jammy2211

Simple question, do you think if RE5 was possible on the Wii, they wouldn't already have annouced it for the console? Exactly, it's not possible. When the Wii 2 comes out it will probably be ported as the console could handle it, but not for the Wii as we currently know it. All this 'testing the water' stuff is nonsense. How many Resi Evil games were on a Microsoft consoles before? Zero. All the Resi Evil's sold excellently on the GameCube, the market is there, just the console simply can't handle the game.

Nintendo will win simply because Reggie is speaking. I want that guy to speak at my funeral.

Weirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrd. It sounds possible though, Mario Kart has always sold best in Europe and smash Bros best in America. Perhaps Nintendo are going after great Christmas sales in both territories with games which really appeal to them. It's one hell of a crazy schedule but I think it's the sort of crazy-ass tactic that could work. Gutted to hear Smash Bros is delayed, but as long as Mario Kart has online, I'm sorted. Gutted he didn't mention Super Mario Galaxy though for 2007, which would suggest we're only getting 2 of what is now a Big 4 . This all confuses me though, what is honestly going to be left of Nintendo's release schedule after these 4 are out? They've already used all their ace cards within a year of release .

The crucial difference is, if they're not selling as well AND not making money, then they will just stop developing for the console. Instead the situation is the games are making lots of money, but still not selling as well compared to 1st party games. This means they'll still want to make all this money, and thus create better, bigger budget games to try and compete with 1st party games for sales. This only suggests more and better third party support, thus making Nintendo less dependent on first party titles in the future. I agreed with what you're saying, GameCube was awful for third parties. I think you misread what I wrote :S. Even then I think companies could have had success on the GameCube, but very few developed games which suited it's userbase, and the few occations they did they received great sales which I illustrated a few posts ago. It's not that easy for other companies, EA are the biggest third party in the world and can afford to do that sort of thing.I'm sure plenty more companies are intending to do something along those lines though, and there are ALOT of small time lower budget companies that are 100% exclusive to the DS and Wii simply because every other platform is too expensive. It's what happend with the DS really. It received some really shoddy PSP ports, the touchscreen was used in pointless ways. The DS required companies to develope their games in a completely different way to any other platform before, and after a year ago they had realised this and we started seeing the amaizng innovative games. Wii is the same really, companies are TRYING to develope game ideas and concepts around what they know from the PS2 days, but it simply can't be done. Many companies have already learnt from the DS that you can't do that, and are producing games like Zack and Wiki, MySims, No More Heroes, Nights 2, Rayman Raving Rabids 2 etc exclusively for the Wii, seeing as they're not possible on another console.

Looking at the sales of a game isn't what a company does though. A game could be designed to only sell to 10 000 people, and made on a very very small budget, but if it sold to those 10 000 it would be the profit they wanted and thus successful. As long as companies are making more profit on Wii games then 360 / Ps3, why on Earth would they care if First party games sell more? They're job is to make the most profit by selling games, not simply just sell the most games. What matters is how the industry views Nintendo. I think GameCube and N64 were regarded as terrible options for third parties, and this was justified for the most part. Even then third parties could enjoy success if they actually put some effort into their games, but now the Wii and DS have changed that alot. DS has proved an incredible source of income for alot of tiny developers, and the big names are too enjoying great profits. As for the Wii, we've seen 2 million sellers from third parties, along with a wide range of hugely profitable games. Looking at the exclusive list of third party games you have to suggest the industry can see different potential in the Wii that the GC didn't have. Yeah in 3-4 years the PS3 will be a much more profitable platform, that's a given. Thing is, it's never going to be more profitable then the Wii, and with a long list of smaller developement teams around the globe what are they going to do while they wait for the prices to drop? Develope for the Wii / DS. Alot of the major developers are setting up specific teams and IPs for the Wii, and even when the PS3 sales have dropped they're still going to have these teams working on the Wii. I'm not saying the Wii is going to have all the third party support, but it's definitely not going to have the least. Companies can't just keep taking hits waiting for developement costs to drop, so they will move resources to the Wii. Bare in mind Wii developement costs will drop as well, and they already requires much smaller teams and developement times to make a good game. I don't think we can know that, theres alot of if's and buts and what about's. If this 'expanded audience' thing really works, at the same time as Nintendo holding onto their core market then there is no doubt there is alot of success to be had.

Yeah, I think the best fact here to this. To break even on am exclusive PS3 game, you have to sell 500 000 copies. Now, just seriously, how huge is that sales figure? Who the hell can take a risk like that on a game? Alot of smaller companies are going to be forced to develope for the Wii (not that they'll be annoyed) and most of the bigger companies won't want a collapse in their share values. I can't imagine the profit RRR made, I would estimate at something like $35 million to be honest. It sold over 1 million copies at about $50, and probably cost only about $2 million to make. The overheads and figures must be amazing if you ask me. When you look at the good third party games we see now for the Wii, it's longer then the entire GameCube library of good third party games. As long as these games make a decent profit then I don't think third parties are going to be complaining.

That's got absolutely nothing to do with sales though. It has to do with other myths, but not the sales one. But how is it fair to compare a game like Zelda, with 4 years developement time and a huge fanbase, along with it's critical acclaim to these games? Ubisoft will be amazed with the sales of what were too very medicre games made on a much smaller budget. Companies don't care how much a game sells, they care how much profit it makes, and I'm positive these games proved alot more profitable then some of the companies 360 / Ps3 titles. They also got some good sales to go with it though. It's the third parties fault's they're not on the ball when developing a game. They'll complain about Nintendo being too good or whatever, but the truth is if they actually bothered to research and develope a good game for the system before it's successful they'd see alot more success. Even saying that, again profitability on the DS is far more important then sales, and I can't think anyone who is complaining about the DS not being profitable. There are some third party titles that could show the success possible on the Wii, well definitely more so then the DS, GameCube and N64 had. It's going to be interesting to watch the sales of games like Nights 2, Zack and Wiki, No More Heroes, Dragon Blade, RE:UC, FF:CC 2, Dragon Quest swords and a few more. Either way they'll all prove profitable, and that will guarentee more third party lovin. They're not really victims, the amount of money they make for themselves. Many third parties are gearing up to topple Nintendo on the Wii, and from what I've seen the Wii is going to be a much better platform for third parties to have success on. Nintendo will ultimately rule all the top spots for sales no doubt, but third parties will be ready to rake in the money when it comes to it along with Nintendo. Various press releases and sites. I work for a website so I have access to alot of this stuff.

That whole 'myth' thing isn't true though. I'm sure many people would buy third party games on the GameCube or Wii or whatever, but when third parties release utter tripe games they simply arn't going to sell. Companies have been hugely successful on the Wii so far, just look at the great sales of Red Steel, Rayman RR, SonicATSRs, DBZ 2, Call of Duty 3, Madden 07, Tiger woods PGA 07 and many more. When you consider non of these games received much critical acclaim and many were met with mixed reviews, some of the sales are incredible. Of course the whole third party myth began on the GameCube, when third parties were pissed off cause their low budget, further strong developement teams couldn't sell games on the console. Well, lets look at the sales of the few third party efforts which were judged to be good games shall we? Resident Evil 4 - 1.61 million (It came out after Capcom annouced the PS2 port.) Tales of Symphonia - 1.08 million Sonic Heroes - 1.43 million Soul Calibur 2 - 1.48 million Final Fantasy: Crystal Chornicles - 1.36 million Resident Evil Zero - 1.25 million Star Wars rogue Sqaudron 2 - 1.88 million Unfortunately from there it gets very difficult to name any third party games that took the console seriously. For a console with just 20 million owners at the end of it's life, some of those sales imo are incredible. The fact people will buy third party games happily, but if the games arn't good then we aint going to buy them. I think third parties are realising this now, and the upped support for the Wii is becoming ever present as every week passes. It still has a long way to go but when you look at the Wii's list of third party games you can see it has a lot more potential then what the GameCube had at launch. Also some of you may be quick to point out Eternal Darkness and Viewtiful Joe's poor sales. Yes, they sold poor, but every console has games which just don't sell. Viewtiful Joe didn't sell good in PS2 either, and well, Eternal Darkness is a complete mystery to me. Also the Sony guy is wrong, simple. He's just trying to reassure the Sony userbase that although games are going non-exclusive, they're still doing fine or whatever :S. God knows, he's probably bricking himself over what Konami of Square might have to say at E3.

Nintendo bought Retro Studio's sometime around Metroid Prime's release and is now a first party studio, just to correct what Tapedeck said . I can see Nintendo giving them plenty of freedom, well I hope so. They're hardly going to get them to make a game like Mario Party or WarioWare, so we should be in for a treat whatever is next to come. I heard that Retro started on their next IP last year, so I expect we'll hear about something after Metroid Prime 3 has been released and is successful.

Yeah but I think raven Blade would appeal to a more specific audience that the Wii doesn't yet have but Nintendo will certainly want to entice. It has that sort of cross-over final fantasy type God of War appeal that would get alot of people interested. Saying that I'm sure a good FPS could get some of those people interested, but really, anyone specifically interested in only FPS's will have a PC or 360. Metroid is great cause it get's the FPS market interested while also holding onto that Nintendo franchise type thing. I guess I just can't see Nintendo making a FPS as good as some third parties are capable of. Retro are very talented though, but I think it's in ways that more traditional FPS's don't require (such as great art styles and unique gameplay).

I would much rather they make Raven Blade for the Wii, I think that game just spells out what the Wii needs and what Retro could make. The game looked amazing in my opinion, and compliments the Wii controls perfectly. Saying that, it did look pretty far into developement when it got canned, so perhaps they could finish it, put in the Wii Controls, put the graphics to a high standard and release it by 2008 and then get working on a FPS. I would rather see the third parties battle it out for the 'definite' FPS game. Metroid Prime 3 looks set to make the genre gain a huge fanbase on the Wii (FPS or FPA or whatever, it'll gain that sort of fanbase) and I would rather Nintendo leave the third parties something like that to battle out and build on from Metroid Prime 3. The Screenshots released today have made this a must buy game for me. Seriously I'm in awe, I didn't think those sorts of visuals would be seen on the Wii within one year of release.

I think their advertising scheme is one of the best I've seen for a console. They're alot more welcoming to anyone, whereas a 30 second clip of Mario jumping on a Goomba really isn't going to appeal to anyone who doesn't already like video games. Both consoles advertising have done a great job of getting the Wii and DS as household names, nowadays everyone knows what a Wii and DS are (for the most part) whereas the Playstation Brand and Xbox Brands are both still pretty exclusive in comparison. Showing the reaction of playing games is far better then showing the games. People who don't play games can relate to people having fun while swinging a Wii Remote or whatever. I honestly believe Nintendo's advertising campaign is something we'll look back on at the end of this generation and see it as one of the main reasons for great Wii sales and as revolutionary in many respects to gaming.

I absolutely love the cell-shaded graphics thing, and really hope the Wii sees ALOT of games support this style. The best reason, is because it effectively hides the graphical short-comings of the Wii, and easily makes games look great without needing alot of hardware. Infact I'm going to go more in-depth about this tommorow by making a thread . If anyone wants to kick things off before me go ahead, I think it'd be a great debate but I probably won't have time until tommorow night to start a dicussion so if anyone else is interested then please go ahead .

It's coming out on the same day as Halo 3 in America :P. I still think it'll fair pretty well though. The game does have an appeal to the younger market who probably don't have Xbox 360's, and that is alot of sales. On top of that you have the fact Nintendo will give the game a good marketing campaign what with it being the run up to Christmas. I think Nintendo will be able to space out the releases very well (one of the Big 3 will be out early 2008), and the game should fair okay. It's one of those games Nintendo don't need to put alot of reliance on anyway, so if it doesn't meet sales estimates they would probably have been ready to accept that.

I think you would like the Wii. wii Sports isn't really for anyone and the line up of games will surely have plenty to tickle your fancy, it has a great range of genres and third parties are supporting the Wii in numbers. The real question though is, do you like Nintendo games? Zelda, Metroid, Mario, smash Bros etc are all going to be great but if you don't like Nintendo franchises there is no point in getting one yet. The third party games of top quality will come in 2008, so basically if you want Non-Nintendo games get one in 2008, if not get one now! :P

Yeah, that's pretty much what makes a console successful, except I'd say there is two more things: 4. Public Opinion; How the console is viewed by the mainstream public is very important. LAst generation you can bet one of the main reason the GameCube was ignored was because people saw it as a 'kiddy' console. This generation it's changed, the public and media love the Wii for it's inneundo name, along with the sort of 'fun' side of gaming it's trying to represent. On the other hand the PS3 is being reported by the media as a failure, and many people see it as a rip-off. It's incredible the amount of people talking about the Wii, some of the exposure it's got is incredible. I think on some America TV show they had Serena Williams playing Wii Tennis on national television, stuff like that sells consoles, fact. 5. Console size / Portability (in Japan); Okay, I'm sure you've all learnt about how Japanese homes are tiny and the lack of land the country has. Well I think it's fair to say that when a console the size of the PS3 of Xbox 360 (mainly it's powerpack) are suppose to go in a Japanese home, you have to ask, how the hell can they fit it? The Wii is the perfect size for a Japanese home, and this I think for the Japanese market is a huge bonus.

Metroid Pinball?

IGN have posted this in their Wii Section now, so I think it's very likely a Wii version is on the cards. I can't personally see so many news websites getting this sort of thing wrong so I'd say it's likely there is a Wii version being built - Well it's common sense really. Still not 100% but wow, it's been a busy day for the Wii. So many games annouced or strongly rumoured.

Very quick post from me - you suggest Nintendo have found their 'niche'. I see it the other way round, with Sony and Microsoft reaching a niche wheras Nintendo have expanded and grow to a more mainstream yet still core following. Just curious what you meant really, you're one of the best posters on this forum so I'm interested to see what you meant. If Nintendo are niche I really have to question what Sony and Microsoft are. I see it more that Microsoft and Sony compete for their niche while Nintendo continue to expand and appeal to people outside their stereotypical, 'normal' gaming demographic.

I think it's great, shows a conflict between dark and normal Samus and has a great colour and background effect to it. The blue on Red clash is great and the whole 'feel' of it is dark but appealing. Biggest criticisim is the text saying "corruption" looks a bit kiddy.. hmm.

Gamespress doesn't have any specific news on which platforms, perhaps they got their source from something closer but I wouldn't be surprised to see this ignored for the Wii. Time shall tell I guess, I personally doubt this game will interest me but it could be interesting. It seems a bit too PC orientated to come to the WIi.

It states Wii and DS in the article, which is interesting. I hope it's true, the Wii would definitely suit something like this. I can see them making a seperate Wii build of the game after the success it's gained, but I guess the biggest issue for me is that it's really a PC game at heart. For the whole God-Sim type RTS thing I'd rather someone just made a unique and exclusive Wii franchise .

I loves it, we've gone from no Wii Star Wars game to an exclusive one built around using the Wii Remote as a Lightsaber. It was always going to happen, great to see we're starting to get some news on it.

Art Styles and Concept are great, but this game is seriously going to be lacking if they don't allow you to share levels on the Wi-Fi connection somehow. It's a must have if they can pull that off though.

Wow I know what I'm not buying.