Gearbox Co-Founder Calls Wii U a Bridge Between Console Generations

[Logan Westbrook]

Gearbox Co-Founder Calls Wii U a Bridge Between Console Generations

The Wii U's specifications haven't been finalized, but Gearbox is excited about what it's seen so far.

Brian Martel, one of the founders of Gearbox Software, most recently of Duke Nukem Forever fame, says that the Wii U isn't so much the start of a new console generation, as it is a bridge between current hardware, and whatever the likes of Microsoft and Sony release in the future.

Martel said that while the final technical specifications for the Wii U were still unconfirmed, Gearbox liked the system a lot, especially as it was much better suited to the type of hardcore, FPS experiences that the studio created. He said that Gearbox had got the Aliens: Colonial Marines engine running on the console, with sharper textures than those seen on currently available technology.

He was also excited about the potential presented by the Wii U's unique controller. Colonial Marines, presented a number of possibilities, he said, from the motion tracker screen to the sentry gun information. "That stuff is really sexy for us. Getting the information off the screen and onto this device is a fantastic idea, right? So can we have a HUD-less environment? Yeah, probably. That would be fantastic, right?"

It will be interesting to see if other developers make as good use of the Wii U's unique capabilities, especially on multiplatform titles. While the features, like movement and the touch screen, present a lot of interesting possibilities, they also mean more time and money on the part of the developer, and it's hard to see them being used to the fullest when a studio is also working on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC versions as well.

Source: IGN AU [http://uk.wii.ign.com/articles/118/1180954p1.html?]



Permalink

 

[Rad Party God]

That could be potentially epic. Motion tracker on the controller, while making the iconic "beep" noises. It would be pretty sweet to see how many bullets I have left on the controller instead of the onscreen HUD. Color me interested on this.

 

[shrekfan246]

Isn't an FPS without a HUD usually considered the "Hard" difficulty?

I've been a skeptic of this thing since day one, and while I think the technology to be able to look at your HUD on the controller instead of the screen is cool, I really don't want to have to be looking down at my lap in the middle of a fire-fight to determine if I need to switch weapons or not because of ammo. EDIT: Or hold the controller up in front of my face to point at the screen, etc. Do I think it has the potential to be awesome and that the technology is cool? Yeah, sure. But it's not why I play games.

I would love to have extra or non-vital information displayed on the controller screen. But a HUD-less FPS isn't as exciting as they're trying to make it sound, except for all of the difficulty buffs who ramp up a game to the "Impossible" setting the first time they play it.

EDIT TWO: Dead Space had a HUD-less setup too, and I didn't really find it any more immersive than, say, Bioshock. HUDs aren't nearly as large and intrusive as they used to be, and most of the time I really don't even notice them unless I'm actively paying attention to things like Health, Ammo, Mana/Magic McGuffin, and it would be extremely inconvenient for me to need to look away from the main screen where I'm being attacked just to see that vital information.

EDIT THREE (Because I never get out everything I'm thinking the first time): To put my opinion in the most simple form I can think of, every step that a game/system takes toward removing immersion from the formula (In this case requiring you to look away from the main screen to a secondary screen on a piece of hardware usually held at a much lower position to be comfortable and/or requiring said piece of hardware to occasionally be held up toward the main screen and/or used in gimmicky ways) is a step in a very wrong direction.

 

[Zhukov]

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that having the hud on your controller is a terrible idea for any real-time game.

Looking away from the screen to check your ammo count is just asking for an undignified digital death.

 

[GeorgW]

I'm really dubious of the new generation. I'd like this one to be it. I've reached my threshold of how good a game can look, I don't want to pay for even more. This middlepoint sounds perfect, let's keep it that way.

 

[Myoukochou]

Something about the Wii U scares me, and what I think it is is the timing.

What were the last consoles that "bridged" the main generations of consoles; whose release occurred sort of mid-way between them?

Atari Jaguar
Sega Saturn
Sega Dreamcast

I think you can see the problem here.

Now, the Wii U definitely can't be as bad as the Atari Jaguar. That's a console so bad it required Atari's... special talent to craft. (Yes, I have one. It has a couple of brilliant games - Tempest 2000, the original Alien vs. Predator, Iron Soldier; it has a couple of clearly very technically difficult ports; but only Atari could have made such a console and thought it a good idea. I mean, the controller, really?! The toilet seat look?)

What I'm concerned about is that the Wii U is going to slot itself firmly into the Sega Dreamcast territory: being bizarre, experimental, really quite awesome and underrated, with a great controller - but being a serious problem for the company when its new, way-more-advanced-looking competitors come out before it's picked up any serious momentum (with much better hardware, because 12 months is a long time in graphics cards).

Going mid-generation is a VERY risky strategy. I don't believe it's worked for anyone so far.

Still: I skipped the Wii. (Don't ask me why, because I'm actually not sure, but part of me feels it's a better party-and-casual-gamers console than a single-player beast, and I'm aware that's Nintendo's thinking behind this new thing.) I might get a Wii U. Maybe.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

I'm really dubious of the new generation. I'd like this one to be it. I've reached my threshold of how good a game can look, I don't want to pay for even more. This middlepoint sounds perfect, let's keep it that way.

Well on the tech side what I think should be improved would be more RAM and various other little tweaks like that to help games run at a more or less constant 60FPS on consoles. That is really the only improvement I want to see.

 

[NLS]

Having the radar on the controller is great. Plus, afaik, the radar in colonial marines is a separate weapon sort of, not part of the hud.(I only got this from screenshots, don't trust me on it)
Looking down to your controller is a quick thing to do, so this would actually be faster and more secure than the old implementation.
EDIT:
I just read up on it again, Colonial Marines won't have any HUD, so this actually makes the game easier