Rayman Creator Talks Wii U GamePad Latency, “It’s Almost Instant”



Ubisoft is supporting the Wii U with some killer exclusive content including ZombiU and Rayman Legends, so it should come as no surprise to you that famed Ubisoft developer Michel Ancel has spoken out on how fast and responsive the Wii U GamePad is.

Ancel spoke with Nintendo Power this month regarding the Wii U's minimal latency, saying it's virtually a non-issue, praising it for its responsiveness.

And I think this is where Nintendo is really out in front of things. The technology inside the controller is quite a bit more advanced than what people might think. It’s really responsive. The response time is crazy, in fact, and I think the competitors will need some time to [get their solutions] this responsive.

It’s crazy because the game is running in full HD [on the television], we are streaming another picture on the GamePad screen, and it’s still 60 frames per second. And the latency on the controller is just 1/60 of a second, so it’s one frame late. It’s crazy, it’s so fast. It’s almost instant. That’s why it responds so well. So it can be used as a real game-design thing.

This is great news for those picking up a Wii U this holiday season, as it is always reassuring to know that the technology will work as advertised. After all, who wants to drop $350 on a brand-new system that will likely be rendered inferior in a year's time? Oh wait…

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