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Telltale developer claims iPhone more powerful than Wii photo

A considerable number of people have been having some issues with the WiiWare release of Tales of Monkey Island: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. Graphical hitches seem to be the biggest complaint, though low audio quality has been cited as a problem also. Over on Telltale's forums, in a thread regarding the issues, a Telltale employee has stated that the problems are a result of the hardware limitations, claiming that, "an iPhone is much more powerful than a Wii."

Ouch. Still, there is something to be said for the statement. The Wii only has 88 MB of RAM (as opposed to the iPhone's 128 MB) and outputs nearly twice the pixels. And Tales of Monkey Island is a bit of a beast compared to other Telltale titles. Hell, I had to reduce the visual quality considerably to get it running smoothly on my admittedly weak PC, so I can't imagine the hoops they had to jump through for the console release. Then there's the issue of filesize limitations for WiiWare titles, maxed out at 40 MB to compensate for the tiny amount of storage capacity the console features.

Of course, this won't stop the screaming of Nintendo fanboys who won't see the light of reason. Telltale is working on the problem for episode two, though they claim that there's no "easy way to fix it" with this first release and chose to put the game out there in its current state rather than wait a few more weeks. For the sound of it, Wii players are just going to have to deal with it on this one.


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54 comments | showing # 1 to 50

Chronic Logic's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:31
Chronic Logic
You know what, I never REALLY look closely at a Wii's specs or iphone's specs for that matter. Maybe a rundown for all the console's specs and side by side comparison would do some good. But the iphone outdoing a Wii? Ouch.
MowDownJoe's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:32
MowDownJoe
*grabs popcorn*

This'll be a fun flamewar to watch.
shogunu's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:36
shogunu
Ouch!

Lots-a butt-hurt for Wii owners :))
Freefall's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:36
Freefall
88 MB of RAM?! Wow, I never knew that. That sounds quite abysmal.
Nic128's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:38
Nic128
Yeah, right. Make a game that will support your argument. Have you seen your iPhone version or RE4?
megaStryke's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:38
megaStryke
The PS3 supposedly runs circles around the 360 as well, but we all know from experience that raw specs don't mean squat when it comes to real-world applications. In any case, the best performance I've seen out of an iPhone game is early Dreamcast quality, unless there's a game I've missed that someone would like to show me.
hjd uk's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:39
hjd uk
Well an iPhone is at least double the cost of a Wii...
JACK of No Trades's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:43
JACK of No Trades
The Wii is pretty much garbage.
sexycommando's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:57
sexycommando
iphone > 2 gamecubes duct taped together?
perri's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 09:57
perri
Price point is a good point hjd uk. RE4 is also a good point. I think while the iPhone has more RAM its graphic chipset is probably inferior. The main problem here though is the 40mb Limit. It's a real shame- Nintendo should start bundling 32GB SDHC cards with the console instead of dropping the price and up the limit 200mb or something.

I can dream.
Cadtalfryn's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:06
Cadtalfryn
Wii

Iphone


You be the judge.
Cadtalfryn's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:07
Cadtalfryn
^ Iphone
whormongr's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:10
whormongr
I agree in a big way with the above comments saying that 40megs is ridiculous. I mean you can't fit a lot of DS games into 40 megs, you shouldn't expect to fit full fledged wii games to that size, though it does seem like wiiware was kind of an afterthought when they built the system, it seems that the emulators were what they geared the download system for initially- also, if the size is what is hindering the monkey island games why don't they just hold back a few episodes and release it on a disc?
Drack48's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:10
Drack48
I knew this would be coming out. I spent 10 bucks on the Wii version of MI on Monday, thinking that it would be fun to play on the Wii, seemed like a great fit.

The game looks horrible and sounds like utter shit..it's unplayable. That game did not have to look or sound that bad on the Wii..don't give me this technical limits nonsense, the game is broken, plain and simple.
megaStryke's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:17
megaStryke
@Cadtalfryn

Not even that. That's GameCube quality. That's even more damning.
Jasugun's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:18
Jasugun
@perri: actually the iphone has NO graphic chipset, only raw CPU power and RAM to display 3D games. So TellTale devs are somewhat... lying to themselves?
Zcdrike's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:19
Zcdrike
I feel like I just fell back into 2006 with the "this teapot if more powerful then the wii" crap. I honestly don't give a shit anymore, mario galaxy looks gorgeous, same with Zack and Wiki, Deadly Creatures, Metroid Prime, etc. Can we honestly move on to more interesting things after three years?
jawshoeuh's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:20
jawshoeuh
The RE4 point is less valid when you consider it is a disc release not a downloadable game limited to 40mb.

I'm sure in some areas the iPhone has more under the hood, but clearly the more graphically impressive Wii games smoke anything the iPhone has to offer thus far.

Someone post a side by side spec comparison for us. C'mon.. do it.
lastdual's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:25
lastdual
It's called optimization.

When your game doesn't even run well on most PCs, it's not the hardware's fault, it's the fault of the developers. And you should never release a half-ass product. Telltale basically just sucks in the programming department. There was plenty of the same laziness in Sam and Max. These guys just don't put in the effort for a decent looking game.

That said, this is a good counter point to those "Oh no! Games next gen are going to cost a bazillion dollars to make!" bullshit arguments. Super powerful hardware means lazy-ass developers don't have to worry about optimization anymore. They can create whatever the hell they want without having to spend a ton of effort making sure it runs well on underpowered consoles. More powerful hardware may well make development faster and easier for many games, and time is money.
Nerdy Suit's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:25
Nerdy Suit
uh huh..right...lulz...

Apparently, TellTale doesn't like the cut that Nintendo gave them so now they're upset...
Takeshi's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:26
Takeshi
So are we going to have iFit soon? I'd love to see what a balance board would do to the iPhone.
Benzido's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:31
Benzido
The iPhone may have 128mb of memory, but programs can only use 46mb or so or they suddenly crash.
Waferballs's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:31
Waferballs
What a shame, I was looking forward to 5 chocobos tomorrow... DAMN YOU TELLTALE!
Shadowiii's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:32
Shadowiii
I'd like someone (Telltale?) to release the same game on both iPhone and Wii and compare. I love Telltale but I think they're spouting gibberish.
Cadtalfryn's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:35
Cadtalfryn
@Mega Styke

I thought about mentioning that. Here's a true RE Wii vs. iPhone comparison.

iPhone (RE Degeneration)


Wii (RE Darkside Chronciles)
flabzilla's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:58
flabzilla
For digital distribution the iPhone is better, Nintendo really should allow for exceptions to the 40MB limit. It will only make there games better.
Nitex's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 10:59
Nitex
It's like comparing the 360 to the PS2.
Jon B's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:05
Jon B
Okay, here goes. Basing these on the 3GS since it seems a lot faster, and I'm guessing devs will prefer it anyway.


3GS: 833 MHz underclocked to 600 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM
PowerVR SGX GPU[10] exceeding requirements of OpenGL 2.0 and up to DirectX 10.1 Shader Model 4.1 (Pretty fast, in other words.)


Wii: 729 MHz "Broadway" CPU, 243MHz ATi-designed GPU (Not sure if slower, but sounds it.) 3MB eDRAM and 24MB 1-T SRAM on the GPU
64MB GDDR3 external "A-RAM"



From that... it kinda does look like the iPhone 3GS at least is significantly more powerful.

Shame. It means I can't hate the iPhones as gaming devices any more. :(
Anansi's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:14
Anansi
I'm both shocked and impressed by the amount of ram the wii has. I can't believe devs have been releasing games that perform as well as they do with so little. I can't even remember how long it's been since my PCs broke 512mb of ram.
Mr Jonson's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:35
Mr Jonson
here's a video of the game in its most problematic part:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jV0YF00y9fk

don't look that bad to me (except for the compression on the voice, which sounds like an early 90's LucasArts adventure game! see they're keepin' it real)
Springsteen's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:39
Springsteen
Hmm. Right. Now show me an iPhone game that comes close to Super Mario Galaxy. I actually understood the iPhone's specs that Jon B presented us, while Wii's sounded pretty much like crazy technical talk beyond my comprehension. Wii seems to have a less conventional hardware and, given what I've seen on both consoles, the comparison sounds butt-hurt moaning. Probably little to no effort was made towards optimizing the game to he console and now they're trying to excuse themselves from poor programming. Then again, although I AM defending the Wii, it felt like a weird choice for a Monkey Island title. Keep it on the PCs. And if you really want to do it for consoles, make sure you can program it effectively for whatever you're aiming at. Impressed as I am by iPhone`s capabilities, I don`t see it beating the Wii so far, that`s all.
Patters's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:42
Patters
The 40 mb limit is quite frankly ridiculous, it should have been dropped pretty much straight away. It didn't work for XBLA, so why would it work with Wiiware. I can see where Yare is coming from, The Iphone can handle a lot, but would overheat quickly, whereas there are no file size limitations on it (as far as I know).
bustaballs's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 11:48
bustaballs
You can't really compare PCs & iphones with gaming platforms. Even though the iphone and most PCs have more memory, it has to run those apps and games on top of its own OS, which is already eating up a good chunk of it. Also, you can't compare the MHz of two processors with completely different architectures. The AMD Athlon XP 2400 clocked at 2.0GHz but was just as fast as a Intel P4 clocked at 2.4GHz. My netbook has an Atom cpu clocked at 1.6GHz but I bet even a Celeron running at 1.0 GHz could out preform it.

That being said, sure the iPhone is pretty powerful and is probably right around the range of the Wii but it doesn't have a number of things. It doesn't have ANY gaming controls, it doesn't have Nintendo supporting it, it doesn't have any attachments for additional hardware, etc etc.
casualweaponry's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 12:21
casualweaponry
As a iPhone 3GS owner, I can tell you that controls, not graphics, RAM, or processing power is where the real problem is.

If the game uses the accelerometer, I'll pass on it. Doom: Ressurection was awesome in every way except for the totally broken tilt controls.
Jon B's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 12:22
Jon B
@Bustaballs:
You're completely right in terms of CPUs having more for them than the raw clock speed. For example, compare the AMDX2 4800+ to the 5800+, you'll find that though they both run at 2.8Ghz, the 5800+ is far quicker.
It's just that a home console really shouldn't be outdone in ANY regard by a mobile phone, and the fact that the 3GS is actually UNDERCLOCKED also confirms this. Add the fact that the other specs are pretty damn close anyway, and it's debatable which is faster.

Also bear in mind that the 3GS' GPU isn't tailored only to 3D graphics, or as far as I'm aware, it isn't.


On the plus side, no-one's compared it to an xbox 1 yet. The site I grabbed those specs off for the Wii had a lot of unintentionally hilarious comments about it, heh.
SnakeDanger's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 12:44
SnakeDanger
Good call lastdual, as a developer it's your responsibility to see that your finished product is indeed finished. That certainly includes making sure that what you've created runs on the hardware you've created it for. If you can't make a game work for the Wii then don't make it at all, but don't release it, pocket the cash and then thumb your nose at all the people who paid you and blame it on the hardware. The bit about the iPhone being more powerful than the Wii is just a stalling tactic, a diversion meant to call attention away from the fact that Telltale released a broken game.
SurplusGamer's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 13:08
SurplusGamer
Or how about it's just one developer venting frustration on a thread in the forum. When he made that comment people were acting like the game was virtually unplayable, which later turned out to be a -bit- of an exaggeration. I'm surprised this is even considered news, frankly.

Incidentally, the PC version scales pretty well, so whoever said it doesn't run well on PC is, well, wrong. Mine is what you might call low-mid range, and I run everything on maximum settings.

Aaaand whoever posted up the RE4 comparison shot - not really a fair comparison, because how big do you think the download is for iPhone RE4... anywhere near the Wii DVD version?

Finally, I agree that work needs to be done on optimisation for consoles, but TTG are still pretty new at working with them and considering the amount of game they have been able to cram into the pitiful 40 MB limit I think they deserve a little slack.
pedrovay2003's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 13:16
pedrovay2003
I'm pretty sure just because someone sucks at putting a game on a certain console that the console isn't actually "limited," thank you very much.
gatorsax2010's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 13:17
gatorsax2010
@MotoRobo

It's true, the only great games that have ever been made in history have all been on PC, 360, or PS3.

But Nintendo really should make exceptions to that size limit, especially now that we can at least play off of SD cards.
Noah's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 13:43
Noah
Pretty hilarious headline. I doubt it's true, but the fact that so many people feel the need to post specs and comparison screen shots shows just how weak the wii is
-PL-'s Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 14:32
-PL-
When developers start making games that work exclusively on iPhone 3GS, rather than games that are scalable to the 3G and 2G, you guys might see where this developer is coming from.
Blackhat's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 14:35
Blackhat
As has been mentioned, that number doesn't take into account the graphics chipsets, etc.

But to put it in perspective, a video card I got for 150 dollars has more memory than a 360 and PS3 combined, so.... yeah.
AgentMOO's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 15:25
AgentMOO
This is an apples to oranges comparison here.

The Wii is optimized as a gaming console, and the memory is all allocated for gaming purposes. The iPhone memory is designed to run apps while still supporting the phone OS and staying available to receive data - the latest 3.0 OS runs into frequent memory issues with the 128mb on the original and 3g units. The 3GS has increased the RAM to 256mb, but it is still unknown how powerful the new CPU and GPU will be when used to their potential.

Not only that, but the iPhone costs $300-500 for the hardware (before carrier discounts) versus the Wii's $150 price point - you're paying a lot more for the miniaturization even if they were equivalent hardware.
Lord The Night Knight's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 16:12
Lord The Night Knight
Then let's make comparison shots of WiiWare games. What's a good iPhone game to compare to My Life As A King?
Steel Brotha's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 16:13
Steel Brotha
when a company that exclusively makes iphone games makes a games that looks better than wii games, then we'll have something to compare.

@ Springsteen
comparing this game to SM Galaxy isn't really fair.that's like comparing Crisis Cor FF7 to PC's Crysis. the article is comparing an iPhone game to a WiiWare game. that a much more close comparison. potentially the iPhone could beat Wiiware games in the future.
Cadtalfryn's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 16:41
Cadtalfryn
As far as I'm concerned if Monkey Island runs like shit it's Telltale's fault. If they had a game already made and tried to shoehorn it to something it wasn't going to fit on, it's their bad. They can bitch all they want about Wii-Ware sizes, but they chose where to release it. They could have chose other platforms or to release it on DVD but they'd rather bitch and give Apple free advertising.
Im OK's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 18:41
Im OK
When they have something like Super Mario Galaxy or Metroid Prime 3 on the iPhone, wake me up.
CallMeRotten's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/30/2009 19:11
CallMeRotten
Sounds like a half truth.
brixter11's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/31/2009 09:38
brixter11
@ Jasugun all versions of the iphones hardware have a 3d chip.
@ Cadtalfryn you compared an ngage screenshoot of resident evil to the wii version.
FatherChesz's Avatar - Comment posted on 07/31/2009 10:29
FatherChesz
To be fair, I thought even the PC version of Screaming Narwhal had some rather flat VO, in terms of recording quality. Fantastic game, and great comedy material, but not the highest quality sound.
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