Dev: Poor Wii graphics a “slap in the face” to gamers
Millions of the Nintendo Wii’s so-called ‘casual’ players couldn’t care less about how their games look, but it’s an issue that does matter to many core players, especially when so many titles within the first year-and-a-half of the console’s life have looked something the PlayStation 2 or GameCube could churn out in their sleep. High Voltage Software recognises this, and its CEO says its a slap in the face to Wii owners.
High Voltage - making an effort with The Conduit.
High Voltage Software has recently unveiled The Conduit for the Nintendo Wii, a promising-looking first-person shooter with impressive graphics. Its CEO Kerry Ganofsky is aggrieved by the issue, and recently stated, reports Gameplayer:
“We think it’s a real shame that publishers and developers aren’t taking advantage of the technical possibilities of the Wii platform. Most Wii games don’t even look as good as the later day PS2 titles and that’s a real slap in the face to consumers. We believe that third-party developers need to step up to the plate and deliver. The Wii platform is capable of a lot more than what consumers have seen so far. We’re hoping to raise a new bar.” Incendiary words indeed, and Ganofsky takes it one step further by stating “Most of the games on the Wii look like crap [and] we want to change that.”
We too are shocked at the aesthetic quality of so many Wii games, even at this stage in its life cycle. However, with casual games selling so well, will developers and publishers make a change?
Its ridiculous, there have been about 2 games that look like they’ve had some effort put in graphically. Even the wiimakes have had little to no improvements. By 18 months on the last gen consoles I am sure we had been wowed by loads of games.
Considering that Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 are the two games you are talking about, I really hope developers can (pardon the pun) “step up their game” in terms of good graphics on Wii.
It’s not impossible. Wii is supposedly more powerful than the original Xbox, yet a vast majority of its games look like old PS2 games.
I’ve seen the trailer for the Conduit, and I must say… oh. my. god. If High Voltage Software can push Chronicles of Riddick-quality graphics on the Wii, imagine what other developers can do.
As High Voltage Software claims, most Wii developers are justlazy. The only companies that have produced high-quality Wii games in terms of both graphics and gameplay are Nintendo (of course) and Capcom.
The Wii is capable of so much more than what developers are putting into it. Heck, even Metroid Prime 1 for GameCube looks better than most third-party Wii games.
Well wii owners don’t buy games for their graphics. To sell a game on the wii, it just has to be made by nintendo. Third party games just don’t sell at all on the wii. To make a game wii owners will like either make a non game seem like a game, then attach the word wii to it. Or make any kind of game you want, but put mario in it.
If a Wii user cared about graphics, he would have bought an Xbox 360 or PS3 instead. Wii games are about fun and no developer has been able to understand the soul of Wii besides its creator.
Boom Blox is one decent example where EA has been able to capture the fun aspect of Wii.
Well obviously the Wii can’t compete with Xbox 360 and PS3 in terms of graphics. But that doesn’t mean developers shouldn’t try to get the most out of system’s hardware. As the article stated with Wii selling so well, developers have less incentive to change.
I appreciate that the wii isnt about graphics but it doesnt justify how bad most of the games look. After the obvious stylish or graphically impressive games like galaxy the next best looking ones have been PS2 or GC ports. We’ve been getting DC ports with no upgrades and new games that look like bad N64 games
It good to know the High Voltage Software know there slaping use in the face
Hardcore gamers who buy the Wii need to get the most out of their hardware. Yes, the Wii isn’t targeted towards a hardcore audience, but the people who do enjoy action games need to be satisfied like their Xbox 360/PS3 counterparts.
That is what High Voltage is saying. The Wii is capable of so much more than what third-party developers are offering. Games like Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and now “The Conduit” prove that developers can get good-quality graphics out of the Wii if they try.
Get rid of all the no-name developers and publishers and start putting quality games on the Wii; then it will truly become the next PS2, as so many are predicting.
Making a game look good is fine and dandy provided other aspects of the game are taken care of first (you know, plot, game play, controls, characters, etc.), and that the graphics style fits with the game as well. Graphics are essentially polish for games.
If you want to keep the makers of your games from being lazy, don’t buy or get rid of the ones you don’t like to play so that they focus on the ones you do like. Also take note that game design is comparatively less expensive on the Wii compared to the other two companies even for games that make full use of the graphic potential of the system.
I think “The Conduit” looks great! I’ve compared it side by side with
Half-Life 2, Kill Zone, Doom3, Halo 2 and it looks a lot better then all of
them. Keep in mind people, that it’s early in development and that
it’s not close to being finished. A game’s polish is done a few
months before release, and as of yet, High Voltage does not have a
publisher. I have also compared it to true next generation graphics like
Halo3 and Gears of War 1 & 2, those games look great! But they are finished
products, that took two to three years to make. “The Conduit” has been
in development for what, like four or five months? I’ll be bold and
say that the end outcome, (judging by their Quantum3 Engine tech
demo, and game play trailer), will be a game that looks just like a great Xbox360 title but in 480P.
I don’t think that ‘Super Mario Galaxy’ graphics was spectacular really, though it could have made a huge difference to have some anti-aliasing!
I think we’ll be seeing more AAA titles from 3rd party publishers. As the capcom person said in the other article, it takes years to make games and no one was expecting the wii to dominate, even nintendo didn’t expect it to be this big. now more 3rd party devs are paying more attention to the wii. we have force unleashed, madworld, and conduit coming out. the latter 2 are wii exclusives and it looks like the cod5 ppl are actually putting effort into the wii version.One more reason that i’m skipping over rockband and gonna get the next since it seems that activision at least puts effort into wii games.