Pre E3 2006: Wii is cheap

Wii News | To develop for, says THQ.

In their quarterly earnings report and an analysts' conference call, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell has discussed development for the Wii and the reactions to their recent Wii showings. At the current point in time, the publisher has announced Wii games based on SpongeBob SquarePants and Avatar The Last Airbender, as well as one for the upcoming Pixar film, Cars.

And speaking to Gamespot, he was quite impressed by the reaction that the Spongebob game received. "We showed in a press event recently a SpongeBob game using the Nintendo Wii and Wii controller," Farrell said, "and standing there watching very jaded game journalists hoot and holler on a SpongeBob game was actually quite relieving. One of the things we like about that platform is the development costs...on the Wii are nowhere near what they are on the PS3 and Xbox 360. That's something that's quite encouraging. As you probably know, our portfolio maps very, very well to what we think the Wii demographic is going to be."

In response to the argument regarding development for the Wii as opposed to that on the Xbox 360 or PS3, Farrel noted that not only was the development was far less expensive. but the process was similar to the GameCube. "[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 generalisations - 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."

So there you have it, will the cheaper development lead to more third party games for the Wii than there were on the GameCube or the Nintendo 64? As well as what we'll find out next week, time will be the ultimate judge.

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12 Comments

cycosippius

6 years ago

IMO this is both good and bad. Whilst it will see probably much greater Third Party support , I believe little of this is going to be A grade titles, certainly not in the first year of release anyway.

It opens up the system to as the article says "CHEAP" titles which rely on licensing of movie titles etc , TITLES WHICH I GENERALLY AVOID. "CHEAP" is not a good way of putting it IMO, "Cost effective" or something similar might ellude to greater quality.

But hey I think its great that the development costs are measurably less than other systems, It really does give potential for small dev houses to put new and exciting games out. However in terms of big co's like THQ I predict a lot of crap "CHEAP" titles.

Jellyfish

6 years ago

Great for Nintendo when a developer calls the console Kiddy when it's not even out yet.

David

6 years ago

nikack wrote

Great for Nintendo when a developer calls the console Kiddy when it's not even out yet.

Exactly, WTF is that about?

I hate it that developers will MAKE a console a kids one by only putting kids games on it. That's what happened with the Gamecube - Sega for example gave Gamecube Monkey Ball and Billy Hatcher, yet Xbox and PS2 get Panzer Dragoon and Virtua Fighter? It's a self fulfilling prophecy you morons! Amusingly, those Gamecube games outsold the other consoles' games, and it wasn't just kids that bought Monkey Ball...

Most bizzarely this time, though, is that it's totallly clear with Wii and DS Lite that Nintendo are shedding any concept of a 'kiddy' image. The consoles and logos are sophisticated iPod type jobs, and the're beginning the release of info with games like Red Steel. And the controller is soooo not a kids controller either, it's designed to appeal to 'casual adults', and yet offers new possiblilites that will appeal to hardcore adult gamers, there's not much kiddy there at all.

Oh well, stupid THQ is putting kiddie games on the DS as well, even though it's adults who are buying it most (kids are still going with GBAs mostly). Their loss on both counts.

tullyano7

6 years ago

thankyou David, I love Monkey Ball and Animal Crossing, and hey, im 21 years old!!!

I actually dont think NINTENDO themselves will have poor launch titles, they would have learnt from DS that they need to have better launch titles than just demos (Yoshis Touch and GO for example), while i will admit that Third Party games at first may be only OK they will get better quickly like they have now on DS.

And remember, its meant to be similar to Gamecube to develop for so the developers can spend all their time on working with the Control of the game and not worry so much about getting the "Worlds" and "levels" together.

Im also sure that we probably will see a large number of terrible games, just like these for DS: (based on IGN.com reviews)

FIFA Street 2 : 4.8
ATV: Quad Frenzy : 4.8
Blades of Thunder II : 4.5
Shrek SuperSlam : 4.5
Snood 2: On Vacation : 4.5
Robots : 4.5
Top Spin 2 : 4.0
Tao's Adventure: Curse of the Demon Seal : 4.0
Pac-Man World 3 : 4.0
Greg Hastings' Tournament Paintball Max'd : 4.0
Monster Trucks DS : 4.0
Need for Speed Most Wanted : 4.0
Zoo Tycoon : 4.0
Spyro: Shadow Legacy : 4.0
Sprung : 4.0
Ping Pals : 3.5
Burnout Legends : 3.5
King Kong : 3.0
Super Black Bass Fishing : 2.5
Real Time Conflict : 2.5
Dragon Booster : 2.5
Marvel Nemesis : 2.5
Elf Bowling : 1.0

but if thats balanced out will a large number of awesome titles, than im fine with that (again just like DS, but there are too many good games to even bother listing them all here!)

ZNMS

6 years ago

Standing there watching very jaded game journalists hoot and holler on a SpongeBob game was actually quite relieving.

People need to grow up.

David

6 years ago

Yeah, basically if you're console is the successful one, you'll get shovelware, like the Deer Hunting games on PS2, and Elf Bowling on DS.

admeister

6 years ago

It is annoying when the kiddy image is brought in, Nintendo always get it the worst. I just hope that it won't ruin the Wii, I certainly hope that plenty of adults buy it, there should be some games to appeal to them specifically, like Red Steel.

~DESTROY~

6 years ago

Ha Ha DiS is Soooooooooooooo Funny

There better be Some Friggin Gore Already NINTENDO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

?oe?oe

6 years ago

Developers have just become lazy, and stupid.

Crash bandicoot , Spyro, they are kids games. People say Nintendo is kiddy because of Mario, but Mario is fun, easy to learn and for everyone.

admeister

6 years ago

good point, but still, all most people see is the bright colours and coins everywhere and say "kid's game".

ugh the boot

6 years ago

I remember one of the most Adult games i've ever played.....Eternal Darkness....I also remember seeing an "only for" sign on the gamecube box also. Just listen to the autopsy reports that Maxamillian Rovias does.

Any developer that makes spongebob games can f#@k off!!

Jellyfish

6 years ago

^ THQ is actually a publisher and they have a few good games under their belt. But yeah they have no reason to call Nintendo Kiddie.

When exactly did Nintendo start becoming "Kiddie" anyway? I first heard it in '98 from my friend's mum. I told her to look at Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and Turok. Haven't heard of it being mentioned rl since then.

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