Dante Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 IGN Interview Julian Eggebrecht is no stranger to Nintendo fans. He is the president of Factor 5, which was one of GameCube's most valuable developers. The company created the Rogue Squadron games and simultaneously pushed Nintendo's hardware more than any other studio, including even Nintendo. Eggebrecht is currently directing the Sony-published PlayStation 3 effort Lair, which is nearing its final stages of completion. 1. Do you see videogames as games, art or both? Julian: Videogames right now are more games than art, but we need to get to art. I think on the art side, we already have it with games like Okami, parts of Zelda were amazing, and abstract stuff like LocoRoco was fantastic. But in the interactivity and the ability to touch the feelings of people, I think we're still too gamey and not artsy enough. I don't want a deliberate push for it, but it would be nice if we basically could get more artistic content into the interactive side and I think right now the industry is probably too much geared toward money, quite frankly. Some of the things which might help there are the small downloadables because we can go more artistic there, both from studios like us, which can do small incubation--like teams, as well as the initiatives like Linux on PlayStation 3. Install it, hack away, OpenGL -- you've got it right there. I think we might get a really cool grassroots thing going with that, and that will help the overall industry and hopefully get the artistic side out of it more. 2. What do you think of Nintendo's Wii console and is there any chance that Factor 5 would make a future Wii title? Julian: I love the Wii, absolutely. As I've said many, many times, the perfect combination of consoles to have at home is a PS3 and Wii. Everybody really should have one. Will we make something for the Wii? Well, obviously we would have an extremely powerful engine on it with our work on Rebel Strike, but for right now we certainly haven't planned anything for the Wii outside of some third parties who have approached us about licensing DivX and MusyX, which would be a no-brainer for us. Speaking about games, right now we're quite happy with Sony and Lair is obviously something that is with Sony and will stay with Sony. As to other original IPs, I think as long as we and Sony can agree on price, budget and everything else that makes these things tick, we're quite happy with who we're with right now. On the other hand, I as a creator would love to do something with the Wii-mote, something wacky, but I also can do that just by hacking into the thing and never making a commercial game with it [laughs]. 3. Where do you see PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 in three years? Julian: It's all about the long term view. The one thing that I'm a little bit worried about with Nintendo is that a similar situation as the GameCube might happen. I do think they have a much stronger launch this time around, no doubt about it. But still, Nintendo always had a challenge keeping third party content on their platform and keeping third parties happy. Or, if the third party stuff doesn't happen in large enough amounts, then supplying enough first party content. If they get that right, I think the Wii can sustain quite a bit. With PlayStation 3, I don't have any doubt that in three years it will be the most sold system. On the other hand, though, I don't think it will dominate the market quite as clearly as PS2 did. I don't think there is any doubt about that anymore -- that Microsoft has quite a bit of traction and won't suddenly out of the blue lose that traction. This round of consoles will be a much more even thing, with Sony clearly in the lead in three years. The wild-card is really Nintendo's casual gamer thing. If Nintendo really manages to have a huge breakout thing and suddenly every second housewife is buying a Wii, then we're looking at a completely different scenario. But I don't know if that's going to happen. 4. What is the biggest problem that game developers face today, in your opinion? Julian: The biggest problem is scale. I mean, we certainly experienced that with Lair. This time a lot of people expected it to be simple, but in the end it was probably the hardest time we had since the 2D-to-3D days. So the ramp up was pretty brutal and at the same time as you do ramp-up, it's suddenly about managing huge amounts of people. EA did that years ago and we were hearing the stories from them back then about how hard it was to do a game with a team of 100. Now we're there and yes, it's damned hard. That's probably what everybody in the industry is going through and for us, it's made us think hard about how we can scale back on the team sizes going forward and instead have a stronger efficiency again because if you go with a certain amount of people, things simply start to get inefficient, which is what I hate the most. So for the future, the key term is efficiency. 5. Resident Evil 4 was a beautiful GCN title. Rogue Squadron was doing things at launch that developers still haven't done on Wii. Why do you think that is? Are studios getting sloppy on Wii? Julian: Yes. I'm so disappointed knowing exactly what the Wii can do -- and I still think nobody knows it better than we (no pun intended) [laughs]. I really have to say, boy, am I disappointed! They all have finally figured out, five years into the hardware's life cycle, how to do at least basic shaders and a rim light, but that's what everybody does. But I still don't see enough bump and normal-mapping, if any. I still don't see enough post effects, although you would have insane fill-rates with Wii. I don't see any of that. I was digging out Rebel Strike the other day and was looking at it, and we had some people who were visiting ask, "Why isn't anybody else doing this on Wii?" And I am at a loss. I really am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fanman Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 True, although I'm sure things will improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tellyn Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Then YOU make a Rebel Strike game for Wii, Julian Eggbreath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiemetriX Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 He's absolutley right. I have been saying the same thing about cube. Hope Developers take advantage of Wii and the extra muscle it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiemetriX Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 And bear in mind the top screen is from a cube game that was relleased close to cube launch. And Wii IS better than a Cube. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZeldaFreak Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I have said this before about developers on the wii and I was criticised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcj metroid Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Cough ubisoft cough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blender Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Fator 5 keep picking loosers. They must be kicking themselves. Cant wait for the next remake of the Hoth level Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goron_3 Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I have said this before about developers on the wii and I was criticised. No one likes the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Fator 5 keep picking loosers. They must be kicking themselves. Cant wait for the next remake of the Hoth level "Speaking about games, right now we're quite happy with Sony and Lair is obviously something that is with Sony and will stay with Sony. As to other original IPs, I think as long as we and Sony can agree on price, budget and everything else that makes these things tick, we're quite happy with who we're with right now." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cube Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Hang on.... A month or so ago weren't Factor 5 saying that the Wii was a pile of shit (not in those exact words)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McPhee Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Where did all the dumb "Wii isnt about GRAPHIX!!!" posts from the other threads go to? hmm, guess people dont like eating humble pie? Personally i find this more worrying: 10 years and the only progress they can come up with is a slightly higher resolution and some trees?!?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksnowman Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Wii isnt all about graphics but its still disappointing that its barely meeting GameCube standards. Still, things will progress and, anyway, if the developers make good fun use of the controls then we'll forget about the graphics anyway. It'd be good to see Factor 5 on the Wii. Why would we say otherwise? It would also be great to see Rare on it and back to their Snes and N64 days of harmony with Nintendo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cookyman Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Factor 5 unimpressed by Wii? According to US gaming magazine "EGM", Factor 5 -formerly great allies of Nintendo, have broken ranks to denounce the Wii as "Gamecube 1.5" saying also that the "audio is relatively mediocre". Interestingly however, they did praise the "pretty radical" aspects of motion control being used by Nintendo as a real step forward. Additionally, a quiet kick was aimed at Microsoft and the 360, saying that for the company the 360 "Wasn't exciting". Factor 5 however, currently developing PS3 game Lair, had little condemnation for the PS3 and its focus on form over function. Julian "egg breath" has certainlly changed his tune eh? BASTARD! Probably have something to do with the general positive reactions and healthy sales Nintendo has been generating as of late. Eat some humble pie and develop a game Julian then you can show us what the Wii is capable of since all other developers are shit (what a big headed prat!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david.dakota Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Where did all the dumb "Wii isnt about GRAPHIX!!!" posts from the other threads go to?hmm, guess people dont like eating humble pie? Personally i find this more worrying: 10 years and the only progress they can come up with is a slightly higher resolution and some trees?!?! Actually, thats really quite disturbing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retro_Link Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Personally i find this more worrying: 10 years and the only progress they can come up with is a slightly higher resolution and some trees?!?! What? I'd much rather have games that look like Rouge Squadron (Gamecube) on Wii, than the likes of Wing Island; which doesn't actually look far off an N64 game!! Look at it compared to that N64 Star Wars picture!At least Factor 5 bother using the technology! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dante Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 The Godfather: Blackhand Edition for Wii Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fresh Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Shame on you developers... Fresh is not happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atomic Boo Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 yeah that 64 image is better than wing island. and then when you think about it, the DS graphics are better than that, so for something as small as the DS, Wii cant do better. pfffft! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shino Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I've been saying this since the start, and I too have egg breath. Why didn't anyone take me seriously? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motion Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 Same here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcj metroid Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 this will continue to happen. i think.its still happening with the ds sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stocka Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 I've been playing Resident Evil 4 recently and it's graphically more impressive than anything on Wii so far by a country mile Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lens of Truth Posted February 9, 2007 Share Posted February 9, 2007 It's either a case of: a) developers being cautious in their first batch of releases - often ports or rehashes (Prince of Persia is just a joke!) or b) the 'novelty' value of the wii control (which is basically the only real selling point of the console right now) allowing dev teams to be lazy. The worrying thing for me is that if third parties see that hastily thrown together low budget games sell, this trend may continue, while they pour all of their effort and resources into expansive hi-def titles. The fact that Nintendo themselves seem happy to coast along for a while also makes me anxious.. come on guys bring on the big guns!! If wii games don't start to get a little more ingenious in their graphics routines, then in, say, 18 months time it'll look like a cheapo pile of shit compared to the others. Sonic and Mario Galaxy look superb - hopefully a small taste of things to come. And no, I'm not a graphics whore. I just hate seeing the huge potential of the wii go to waste. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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