E3: Third Party Support for Wii U Includes Mass Effect 3

[John Funk]

E3: Third Party Support for Wii U Includes Mass Effect 3

Now Wii U owners can complain about the Mass Effect 3 ending, too.

The third party support for Nintendo's consoles has always been the hardware giant's weakness. At its E3 2012 press conference, NOA big boss Reggie Fils-Aime reiterated Nintendo's commitment to getting more games from third party publishers on the upcoming Wii U.

Warner Bros. took to the stage to demonstrate Wii-specific features in the upcoming Wii U release of Batman: Arkham City, including a motion-controlled Batarang. They also revealed a new Scribblenauts, that allowed players to create their own items and objects to use in-game - such as an "Auto Mutt," a dog with car wheels.

Nintendo also showed a quick demo reel of other high-profile third party games for the Wii U. We caught glimpses of Darksiders 2, Alien: Colonial Marines, and Ninja Gaiden 3, among others. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 bizarrely showed off some traditional Nintendo powerups like the super mushroom.

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

See all our coverage directly from the E3 2012 show floor. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/conferences/e3-2012]

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[Worgen]

Sounds like nintendo is finally getting some of that 3rd party support they have been wanting, it only took them making a machine on par or better or worse (no one seems to really know right now) with the other ones out there.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Yes, they have a very impressive array of games I've played.
That said, if they had shown someone using the wiiu pad as a pip boy in Fallout 3, I may have had to buy that game again.
I was really hoping Nintendo would surprise me and make me say "wow."
But they didn't.

 

[Worgen]

Well it seems they're finally learning from the PS2. Took 'em long enough.

Sounds like nintendo is finally getting some of that 3rd party support they have been wanting, it only took them making a machine on par or better or worse (no one seems to really know right now) with the other ones out there.

It's a handheld and a Nintendo console, that doesn't make me optimistic.

I don't know, nintendo does awesome handhelds.

 

[JEBWrench]

Did someone say "Scribblenauts" and "Auto Mutt"?

I'm officially sold, my friend-guy Reggie.

 

[Worgen]

Well it seems they're finally learning from the PS2. Took 'em long enough.

Sounds like nintendo is finally getting some of that 3rd party support they have been wanting, it only took them making a machine on par or better or worse (no one seems to really know right now) with the other ones out there.

It's a handheld and a Nintendo console, that doesn't make me optimistic.

I don't know, nintendo does awesome handhelds.

As a handheld probably, but as a console overall?

Nintendo has made some great consoles, they just haven't had very good 3rd party support since the snes.

 

[BatteringVulpine]

Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

This was quite literally my first thought when I read the headline. No one will buy this game for the Wii U unless they also find a way to put in the first two games.

Unless (and I feel silly for thinking this) the Wii U has some way of reading your save files not only from your memory cards, but wirelessly from the hard drives of your other systems

Mind = blown

 

[GloatingSwine]

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

Presumably the same way Mass Effect 3 already does for people who hadn't played them?

 

[dashiz94]

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

Presumably the same way Mass Effect 3 already does for people who hadn't played them?

Except the default choices are fucking TERRIBLE and give you probably the worst way to start off the 3rd game regarding war assets and story progression.

 

[melikeyshootey]

I agree, without first playing ME1 or ME2, the default choices are quite poopy.

 

[GloatingSwine]

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

Presumably the same way Mass Effect 3 already does for people who hadn't played them?

Except the default choices are fucking TERRIBLE and give you probably the worst way to start off the 3rd game regarding war assets and story progression.

Well yes, but then this is the game that takes a massive watery shit all over your story choices at the end, so do you really thing that matters to them?

 

[karloss01]

i wouldn't bother with Mass Effect 3 if i was Nintendo. the game has been out a few months now, every spoiler and the whole ending thing is all over the place and not to mention that there are two prequels that sound like wii players won't be playing them. they should only be seeking 3rd party games that haven't come out yet so they can get better sales results, i'm pretty sure every wii owner either has a PC, PS3 or 360 that they've played ME3 on if they were interested in it.

 

[ivc392]

As I read the article a thought kept popping up in my mind. "Why?"
Seriously, being able to run old games from previous generations should not be a mayor selling point of a brand new console.

Seams like Nintendo main bushiness plan is "Nostalgia". Not only will they try to sell you the exact same games, with the same characters and mechanic you've been buying since NES. Now you can also get bran new copies of the 6thGen games you already own for the PS3/360.

Grate Nintendo, glad to see that some things never change.



PS: Remember when they released a crappier port of Force Unleashed for the Wii? Just saying... not that FU was a masterpiece to begin with but...

 

[OldNewNewOld]

I was thinking the same while I was watching Nintendo's presentation.

I have few ideas.

1. They let you play it as any other version, without the previous. You get the bad default choices and keep playing. Not really a fan of this option.

2. They will release the previous games together with the third one.
I know this is really unlikely, but they still have time to do it. I don't know the real numbers, but from some rumors, the disks the WiiU uses are up to 20 GB. That means they could make 2 disks for the whole trilogy.

Hell, this could even allow them to fix some things and improve the previous games if they want, which isn't really needed.

They could even make it play out as a single game, which would be really, really easy.
Just imagine it. You beat the first game, you get a nice cinematic and while the cinematic is playing, the second parts loads up. No interruption, no inserting a second disk.
It just continues like a single game.
Same for the transition from the second to third game.
The cinematic would a short explanation what happened between the games. nothing special, just something that makes the games connect better.

The only problem would be the transition between some mechanics in the game, but that's a price worth paying.

Considering that ME3 costs around 30$ now and the other 2 parts are 30$ together, selling it for 60$ at release would be an AWESOME deal. I mean, is there anyone who wouldn't buy it? Even if you have the whole trilogy on another platform, this is still worth it.

And they would still profit on it simply because they aren't making a new game. They are porting existing games.
From some older article about Ubisoft (if I remember correctly), it costs them less than 200k to port a AAA game from console to PC. From other developer we can see that porting games to the WiiU is easier than ever.

Well, this is obviously my favorit option, but least likely.

3. They will release the other games also, but sell them separately and overpriced.
Dunno if I hate this more than option 1.

 

[Negatempest]

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

Presumably the same way Mass Effect 3 already does for people who hadn't played them?

Except the default choices are fucking TERRIBLE and give you probably the worst way to start off the 3rd game regarding war assets and story progression.

Well yes, but then this is the game that takes a massive watery shit all over your story choices at the end, so do you really thing that matters to them?

just wanna say that your "choices" never really mattered since ME1.

 

[Baresark]

Does every single Nintendo article have to start with a comment about Nintendo's previous lack of third party support?

That said, that is all fine. I think the strongest thing they have going for them with this future generation is the ability to play games as other consoles have you play them. That is with dual analogs and shoulder buttons and what not. I still think it was the controller of the Wii which held it back. When it was done right, it was awesome. When anyone besides Nintendo did it, it was a travesty.

 

[The Great JT]

The big surprise, of course, was Mass Effect 3. Shepard can finish the fight against the Reapers on the Wii U, too. One can't help but wonder how they'll handle the decisions made in Mass Effect 1 and Mass Effect 2.

Okay this? This is when it's okay to release the "Mass Effect: The Trilogy" collection. If they can, maybe they can bundle up a Wii U port of Mass Effect 1, 2 and 3, all the DLC of the first two and maybe some console-exclusive stuff and charge $125 USD for it.