Nintendo President Says Third-Party Publishers Don't Get It

[Zer_]

There is a new FPS coming out for the Wii that promises to outdo the predecessors. This game is called The Conduit. This developer is taking the Wii's graphical capabilities to the edge, and giving the controls a lot of forethought.

Anyways check the game out, I'm so far very impressed by what I've seen.

Also, The Conduit has full support for Wii Motion Plus, the recently announced attachment that improves the Wiimote's motion tracking abilities.

Also here's a quote from the Gamespy preview.

Will mentioned the intuitive controls that use a combination of the Nunchuck for movement and Wii Remote for aiming, but it's the mutability of these controls that makes them so easy to get used to. The Conduit features an unparalleled amount of control over how it interprets your movements, so if it doesn't handle exactly how you want it to, you can always adjust it to better fit how you want to play. You can alter the size and proportions of the bounding box, meaning that you can fine-tune when you want the Wii Remote to turn your character and when you only want the targeting reticule to move. The horizontal and vertical detection settings are independent, so if you want to turn quickly but look up and down more slowly you can set the controls to accommodate your preference by scaling the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the bounding box.

This is good news for us players. Many more aspects of the controls are able to be tailored to our tastes, which already promises to improve the overall quality of the controls.

 

[Zer_]

PS3 and 360 have different core OS's, different hardware, and some lil other differences, but they are far more similar to eachother than they are to the Wii. And their differences are not as insurmountable as the Wii's are. Never said cross-console development was easy, but with those two systems it is possible. T'was much easier with the PS2 and the original XBox, but even with the current gen it can be done. The biggest factor is knowing ahead of time if you're going to cross-platform because certain considerations have to be taken into account from the start. A game exclusively designed for 360 cannot be later ported to the PS3, but one that was pre-coded for the possibility might. Either way, they both port to the PC easy enough (easy compared to dual-console porting).

Regardless, the PS3 is the most difficult console to develop for (ever). The Force Unleashed during its development cycle was significantly delayed because of the PS3. Also, saying the PS3 has "different hardware" is a bit vague especially considering the fact that the Processor alone is so radically different. Now programming for 7 cores already is a bit more time consuming. The biggest factor in the PS3's hardware that makes it so hard to develop for is the asymmetrical design of the Cell processor.

Also any game that is developed starts its life on the PC. Engine coding and 3D artwork are all done on the PC. The development kits for the PS3 and 360 are more like PCs then they are Consoles. In fact the dev kits are so different that some bug that would never appear on the dev kits will rear their ugly heads on the test kits or the console itself (Test kits, for all intents and purposes ARE the consoles, minus a few software differences).

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Regardless, the PS3 is the most difficult console to develop for (ever).

Any proof, or are you just pulling that out of your ass?

 

[whyarecarrots]

why? because it is different? maybe if you read about it you'd understand how the thought process began instead of just judging senselessly.

Judging senselessly is maybe being a bit harsh. I see what they're doing in design terms, and I think the gameplay idea is very imaginative. I just think the package they chose to wrap it in is slightly bizarre/worrying.

I phrased my first post badly and didn't explain what I meant. Sorry.

 

[Killerbunny001]

The Wii is an underpowered console that on many occasions doesn`t get any attention because it is just not worth it. All previous attempts on greatness from the third party have failed, and only Nintendo has titles that were actually any good and even Nintendo is running out of ideas - Wii Music said it all.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Regardless, the PS3 is the most difficult console to develop for (ever).

Any proof, or are you just pulling that out of your ass?

I'd say a little from column A, and a little from Column B.
No proof to back this, but I've always been told that the PS2 was absurdly hard to program for (as opposed to the PSX which was apparently shit-easy) which led to such a long time between when the PS2 launched, and the first actually decent games began to come out. My guess is the PS3 probably isn't any more friendly to work with.

FFX came out not too long after launch.

 

[theklng]

why? because it is different? maybe if you read about it you'd understand how the thought process began instead of just judging senselessly.

Judging senselessly is maybe being a bit harsh. I see what they're doing in design terms, and I think the gameplay idea is very imaginative. I just think the package they chose to wrap it in is slightly bizarre/worrying.

I phrased my first post badly and didn't explain what I meant. Sorry.

it wasn't how your first post was phrased, it was the content i was referring to. explain to me why it is "slightly worrying"... and compared to what. i'm trying to make you see that your way of looking at things is limited by your "normalization", which is a judgment set by society.

don't let society dictate your rules, form your own opinions out from what you think and feel, and stop comparing everything to "the norm". there's a world out there that you're missing out on because of this.

 

[Pigeon_Grenade]

My thoughts on the matter, 3rd party devs are being led astray from their need to multi-platform their products. The 360 and PS3 are so similar in design that pretty much anything designed for one will work on the other, while the Wii is vastly different, and as such the devs are forced to choose between their product's availability on one system or two. Add to that, the MS/Sony systems also translate well to PC ports, while Nintendo's Wiimote and other trademark features exclude PC versions of Wii games.

So from an uninformed business perspective, Wii seems like a bad choice because your market is restricted to Wii owners only, while the other market targets PS3, XBox, and PC. But, just because you can release for three platforms, doesn't mean people will buy it on more than one. That in mind, compare the number of 360's and PS3 sales to Wii sales, and Wii becomes the smart choice. Wii has outsold the other two combined, and is still selling like Mountain Dew flavored crack, whereas the PS3 has flopped and a significant chunk of 360 system sales are replacements for RROD corpses.

so thats what the red ring of death looks like, you really gotta have balls too have a indicator for when your systems dead..

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I'd say a little from column A, and a little from Column B.
No proof to back this, but I've always been told that the PS2 was absurdly hard to program for (as opposed to the PSX which was apparently shit-easy) which led to such a long time between when the PS2 launched, and the first actually decent games began to come out. My guess is the PS3 probably isn't any more friendly to work with.

FFX came out not too long after launch.

I know it's treading dangerous ground, but one could argue that FFX wasn't that great.

Just as one can argue that any game wasn't that great. For example, I don't really like Metal Gear Solid, due to the stealth gameplay. That doesn't stop it from being critically acclaimed, just like FFX. FFX has a Metacritic score of 92% after 53 reviews , whereas Metal Gear Solid has a 94% on Metacric after 20 reviews. So the point can be made that, critically at least, FFX is truly considered a great game.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

Funny. The DS has more hardcore based games on their console, like Castlevania and Dementium. Honestly, I thought the Wii would gain a lot of controversy with this console. The controls seem ideal for a first person, horror, or a stealth game, and even the sheer amount of interaction using motion controls would make it a bit of a controversy. Snapping necks with the nunchuck and wii remote, or even beating people with a bat using the remote seem possible with that controller. but I imagine that too many people would piss and moan, and that would destroy their reputation as a family friendly company.

That's the problem with the demographic the Wii is aiming for. It inspired too many developers to submit their own family friendly bullshit gimmick games, and as a result, it's loaded with more shovelware than mobile games.

 

[AceDiamond]

*cough* Wii Music *cough*

*cough* Is actually good *cough*

Seriously though given EA's propensity to heap shovelware onto the Wii for the longest time (not sure if they're still doing it since EA is pretty much dead to me), I would definetely say that third parties really don't get it.

 

[RyuGaiden]

What Nintendo needs is some kind of quality control. EGM did an article on it a while back, and there is no concept approval process for the Wii, unlike with Sony and Microsoft. That's part of the reason why there's so much shovelware on the system.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

*cough* Wii Music *cough*

*cough* Is actually good *cough*

Seriously though given EA's propensity to heap shovelware onto the Wii for the longest time (not sure if they're still doing it since EA is pretty much dead to me), I would definetely say that third parties really don't get it.

An easier and more accessible version of a game that's an easier and more accessible version of playing music? Maybe it's just because I don't do Guitar Hero but either way I don't think Nintendo can claim they totally know what they're doing with the Wii either. Out of the games that are outside their core franchises, only Wii Sports has held mass appeal.

 

[AceDiamond]

Nintendo President to Third Party Producers: "Fuck you! Do better!"

Me to Reggie: Grow up, stop whining and blaming others for your problems.

Yes because being immensely profitable despite not catering to whiny demanding hardcore gamers is such a problem.

An easier and more accessible version of a game that's an easier and more accessible version of playing music? Maybe it's just because I don't do Guitar Hero but either way I don't think Nintendo can claim they totally know what they're doing with the Wii either. Out of the games that are outside their core franchises, only Wii Sports has held mass appeal.

To be fair I have not actually played Wii Music but one of my friends has it and he's enjoyed it. Since he's not a stupid person or a Child I can say that it's good and that people have been perhaps too harsh on it. I will agree that it has not been a commercial success thus far of course, but then again Nintendo has not been perfect (see: Virtual Boy)