Nintendo Brings Unity Engine to Wii U

[Fanghawk]

Nintendo Brings Unity Engine to Wii U

Nintendo has signed a "long-term" license agreement to use the Unity Engine for in-house and third-party developers.

One is a long-running games company <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/103925-Nintendo-Admits-Its-Third-Party-Sales-Are-Pretty-Terrible>known for its lack of third-party support. The other is a popular game engine <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119221-Most-Popular-Mobile-Game-Engine-Heads-to-Windows-8-Phones>widely recognized by the indie gaming community. No one ever expected the two to join forces but now, as though they exist in some bizarre buddy cop movie, an unlikely partnership has formed between Nintendo and Unity Technologies to bring the indie-friendly Unity Engine to Wii U, presumably after both companies bust that drug kingpin and leap from an exploding helicopter. The license not only allows Nintendo to use Unity for first-party games, but also to distribute it among external developers, which might allow the Wii U to become a more open platform than its predecessor.

While details of the actual license agreement are still forthcoming, the fact that a license exists at all raises several intriguing possibilities. Nintendo <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115079-Nintendo-Wont-Let-Developers-Share-WiiWare-Sales-Numbers>hasn't always had the best relationship with third-party developers, something the company understandably doesn't want to repeat with the Wii U. The company already plans to <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111482-Nintendo-Opens-Doors-For-Steam-and-Other-Networks-on-Wii-U>open the system to third-party online networks, and the addition of Unity Engine support on top of that could draw back developers <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106429-Super-Meat-Boy-on-WiiWare-Would-Be-a-Piece-of-Sh-t>who found WiiWare restrictive as an indie platform.

Nintendo is currently in the process of optimizing Unity for the Wii U, with plans for an official release sometime in 2013. There's even the possibility that Nintendo's major franchises, including Super Mario or Kirby, might one day use the Unity Engine. We're unlikely to see any large-scale playable Unity projects for a few years, first-party or otherwise, but it's possible that popular games like Rochard could be quickly ported to the Wii U, allowing the system to quickly build up its games library with little effort on Nintendo's part.

Source: <a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-19-nintendo-licenses-unity-engine-for-wii-u-both-in-house-and-out>Eurogamer

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[BloodRed Pixel]

The first exciting thing I hear of the Wii U with all the implications this could bring...

 

[Guffe]

This could actually make Nintendo so much better than it actually is.
I might get a lot of hate for this, especially on this forum, but Nintendo rules. For me, I don't play more than maybe 6-10 games a year if I have the time (last year was very low on gaming) but I still played all I had time for. And I find their games good, enjoyable and have nothing aginst the motion control of the wii, althou the button + touchscreen on the wiiU seems like a really neat thing, and a wider gamelibrary is bad in no way.

 

[JediMB]

Very good news, I dare say.

After that whole "we have to flip the world to make Link right-handed" thing in Twilight Princess, I've had serious doubts about Nintendo's ability to create game engines that, you know, make sense. (Although that doesn't seem to stop them from making awesome games.)

Them working with Unity Technologies sounds like a good thing to me.

 

[GenGenners]

I was going to say something nice about this, but then the captcha popped up and said 'Umbrella Corporation'. Now this news makes me paranoid >_>

 

[disgruntledgamer]

Well they can add all the developer friendly Engines they want, but until I see the games I'll never be convinced. Nintendo is trying to win back the hardcore crowd whom they turned their back on, so sue me if I don't completely trust them to not pull what they did with the Wii once they get the console in my house.

 

[Rad Party God]

This could actually make Nintendo so much better than it actually is.
I might get a lot of hate for this, especially on this forum, but Nintendo rules. For me, I don't play more than maybe 6-10 games a year if I have the time (last year was very low on gaming) but I still played all I had time for. And I find their games good, enjoyable and have nothing aginst the motion control of the wii, althou the button + touchscreen on the wiiU seems like a really neat thing, and a wider gamelibrary is bad in no way.

Spoiler: Bwuh? Some love for Nintendo on The Escapist forums?

Despite it's (many) shortcomings, the Wii was a great console overall and maybe I'm one of the few human beings on this planet who actually, at least, didn't have much trouble with it's motion controls.

With each passing day, the WiiU looks like it could actually be a worthwile console, I'll wait a bit longer to see how this turns out and I hope it doesn't get too expensive in my country.