Metroid Prime Dev: Wii U is a Powerhouse, We're Making a New Game For it

[EvilRoy]

of course the Wii U is a powerhouse; however, due to 3rd parties constantly throwing tantrums and trying to make everything homogenized, they've rendered themselves incapable of working on custom hardware. I thought the old adage was that if you wanted something to work right you had to put in effort. Thinking otherwise is both naive and stupid.

Agreed,I'll be the first to say that many AAA game devs and publsihers have gotten extremely lazy.

I've never really understood that point of view. I mean, consider it from the perspective of a customer. There are three phones on the market that you could buy and use. Two of them are fairly similar, and very familiar in terms of how they operate to phones that you have used in the past. They are just upgrades of your old phone, with new features unique to each. The third phone is a good phone, and when in proper use comparable to the other phones with its own unique features. However, in order to use the third phone, you have to learn Esperanto.

If you don't already speak Esperanto, why would you ever pick the third phone? The only reason would be if the unique features are ones that you really want. So if you don't think the features are that great, and choose one of the other two phones, are you a lazy consumer or a smart one?

And that's the thing - third party devs do not work for the console companies, nor do they owe them anything. Third party developers are consumers of consoles just as much as players are, and make the same kind of value judgments that a player would when choosing which consoles to develop for. Lazy implies that the console somehow deserves patronage, and choosing not to patronize is somehow skirting or avoiding your duties, but that is not an apt description of the relationship in play.

 

[Nixou]

due to 3rd parties constantly throwing tantrums and trying to make everything homogenized, they've rendered themselves incapable of working on custom hardware

It's not that AAA devs want to "homogenize" everything, it's that their leadrships deluded themselves into thinking that increase in processing power will make craftmanship redundant

 

['Record Stops.']

Sees Nintendo Thread on the Escapist, aptly predicts that PC Master Race, Rael Gaymers, and Nintendo H8ers will clog up the thread with a miasma of loathing and disgust for a company that isn't nearly half the devil that EA is. Gets proven right yet again.

Is there any point to everyone here crapping on Nintendo at this point? We just seem to be breaking out tired old arguments and circle jerking hatred for a company that by all honesty isn't evil, doesn't do blatantly dickish things like Capcom, Ubisoft, and EA have and still do. And is more or less trying to adapt to the times, it's like every-time someone, even someone well respected for making games people REALLY liked has anything remotely kind to say to Nintendo, the Escapist Thought Police are on the screen with propaganda against the company.

Then there's the Glorious Escapist N.D.F who usually arrive on the scene with facts and arguments that just annoy the thread posters, then a few people get warnings for their posts, the arguments begin again, and the cycle of hatred continues.

Can't we just have one thread, just one, complimenting Nintendo without an instant Flame-storm coming towards it to just clog the forums up with more hate? From what I observed, a lot of long time Escapist users have actually left the forums due to the sheer unrelenting cynicism and hatred.

Last I checked, we're not Something Awful, although I'm fairly certain a good chunk of the users here have come from there.


OT: Well if Retro Studios are making another Metroid game, all I have to say is this. About frakin' time guys, you let the idiot who turned Metroid into his personal fanfiction screw around with Samus to such a degree that effectively turned her into a shell of her former self, and have been pissing around with Donkey Kong games during that time. It's about, fuckin', time you get back to making Metroid games.

 

[EvilRoy]

of course the Wii U is a powerhouse; however, due to 3rd parties constantly throwing tantrums and trying to make everything homogenized, they've rendered themselves incapable of working on custom hardware. I thought the old adage was that if you wanted something to work right you had to put in effort. Thinking otherwise is both naive and stupid.

Agreed,I'll be the first to say that many AAA game devs and publsihers have gotten extremely lazy.

I've never really understood that point of view. I mean, consider it from the perspective of a customer. There are three phones on the market that you could buy and use. Two of them are fairly similar, and very familiar in terms of how they operate to phones that you have used in the past. They are just upgrades of your old phone, with new features unique to each. The third phone is a good phone, and when in proper use comparable to the other phones with its own unique features. However, in order to use the third phone, you have to learn Esperanto.

If you don't already speak Esperanto, why would you ever pick the third phone? The only reason would be if the unique features are ones that you really want. So if you don't think the features are that great, and choose one of the other two phones, are you a lazy consumer or a smart one?

And that's the thing - third party devs do not work for the console companies, nor do they owe them anything. Third party developers are consumers of consoles just as much as players are, and make the same kind of value judgments that a player would when choosing which consoles to develop for. Lazy implies that the console somehow deserves patronage, and choosing not to patronize is somehow skirting or avoiding your duties, but that is not an apt description of the relationship in play.

If that was the case then there would'nt be special partnerships with many game devs/publishers and a console company.If AAA game devs are bitching about how Nintendo consoles are too restricting YET at the same time have no problem making games for a console like the XBONE then their priorities are skewed.

Most AAA game devs have shown a tendency to half ass everything and blame it on someone else.

Sure there would, the logic is still consistent, special partnerships are functionally similar to loyalty rewards.

Imagine if every phone you owned up to now was an HTC and the three new phones are by HTC, Sony and Samsung. Why not just get the HTC? You already know and like HTC phones, the only reason to change would be if you were unsatisfied with your last HTC. It doesn't matter if HTC has particular limits or quirks, because you already know them, and anyway you would have to learn a whole new language just to pick up the weird one of the other two, despite the only minor difference in utility.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

I don't want a Wii U ( and neither a Xbox One or PS4, but adamant against Wii U the most) mostly because I have my PC for games, and lately a whole bunch of Japanese games have been coming, so I'll be safe.

Not to mention, I need a computer for school anyway, so it makes more sense to have one multipurpose system.

and there are only so many times I can play Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon SPinoffs etc. Sure, they incorporate new ideas each entry, but seriously I am sick of those characters lol.

And no, I don't buy Call of Duty or Madden, in response to the argument ( Call of Duty and Madden do it! I bet you like those games, right?)

There are games that I want to play, Bayonetta 2, A New Zelda, X, etc, but at the same time, there will always be other games to play, and many of those other games AREN'T coming to Nintendo's system.

Wii was a dissapointment. I stopped using it after a year of play ( Course the year after I started itching for a PC)

But...a new Mother and you have a sale.

 

[Something Amyss]

That's just not true. It's a powerhouse. It's more than adequate to make great games on.

That's a non-sequitur. Of course it's more than adequate to make great games on. So's the SNES. Doesn't mean it's a technological rival to current consoles.

 

[Something Amyss]

And it does'nt need to be.Fancy hardware does'nt equal good games,you can make a game that's entirely fun with 8 bit graphics and it would still be superior to a game that only has photo realism going for it.

I know....That's exactly what I just said.

The issue was their claim that the Wii U was a powerhouse, and their justification being you could make good games on it.

 

[EvilRoy]

Snip

Except Nintendo consoles aren't alien technology that no game dev can understand.On the contrary since their hardware is usually simple yet designed for making games,so there should be no excuses for why third party devs are whining about their hardware.

It all comes down to laziness for which most of the AAA game industry has has reveled in for quite some time.

Actually, in the very article this thread is based on there is a quote from a developer who has only ever worked on Nintendo systems stating that there was a steep learning curve going from the Wii to the Wii U, so it would seem that the new console is not as easy to develop for as others have claimed up to this point. If a group that has only ever worked with Nintendo products had a harder than normal time getting into the Wii U, what would it be like for a group that has only ever worked with their products tangentially?

It is entirely possible that this is an issue of competence of the given developer here, but at the same time the Wii U hardware is actually becoming steadily alien. They were already quite different from the other consoles last generation, and this generation the difference has only become more obvious as Nintendo remains using unique architecture, while the other two move towards the more standardized x86 architecture.

Once again, consider it from a customers point of view. Why should I have to learn a whole new language just to use your phone, when there are two other phones that are just as nice right over here that I can use out of the box. What can your phone offer me in return for spending the time, effort and cash just to learn how to operate it? Its not being lazy, its being a smart consumer.

 

[st0pnsw0p]

When was the last time a next gen game had improved on any of things you described?The only thing next gen console hardware does is try to push the graphical ceiling.Also not everyone is jumping on the next gen bandwagon considering there are plenty of games still being made for the 360/PS3.

I hear that Shadow Fall's levels are more open than those of previous games in the series, and CD Projekt said that The Witcher 3 couldn't be done on the PS3 or 360. The guys developing Evolve said the same about their game, too. And yes, there are still games coming out for PS3 and 360, just like there were still games coming out for the PS2 after PS3 released, for the PS1 after PS2 released, for the NES after SNES released, and for pretty much every single console ever once their successor was released. It's nothing new, and certainly not indicative of anything particular to the 8th gen. Devs will move on from the 7th gen soon, like they moved on from all the other gens.

 

[Hutzpah Chicken]

If they can make a new Metroid that is more open world and less needless narration and quick-time events, that could persuade me to spend money on a Wii U.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

I'm guessing you didn't read the article? They say that they can do so much more with the Wii U and aren't held back by the hardware limitations of the console. Compared to the PS4, Xbone and PC, it's nothing spectacular, but compared to all other consoles, it's a powerhouse and its hardware is good enough that devs can do pretty much whatever they want with it.

Frankly, with the PS4/Xbone, there's a lot of wasted power, unless unprofitable amounts of money are pumped into the development of the game, and then the advertising, there's literally no way developers can make ridiculously high end games bar for tech demonstrations.

I was gonna say, why give more than what's needed? People keep banging on about the PS4 and XB1, but ultimately there's no way any dev is actually going to use them to their fullest potential. I still maintain the PS3 and 360 are far from tapped out because it's obvious that devs didn't learn efficiency with them. And if they don't learn how to be efficient NOW then they're only going to suffer when they're forced to start being lateral instead of brute-forcing things.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Nintendo is kind of like that freind you have who can't see to get things started, we've got to the "Look Nintendo, we love you but You're a mess" stage.

There is so much wrong with the gaming industry right now, we are downing in a see of buggy £55 AAA release with 'freemium' DLC policies, belligerent gaming executives raping their beloved franchises and giant corporations attempting to stamp out consumer rights. Nintendo does not suffer from these new evils and it has made them look better of late but they do so much else wrong that i am starting to wonder if they don't so these things simply because they are so irreverent and outmoded they can't adapt at all; good or bad.

One thing is crystal clear though; the Wii was a fluke. As many long time gamers predicted Nintendo's new audience was fickle, software too sparse and the offerings too reminiscent of what Nintendo has been doing for decades.

Nintendo has quite a history in gaming; One that does not lend itself well to adapting to market trends.
Which includes the good and the bad trends.

And the Wii was a fluke; a fluke that fits Nintendo's persona perfectly: "We do what we want."
Whether that something is backwards, bizarre or gimmicky as sin.

 

[Nixou]

Frankly, with the PS4/Xbone, there's a lot of wasted power, unless unprofitable amounts of money are pumped into the development of the game, and then the advertising, there's literally no way developers can make ridiculously high end games bar for tech demonstrations.

Personally, I've become convinced that we'll soon reach the point were good big budget games are "prestige" projects: basically games that are not meant to be profitable by themselves (even if they sell 5 to 10 million copies) but to advertise the talent of its makers and push the public to associate their brand with quality products so they're pushed to buy their other, less expansive games.

 

[Ipsen]

And it does'nt need to be.Fancy hardware does'nt equal good games,you can make a game that's entirely fun with 8 bit graphics and it would still be superior to a game that only has photo realism going for it.

I know....That's exactly what I just said.

The issue was their claim that the Wii U was a powerhouse, and their justification being you could make good games on it.

Is this really an issue, though?

I think you rightfully claimed that Retro's statement is a non sequitur, apparently that's not all, judging from the direction this thread (and really this type of thread always takes). It seems most here would rather equate technical ability to quality game design, and that's another argument, if not just silly and off-mark.

Retro's comment is plain silly; there should be more jokes than anything in this thread. But it can be just as silly to correlate what constitutes good game design and technical prowess (and the competitions it tends to breed).