| June 07 |
Dave Mirra BMX
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| June 07 | PuzzleBall |
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June 07 |
Shrek the Third |
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Wii UK Roundtable - Wii Software | |
James Hobbs & Jonathan Westlake |
Will the announcement of Wii Software result in yet more mini-games for Wii, or are developers likely
to pounce on the opportunity to create some truly innovative motion-based titles?
James
I can't imagine any major developers bothering to do anything except port their older titles over to Wii Software. Half of them can't even be bothered
to put in the effort when it comes to full price games, so the cynical side of me ( worryingly more prevalent these days ) suspects that they
definitely won't give a monkeys about pouring resources into creating some really nifty Live Arcade-esque games.
However, I don't think that's necessarily bad - porting old PC titles ( for example ) over to be downloaded onto Wii would allow a larger audience
to play them, and there's definitely some classics in the back catalogue of PC developers that would make a lovely transition onto Wii.
Some absolute stinkers too, but that's beside the point.
No, the main thing that people should be getting excited about is the little guys that haven't had the opportunity to develop for Wii yet. With any
luck Nintendo will provide a decent set of development tools so that smaller developers and even bedroom coders can have a crack at making some games,
and I believe that this is where the really good stuff will emerge from. It's critical for Nintendo to support smaller developers and I really hope
that they will - if nothing else, if a game selling for a couple of quid really catches on it could start something massive, and they'd be raking
in even more than they do already.
It'll be interesting to see if Nintendo make development tools for Wii Ware public in the same way that Microsoft have with their Xbox Live Arcade XDK.
Somehow, I don't think they will, at least not at first.
I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
Jonathan W
I think even the developers know that there are a glut of mini games on the Wii now and probably wont be developing a series of mini-games as a package for this channel.
Probably more likely is that we will have individual short or limited scope games that are sold for a few quid instead.
There's also the distinct possibility that we will get remade classic games from the Amiga era (eg: Lemmings/Worms/Cannon Fodder/Megalomania/Z) as these could easily
utilise the Wii's controls (largely a pointer) while making for a small download and cashing in on a known brand.
As for truly innovative motion based titles, well yes I think we will see them, but not from the main developers who are more likely to save their innovation for
the full priced titles instead. Instead, I think we will see them from small games studios and hobbyists. This may come at a price in terms of polish, but if a concept
succeeds, then I have no doubt it will be replicated by the bigger studios.
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