics to see if any player reviews mentioned frame drops or something lie that? of course i didn’t see anything of that, one said that it had “amazing” graphics.

    As to the CPU, that’s down to other factors because look at this:

    http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Project-CARS-Wii-U-Features-Particle-Shadows-Multi-Threaded-Shadowing-59659.html

    “all the high dynamic physics from the PC version seems to be making the jump onto the Wii (U, edited)”

    “… the game appears to only be using 1 out of the 3 cores available for use on the Wii U, something Shin’en Multimedia has admitted to only be using for it’s Wii U eShop game, Nano Assault Neo.”

    “… it’s safe to say that Nintendo’s Wii U definitely seems a lot more powerful than what some developers (and publishers) have claimed.”

    “… Project CARS running DirectX 11 equivalent graphics on the Wii U”.

  20. I can’t believe people still try to defend this somehow.. Well most of the games ported on WiiU run WORSE. The only exception is probably need for speed, deus ex, something else maybe ? Stop defending this console. Whose problem is that? Devs and underpowered console in general. WiiU is just like Xbox360, but has twice more ram for games and 50mhz more on GPU. It’s just like the same way Wii was better than original Xbox. Nintendo copies microsoft consoles and try to make them 50% better lol.

    1. I don’t think Nintendo copies Microsoft, they have been in this Industry far longer than Microsoft, and they don’t compete against Sony or Microsoft, they just do their own thing, which most people love(myself included).

      I really hate people saying which console is better, I don’t care, I’m just here for the games, and after owning a 360 I can say… I prefer Sony over Microsoft, but Nintendo will always be the first for me :)

    2. Completely wrong. a GPGPU will perform much better than a standard GPU. To be honest a PowerPC7xx times 3 at 1.24Ghz is very powerful. It’s actually overclocked more than what the original PowerPC7xx could ever be. PowerPC CPUs are designed for optimised game code, so if there is a lag or freezing, then blame the dev, not the console. Plenty of power to unleash, just no one understands a GPGPU and the different way to program.

  21. Can somebody PLEASE, ban all these losers coming onto a Nintendo website and harassing everyone dissing Nintendo? Sickr, you’re seriously slacking in the moderation department.

      1. Shouldn’t you be worried about your own damage control? Red line of death on half the consoles, 0 good exclusives, most of the library are ports of games that have been out for a while now. Indie games are actually better than their exclusives. Yikes buddy you got some work to do.

          1. Rumors? Have you seen the reviews your community has been leaving it? Whereas sites like this attack wii u versions when it is clearly stated that it is the best version. So if anybody is using rumors it is the sony fanboys.

    1. GO GET A PC YOU HOBO THEN YOU DONT HAVE ANY BAD Framerate issues CONSOLE FAG.PC STILL MASTA RACE FOR EVER JAJAJAJAJA
      #FuckConsoleFaggots

  22. Sickr, bro, this isn’t news. Not worth mentioning. It was widely said weeks ago that Arkham Origins was best on Wii U. I have played through the entire game and can vouch that Digital Foundry has produced a completely erroneous statement.

  23. I’m not certain if the game runs worse on the Wii U. However, I am certain that Digital Foundry is wording it as if it’s the console’s fault instead of the devs and we all know the truth. So they can fuck off..after they cash their check that is

  24. This article is pure bullshit. I have this game on Wii U and it runs better and looks better than 360 version. Stories like these are just showing how the industry has become more and more biased and and will say any misleading information to support their next-gen console of choice and discredit the competition.

      1. I’m ctrl’ng + C and + V what I just posted above:

        So funny someone spending the whole day on a Nintendo-centric blog trolling Nintendo fans.

      2. I see you posting this all over the place, don’t you have anything better to do. Like play on your allegedly better consoles?

  25. “Weaker CPU”, here we go again. The CPU in the Wii U isn’t that weak, it’s just a bit different. Making it harder to optimize for if you’re on the lazy side.

    One comparison I should draw is this one, my desktop PC has a 3.2 GHz quad-core CPU. My laptop has a 2.5 GHz dual-core, albeit with hyper-threading. Guess which computer performs the best? The one with the higher clock rate, right? Nope. My laptop is the faster computer, in games and otherwise. I don’t know exactly why, but as you can see, it’s not just up to pure speed.

  26. Pssst. Sickr is the biggest troll on here and you ppl are just encouaging his ignorance buy responding to his muckraking blog.

  27. Perfect Dark Zero on the Xbox 360 has horrible graphics and an incosistent and over-all low framerate. Does that mean that the Xbox 360 sucks? No.

  28. I finished Batman Orinigins on my Wii U. Fucking good game from start to the end. Perfect combat system. Very good story. I guess this game was created by assholes lol.

  29. Don’t believe that sh**. I actually play it on Wii u and there are NO framerate issues there! In fact graphic look much better than on ps3 – where one of my buddies plays it!

    1. the wii-u version is full of framerate drops and freezes. you dont own the wii-u version if you did it would have been the first thing you’ve would have noticed in the game

      1. come on boy. don’t talk to me, I HAVE the wii u version and I actually play it. and a friend of mine has the ps3-version, which looks awful and has a lot of framerate-issues, so please go home ok?!

      2. I did a full walkthrough of Origins, PS3 was a buggy mess. It jammed my system up numerous times. Lagged badly during combat and while cape gliding. During the Mad Hatter Episode, I switched to Wii U and finished my guide with no problems. Origins is the best on Wii U! PS3 and PC AO have countless game breaking glitches.

  30. I have to say this sounds completely false. I have the Wii U version and it runs beautifully. There have been a few frame rate issues but nothing horrible. I actually heard the game is worse on other consoles. I guess I was lucky to get a copy with hardly any bugs in it. The game is broken for lots of people but I’ve only had very minor issues.

  31. Digital Foundry, shut up, just shut the hell up. You know nothing of the Wii U’s “weak” CPU. If you knew anything about the console, it was designed to look like that. It’s an out of order based CPU, therefore it doesn’t wait around to execute instructions. If the devs bothered to program right for it, then it wouldn’t be bad. Terrible article.

  32. Can’t say that I’m surprised. I’d say that the game is better on the other consoles as well. You guys hear about PS4 selling a million copies? Not bad eh!? Let’s hope that the Wii U improves soon and that the other consoles also do well!

    1. did you also hear that 40% of the over one million sold ps4 @launch are being sent back do to overheating issue yes sony fans the infamous ylod is back full force

  33. I’d rather believe credited and actual technical experts as opposed to one-sided Nintendo fanbaby rants using rumours and suppositions from other articles as their “proof”.

  34. does it matter when the game sucks balls its a re-skin rehash port of the last one and not a good ether on any console. saying it was worse on wii-u is like saying the turd smelled better on the grass than on the dirt. whats the point!!!

  35. Lies absolute lies! The Wii U version is superior to both the 360/PS3. I have the Wii U version and have had zero performance problems. The Wii U version has higher res textures, a higher native resolution, no screen tearing, better lighting, gamepad features, and quite frankly it runs better. If you can’t tell the truth and just want to bash the Wii U don’t even bother writing an article.

  36. Pingback: Arkham Origins DLC Out Tomorrow; New Trailer | My Nintendo News

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