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Posts with tag ports

Gameloft phoning in more WiiWare ports


Well, actually, they're remaking cell phone games, but the title kinda works. We actually approve of the population of the WiiWare service with new games from anybody. Mobile developer Gameloft has announced three more WiiWare games in addition to Block Breaker Deluxe. TV Show King is actually an original made-for-WiiWare quiz show game. Midnight Pool and Midnight Bowling are, well, pool and bowling games that use motion controls. Gameloft intends to release games in Japan, Europe, and the U.S.

TV Show King sounds like a great idea to us -- a trivia game with a low barrier to entry (price). We could totally see ourselves downloading something like that while bored some night or in preparation for a party or something.

[Via Siliconera]

How Okami got to the Wii


Christian Svensson, Capcom's VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development, posted on the Capcom blog about the process by which a PS2 non-starter ended up being earmarked for a high-profile Wii port. Really, it makes total sense to people like us, but on the face of it, porting a poor-selling game like Okami is kind of strange business.

But as Svensson tells it, the Okami Wii port is born almost entirely out of fan demand. After seeing the outcry for a Wii version (before, during, and after the original game's release), Svensson started discussing the idea with Capcom in Japan. They realized that a release of the game on a system that was not at the end of its lifecycle may do better, and decided it may be a good move to give Clover's adventure another shot.

We love getting to look behind the curtain a bit at the inner workings of game companies. The post actually goes into a bit of detail about dealing with Ready at Dawn and the state of Okami's code.

Capcom ensures a port-filled future with RE4


Capcom released a statement today congratulating themselves for the awesome sales of their Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition. They claim to have shipped over one million copies of the survival-horror game worldwide. Of course, 'shipped' does not mean 'sold', but we can at least assume that the majority of these discs have found their way into homes, unless Capcom 'shipped' a few hundred thousand copies into their own Sales Inflation Warehouse.

This should remove any lingering doubt as to the motivation behind the Okami port, since Capcom has discovered that old games can do excellent business on the Wii, while saving on annoying costs like development. We should look forward to the inevitable rush of PS2 and Wii ports, as companies mine every old game that seems the least bit viable. And also Ninjabread Man.

Rygar screens: remember the game for the first time


We liked Rygar: The Legendary Adventure enough to want to at least look at the Wii version. We hate to admit it and indirectly support port-dumping, but messing with the yo-yo-like Diskarmor was pretty neat on a regular controller, and we kind of think it mightb be worth trying with the Wiimote. Famitsu uploaded some new screenshots of the game, all of which highlight the bizarre and absolutely non-Rygar-like character design.

Famitsu actually found the new content in the game, outlining the new Wiimote-based "Muscle Mode," a battle arena where you slice tons of monsters with your Diskarmor using motion controls. You can slam the Diskarmor into the ground, generating a quake. You can also swing it around horizontally and create a sonic boom, or perform a sort of Diskarmor stab in which the Diskarmor shoots directly forward at high speed.

Project Rygar not as big a project as we thought

We were very excited about the prospect of a new Rygar game on the Wii. Whipping the Diskarmor around sounds like one of those things that would naturally be perfect for the Wiimote. And we thought, based on the brand-new character art and the title-- Project Rygar-- that we were in for some big new stuff. After all, if it's a "Project," that means it's a pretty intensive undertaking, right? One that takes a lot of time and effort on Tecmo's part?

Yeah, it's a port of the PS2 game Rygar: The Legendary Adventure. The one from 2002. That's a little depressing! But hey, if it helps, the PS2 game was a fairly competent Devil May Cry-alike. And Tecmo is promising new content in the form of the newly-designed main character and, more significantly, a new Wiimote-friendly battle mode.



[Via NeoGAF]


Trade in your old ports for a new port



If you're lucky enough to have a Hastings store nearby, the entertainment retailer is offering to exchange your moth-eaten copies of Super Paper Mario or The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for a waggle-fied edition of Resident Evil 4. They'll also accept Rainbow Six Vegas (360) and God of War II (PS2), but not without scowling at you first.

According to the rest of Hastings's weekly ad, there's a buy-1-get-2nd-for-free sale on body jewelry, so be on the look out for that deal too! Put away the other two RE4 games you've already bought for previous platforms, throw on a shirt that shows off your belly-button-ringed midriff, and check past the post break for the full flyer.

Continue reading Trade in your old ports for a new port

Activision tries to one-up Ubisoft at being sorry

Yesterday we reported that Ubisoft owned up to their lazy Wii ports. Today, Activision CEO Robert Kotick reminded Next-Gen.biz readers that his company was dumping ports on Nintendo systems before it was cool.

Konick admitted that the GameCube was a "non-strategic platform" for them, which meant that they couldn't be bothered to put significant effort into it. But now that the Wii is huge, they're putting more attention into Nintendo releases. Like Guitar Hero: "There probably is no better product to take advantage of the capabilities of the Wii than Guitar Hero."

But ... isn't Guitar Hero probably going to be a port of some kind? Or if it's not, why develop a Wii-specific version? And how is a game that requires a specialized controller going to take advantage of the capabilities of the Wii, when most of the capabilities are tied to the system's standard controller? Isn't this exactly the kind of thing that was the problem before?

Ubisoft on Ubiports: 'We made mistakes'

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, speaking to Spiegel magazine, candidly (yet indirectly) revealed that he believed that some of his company's Wii releases were less than perfect. No, not Red Steel. Guillemot was referring to the spate of ports that Ubisoft released to fill out their lineup.

Regarding the hasty ports (games such as Prince of Persia: Rival Swords, Far Cry: Vengeance, and Monster 4x4 World Circuit), Guillemot said that "We made mistakes." Ubisoft admitting to overporting? Between this and weird releases like My Word Coach, Ubi seems like a whole new company!

Wii Warm Up: Check out this RE4 boxart


Not so much a discussion topic today as it is a directed viewing. This is the boxart for the European release of Resident Evil 4. It's basically the PAL PS2 boxart, but white instead of red.

We are now totally okay with the tacked-on waggle controls, and the fact that it's a Wii port of a game that is two years old and can already be played on Wii, because it's got really nice boxart. We're not even being sarcastic. Too bad about the "Wii Edition" thing, but we'll look past that. So what's your opinion? Awesome boxart, or totally awesome boxart?

Wii Warm Up: Superfluous waggle

Some games, like the ubiquitous Wii Sports, use the Wiimote's space-age technology to closely map real motion into gameplay. This is generally regarded as "neat" and accepted by the masses, who run off to show their grandparents.

Other games, like the upcoming port of Resident Evil 4, make no such attempt to represent physical motion as virtual motion (outside of the new knife controls). In fact, some of the motion controls seem to be simulating button presses. Case in point, reloading requires you to hold B and shake the Wiimote. That's hardly more representative of the action of reloading a gun than pushing a button, or even going into a menu.

We sort of revealed how we felt there, but this isn't about us. It's about you. How does non-representative motion control affect you? Is it still fun to waggle, even when you're waggling abstractly?

Famitsu reveals Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, confirms RE4 port [update 1]


[Update 1: fixed the name of the DS game. Thanks, SnesR0X, and no thanks to the many similar DS-game subtitles!]

It's been a while since we had a directed blurry-Famitsu-picture staredown, and this one is, as usual, totally worth staring at. Famitsu printed a long-awaited look at Capcom's Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, the Wii-exclusive RE-series-spanning game.

According to the article, it's a first-person gun shooting game with playable characters from past REs including Chris, Jill, Wesker, and others. Whether it's a true FPS or an on-rails affair like Resident Evil: Dead Aim remains to be seen.

Also in Famitsu was confirmation that Resident Evil 4 is getting an enhanced Wii release. Rumor has it that all the PS2 extras will be included, but the only definite is an added Wiimote-controlled knife mode. Sounds like RE Deadly Silence on the DS.

[Thanks, zshadow!]

Continue reading Famitsu reveals Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles, confirms RE4 port [update 1]

EBGames says Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition on the way

According to a preorder listing found on EBGames' website, a new Wii version of Resident Evil 4 will be released on June 25th for $30. While we don't have any details on it, other than that EB thinks it exists, we can speculate about what it will include: the PS2 extras, if we're lucky, and a new Wiimote control scheme.

It seems a little shocking that companies are already porting Gamecube games to the Wii, although Shigeru Miyamoto hinted at the prospect back in August. We can't wait to see how one of the Gamecube's most impressive games benefits from the power of a second, taped-on Gamecube.

[Via GoNintendo]

Agatha Christie adventure game to mysteriously appear on Wii


Seems like everyone finally picked up on the idea to port their PC adventure games to the Wii! Console players are starved enough for pointing and clicking that we'll gladly take leftovers. The Adventure Company has announced that Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None, an adaptation of a novel of the same name ("The World's Best Selling Mystery Novel," according to the game's website), will be released on the Wii in November.

Maybe a game based on the work of a popular mainstream author will bring the Wii even more attention from the non-traditional audience that Nintendo's after. And then we'd see an adventure boom like the one we're experiencing with minigames! Okay, maybe not-- but maybe it'll at least be kind of fun?

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