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Comments: 185 +-   Everybody Loves the Wii on Wednesday August 02 2006, @12:56PM

Posted by Zonk on Wednesday August 02 2006, @12:56PM
from the uber-software dept.
nintendo
business
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1up is reporting on Ubisoft's enthusiastic adoption of the Wii platform. They'd previously only had two titles announced for the system (Red Steel and a Rayman game), but now claim to have seven different titles in production. From the article: "Ubisoft North America President Laurent Detoc ... praised the Wii several times during the panel, stating that he expects it to have 'a large audience and market.' He also stated that he personally felt that in a time when fewer and fewer games appeal to him, the Wii offers plenty of enjoyment. 'The first time I picked up that sucker I couldn't stop playing it.'" Ars Technica is also reporting that EA is gung-ho about the system. From that article: "EA not only indicated that they are taking the Wii and DS seriously, but the company also hinted that they will follow Nintendo's guidance and release games at or near the $49.99 price point. Nintendo has urged developers and publishers to respect the $49.99 price point, believing that it reflects a value advantage over other consoles. EA did not offer a firm commitment to that pricing, contrary to reports elsewhere."
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  • A game idea: NSFW (Score:5, Funny)

    by Ohreally_factor (593551) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @12:59PM (#15833520) Journal
    I just had a really sick idea for a game that would take full advantage of the Wiimote: Nintendo Bukkake 2006!

    I'll leave the terrible details to your imagination.

  • Feedback Loop (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Alaren (682568) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:01PM (#15833534) Homepage

    This is exactly the kind of feedback loop Nintendo needs for the Wii to succeed. More games = larger audience = more games. See also: PSP versus DS...

    As a long-time Nintendo fan, I'm more excited for this coming Christmas than I've been in years.

    • The freedom of nothing to lose (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sterno (16320) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:42PM (#15833929) Homepage
      The reality is that Nintendo's in an excellent position. They have a solid cash cow in the portable market and if the Wii was a total flop, it wouldn't kill them. Even if the Wii sucked they could reasonably plan to keep the market share they currently have with the Game Cube. This gives them the freedom to get a little bit experimental with the Wii and take a risk and this is why the Wii looks like it might be a winner. The Wii offers a unique experience and is cheap enough that owning one in addition to a PS3 or 360 isn't unreasonable.

      For similar reasons, Microsoft is in a good position because they have piles of cash and big time cash cows in office software and operating systems. They can afford to lose a lot of money on the 360, so, once again, they aren't under a lot of pressure. Their approach is less risky though just evolving the platform a bit and more closely integrating the Live system into the unit.

      Sony on the other hand is in a terrible position because the PS3 is basically the hopes and dreams of the entire company right now. They've been struggling for a while now, losing market share to cheap competitors in other realms of electronics. They are trying to use the PS3 to tie a lot of things together, a new high def video format, a new hardware platform, etc. If the PS3 flops, Sony is in a world of hurt. Even if it's moderately successful they may still be hurting depending on how much they lose per unit and how easily they can make those losses up on the back end.

      Sony may pull things off but they are doubly cursed by high expectations and an almost desperate need for this to work out.

      • Re:The freedom of nothing to lose (Score:5, Insightful)

        by rAiNsT0rm (877553) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @03:45PM (#15834863) Homepage
        Well, if it counts for anything I left Sony after 4+ years simply because I am 100% certain that they will be out of business or bought out in the next two years.

        The sheer number of blunders and bad business decisions is mind boggling. Take their CRT TV's. They built a multi-million dollar CRT factory in Pennsylvania and employed tons of people as well as an actual glass plant next door to make the glass for the CRT's... all while LCD's and HD and Plasma were already hitting the market. They have since basically shut those plants down and lost metric fuck-tons of money in the process. Amazingly this is only one example of litterally hundreds I could go over.

        I have ZERO faith in the PS3 (and many developers and employees share my feelings). I have ZERO faith in Sony. I am also someone who believes in their convictions and left the company as a result. Not in any fanboy way at all, but I sincerely hope that Sony goes down for the count. There are few companies who deserve it more.

        I am always amazed how anyone can be a technology fan or even an open source fan and continue to back Sony. Hell, Microsoft looks like a little naked white angel Natalie Portman in comparison.

        I'm really hoping the Wii does well and changes the course of gaming away from the advertising/hollywood direction it is going. It is about the last hope to revitalize gaming and return it back to "fun" instead of "money."
        • Did you bother to read what was posted. The point wasnt that MS was making money hand over fist..it was that even if the Xbox360 was a complete failure it wasnt going to hurt MS's bottomline too much they could afford a flop. Sony however has been loosing money in almost every market they are in, they have put all their eggs in one basket and the PS3 has to at least be moderately successful or it could be disasterous for the entire company.
      • The Wii games we've seen so far are almost painful to look at

        Metroid Prime 3 ?

        Twilight Princess ?

        Madden 07 - looks at least as good as the X-box version, and will support progressive scan & 16:9 mode.

        These games look great so far, and there's a few months to go before launch.

      • Re:Feedback Loop (Score:5, Insightful)

        by masklinn (823351) <slashdot.orgNO@SPAMmasklinn.net> on Wednesday August 02 2006, @03:24PM (#15834729)

        The Wii games we've seen so far are almost painful to look at

        That's super duper cool. Guess what? It's the same for the DS/PSP match, the DS graphics are at a much lower level.

        And you know what? No one cares, because the DS actually has fun games as in games that are actually games and not crappy PS2 ports, and by seeing the Raving Rabbids trailers I'm pretty sure that Rayman 4: Raving Rabbids will fucking rule.

        Along with all the 1st party titles (Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda, SSB, ...)

        Remember, Sam&Max Hit the Road was already ugly when it was released, and it's one of the games quite a few people are still in love with.

      • In my opinion, quality has always been the strong point of any Nintendo console, because of their solid first party games. The excitement with the Wii is that we can now look for more third party games to be developed than ever before. Sure, a lot of them might be crap, but there will be great games in those haystacks. Which means more great games total for the system. It is really a win-win.

  • Lotsa games... now what? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by andrewman327 (635952) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:01PM (#15833537) Homepage Journal
    From TFA: "On the same panel, Midway President David Zucker stated that his company has six titles in development for the Wii."


    So we have games for the system. Now the question comes down to price points, marketing, and, oh yeah, features!

    • Price points have already been confirmed to be reasonable: no more than $250 for the console, no more than $50 for the games.

      Marketing is already taken care of. Go to any gaming forum (or just check previos slashdot threads) and witness the general excitement and anticipation for the Wii. This kind of attitude will trickle down to the average gaming public.

      Features. Gee, it only plays games from every Nintendo console, the Genesis, and the TurboGrafx and it has free online play. Would you like it to
      • Don't forget Progressive Scan output, and at least Dolby Prologic surround sound.

        Also that it can communicate with the DS, and send DS demos to it. That's just another cherry on top, but something I'll get some use out of.

        • Don't forget Progressive Scan output, and at least Dolby Prologic surround sound.
          I should hope so, every console since the Dreamcast has supported those features.

          I don't think it would be too much to ask that they guarante every game will support at least dolby digital 5.1, and 480p in 16:9. With the occasional 720p and 1080i titles where the developers feel it's appropriate.
            • Good!! The game companies can focus on making the games FUN instead of 2% more realistic looking...
                • You're wrong about two separate things in that comment.

                  While you're correct that 3D is a vector format and no more work is needed to take advantage of greater picture resolution, you forget several things. At higher resolutions, you need higher polygon count models, or the models begin to look blocky. The Wii can use those exact same models, it just doesn't require them. More important than polygons, though, is the textures. You have to design completely new textures, textures which would need to be m

                    • If your logic holds, then why didn't the Gamecube have any 720p or 1080i games?

                      Agreed. Moreover, this is not a hardware limitation issue per se; its a philosophy.

                      By leaving HD out this round, they change the value proposition. Lets face it most of us will not have an HDTV in the lifespan of the Wii. HDTV is definately the next big thing, and sales are skyrocketing, but it will be several years yet before "everyone has one".

                      So... consider a game getting the 3 way port. Yeah, the Wii has weaker hardware, but
      • I know that it promises these things and that they sound wonderful. What I meant to say is that all that is left is watching what actually happens in this round of the console wars.
  • Hands down this should be the most loved game console for the price point (unlike other game consoles with a 3X price point). What's needed now is a good Star Wars game with some serious lightsaber action to keep the kids off the sofa.
    • Man, I sure hope that IF Lucas Arts does release a lightsaber game that the commercials show the Star Wars Kid with a couple of Wiimotes in his hands... That would sell systems right there. That's money.

  • Maybe not everybody (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Emmo213 (974512) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:16PM (#15833685)
    An interesting article, especially since yesterday I read some developers think it's underpowered. http://www.kotaku.com/gaming/nintendo/free-radical -wii-cant-handle-our-game-190723.php [kotaku.com] FTR, I'm looking forward to it.
    • No, not "some developers." A developer as in the singular tense is all you've linked to here.
        • Fair enough. I imagine there will be quite a few folks here and there that have to work around horsepower issues; however, console developers have been dealing with such issues for a long time now. Many of them find rather inventive ways to get a game to do what they want it to with the hardware provided.

    • (until they do the development cost math) (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ianscot (591483) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:31PM (#15833822)

      Developers whose idea of a better game is bigger pixel counts will surely want to develop for the PS3 or the 360 -- at least until they realize how much more it costs to develop for those systems [gamespot.com], that is. That's another aspect to the "GameCube II" angle your link derided.

      "[The Wii] wasn't a whole new programming environment," Farrell said. "So we had a lot of tools and tech that work in that environment. So those costs--and again, I hate these broad generalizations--but they could be as little as a third of the high-end next-gen titles... Maybe the range is a quarter to a half."

    • I for one am saddened that yet another goddamn FPS won't be making it to the Wii.

      Oh wait, no I'm not. You can go back to your playing with your X360 now.

    • Re:Maybe not everybody (Score:4, Insightful)

      by masklinn (823351) <slashdot.orgNO@SPAMmasklinn.net> on Wednesday August 02 2006, @03:41PM (#15834838)

      Fun thing is how Capcom still somehow managed to release a (graphically) magnificient Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube...

      I thing the truth is much closer to "we can't be bothered to optimize the game for each of the 3 consoles, so we're counting on raw power to make up for it, and the Wii has a lower raw unused power".

  • The actual gamer crowd. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by yeoua (86835) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:25PM (#15833765)
    The Wii seems to appeal more to the people who actually game because of the games. The PS3 and XBOX360 seem to appeal to people who game because of the image (however yes, there is some good stuff there, but they are selling an image in addition to the games). Just look at all the new "gamers" who jumped on the Halo bandwagon who tout it as the best fps ever, when PC gamers have been fragging each other for years already with games that are better than Halo.

    So yes, everyone who loves gaming loves the Wii (well... almost everyone), because it's bringing us back to our roots with the old school Nintendo stuff. All the people who play because it's the in thing to do right now, well... they probably don't want to look silly flailing around, so they'll go with the other options.

    Me... I'll get the Wii first, the XBOX360 soon after it's price drop, and the PS3 when it gets a price drop in a year or two.

    • Ha, are you seriously suggesting that people play video games because it makes them look cool? Like buying Abercrombie shit?

      "people who game because of the image" - the image?! What image? That of a fat, nerdy, anti-social geek with Cheetos slime all over his fingers?

      • Well, it's not that hard of a sell anymore. Video games aren't just for the hardcore, the geeky, and the gamers. You'd be amazed how often non-geeks, and even anti-geeks, talk about the various video games. It's cool to own an XBox or a PS2. Real men can school their friends in Burnout. It's a simple matter of marketing. Games like FF and Zelda are still for geeks, but as soon as you mention console FPS & racers, or MMOs, and you're getting into the realm of the gamer cool. I know a guy who owns some ra

          • Not every game is only a crappy patch of a game getting released every year. "gaming the way it is" means gaming using a controller, not a remote. Gaming using buttons, not motion sensing.

            Ok so that would be "gaming with buttons but not a stylus", "gaming with buttons but no vibration", "gaming with buttons but no analog pad", or "gaming with buttons but no more than 8 and god forbid you could use a free-movement controller like a mouse". Sorry mate, but your "gaming the way it is" is dead already, that'

  • Wiimote: But does it run on Linux? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yakhan451 (841816) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:26PM (#15833777)
    I'm looking forward to the Wii and playing around with the games. If the Wiimote turns out to be a decent pointing device, I'm also interested in how it may effect human-computer interaction on other machines.

    I foresee the same sort of cutting-edgers (heh, ricers) who are playing with Compiz and XGL, hacking together a way to connect to the Wiimote and then tinkering with some wii-gestures to help interact with the desktop.

    o Rotate the wand like a steering wheel to flip between tasks or virtual desktops.
    o Point to the taskbar and lift it like a dumbell to trigger your Expose' clone.
    o Jab a window to minimize it. Twist the 'knife' in and pull down to close the program.
    o Amarok hanging again? Give it a few whacks with your 'club' to kill the process.

    Goofy, I know. But if this wiimote takes off, maybe we'll see clones of this type of technology and, in time, see some more fun and intuitive metaphores for HCI.
    • But why would you want to? None of those things are more intuitive than boxes to click or context menus, and all of them would take more time and more CPU power to detect. In other words- completely useless, like 99.9% of the stuff people talk about as WIMP replacements.

    • Re:Wiimote: But does it run on Linux? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by FleaPlus (6935) * on Wednesday August 02 2006, @02:14PM (#15834234) Homepage Journal
      I'm looking forward to the Wii and playing around with the games. If the Wiimote turns out to be a decent pointing device, I'm also interested in how it may effect human-computer interaction on other machines.

      Apparently the Wii Remote is going to operate using Bluetooth. Hopefully Nintendo won't try to obfuscate the protocol (if they're making a profit on the hardware itself, they won't have any reason to), and it'll be fairly easy to interface with.
        • From what I understand, the infrared is going to give the "pointer/mouse" capability (communicating with the locator bar that you set up under the TV), with bluetooth handling everything else (buttons, gyroscope, accelerometer, etc).

          Where did you get that info from? According to the wiki article [wikipedia.org]: "The controller communicates wirelessly with the console via short-range Bluetooth radio, with which it is possible to operate up to 4 controllers as far as 10 meters (approx. 33 ft.) from the console."

          Of course, i

  • With Spore on the Wii by Thanksgiving 2007 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WillAffleckUW (858324) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:29PM (#15833801) Homepage Journal
    you know that I love the Wii!

    Seriously, if you look at the Nintendo Wii game announcement page you see such a wide variety of gaming genres, designed to appeal to people who don't just want sports and FPS games, but also casual gamers, women and girls, and a heck of a lot of cross-releases of games that are normallly only available in Japan and China, but are now available for English (US/UK/EU) players as well.

    What's not to love about the Wii?

    Plus, it doesn't have that annoying choice of do I get Blu-Ray or HD-DVD so that I can wait until 2008 when I actually end up buying a $300 HDTV set and decide for myself which player I'll get for $100.

  • Obvious joke (Score:4, Funny)

    by msuzio (3104) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:29PM (#15833802) Homepage
    "'The first time I picked up that sucker I couldn't stop playing it.'"

    I've always felt that way about my wee also... ;-)

  • Brilliant! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by posterlogo (943853) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:39PM (#15833905)
    Remember back when it was still called the Revolution and relegated to be the interesting-but-not-that-cool little cousin of the XBox360/PS3? It really is amazing how the news reports, and developer/previewer feedback have done a 180! (Take that 360). I recall Nintendo constantly stating with their chill/laid back attitude that they were staying out of the console wars and aiming for a fun, friendly product for everyone, rather than just testosterone filled fan boys. Don't get me wrong, I wish I could get all three consoles, but with the great price point and developer support, not to mention the cool Wiimote, Nintendo has really changed my attitude towards them.
  • How many games for the EA Kings under the mountains?

    Or are they Mortal Combat men doomed to spew out mostly sports and FPS games we could get on any console, admittedly with cool Wii wand effects that make them much more fun to play?

  • -1, Emotional (Score:5, Interesting)

    by weasello (881450) <weasel&greensheep,ca> on Wednesday August 02 2006, @03:36PM (#15834813) Homepage
    Is it sad that I got this huge wave of ... I don't know the feeling ... Pride? Overwhelming joy? It kind of feels like the feeling I got when a girl first said they liked me on IRC.

    The overwhelming (almost literally.. *sniffle*) support for the Wii has really bolstered my hopes for Nintendo and I'm sure they'll do much better this time around. Watching companies cast aside their previous habits and adopt full-on support for the Wii is incredible.

    And I picture it visually in my head - Ubi has 2 games in development, and everyone in the office goes down and checks out a beta. They all enjoy it so much and they all want in on the project. BAM, 7 more games in development.

    For this fanboi, it puts a real big smile on my face.

  • Can you afford to alienate Nintendo? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by xenocide2 (231786) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @03:46PM (#15834877) Homepage
    Free Radical notwithstanding, can anyone afford not to say the Wii is radically different, entertaining and perfect? Obviously there's the risk of missing out on the next greatest platform, and maybe there it is flawless. But I have no way of telling who's afraid to expose the emporer and who's discussing the honest truth. And aside from EA stating they didn't like the Wii some time ago (and have since retracted, wisely), I don't see how this qualifies as news anymore.

    I guess what I'm saying is that this is less news than it is "good publicity," and I'd much rather hear about the former than the latter.

  • From TFA (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Don_dumb (927108) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @04:16PM (#15835101)
    he personally felt that in a time when fewer and fewer games appeal to him
    So I am not the only one to think this then.
    I go into a games shop or look at gamespot and see nothing I really want to play, perhaps HL2:Ep1 but I am not bothered enough to buy it. Oblivion and Call Of Duty 2 both appeal to me, but my PC wont play those games and I am just not going to update. Give me something original that doesn't drink my wallet for graphics cards, lets hope the Wii provides that answer, the controller may be a gimick but hopefuly it may stimulate some fresh gaming experiences.

    • Re:Translation (Score:5, Insightful)

      by datajack (17285) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:17PM (#15833698)
      After all the talk about 'innovation' are gamers going to want to spend full price for slightly upgraded GameCube games with pointing/swinging control added in 2007 and on?
      Hell no, I'm eagerly awaiting essentially the same games that I got last year, but an innovative higher resolution graphics, and all the extra fun of a higher price-point.

    • Re:Translation (Score:4, Insightful)

      by digitrev (989335) <digitrev@hotmail.com> on Wednesday August 02 2006, @01:25PM (#15833761) Homepage
      After all the talk about 'innovation' are gamers going to want to spend full price for slightly upgraded GameCube games with pointing/swinging control added in 2007 and on?

      Take a look at all the kids demanding FFVII on the PS3. The dev teams are doing what they always do: trying to make money. If there's a market for it, they'll do it.

        • Yeah! Just like they did with the DS as opposed to the PSP! DS has lower quality graphics and the games are therefore crapola!

          Oh wait...

          Look dude, Nintendo is not hurting anything and especially not "gaming as we know it" (not the one I know and care about anyway), if anything they're trying to go back to the roots: fun games with an original style/gameplay/.... As in... not genericCarRace241384, myAmericanFootball5486311 or badlyRealizedFirstPlayerShooterWithAmazingerGraphi cs.

    • Re:Translation (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The Wii doesn't really belong being categorized with either the Gamecube/XBox/PS2 generation of technology or the XBox 360/PS3 generation of technology; it is entirely its own beast. If you look closely at the games that are currently under production what you will notice is that the models are (mostly) free of polygonalization artifacts, and the textures are highly detailed; if I were to make a guess, in textured polygon performance I would expect the Wii is as much of an improvement over the Gamecube as t
    • "Cute graphics doesn't appeal to me, nor does choppy PC framerate."

      Wow you must have a shit video card! Or do you really think 2 7900GTX cards in SLI provide crappy framerates? The PC is hands down the best platform for simulation games.

    • Re:If gameplay is your thing.. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SirSlud (67381) on Wednesday August 02 2006, @05:13PM (#15835503) Homepage
      You being a 3D engine programmer, you're not making games, you're making an engine. So surprise surprise, you'd love to work with more powerful hardware. I don't see how that makes Wii a disgrace, since all its guilty of is not costing 600$ to have its design focused on the aspect of the hardware that would let you play with more powerful hardware.

      I'm a game programmer. I work in production, and I love making games on current gen systems because its always fun to figure out how to push the hardware to its limits to get the things you want in the game. How to cheat or fake certain things to get the graphics or the gameplay you want, whereas just programming it in the 'true' way would just give you 10 fps.

      At any rate, since we both work on games and both are influenced by the flavour of the hardware and how that affects what we get to work with, I don't think we're exactly the most objective people on the matter. And it certainly doesn't make the Wii a 'disgrace', it just shifts the fun around on your team to others who might be dying of boredom by refactoring input APIs for what is essentially the same controller they were working on 6 years ago.

      And you can still have fun on the Wii, its still a significant upgrade from all the current-gen systems.
    • Haha. There's a reason why Steve Jobs (don't remember what the Nintendo honcho is called, so we'll stick to Steve) is a billionaire while you are not.

      Wanna know?

      Steve Jobs is interested in people in addition to technology. He realizes that he needs technology to make products that people like - because most people don't care about ghz and gb: They care about doing the task (whatever that is) efficiently in terms of time consumption. We are lazy so we don't like stuff to be more complicated than they have to
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