Wii U 'effectively' an Xbox 360, says Microsoft

This holiday season, Nintendo will be the first of the Big Three to release next-generation hardware in the form of the Wii U. But according to comments from Microsoft's Phil Spencer to GamesIndustry International, the Wii U is only on par with current-generation consoles, like the Xbox 360.

"I think their Pro Controller makes a lot of sense with the platform they've built," he said. They are building a platform that is effectively a 360 when you think of graphical capability."

Nintendo announced the Wii U Pro Controller during a pre-E3 media event last month. This controller is similar in form factor to the Xbox 360's, which Spencer believes will make the Wii U a hotspot for Xbox 360 ports.

"Now they are really making an on-ramp for the back catalog of games that are on 360. It is easy for those games to move over to the Wii U. They've moved the buttons around, and they've made a controller that feels familiar for 360 gamers, so I get why they are putting those pieces together," he said.

This is not the first time it has been suggested that the Wii U will lag behind future consoles from Microsoft and Sony. Last month, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida said the Wii U was in a generation of its own. And before that, a GameSpot survey found that the next Xbox and PlayStation 4 already have a leg up on the Wii U.

The Wii U is due out worldwide this holiday season, but Nintendo has yet to announce a price or a release date for the console. Speculation regarding the platform's release window has ranged from November to December, and Nintendo has promised a "reasonable" price for the console.