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The latency of the Wii U Gamepad is 1/60th of a second.
News reported by 
Anand R
Editor
October 22, 2012, 18:16:48
 
According to Michel Ancel in the newest issue of Nintendo Power.

A very impressive feat, I'd say. People tend to discount the technology of the Wii U, but the super-fast video streaming is really a pretty interesting, innovative feature. The Iwata Asks article about the Gamepad was fascinating, too.

Keep in mind that when you draw something on the screen, it actually gets transmitted TWICE before you see the results on the pad (the input gets sent to the machine, and the video gets sent back to the gamepad), all within 1/60th of a second? Pretty amazing. The lack of noticeable latency will make the feature much more usable for responsive, fast-action games.

Ancel also mentioned that Rayman ORIGINS was originally slated for Wii U. Which indicates how early he was in the know (as well as how long it's been in the cooker).

As a side note, reading the latest issue of Nintendo Power made me totally sad about its impending demise. What a great magazine. Very informative and entertaining. Tons of good features and previews and interviews (Ancel and the 999 guy were very interesting) with lots of juicy, exclusive info, all written in an appealing, but not pandering, style. Nintendo Direct just won't be the same.

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Posted: 10/22/12, 18:16:48  - Edited by 
Anand R
  on: 10/22/12, 18:35:28    
 
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It's fast, but I'm a little worried if this will affect twitch gameplay at all (like in a Punch-Out style game). I suppose since there won't be other screens to compare it to (i.e. unlike playing SSBB on a friend's TV where you have to adjust your timing, all Wii U GamePads will have the same timing), it won't really be an issue.

I agree completely about NP. It was an excellent, in-depth read on Legends that I haven't found anywhere online.


Posted by 
TriforceBun
  on: 10/22/12, 18:38:19
Ouch. Unless my math is wrong, that's about a 17ms (It's like 16.6ms) delay.

That's going to be noticeable on any fast-paced games. It's like that delay modern TVs have been having since the transition to LCD. The response times are dropping, but most gamers absolutely notice the delay from their big TVs. Combine that lag with another 17ms delay and it may get a little frustrating. It'll make rhythm games in particular a real pain.

I know it doesn't sound like much, but you'll notice it more than you think.


Posted by 
Xbob42
  on: 10/22/12, 18:46:51
Doomed. Should have left the dual-screen stuff with the handhelds.


Posted by 
GameDadGrant
  on: 10/22/12, 18:59:59
The ping time of the database I'm working with right now at work is 150ms which is horrible. If the WUG has a wireless delay thats 10% of that I'll be happy. Low expectations!


Posted by 
Abdooooo
  on: 10/22/12, 19:00:29
I was wondering about that, too. I mean, it would be faster than you could percieve in a 30 FPS game. And you'd lose one frame in a 60 FPS game. Given how responsive Nintendo's games generally are, compared to the competition, I'm not worried. There are probably very few games that would be adversely affected by that delay. They can just give you one extra frame to dodge in Punch Out.

(Speaking of which, could this be one of the problems with playing Wii games on the pad?)

@Xbob42
Even worse, it's a whopping 16,666 nanoseconds!!

No, but Nintendo actually said that the pad operated faster than many modern TVs. (Which doesn't speak well for them at all.) I guess the ideal would be to have a TV with a 17ms delay, so they match? But the input would still be a frame ahead, I guess.

This is confusing.

@Abdooooo
You're an easy man to please, Dave! (Take note, ladies of the world!)


Posted by 
Anand
  on: 10/22/12, 19:04:12  - Edited by 
Anand
  on: 10/22/12, 19:05:26
That's really good. only 1 frame out of 60.


Posted by 
anon_mastermind
  on: 10/22/12, 19:11:31
That's...better than I expected. Honestly it's probably better than my TV. I know for sure it's better than both of my parent's TVs.


Posted by 
ludist210
  on: 10/22/12, 19:22:09
Anand said:

@Xbob42
Even worse, it's a whopping 16,666 nanoseconds!!

No, but Nintendo actually said that the pad operated faster than many modern TVs. (Which doesn't speak well for them at all.) I guess the ideal would be to have a TV with a 17ms delay, so they match? But the input would still be a frame ahead, I guess.

This is confusing.

Um, I don't think you'd want them to match, as I'm pretty sure in this case the latency would be cumulative. As in, you'd get a 17ms delay for actions on the TV if it matched, and then you'd get an additional 17ms delay from the pad. But, before I go further, is this latency simply for the streaming, as in playing strictly on the pad? If that's the case the main display's latency would be irrelevant. If it has a 17ms input delay as well (i.e. you do something on the pad while not streaming on it and there's a 17ms delay before you see the result of your action) then that's gonna be a problem.

Again, nothing earth-shattering, but it will absolutely be noticeable.


Posted by 
Xbob42
  on: 10/22/12, 19:40:20
That's pretty cool, the streaming technology is impressive, I'm going to be laying in bed playing a lot of video games with this thing!


Posted by 
deathly_hallows
  on: 10/22/12, 19:41:29
@TriforceBun

Is this just the latency when playing on the actual Gamepad though? If someone plays on the TV, does it reduce or eliminate it? So for something like Punch-Out, it shouldn't really matter more if it was playable on Wii unless if someone streams the entire game to the Gamepad.


Posted by 
VofEscaflowne
  on: 10/22/12, 19:45:48  - Edited by 
VofEscaflowne
  on: 10/22/12, 19:46:17
As far as I could tell by reading the Iwata Asks, the latency is only when streaming video to the GamePad. So if you're playing on a TV then it would be the same as playing with any wireless controller. Also, I doubt most TV's have a lower than 17ms delay.


Posted by 
canonj
  on: 10/22/12, 19:59:54
@canonj Most older TVs had a response time of about 14-16ms, with cheap/super old ones being somewhere in the 20ish range. Current high end TVs have about a 4ms response time.


Posted by 
Xbob42
  on: 10/22/12, 20:06:40
Going to a Nintendo press event tomorrow. I never noticed latency before but I'll try to pay particular attention to it this time. My guess though is that no one ever brought up latency after trying out the Wii U because it is simply not noticeable.


Posted by 
Guillaume
  on: 10/22/12, 20:16:18
The way I understand it to work is that the image on the pad is a video, your input it relayed back to the Wii U, interpreted, video created, compressed, relayed to the pad and then played back all of this happens in 1\60th of a second.


Posted by 
warerare
  on: 10/22/12, 20:30:34
From what little I played I didn't notice any lag. I don't think it seemed out of line with the lag that any LCD TV has. Everything seemed pretty instantaneous.

Rayman is the only demo but it was awesome so far. Controller feels...I dunno. Left and right shoulder buttons feel awkward to hit, but probably just take getting used to. Analog stick above the buttons is still a strange move to me. I don't quite understand the mentality.

In other news I think I broke the WiiU at Best Buy. Ok we'll maybe not but I went to reset it and now it's not syncing up with the Gamepad. Whoops.


Posted by 
PogueSquadron
  on: 10/22/12, 20:50:39
@Xbob42

Wait, you talking about the refresh rate of the TV, or the input lag? These are different things. Refresh rate is the number of times the screen is updated (60 Hz, for example). Input lag is the time between pressing a button and seeing the reaction on screen. Due to video processing the input lag can be much higher than the refresh rate.


Posted by 
canonj
  on: 10/22/12, 20:58:54  - Edited by 
canonj
  on: 10/22/12, 20:59:35
I should say that I didn't notice any lag, either. It felt buttery smooth. So I'm not worried, regardless.

@Xbob42
Oh, yeah. I guess your reaction to the onscreen events would be delayed by an extra frame.

Anybody know the transmission lag of a standard wireless controller signal, offhand?

@deathly_hallows
I hope there are no walls between your bed and the Wii U! When I pick this baby up, I'm going to experiment the hell out of getting the maximum functional distance between Wii U and tablet. Maybe I'll keep the system in a crawlspace, or something...


Posted by 
Anand
  on: 10/23/12, 02:40:03
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