Nintendo Wii Fanboy

Says industry veteran (and longtime D&D nerd) Ian Livingstone. He's speaking from the Eidos camp, and isn't happy about the UK government's approach to building a sustainable development industry.

In an interiew with Develop, he stated that "The Government should address the issues of skills and costs for the UK to remain competitive." Basically, it's costing way too many quid to train the young'uns up in the ways of development, and the rising costs of tea and crumpets aren't helping none too much either.

While cheaper labor markets are blitzing the competition, the UK is slowing down and becoming more expensive. It's up to the developers themselves to manage their own projects and create strong IPs, but according to Livingstone, "The Government needs to invest in this valuable Creative Industries asset or suffer the consequences."

Publishers go to where the action is, picking up the best games at the best prices, and they are shying away from the UK in this regard. Canada is apparently leading the way for the bargain basement publisher deal, and "it is up to Government to make it attractive for them to operate in the UK." No financially viable investments for publishers + no new talent = industry in trouble. Make link go now for the full interview with Livingstone.

In an interview with CNet Japan, Treasure president Masato Maegawa revealed that the company, having finished work on the XBLA version of Ikaruga and the DS Bangai-O Spirits, is working on two new games for Wii. Being in a Treasure state of mind, our first impulse was to SET THE 68000 HEART ON FIRE with excitement.

However, our excitement was tempered by the news that these two games, which are designed to make use of motion controls, will be in 3D. Sin and Punishment is great and all, but Treasure's record is spotty at best in 3D games, as anyone who has played Stretch Panic or the merely-good Wario World will tell you. Maybe one of these is the rumored sequel to Sin and Punishment. That would be perfectly okay!

[Via IGN]

There comes a time in every system's life when its parent has to take off the kid gloves and say goodbye. Nintendo might not being doing that just yet with the DS, but the company is decreasing the amount of developers working on DS titles.

That doesn't mean Nintendo will be facing empty nest syndrome, though. By coddling the DS a little less, more developers can (and will) be able to focus on Wii games. The Wii will surely benefit from this, as more manpower means quicker game releases. As for the DS, don't fret. The handheld is littered with third-party titles, and it's not like Nintendo is jumping ship completely on its portable money-printer.

[Via NeoGAF]

After we announced the Baroque delay, a few of you commented about your warm feelings for Atlus. Not only does the company have a good sense of humor, but Atlus also tends to publish (and develop) fun games. That led us to wonder, though -- what other publishers and developers do you trust? Aside from Nintendo (that one's a given), which companies do you know you can count on?

Of all the scenes we spotted in yesterday's Super Mario Galaxy trailer, the ones that excited us most were the moments we saw our mustachioed protagonist bedecked in his bee and Boo outfits. Tears of joy came to our eyes, salty with the nostalgia of Super Mario Bros. 3's frog suit, raccoon leaf, and other fondly-remembered power-ups.

GameTrailers has a six-minute developer walkthrough of Honey Bee Galaxy, explaining the game's two-player mechanics and Mario's bee apparel along the way. Buzz past the post break for the video honeypot and an awkward clip in which Mario gropes a distressed queen bee.

See also: Hands-on with Super Mario Galaxy

Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities.

I was going to jump right into writing another script with you this week, but as development progressed, I remembered how much time I wasted on my first scripts because I didn't have a handle on exactly what motions were triggering the responses I was after. I figured I'd be doing you a disservice if I didn't take time out to get you primed on the nomenclature of all the motions and get you started in thinking in 3 dimensions.

Last week we wrote a simple script that didn't use the Wiimote's motion detecting functionality. Some might say that defeats the purpose of using the Wiimote, but is that really what the Wiimote is about? The different input options are there to give the developer choices. Sometimes the developer will throw in lots of alternatives and pass the choice on to the gamer. Taking every feature of the controller and slapping it onto a game isn't going to assure a fun time. More than likely, you'll wind up making something repellent that people will call "gimmicky." It's best to have an understanding of the control options available, and be selective in applying or omitting ones from your project.

WayForward has actually had a Wii development kit since last year (they got access to some early pre-release duct tape) and they've been doing research and development since then. We know the licenses are coming, but we're really hoping that WayForward will have the time and resources to do some original stuff too.

[Via DCEmu]

According to a job posting on their official site, independent development team Sensory Sweep Studios is looking for talent to aid in the development of an action title for the Wii. Looking for junior and senior game designers to help in level and character design for this title, Sensory Sweep's most recent releases include Need For Speed: Most Wanted and Tiger Woods PGA Tour on the DS.

While we can't be all that enthused about this development considering the only major titles of note from the company were on a handheld, the more support for Nintendo's newest console the better.

[Via Codename Revolution]