
Wii Warm Up: Third party deja vu





| Name | Date | |
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| NBA Live 09 All-Play |
Oct 7 |
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Oct 7 | |
| Crash: Mind Over Mutant |
Oct 7 |
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Oct 16 | |
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Oct 20 | |
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Oct 21 | |
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Oct 21 | |
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Oct 21 | |
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Oct 21 | |
| Naruto: Clash Of Ninja Revolution 2 | Oct 21 | |
| Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun | Oct 22 |
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| Guitar Hero: World Tour |
Oct 27 | |
| MySims Kingdom |
Oct 28 | |
| FIFA Soccer 09 All-Play | Oct 28 | |
| Cooking Mama: World Kitchen |
Oct 28 | |
| Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009 |
Oct 28 | |
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-28-2008 @ 9:17AM
bambinoskrib said...
Nintendo should buy out Sega = More exclusives.
I'm telling you it would be EPIC! Mario and sonic on the same page.. and maybe then we could possibly get an epic 3D Sonic game.
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1-28-2008 @ 11:08AM
z3r0w1n9 said...
And this would encourage third-party development *how*, exactly?
1-28-2008 @ 12:28PM
samfish said...
It wouldn't, but it would be poetic and awesome.
I'd also love to see Nintendo make Platinum Games second party, but I'm not sure if the talent would stick around, given how much they seem to value being independent.
But hey...if 3rd parties aren't going to make good games for Nintendo on their own, I'm not really opposed then to Nintendo making them second party and FORCING them to create good games.
1-28-2008 @ 1:27PM
James said...
Mario and Sonic on the same page? Excellent! Maybe they could like race each other or something. Or they could have a big fight with each other... some kind of, I don't know, Brawl? That would rock.
1-28-2008 @ 9:18AM
Dan said...
I think the developers only have themselves to blame.
But even if that's true... can Nintendo afford for third parties to fail on their system?
It's Nintendo's responsibility to help those third parties succeed -- even if it's really not their fault that the third parties make bad games.
I think No More Heroes is a disappointing example that this is a real problem for the long term health of the system.
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1-28-2008 @ 11:06AM
Gonzo said...
I don't think we should be scolding the developers just yet.
Until 13 months ago, they all thought the wii was going to bomb worse than the cube. I was fully expecting the avalanche of shovelware we experienced in 2007. I didn't actually buy any of it but contented myself with a couple of quality Nintendo games, the good ports like Godfather & RE4, and well... my ps2.
I too was hoping that RE: Umbrella Chronicles and No More Heroes would prove that the wait for quality third party support was over. And while neither are terrible, both games prove that we probably have another year before we see some finished AAA titles.
One thing that proves the programmers still don't know what the hell they're doing with the wiimote (or maybe they're just lazy) is their continued use of quick time events (or as I like to call them: press the button or die!) which was such a terrible trend to begin with, it's almost made me regret buying God of War.
1-28-2008 @ 9:33AM
Mr Khan said...
Advertise yer shit, third parties
Make it good, advertise it, win. Otherwise fail. Your choice.
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1-28-2008 @ 9:45AM
heyzeus said...
Yeah. The developers are whining like little bitches now cos they didnt want to touch the console to start with. Now they're playing catchup, cos they'd be morons to ignore such a large user base. Unfortunately in many cases that means frantically shovelling steaming piles of dog shit onto shelves. (You know who you are!!!)
From where im standing it sounds like the developers are saying something along the lines of, "Why cant nintendo make shitty games like us? Then we wouldnt feel so bad about our shittyness!... Its so not FAIR (stomp stomp)"
Maybe if they actually spent some MONEY on advertising and marketing rather than assuming the entire user base of nintendo reads blogs and games websites. Surely they should be taking a leaf out of Nintendo's example and get some decent adverts out there! Surely a large part of the success of the Wii is down to brilliant marketing.
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1-28-2008 @ 9:50AM
Hame said...
Yes I think the third-party situation is actually worse than it was last-generation. Despite its eventual demise at least the Gamecube was a technically-proficient, dedicated games console which meant we did see many of the best multi-platform games (Timesplitters, Prince of Persia, Burnout, etc).
After all, last generation we got the best version of Soulcalibur 2. This generation the PS3 and 360 get Soulcalibur 4 and we get the cheap, shoddy spin-off Soulcalibur Legends. Last generation we got Resident Evil 4. This generation the PS3 and 360 get Resident Evil 5 and we get.... errr.... Resident Evil 4.... again.
The great developers want to make beautiful, state-of-the-art games and who can blame them? If I was a developer I'd probably rather make my games on those consoles and I'm a hardcore Nintendo fanboy. The Wii remote is neat, but it isn't enough of a draw to them (it's only real improvement over a traditional pad is the aiming, other than that most of the worst controls I've ever used have been on Wii games). If anything, I would say that the Wii remote restricts developers. Not to mention the fact that the Wii's audience is worryingly casual and are seemingly only interested in casual stuff like Wii Sports and Wii Fit and great third-party games will always get bulldozed into oblivion by these devils in smiley clothing.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:14AM
worm said...
I agree with Mr Khan. Make it good, advertise it. We're not gonna buy your game just because you spent money making it. We're gonna buy it when you make us want it.
Take the PSP for example. I was NOT going to spend that much money on a PSP when it first came out. But then I learned about Lumines, and I WANTED IT BAD. So I dropped the money on the system for that one game.
In short, make me want your game.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:25AM
FrankTheCrank said...
Does Nintendo really need third party publishers?
The only decent games on the Wii seem to be first party games. Nintendo is probably one of the best developers on the planet. Their games are always so much more polished than any other developer out there. I don't have one single third party title for the Wii.
As far as the DS goes though....I think the third party publishers are doing just fine.
Nintendo has cut themselves quite the pie, I think they can sustain themselves quite well without third party publishers on the Wii. The DS is another story.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:35AM
Orion said...
they need them more than you think, or the wii will be the gc all over again. And no offense, but the Wii with no 3rd party games would suck as many of my favorite titles aren't made by nintendo at all.
it's actually quite sad to hear you have no 3rd party games, you're missing out on many good games and it's pretty ignorant of you to say there are no good third party games out there. You sound like one of those types of people who only buy Nintendo (and no other) systems as well, which again you're missing out.
unless you are in a financial strain, get more games. It sounds like you only have a handful. i have 20 already on wii, half of which are 3rd party efforts, and I love most every one (red steel though... not so much). If you like Nintendo games, get No More Heroes and Zack and Wiki at the very least. I can't imagine anyone who is a gamer NOT finding enjoyment from either of those two titles. That should be a good enough start for you into the 3rd party world.
1-28-2008 @ 10:29AM
Orion said...
funny you said that about the psp, it's how it was for battlefront RS for me. I was interested in the game, but the advertising on tv made me go buy a psp 2000 vader psp pack.
as far as the games though, yes please advertise them. Like IGN said, the problem with Zack and Wiki is that no one knew what it was. Make some tv ads, show some gameplay...
also, STOP making the stupid mini game compilations. If you want people to respect your studio, making games in 2 months with controls that are broken isn't the way to get money. Studios like the one (forget the name atm) who made the series of 19 dollar racing games that could have been on the N64, are perfect examples of 3rd party laziness.
People buy Nintendo games because they know they have a very good shot of it not being a cruddy game. And when games cost $50 most of the time, you don't want to flush it down the toilet on a game that might suck. Ubisoft has said that it wants to gain the same level of respect that Nintendo games do, but other than No More Heroes, which they didn't even make, I haven't seen this level of quality from them.
In short, advertise, no more last gen ports (unless you add to it substantially) and no more mini games. Let us know when you make something epic and worth my money and we'll buy it. So please, advertise De Blob, Zack and Wiki 2, the EA blocks game, No More Heroes, etc... if you do, they will sell, and you can bet the Wii in time will be just like the DS, with a successful run of 3rd party titles. It's sad these devs need to be told this, you'd think that owning a multi million dollar corporation, they'd have people who get big pay checks to tell them this crap. ADS INCREASE REVENUE. QUALITY INCREASES REVENUE!
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1-28-2008 @ 6:39PM
LV426 said...
Ubisoft has lost my respect on more then this platform. Im also a PC player, and their copy-protection software as of late (starforge) has me thumbing my nose on their too.
Add to that the WORST optimizing Ive ever seen (Assassins Creed to need 2 Gigs of RAM and reccomend 3 for a game that runs on systems with the combined video and MAIN RAM of 512MB), and I want to run them out of business personally as of late. They suck.
1-28-2008 @ 10:30AM
vidGuy said...
The 3rd parties have released some good games on Wii; half the games I own were developed by studios other than Nintendo's. However, I see something interesting going on.
1) Nintendo is dominating the 'hardcore' games, which is to be expected. Few 3rd party offerings in this category are selling, due to both Nintendo's shadow and minimal advertising.
2) The above causes 3rd parties to look to casual offerings to make a profit on the console. Budget titles get thrown together, priced at $20-$40, and advertising is kept at a minimum to save costs.
3) Nintendo sells tons at the top while 3rd parties eek a few 'hardcore' games in there and fight for the rest of their money at the bottom. What I see is that 3rd parties are going to make more cash and thus support the Wii more than the GC, but most of their games are going to be casual and borderline-shovelware.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:35AM
Max Headroom said...
I think Nintendo had a press conference last year during which they stated that first pary sales accounted for around 75% of all DS software sales early in its lifetime, but now that number is down to around 50%. They said they expect a similar trend with the Wii.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:38AM
Dash said...
You know, maybe we all should go back and look at the numbers (all info here is from Japan 2007).
According to Famitsu, the best selling third-party game of the 3 now-gen consoles (Wii, PS3 and X360) is a Wii game: Dragon Quest Swords (486,222). So is the third place, belonging to Mario and Sonic.
But I admit, many thirty-party games are having a bad time. Simply because they freaking want to. And here is why:
Top PS3 Games
1. Hot Shots Golf 5 - 372,895
2. Dynasty Warriors 6 - 332,168
3. Dynasty Warriors: Gundam - 306,114
Top Xbox 360 games:
1. Lost Odyssey - 91,177
2. Ace Combat 6 - 89,463
3. Halo 3 - 83,502
Top PS2 Games:
1. Warriors Orochi - 649,570
2. Winning Eleven 2008 - 545,024
3. Super Robot Wars OG - 435,411
Top Wii games without Nintendo games:
1-Dragon Quest Swords - 486,222
2-Mario and Sonic at The Olympic Games (Wii) -- 363,101
3-Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles -- 212,417
What this means? Two things:
A) Third party games sell just as good or better than other now-gem consoles.
B)PS2 games are still selling like crazy, because they are original entries on hig-profile franchises. Does anybody doubt that Samurai Warrior could be made on Wii and sell just as much? So why they give us crazy first-person spin-offs, instead of a normal version of the game?
But I think we should make another question now, which is the most important one:
From all those games underselling (Zack and Wiki and others), do you really think they would have great sales on other consoles? With the same amount of advertising?
(Ps: Sorry for the long post guys. O got carried on a little)
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1-28-2008 @ 10:53AM
Hame said...
It's very strange the position Nintendo finds themselves in. Within the space of a year they've become the undisputed market leader and yet have managed to alienate almost the entire gaming community (both developers and gamers) in the process. They went from their glorious E3 2006 performance as darlings of the industry to their wretched E3 2007 performance as the most hated company in the industry. Where do their priorities lie? If it's now purely about making money off of casual mediocrity then they probably don't care about third-parties. But if they still care about gaming and being the best, most-respected games company in the world then they need to make sure that they have an environment where good games sell.
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1-28-2008 @ 10:54AM
Ghaleon said...
I think Nintendo buyers are lazy. TOO much 3rd-party slop sells tons on the 360 and all, but when neat games like NiGHTS, No More Heroes (I'm predicting), Z&W, etc sell like crap, the userbase is busted.
Four people on my two teams at work have Wiis, and three spend a lot of time playing games but don't really buy anything but Nintendo titles + Res Evil. My gf's bro just buys Nintendo + big-name recycled crud (CoD3, EA games).
Nintendo sys are like SEGA -- you really have to be a serious gamer to know what's good in terms of the 3rd-party. I've really had fun w/ almost every 3rd-party game I have (Geometry Wars, Trauma Center:NB, Elebits, Sonic, NiGHTS, NMH, Res Evils).
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1-28-2008 @ 11:04AM
Russell said...
I think it's a problem with the third parties, I've seen a lot of games I thought I'd like but turn out to lack in content, take that startrek one that came out recently for example, if there was online multiplayer I wouldn't have thought twice before buying it
and on the note of third part games I'd like to see, a remake of starwars podracer! the controls would be perfect with the remote and nunchuk
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1-28-2008 @ 11:06AM
samfish said...
Third parties have to do one of two things to succeed on the Wii...
1) Make established, popular selling franchises for the system if they want to minimize their advertising dollars
or
2) Make a new series or title or whatever and ADVERTISE IT.
Really, that shouldn't even have to be pointed out, because those rules apply to everything 99 times out of 100. It's just that 3d parties seem to be under the illusion that if they make a game for the Wii, people will automatically know about it, but NOT know how awful it is since the developers put in only a half assed effort, and proceed to buy it.
They also have to keep their expectations reasonable. Not every game has to come close to selling a million copies, or even 500,000 copies to be successful.
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1-28-2008 @ 11:41AM
Perverted said...
Sorry about first comment, new PC testing email/pass etc.
I'm with most people 3rd parties fail on Wii because all they do is release dodgy ps2 ports with added waggle or some shovelware crap that most people know to avoid.
Also I'm in agreement with Hame.
But to their credit a few 3rd parties now seem to be trying.
Casual gamers mainly stick to TV so a decent nonps2/psp-port game with ads = seller
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1-28-2008 @ 11:51AM
Perverted said...
,...........
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1-28-2008 @ 12:23PM
grp110nyr said...
Everyone here has said it and so will I. Most of the 3rd party dev's are slapping together borderline games to cash in on Wii sales. Why is it that most of the ported Wii games sell for $10 to $20 more than their PS2 twin? Greed. Note that I say MOST. On the other hand MOST Nintendo titles have some sort of quality control in their game and yes they understand the Wii controls. What I would like to see is some dev, whether it be established or independent, devote 100% to the development of a Wii exclusive game. My preference would be a shooter similar to COD4 and yes I realize that graphically the Wii is limited but what if someone made an online Wii game similar to Socom 3 and set up non friends coded matches. If dev money is a concern maybe EA could port Battlefield 2 to the system. Tell me that fans of this genre wouldn't be drooling at the idea. I wonder if the Wii version of COD3 would have received better reviews if it had an online mode??? Judging by our addiction to "frag" each other, I am sure it would have. By the way I realize that EA's Medal of Honor Heros game has an online frag fest but the hit detection of any weapon I use makes me want to hit my tv with the remote. Enough rambling. Good day.
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1-28-2008 @ 12:31PM
Eone said...
Wow, many nintendo fanadicts seem to be confused by what is real. =)
Sales of systems and games obviously have nothing to do with real facts of what is going on. Quit defending the system and support what most no to be true - the wii lacks consistent quality and 3rd party games.
We don't care if it has sold 10 billion systems or 9 billion copies of Wii Play. This means nothing to the end result - lack of consistent quality games.
Fact - Wii is a great system with a controller gimmick that works very well, but not supported very well by all games.
Fact - Nintendo proved gameplay and casual friendly fun controler over graphics.
Fact - Third party support stinks although the system continues to sell very well. NMH is a good game and a start int he right direction.
Fact - Nintendo Fans get all crazy and think all is great because of 1 great release and 2 good releases in one quarter. This is the way it SHOULD be, and it should be even better than this with this many units sold more than a year after its release.
Come on folks! Some of you need to quit defending and start using your heads and voices. Demand better 3rd party support and know that a great selling system should have a great selection of games, not a bunch of cheap cash in quick games. Denial doesn't help anything. :)
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1-28-2008 @ 12:34PM
Jared said...
I think the name of the game here is advertisement. I only saw a few commercials (and I really mean something like a total of three) for NiGHTS and maybe two for Bust-a-Move-Bash. How is the general public (meaning those who don't come to fanboy forums, and such) supposed to know what games are, at all, if they never see an advertisement of game play? It isn't 1987 anymore, and I wonder if the third parties don't realize it.
Of course, I haven't seen many commercials for first-party games either, but Nintendo has built enough of a reputation to be able to succeed on name alone.
Anyway, if third parties want people to buy their products, then they need to show us the goods. There are some great third party properties out there (NiGHTS, Trauma Center, No More Heroes), but they haven't gotten the word out. They need to buy some air time.
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1-28-2008 @ 12:56PM
Deozaan said...
A very similar thing happened with the DS. For about the first year, most games pretty much sucked on the DS. Developers didn't know what to do with the new controls and both screens.
With the Wii, developers don't know what to do with the new controls and other features. So all we've gotten is mini game compilations.
For the most part, I blame the 3rd party developers for making crappy games. In December I realized that the first non-Nintendo (aka first-party) game I've gotten for the Wii was Dewy's Adventure, which was a Christmas gift. After playing that game for an hour I felt like I had just been watching Teletubbies.
Games are expensive. Why buy B games from 3rd parties when Nintendo has so many AAA titles out?
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1-28-2008 @ 2:20PM
Mr Khan said...
The situation is turning around, though. Monster Hunter 3 will tear up Japan and do well enough in America. Other major projects could get diverted.
The problem, as others have said, is that Nintendo is monopolizing the "hardcore" stuff. Is it their fault? By no means, but trying to compete with that is hard. Weaker 1st party groups (like Sony and Microsoft, who aren't weak, but definitely weaker) don't always have another huge 1st-party title on the horizon, but Nintendo's got a stack of successful franchises, a whole horde of competent development studios, and all that revenue to draw on
Nintendo would monopolize attention whatever platform they were on, its not their fault. It just means others have to strategize. Wii gets the next installments of Fatal Frame and Monster Hunter, other franchises of that level will sign on eventually, too.
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1-28-2008 @ 2:43PM
AJ said...
I have a great idea, Nintendo should just start making shitty games. Wrong. Third parties have got to stop thinking of the Wii as the quick cash in machine and and start releasing high quality software or they're dead. Wii owners are not stupid and I'd say most of us can smell shovelware from a mile away.
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1-28-2008 @ 3:23PM
steve said...
if you advertise...they might buy it.....
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1-28-2008 @ 3:35PM
tiamat1990 said...
Yes it is....but it won't last forever. Zelda, Mario, Metroid are out. Super Smash is almost here, Mario Kart is coming. Animal Crossing and Pikmin are probably coming out this year. After that happens third parties should swoop in just like the situation of the DS now.
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1-29-2008 @ 1:55AM
padgon said...
I would like more information on the matter, but here are a couple of points that I’m thinking about:
1- Atari was bank broke thanks to bad third party support. Are we afraid of this happening to the Wii?
2- What happen to the Nintendo seal of quality? The original Nintendo console had a quality standard so 3rd dev could publish a game. Should Nintendo have one for the Wii? And at this point, is it bad for business?
3- Does Nintendo didn’t proper teach how to develop good control configurations?
4- Does developers now how to extract the real use of the consol power?
5- Because developing a Wii game is cheaper than a 360 or ps3, are many of the 3rd party really that inexperience?
6- (A lot of people here are going to kill me for bringing this to the table) is it a hardware issue? Or the console have a limitation that 3rd dev are not use to deal with?
I want to now more the opinions about the matter.
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1-29-2008 @ 4:27AM
mark richardson said...
I really dont get how nintendo producing fantastic games on their own system is hampering 3rd party developers.
I mean come on think about it, if nintendo show what the maachine is capable of doing and produce great looking games like mario galaxy, then it shows what the machine can do and how much 3rd party people aint even trying. I mean some 3rd party games ive seen look soo utterly woefull its rediculous its like they just phoned the game in from there bed one morning.
plus as for 3rd party games (the really good ones not selling) ADVERTISE more. I know what games i want to buy because im interested in all this and read up on stuff so i know whats coming out and what is good and whats not. But if they dont advertise how do other folks who wont spend as much time as myself looking online know about the games.
I mean here in the uk i think ive only ever seen 2 3rd party adverts on the tv and im almost positive both were for resident evil. I mean come on show us zack and wiki show us geometory wars. Ive seen an ok ammount of net advertising and some magazine adverts but these are damn damn good games get advertising them so more people knwo about them then they will buy them!
Oh and actually ihave seen more 3rd party adverts but they dont count as they were not wii specific they were for games liek tiger woods/fifa or harry potter which are available on all machines so its an advert for all versions of the game.
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