Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Reggie recently sat down for a little chat with Stephen Totilo from MTV Multiplayer to discuss what's on everyone's mind. No, not the company's showing at E3, but rather the storage issues of the console.

He said that "from an Americas-centric perspective," the Wii's storage limitations are becoming a "mainstream" problem. Again, he reiterates that the company is working on a solution, but isn't ready to reveal any specifics yet.

Seriously, Nintendo, how long are you going to wait? Each week, more Virtual Console and WiiWare content releases and gamers can't download because they have no space!

[Thanks, il_duce620!]

He also had other, shockingly new things to say in relation to Judgment, which sadly reveal the kinds of budgets Konami offers Castlevania games these days. In response to a question about the environment for third-party games on the Wii, Igarashi said the following, which lays bare the approach taken by Konami:

"I think there are two roads you can take: Create a game for the core fans with as low a development cost as possible; the other is to just find a different market for these consoles outside the core gamer."

There is hope for more real Castlevania games on a smaller budget, and that hope is called Mega Man 9. "I'm watching that very closely to see how it does," IGA told Wired. "Myself, I'm a big retro gaming fan, so if it is successful that definitely opens up doors for what I can do." It's no wonder that Igarashi would be interested in a console game that reuses 8-bit sprites.

Geoff Keighley, you have bigger stones than us. The GameTrailers TV presenter grabbed super-sized Nintendo executive Reggie Fils-Aime immediately after he left stage at Nintendo's infamous E3 2008 keynote, and subsequently gave him a grilling that Paxman would be proud of.

While Reggie was mostly gracious about Keighley's constant enquiries into the new Mario and Zelda titles, he did show the odd sign of irritation, at one point protesting, "Geoff, you keep trying to date me, you know. My girlfriend's going to get upset. You keep trying to date me. You can't do that." Protip, Geoff: when the vein starts bulging in the side of Reggie's head, that's the time to stop asking about Mario and Zelda.

In a totally different interview, Reggie's conference co-presenter Cammie "Smiler" Dunaway has defended herself from (rather absurd, if you ask us) accusations that she was feigning enthusiasm during Nintendo's keynote. "Tell your blog that I'm really a genuinely smiley, nice person," she instructed Wired's Chris Kohler. "Because people think I'm fake, smiling up there. I'm just not! It's just me! I am who I am."

Ah, the hard-hitting drama of the post-E3 analysis!

[Reggie carefully concealing his annoyance here, via videogaming247]
[Cammie Dunaway defending her right to smile here]

Shigeru Miyamoto has weighed in on the grand debate that has raged over Nintendo's E3 press conference, addressing fan complaints that not enough "core" titles were shown. According to Shiggy, the shortage of more traditional games could be attributed to one thing: E3.

Whereas once E3 was perceived as an event for those who treated gaming as serious business, Miyamoto argues that the industry's red-letter day is now better suited to showing off "new concepts and new types of play that we intend to bring to the broader audience, particularly because of the media that gathers at E3 now."

Nevertheless, Miyamoto did reassure diehard fans that classic franchises were being worked on, with the Zelda, Mario, and Pikmin teams all concentrating on new games. "... We're still working on many of those titles," Miyamoto told MSNBC, "But [E3 is] just not the type of event where we'll be showcasing that anymore."

It's interesting to note the different perspectives on this issue taken by Miyamoto and Reggie Fils-Aime. Whereas Reggie refuted the suggestion that Nintendo could have offered more "core" games, Miyamoto seems to admit that yes, there was a lack of such titles at E3, but that E3 itself was the reason behind this.

[Via GamesIndustry.biz]

Shigeru Miyamoto played the role of diplomat to perfection when IGN asked for his views on Microsoft's (plainly Mii-influenced) Avatars. The Nintendo guru claims he found the nabbing of his personalized, blobby creations to be "quite flattering," and then went on to suggest that "the basic ideas behind those two different systems are different, and because of that I think they will probably develop in different ways."

Way to stay on the fence, Shiggy. We like to think he was privately fuming inside.

So it seems a good portion of the internets didn't like Nintendo's E3 2008 press conference, with many accusing the company of forgetting "core" gamers, whoever they're supposed to be. The negative response from the online community quickly got back to bossman Reggie Fils-Aime, who immediately announced a new Zelda game admitted that he couldn't understand the fuss.

As Sir Reginald of Fils-Aime sees it, Animal Crossing: City Folk on the Wii ("the Animal Crossing that people wanted") and Grand Theft Auto on the DS are exactly the kind of thing "core" gamers would want, and reminded us that the Mario and Zelda folks were hard at work. "How could you feel left out?" he exclaimed to G4.

Over to you, good reader.

The current edition of UK magazine GamesTM has a bunch of new details for Sonic Unleashed, mostly gleaned from chatting to lead designer Yoshihisa Hashimoto. In the four-page piece, we learn that the game eschews traditional Sonic locales in favor of nine different worlds, each set in a themed geographical location -- so instead of Green Hill Zone, we'll be guiding the blue one through levels based on The Great Wall of China, an African plain, New York City, and a Spanish villa.

Stages are short (apparently, no stage lasts more than five minutes), and will contain both 2D and 3D sections that last for around 15 to 30 seconds each (this snappy level design, explains Hashimoto, is intended to prevent players from growing bored). Perhaps most importantly of all, the 3D sections will only use techniques that have proved successful in the past -- so there's the rail grinding from Sonic Adventure, and the ability to switch lanes, a la Sonic And The Secret Rings.

Of course, the Wii version is being outsourced to Dimps, so we'll just have to wait and see how much of this applies to the game on Nintendo's console.


[Via videogaming247]

Hey, you reading this! You a Japanese developer? If so, we need a word! Firstly: wow, thanks for reading us -- that's awesome. Secondly, and with the niceties over: you know what your problem is? You're too soft! At least that's what Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba reckons.

In an interview with Gamasutra, Inaba suggested that Japanese developers spend too much time concentrating on established franchises, and not enough on amazing, creative new ideas -- ideas such as MadWorld, which is what Inaba is presently working on. If anything, argues the Okami creator, it is Western developers who are now producing the most innovative videogames.

"We don't feel that we're at the top of the industry, but we know that we have to catch up to where Western developers are," he concludes. Is he right, readers?

We Love Golf isn't the first golf title that Camelot has worked on. After pioneering the Hot Shots! franchise, they then worked on the Mario Golf games. Now, we're all awaiting the release of We Love Golf, which hits retail shelves in North America next week.

Siliconera recently got the chance to talk with Camelot's founding brothers, Hiroyuki and Shugo Takahashi, about the upcoming game. The two talk about many things, from the importance of motion-based controls, to how development on previous titles have aided them in creating wha they think is a very solid product. We don't know about you, but we're pretty pumped for We Love Golf.

Ask most gamers -- or gamers like us, at least -- about sequels, and you'll be greeted with much eye-rolling. Here's one follow-up we can get behind, however: a sequel to High Voltage's promising sci-fi shooter, The Conduit. What's that you say? The Conduit isn't even out yet? Well, who cares? Certainly not High Voltage's Eric Nossinger!

Chatting to That Videogame Blog, Nossinger revealed that The Conduit has "enough story [...] and enough ideas" to justify making further The Conduit games, though admitted that sales would influence whether such follow-ups were developed. "We're building a brand with The Conduit," added colleague, Matt Corso (remember our interview with him?), dollar signs spinning in his eyes. Let's not forget to keep our eyes firmly on the first one, eh, chaps?


[Via Go Nintendo]

While many of you are wondering how Call of Duty 5 ... uh, won't suck on the Wii, check out Joystiq's interview with Treyarch's Mark Lamia. He talks about the Wii version, how it will include online play and also has its own team dedicated to the Wii version of the game. It's a pretty interesting interview that covers some of the concerns Wii gamers have for the title, so head on over and check it out.

Vicarious Visions' Karthik Bala has once again confirmed paid downloadable content in the Wii version of Guitar Hero World Tour, though current Wii guitar games have left us doubtful of any feature. Furthermore, you'll be able to save your songs to a "Rock Archive" on an SD card, and even play songs from the card without copying them over first. But ... but isn't that completely impossible?

Bala also confirmed that despite the new guitar's wacky gimmickry, your old Guitar Hero III (or Guitar Hero: Aerosmith) guitar will work just fine, and that "any USB microphone should work." With all these features, Vicarious Visions is going to have to be really creative if they want to disappoint us.

MTV Multiplayer's interview with Active Life: Outdoor Challenge producer Yusuke Sasaki barely touches on Active Life: Outdoor Challenge at all, and instead focuses on the really attention-getting part of the package: the new Family Trainer mat!

Apparently, compared to the NES mat, the technology has been refreshed a bit. No specifics were given, but perhaps the Family Trainer is something more than buttons inside soft plastic? Or perhaps the years of Dance Dance Revolution mat testing undergone around the world has helped hardware designers make more robust mat controllers. As far as tangible changes, "The Active Life mat actually has more buttons in a unique configuration that works well with different types of games as well as multiplayer gameplay on a single mat."

Sasaki also reaffirmed Namco Bandai's intention to create more games that use the mat. Dance Aerobics seems ripe for remaking, if they want the Wii Fit crowd.

Stylistically, it's been compared to Half-Life and Perfect Dark. What games have inspired design choices in The Conduit?

Rob: One of our goals from the very start was to make a fast-paced accessible FPS. To that end we looked at and stole shamelessly from mega-hits like Halo and Half-Life, recent titles like Resistance: Fall of Man and Metroid Prime Corruption, as well as classics like Goldeneye for the N64. We wanted to pick the best features from these titles, the things that made them fun and memorable and have features like those in The Conduit.

Matt: We've done art direction for so many different titles, and we've learned a lot about establishing a strong and cohesive visual style. The Conduit's art direction has come mainly from taking real world styles and locations and combining them with our own alien technology concepts and aesthetic design preferences. I suppose that it looks similar to those other games, but in the end it's The Conduit's own unique premise that has largely driven the artistic vision. When combined with the features that are specific to our engine tech, The Conduit will look stunning by the time it reaches the player's hands.

Will there be a calibration option, so we can "aim down the sights?"

Rob: One of the things we learned in our development process was that customization of controls is essential to an enjoyable gameplay experience. To that end, we allow players to customize sensitivity, dead zone sizes, as well as control layouts. But, if you mean, can you actually use the iron-sights of your guns, that answer is "not exactly". The reason being that several of our weapons are alien in nature and don't even have iron-sights... but you will have sort of an alien vision mode with some of the weapons.

Matt: There'll be on-the-fly, in-game look sensitivity adjustments, as well as a fully map-able control scheme, down to the button, in the game's front end UI. Players will be able to map the game's controls completely to their own liking. There'll even be a couple of alternate control methods for those that don't care as much for the Wii pointer style of directional turning. There'll be lots of options for maximum playability.



There hasn't been much word on who the publisher for The Conduit is. Rumor has it, Nintendo is actually going to publish the game. Can you comment on that? Can you announce one at this time?

Matt: I can neither confirm nor deny this, senator. ;) All I will say is that thanks to the explosion of interest in this title, we've had a lot of publishers knocking on our door.

Control-wise, will there be options for other methods outside of the Wiimote and nunchuk? Will it support the GameCube controller? Classic controller?

Dan: There are movement and weapon functions in The Conduit that require the Wii Remote's pointer, accelerometer, depth, and cursor rotation functionality in order to perform. The Conduit isn't your standard ported-over-to-the-Wii style of game. Using the Classic or GC controller kind of defeats the purpose of what we are looking to do.

Matt: With The Conduit we want to redefine first person shooter controls. Hard core FPS gamers that have played the game have told me that they are now convinced that Wii is the best system for the genre. When you play it you'll realize very quickly that the Wii Remote is an incredible control device for this type of game. It just feels amazing to play.

Rob: I think if you are buying a Wii, you're buying it to make use of its motion sensitive controls, which are tailor made for an FPS game.

Aside from the controls, what are the game's strengths that separate it from other existing PC/console FPSes?

Rob: I would say that would be the ASE or "All Seeing Eye" device. In game, this piece of hardware allows a player to adjust the "phase state" of things. This makes invisible enemies and hazards not only visible, but able to take damage. It also makes invisible cover and platforms become solid, leading to more gameplay. We also reveal secret puzzle locks that must be solved to get to special weapons.

Dan: We've put a solid amount of effort into enemy AI for The Conduit. A pet peeve of mine is single player FPS games where the enemies just stand there getting blasted, and don't seem to be reacting to the world around them. In The Conduit, our bad guys can hear and see, understand the use of cover, have variable levels of aggression, use grenades effectively, advance and retreat, and can determine when the player is susceptible to attack (i.e. reloading, exposed and moving in their firing cone). I think focusing a higher than normal amount of the dev time on AI makes our single player experience better than most other FPS titles out there. Of course, the overall look we're able to achieve with our advanced engine tech is also something the makes The Conduit a superior FPS game IMO.

Matt: I think that going back to the Wii Remote, The Conduit has a unique control system that feels more like a VR experience than the typical spring loaded joystick controlled videogame. I also agree that the ASE device offers a unique style of gameplay that hasn't really been seen before in other games. Having the ability to discover and phase useful objects into the environment to assist with combat is a lot of fun. Beyond that, it's just rock solid action all throughout the game. There'll be fierce enemies, bad ass weapons, and white knuckle battles. It's going to be a hell of a lot of fun.

Does the game run at 60fps? 30fps?

Matt: If we can hit closer to 60, then that will be great! But for right now we are shooting for a steady 30fps, with zero drops in framerate. The whole team swears by the fact that a solid 30fps still feels great. Even our studio's most hard core PC FPS gamers think that The Conduit feels just right at 30fps. The quality will be there, and the game will look and run amazing by the time that it ships.

Dan: The game will run absolutely solid at 30fps. For HVS, choice is either to have less visual splendor and run at 60fps or achieve the look we want for the game and run at 30fps. 30fps is a frame rate that is plenty responsive for FPS gaming and we are valuing the increased visual detail we can offer over the slightly smoother gameplay we might otherwise get by scaling this back.

High Voltage has made an adventure game/minigame collection for the Xbox (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, also on PS2 and PC), and now they're making an FPS for the Wii. Is this ironic or strategy?

Rob: I like to think it's beautiful strategy. At the time Magna Cum Laude came out, the Adventure game market was woefully barren. So we found a title and a publisher willing to take the risk to revitalize that genre. Now we're trying to do the same thing with FPS's on the Wii. We feel that The Conduit will be like rain in the desert, which seems to be the case judging by the online response.

Matt: Diversity is key. We don't like to sell ourselves short by sticking with one genre or style of game. High Voltage knows that it's okay to try new things. We've learned a lot after 15 years working with so many different publishers, developers, and licensors. I could go on about how licensed game restrictions, publisher mandates, and drop dead unmovable release dates ultimately affect the quality of your game, but this project is very different. The Conduit is something completely new for our studio. This game will rock!

The company seems very (vocally) confident about the ability of The Conduit to revolutionize Wii gaming. Was it always in the plan to build up so much hype, or was the hype a natural product of enthusiasm? Has the hype been more than expected?

Rob: The hype has certainly been more than I expected and I am grateful for it. However, it is a two-edged sword. While the hype has helped give us the pick of litter for a publisher, it does mean we have a LOT to live up to. But I think we are up for the challenge. =)

Dan: There aren't many large scale multiplayer games for the Wii at this point, nor any that push the Wii graphics HW to the extent we are. So, from these standpoints – The Conduit will be revolutionary for the Wii gaming market. It is HVS's belief that although there are great FPS games on the 360 and PS3 – what they all lack is the kind of unique motion sensing based control schemes that makes The Conduit for the Wii more fun to play. Giving gamers a great looking, great playing, great controlling FPS title is something we feel is worth hyping!

Matt: The plan all along was to maximize the potential of the system, and then build a game that showcases the engine tech and the fun of the Wii Remote. Every developer talks big about their own game, but no one at High Voltage could say for sure how well our audience would react to the screenshots and gameplay video release. We've always just been focused on making a great game, and the result is that The Conduit seems to be building its own hype. And we're very appreciative of all the kind words and support we've received from the Wii community.

Is The Conduit sharing tech with Animales de la Muerte? Where did the concept for that one come from? Is it still on track? Really, anything we could learn about Animales de la Muerte would be wonderful.

Dan: Animales is using the same engine tech as The Conduit, but in a much different way since it's a 'toon shaded game.

Matt: I don't want to say too much more about the title until it's closer to completion, but I will say that it's going to be bloody fun. By the way, much respect to our friends in Mexico. However, screw PETA...no animal in this game is safe!

Anything about multiplayer? Many of the folks interested in the game are looking to have some kind of online multiplayer, preferably something on-par with Medal of Honor: Heroes 2. Are you trying to implement Wi-Fi compatibility? Local multiplayer?

Dan: We are working closely with Nintendo to be able to provide the kind of multiplayer gameplay that we know the market wants.

Matt: Nintendo has been really helping us out with technical support but we still have more questions that will need be answered before we can release any specifics about our multiplayer modes. Obviously we want to be competitive with the other online console games, but we'd rather wait until we've got something great to show off before we make any announcements about this very important feature.

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions!

We recently got the chance to pick some of the brightest minds at High Voltage about their upcoming game, The Conduit. Wii fans have been liking what they've seen from the game, but there are still many questions left unanswered. That was, until we asked the folks at High Voltage those questions, which cover everything from the game's plot on down to multiplayer. So, read on and find out more about upcoming Wii FPS, The Conduit.