Official Wii Thread: Part 5

[Geen]

Mario Galaxy looks like the most exciting creative work ever conceived by the mind of man.

I don't care, I still think it's fun.

... and...

SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH SMASH noooowwwwwwwwww....

Oh, and, bring Panel de Pon online or the dead fish are going to start coming, Nintendo.

[Shin Johnpv]

Metroid Prime 3 is going to rock. That is all.

[MarkRyan]

Metroid Prime 3 is going to rock. That is all.

This is my ardent wish. I expect good things.

[StriderKyo]

We open a new thread... only to have it invalidated by Strider because every new post will fall into those headings.

Well played sir.

Actually, I was hoping people would take it as a challenge to say something different than they did for the first four threads, but hey, whatever works for you guys.

What I am wondering is, when will a talented AAA level development team build a game from the ground up that takes advantage of the Wii, yet still appeals to the most hardcore of players.

Prime 3 should be that game. Kojima also has something planned, it'll be interesting to see if his team goes balls-out for it, or if they just toss another Boktai type effort on there.

[MarkRyan]

Kojima also has something planned, it'll be interesting to see if his team goes balls-out for it, or if they just toss another Boktai type effort on there.

Not that Boktai isn't awesome (first one, at least), but yeah, it'd be rad to see a project like ZOE (not actually ZOE) on Wii--full production Kojima game that's not Metal Gear.

[Shin Johnpv]

This is my ardent wish. I expect good things.

As do I, since you are one of the few that may be in the know, can you give any hint as to it's release date? Have you or your fellow igners heard anything. I'm really hoping that it's no later than March/April. I have faith in Retro that they can make this one even better than the first one.

Prime 3 should be that game. Kojima also has something planned, it'll be interesting to see if his team goes balls-out for it, or if they just toss another Boktai type effort on there.

See but I quite liked Boktai, at least the first one I never did manage to get the second one I should though. I'm also looking forward to Lunar Knights next week. I can see what you are saying though about a full on, full design team behind it Kojima Wii project. I'd love to see it and I do hope that the Wii game that is coming from him isn't just like the GC one where it was a remake of a metal gear game.

[Space Pirate Roberts]

What I am wondering is, when will a talented AAA level development team build a game from the ground up that takes advantage of the Wii, yet still appeals to the most hardcore of players.

Is it impossible to impress the hardcore without graphics?

Not often, is my fear. And it's not really about what can or can't "impress the hardcore," but rather about how the developers want to work. There was a string of posts in the last thread talking about the Gabe Newell being interviewed in Game Informer. At the end of the interview he made some positive remarks about the Wii, but as several posters pointed out, he seems to have nothing in development for it, and indeed, it would be an odd step for his company to do so, given their history of technological envelope-pushing.

This got me thinking: most artists, in any field, strive to constantly produce better work, topping their own achievements and those of their colleagues. In the field of video game development, technology is very much a part of the art. Creating more detailed graphics, fitting more objects on a screen, improving artificial intelligence... these aren't things developers do for commercial reasons alone. They are also - and in many cases moreso - expressions of the artist's drive to better his art. Many developers are personally more interested in improving the technology that makes their game-worlds and the characters/creatures inhabiting them believable at the moment-to-moment, interactive level than in improving the aspects of the artform that aren't really dependent upon technology, such as storytelling at the outermost, whole-game level.

Like all artists, game developers strive constantly against the limits of their medium. They have perhaps been fortunate, then, that the limits of their particular medium have been ratcheted further skyward every five years or so.
And this is where the Wii hits the brick wall. Faced with the choice between an admittedly exciting new control paradigm and the ability to continue pushing the technological envelope, Newell and his peers will I believe largely choose the latter - it is in their nature as artists in a field where technology is an inherent part of the art. Now, many of them have expressed some interest in the Wii, but it seems hard to believe this will amount to more than a few amusing side-projects as they pour the lion's share of their efforts into the systems that allow them to continue doing what it is they do.

This is of course all ignoring the masses of developers who have little control over what they make, but then again, those weren't the ones you asked about. :P

I can see what you are saying though about a full on, full design team behind it Kojima Wii project. I'd love to see it and I do hope that the Wii game that is coming from him isn't just like the GC one where it was a remake of a metal gear game.

You shut your mouth. MGS + Wiimote aiming = hot hot sex. That being said, an original MGS for Wii would be preferable to a remake.

[Zerodash]

I Have nothing to say other than I am posting this from the wii internet browser...after spinning a globe for an hour.

[Yoshi]

Give the Wii a year. If we aren't hearing about major stuff from AAA developers that take full advantage of what the Wii can do, then I'll admit it's in trouble.

A year my ass. It has until E3 ends. Nothing announced after that is going to make a 2007 release anyway.

Right now, though, it's a really fun toy with some stupidly fun goofy-ass games.

You're half right. It's not any fun, but it does have goofy-ass games. Sonic can't get here soon enough. If it sucks, the Wii is a doorstop until the summer at least.

I take that back. Konami VC games will get it to be turned on... if they would release more than one viable one. I'm not buying NES Gradius for Christ's sake.

[PKBMax]

Is it impossible to impress the hardcore without graphics?

The very definition of a hardcore gamer used to be someone who valued gameplay above graphics or licenses. So the answer is yes.

Unfortunately marketing buffoons have managed to mutate the definition of a hardcore gamer to someone who buys a 70" HDMI flatscreen and surround sound system to play Madden. Those people will never be impressed by a wide breadth of titles and genres -- even with mind-altering graphics -- because they weren't gamers to begin with.