Sony: Wii Sends Third-Party Developers to PS3

[JediMB]

I would be far more inclined to agree with you if Nintendo would do something more with it's AAA titles then re-create their last AAA title with a somewhat different setting. I hated Ocarina of Time and constantly remaking Ocarina of Time(Which is actually a retread of Link to the Past.) isn't likely to cause me to jump out of my chair and run around my mommy yelling "BUY BUY BUY!"

That's ridiculous. The main line of Zelda games changes a lot more from game to game than the average sequel out there. You're basically complaining about that the last three games (Majora's Mask and the DS games are spin-offs) are in the same genre and have thematic similarities.

 

[Taninger]

Yeah, Nintendo does some silly things and needs to bring diversity back into its main titles. Sure, I'd LOVE to have more Zelda games where music isn't a major part of the gameplay.

But this ties into so many of the Going Gold articles I've read this past year - if someone won't take the time to push the system to its limits in any way, conceptually, graphically, or what have you, then OF COURSE they're not going to succeed. Sure, it may not have the graphics of the other two systems, but it can still look mighty pretty when its done well.

Really, a lot of the Wii's failings seem to be from lack of effort as much as anything else. Not that the console is bug-free or the greatest thing ever (most of the games I play on the Wii are from older consoles which far outstrip it), but it isn't an inherently useless system or anything of the sort.

 

[ultimateownage]

le snip

Wait, you just told an admin to shut the fuck up and made a comment with ONLY a picture? Yea, I'm pretty sure you're fucked.

O.T. Wait, so Sony said Microsoft has lots of 3rd party stuff but they have 1st party stuff, and then go on to say that all their 3rd party stuff is from Nintendo? Is it just me or is that a bit contradictory? Or am I just getting everything wrong?

The post was directed at Rob Dyer, obviously and I'd hope the mods would be able to read it correctly, even if some can't. It was not my intention to direct it to the poster and I'm honestly disapointed in humanity I had to explain this.

My bad, but nonetheless you said it with only a picture which is frowned upon.

 

[Terramax]

Wait...No More Heroes 2,Tatsunoko vs Capcom,The Conduit, MadWorld and Muramasa are first party?

You see, that's the problem: They are third party titles on the Wii and, regardless of their quality, they sell like shit. Especially considering how many Wiis are out there. This is why 3rd party developers don't like producing for Nintendo consoles any more.

Very true. Regardless of whether they were good games or not, very few people bought the first No More Heroes. I can't believe they bothered with a second one. And despite the advertising, Madworld didn't sell like hotcakes, and I doubt many bought Muramasa either. What's 'The Conduit?'

Never-the-less, whilst Sony may actually be right this time round, they really need to fire their PRs.

 

[Xersues]

It's not petty PR if that's what is really happening. If the third parties really are coming over to sony (and probably microsoft) then it really does speak on the Wii's behalf.

This guy hasn't been spewing a bunch of PR nonsense that you rabids out there just chomp at.

Think about what sells on the Wii, especially in the top 10, its ALL first party games. That doesn't speak well for other publishers like Sega, EA or Capcom. So they move to the 360 and PS3. Since the Ps3 is getting more steam, perhaps more companies are going to try the PS3 market. Good for them.

 

[Gladion]

snip

Modern Warfare is possibly the only real example, because there are so little games aside movie licensed ones that are on all those three systems.

snip

snip

I'm aware of the fact that you only sell very little games compared to the amount of consoles out there (in numbers), and that this is just how the system works.

This does not change the fact that if there are more consoles out there, you should get more sales out of them. Which third party developers don't when releasing their games on the Wii. Maybe I shouldn't have said that MadWorld, NMH etc. sold "like shit". Of course they didn't. NMH was at least profitable enough to justify a sequel. The others weren't, though.

This is not about whether third party developers manage to break-even, though, but whether it really gets you a profit. This is where Sony come in and say "[Nintendo games are so awesome, and there are so many, that] people owning a Nintendo console only buy those first party titles and don't have any money left to buy 3rd party titles". All I say is "this is true, but this has been the case for the last three generations now".

This statement is exaggerated - there won't be a Conduit 2, MadWorld 2, House of the Dead Overkill 2, though, and there is a reason for it. You could say this is just because the games weren't good enough or they were too niche, but that's just averting your eyes.
As I said before, N64 and Gamecube had the same problem, and the multiplatform titles on those didn't sell as well as on their competitors, too.

 

[Jeronus]

Seriously, Sony should take shots at the Wii. It is always Sony and Microsoft exchanging blows. Somebody needed to drag Nintendo back in.

 

[Desert Tiger]

Stop talking about it. Go do it.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

-snip-

So then what's the reason for the other third party games selling well or getting sequels then? RE 4 Wii selling over 1.5 million? deBlob selling some 7-800 grand? Red Steel was critically mixed, yet they are making a sequel.

And The Conduit was a low budget title. You call it averting our eyes, but it was pretty much made without a publisher. And even they said their sales were fine.

We can pull speculation out of our ass if we want, but if developers say they are happy with sales, who are we to say otherwise?

I'm just going to direct you to this, it's worth a read:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/going-gold/6850-Going-Gold-The-Self-Fulfilling-Prophecy

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

-snip-

Fair enough concerning your reason you bought a Wii part, but I can't agree with your Nintendo's AAA titles being a retread of the last game part. Admittedly, TP and Mario Kart: Wii are retreads, but pretty much every Zelda or Mario game has been pretty different from each other; Sunshine to Galaxy, Majora's Mask to Wind Waker, and so on.

And we can't really say that the Wii's killer app is a pack-in game now can we? That's left to the big franchise hitters.

 

[The Diabolical Biz]

Balderdash and poppycock, the good 3rd party games for Wii have already been named, and this is just pathetic whimpering and ninnying, if the PS3 is so great, quit justifying it and being so damn insecure

That's what I'd say to Rob Dyer

 

[robinkom]

I usually don't agree with anything Sony ever does since they're big, rich, and evil... but I do like my PS3 a lot. As a satisfied customer, this trashing talking is wholly unnecessary. Ever heard of being humble? Oh wait, that's Nintendo's angle.

Sony likes to take the old "Sega" approach when it comes to talking about the competition. Talk shit on them up and down regardless of how good/bad they're doing. (Remember "Genesis does what Nintendon't" ?)

There is some truth to what he's saying though. You rarely see a lot third-party IP's do outstanding on the Wii. It always comes down to what Nintendo churns out themselves. More times than not, a lot of those titles end up on the PSP or as downloadable content on PSN or XBL. They seem to be more appealing to those audiences too. I think maybe Nintendo's emphasis on catering to the casual and non-gamers will come back to bite them in the ass soon.

Don't get me wrong, I love Nintendo, but their first-party core game offerings are sparse as always... maybe even more so. They are, however, the sole reason anyone should own a Nintendo console though.

This whole scenario in the current-gen console war really reminds me a lot of the Nintendo 64 Vs. Sega Saturn, Vs. PlayStation 1. Nintendo reprises their role as usual, the role of the PS1 is now portrayed by the Xbox 360, and the PS3 is playing the part of the Sega Saturn.

The parallels don't stop there, the PS3 and Saturn share a lot of similar quirks. Both require extra care and attention from developers as they are/were hard to program for, the system exclusives tend/tended to be the best titles for them, and both are/were more popular in Japan than America and Europe.

 

[robinkom]

Impossible. You can't put high production quality games on the Wii because it's outdated hardware. When they try to port over games that look great on PS3 or 360, they end up looking like garbage and playing equally well. Titles like Madworld, No More Heroes or...actually can't think of anything else, sacrifice an incredible amount of graphical function in various ways to make games that are playable, if only in a rudimentary manner.

I'm going to turn an old standby against the Wii fanboys, here. High-end graphics may not be a necessity to turn out a game that has excellent gameplay, but that does not mean the two are mutually exclusive. However, good game play cannot possibly exist with out good control and that's something that the Wiimote rarely provides.

Games like Mario, Zelda, Metroid and Pokemon are doubtlessly going to outsell anything that third parties can come up with on a Nintendo system. This is because of the purchasing habits of Nintendo's easily pleased and extremely rabid fanbase. Third party developers are going to have a harder time, however. And this is because the Wii's limitations are so glaring that making the kind of games that sell well on other systems is quite literally impossible. And that is why so many developers toss out quick cash-in shovelware and mini-game collections.

Honestly, what else can you really do with the Wii? [small](Yes, I know. Rail Shooters. But who honestly plays those anymore?)[/small]

I only play Rail Shooters on my DREAMCAST, thank you very much! By the way, I LOVE your Yogurt avatar! XD

But you are absolutely correct.

Third-party developers perhaps think too hard about what they have to do to make Wii titles that will sell well... I'm not sure if Nintendo says that there must be mandatory use of the motion controls, but if not I'd say screw it then. Make games that'll play with the with Wii Remote held sideways or a Gamecube/Classic Controller. The Wii IS a Gamecube after all at it's core and I seem to recall some pretty beautiful Gamecube games that still hold up well visually. Or perhaps limit motion controls to bonus stages and what not.

I think it would be a great revival console for 2D Platformers. That is, 2D Platformers with the best 3D graphics that the system can churn out. Just look at New Super Mario Bros. Wii. At it's most basic concept, it's just Super Mario Bros. from 1985 all over again. It's a tried and true formula that is timeless.

Classic platform games, if done right, can enjoy some great renewed success on the Wii. Whose to say we couldn't be playing a brand-new Pitfall, Ristar, or Castlevania? They just need to be of the standard that would warrant a Disc-based release and not as WiiWare.

I think Developers could learn a bit from looking back at the 8-bit & 16-bit eras to figure out what they can do with the Wii to produce profit-turning games.

 

[GonzoGamer]

Oh great, the big 3 have now reduced themselves to the level of mud slinging politicians.

They've always been like that. That's where fanboys come from.
It's the console makers trying to hypnotize them:
?If you want this nice shiny ?exclusive? you?ll have to buy our machine.?

Incidentally, does sony really want ?exclusive? shovelware and games like No More Heroes on the ps3? Didn?t they get enough of that with the ps2?
They can?t even get developers like Sucker Punch to utilize any features beyond Trophies, I don?t see why these smaller devs would.

 

[William Dickbringer]

Wait...No More Heroes 2,Tatsunoko vs Capcom,The Conduit, MadWorld and Muramasa are first party?

You see, that's the problem: They are third party titles on the Wii and, regardless of their quality, they sell like shit. Especially considering how many Wiis are out there. This is why 3rd party developers don't like producing for Nintendo consoles any more.

Very true. Regardless of whether they were good games or not, very few people bought the first No More Heroes. I can't believe they bothered with a second one. And despite the advertising, Madworld didn't sell like hotcakes, and I doubt many bought Muramasa either. What's 'The Conduit?'

Never-the-less, whilst Sony may actually be right this time round, they really need to fire their PRs.

actually the first no more heroes sold good in U.S. and europe mad world didn't do as well as hoped I didn't even hear of muramasa

 

[Terramax]

actually the first no more heroes sold good in U.S. and europe mad world didn't do as well as hoped I didn't even hear of muramasa

OK, sorry, it appears you were right about NMH. I assumed it did badly in the rest of the world as it did so poorly in Japan.

 

[Quaade]

Yeah maybe he should let the third party devs speak for themselves.

Its like a top lvl flame war.

They have.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98090-Wii-Sees-Decline-in-Developer-Support

Please read the entire article instead of just the bits you liked.
Ebb and flow meaning: the developers go where there is the highest ease in making the most money.
If they are going towards mobile gaming it's because they see it as easy, cheap and profitable since Apple is trying take dominance in that field from Nintendo.

About this article, I really see no reason, at least not any sane or rational ones, why a company should be moving their badly produced games from the relative inexpensive to develop for console, to the "I can buy 4 Wii development kits for the price of 1 PS3 development kit" console.
They might be able to move 50% more units to the PS3 userbase than to the Wii userbase, but if the development costs are 400% higher than for the Wii, ends don't meet and the they will bankrupt.
... But looking at what some of them churn out, that might not be such a bad thing to happen